Star Style

by Sienna Mercer

  ‘On the bright side, you are the only one that could get close enough to get a shot of that ketchup on Ivy’s cheek,’ Brendan said, pointing to the left side of her mouth.

  ‘Wha–!’ Ivy grabbed a napkin and wiped her face.

  They all chuckled.

  ‘It would be just my luck that a photo with ketchup smeared all over my face would be the one that exposes me to the whole world.’ Ivy was feeling more and more panicky at the pressure that was building in the lead-up to whatever announcement Harker had planned.

  ‘You’ll figure something out,’ Brendan said. ‘Are you going to eat that?’ He pointed to Ivy’s half-eaten burger and fries.

  Ivy shook her head and pushed it over to him. The photographers were bound to catch her and Olivia together, figure out that they are twins and run a picture in a magazine – then it would be all over.

  Just then, a guy wearing a faded grey hoodie, sunglasses and cowboy boots plunked his tray down on the table. Ivy might have mistaken him for some slacker, but she’d seen those cowboy boots often enough.

  ‘Hey guys,’ said Jackson from under the hood.

  ‘Hey,’ said Brendan with his mouth full.

  Sophia scooted over so Jackson could sit down. Ivy wondered what was keeping Olivia.

  ‘I’ve been stalking the stalkers and it seems someone has tipped them off about Eternal Sunset’s mystery second actress living in Franklin Grove.’ Jackson pushed his sunglasses down his nose and looked at Ivy with his blue eyes. ‘They are haunting every school, café and cinema, hoping to track down an exclusive.’

  Ivy groaned and Sophia growled.

  ‘There’s a mole,’ Ivy said.

  ‘With half of Hollywood hanging around for the premiere, it could be anybody,’ Jackson said.

  ‘The instant they see Olivia and me together, they’ll know,’ Ivy said. ‘If they don’t already.’

  Two tables away, Ivy caught sight of Charlotte Brown and her cronies.

  ‘Jessica says that you should definitely not wear a mini skirt with ankle socks,’ Charlotte practically shouted, so that the whole cafeteria could hear. ‘You have to wear knee-highs.’ She’d been going around all week telling everyone how she and Jessica were now BFFs.

  Ugh, Ivy thought.

  ‘No prize for guessing how they got tipped off,’ Ivy said, putting her face in her hands. ‘And it’s totally my fault.’ Ivy remembered the victorious feeling of accepting Harker’s offer in front of Jessica and all those suits, but her enemy must have put two and two together and realised exactly which film Ivy was due to star in. That moment of triumph could cost Olivia big time.

  ‘We’ve got to do something,’ Ivy declared.

  ‘Yes, please!’ replied Sophia.

  ‘I’ll help,’ Jackson put in.

  ‘Could we trap them in the school and force them to take our math quiz?’ Brendan joked, with his mouth full of burger.

  ‘I like that idea,’ Jackson said. ‘I haven’t studied.’

  ‘Focus, please!’ interrupted Ivy. ‘First, we need to make sure that Olivia and I aren’t seen together and, second, we need to throw the paps off the scent.’

  But before Ivy could come up with a plan, she spotted her sister wandering into the cafeteria.

  Disaster alert! Ivy realised. The photographers still had their noses pressed up against the window.

  Olivia spotted them at their table. If Ivy didn’t do something about it, Olivia would blow their cover.

  She leaped up from her seat. ‘STOP!’ she shouted at the top of her lungs.

  Olivia stopped dead in the doorway, confused, and a hundred student heads swivelled to stare at Ivy.

  Ivy tried to ignore them, but she noticed Charlotte watching her carefully. She couldn’t let Charlotte figure out what she was up to, so she turned to Brendan.

  ‘Stop stealing my ketchup!’ she shouted. ‘You know how much it means to me.’

  Sophia sniggered and Brendan dropped the three fries that were halfway to his mouth. Charlotte rolled her eyes and went back to tittering with her minions.

  Ivy looked over at Olivia, who seemed to realise that something was going on. She took a step forwards and Ivy shook her head fiercely.

  Her sister got the point and stepped back while Ivy grabbed her history book and shielded her face from the window where the photographers were.

  ‘She can’t come in here,’ Ivy said. ‘Not looking like that.’

  ‘Like what?’ Sophia asked.

  ‘Like me, of course!’ Ivy said.

