Sugar and Spice

“And … cut.” Matt, the director, made a motion with his hands. “Great job, girls. Stand by for the next segment, okay? We’re moving over to the statue garden. You can touch up now if you’d like.”

The four girls dispersed into small clusters of stylists and clouds of hair spray. Madison scanned the crowd as one of the stylists applied powder to her face. She still felt uneasy thinking that someone might be watching her and having no idea who it was.

She noticed Trevor standing nearby, talking to Dana and pointing to something on a computer monitor. Madison caught his eye, and he sauntered over to her.

“Good work,” he complimented her.

Madison waved the stylist away and tucked her arm through Trevor’s. “Can we talk about my big story line now?” she said in a low, eager voice.

Trevor nodded and signaled for her to click off her microphone. “Walk with me, and I’ll fill you in. We’re looking to start shooting these new scenes the day after tomorrow….”

Madison put the blackmailer out of her mind—for now—and listened intently to Trevor’s pitch.

3 SECOND CHANCES … SECOND THOUGHTS (#ulink_734d9147-f8da-50ea-8085-4f36d14c3d20)

Scarlett kicked off her very uncomfortable, very expensive—not that she had to pay for them—strappy gold sandals and leaned back on the couch. The series premiere, which she’d TiVo’d because she’d missed the private PopTV screening earlier, flashed across her TV screen: the opening credits, with Jane at her event-planning job … then Madison shopping … Scarlett walking through the USC campus … Gaby at the gym … then all four girls dancing at a club, goofing around, and laughing. The producers had been forced to dig up some unused footage from early last season, when they could all stand to be in the same room together.

“I hate these shoes,” she complained to Liam Ferguson, her boyfriend (although she was still getting used to thinking of him that way, since she’d never really had a boyfriend before).

“Really? You look hot in them.” Liam leaned over to kiss her neck, nearly spilling a bowl of popcorn in the process.

Scarlett blushed. Liam was just about the only person in the world who could make her blush. “Thanks. Soooo. I missed you at the party tonight.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” Liam said sincerely. “Was it fun?”

“I guess? They rented some insane house on Mulholland Drive for it. Mostly, it was a lot of talking to fans and posing for cameras and telling reporters the same things over and over again. ‘Are you and Jane going to make up?’ ‘You’ll have to watch and see!’ ‘Do you think Jane and Jesse will get back together?’ ‘You’ll have to watch and see!’ ‘Will you and Madison ever get along?’ ‘You’ll have to watch and see!’” Scarlett laughed. “So you didn’t miss a whole lot.”

Liam laughed, too. “Apparently not.”

They cuddled closer and lapsed into silence as the episode, called “Second Chances … Second Thoughts,” began. In the opening scene, Jane and Jesse were back together, but things were clearly tense between them as he griped about having to go to yet another one of her “events.” In the scene after that, at a spa, Madison and Gaby discussed Jane and Jesse’s relationship, with Madison remarking that even though they were back together, Jane was still hung up on “the guy she cheated on Jesse with.” Everyone who read a tabloid or had access to the internet knew that “the guy” was Braden James, although he couldn’t be named on the show since he refused to be on the show. Madison also informed Gaby that Jane unfairly blamed her, Madison, for Jesse finding out about “the guy” in the first place. Huh? That made no sense whatsoever. And when did this spa convo even take place? Gaby would have told Scarlett about it—wouldn’t she?

Of course, Scarlett knew there would be a disconnect between this episode and the girls’ “real lives.” A lot of the early Season 2 footage had been shot weeks or months ago, then edited by Trevor to create a narrative flow. The Season 1 finale, which aired in January, had ended with a teaser about whether Jane and Jesse would get back together or not. In the meantime, Jane and Jesse had already gotten back together, then broken up again. Jane hadn’t confirmed their split with the press because it hadn’t “happened” on Season 2 yet. Similarly, Jane had already moved out of Madison’s apartment and back in with Scarlett. Jane wasn’t allowed to talk about that to the press, either—not until the episode aired.

Not that any of this was a secret. Everyone in the world seemed to know what was going on in their lives already, thanks to paparazzi and tabloids.

Liam curled his hand around Scarlett’s, and she rested her head on his shoulder. On the screen, Jane was having an argument with Madison about Jane’s new dog, Tucker, and how he had chewed through another pair of Madison’s prized Manolos.

“Fascinating stuff,” Liam joked, reaching into the popcorn bowl. Tucker got up from his favorite spot on the living room floor and stared at Liam, sniffing hopefully, totally oblivious to the drama he was creating on TV. “No offense, but I’m kind of glad I’m not working on the show anymore.”

Scarlett punched him on the arm. “What? You don’t miss filming our riveting problems?”

“Nah. Here you go, Tuck,” Liam added, offering Tucker some popcorn. He wolfed it down.

