Beep. Beep. Beep. Kaycee's second alarm went off. She had ignored the first one half an hour ago. It was 6:15 and she needed to get out of bed now if she had any chance of being ready by the time her ride came to pick her up in 15 minutes. She had been back to work on her hit TV show Don't Shoot Me for almost two months now but she still wasn't use to waking up early. She shut off her alarm and dragged herself out of bed and into a quick shower where she washed her face. After brushing her teeth quickly she picked up a pair or jean shorts from her floor and then went to her closet and picked out a white t-shirt, she slipped on a pair of black flip flops and pulled her long dark brown hair into a messy bun on the top of her head. She had recently dyed her hair back to its natural color after having it blonde over the summer for a role. Before she left her room she grabbed a dark green hoodie that matched her eyes perfectly and pulled it over her head, she took a quick look in the mirror before heading downstairs. She knew she didn't look her best this morning but it would do.
"Good morning darling," Charlotte Wallace chirped at her youngest daughter, she was a morning person unlike Kaycee.
"Morning mom," Kaycee said as she slumped into a chair in the kitchen.
"Let me get you some breakfast. I made waffles!"
"Abby and her mom will be here any minute to pick me up for work." It was now 6:29, any minute was right. Abigail Matthews was Kaycee's next door neighbor and lifelong best friend, she also happened to play her best friend on Don't Shoot Me and Abigail's mom, Leslie was their onset tutor.
"At least grab something to eat in the car." It was now 6:30 and right on cue the doorbell rang.
"I'll just get something at work. Bye mom. Love you."
"I love you too. I'll see you at dinner." Kaycee opened her door to find her best friend Abigail standing there wearing an outfit similar to hers with her short black hair was pulled in a ponytail.
"You look awake," Abigail said sarcastically.
"Well, good morning to you too my friend. And I am awake. Nearly," Kaycee said with her eyes half way closed as she was closing the door behind her.
In the car Charlotte put on some music to try and wake the girls up. It was the new Britney Spears song which usually did the trick.
"You know we have a musical guest on our show this week right?" Abigail asked.
"Actually I didn't know that." Kaycee said. "Or I must have known and forgotten."
"Didn't you read the script for this week?"
"No." Kaycee had meant to, she really had, but she had a busy weekend. On Saturday she had a charity event to help an animal shelter, the owner was a friend of her moms, afterwards she had a photo shoot for the movie she had filmed over the summer, and then it was time to hit the books before she got too behind on schoolwork. Sunday her dad's colleague was having a get together on his yacht so they had spent the entire day there. She knew she should have been more prepared. "That's what the table read is for." Abigail shot her a stern look. "Well tell me about this musical guest."
"It's a boy band called Dream Street. I Google searched them and they are a group of five guys about our age. They sang a song for the Pokemon movie and have a CD out." Abigail was always prepared. She looked over to the other side of the car and noticed Kaycee's eyes closing. "Kaycee!"
"What? Sorry, I'm awake. I'm listening. Musical guests. Dream boys. Pokemon."
"Right Kaycee… Anyway, I think it will be fun to have some boys around."
"Is that so?" Leslie Green asked.
"Yes mom. We don't get very socialized being home schooled." Abigail wasn't afraid to be honest to her parents. It was kind of hard not to when she spent so much time with her mom.
"Well then I'll try not to cramp your style girls," Mrs. Green said.
After a little while they had arrived at the studio. After putting their belongings in their dressing rooms the girls headed over to the craft service table to get some goodies. Both girls grabbed some green tea and Abigail also took a blueberry muffin, then they headed over to their stage where tables were set up for their table read. Kaycee sat in her usual seat and quickly skimmed though this week's script, she wanted to have some idea of what to expect.
It was their last week on tour with Aaron Carter and Matt Ballinger, Frankie Galasso, Jesse McCartney, Greg Raposo and Chris Trousdale, also known as Dream Street were in California. They had two more shows to do and then it would be home to New York for a while. While they were staying in California Brian and Louis, their group managers, actually managed to get them a guest spot on the hit TV show Don't Shoot Me.
"What is this show about?" Frankie asked in the car ride from their hotel to the studio. He was sure someone had told him before but before today it hadn't really mattered.
