by Betsy Haynes
"Okay, Mr. Sealed Lips, you can tell your friend thanks a lot, but I already have a boyfriend."
"Are you sure you want me to tell him that?" asked KJ. "He really likes you a lot."
"Definitely," she said, and went back to eating. But she couldn't forget the expression on KJ's face when she said it. He looked awfully serious. Was he the one who had been sending her presents and signing his name Len? Eeeek! she thought. It was possible, of course. Anything was possible. She bit her bottom lip as she thought it over. She certainly didn't want to hurt KJ's feelings if he was the mysterious Len, but what could she do? There were two boys in her life she cared about: Cory Dillon and Raven Blaine. And right now things weren't going very well with either one of them. So how could she possibly get interested in anyone named Len?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
For the next few days, Jerry sent word to Taffy that he was shooting around her, scheduling scenes she was not in. Even though Taffy knew movies were never filmed straight through from the beginning to the end the way plays were performed on stage, the new schedule made her nervous. Being left out gave her a feeling of insecurity, and she wanted to go to the set so that she could see what Paige was up to.
With me not around, there's no telling what she may do to get my part, Taffy thought.
However, Toodie and the director instructed her to stay at the hotel and rest her ankle. They even insisted that she see a doctor, but the doctor assured her that it was no more than a sprain and all she needed was rest.
Mrs. Sinclair did everything she could to keep Taffy entertained, bringing her books and magazines, but nothing helped.
"I'm going bonkers," Taffy complained to her mother one evening.
Just then there was a sharp knock at the door. "Oh, no," Taffy groaned. "Not another present from Len!"
"Sit still, dear," said her mother. "I'll see who it is."
When she opened the door, Tess and KJ bounded into the room shouting, "Surprise!" Tess was carrying a pizza box, and KJ had an armload of sodas.
"Hello, Mrs. Sinclair," said Tess. "We thought Taffy needed to practice her lines. Is it okay if we come in?"
"Of course," her mother said. "Taffy could certainly use some company."
"What has Paige been doing while I've been gone?" Taffy asked as soon as her mother had gone to the other end of the room and turned on the TV.
"Don't worry about Paige," said KJ as he opened the pizza box and passed out the Cokes. "She's not going to steal your role."
"Oh, no?" Taffy challenged. "I'll bet she's trying. How could I ever face anyone at home if Paige got my part?"
"Relax. KJ is right," said Tess. "Paige may try, but you got this role by beating out the competition, including Paige. Jerry won't give it to her now. Besides, you have a contract."
Taffy took a bite of pizza and thought about it. They were probably right, but she still couldn't forget how well Paige had played the flirting scene. She was a good actress. Jerry might decide to cancel Taffy's contract and give Paige the job if Taffy was absent from the set too long.
By the time they finished eating, Taffy was in a better mood. "Okay," she said. "Let's rehearse."
KJ pulled a few rolled-up pages of a script out of his back pocket. "I checked the call sheets, and the first scene we're going to shoot when you get back is the one where Tiffany and Jillian make up and decide to be friends. Let's go over that one."
"What!" shrieked Taffy. "What about the flirting scene? I thought we were supposed to film it next."
"Jerry wants to do that later," said Tess. "He said that the make-up scene is the most critical, and he wants to get right to work on it."
Taffy frowned. The make-up scene was the one she dreaded most. How could she possibly pretend to like Paige Kramer, even in the movies? It would take more acting talent than even she possessed.
Then she chuckled. "Hey, we can't rehearse that scene. Paige isn't here—and don't think you're going to call her and invite her over, either."
KJ shrugged. "We don't need Paige. We've got me!" He rolled his pant legs up to his knees, put one hand on his hip, and batted his eyes as if he were flirting. "Just because I don't have long red hair and green eyes doesn't mean I can't play the part," he said in a sultry voice. "That's what acting's all about."
Taffy shook her head in disbelief. "Tell me you're kidding. Please tell me you're kidding."