  Jackson scowled, and looked a little intimidating with his hoodie and sunglasses. ‘I’m going to talk to the principal before next period, see if we can get them to stay away from the school.’

  ‘That would be a relief,’ Ivy said. ‘But they’ll just be waiting outside for when we leave.’

  Ivy saw Olivia waving from the doorway. She pointed to the food line and then to her belly and mouthed, ‘I’m hungry!’

  ‘Poor Olivia,’ said Jackson. ‘We can’t let her starve.’

  He stood up and went over to the counter, grabbing a salad, a bagel sandwich and a brownie on a tray for Olivia and then sat with her right there in the doorway, having lunch, as bemused fellow students walked around them to get into the cafeteria. The photographers’ lenses couldn’t see around the pillars at the entrance. They were safe for now.

  ‘I’ve got an idea. Code black, right after school,’ Ivy said, invoking her and Sophia’s age-old code for meeting in the science hall bathroom.

  Sophia nodded but Brendan said, ‘Uh . . . what does that mean?’

  Ivy smiled. ‘Have you ever wanted to visit the girl’s bathroom?’

  Chapter Six

  Twenty minutes after school, Olivia was waiting in the girls’ bathroom for Sergeant Ivy to give her orders. Ivy had assembled Sophia, Camilla, Brendan and Jackson as well and had stuck a sign on the bathroom door that said OUT OF ORDER.

  ‘This is weirder than weird,’ said Brendan, looking around at the green-painted cubicles.

  ‘Agreed,’ said Jackson. ‘What if someone comes in?’

  Olivia giggled. ‘Soon it won’t matter.’

  ‘I can’t believe I’ve agreed to this,’ Brendan said, shaking his head.

  ‘Atten-tion!’ Ivy said. ‘Let’s get a move on. Camilla?’

  Camilla stepped forwards and emptied a big box on to the bathroom counter, spilling out wigs, sunglasses, expensive-looking bags, blouses and fake jewellery.

  Brendan’s eyes almost popped out of his head.

  ‘I’ve still got the key to the costume room,’ Camilla explained with a shrug.

  ‘Begin!’ Ivy ordered.

  While everyone started picking through the offerings, Olivia handed Ivy the clothes out of her bag.

  Ivy quickly sprayed herself down with some fake tan, slipped on the denim skirt, lavender sweater and white sandals – the exact same outfit as Olivia had on. ‘There,’ she said to her sister. ‘Olivia the second, at your service.’

  ‘Not quite,’ Olivia replied. ‘Olivia would never forget to accessorise!’ She took a chunky white bead necklace from the counter and put it around Ivy’s neck. ‘Better.’

  Olivia caught sight of herself and her twin next to each other in the mirror. Sometimes they looked like night and day with their different skin tones and dress sense. But at times like this, when they were switching, it showed how much, underneath it all, they were just the same – sisters and best friends.

  ‘No matter what,’ Olivia said to Ivy amid the chaos of the bathroom, ‘we’ll figure this thing out.’

  ‘But we won’t!’ Brendan called from the other end of the counter with Jackson. He was holding a long black wig in his right hand and a short blonde one in his left. He had four different necklaces around his neck and was wearing a loose pink shirt with a long green skirt. ‘Help!’

  Olivia cracked up and Ivy joined in, holding her hands to her stomach.

  ‘No one is going to believe you’
re a movie star!’ Ivy said.

  ‘Hey,’ said Brendan defensively, ‘this was your idea.’

  Ivy kissed him on the nose. ‘I know, and it’s going to work too.’

  ‘But not with you looking like that!’ Olivia declared. She handed Brendan an oversized blue sweater. ‘Pink is definitely not your colour. Lose the shirt.’

  Brendan eagerly complied, ripping off the shirt and flexing his muscles.

  ‘And since you don’t exactly fit the body-shape of an up-and-coming female star . . .’ Olivia went on, ‘we’ll have to aim for as much distraction as possible.’ She handed over a long blonde wig and white sunglasses.

  Ivy’s plan for Operation Escape was to have lots of possible mystery actresses to throw the creepy photographers off the real trail.

  Olivia and a glammed-up Camilla were going to form one pair to lead off as many paps as they could, while Ivy-as-Olivia and Brendan-as-mysterious-movie-star led the rest in the opposite direction. Jackson would play himself with a Hollywood-ised Sophia as a third possibility. Ivy’s plan was that the photographers would become so confused and fed up that they’d give up and go back to California.

