Maeve on the Red Carpet

by Annie Bryant

  Maddie snorted and covered her mouth. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Maeve, you are TOO CUTE! Silly, why do you think I made up the maid part?” Maddie was laughing uncontrollably now.

  I felt so furious at Princess Maddie … furious … like smoke coming out of the ears, cartoon-style furious. It was time for my Oscar-worthy impromptu.

  “Thanks so much for thinking of me, Maddie … but I’m still going to try out for the princess.”

  Maddie tossed her hair and pushed out her chest. “Oh yeah?” she sneered.

  “Yeah.” I stuck out my hand for her to shake. “May the best actress win.”

  Maddie went to grab my hand, but then at the last minute pulled it away and wiped it on her shirt like she had touched something dirty. “I’m going to go talk to Artemia. Since Boston Holiday was my idea, I’m sure she’s going to have a lot of questions for me.”

  Maddie stuck her nose in the air and huffed away. “Oh, and Maeve,” she added, glancing over her shoulder. “If you change your mind about the maid part … call me.”

  “Don’t hold your breath,” I whispered. Let Maddie put on a little wig and be the mousy maid. This was war.

  CHAPTER

  11

  Bubble Burst

  It didn’t take long for the news to spread around camp that M&M were O-V-E-R. The only problem was, no one had any clue why. And the rumors were flying. When I went outside to get a drink of water, I could hear some kids talking in hushed voices around the corner. I pressed myself up against the wall and stayed as quiet as possible. “Did you hear?” said a boy. “Maddie and Maeve are in a huge fight.”

  “No way! What happened?” asked a girl.

  “I thought that they were BFFs,” said another girl.

  “Not anymore,” whispered the boy. “No one knows for sure, but I heard Maeve stole Maddie’s diary and published it!”

  I felt dizzy. Stay calm, Maeve, I reminded myself.

  “I heard that Maddie has a crush on Apollo and Maeve tried to go behind her back and steal him!”

  I put my hand over my mouth. Yeah, right!

  “Well, I heard that they were going to do a reality show together, but Maddie backed out at the last minute. They don’t even want to be taped together!”

  “NO!” gasped all the kids.

  “Yes.”

  I tiptoed down the hall to get away from all the whispering. Being the center of gossip wasn’t fun at all.

  “Hey, Maeve, is it true that M&M broke up?” asked a very familiar voice. I turned around to see the black circle at the end of Sam’s camera staring me in the face. Behind him, Apollo stood at the top of a ladder adjusting a light, smiling at Sam and laughing to himself. I should’ve known Apollo would think this was funny.

  “No comment!” I huffed and tried to block the lens with my hand.

  “Hey quit it! You’re going to smudge the glass!” Sam cried.

  “Sam, enough taping for now, dude,” Apollo instructed. I was surprised. Was Apollo actually on my side in this?

  “But I’m the filmotograph—”

  Just then the three of us turned at the sound of Maddie’s crystal-clear stage voice booming from inside the theater.

  “Artemia, you and Apollo must come to the Hamptons this summer! It will be sooo divine.”

  The dream-bubble of Maddie and me on the beach with my pink polka-dotted bathing suit, straw beach hat, and Jackie O sunglasses burst into a million slimy little pieces.

  “What’re the Hamptons?” Sam whispered to Apollo as he passed him a new light bulb.

  “Man, you don’t want to know,” Apollo replied.

  I instinctively put my hand over my heart. “Are you kidding? Sam, the Hamptons are where all the big celebs hang out during the summer. It’s like the most incredible place to be. There are parties and beaches and … and I’m never going to go …” I almost cried on those last words. It wasn’t that I really wanted to go to Maddie’s “cottage.” I mean, not after what she did to me. But still … it was the Hamptons.

  “Don’t sweat it, Maeve. Except for the beaches, the Hamptons aren’t as great as you think. It’s mostly just a lot of hoity-toities who think that going to the Hamptons is pretty much the most important thing in the world.” Apollo demonstrated by pretending to sip out of a tea cup. “Ah, how delightful!” he said in a fake accent.

  Sam started to laugh, and I did too, remembering how Maddie sipped her cocoa in her bedroom. Maybe Apollo was right.

  “Maeve, Apollo, there you are!”