"He isn't kidding," said Tess. "Actually, I think he makes a pretty good Jillian Morris. Except he needs to shave his legs."
They all broke up laughing over that.
"Well," Taffy finally conceded, "I guess you can play Jillian Morris in rehearsal, as long as you roll your pant legs back down. I'll break up laughing and won't be able to say my lines if you don't."
"Okay," said Tess, "let's set up this scene. Jillian Morris's little sister, Kara, played by wonderful me"—Tess bowed to Taffy and KJ, "disappears. Everybody is worried that she was kidnapped or something awful like that. They've called the police, and the whole town is searching for her. Jillian is almost hysterical because she was supposed to be watching Kara when she disappeared."
"Enter our heroine, Tiffany Stafford," said KJ, pointing to Taffy. "Tiffany is a kind and wonderful person who loves little kids."
Taffy couldn't help giggling.
KJ frowned at her. "Well, aren't you a kind and wonderful person who loves little kids?"
"Of course," Taffy assured him. "That's why I went out searching for Kara in a raging thunderstorm and then remembered how I had gotten locked out of the house once when I was a little girl and had crawled into the doghouse to get out of the rain and fallen asleep."
"Right," cried KJ, stabbing the air with his finger. "Tiffany finds little Kara in the doghouse, and when she knocks on the door, Jillian answers."
Taffy looked at her script. How could she possibly say those lines? But then, when she glanced up at KJ and saw him purse his lips, pretending to imitate a girl again, she had to smile.
"Tiffany Stafford! What are you doing here? And what are you doing with Kara?" KJ asked in a high-pitched voice. "Did you kidnap her?"
"I found her asleep in your doghouse," said Taffy. "Nobody kidnapped her. She's fine."
Tess ran to KJ, burying her face in his stomach. "Jilly! Jilly!" she cried. "I was so scared when I couldn't get back into the house and I hid in the doghouse. But Tiffany found me."
"Okay," said KJ behind his hand. "Here's where things get syrupy." Then he straightened his shoulders and pursed his lips again. "Do you mean that you went out in this storm to look for my little sister?"
"Of course," said Taffy. "When I found out that she was lost, I had to help find her. It didn't matter whose little sister she was."
"I owe you an apology," said KJ softly. "You're a much nicer person than I thought you were."
"It's just as much my fault that we aren't friends—" Taffy broke off her speech, tossing her script into the air and looking at the others in disgust. "Yuck! Yuck! I'm going to throw up! I can't possibly say these lines to Paige Kramer."
"Take it easy," said KJ. "You're just acting, remember?"
"That's the problem," said Taffy. "My acting teacher said that the secret to great acting is not to act, but to become the character you're playing. There's no way that I can become Tiffany Stafford and actually want to make friends with Jillian Morris as long as she's played by Paige Kramer. It's just plain impossible!"
They didn't get much rehearsing done after that, and when Tess and KJ had gone and she was alone in her bed in the dark, Taffy thought about her predicament again. She was going to have to say her lines, no matter how she felt about Paige. She was going to have to say them and pretend she really meant them.
She turned over and buried her face in her pillow. Being a movie star was certainly a lot more complicated than she had expected.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
"It's good to have you back," Jerry called out to Taffy from his director's chair the first morning she was b
ack on the set.
"Thanks," said Taffy. "It's terrific to be back." She had never meant anything more in her life. All those days of sitting in her hotel room with her foot propped up on a pillow had given her a terminal case of cabin fever, and even the cameraman who she suspected was Len was a welcome sight.
Then Taffy spotted Paige. She was standing beside the front door of the building they were using for Jillian Morris's house, and she clearly was not the least bit glad to see Taffy.
"Well, if it isn't our little invalid," Paige said sourly.
Taffy stared at Paige, letting every bit of anger she felt focus in her eyes. "Listen, Paige Kramer. I don't know who you think—"
"Hi, everybody," Tess broke in. She had come bouncing up behind Taffy and now stood between the two girls. "It looks as if it's just the three of us for this morning's shoot."
