Taffy Sinclair 011 - Nobody Likes Taffy Sinclair (6 page)

But what do I really mean? thought Taffy as she hung up the phone. She had never felt so totally confused before. She went back to her room and pulled Paige
'
s letter out from under her pillow, then read it once again.

I
like Cory a lot, she thought. And I do want to go steady with him and fit in at Wakeman. But
can
I fit in? My best friend spends half her time with someone else. And I can
'
t seem to forget Hollywood and Raven Blaine.

For the next few days, Taffy raced home every day and checked the mail for a letter from Raven. Every day she was disappointed. At first she made up excuses for why he hadn
'
t written.

He
'
s busy.
But Paige had written they went to the beach. If he had time to do that, surely he had time for a letter.

He's lost my address.
But if he got it from Paige in the first place, he could get it from her again.

Finally there was only one reason she could think of for not hearing from Raven.
He doesn't like me after all,
she decided.

G
radually life at Wakeman Junior High got back to normal for Taffy. Most kids seemed to forget that she was a movie star, and they stopped staring at her in the halls and whispering behind her back. Word had spread quickly that she and Cory were going steady, and now she was sure that the jealous looks she got from other girls were because she was Cory Dillon
'
s girlfriend.

Still, she couldn
'
t help feeling a little depressed at how ordinary life at Wakeman was after the excitement of the movie set.

"
It
'
s so boring. All I do is go to the same old classes at the same old times day after day,
"
she complained to Shawnie one day at lunch.
"
At least when I had a tutor on the set, I could work on whichever subject I felt like
at the moment, just as long as I got it all done. And I only had to spend three hours a day in school. The rest of the time I rehearsed with the other kids or shot the scenes. It was definitely a lot more fun.
"

Shawnie nodded.
"
It does get pretty boring here sometimes,
"
she admitted.
"
If it weren
'
t for Media Club, I
'
d go berserk.
"
Shawnie put down the sandwich she had started to bite into and looked at Taffy.
"
Hey, I
'
ve got a great idea. Why don
'
t you join Media Club?
"

"
Media Club?
"
Taffy echoed.
"
Why would I want to do that?
"

"
What do you mean,
why
?
"
asked Shawnie.
"
You already know that we
'
re doing a weekly show on the local cable television station. It
'
s called
The Wakeman Bulletin Board.
If you got involved, it would give you a chance to get back in front of a camera again. You
'
d love it. Besides, it
'
s something we could have a blast doing together.
"

Taffy gave Shawnie a skeptical look.

"
I can see it all now,
"
said Shawnie, bubbling with enthusiasm.
"
The greatest show biz team of all time: Pendergast and Sinclair. Ta-DA! Whoops!
"
she added, laughing,
"
Sinclair
and Pendergast, of course.
"

T
affy smiled, but then her face clouded.
"
I don
'
t know,
"
she said slowly.
"
It wouldn
'
t be anything like Hollywood.
"

"
Of course not,
"
Shawnie conceded.
"
But it
'
s fun
anyway. And with your experience, I
'
ll bet there
'
s a lot you could teach us—Mr. Levine included.
"

Interest flickered in Taffy
'
s mind. She hadn
'
t thought of it that way. It would be fun explaining to everyone how movies are made. She might even be able to suggest ways to improve the TV show.

"
Come on, Taffy, say you
'
ll do it,
"
pleaded Shawnie.
"
Come with me today. We
'
re going to be filming this week
'
s show.
"

"
Well
. . ."
Taffy hesitated.

"
Pleeeease,
"
said Shawnie, clasping her hands in front of her as if she were begging.

"
Okay,
"
said Taffy.
"
I
'
ll try it once.
"

The more Taffy thought about Media Club during her afternoon classes, the better it sounded. Producing a television show would be a lot more interesting than math or English. And Shawnie had been right when she
'
d said it was something fun that they could do together.

After school Taffy met Shawnie at her locker.

"
The club meets in the media center,
"
said Shawnie as she led Taffy through the halls.
"
This month I
'
m one of the reporters, so I won
'
t be in front of the camera.
"

"
On
camera,
"
Taffy corrected.

"
Yeah, sure. Whatever you say,
"
said Shawnie with an embarrassed laugh.

All conversation stopped when Taffy walked into
the medi
a center. Fu
nny Hawthorne and Beth Barry were moving chairs around, and they froze and stared at her. Shane Arrington and Jon Smith had been standing to one side talking, and they looked up, too.

