“I hadn’t thought of that!” I cried, clapping my hands over my eyes.
“I had,” Nydia said.
“It doesn’t matter anyway because they will be in Sherwood Forest or wherever and you will be in Hollywood. Thousands of miles away. So don’t even think about them. Concentrate on the screen tests. If we all get parts in this film we can spend the whole of the summer in America, and it will be so much fun! My mum might even be in LA for a week in August and I haven’t seen her since Easter, so she’s bound to let me go shopping with her credit card. And once Sean takes the part of Sebastian the whole town will be after him again. All the paparazzi wanting to shoot his picture, C! the Celebrity Channel will want to interview him, and everyone will be wondering – who is that mysterious yet glamorous blonde girl with him? Me, that’s who it will be, and then I will be on TV and in every magazine, and Teen Girl! Mag can go and take a running jump.” Anne-Marie clapped her hands together. “It’s going to be so exciting!”
If only she knew what I knew she wouldn’t be so happy. I felt a knot in my tummy and looked out of the window. Maybe Anne-Marie was right. Maybe I should stop thinking about Danny and Hunter getting to know each other in Sherwood Forest. They were thousands of miles away and there was nothing I do about it. j Just had to put it out of my mind. What I couldn’t forget so easily was that in order to keep my promise to one best friend, I had to lie to another. It was a difficult place to be.
Mum and I had helped Jeremy find a nice house in Highgate, not too far away from our house. But he had decided to keep his house in Beverly Hills after all and I was glad of that because he’d said that we could all stay there while we were in Hollywood. There were three adults and five kids on the trip. Mum was in charge of me, Nydia and Anne-Marie, as Nydia’s parents couldn’t get time off work and Anne-Marie’s mum and dad were working on the other side of the world again. I thought it was a bit much, because even when Anne-Marie was going halfway around the world, she still couldn’t seem to catch up with her parents. Sean and his mum were coming, and Gabe and his dad. Jeremy wouldn’t be there. He was in a play about seagulls in London, getting rave reviews. But his chef and housekeeper, Augusto and Marie, were and best of all his little dog David, who I had really missed quite a lot, although I would never tell my cat Everest that.
“This place is huge!” Nydia exclaimed as our minibus drew up to the front door.
“It’s amazing,” Anne-Marie said, sliding her sunglasses down her nose so she could get a better look at the house. Back in London Anne-Marie lived, more or less by herself, in one of the biggest, grandest houses I had ever seen, so for her to be impressed by Jeremy’s place was pretty unusual.
“All the houses round here are like this,” I told her. “This is where all the film stars live.”
Looking at Jeremy’s house made me feel a bit funny in the pit of my stomach. The last time I was here it was the most unhappy I’d ever been, even more than when Mum and Dad were splitting up, because at least then I knew they loved me. When I ran away from Hollywood, I didn’t think that anyone did. This time would be different I told myself. This time if I didn’t enjoy it out here, I knew Mum would take me straight home. And anyway I was different now. I was fourteen and I wasn’t a little girl any more.
“Oh my God, what is that!” Anne-Marie shrieked as David raced out of the front door and leapt into my arms. I grimaced as he licked me all over my face with his tiny rough tongue.
“This is David,” I managed to say. “He’s Jeremy’s dog. He look likes a rat, but actually once you get to know him he’s quite nice.”
“He hasn’t forgotten you,” Augusto said as he walked out to greet us, followed by Marie. “I think he sensed you the minute you got off the plane; he’s been waiting by the door for an hour.”
“Augusto!” I said, giving him a big hug that nearly squeezed David to death. “And Marie, it’s so nice to see you two again!”
“We’re very glad to have you and your friends stay with us,” Marie said, smiling at everyone. “Especially you, young lady. You gave us such a fright the last time. Come on, I’ll show you your rooms and then Augusto and I thought some cool drinks and sandwiches by the pool.”
“Woohoo!” Gabe whooped and Nydia laughed as everyone ran off to find which room they would be staying in.
“Coming in, honey?” Sean’s mum watched as Sean crouched down on the drive and made a fuss of David, rolling him on his back and tickling his little tummy.
“Be right there,” Sean said.
I knelt down next to him as he stroked the dog. “Feeling weird?” I asked.
He nodded, but didn’t look at me. “You?”
“Yeah, I am, but I reckon I’ll be OK. I’m not on my own this time, am I?”
Sean smiled at me, his blue eyes twinkling. “I’ll look out for you,” he said.
“So have you worked out how you’re going to give your mum the slip, go and find your dad and see if you can work things out with him, all while somehow managing not to get the lead part in a film that would be perfect for you and getting your picture in every single magazine on the whole planet?” I asked him.
Sean shook his head. “Nope. But I’m working on it.”
“Well, let me know when you do,” I said.
“Don’t you worry, Ruby, you will be the first to know,” Sean told me, standing up and offering me his hand. Somehow that didn’t make me feel any better.
Half an hour later and all of us kids were in the pool, while the adults sat around it eating some of Augusto’s amazing BLTs. David was sitting up on his hind legs and begging for scraps.
“This is the business,” Mr Martinez said. “You get yourself a life like this, son, and I’ll be happy.”
“I will do when I’m playing for Arsenal,” Gabe said, winking at Nydia and making her laugh. I noticed that those two had started to spend quite a lot of time together lately.
“We’ve got an early start tomorrow,” Mum said. “We all have to be at the studios at eight, so you all need an early night tonight.” Everyone groaned. “I’m serious. No midnight feasts or talking after lights out.”
“Mum!” I protested. “We’re not babies any more. We don’t do midnight feasts.”
“Mmm well, good,” Mum said. “Come on, you lot. Out and get ready for bed. It’s a big day tomorrow and you’ve had a long day.”
Moaning, the five of us pulled ourselves out of the pool and wrapped ourselves in bathrobes.
“You can actually see the Hollywood sign from here,” Anne-Marie said, smiling at Sean. “This place is so amazing, aren’t you glad that you’re back?”
Sean looked, his face expressionless. “I don’t know yet,” he said.
“Of course you are,” Anne-Marie said. “It’s going to be great! You’ll get the lead in the film and you’ll be famous again, and the whole town will love you and me, your girlfriend, and I’ll get my big break and nothing will ever be the same.” Anne Marie flung her arms around Sean and hugged him.
“We’ll see,” Sean said, glancing at me over Anne-Marie’s shoulder.
“Don’t be silly,” Anne-Marie said. “When have you ever not got a part that you’ve gone for?”
“There’s always a first time,” Sean said.
Later,