  ‘What are you going to do about the shoes?’ Camilla asked, pointing at Brendan’s huge steel-toed boots.

  ‘Well, I can’t wear little sandals,’ Brendan declared. ‘I haven’t had my pedicure.’ He and Jackson cracked up and Ivy rolled her eyes.

  ‘Your hairy toes would give you away,’ she shot back.

  ‘How about these?’ Camilla said. They were pink sneakers that looked just about big enough.

  ‘They don’t exactly go with my outfit,’ Brendan teased. ‘But they’ll be good for when we have to run.’

  ‘They will have to do,’ Ivy replied. As Brendan hopped around, putting on the sneakers, she barked out her orders. ‘We need to divide, conquer, and confuse the paparazzi until they give up.’

  When Brendan finally stopped hopping, Ivy called out, ‘Troops, line up!’

  Olivia obeyed, along with everyone else. Her five friends stood to attention in front of the bathroom mirror.

  Sophia, standing next to Jackson, was wearing all black, with huge black sunglasses, red lipstick and a plastic Chihuahua poking out from her bright red handbag.

  ‘Check,’ Ivy said.

  Beside Olivia, Camilla was wearing a broad-brimmed straw hat, a white floaty dress with Grecian sandals and had a copy of the script for Romezog and Julietron, a sci-fi version of Shakespeare’s, Romeo and Juliet, which she’d recently directed.

  ‘Check,’ Ivy said again.

  Ivy marched to the end of the line and slipped her arm through Brendan’s. He looked utterly ridiculous, but in that eccentric Hollywood way. Olivia smiled – even dressed up all strange, they were a perfect couple.

  ‘Ready?’ Ivy asked everyone.

  But before everyone could reply, there was a clank from inside one of the bathroom cubicles.

  Olivia whipped her head around and a hush fell over her friends. There’s someone else in here!

  ‘If you don’t come out, I’m going to start opening doors,’ Ivy called out.

  Olivia heard an exasperated sigh and the click of a lock.

  Out stepped Charlotte Brown, looking sheepish. ‘Whatever,’ she said, when she saw everyone glaring at her. ‘You people are crazy.’ She was trying to hide something behind her back, but Ivy could see in the mirror. It was a disposable camera. Olivia realised that she must have been trying to do the same thing as the paparazzi!

  ‘You little sneak!’ Ivy said, about to lunge forwards, but Brendan put a hand on her arm.

  Jackson stepped over, calmly, and held out an open palm. ‘I’ll have that, please.’

  Olivia couldn’t believe that Charlotte had been spying on them!

  ‘What?’ Charlotte said, faking innocence.

  Jackson didn’t say another word, just looked at her. Charlotte tossed her hair and shoved the camera into his hand. ‘I couldn’t get anything good anyway.’

  ‘I can’t believe you’d do this to a fellow cheerleader,’ Olivia said quietly. The truth was that Charlotte had tried to cross her tons of times before, but never quite so publicly.

  ‘It could have been worse,’ Charlotte countered. ‘I could have told the newspapers days ago that Ivy’s the mystery actress they’re all so interested in.’

  ‘So why didn’t you?’ Jackson asked, folding his arms.

  Charlotte shrugged, clearly trying to look as though she couldn’t care less. ‘I tried. But they wouldn’t pay the fee I was demanding.’

  Jackson spluttered. ‘You’re priceless,’ he said. ‘Let me give you a tip about negotiation with newspapers. They set the price, not you.’

  Olivia felt her face draining of blood. How could one girl be this nasty? Suddenly, she heard a whispering from the next stall. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who’s in there, she thought. ‘Hi, Katie, hi, Allison. Come out, please.’

  The middle cubicle door opened and out struggled Katie and Allison, who had crowded in together. They both had disposable cameras in their hands.

  ‘I’ll have those,’ Brendan said, taking the two other cameras. ‘There will be no photographic evidence of my transformation – let alone photos of Ivy and Olivia together.’

  ‘You mean you don’t want people to see your freak show,’ Charlotte said, crossing her arms.

  Olivia realised there was something odd about Charlotte’s skirt.

  Charlotte’s black skirt looked like it had been shredded in a semi-circle – just like Olivia’s ruined skirt from the premiere.

