| Next morning seemed very similar to the day before, except that today she didn�t feel as nervous� She took her time in the bathroom and for breakfast too, and that time she felt quite hungry. But she also stared at the huge poster that was behind her bathroom door. It was a poster of Michael that she had bought not so long ago. She stared at it, trying to spot every little detail. It was quite hard to think that she had seen and talked to him the day before, and that she would do it again today� Would it be different today? He had done a special permission for her, himself. It was completely different from the one Steve had got� He came to pick her up at 7.30 that day and they quickly headed towards the studios. He felt since the very beginning that she wasn�t feeling the same; she looked a lot more relaxed and confident. She was wearing blue jeans and a dark green shirt that suited her very well and went beautifully with the color of her hair, which she had put in a ponytail today. She was wearing the same kind of make up; the one that made her look very beautiful yet natural. They talked for a while on the road and then she went silent and watched the road. What was going through her mind, he didn�t know, but she looked happy and that was all that mattered. They entered the studios and were about to head towards the sets when a familiar voice called her. �Good morning Miss Conelly,� Tony said. �Good morning�� �Erm, Steve, I�m sorry but I�m gonna have to �kidnap� her from you� Michael wants to see you; he�s getting ready in his trailer.� �Alright then!� Steve replied. �I�ll see you later!� She was again going to see him before he started shooting; how lucky was she??? She silently followed him to the trailer � that hadn�t moved, but it would have been surprising if it had� As she walked nearer to it she felt the stress gaining her again, but nothing compared to the day before� Tony knocked on the door and Michael opened it himself. �Reese! We saw you walking towards the trailer! I�m really happy you could make it today�� �Michael, I didn�t have the chance to thank you again for what you did �� �After shouting at you the way I did yesterday? I think it was the least I could do�� he said with embarrassment, staring at the floor again. But a little blond girl ran up to him and drew their attention. �Kellie, I�m busy right now�� he said in a very soft voice, lowering himself to the level of the child. �Say hello to Reese; she�s my special guest.� Reese felt her cheeks burning when she heard �special guest�, and she looked at the little girl. �Hello Reese� My name�s Kellie.� �I�m very pleased to meet you Kellie�� �Do you also have a part in the movie? Are you one of the dancers?� she asked. Reese and Michael laughed at the same time. �No I�m not a dancer�� �You look like one though�� added the little girl before turning to a boy who had called her. Reese thought he reminded her of someone and she was staring at him� �Sean Lennon�� Michael softly said to her. �Really?� �Uhuh� And the third one is called Brandon� They all are in the movie.� He invited her in again and this time the trailer was a lot noisier thanks to the three kids. It was great to see Michael have fun with them and distracting them too, when they had to stay quiet for make-up� But the time to start shooting eventually came and they had to go outside. Michael asked Reese to stay with them, and Kellie even took her hand on the way to the set. �You�re sure you�re not a dancer?� she asked again. �I promise you, Kellie�� Reese answered with a smile. �Well I think you really look like one, and you are very beautiful too�� She completely blushed and didn�t even try to prevent it because it was useless. �Well thank you very much Kellie� That�s very sweet of you.� �Are you friends with Michael?� �Erm� Not really. Well� I met him only yesterday�� The little girl stopped her questions when she saw that Reese was too embarrassed to answer them. But she took Michael�s hand in hers and started swinging her arms and singing. The two adults looked at each other and smiled. The day went very quickly and Kellie insisted for Reese to stay with them all the time, so she even had lunch with the actors� While they were shooting she stood behind the cameras, and between two shots, Kellie would always run towards her to ask her what she thought about what they had done. Reese was of course completely fascinated by the whole thing and she didn�t lie to the little girl. They shot different bits that would be completed by others scheduled the days after, without the three kids who were in the studios for only one day. So they shot in a street, with Michael running around, with guards and even dogs chasing him! I really would like to understand what this story is about� she told herself all the time. But she still watched it carefully, trying to gather everything in her mind to make the story clear, but it just didn�t� They also filmed a bit in a sort of outside theater made of stone or whatever it was, where Michael and Kellie were surrounded by guards� She was told that other bits had also been filmed in other places and that they would all be added in postproduction and the movie would finally make sense. After that she stopped trying to understand what was going on and just concentrated on the actors; Michael most of all� She just couldn�t take her eyes off him and several times their eyes met when he looked towards her. Every time she was the first one to lower her eyes � or so she thought � because Michael usually did just the same at the same moment. And he was such a good actor! It had already been obvious with The Wiz a few years before, but this time she could actually see him acting right before her eyes. He was magical; those were the only words she could think of to describe him� Shooting took longer that day because there were many more scenes than the previous day, and also it wasn�t just Michael, and the children sometimes took longer than him to be serious again and ready to shoot. But at the end of the day, Kellie didn�t want to say goodbye to Reese and asked a hundredth time if she really wasn�t a dancer, but she finally admitted it when Michael told her himself. �So why is she here then?