Until recently, Liam was one of the camera guys on L.A. Candy. When he and Scarlett started dating, they knew it was against the PopTV rules, which stated unequivocally that the crew could not date the “talent.” Madison (who else?) discovered their relationship and outed them by tipping off someone at Gossip—and Trevor fired Liam as a result. Liam had been looking for a new job since then.

When the episode ended—with Scarlett telling some school friends about how much she missed Jane, and Jane confiding in Madison about her issues with Jesse—Scarlett got up from the couch and walked over to the fridge. She and Liam had the place to themselves, since Jane was at some new club with their friend Diego Neri. Scarlett scanned the contents: bottled water, a couple of sodas, a carton of sesame noodles, and yogurt. She grabbed the sodas and brought one back to Liam. “Drink?”

“Thanks. So are we still on for tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?” Scarlett frowned.

“The Inferno premiere. My friend got us passes.”

Scarlett gasped. “Ohmigod, I’m sorry, I forgot about that. I think I have to cancel. We’re filming.”

Liam took a sip of his soda and set it down on the coffee table. “You’re always filming these days,” he complained, pulling her into his arms.

Scarlett leaned against him. “Sorry. I’m just … you know, trying to make an effort.”

“Yeah, I know.”

The truth was, Season 1 had been an abysmal experience for Scarlett. She had hated the invasion of privacy as well as the fact that Trevor had edited her personality down to a bland, boring nothing. In response, she had behaved as uncooperatively as possible: not obeying Dana’s “stage directions” … blowing off shoots … and in general being the very worst of her usual badass self.

After much soul-searching, and a frank conversation with Trevor, Scarlett had decided to sign on for Season 2. She had promised him that she would tone down the attitude. In return, he had promised her that he would be more careful with his editing. Her raise had been a factor, too. The money was good—no, great—and Scarlett was going to use it to pay for her own tuition at USC, which would help her become more independent from her super–annoying, super-controlling parents.

Besides, she saw the whole thing as a game, an intellectual challenge. Trevor wanted her to be Hollywood Scarlett? She would be Hollywood Scarlett. If they started giving out an Emmy for “Best Actress on a Reality TV Show,” she would totally be getting it this year.

Of course, her relationship with Liam continued to be a problem as far as PopTV was concerned. He couldn’t be on the show because he used to work on the show. Which meant that a huge part of Scarlett’s “reality” couldn’t appear on TV. It was complicated—to say the least—although in some ways, Scarlett was actually glad she couldn’t film with Liam. Filming was work, and she didn’t want to mix business with pleasure any more than she already had to.

“So how are your classes going?” Liam said, breaking into her thoughts.

Scarlett shrugged. “You know. The same. My French lit seminar’s okay, though. We just started a new book called Sentimental Education. Have you read it?”

“Yeah. Flaubert is one of my favorite writers. Have you read Madame Bovary?”

As Liam described studying Madame Bovary at UCLA—he’d graduated from there last spring—Scarlett’s mind wandered to a subject she should really be bringing up with him: her college transfer applications.

She had originally chosen to attend USC because she and Jane had dreamed of moving to L.A. together. (They’d taken the year off after high school graduation to travel and figure out what to do with their lives.) And now that she was here … well, her new life was great in so many ways, especially now that she was with Liam, and her friendship with Jane was stronger than ever. And she had committed to giving L.A. Candy a second chance, at least for the next few months until Season 2 wrapped.

Even so, she continued to be haunted by the feeling that she might be missing out on something. Most of her classes at USC were less than challenging, and she wished she didn’t feel like she was smarter than 99 percent of the student population. Had she “settled” for a college that wasn’t the right fit just to be with her best friend? And was she going to continue “settling” now that she had a boyfriend?

And so several weeks ago, she had sent applications to a dozen different colleges: Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia, NYU, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, and others. Only the first two were in California, and they were many hours from L.A. by car. The rest were on the East Coast. She would know in the next few months whether she got in or not. And then she could make her decision about her sophomore year. It was good to keep her options open—right?

In the meantime, Scarlett hadn’t mentioned the applications to Liam, since they’d just started dating in January and things were going so well, or even to Jane, who had been through so much lately and needed her best friend around. She hated keeping a secret from them, but it couldn’t be helped. She would tell them sooner or later.

“Okay, you’re not listening to a word I’m saying.” Liam put his hands on her shoulders and shook her gently.

Scarlett blinked. “Huh? I’m listening! You were saying something about Flaubert.”

“Not. I’ve moved on to something way more interesting. Your birthday.”

“My birthday?”

“Yeah, your birthday. April twenty-fourth. I know it’s still a month away, but keep that night free, okay? And the next day, too. Because I have major plans for you.”

Scarlett raised her eyebrows. “Like what kind of plans?”

“It’s a surprise. Trust me, you’ll like them.” Liam smiled lazily and trailed his fingers across her cheek.