Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss(58)

Tuesday we were filming at a campground an hour outside the city. All the trailers were lined up in a gravel parking lot, and the action was taking place a hundred yards into the trees. There was a shallow cave that, with the right camera angles and lighting, would look much bigger on-screen. And today that shallow cave was the setting for the bloodiest zombie scene in the entire script.

“Cut!” Remy called. “Remember, Lacey, this is Scarlett’s breaking point. Again. From the top.”

I nodded and picked my way back toward the cave entrance, around fake body parts, when my foot met a human finger that was actually attached to someone.

“Ouch,” the extra hissed, raising his head a little.

“Sorry,” I said.

“It’s okay.” He put his head back down.

We had already shot the beginning of the scene where I had just discovered the carnage. Now we were mid scene, and I was covered in fake blood. It dripped from my fingers and onto the dirt floor. I made it back to the first zombie, my starting mark, and knelt beside her. Simone came over and poured more blood onto my palm.

“Thanks,” I said.

She laughed a little. “You’re welcome?”

I smiled, and she backed out of the shot.

“Quiet on set,” Noah called. “Slate in, sound rolling, camera rolling.”

“Action,” Remy said.

“No!” I screamed, bringing the limp form to my chest in a hug. “No!” I stood and tripped my way deeper into the cave. “Please, no.” I tried to walk again, but my foot snagged on my skirt and I fell down to my knees where I was now eye to eye with a zombie’s dead eyes staring into space. I cried out.

“Cut!” Remy yelled. “Very good. I think we’re done in here.”

And just like that, the dead bodies lying on the cave floor stood and began talking to one another. I stood too. My hands were caked with blood and dirt, and I tried to wipe them off onto each other, which did nothing.

Grant stood just beyond the lights. I hadn’t realized he was watching. He wasn’t in this scene at all.

“Don’t touch me,” he said as I came close.

I held up my hand and lunged toward him. He let out a funny shriek and laughed.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m coming after you and your kind tomorrow.”

“Can’t we just be friends?” he asked.

I paused for a moment and looked at his smirking face. It took me too long to realize he was talking about his character. “Never,” I said. It seemed I didn’t trust anyone right now.

I didn’t use the shower in my trailer often, but I was done for the day and there was no way I was getting into my car like this. I piled my bloodied clothes by the rack for wardrobe and went into the small bathroom. When I was done, the shower walls looked straight from a crime scene. I tried to spray them off with the showerhead, but it was pointless, they’d need to be scrubbed.

I stepped out of the shower and wrapped myself in a towel. The mirror was foggy with steam, so I wiped it with a hand towel and brushed through my hair. The sound of my trailer door shutting startled me. The little trifold door to the bathroom didn’t lock, so I held it closed.

“Hello!” I called. “Dad?”

There was no answer.

“Donavan?”

Nothing.

“I’m not dressed. So don’t come in here. And I swear if that’s you, Amanda, and you jump out and scare me, I will never speak to you again!”

There was a rustling noise, but then the outside door shut again. I quickly dressed and slowly opened the door that led to the main part of the trailer. It was empty. I checked my table to see if maybe it was just Faith dropping off revisions. There was nothing. My fridge wasn’t newly stocked either. This was not cool.

I was not staying in my trailer today. I could do homework from home. I got my backpack and jumped down the metal steps. I turned to the left and headed for my car. Amanda’s trailer was just past mine, and I slowed outside of it. I glanced over my shoulder to see a new set of security guards blocking the way to Grant’s trailer. Why couldn’t they guard all of us? I remembered what the other guard had said the night before: Amanda had been in my trailer a lot.

I took a determined breath and knocked on Amanda’s door. There was no answer. I started to leave but changed my mind. I reached up and pulled on her door handle. It opened. I went inside and pushed myself against the closest wall.

Her trailer was dim, all the blinds closed. It smelled like rose petals, like Amanda. Anyone who smelled like rose petals couldn’t be out to get me. Right? The trailer looked a lot like mine—a rack of clothes in the corner, a couch, small kitchenette, and bunk area. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. Incriminating evidence? A journal or something spelling out how she hated me? The thought made my eyes sting. She didn’t hate me. We were friends. I knew that. Maybe that’s why I was here, to put my mind to rest.

I closed my eyes, then pushed myself off the wall. Apparently I was doing this. I started at her cabinet in the corner. Like me, she had a script there. I riffled through all the pages, but it was just a script. Next to that was her phone. We weren’t allowed to bring them on set, so it didn’t surprise me that, like me, she left it in her trailer. I picked it up and pushed on the home button. It gave me the prompt for a passcode. I didn’t know how to break into phones like someone on set did, so I put it back down.