Paul Smoke was the first to speak.
"
Oh, hi, Taffy. We
'
re fixing up the set so that we can film today.
"

"
You mean, you
'
re
dressing
the set,
"
said Taffy.
"
That
'
s what we call it in Hollywood.
"

H
er words were met with stony silence. Oh, no, she thought. I
'
m doing it again. I
'
m talking about Hollywood and and turning everyone off. Still, she thought stubbornly, I know what I
'
m talking about. I thought that the purpose of this club was to learn about things like that.

"
Come on, Taffy,
"
said Shawnie, tugging on her arm.
"
Let me show you around.
"

"
I know everyone resents me,
"
she whispered to Shawnie.
"
Did you see the looks on Beth
'
s and Fu
nny
'
s faces?
"

"
Don
'
t worry about it,
"
Shawnie assured her.
"
They
'
ll get over it when they see what a pro you are.
"

Taffy wasn
'
t sure they would, but she sighed and followed Shawnie on her grand tour.

"
Jon suggested this corner of the media center as our set,
"
Shawnie continued.
"
We think it looks a lot like the
Today
show or
Good Morning America,
don
'
t you?
"
Taffy looked at Shawnie in disbelief, but she didn
'
t reply.

"
And that big posterboard on the easel is the title for
our show. The camera zooms in on it at the beginning of each program. We had it professionally lettered. Doesn
'
t it look great?
"

Taffy nodded mutel
y. The Media Club was far more
professional than she could ever have imagined.

"
Well, hello, Taffy,
"
said Mr. Levine. He had been looking over the script when the girls approached, and now he glanced up and smiled cordially.

Before Taffy could return his greeting, Shawnie said,
"
Taffy wants to join Media Club. Isn
'
t that great? She
'
ll be able to teach us all kinds of things.
"

Taffy was sure she heard someone groan behind her, but she pretended not to notice.

"
We
'
re certainly glad to have you,
"
said Mr. Levine.
"
You might just want to watch today and see how we run our operation.
"

Shawnie pulled over a chair that had been moved off the set and motioned for Taffy to sit down, then perched on the arm beside her.
"
Paul Smoke and Tim Riggs are co-anchors, and Beth
'
s the director this month. I was director last month. It
'
s a hard job, but it
'
s fun to boss everybody around,
"
she said, giggling.

Taffy narrowed her eyes and watched Beth motion for Paul to scoot his chair a little closer to Tim
'
s. Some director, she thought. Beth doesn
'
t know the first thing about the job.
My
director, Jerry Lowenthal, would have noticed right away that half of Paul
'
s face will be in shadows. She glanced toward Jon Smith, blinking in amazement when she noticed that he was focusing an ordinary camcorder that rested on his shoulder.

"
He
'
s filming with
tha
t?
"
she asked in astonishment.

"
Hey,
"
Shawnie protested.
"
This is a low-budget show.
"

"
But
. . . but . . .
"
Taffy sputtered. She was picturing the set of
Nobody Likes Tiffany Stafford,
where massive cameras moved around on wheels, and the lighting equipment and reflectors created the right mix of lights and shadows, and the sound booms were carefully placed to pick up the slightest noise.

"
Where are the gaffers and the grips?
"
she wondered out loud.
"
Aren
'
t you going to block out the movements of the cast?
"

"
Gaff
ers and grips? What are those? J
okes and props?
"
asked Shane, and everyone laughed.

Everyone but Taffy. She could feel her face turning bright crimson. She knew everyone was watching her, so she took a deep breath and said as calmly as she could,
"
Gaffers are the people in charge of the lighting equipment, and grips are the workmen who move it around.
"

"
And I suppose that blocking out the movements of the cast is like blocking out football plays?
"
said Tim.

"
Right,
"
confirmed Taffy, glad that at least one person knew what she was talking about.
"
It
'
s really important so everyone feels comfortable on the set before the cameras roll.
"

"
Well, this isn
'
t
exactly
Hollywood,
"
Beth said sarcastically.

You can say that again, Taffy thought, but she didn
'
t say it. Instead she looked around at the corner of the junior high media center that was doubling as the set, and at the hand-held camcorder Jon was going to use to film the show, and at her old enemy Beth Barry—the director—who knew absolutely nothing about directing, and her heart dropped into her shoes.

"
No,
"
she whispered to herself,
"
this really isn
'
t Hollywood
at all
."