  ‘What happened to your outfit?’ Ivy demanded.

  ‘Don’t you know anything about fashion?’

  Charlotte huffed. ‘Get out of the graveyard and into the real world.’

  ‘Uh, Charlotte,’ Ivy began, but Charlotte was on a roll.

  ‘You don’t deserve a role in any movie,’ she sneered. ‘And no amount of fake tan will stop you looking totally washed out on screen.’

  ‘Hey,’ Olivia started but Charlotte pushed past Jackson and right out through the bathroom door, Katie and Allison scurrying after her.

  When the door closed, Ivy sighed. ‘She’s right, you know. I only got this role because of my big mouth. I don’t want the gig and I don’t deserve it.’

  Olivia felt awful. Everything was so complicated!

  ‘Look,’ said Brendan. ‘Let’s deal with one problem at a time. We’ll get rid of the photographers and then worry about the movies.’

  Ivy nodded and Olivia decided she had to focus on Operation Escape.

  ‘Now,’ he went on, ‘are you going to help me with this lipstick?’

  Ivy peered out from behind the school doors. Other students shot her curious glances as they left school for the day.

  Phase one of Operation Escape was under way. Jackson, still in his hoodie, and Sophia, looking gorgeous, were hurrying down the steps, deep in conversation.

  ‘This itches,’ Brendan complained from his place behind Ivy. She looked round; he was scratching under his wig.

  ‘You’re stepping on my foot!’ hissed Camilla.

  ‘Sshh!’ Ivy said.

  Ivy turned back to watch the scene outside the school building. As Jackson and Sophia arrived at the bottom of the steps, Ivy could see the paparazzi gathered at the end of the path.

  One of them had the same jacket with the red streak as the guy who had been stalking them at Aunt Rebecca’s ranch.

  The photographers started elbowing each other and whispering, as they caught a peek of Jackson’s famous face from beneath his hood. Ivy could almost see the rumour travelling through the crowd! Then Jackson threw the hood back so they could really see who he was.

  ‘Is that the actress?’ one shouted and they all started snapping away, just as Ivy had hoped.

  Jackson pretended to try and shield Sophia from the cameras, and she squealed and hid behind her bag.

  Bingo! ‘They’re playing it perfectly,’
Ivy murmured. The two of them dashed through the crowd of photographers, with several in pursuit as they headed towards the Meat and Greet.

  There were soon only five paps left hanging around, including Mr Red Jacket.

  ‘Cue two!’ Ivy whispered and waved Olivia and Camilla into place.

  Olivia gave Ivy a quick hug. ‘Thanks for going to all this trouble.’ She smiled at Brendan. ‘You get a special gold star.’

  ‘Thanks,’ he replied. ‘This is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, and any and all material rewards will be gratefully accepted.’

  Olivia gave a little wave as she and Camilla headed down the steps.

  ‘Good luck,’ Ivy whispered.

  ‘It’s Olivia!’ one of the photographers shouted.

  Olivia paused at the bottom of the steps and waved – just as they’d agreed. Then she hooked her arm through Camilla’s and cooed at the cameras. ‘This is my friend Venetia,’ she declared.

  ‘Is she off that TV show, Blue Moon Rising?’ Mr Red Jacket shouted.

  Camilla didn’t say anything, just pretended to hide behind her hands when they started taking photos. Then Olivia and Camilla dashed in the opposite direction to Jackson, towards the mall. The group of five paparazzi followed them, trying to get a good shot of Olivia with her famous-looking friend.

  ‘Our turn,’ Ivy said to Brendan.

  She stepped away from the door and they hurried through the hallway to the back entrance. When they were passing a set of lockers, a sixth grader stopped and stared at Brendan.

  ‘I’m testing out Halloween costumes,’ Brendan explained. ‘What do you think?’

  The sixth grader just blinked.

  ‘Pretty scary, huh?’ Brendan grinned and Ivy grabbed his arm.

  ‘You only have to fool them for a couple of minutes,’ Ivy reminded him. They were going to head to the mall and prepare for the Great Switcheroo.

  They rushed along and pushed through the glass doors at the back, then darted around the side of the building. All of the photographers were gone, as planned, so Ivy and Brendan headed for their rendezvous point at the mall.

  The only thing that couldn’t happen was two Olivias being seen together or the game would be up.