Starbird

Chapter 23

Somehow James convinced me to come to set again on Saturday. School that week had been exhausting as it was all prep for finals next week, trying to avoid Rowan as much as possible, and I wasn’t exactly up for waking up at a ridiculous hour in the morning. But here I was, slumped in the back seat with James asleep on my shoulder. Mom opted out of this excursion, claiming she had plenty of articles to write and submit, while Dad was spending the day out doing research. But because of their jobs, they got to sleep in and, for that, I was insanely jealous.

The car pulled into the lot’s parking area and I nudged James off my shoulder and said good bye to Rick. I had the lot pretty much memorized which was good considering to how often I had wandered off and gotten lost and I was barely paying attention as I made my way to the Zone. The lot was fairly inactive as all the actors got their hair and makeup done. As I entered the Zone, I saw three new faces sitting close together on the couch. They were all fairly young girls, the oldest looking girl couldn’t have been more than 12 years old, however I could tell they all seemed extremely comfortable sitting there. Two of the girls were playing hand games, the other reading a book.

“Good morning, Camille!” Finch fluttered by me, stopping in front of the coffee machine. 

“Hey Lisa, how are you?” I joined her, grabbing a cup for myself.

“Good! Busy. Getting prepared for when we go to France. Just a few weeks now!” She did seem a little more stressed than usual, her hair frazzling out of her usually perfect style.

“France?” I squeaked.

“Yes, of course. Didn’t James tell you?”

“No...” I said carefully. Maybe he had mentioned it?

“Oh, well next month we’re going to Paris for shooting the next segments. Should be exciting, but it’s a lot of planning.” She smoothed her hair back with her hand and sighed, turning to me, “And how are you?”

“I’m good. School is a bit exhausting.” That was the understatement of the century. At least APs were done.

“Well. Remember to get lots of sleep and drink lots of tea! Now have you met the Hawthornes?” I looked at her quizzically.

“Who?”

“The Hawthornes! Liam’s little sisters. They’re just over there. Let me introduce you to them.” I followed wordlessly, gripping my coffee. They all looked slightly like Liam, however there was a different look that they all shared that couldn’t be found in Liam. I couldn’t pinpoint it, but they didn’t look quite like him.

“Girls, this is Camille! She’s James’ little sister.” I cringed. How many times in my lifetime have I been introduced that way?

“Hi, I’m Victoria,” the girl who was reading said. Her hair was dark brown, similar to Liam’s and her eyes just as dark, but instead of the permanently tan skin, she was pale and freckled.

“I’m Alice. And this Zoe. We’re both eight.” Their hair was blonde. And I mean really blonde. Their eyes, though, were brown.

“So you’re twins?” I asked, bending forward to eye level as my babysitting training kicked in. They both nodded enthusiastically.

“But I’m older,” Alice said. Zoe frowned.

“We know, Alice.”

“They never stop talking about it,” Victoria said, looking over her book.

“And how old are you, Victoria?”

“Twelve.” I wanted to high-five myself for being right.