Chasing for Answers

Chasing for Answers (Chap. 12)

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12. New Beginnings

"Last minute touchups people!"

I walked on set, ready to get started. It had been a month since the incident, and we were finally back on set, everyone pretending nothing had happened. We were all starting over.

"Oh, lookie here," Keely's high pitched voice said from the side.

"What do you want, Keely?" I asked wearily, continuing to walk. I could already tell she hadn't changed, even after everything that had happened.

"Nothing really. I'm just surprised that you came back. After the little accident I doubted that a momma's girl like you would actually have the guts to step back on set of a horror movie."

I stopped in my tracks, clenching my fists. I spun to face her and stepped forward, anger seeping out of me. That was just the last straw and I stuck my finger in her face as I spoke.

"Look, Keely," I said harshly. "I really don't understand why you don't like me. I have done nothing to deserve this. But what I'm about to say to you, you deserve to hear: You should be glad that I got this part instead of you. How would you have felt if your mother died? Huh? Would you be so eager to torment me? Right now, I think the wisest thing for you to do now is back the hell off and appreciate the fact that I'm a better actress than you are." I turned away from her after seeing the horrified look on her face and stormed away.

Tyson ran in front of me and grabbed my upper arms. I tried to break away; I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone anymore. Not even him.

"Mel," he said, keeping me still. "Calm down. I saw you talking to Keely. What happened?"

"She just got on my nerves, that's all," I muttered, avoiding his eyes. He could spot a lie in a second.

He held my chin with one hand and forced me to look at him. "Tell me the whole story."

I did, and he just nodded. And when I was finished, all he did was hug me. I gratefully breathed in his scent and overall good aura.

"Let's just get this day over with, and then we can relax at the hotel together," he offered.

I nodded, really wanting that.

Tyson led me over to the cameras, where the crew was waiting to begin shooting the film-all over again, if I may add. As we walked past Pierce-yes, somehow he was still the director and hadn't been fired-he stopped me. I stiffened. He was one of the people I wanted to talk to the least, almost at the same level as Keely.

"Melody," he said, oblivious of my attitude. "Could I introduce you to someone?"

"Sure," I said hesitantly.

I wasn't sure what my opinion of Pierce was anymore. He definitely wasn't high on my list of favorite people, maybe not even on it at all. He was certainly pretty low on my father's list. He had wanted to sue Pierce for all he was worth for being so irresponsible in his casting, but I had persuaded him out of it. I knew Mom wouldn't have wanted it.

Interestingly enough, Cassandra's family sued him instead, for much more than they really needed to. And, to mine and my dad's shock, they gave us a very generous share of the money. We took the money appreciatively, not able to show how thankful we were. But we did thank them.

I watched as Pierce turned and motioned for someone to come. A middle aged man, about the same age as...one of my previous co-actors, walked over to us. I was weary of what to expect.

The man looked very kind, but first appearances never said much. His hair was a sandy blond, and his eyes were a nice hazel. He looked like he had some decent muscles, but he wasn't ripped or anything. And for some reason, I recognized him.

"This is Melody Danson," Pierce told the man. "She's our Leah." He turned to me. "Melody, I would like to introduce you to Norvin Andrade. He's going to be our criminal."

"Oh," I said. The man to replace our old criminal-who was now in jail for real, much to my relief.

"Nice to meet you," Norvin said, sticking out his hand.

I shook it. "You too," I replied. As we released each others' hands, I felt an arm go around my waist. Tyson was back at my side. But if that was only because this guy was the new criminal, and he thought he would go berserk too, I was about to have another talk with him.

"Oh, hello, Tyson," Norvin said to him.

Tyson smiled at Norvin like they were old friends, so maybe what I thought wasn't true. "Hey, Norv."

"How've you been?"

"Pretty good. I've just been trying to keep this girl here happy."

Norvin smiled. "That's good. I'm sure you've had some extra work cut out for you the past few weeks."

He nodded sadly. "Unfortunately."

"I wasn't that bad," I protested, guilt seeping into my voice.

Tyson smiled at me and kissed my cheek.

"Well, you won't have any trouble like that with me," Norv assured us. "I'm not about to go loco anytime soon. I like not being trapped in a strait jacket."

He and Pierce laughed, and Tyson and I forced some chuckles out of ourselves. But I wasn't unaware to the automatic tightening of Tyson's arm around my waist. I wasn't annoyed with it though.

"Well," Pierce said after he quieted his laughter. "I believe it's time to get started. Everyone on set!"

With a wave, Norvin walked away, and Pierce went to go talk to the cameraman before we started.

"I think you'll be okay with Norv," Tyson said, turning to face me head on. From the look on his face, he was being completely serious and wasn't hiding anything from me this time.

I nodded. "Alright. No weird rumors about him?"

Tyson shook his head. "None. And I've worked with him before. He's a generally nice guy."

"Which movie was he in?" I wanted to know why he seemed familiar.

"Golden," he answered.

"Oh. That's right. Now I know why I recognized him." He had been the father of Tyson's character in that movie.

He smiled and led me to the set. We were redoing the kiss scene first, despite the fact that...alright, I'll say it-Dixon hadn't been in that scene. We all just wanted to start off fresh, and we were going through the whole movie again. I really wasn't happy about that, considering I had already worked really hard on those scenes, but still having Tyson as my co-star made everything a lot easier to bear.

"Okay, guys," Pierce said. "Get situated."

We stepped into our places as the lighting and cameras were adjusted.

"Ready...lights, camera.... Action!"