  I was surprised to see Artemia holding her director’s notebook and standing in the doorway. I was even more surprised NOT to see Maddie. I thought she was super-glued to Artemia! Instead there was another girl with Artemia. She looked like she was around my age. She had long, silky dark hair and cute little green glasses. (True confession—I used to wish I had bad eyesight just so I could get a pair of sophisticated glasses. Alas, I was cursed with perfect vision.)

  “Kids, I want you to meet Lizzie Kwan,” said Artemia. “Lizzie knows how to work Final Draft—a script-writing computer program. She’s volunteered to put together a screenplay for Boston Holiday. Apollo, since you also know Final Draft, I thought you could help. And Maeve, since you and Maddie came up with the idea, I was wondering if you’d like to do some more brainstorming as well.”

  Apollo grinned. “Yeah! That sounds cool. Maeve … you in?”

  There were so many questions spinning around my head like a tornado. One of them, of course, was if Maddie would be a part of this project too.

  As though Artemia was reading my mind, she told us, “I asked Maddie if she had anything else to contribute, but it seems she’s not interested in doing any writing.”

  Maddie waltzed onto the stage and practiced curtseying. “I am an ack-tour. My work here,” she waved her finger around at us like we were her own little gnomes, “is done.”

  I tried to totally ignore Princess Krupcake. “Are we allowed to work on the script and still act in the film?” I asked Artemia.

  She nodded. “Absolutely. I want you kids to get a taste of as much as you possibly can here at film camp. The more things you try, the better.”

  Sam had picked up his camera and started rolling again. I knew I had a serious decision to make. I could decide not to work on the film … and continue doing everything Maddie did. Wait. Copying everything Maddie did, I realized with a sinking feeling. OR I could help Apollo and Lizzie and tell them the rest of my idea.

  Decision? This was a no-brainer.

  “I’m in!” I exclaimed.

  Maddie smiled her sweetest possible smile. “I think the part of the not-pretty redheaded maid is ripe with possibilities, Maeve,” she quipped and then whispered with a fake smile, “You should go for it.”

  I gulped and did not smile back. Even though Maddie wasn’t as nice as I thought (okay, she was pretty much a Queen of Mean in disguise), she was still a really good actress. Plus she was like Artemia’s shadow! Could I ever get the part of the princess over Madeline Von Krupcake? I wanted to so badly … but I just wasn’t sure anymore.

  Part Two

  Red Fooey Rides Again

  CHAPTER

  12

  Boston Brainstorm Bonanza …

  Whoa, check out the rowers! How are they not freezing?” asked Apollo. He was looking out the window with his mouth completely open in shock. Oh yeah. I should probably mention that the famous exchild star Apollo Aaron was actually sitting in the back seat of my dad’s car. I had to pinch myself a couple of times to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Dad suggested taking Lizzie, Apollo, and me on a tour of Boston over the weekend to brainstorm ideas for the movie. Artemia thought it was a brilliant plan. And somehow Sam had managed to weasel his way in … with his video camera, of course.

  Dad laughed. “That’s the Harvard crew team. They practice all year long … unless the Charles River is frozen.”

  Apollo shivered. “I can’t believe how cold it is here. Back home, I’d be in a
T-shirt right now.”

  “Where do you come from anyway … Venus?” Sam asked. “That’s the hottest planet. Even hotter than Mercury, even though Mercury is closer to the sun.” Sam was a total math and science brainiac and he wasn’t afraid to show it off.

  “Nope. Los Angeles,” Apollo replied.

  “That’s where Hollywood is, Sam,” I informed him. “Aka—my future home.”

  “So I guess you really want to be a movie star, huh?” asked Lizzie.

  I turned around, as I was sitting in the front seat, and gripped my heart with both hands. “Don’t you know? I was born for the stage.” (True confession—If Apollo and Lizzie hadn’t been there, that would’ve been the point when I broke out in a verse of “There’s No Business Like Show Business” but I didn’t think that would be the best idea. Especially because there was a one-hundred percent chance that Dad would have joined in, and then we would’ve really freaked them out. After all, we were the Kaplan-Taylors, not the Von Trapps.)

  “So the first stop is Newbury Street,” Dad informed us.

  “Hold up. What’s Newbury Street?” asked Apollo.

