Perfectly British In An American Dream

Chapter 19

We filmed the same scene again and again until finally, just before lunch, Ralph said that he was happy. Exhausted we all piled over to the café to grab some lunch. I instantly grabbed the tuna and sweet corn sandwich as Thomas went for a plain cheese and tomato. The sun was beating down relentlessly and I don't know how Thomas didn't pass out from exhaustion running so many times. We found a bit of shade under a tree and sat down picnic style. Livy was discussing what she was going to wear for the party. Her description of the light yellow dress with turquoise decorations was incredible it was almost like I could see the dress from her words. "What are you wearing Faye?" I didn't pack anything for this, why don't I own something that I could wear to a party? "I don't have anything."
"Seriously, you don't own anything you could wear for a party?" Everyone's faces told me that saying I don't go to party's wasn't the right answer.
"I did have some stuff, back home, but I didn't bring them over." Livy's face lit up as she spotted an opportunity.
"Please can we go shopping! I know exactly where to take you, you'll love it!"
Thomas rolled his eyes at Dylan as he copied Livy's every action. Watching Dylan distracted me from her monologue about where she wants to take me to get the perfect outfit. "So I was thinking something like a navy blue would look good on you..." By this point Dylan was now making up extra exaggerated actions and Thomas was silently laughing his head off. It took all of my willpower to keep a straight face for Livy. "Sounds good, should we go straight after we finish here for the day?" She pauses her monologue to take a breath before answering. "Perfect!"

I finally finished my sandwich and then it was back to filming. We moved onto the second part of the scene where the group get together to help Verity remember what happened outside the city and to investigate her new "power." The scene was simple, but had a lot of lines in it so it took quite a few takes for everyone to get it right. The sun was low in the sky by the time the final take was finished, Livy ran over her face a mixture of excitement with a hint of cunning evil. We got into the car and Thomas dropped us off at the shopping centre. Immediately Livy grabbed my hand and dragged me into the nearest shop. We looked round for a while walking back and forth across the shop. I pulled out a black knee length dress for Livy to try on and she chose an amazing dark blue skater dress for me. We both tried them on and looked stunning, our reflections were perfect. "I think I might even prefer this to the one I already have." Livy said.
"No, I'm sure the other one is so much better, you should wear that one and not spend more money on another dress. In fact how much is this dress?" I spun round for her to look at the tag, "$100" she said, calmly as though that wasn't a huge amount. My gasp gave it away though and she caught on to my thoughts. "I'm paying though, think of it as a welcome gift!"
"I can't let you..." Livy interrupted me before I could finish, "I'm not having any buts, you're getting it whether you want me to pay or not!" She pushes me back into the changing room before closing the curtain. I slowly stepped out of the beautiful dress and thought carefully about my financial situation. I can't tell anyone about the deal I have with my Aunt or I'll never be able to enjoy my time in America, but I have next to no money. Maybe I should.... no I can't tell anyone, not yet. I stepped out of the changing room and handed the dress to Livy, "Only if you're sure?"
"I'm absolutely positive, it's your first American party present from me!" She raced off to the till and I waited near the door. As I looked out towards the rest of the shopping centre a flash caught my eye, a boy was standing in front of me and was taking my picture. My heart and brain stopped simultaneously. He walked up to me casually, "Hey you're Faye Masterson right? Can I take a picture with you?" My mind went numb, I couldn't think. A boy was asking me for a photo because he recognised me. Me! I couldn't speak so I just nodded my head and posed for the photo. He was waving me goodbye when Livy came over. "Who was that?"
"I have no idea he just came up to me and asked for a photo because he recognised me as being famous, I didn't think I would become that famous so quickly." Livy smiled as she started to walk towards he car park. "No one does, it's probably the fact that you were spotted with Thomas and Dylan so girls are jealous of you and the boys think you're cute. It happens more than you think." Her calm view on the situation frightened me, "How come you know so much about this?" Her smile grew slightly fainter, "I went through it too, I was photographed with some people at a party a friend was having and then everyone seemed to know my name, it really freaked me out at first, but then it really helped me to land acting roles so I learnt to embrace it." We found Thomas asleep in the car, obviously came back early and was tired from filming. I knocked on the window until he finally woke up and let us in. "I promise I wasn't sleeping." He said.
"Looked like that to us." I replied.
"Did you get what you needed?" He started out of the car park and headed back to the hotel.
"We sure did, it looks incredible on her!" Livy's excitement had finally worn off on me and I was starting to get excited again about the upcoming party, even if I was likely to be recognised, nothing too bad could happen, right?

I'm so sorry for the long wait for the update, I promised to be more regular and it turns out I can't so I'll try again now, but don't hold your breath. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and the next should be easy to write about so it should be out quickly. Thank you for sticking with my irregular update schedule and I hope you continue reading!!
- C