“He won’t be happy.”

“Art takes time,” she said.

When Noah left, I said, “You didn’t have to do that. It was my fault.”

She waved something that resembled a small paintbrush at me. “It’s fine.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“Hold still,” she directed as she pressed the premade section onto my cheek. “What happened anyway? Why so late?”

“Apparently I slept through my alarm. I was up late doing homework.”

“And you finished it?”

“No, actually. I fell asleep. There might be some numbers inked onto my forehead.” I rubbed at my forehead as if that was a real possibility.

“But I let a guy into your trailer the other day who said he was your tutor. Donavan? Isn’t having a tutor supposed to make homework faster?”

“Well . . . it would if I used him. I kind of made him leave.”

“Why would you do that? He seemed really nice. And cute too.”

“He is . . . cute, I mean. I’m not sure if he’s nice. He acts like a dad number two, so I’ve been treating him like that.”

She laughed. “Your dad’s not so bad.”

“You’ve met him. You know how overprotective he is.”

She waved her hand through the air like that shouldn’t bother me.

“The point is, I don’t need another dad. The one I have is already doubling up. But I really thought I could do the work on my own. I hardly get any alone time and I needed it yesterday. And I can do the work on my own . . . except the math. The math is hard.”

“So, thinking about your life choices . . . ?”

“Yeah yeah, send the tutor away after I do math next time.”

“It’s good to learn from our mistakes.”

An hour later I walked on set, then realized I was holding my phone. I hadn’t had time to stop by my trailer in my rush this morning. I panicked but Faith held out her hand with a smile.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

She tucked it into her pocket, and I joined Grant.

“Oversleep this morning?” he asked.

My eyes shot to Remy, who was busy inspecting a headstone with the art director. This was our last day at the cemetery. Tonight everything would be packed up and moved to a church. “How did you know I was late?”

“Because Leah did my makeup at a time when she should’ve been doing yours.”

“How much mascara does she use to get your lashes that long?”

He let out a faux gasp. “This is all me, baby.”

Despite his jokey tone, he was being honest. He had long eyelashes, which I knew weren’t enhanced. He probably only got a dusting of foundation and a bit of eyeliner. And a whole lot of hair gel. “What’s your favorite part about this job?” I asked.

“About this particular acting job? Or acting in general?”

“This one.” Even though Amanda said he’d taken the job to win back some fans and redeem his reputation, I wondered if that was the only reason. His salary was probably half the budget, but it still couldn’t have been anything close to what he was used to.

“You, of course.” He winked.

I rolled my eyes. “You say that to all your costars.”

“And I mean it every time.”

I laughed, then stopped and lightly touched my face. “Don’t make me laugh. You’re going to make my chin fall off again.”

“That wouldn’t be my fault. That would be Leah’s. Your chin should be more secure than that.”

“My chin is very secure.”

Remy raised his voice so everyone could hear, “Who broke the headstone?”

“The headstone?” Grant asked.

“A big chunk of it is missing,” he said.

The fake headstone was obviously Styrofoam or something, because the part he was referring to was now white and someone with paints was adding gray to it.

“People,” he said, “be careful on set.” He looked at me when he said this for some reason. I just smiled, hoping to give him a positive image to associate with me. I realized too late that with my zombie face on, it would be a creepy sight.

Remy walked over the mound of dirt and then stopped in front of us. “You two ready?”

“For over an hour now,” Grant said.

“Yes,” Remy said. “Sorry about that—makeup mishap.”

Grant wiggled his eyebrows at me. I just nodded at Remy.

He picked up my hand and inspected my modified nails. “Very undead, right?” he asked with a smile.

“I like them,” I said.

“Good, let’s roll, then,” Remy said.

Two hours passed, and Remy yelled out, “Cut!” He marched past a camera operator, then came to stand in front of me. He studied my face carefully, then waved his hand in front of it. “I can’t see any emotion.”

Grant lifted a finger. “May I suggest a little less makeup. For this scene, she is only a partially turned zombie, after all.”

Remy waved his hand around my face. “Leah, we can work on that, yes?” he asked as if she’d been following along with the conversation. And maybe she had, because she nodded from behind the monitor and said, “Of course.”

“Okay, then work on that. And quickly. We don’t have much time left here.”

I pressed my phone to my ear as I walked to my trailer. “Tell me something nice about me.”

Abby laughed. “You need an ego boost?”

“Yes, a big one.”

“You are the world’s greatest actress,” she said.

“Something sincere.”

Her laughter died down. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to make light of this. I can tell your confidence is shot. You really are amazing. I still remember that story you made up inside that empty church last summer. I thought you were speaking about your own life, that’s how believable it was.”

“You’re good at this,” I said. “How much would I have to pay you to come and sit in my dressing room and write me compliments all day long?”

“I’d totally do that for free.”

“You’re hired.” I rounded a corner, my trailer in view. “What are you up to tonight?”

“The homecoming game.”

“Football? You’re going to a football game? I didn’t know that was your kind of thing.”

“I had to take over your social calendar when you left.”

The last homecoming game of my high school career was happening tonight. “I guess school events still go on without me. Huh . . .” A tug of sadness surprised me. Not that things happened without me, but that I was missing them.

“I know, shocking.”

I opened my dressing room door and nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw Donavan sitting there, head leaned over a book. “We had a deal.”

“What?” Abby asked.

“Nothing. I’ll call you later.”

He held up his hands. “Leah called.”

All my anger was diffused immediately. She was the nicest person ever. “Leah has your number?”

“I had to give it to the security people the first day I checked in.”