  “Newbury Street is the awesomest!” I gushed. “The outfits, the stores, the restaurants … oh my gosh, it’s THE MOST glamorous place to be in Boston. Don’t you think, Lizzie? Isn’t it the best?”

  Lizzie smiled and scribbled something in her notebook. (Très Charlotte of her!) “It’s very pretty,” she agreed. “I especially like it during the holidays when all the lights are on the trees.”

  I slipped my large sunglasses down my nose with my finger and said, “Okay, to translate for Hollywood boy in the back seat, Newbury Street is like the Rodeo Drive of Boston …” and then I whispered, “Sort of a big deal. It’s the place to be seen in the summertime with all the cafés and people-watching.”

  Apollo looked genuinely horrified.

  Dad saw Apollo’s contorted face in the rearview mirror and chuckled. “Relax,” Dad assured him. “I just figured, since you’re writing a script about a princess … we might as well go to the princess mother ship.”

  “Shopping. Shopping. Take me to your leader,” Sam sang in a funny alien voice. I gave him a look.

  Dad miraculously found a parking space right away and we unloaded in front of J.P. Licks—the famous Boston ice cream store with the Vermont cow design. “Ice cream, anyone?” asked Dad.

  We put on our gloves and shivered. “NO!” Apollo looked the most terrified of all. Probably the idea of eating ice cream during the Boston winter sounded as crazy as drinking hot chocolate in the desert.

  Dad laughed. “Well I’m craving some Heath bar crunch. And yes, Apollo, I do know how cold it is.” He went into J.P. Licks while the rest of us stayed in the cold like frozen Popsicles.

  “You know,” Apollo said, taking a look around. “This place isn’t as bad as I thought. It’s actually kind of … nice.”

  “Nice?” I gawked. “Nice? This is the fashion capital of Boston! This is where I get all my inspiration for style. You see”—I linked arms with Lizzie—“I pay close attention to all the hot styles on Newbury Street, and then I go to the discount stores and buy the same stuff but cheaper. No one can tell the difference,” I whispered.

  It was then that I noticed Sam’s camera pointing at me. “Hey, Maeve, what about concentrating on brainstorming for the movie?”

  “She is,” Lizzie said simply and wrote something down.

  “Hey, what’d you write?” I asked.

  Lizzie blushed. “Oh it’s nothing really. I just thought it would be funny if the maid was a pro discount shopper … maybe she could be so good at it, that people can’t tell the difference between her and the princess.”

  Apollo looked up. “Yeah! That’s an awesome idea. What should the maid’s name be?”

  “How about … Mauve?” Lizzie offered.

  I folded my arms. “No way. That sounds just like ‘Maeve.’”

  Lizzie looked at the ground. “Sorry. It was the first thing that popped into my head,” she explained.

  I understood what was happening. Maddie had basically painted the maid part for me, and now it was impossible for Lizzie to imagine anyone else doing it. “You guys, I know Maddie said red-haired maid … but seriously! The princess part is the one that’s perfect for me.”

  “Okay, so let’s come up with a different name then. Something that doesn’t sound anything like Maeve,” Apollo proposed.

  The three of us tapped our chins and looked around. Our eyes settled on a sign that read “Sufoo Sushi House.”

  “That’s it!” said Apollo.

  “Sufoo!” the three of us chimed at once.

  “Sufoo the designer-discount-wearing, bad-guybrawling, kung-fu-fighting maid. I love it!” I cried, kicking the air to demonstrate.

  “Okay, so just who are these ‘bad guys’ that you and Maddie keep talking about?” asked Apollo. There it was again: you and Maddie.

  I couldn’t hold it in anymore. “All right. I have to get this off my chest. The film idea, Boston Holiday … it was mine. Not Maddie’s.” I bit my lip and waited, hoping that Apollo and Lizzie would believe me.

  Apollo started to laugh. “Are you serious?” he asked.

  My heart was pounding. “Yeah … why?”

  Apollo was now laughing so hard that tears were rolling down his cheeks. “Maeve, you didn’t have to tell me that! I’ve known Madeline Von Krupcake for years. That girl hasn’t had an original idea in her life.”

  “Really?” Lizzie and I gasped at the same time.

