LEGO Friends: Lights, Camera, Girl Power! (Chapter Book #2)

by Cathy Hapka

Olivia sighed. “I’m still not sure. I thought

  about doing something about science, but I couldn’t

  figure out how to make it go with the theme of the

  contest.”

  “You’d better hurry up and decide,”Emma said,

  her face growing serious. “The deadline is only two

  days away.”

  Just then Mia came into the yard. She was

  holding a cute bunny in her arms. “I’m here!” she

  said.“And I brought Fluffy, just like you asked.”

  “Perfect!” Emma

  exclaimed. “Since

  you love animals

  so much, a photo

  shoot wouldn’t

  be you without

  a cute animal in

  it, too!”

  21

  Emma took lots of photos of Mia posing with

  the rabbit. Then she asked Mia and Olivia to pose

  together. All the pictures were turning out great!

  Later, Emma met up with Stephanie at the park

  for her photo session.“Sorry I’m late,”Emma said.“I

  stopped to take pictures of some fashionable clothes

  I saw in a store window on the way here.”

  “It’s okay.”Stephanie set down her laptop.“I was

  working on my book.”

  “Are you ready to be a fashion model?” Emma

  asked, smiling.

  Stephanie and Emma walked over to a trail at the

  edge of the woods. “These trees will make a good

  background,”Emma said. She held up her hands,

  pretending to look through a camera lens. “But the

  sun needs to be behind me when I take your picture.”

  “Okay. How about this?”Stephanie stepped off

  the trail and struck a pose.

  22

  “Freeze right there!” Emma backed up, still

  holding her hands up to frame the shot.

  “That looks perfect. One second. Just let me grab

  my camer—

  aah!

  ”

  Emma cried out and jumped aside as loud

  hoofbeats pounded up behind her. A second later, a

  white horse crashed out of the bushes.

  23

  “Snowball, whoa!” a familiar voice cried.

  “Mia!” Stephanie exclaimed. “What are you

  doing here?”

  Mia calmed the horse. Then she slid down from

  the saddle. “The stable owner asked me to exercise

  her new horse, so I brought her out here on the

  riding trail,” she said with a frown. “What are you

  two doing here? I thought you were doing all the

  photo shoots in your backyard. You shouldn’t stand

  on the trails like that!”

  24

  “Sorry,”Emma said. “But I wanted to take some

  pictures of Stephanie in the park. You and Snowball

  scared us, too, you know.”

  “Oh.”Mia looked down. “I guess you’re right.

  Sorry I got mad.”

  Emma relaxed. She didn’t mean to yell at her

  friend.“That’s okay.You’re right; we shouldn’t have

  been standing on the trails. But now that you’re here,

  how about a few photos together? You, Stephanie,

  and Snowball in a riding shot will be the perfect way

  to finish my fashion shoot of Heartlake City!”

  As the shutter on Emma’s camera clicked with

  each shot, her smile grew a little wider.

  This is going

  perfectly

  , she thought to herself.

  Cassie will think

  this is the most creative—and fashionable—entry

  for sure!

  25

  Chapter 5:

  Mia’s Animal

  Surprise

  “Good girl, Snowball.” Mia said later that

  afternoon as she led the horse into its stable. “Enjoy

  your hay.”

  Mia sighed as Snowball began munching. Seeing

  her friends in the park had reminded Mia that she

  needed to figure out

  a way to make her

  photos of animals

  work for the

  contest, too.

  26

  So far, she had lots of pictures of horses, cats,

  dogs, and birds around town.

  The trouble was, none of the pictures seemed

  exciting enough to impress Cassie.“Emma’s fashion

  shoot makes sense,”Mia said. “But somehow, a

  scrapbook of animals doesn’t seem as exciting.”

  Just then, the sound of hoofbeats distracted her.

  Mia walked toward the practice ring. Her riding

  teacher, Freya, was there on her horse.

  27

  Freya’s boyfriend was watching from inside the

  barn. And behind his back, Mia could see he was

  holding flowers for Freya. But unbeknownst to him,

  a hungry horse was sniffing at them curiously!

  “Oh!” Mia whispered to herself. “That’s too

  funny!” She tiptoed closer and took several photos

  of the pair. Then she looked at her pictures.

  Somehow they just didn’t seem to capture the

  heart of the moment.

  “There’s got to be a way to really show how

  special all the animals make Heartlake City.” Mia

  sighed.“ Maybe Olivia’s aunt, Sophie, will have some

  advice. She works with animals all day. She might

  know what to do.”

  When Mia arrived at the Heartlake City Vet,

  Aunt Sophie was standing outside.

  “Hi,”Mia called. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure,Mia,” Aunt Sophie replied. “I was just

  letting Freddy get some fresh air. Let’s go inside.”

  “Freddy?”Mia repeated. “Who’s Freddy?”