Neither Taffy nor Paige acknowledged her. Their eyes were still locked in anger.
Tess turned to Paige. "You should have seen KJ playing your part when he and Taffy and I rehearsed this morning's scene a few nights ago. He was a riot, wasn't he, Taffy?"
"Yeah. A real riot," Taffy answered in a monotone voice.
"Places, everybody! It's time to run through the scene," called the director.
Suddenly there was a flurry of activity as the key grip brought the equipment into place and the gaffer adjusted the lighting to make the set look like a cloudy day just after a rainstorm.
Tess tugged at Taffy. "We'd better find our marks," she said, and Taffy noticed for the first time that Tess had been made up to look as if she had actually been out in the rain. Her face was streaked with mud and her hair was hanging in damp clumps.
"Okay," said Taffy. She retied the laces on her sneakers and smoothed her pink sweatsuit. Then she took Tess's hand and headed for the side yard from which they would make their entrance on camera. "Here goes nothing," she muttered.
"It's okay," Tess insisted. "Remember, you're an actress."
Paige had disappeared behind the front door as the AD called for quiet on the set, and Jerry held up his hand for action. On his cue, Taffy and Tess walked across the grass and up the porch stairs. Then Taffy knocked on the door.
An instant later Paige opened it and gave a sharp cry of surprise. "Tiffany Stafford! What are you doing here? And what are you doing with Kara?" Then she glared at Taffy and asked angrily, "Did you kidnap her?"
Taffy narrowed her eyes. "I found her asleep in your doghouse," she snapped. "Nobody kidnapped her. She's fine."
Tess ran to Paige. "Jilly! Jilly!" she cried. "I was so scared when I couldn't get back into the house, and I hid in the doghouse. But Tiffany found me."
Paige tried to smile, but Taffy could see that it was taking all her effort, and the results were not terrific. "Do you mean that you went out in this storm to look for my little sister?" she asked.
"Of course," said Taffy. She was trying to smile, too, but she had the feeling that her smile was no better than Paige's. "When I found out that she was lost, I had to help find her. It didn't matter whose little sister she was."
Taffy tried to keep the smile on her face. I should get an Academy Award for this performance, she thought.
But the scene wasn't over yet. The hardest part was still to come.
"I owe you an apology," Paige said flatly. "You're a much nicer person than I thought you were."
Taffy gritted her teeth and replied, "It's just as much—"
"Cut!" cried the director. He jumped out of his chair and stomped toward them. He was frowning and his cigar was clamped tightly between his teeth. "This is the worst performance I've ever seen in my life," he roared, looking first at Paige and then at Taffy. "In fact, it's disgusting."
"But Jerry—" Paige tried to protest.
"Don't 'but Jerry' me," he said. "I've known for a long time that you two were having trouble getting along, but it has to stop. You're both professional actresses, and you have a job to do."
Taffy felt fire climbing up her neck and consuming her face. She had never been so embarrassed in her life. "I'm sorry," she said feebly.
"I don't want to hear that you're sorry, either," Jerry snapped. "What I want is a good performance. I want both of you to go home and study your lines and be back here tomorrow morning ready to act! Is that understood?"
Taffy nodded as the director stormed off the set. She couldn't move. She felt rooted to the spot. Then she noticed that Paige had not moved either. Suddenly Paige began to shout.
"You think you're such a big deal, Taffy Sinclair! Well, you're not! You don't know anything. Not anything!"
Taffy sucked in her breath in surprise. But before she could respond, Paige was shouting at her again.
"You don't know how awful it is to have a great acting career going and then lose it because your parents' marriage is falling apart, and they think that if they move someplace new, everything will be all right. Well, it wasn't. Not for them and not for me."
Paige stopped to catch her breath, and Taffy could only stare at her in bewilderment.
"Nobody liked me at the new school. In fact, they hated me. They had all seen Daddy's Little Darling, and they were jealous. The girls hated me because I'd been a star, and the boys . . . I don't know what was wrong with the boys. All the other girls had boyfriends, but the boys treated me like I was some kind of freak!"
