And the Winner Is...#18 Read online

  And the Winner Is...#18

  Melissa J. Morgan

  Grosset Dunlap (2007)

  Rating: ★★★★★

  Tags: Fiction, General, Social Issues, Juvenile Fiction, Performing Arts, Friendship, Travel, United States, Adolescence, Girls Women, West, Film Video, Hollywood (Los Angeles; Calif.), Actors and Actors, Pacific, Academy Awards (Motion Pictures), Actors and Actresses

  Fictionttt Generalttt Social Issuesttt Juvenile Fictionttt Performing Artsttt Friendshipttt Travelttt United Statesttt Adolescencettt Girls Womenttt Westttt Film Videottt Hollywood (Los Angeles; Calif.)ttt Actors and Actorsttt Pacificttt Academy Awards (Motion Pictures)ttt Actors and Actressesttt

  * * *

  * * *

  When Natalie’s dad is nominated for a Best Actor Oscar, she flies to L.A. for the week, where she plans on hanging out with Tori and also taking her to the Oscars. But when Natalie hits it off with Tori’s friend Reed, Tori feels left out and picks a giant fight, which culminates in Natalie rescinding Tori’s invitation to the Oscars and giving it to Reed instead. Cut to: Natalie and Tori and their tearful reconciliation. Unfortunately the only way for Natalie to really enjoy this happilyever- after ending is to find a replacement ticket to the Oscars!

  About the Author

  Melissa J. Morgan lives in New York, New York.

  And the Winner Is…

  And the Winner Is…

  by Melissa J. Morgan

  Grosset & Dunlap

  GROSSET & DUNLAP

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York,

  New York 10014, USA

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  (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)

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  Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Cover designed by Ching N. Chan.

  Front cover image © Blend Images/Stewart Cohen/Getty Images.

  Text copyright © 2007 by Grosset & Dunlap. All rights reserved. Published by Grosset & Dunlap, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Printed in the U.S.A.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

  ISBN: 978-1-4406-9712-8 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Charmed Forces

  chapter

  ONE

  Posted by: Natalie

  Subject: so sad and so happy

  talk about a crazy twenty-four hours. it started last night when logan and i had a really awful, so sad conversation. he told me that he thinks it’s too hard doing the long-distance relationship thing. and you know what? i told him i think so, too. it’s completely different than at camp lakeview where we saw each other every day. more than once every day. so we’re broken up. last night was bad. i just felt so lonely, which is kind of weird because logan and i hardly ever see—make that saw—each other, anyway. although we do—make that did—e-mail and talk on the phone a lot.

  i’m feeling a little better about the logan situation today. a little. what we decided did make sense. it is hard having a boyfriend you can’t even hold hands with once in a while. but it’s hard not having a boyfriend at all, too, especially a boyfriend like logan.

  then this morning, my dad called me up with some amazing news that made me forget about logan for a few minutes. here comes the so happy part of this post. are you ready? my dad got nominated for an academy award. can I get a woo-hoo? i told him taking the part in dark music would be great for his career. if you haven’t seen it, he plays a blind piano player, and the movie totally shows everyone that tad maxwell isn’t just about shooting and jumping out of planes and running into fires and all that other action-hero stuff. (not that that stuff isn’t cool.)

  the best part is I get to go to the oscars!! and all the glam and glitzy after-parties. wait, that’s not the best part. the nomination is the best part. yay, dad! but me going to the academy awards is a really good part, right? the oscars are the same week as spring break. i’m going to stay out in hollywood, hanging with my father, the whole vacation. that should keep my mind off logan, right?

  love you all! (oh, and tori, get your calendar clear. can’t wait to see you!)

  natalie

  Natalie closed the Camp Lakeview blog. She was so glad it was still going strong. There were times that she really needed her Camp Lakeview girlfriends. And the blog was a lot better than doing a mass e-mail.

  I should have asked for opinions on clothes, Natalie thought. She needed to figure out what she was going to bring on her trip. It’s not like people in New York didn’t care how they looked. They so did. But people in LA really cared. They really cared on a normal day. On a night that involved a red carpet, forget about it. And on the ultimate night, or the ultimate red carpet, the one leading into the Kodak Theater where the Academy Awards were held…well, that involved teams of prep people. Hair people, makeup people, designers, stylists, nail experts, masseuses, even psychics. Nobody wanted to be one of the worst dressed when In Touch and everybody else did the post-Oscars fashion review.

  Natalie definitely didn’t have anything she wanted to wear to the actual awards ceremony. She had a couple of dresses that were fancy enough, but you couldn’t go to the AAs wearing something you’d worn even one time before. Okay, you probably could if you were just the kid of a nominee and not a nominee yourself. But Natalie was far too much of a fashion overachiever to go that route. She was going to be standing next to her father while he got asked over and over how it felt to be nominated for the Best Actor award and who had designed his tux. That called for a new outfit. No, it shouted for one.