� �Because� one of her friends asked if she could come yesterday and I said yes�� �Why is she back today?� Michael felt he was starting to blush. Kids were definitely cleverer than adults thought they were� �Because I said she could come back�� �You don�t want her to be a dancer?� He laughed at her stubbornness. �Kellie, I don�t know what Reese does for a living, but she�s not a dancer!� �But she looks like one� I think she�s very beautiful� Do you think she is, Michael?� It took him a while to answer, but as he looked around and saw her going away with Steve, he spoke again. �I do think she�s very beautiful, yes�� he sighed. He knew he could never lie to a child. They just seemed to be able to read through him like an open book all the time, and he couldn�t help it. �I really liked her�� Kellie sighed, looking at Reese too. �So did I�� ***** The next day started just like the other ones. She got up around 6.30, got ready, went into Steve�s car to the studios. But that day she couldn�t see Michael before shooting. However he sent Tony to tell her personally that he was sorry. The reason was that today�s shooting was the video for Smooth Criminal and thus there was lots of work to do and he was already busy when she arrived. She didn�t mind at all because she was fully aware of the incredible treatment she had had so far. She stayed with Steve and learnt many more things� Around 9 however, they were allowed to go on the set. Michael and all the dancers had gone through the dance routines once again and everybody was ready to start shooting. The scene took place in a club and it was supposed to date back the 30s. All the costumes looked incredible and there was too much to look at for Reese. But nothing mattered when Michael arrived on the set. He caught her attention and it was as if there was nothing or no one else around her. He was wearing a suit and a hat that suited him so well, and their clear color contrasted a lot with all the other characters; you were sure not to miss him. And he looked good; oh yes he looked good to her. He was smiling to anyone and timidly waved at her when he saw that she was next to Steve. She blushed one more time and waved back. He had a few words with the managers and other people, and once everybody was ready, Michael went out of the small set door and there was a silence. �Action!� Michael entered the room, stopped while everyone looked at him, took something out of his pocket � which in fact was a coin � and threw it. That puzzled Reese, but she was later told that postproduction would do so that the coin would fly all the way across the room and land right inside the jukebox, and then the music would start� And so the music started. It was such a beautiful �ballet� to look at, and Michael was just wonderful between all those dancers. It all seemed to go very quickly, but they spent a long time doing shots again and again because, just like for the first day, they had to do it all over again if there was one detail he wasn�t happy with. But the dancers didn�t seem to mind; they obviously loved their job! And she could imagine what it could be like for a dancer to have to opportunity to dance for Michael Jackson� They did a longer break for lunch because they were all tired and started again from 2 to 5pm. At that stage they had shot everything that could be caught on camera, and the rest was to be done at the postproduction� It meant the end of the dream for Reese. She was �only� allowed to be here as long as he was shooting. It had been short, but those 3 days had also been wonderful for her. To be a few meters away from him, to see him working, and even to talk to him the way she had; she never would have thought it possible� Once again she helped Steve and other people to tidy everything up. While he was making sure he had all his material gathered to be taken back to his car, she walked around the studios again. Her steps took her towards Michael�s trailer, at which she stared for a while, until the door suddenly opened, causing her to jump a little bit. �Reese?� Michael asked with a little smile. �Good to see you�re not gone yet.� He had changed clothes and was now wearing blue jeans, trainers and a white T-shirt. He looked good, very good� Don�t think about it, don�t stare at him like that! �Well, I can�t help Steven anymore so I wanted to have one last look�� she mumbled. �It�s been a fantastic experience for me Michael�� she added, blushing terribly. �I�m glad you liked it.� He couldn�t take his eyes off her at that precise moment although he knew that it must have made her feel very ill at ease. �Well, I guess I�m gonna go now,� she said with a little smile. �I just wanted to thank you for everything, and most of all for the nice moments you allowed me to share with you, the photos Tony took of us, and all that� It means so much to me.� �It�s alright,� he said, for once staring at her, and not the floor. I wish I could have done so much more� he thought. ** Why do I feel this strange pain in my stomach as I watch her leave the studios�? I mean, I don�t really know her, so how come I don�t want her to go? I�m going to miss her; that�s it� I wish I could have talked a lot more with her because she seems such an interesting person. I wish I could have found something to talk about instead of letting her try to do the conversation because I�m too shy� Kellie�s right; she�s very beautiful� I like her hair, her skin, her face� Yes, I�m going to miss her. But what can I do? Nothing I guess� Maybe I could have invited her for the show in Los Angeles in November, or the others in January next year� Why didn�t I think about that?! I would have been sure to see her again� Pfff, I really am not made for contact� ** As he said this, he sighed, turned around and walked back inside his trailer. |
| Chapter 3 |