"It's a spinoff of a show called Just Shoot Me where Jack Gallo is a big time magazine editor who gets married to his daughter Maya's former classmate and has a daughter with her. He was a workaholic and that show was about him trying to get his family life back. The spinoff show Don't Shoot Me is about Jack Gallo retiring and trying to be more involved in his young daughter Hannah's life but ends up embarrassing her and causing ciaos. It's in its fourth season right now," Claudia explained, she was officially the groups choreographer but she had many other roles, one of them was to always know what was going on.
"So what are we doing there? Performing? I mean lip singing?" Matt asked. Every time the group was asked to perform on TV they were asked to lip sing even though the tracks were recorded years ago before their voices changed.
"You are going to do a performance. I think they want you to rerecord a song or two for the show so you'll sound like you do now and not when we first recorded the CD. Chris has a small part and I think all of you have a couple lines. I'm sure they'll go over it in more detail today when we get there," Claudia told them.
"Don't Shoot Me? That sounds familiar, I think my sisters watch the show," Greg said. "They like it a lot."
"My sister likes it too. I've seen it a couple times," Jesses added in. "That one stuck up actress is in it."
"Which one?" Chris and Matt asked together?
"This one," Jesse pointed to the tabloid magazine cover Claudia had. It was a picture of a pretty young girl with long blonde hair and the words 'Spoiled Brat' printed right above her.
"She's hot!" Chris said.
"Just because it's in a tabloid doesn't mean it's true. I heard she does a lot of charity work in her spare time," Claudia said, she was always up to date on the latest celebrity gossip almost like she thought of it as part of her job.
"Doesn't mean it's not true," Jesse said. "She probably just did the charity for attention. Typical Hollywood actress for you, they're all the same."
"Wait a second, is she the one who dated that actor Shawn Walker? He's the coolest!" Chris said.
"I think she did," Claudia said. "Whatever kind of person she is, I want you all to be nice to her and everyone else on set. Maybe we can get more of these appearances and get some more notice. It will be a good thing for the group." The car arrived at the studio gate and as soon as the car stopped there was someone to meet them.
"Hi, I'm Hilary. I'm a PA here. If you have any questions feel free to ask. I'll show you to your dressing rooms really quick and if you have anything you want to set down you can do so there. Then I think they'll be enough time to grab something to eat or drink before the table read starts. It's important everyone involved in the episode is there so there won't be any confusion on what will be happening this week," Hilary a young blond woman spat out. She showed them to two rooms at the end of a hallway to two rooms which would serve as their dressing rooms for the week. They dropped off some school work and other belongings and then followed Hilary to table full of breakfast goodies and drinks. The each grabbed something and then followed her to a table in the middle of the set.
"Feel free to take a seat," Hilary gestured to five seats on one side of the table. "The table read should be starting shortly. The scripts are your so feel free to write any notes you might find helpful." The boys each sat down in a chair. Frankie and Greg took a look at the scripts in front of them while Matt and Chris devoured their food. Jesse looked across the table and saw Kaycee Wallace sitting directly across from him. At least he thought it could look like her if she had on more makeup, even though he thought she looked pretty nice without it. Kaycee looked up from her script and into Jesse's eyes.
"Hi," Kaycee said with a smile.
"Hi," Jesse said back. He would play nice. He didn't want to get a bad reputation.
"Good morning everyone," Brandon Anderson, the Don't Shoot Me director said loudly. "Everyone here? Looks like everyone is here." Brandon looked around to make sure his statement was correct, it looked like all the seats were taken around the table and all of the important people were there at least. "Let's get started. I'm Brandon and I'm directing this week's episode." Brandon made everyone introduce themselves so the boys would feel comfortable and know who everyone was.
Then the table read began, this week's episode was about Hannah's, played by Kaycee, 15th birthday. Hannah just wants a small dinner at home with her family while dad Jack wants to throw her a big party. Jack ends up inviting Hannah's crush, played by Chris, to perform at her party. After noticing how unhappy Hannah is, Chris tries to make Hannah happy by convincing everyone to leave so Hannah can have the nice family dinner she originally wanted. To thank him for being helpful, Hannah kisses Chris.
Hannah was sure they had done a birthday episode before, only four seasons and they were already reusing old story lines. But this time she had to kiss a boy, something she wasn't looking forward to. In the past year that had become something the writers had liked to add into the script, Hannah kissing boys which meant Kaycee had to kiss boys. She was only 15 and didn't feel comfortable kissing boys in real life not to mention on camera.
The read through had lasted about an hour. It was time for the kids to go do some schoolwork while the lighting and camera angles were figured out.