  To: Tad_Dad

  From: NatalieNYC

  Re: your reputation

  hey, daddums—

  i was thinking. you don’t want to be spotted on the red carpet next to a fashion oh-no-you-didn’t, do you?

  i d
idn’t think so. it just wouldn’t be good for your image. that means i need a dress. think you can throw your big movie star—oscar-nominated movie star—weight around and get the girl who won project runway this year to let me wear something from her new collection? the collection no one has seen yet.

  you remember which one she is, right? her name’s lulu, and she’s one of those I’m-too-unique-to-need-a-last-name people. she’s the one who made the swimsuit out of actual seaweed. don’t pretend you don’t watch pr. I know you do. and not just because it’s josie’s favorite show and you want to be a good boyfriend.

  i’ll love you forever if you make it work.

  of course, i’ll also love you forever if you don’t.

  love you!

  your only daughter

  At the same instant Natalie hit Send, she heard the cow moo sound that told her an instant message had arrived. The moo made her laugh—but it also reminded her of Logan. He’d sent her the moo and told her how to make it her IM sound.

  She clicked on the message.

  : Finally, someone from Camp Lakeview is coming to LA! I’ve got my calendar wiped clean! It’s my spring break, too, so that means it can be Nat and Tori all the time!

  : can’t wait.

  : That’s it? I don’t even get an exclam?!!

  : sorry. i started thinking about logan, and it kind of siphoned the excitement out of me for a minute.

  : You want a new boy? There are tons of boys in LA. And I know many of the cutest.

  : um, all boys aren’t like all other boys, lmho.

  : I know, I know. I was just trying to cheer you up. And even you said it was hard having a BF who lives so far away.

  : yeah. sigh.

  : Maybe this will get you smiley again. I’ve started working on a list of places to go. I know you’ve been here a bunch to visit your dad, but I just went to this funky place in Koreatown. They have these tiny karaoke rooms that hold about five people. And all the rooms have their own mirror balls. You can’t miss it.

  : cool. hey, would you be up for the la brea tar pits? i know, i know. they’re corny and super touristy. i’ve never been able to get my dad to take me.

  : I. Worship. The. La. Brea. Tar. Pits. My friends think I’m nuts, but anytime somebody visits from out of town, I always offer to take them there.

  When she’d finished making fab LA plans with Tori, Natalie’s Logan Loneliness was at a very low level. She started to stand up from her desk chair. She needed to do a thorough closet inspection to see what was Hollywood-worthy.

  But first she decided to do a quick check of the camp blog. She wanted to see what her friends had to say about her father’s nomination. Maybe at least a few of them had had time to read her post.

  Posted by: Valerie

  Subject: Woo-hoo

  I’m giving up a very loud woo-hoo for Tad Maxwell. WOOOO-HOOOO! That’s the coolest, Natalie.

  Gotta run. Chelsea, Gaby, and I are still doing volunteer stuff at Home Away From Home. Today we’re doing a very cool art project with the kids. We’re going to have them lay down on big sheets of butcher paper so we can trace their outlines. Then the kids are going to color themselves in. It was Alyssa’s idea. Thanks, Lyss!

  Posted by: Grace

  Subject: Oscars

  Congrats to your dad, Natalie. That is so thrilling. Before I knew he was a nom, I was praying for Mickey Frazier to win. Don’t hate me, but he was so awesome in Nights of Thunder that I totally forgot to eat my gummy bears! And you know that means something! But now I’m crossing my fingers and toes for your dad to win.

  Posted by: Jenna

  Subject: Grace

  The only reason Grace wanted Mickey Frazier to win in the first place is because she loved the way he looked without his shirt in that scene with the alligator.

  Hey, why wasn’t that alligator nominated? He was the best thing in that movie.

  I have my fingers and toes and eyes crossed for your dad, Natalie. Since the gator isn’t in the running. ;)

  Jenna

  Joke of the day: What’s the sound of someone laughing his or her head off? Ha, ha, ha—plop!

  Posted by: Brynn

  Subject: Me, me, me—and Nat’s father

  Anyone who likes looking at shirtless guys has to come see me in The Tempest. I’m Miranda. (Like I haven’t told you that already. I know the play is all I talk about.) Anyway, I’ve never seen anybody but my father, and then there’s a shipwreck and I suddenly see all these sailors. Okay, I lied a little. They do wear shirts. But the shirts are all tattered and ripped. Talk about woo-hoo!