  28

  Suddenly, something small and hairy leaped in

  front of Mia, chattering with excitement. It looked

  like a fuzzy little person! Mia was so startled that she

  jumped into Aunt Sophie’s arms.

  Aunt Sophie laughed. “

  That’s

  Freddy,”she

  explained. “He’s a baby chimp from the zoo.”

  “Oh!” Mia grinned, feeling sheepish. “He’s . . .

  um . . . cute.”

  “And mischievous. We’d better bring him back

  inside,” Aunt Sophie said.

  29

  Mia was helping to put Freddy back in his cage

  when Olivia arrived at the clinic.“Aw, what a cute

  chimp!” she said.

  “Yeah,”Mia agreed, handing Freddy a toy to play

  with. The little chimp eagerly grabbed it and began

  chewing on it. “You should have been here earlier,”

  Mia said. She told Olivia about Freddy startling

  her. “I’ll bet it looked hilarious when I jumped into

  your aunt’s arms! Too bad nobody was here to take a

  picture for my project.”

  Olivia grinned. “Too bad nobody was here with

  a video camera.”Her eyes widened. “Hey, that gives

  me a great idea. Why don’t you do a movie about

  animals instead of just photos?”

  Mia gasped.“Olivia, you’re a genius!” she cried.

  “That’s the perfect way to make my project special.

  I’m sure I can get lots of great video of Heartlake

  City’s animals!” She paused. “But wait—you’re so

  good at technical stuff. And it was your idea. Don’t

  you want to do a movie as

  your

  project?”r />
  30

  Olivia shrugged. “That could be fun,”she said,

  looking down.“But even if I end up doing a movie, it

  won’t be focused on animals like yours. So go ahead!”

  “Great! Thanks a bunch for the idea!” Mia

  grabbed Olivia in a big hug. “I’d better go home

  and borrow my dad’s video camera. I’ve got some

  catching up to do!”

  31

  Chapter 6:

  Olivia on

  Her Own

  After Mia left, Aunt Sophie turned to her

  niece. She could tell something was wrong.“Olivia,

  shouldn’t you be working on your own project?” she

  asked. “I’ve been hearing about the contest from my

  clients all week. It sounds like every girl in Heartlake

  City is entering.”

  Every girl except me

  , Olivia thought sadly.

  “I haven’t come up with a good enough idea yet,”

  Olivia said softly.

  Aunt Sophie raised an eyebrow.

  32

  “But the deadline is Friday afternoon, isn’t it?”

  she asked. “Sweetie, what’s wrong? Why don’t you

  want to enter the contest?”

  Olivia sighed. “I still feel kind of new in town,”

  she said.“All my friends have such great ideas. But

  every time I ask myself what I like about living in

  Heartlake City, all I can think of is how much I

  enjoy hanging out with them.” Olivia shrugged.

  “I can’t really make an entry about that, can I?”

  Aunt Sophie put her arm around Olivia. “You

  know what I think?” she said. “I think you can make

  an entry about whatever you want. You should talk

  to Mia and the other girls. Maybe they’re having the

  same thought, and you guys can enter together.”

  Olivia shook her head. “No, we can’t. Only one

  girl can win the contest. It said so in the rules.”She

  took a deep breath.“It’s okay. Emma, Stephanie,

  Mia, and Andrea’s projects are all so cool. I’m sure

  one of them will win. And I’ve been helping them.

  So that’s almost as good as winning, right?”

  33

  That night, Olivia changed into her pajamas and

  flopped onto her bed. She was still thinking about

  what her aunt had said.

  The little puppy she

  was training hopped

  around the edge of the

  bed. “Sit!” Olivia told

  him. The dog flopped

  onto the floor and

  wagged his tail. “Good

  boy.”Olivia smiled.

  She patted the dog’s head. “I wish we could have

  all entered together,” she said. “I know we could

  have come up with the winning entry.” She reached

  over to her nightstand and picked up a picture she

  had taken with Emma, Stephanie, Andrea, and

  Mia earlier that summer. They were all smiling and

  laughing in the photo.

  “What I love about Heartlake City are my friends.

  34

  That’s what makes it special to me,”she said quietly.

  As Olivia looked at the picture, an idea slowly

  began to form in her mind. It was a great idea. A

  winning

  idea.

  Bong!

  Suddenly, the clock chimed. Olivia

  jumped, startled. It was ten o’clock on Wednesday

  night. There was only a day and a half left until

  contest entries were due!

  Olivia sighed. There wasn’t enough time to

  start a new entry now. After all, her friends were all

  almost done with their projects.

  She rolled over to go to sleep. Like Olivia had

  told her aunt, she was sure one of her friends would

  win. That was good enough for her.

  Chapter 7:

  Andrea’s Night

  to Shine

  35

  “Do re mi fa so la ti do!”