  Apollo nodded. “Oh yeah. That’s how she works. Maddie pretends to be your friend, and then she steals your ideas. One minute, it’s your idea … and then BAM … she kidnaps it!”

  “Oh my gosh, that’s it!” I cried. “The bad guys—they can be kidnappers.”

  “Oooh, good one,” Lizzie agreed. “Kidnappers who are double-crossers. They seem like they’re on the king’s side, but they’re really not.”

  As soon as Lizzie said “king” one picture immediately popped into my head: the Krupcake King. Then things really started ticking.

  “What if the personal assistant is one of the bad guys?” I suggested. I did love that dear Kenneth, but the idea of a double-crosser personal assistant was just too good to be true!

  “And the nanny!” Apollo added.

  “The nanny?” Lizzie looked shocked.

  Apollo shrugged. “There was this one nanny I had when I was little who was grouchy all the time, and her breath always smelled like tuna. It was the worst.”

  “I think her name should be Nanny Nuna,” I suggested. “It has a funny ring to it.”

  Apollo laughed. “Nanny Nuna. I like that.”

  Dad came out of the ice cream store looking sticky and full. “How’s the brainstorming?” he asked as he beeped open the car.

  “Nanny Nuna smells like tuna,” Sam told him.

  “Sam,” I warned, not wanting Dad to think that all we were doing was goofing off. Dad just seemed glad that we were having fun though. “Time for the next stop,” he said as we piled into the car. “Beacon Street.”

  “We’re going back already?” Apollo looked seriously disappointed, but the rest of us Bostonians knew better.

  “No, silly. Beacon Street goes aaaaaaall the way into Boston. See?” I said, pointing to a street sign. Beacon Street in Boston was one gorgeous brownstone after another … leading right up to Beacon Hill. I trembled a little—out of fright—thinking how close we were getting to Maddie’s mansion.

  “Hey, there’s the Taj!” Apollo cried, pointing to the blue regal-looking sign out the window. “That used to be the world-famous Ritz—right?”

  “Well, the Boston Ritz-Carlton was the first one ever,” Sam stated smugly. “It opened in 1927 and all the kings and queens and movie stars stayed there. And guess what? Back then rooms only cost fifteen dollars!”

  I turned around and stared doubtfully at my little brother. “How on earth do you know that, Sam?
”

  Sam smiled. “I know everything.”

  Dad rolled his eyes. “I told him about it this morning.”

  “Wait a minute, that’s it!” Lizzie cried suddenly. “Princess Sophia and her loyal maid Sufoo are staying at the Taj hotel in Boston—they’re on a royal peace trip representing the country of Tazmundo. And the movie starts out showing how glamorous Sophia’s life is … but Sophia is completely bored and miserable doing everything she’s supposed to do.”

  I gave Lizzie a proud look. “Hey … have you seen the original Roman Holiday?” I asked. I didn’t really know anyone else my own age that was so passionate about old movies. In fact, most of my favorite movies were ones that my friends (including the BSG) had never even heard of.

  Lizzie smiled and tossed her long, silky hair over her shoulder. “Please, Maeve. I’m a total movie freak. All my friends think I have the weirdest taste, but I say they have no appreciation for the classics.”

  My mouth dropped open. Now I was really happy that I was in film camp … brainstorming ideas for a movie, meeting other people who were as movie crazed as me … what could be better?

  I closed my eyes. “I can see it now. Sophia and Sufoo—the beautiful princess and her redheaded maid …” I glanced at Lizzie and Apollo and the three of us burst out laughing. “So they’re in their gorgeous suite at the Taj, and when Sophia is in the shower—”

  “Bubble bath!” Apollo corrected. “A princess would be taking a bubble bath.” We stared at him. “What? I grew up in Beverly Hills,” he said with a shy shrug.

  I grinned and went on. “Obviously I meant bubble bath. And Sufoo overhears the assistant and Nanny Nuna in the connecting room talking about kidnapping Sophia and using her to take over the kingdom of Tazmundo.”

  “Yeah …” Lizzie breathed, sensing my excitement.

  “Sufoo has to convince Sophia that she’s bored with being a princess, to get her out of the hotel and away from the evil-doers …” I said “evil-doers” in a creepy, mysterious voice to really get my point across.