"Boys I understand you brought some schoolwork with you. If you want you can come into the school room and Mrs. Green, our onset tutor, can help you with any questions you have," Hilary said to the boys. They grabbed their books from their dressing rooms and followed her to the school room where Kaycee and Abigail were already doing work.
"Hi. I'm Leslie. Take a seat and if you have any questions I am here to help," Mrs. Green said. The boys each took a seat and started to pull out their schoolwork. Everyone worked quietly on their work until noon.
"Okay. I think it's time for lunch," Mrs. Green told them after a timer went off notifying her that everyone had finished their mandatory schoolwork for the day. "I'll see you on set later. Have a good lunch," Mrs. Green then proceeded to leave the room for her own lunch break.
"So do you know where we can get some good food around here?" Matt asked breaking the ice.
"They didn't show you the commissary? That's where pretty much everyone goes to eat. They always have a good variety of food," Abigail said.
"No. Things were kind of rushed this morning. We went straight to the table read," Frankie explained.
"Okay. Well we can show you where it is," Abigail offered. Hilary popped her head into the room.
"I hear you are finished with your schoolwork and are ready for lunch. Would you like me to show you where the commissary is?" Hilary asked the boys.
"Abigail just offered to show us," Greg said. "But thank you." He remembered to be polite.
They all made small talk while walking over to the commissary to get lunch.
"Sorry if we seemed rude not talking to you when you came into the school room but my mom would have counted the time and made us make up the time. She's very picky in making sure we get the required amount of school time to the second," Abigail said.
"Mrs. Green is your mom? That's not weird?" Frankie asked.
"Yes and no, it's not too weird anymore. It took some getting used to. But some producers can be really stressful on minors since we have to do school work. They really pressure you to hurry up but you can't really rush the timer. It's kind of nice to have my mom there to make sure there isn't anyone trying to make us feel rushed and making things more stressful," Abigail explained.
"Makes sense," Matt said.
"Plus she's pretty fun and explains things really well. I'm learning more than I ever learned when I was in a real school," Kaycee added even though truthfully she kind of missed being around normal kids sometimes.
"So you're both tutored all the time?" Greg asked.
"Yes. Ever since I was 10," Abigail said.
"11 for me," Kaycee added.
"Do you miss school?" Matt asked.
"Sometimes but not really, it's easier to go at my own pace rather than trying either to rush or slow down to stay at the same pace of a class," Kaycee tried to explain. "Before I started on this show I had to do that when I did small projects and it was kind of tough. And it's not like we don't get to hang out with normal kids either. We still have a lot of the same friends from when we went to school that we hang out with now."
The commissary had endless choices of food. After getting some food they all sat at a table together and tried getting to know each other a little better. The boys learned that Kaycee and Abigail had known each other long before they started working together on the show. Their dads worked at a law firm together and their moms had been best friends since high school. They had grown up next door to each other and spent vacations together. The girls learned about the boys lives in New York and how they came to be a group. Without the awkwardness of a quite school room they were able to relax and get to know each other.
"So I guess you have to kiss me," Chris said to Kaycee making things a little bit more awkward but Kaycee laughed.
"I'm sorry. The writers have this new thing where they like to make me kiss anything that moves. I really don't see how that makes for good TV but I guess that's why I'm not a writer," Kaycee said making Chris laugh in return.
"You don't need to apologize. I worked on a movie over the summer and had to do an awkward kiss in front of thousands of fans. I'm sure this thing with you won't be worse than that," Chris said.
"That does sound pretty awkward," Abigail said.
"Yeah, I've had some pretty awkward ones but in front of your fans? I bet they got pretty jealous," Kaycee added.
"Kind of, I think most of the people there were either just shocked or happy to see us. But once it got all over the internet there were a lot of upset people," Chris said.
"I'll try not to upset them," Kaycee said.
"I think I'd probably make your fans angrier then you'd make mine," Chris said.
"Maybe, I have a lot of perverted older fans. I don't mind if they get angry. I think it'd make my dad happy," Kaycee joked.
"Have either of you ever been to New York?" Frankie asked changing the subject.
"I haven't, but Kaycee has," Abigail said.
"Just for work stuff, I didn't get to do anything fun. I would have loved to see a play on Broadway or go ice skating in central park," Kaycee said. "Maybe one day. How do you like living there?"
"It's pretty cool. There's a lot to do I guess. I guess it's kind of like California in a way. There's a lot to do but it's not such a huge deal when you live there," Chris said.