  Andrea sang.

  “Whoo!”

  Olivia cheered. “Sounding great, A!”

  It was Thursday afternoon, and all four of Andrea’s

  friends were at the café for her big performance.

  Olivia and Emma were sipping cocoa while Mia and

  Stephanie were working on their laptops.

  “I’m just warming up, silly,”Andrea said with a

  smile.“You don’t have to cheer yet.”

  Olivia shrugged. “Well, I still think you sound

  great.” Then she turned to Emma. “Doesn’t she?”

  “What?” Emma asked, looking distracted.

  36

  Olivia frowned.“Are you okay, Emma? You’ve

  been really quiet.”

  Emma was about to reply when Marie, the café

  owner, rushed over.

  “The camera is ready to go!” she exclaimed.

  Andrea looked over at the movie camera at the

  edge of the café and clapped with excitement. When

  Marie had heard about Andrea’s project, she had

  37

  offered to record Andrea on her old-fashioned

  film-reel camera, straight from Hollywood! It

  was perfect. Anyone could take a digital video of

  themselves. But this motion-picture film would

  make it extra glamorous. When Cassie received

  the Hollywood-style movie of Andrea singing her

  special song about Heartlake City, it was sure to

  stand out as the winning entry!

  38

  Andrea nodded. “I’m ready.”

  She held up her microphone and took a deep

  breath. Marie started the music.

  “No matter how far I roam,”

  Andrea sang,

  “Heartlake City is my home . . .”

  “Woo-hoo!” her friends cheered loudly.“You

  go, girl!”

  “And I work part-time at the café,”

  Andrea sang.

  “Is it a great place? All I can say is—”

  Andrea looked over to Marie. Suddenly, she

  noticed a woman sitting at the back table. It

  was . . . Cassie!

  “No way!” Andrea exclaimed.

  “Huh?” Marie said with a frown. Andrea’s friends

  looked surprised, too.

  Andrea gulped. She’d just messed up. Big time.

  She had turned the line “hip hip hooray” into“no

  way.”So it had sounded like she didn’t like working

  at the café! And Cassie was actually there, watching

  her performance live!

  39

  “I mean, uh, hooray?”

  she sang weakly.

  “Um . . .”She tried to remember the next line of the

  song.

  “Uh, then there’s our beautiful Heartlake Park,

  where we always hang out from dawn until dark . . .”

  Andrea managed to finish the song without any

  other mistakes. When the last note finished and the

  lights came up, Andrea glanced over to where Cassie

  had been sitting. But the television host had left.

  “Oh, no!” Andrea blurted out. “She’s gone!

  “Who’s gone?” Stephanie asked.

  “Cassie!” Andrea told her friends what she’d seen.

  “Oh, wow, Cassie was here?” Emma exclaimed.

  “It’s okay,”Olivia said, patting Andrea’s shoulder.

  “I know you messed up a bit. But you can record it

  again so it’s perfect for the contest.”

  �
��Yeah,”Stephanie agreed.“Cassie’s in show

  business herself. She’ll understand.”

  That made Andrea feel a little better. Hopefully,

  there was enough old-style film to record her song

  one more time.

  40

  Suddenly, her eyes grew wide.

  “What’s that cat doing over by the camera?” she

  exclaimed.

  Marie looked over and gasped. “Oh, no!” she

  cried. She picked up the kitten, who was completely

  tangled in the film!

  “She must have thought the film was a toy,”Marie

  moaned. “She’s pulled out the whole roll! It’s all

  gone. How can we record more now?”

  41

  Chapter 8:

  A Friendly

  Idea

  “Can you fix it?” Andrea asked anxiously.

  “I don’t think so,”Olivia said.“Film gets ruined

  when it’s exposed to light. You’ll need a new roll.”

  Marie shook her head. “It’s not easy to find that

  kind of film. It will take a week to order more.”

  “A week?” Andrea cried. “But the contest

  deadline is tomorrow!”

  “It’s okay.”Mia put an arm around Andrea.“I can

  film you with my digital camera.”

  “Thanks.” Andrea sighed. But it just didn’t feel

  the same.

  42

  “Here,”Mia said.“Let me save my movie and we

  can set up to rerecord your song.”

  Mia opened her laptop. “Actually, Olivia, I could

  use your help,”she said.“This video software has

  been giving me problems all day. I can upload and

  play a video, but I can’t edit it. Watch.”

  43

  The friends looked over Mia’s shoulder as she

  played a funny clip of a horse pushing a rider into a

  haystack.“See?” she told Olivia. “I can play it, but it

  won’t let me add it to my other clips.”

  “That video is hilarious!” Stephanie exclaimed.

  “Can you e-mail it to me?”

  “Sure,”Mia said. She clicked a few more keys.