Tears were streaming down Paige's face now. Taffy looked at her, her own anger forgotten. There was a familiar sound to Paige's story. So familiar that it hurt.
"Then my parents split and my mother brought me back here to California. I thought everything was going to be okay again. I thought I'd get back into show business. But there weren't any television shows that needed someone my age. That was okay because Bouquets and Rainbows Productions announced a new movie, Nobody Likes Tiffany Stafford. I read the script. I knew the part of Tiffany Stafford was meant for me because I knew exactly how Tiffany felt. I could play it better than anyone else in the world."
Paige dropped her eyes and sniffed back tears. "Then you came along. You got my part. I have to play the villain. Now everybody who sees this movie is going to hate me. And I don't blame them! I hate myself!"
Paige whirled around and ran from the set, leaving Taffy standing there alone with Paige's words ringing in her ears. But how could some of them be Paige's words when she had said them herself? Taffy wondered. Nobody liked me at school . . . In fact, they hated me . . . They were jealous . . . I knew the part of Tiffany Stafford was meant for me because I knew exactly how Tiffany felt . . . I could play her better than anyone else in the world.
"I didn't think anyone felt that way but me," Taffy whispered as she headed slowly for her trailer.
All the way home from the set Paige was on her mind, and when she got to her hotel room, she checked her watch and then raced to turn on the TV. The timing was perfect. It was noon, and just as she sank onto the sofa, Daddy's Little Darling appeared on the screen.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The little girl on the screen had red hair and green eyes, and she was absolutely darling. She was so cute and funny and such a good actress that Taffy almost forgot that she was watching Paige Kramer, the girl who had been her enemy ever since she arrived in Hollywood.
When the program ended, Taffy sank back into the sofa and stared out the window, thinking about her life in Mark Twain Elementary. Nobody had liked her then, either. The kids were jealous of her looks and of the fact that she got modeling jobs and later got parts in television commercials. She had wanted to be friends, and it was awful to always be so misunderstood. That's why she had known that she could play the part of Tiffany Stafford better than anyone. She knew how it felt. She had been there. But now she knew that Paige Kramer had been there, too.
Taffy blushed as she remembered the Saturday-morning shoot at the mall and how she had stolen Paige's autograph-hunting fans away from her. And how she had called Paige a has-been on the way to the beach.
Turning off
the television set, Taffy tried to study her lines, but she had a hard time concentrating. She couldn't forget the look on Paige's tear-streaked face when she shouted, "Everyone who sees this movie is going to hate me! And I don't blame them. I hate myself!"
Still, thought Taffy, there's only one starring role in the movie. Only one Tiffany Stafford. And I won the part fair and square.
When Taffy reached the set the next morning, she looked around timidly for Jerry Lowenthal. She had finally been able to practice her lines in front of the mirror the night before, trying her best to get them perfect. She would die if the director yelled at her again today.
Instead of Jerry, the first person Taffy saw was Paige. She was standing beside the front door of Jillian Morris's house just as she had been the day before, but this time she looked angrier than ever. Taffy felt the breath go out of her like air out of a balloon. How was she going to face Paige after yesterday's outburst? How could they possibly act the scene together now? Part of Taffy wanted to run to Paige and tell her that she understood. That she knew how it felt to be picked on and misunderstood. But another part of her held back. Paige might laugh in her face. There was no guarantee that Paige would understand Taffy.
When Tess arrived, Jerry called for a rehearsal. It went like clockwork. Tess, Taffy, and Paige all spoke their lines perfectly, although Taffy could tell that Paige was as nervous as she was.
"Good job, ladies," said Jerry. "I knew you could do it. Now, let's roll the cameras."
Taffy and Tess hurried to the side of the house. Taffy took a deep breath and bounced from one foot to the other as she waited for the scene to begin.
"Don't let Paige make you nervous," said Tess. "Just get out there and say your lines the way you did in rehearsal. You'll do fine."