"I still like doing tourist things even though I've lived here all my life," Kaycee said. "But I think I understand what you mean."
"What is there fun to do around here?" Matt asked.
"Hollywood Boulevard is fun to walk around. There's Grumman's Chinese Theatre where the footprints are. There's a rundown compound where Hitler followers wanted him to come live," Abigail offered.
"There are a lot of good restaurants too, not just the fancy ones, those are overrated. But like in Burbank you can eat at the same booth where the Beatles once ate. Or In N Our burger, you can only get that in California and they have the best hamburgers and frys ever," Kaycee added.
"I like Griffith Park, there's the Merry Go Round where Walt Disney thought up Disneyland, and an abandoned Zoo, the Hollywood sign with some nice hiking if you have the time. And then of course there's the observatory which is my favorite," Abigail continued.
"There's a lot to do here, it just depends on what you like to," Kaycee said. "Do you have a busy schedule while you are here?"
"We have a concert on Wednesday and another one on Saturday, other than that we are just doing your show. I think Louis is trying to set up some interviews while we are in town. We leave back for New York on Sunday," Frankie explained.
"The least you could do is offer to show us around while we're here," Greg joked.
"Sure, we'd be glad to," Abigail said. "I mean if you really want."
"That would be cool," Frankie said.
"Yeah, I'd like that," Greg agreed. "How's tonight?"
"I'm supposed to be home for dinner with my family but I can call my mom and see if she can make an exception," Kaycee said.
"Maybe Hallie can drive," Abigail said referring to Kaycee's older sister who just turned 17.
"Okay, I'll call and ask right now," Kaycee said as she got up to leave the table. After a little while she came back with the news she was allowed to go.
After lunch, they began working out the blocking for the episode. Around 3:30 the kids were done for the day.
"How did you enjoy your day?" Claudia asked the boys in the car ride back to the hotel, the girls would pick them up shortly after picking up Hallie and of course dropping off Mrs. Green.
"Pretty good," Matt said.
"Kind of boring," Greg said honestly. "All we did was read the script and do homework."
"Tomorrow should be more interesting. In the morning we are going to a recording studio to redo two of your songs that will be used in the episode. Then I think you'll be going back to the set to do some rehearsals. They are also sending a camera crew over to do an interview about your guest appearance from some entertainment show," Claudia informed them.
"Sounds like a long day," Frankie said.
"At least it sounds more interesting than today," Greg said. He didn't mean to sound ungrateful; sometimes this business just wasn't that exciting. "Oh by the way we are going to go hang out with Abigail and Kaycee today. They are going to show us around the city a little bit."
"So you all ended up getting along?" Claudia asked looking at Jesse in particular. "Kaycee was nice to you? And more importantly you were nice to her?"
"I guess so. I still think the stories about her are true. But I'd rather go out and do something then sit in a hotel room," Jesse told her.
"I don't think I'm going to go," Matt said. "Samantha would be mad if she found out I was hanging out with other girls, pretty girls. Not that I think they are pretty but she would."
"You're crazy Matt. They are pretty," Frankie said.
"You just want to make out with Abigail," Greg said.
"No I don't," Frankie lied.
"It's alright. I'm all for making out with cute girls," Greg said.
"She is cute," Frankie admitted. "But what's the point if we are leaving on Sunday."
It was about 4:30 and the girls were almost at the hotel where the group was staying.
"So tell me about these guys," Hallie said, she was driving her parents van that they had bought just for family trips so it didn't get much use; it was an older model but it still looked brand new.
"They are in a singing group and are all 17. Except Jesse who is 15. And they are all pretty cute and nice," Abigail said.
"Who do you think is the cutest?" Hallie asked.
"I really like Frankie's smile," Abigail blushed.
"How about you sis?" Hallie asked.
"I don't want to even think about boys for a while," Kaycee said. After she and Shawn had broken up she didn't want to date anyone in the entertainment industry again.
"You don't have to go after one of them, it's just a fun question," Hallie said.
"Okay, if I had to choose one I'd say that Jesses face doesn't make me want to barf," Kaycee finally gave in.
"Thank you for being so honest," Hallie joked. "Now I know who to stay clear of. I'll just talk to the other guys."
After pulling into the hotel parking lot they called the boys to let them know they had arrived and would meet them in the lobby. After a few minutes Frankie, Greg, and Jesse came down. Kaycee introduced everyone to Hallie who looked a lot like Kaycee, with the same green eyes but with lighter brown hair that was long and wavy and while Kaycee was tiny barely reaching 5 feet; Hallie was taller at nearly 5'4.
