Chapter 5 - jumping

Allie turned the car off and promptly placed her forehead against the steering wheel. She wasn't ready for Monday.

The weekend had been nothing but playing games with Dylan and working on crafts, but each hour just brought more dread about showing up to work. The cupcakes were kept in her room, she had decided not to share with Dylan, choosing to eat one whenever she felt she could use some comfort. Which ended up being often for when the weekend ended, one lone cupcake sat waiting for her to survive the day.

She sighed, wishing she could turn on the engine and drive down the 10 back towards home...

What did the other crew members think of her? That she was weak or incompetent? Did they think she deserved to be yelled at?

She felt herself getting embarrassed all over again. This was the challenge of jumping from project to project on movies; you were always fighting to prove yourself and it felt like the bad news about someone traveled way faster than the good news. Allie felt confident the crew was questioning her abilities now. Not being able to produce a back-up of the main prop being used? It was like it was her first student film or something.

She took a deep breath in and opened her door to take the long walk to the stage. She willed her body closer to the building trying to take a deep breath with each step.

She entered the stage mostly unnoticed, which was pretty normal, but she wondered if folks were giving her side glances. She quietly began prepping the cart for the day.

"Hey," Cathy said, coming up to her to help with the cart. "How was the weekend?"

"Fine." Allie didn't look up at Cathy and Cathy didn't press further. The nice thing about working with her was she had no issues holding her tongue when people didn't want to talk.

When the cart was nearly ready for the day, a voice rang over the stage.

"If I could get everyone to join me over here for a moment, we have an announcement to make." It was one of the producers, Meg Rosa. Cathy and Allie made eye contact, both giving each other a curious look.

They put down the props they had in their hands and made their way to the clump of crew members that was forming in one of the stage space hallways between different sets. Meg stood looking as she always did; friendly but professional and in-charge. Allie liked her as a producer; she always acted part of the team. Her brown hair was in a loose bun and she wore a leather jacket over dark jeans.

"Ok guys, first off I just wanted to say that you all did an amazing job last week. What we've shot looks amazing and I can't wait to see more.

"Now, I have to tell you all that we have felt the need to let James go. We thought that he wasn't running the set the way we wanted it to be run and we wanted to be sure this was as positive an experience as possible for all involved. It's going to be hard work, but we always want our crew to feel supported so we've found someone who we think will make that happen. I know it's always hard to lose someone during a project and if there are any concerns, please feel free to speak to your department heads or production or, if neither of them can answer your question, myself."

As Meg spoke, she looked around at the crew as if trying to get a sense of what the vibe of the room was. "In James' place, we are bringing in Pam Schuster who has worked with me personally on a number of movies."

Allie noticed a kind but hardened-looking woman with short black hair who was standing next to Meg nod and gave a little wave to the crew.

"She's smart and will work you hard but I think you'll find she's a great asset to our team. Thanks again for all your hard work, and again, talk with your department heads or production or, if need be, myself. Let's get back to it!"

"Wow," Allie said as she and Cathy walked back to the prop cart. "I can't believe James was fired."

"I'm not all that surprised," Cathy said, though Allie thought it would take a lot to ever surprise Cathy. "Ben told me Tiffany complained about him."

"What?!" Allie couldn't hide her shocked face. "How does he know?"

"They announced it to the department heads over the weekend and, FYI, the props master is our department head."

"I know that. I just didn't think they would have said 'Our star asked us to fire the first AD so we did!'"

"Naw." Cathy smirked. "He heard it from make-up I think. I guess Tiffany was talking to them about him."

Allie blanched. Is that who Tiffany heard about James yelling at her from? The cupcakes... was that not all Tiffany had decided to do? Did Tiffany get the first AD fired because of Allie?

Cathy sighed. "But I said it Friday, the way he treats the crew would have made the whole show suck harder than a shop-vac on steroids. We're better off."

Allie wasn't paying attention. She was lost in thought. Did Tiffany think they were that close? Did... did Tiffany like her? Like Allie was beginning to think she liked Tiffany? But this was way too much and way too soon. Tiffany couldn't just fire people that weren't nice to Allie. She wasn't Bella Swan, she could fight her own battles.

What was she to do? They really didn't know each other that well. Maybe Allie just needed to tell Tiffany that; say that she appreciated what Tiffany had done but that she didn't think that was necessary. Yes, that was what Allie needed to do, just set some basic boundaries. She didn't have to be accusatory or mean, just say that she had the situation handled.

Allie was thinking of how to word the conversation as the day began. Pam was a wonderful change after James. She was friendly and smiled often but she wasn't afraid to call out bad behavior immediately. Allie felt pretty sure the whole crew was in much better spirits.

When the crew wrapped for lunch, Allie meandered towards Tiffany's trailer as she always did. She never went in without Tiffany inviting her, not wanting to impose, but Tiffany always was talking to someone after they wrapped so Allie just kind of wondered close to where Tiffany was. As she walked, she found Tiffany laughing with Pam.

"Hey Allie," Tiffany said as she waved bye to Pam. "She's so great, I'm so glad she joined the team."

"Yeah, she's really great."

"I mean, it's day one and a hard show, but she certainly is meshing well. Better than... Well, I'm just glad she was available."

"Better than James?"

"Well, I guess we'll find out." The pair was still a little away from the trailers so they started walking towards them. Most the crew was in line for their less-than-exciting lunch, only a PA or two was left taking paperwork and costumes to their appropriate trailers.

"Um, actually, I wanted to talk to you about that." Allie said a little sheepishly.

"About what?"

"James. I, um, I heard to talked to the producers about him...."

"I did." Allie noticed Tiffany stiffen. Her voice had lost some of its friendliness. "You heard this from someone on the crew then?"

"Well, yeah. But, um, what I wanted to say was that, if it was because of Friday when James... spoke unkindly to me, it wasn't necessary. I'm a professional and I can handle myself on set. So, I really appreciate you-"

"You think I had him fired because he yelled at you." Tiffany's voice was cold; it wasn't a question, it was a fact.

"I mean, I guess you could-"

"You think I'm treating you special because we've had lunch together. For a week. No, less than a week." Tiffany had stopped walking. Her face looked calm but her eyes were blazing. "You think I needed reminding that you were 'professional?'"

"Tiffa ny, I -"

"Did you know that James also got the call sheet wrong and my make-up artist wasn't able to prep correctly last week?" Tiffany hissed. "Did you know he had been frustrating the producers all pre-production? Yes, I spoke to them, but it wasn't the star of the show asking for special treatment for her 'friend' on set because she didn't have a prop ready and got yelled at for it."

"I didn't mean to suggest-"

"I spoke with the producers because I knew he wasn't being professional with multiple departments. I have some sway, but I would never just fire someone because they were 'mean' to someone 'in my circle' or something." Every word Tiffany spoke seemed accusatory, as if that's what Allie had been suggesting the whole time.

"I'm sorry, I really just jumped to the wrong conclusion."

"Of course, because when the drama queen star whines to the producer, she's obviously being unreasonable. It couldn't be because she was thinking about the whole crew and how it would affect the multi-million-dollar movie they were trying to make. Everyone on this crew is important, Allie, but you are one cog in a giant machine."

Allie was lost for words. She didn't understand what she had said to get this big of a reaction. She was glad no one else seemed to be in earshot.

"Have a nice lunch, Allie. I'll see you when we're back at it." Tiffany turned on her heels, heading off towards her trailer. Alone.

Allie watched her, still not knowing what to say.

After a moment, she turned and made her way quietly to the catering tent.