“Who is it?” I asked.

“I don’t know.”

I reached the small knot of people.

“Aaron?” I said.

He pushed against Cooper’s arms one more time but then gave up, a defeated look coming over his face.

“Why?” I asked.

“I didn’t mean for you to fall. You were supposed to run.” His voice sounded panicked, and his eyes darted all around, even though I knew he couldn’t see much of anything with the light shining on him.

“But why did you do all this? Why were you sabotaging me?”

“I wasn’t,” he said, but it wasn’t convincing.

“I know you were, so you might as well talk.”

“I just want to go. Let me go.” There were tears in his voice, even though there were none in his eyes.

“Tell me why first, and then we’ll let you go.”

“Because my dad is a jerk. He traded our year of plans for this stupid movie. He deserves for it to fail epically.”

My eyes went to Donavan, who was still holding his light to Aaron’s face, so I couldn’t really see him. I wondered if Aaron’s bitter feelings toward his dad were something he could relate to.

“And you thought targeting me would make it fail?” I asked.

“I wasn’t targeting you. I was just trying to mess up the movie in general.”

“They all related to me . . . ,” I started to say but then realized they really didn’t. When the light fell over and the headstone was damaged, I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And my zombie face section going missing reflected badly on Leah, not me. The other things seemed directed at me, but I wondered if there were more things that he’d done that I hadn’t even realized.

“That article felt really personal,” I suddenly remembered.

He shook his head. “I didn’t do that. At all. That was probably just crew members talking to the press or something.”

Cooper let go of Aaron, and he just stood there, staring at me, looking miserable. “Are you going to tell my dad?” he asked.

“Of course we’re going to tell your dad,” Grant said.

I held up my hand. “You have two choices. You can stop coming to the set. Or you can keep hanging around and tell your dad yourself.”

“I’ll stop coming,” he said quickly.

“We’re not going tell?” Amanda asked.

“No . . .” I held Aaron’s gaze. “We’re not.”

He gave me a single nod, wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand, then said, “I’m sorry.”

“I know,” I responded.

He pushed his way through the group, head hanging, and disappeared into the dark.

“What a little punk,” Amanda said.

Donavan came up to my side. “Did he hurt you?”

I looked at my palms, and he shined his light on them. “Just a few scrapes. I’ll be fine. I’m just glad it’s over.” It was over. I let that sink in. Now I could do my job without distractions.

“This calls for a campfire!” Amanda said.

Thirty-Seven

It had been several weeks of highs and lows, but this, this was definitely the high point—sitting around a campfire, with a movie star, my best friends, and my boyfriend on location at the movie I was filming. I’d taken off my makeup and changed into street clothes. We’d rounded up some chairs, but I preferred the ground, leaning up against Donavan’s knees behind me. He pulled on the ends of my hair as I held a stick over the flames.

“Do you think craft services has marshmallows?” Amanda asked.

“I think they’re gone for the day,” I said. It was close to eleven. My dad had given me permission to stay out late since Abby was in town.

“I think I have some in my trailer,” Grant said.

“You have marshmallows in your trailer?” Abby asked.

“Probably. That Aaron kid always kept me stocked up with treats. I’m going to miss him.”

Silence followed his statement.

“Too soon?” he asked.

We all laughed.

I poked at the logs in the fire with my stick. “I don’t think you have marshmallows in your trailer.”

“I’ll bet you a thousand dollars.”

Amanda threw a small piece of bark into the fire, sending up a few sparks. “Grant, most people say, I’ll bet you five bucks or maybe twenty bucks.”

“What?” he asked.

“Just trying to keep you relatable.”

He gave her a slow smile. “Whoever said I wanted to be relatable?” He stood. “I’m going to get those marshmallows.”

Amanda climbed to her feet. “I’ll come with you, so I can verify that you owe Lacey a thousand bucks.”

I laughed as they walked away.

“I left my phone in your trailer, Lacey,” Abby said. “We’ll be back too.”

“Okay.”

It was just Donavan and me. I leaned my head back on his knees and looked up at the stars. They were so bright up here away from the city lights.

“Thanks for helping today,” I said.

“Any time.” He played with my hair some more before he asked, “Why did you let Aaron off so easy?”

“I don’t know. Not that it excuses his behavior, but I sort of understood his motivation. He’s feeling neglected,” I said. “I’ve been there before.”

“Me too,” Donavan said. “It was nice of you.”

“I know. I’m brilliant.”

Donavan gave a soft laugh. “Yes, you are.”

“I don’t have zombie makeup on anymore,” I said.

“I noticed.”

“That means you can kiss me now.”

He leaned over to where I was still resting on his knees and kissed my forehead.

“That’s nice,” I said, turning around and moving up on to my knees. “But I need more.” I pressed my lips against his.

Epilogue

One Year Later

I knew it wasn’t going to be a blockbuster, but that didn’t mean I hadn’t dressed up like I was some world-famous star for the premiere of Dancing Graves. They had rolled out the red carpet, after all. I was pretty sure they did that for every movie premiere, or just whenever the carpet needed airing out, but whatever. It was red, and I was walking on it.

My dad and mom were bypassing the carpet and meeting me inside. But I had a handsome date decked out in a tuxedo on my arm and was owning every second of this experience.

“Lacey, Lacey! Look over here!” A photographer called, and Donavan and I paused for a moment to pose for a shot.

“Is this more what you had in mind when you thought of people yelling your name?” Donavan asked quietly from beside me.

“Yes, actually.” I squeezed his hand. “Is this what you had in mind when you banned yourself from dating actresses?”

“This part hadn’t even occurred to me. It should’ve gone on the cons list for sure.”

We continued walking, the same scene playing out with the photographers until we were inside.

Amanda and Grant were there, looking amazing. They’d come together, but I didn’t think they were still dating. They’d been on again off again for the last year. I didn’t see them much. I ended up finishing out the school year at the school that had hosted my independent study, surprising both my dad, my mom, and myself. I missed my Central Coast friends, but I wanted to spend more time really connecting with my dad. And the fact that Donavan was there didn’t hurt at all. I also decided I wanted to wait to film another movie until high school was over. It was my senior year; I wanted to experience it. And I had. And now I had my first audition the following week.