"Where are Chris and Matt?" Kaycee asked.
"Matt doesn't want to come. He thinks his girlfriend will get mad if he's hanging out with other girls when it doesn't have to do with work. And Chris wanted to hang out with Claudia. I think she wanted to try to sneak him into some club at the hotel," Frankie said.
"Well, their loss," Abigail said. "Let's go." They all piled into the Wallace's van.
"Where are we headed to first?" Hallie asked.
"I'm pretty hungry," Greg said. "Where is that place where the Beatles ate? It would be pretty cool to go there." Everyone else agreed that sounded like a good idea so they headed over to Burbank. Luckily the booth where the Beatles had once sat in to eat was open so they were able to take that table.
"There's even a plaque that says they ate here!" Jesse said sounding a little more excited then he meant to.
"How do you know about all these places?" Frankie asked.
"Kaycee's obsessed," Hallie said.
"I'm not obsessed!" Kaycee said. "I just think it's fun to explore around here. There are so many cool things to see and do that I might as well take advantage of them even if I look like a tourist doing so. And since we are sitting in this booth I think we need to take a picture together with the plaque in it."
"If there's no picture then it didn't happen," Abigail joked.
"Right," Kaycee said. "I know that was a joke but the picture is part of the fun." After they ordered their food they had their waitress take their picture and thanked her. It didn't take long for the food to arrive and they started to discuss what they wanted to do tonight.
"The observatory sounded fun," Frankie said remember that Abigail had mentioned it being her favorite place earlier in the day. Nobody else cared to disagree; they all just wanted to have a good time. While they were eating a couple of fans came to their table.
"Hi. Sorry to bother you but you are Kaycee Wallace, right?" One of the girls asked.
"And you are Abigail Green," The other girl chimed in.
"From Don't Shoot Me," Girl one said.
"It's our favorite show!" Both girls said together. They seemed to be around 14 or 15 years old.
"Hi. It's nice to meet you," Kaycee said with a friendly smile. "This is my sister Hallie and some of my new friends Frankie, Greg, and Jesse who are going to be guest starting on an episode this season."
"Cool!" Both girls said together.
"Can we take a picture with you?" Girl one asked.
"Sure," Kaycee said. Kaycee and Abigail each took a picture with the girls. Then the fans also wanted a picture with Frankie, Greg, and Jesse. Afterwards they asked a few questions and then thanked the girls for the pictures and for being so nice. Jesse was surprised at how nice Kaycee had been answering all the annoying little questions when she probably just wanted to eat her food. He had dealt with fans coming up to him too, sometimes not being when he wanted to be bothered, he had always tried to be nice but knew sometimes his true feelings showed though. Maybe she was just better at hiding hers.
"Wow, this place has amazing views!" Frankie said once they had arrived at the Griffith Park Observatory. "I can definitely see why you like it here." They walked around both outside and inside spending a good amount of time exploring.
"I think I should get my sisters some souvenirs. They'll be mad if I don't," Greg said after they had been there a little while. "Is there a gift shop?"
"Yeah, it's downstairs," Hallie said. They all headed to the gift shop to help Greg find something for his sisters.
"It's a little crowded in here," Abigail said. "Do you mind if I meet you outside?"
"No, that's fine." Greg said. "I won't take too long, hopefully."
"I'll go with you," Kaycee offered. Jesse and Frankie decided to join them, they much rather look at the cool view of the city then try to move around in a crowded gift shop. Hallie offered to stay and keep Greg company; she asked him questions about his sisters and offered suggestions of what he should get them.
Outside Abigail, Kaycee, Frankie and Jesse stood looking at the view with Abigail and Kaycee pointing out landmarks while dishing out little tidbits they knew.
"They filmed Rebel without a Cause with James Dean here," Abigail said explaining why there was a sculpture of the actors head there.
"My dad use to take me here when I was really young. I didn't know who James Dean was or what Rebel without a Cause was or even really understood that this place was an observatory. I just loved that I was standing in a place where an actual movie was filmed," Kaycee said. "I know that sounds lame."
"No, it makes sense," Jesse said trying to be nice, still remembering what Claudia had told him.
"Please tell me you've seen it by now. That movie's a classic," Frankie said.
"Yes, I've…" Kaycee cut off when she spotted her ex-boyfriend Shawn Walker staring right at her. He was headed their way and there was nowhere to hide.