  I am so psyched to be doing Shakespeare. Shakespeare! You can’t call yourself a stage actor if you haven’t done the Bard. And the Red Barn Players are awesome. Their plays get reviewed in The Boston Globe and everything. The actor who is playing Ferdinand—Vern Smith—has even been on TV. He was a guest star on Grey’s Anatomy.

  It’s actually good that my school doesn’t do a play in the spring, huh? Or I’d never have hooked up with the Red Barn group. They are awesome. You have to come see us if you live anywhere near Boston. It’s going to be running every weekend for two months, starting in the middle of February.

  Okay, enough about me. I can’t type anymore, anyway. My hands are too sore from applauding Tad Maxwell’s Oscar nomination. That is so absolutely great, wonderful, beautiful…and all other good words. I’ll be performing the night of the Oscars, but I’ll DVR it and I’ll be looking for you on the red carpet, Natalie!

  Anon (that’s Shakespearean for later),

  Brynn

  Posted by: Priya

  Subject: Already on it!

  I already got tickets, Brynn. Jordan and I will be there the first weekend—front row center. Jordan will probably be there every night, just so he can stare at you. I like you lots, but one night of Shakespeare is probably all I can take, so I’m only going once!

  P.

  Natalie grinned as she read the latest messages on the blog. Then she added one of her own.

  Posted by: Natalie

  Subject: academy awards

  i think we should start an oscar pool. we should each pick the year we think brynn will be nominated. i’m saying year after next. once you have the lead in a shakespearean play, getting an oscar nom is a piece of cake!

  okay, enough about brynn. and my dad. let’s talk about me! how do you think i should wear my hair for the academy awards? up, down? i’m so excited my brain isn’t fully functioning. so help!

  nat

  chapter

  TWO

  “I know you’re going to be spending a lot of time poolside, so remember to put on your sunscreen,” Natalie’s mother said. For the third time that morning.

  “I’d never expose myself to photoaging,” Nat promised her mom as they moved two steps closer to the ticket counter in NYC’s LaGuardia airport. “No UV rays for me.”

  “My concern was over skin cancer, not you having a few wrinkles when you’re my age,” her mother answered. “But I don’t care why you wear it, just that you do. And no matter what your father says, I want you to get a reasonable amount of sleep. I know it’s your vacation, but that doesn’t mean you should stay up all night.”

  “Let me add that to my list,” Natalie said. “Number 302, remember to sleep.”

  Her mom laughed. “Sorry. I guess I have gone a little overboard with the instructions.”

  They moved up to the front of the line and Natalie handed over her Diane von Furstenberg luggage. Black with just a little bit of pink. So cute. “Gate D fourteen,” the woman behind the counter said.

  “How many more rules do you think I can lay down before we get to the security checkpoint and I have to let you go?” her mother asked.

  “You can talk pretty fast when you want to,” Natalie answered as they walked toward the escalator.

  “Let me just say
this, then,” her mother began.

  Natalie tried not to roll her eyes. Her mom always had a minor mental breakdown when Nat traveled someplace by herself.

  “Have a wonderful time,” her mother finished.

  A big smile spread across Natalie’s face. “Thanks, Mom,” she said. She gave her mother a shoulder bump as they stepped onto the escalator. “I know that took major self-control.”

  “You won’t know how much until you put your thirteen-year-old daughter on a plane by herself,” Natalie’s mother joked as they reached the second floor.

  “It’s not like I haven’t flown by myself before,” Natalie reminded her. She’d been semi-bicoastal since her parents had gotten divorced when she was four.

  They got in the line to go through security. Natalie’s mom wouldn’t leave her until the last possible moment. Which was about thirty seconds later, because the line was short. Natalie dumped her purse and her carry-on bag on the conveyer belt that led through the X-ray machine, and then gave her mom a hard hug. “Good-bye. I’ll call you when I get there,” Natalie added as she stepped through the scanner.

  “Phone when you get there,” her mother called after her. As if Natalie hadn’t said she would one second before.

  “I will,” Natalie answered over her shoulder as she headed for her gate. She had more than an hour before her flight, so she decided to check out the little gift shop. Maybe she’d find something for her dad. A little congratulatory present for getting nominated.

  Maybe a copy of every magazine with his face on the cover, she thought as she passed a row of mags, newspapers, and paperbacks. It would be kind of funny. But funny wasn’t exactly what Natalie was going for. Being up for an Academy Award—for the first time—was a big deal.

  Nothing on the next row of shelves was right, either. A mini bottle of mouthwash didn’t say, “Dad, I’m so proud of you.” Neither did a tiny sewing kit, nail clippers, a new toothbrush, or a sample size shampoo and conditioner combo.