Chapter Thirty-Four
Being in LA meant full-on, entire days of US press.
That could mean anything from interviews with the biggest fan sites to photo shoots for magazines to filming content for social channels to in-person events.
Darcy was hosting a meet-and-greet at the flagship store of the cosmetics brand with which she was launching a Wonderwick-themed palette.
Courtney was filming Instagram content where she would go up to random people on the street and test their Wonderwick knowledge, and if they got all the questions right she would invite them to the premiere.
Max and Tommy, always a popular double act, even went on Getting Spicy, an insanely popular YouTube channel featuring celebrities eating chilli dogs made with increasingly spicy chillis.
Half eating competition, half physical endurance test. Due to the fact they are insanely competitive, Max ended up eating the final chilli dog made with a ghost pepper because Tommy had tapped out at the previous level, before announcing he was back in the game when he saw Max do it and survive. Rather them than me and Josh . . .
We had instead been enlisted to do a video for the YouTube channel of FunZone, the biggest entertainment website in the world to establish how well we knew each other . . .
TRANSCRIPTION OF JOSH SACCO AND EMILY MONTGOMERY’S APPEARANCE ON FUNZONE BFF TEST
Josh Sacco: Oh we’re absolutely going to nail it, we’re going to knock all the other co-stars out of the park, no doubt.
Emily Montgomery: What is this ‘we’? I’m going to nail it.
JS: Fighting talk!
EM: It’s basically an exam! You know I’m going to nail it!
JS: All right . . . [throws his hands up]
EM: You’re confident now but once we get started it’s going to be like you’ve never met me before.
JS: Can you quit it with the trash talk?!
TITLE CARD: FUNZONE BFF TEST
[CARD: QUESTION 1 – When did you first meet?]
EM: A nice easy one to start with! At least we can agree on this, right?
JS: Uh, yeah, we can agree that I was kind of a dick!
EM: So it was the first day on the set of Wonderwick Woods, the first one—
JS: You’re not gonna tell the whole story are you?
EM: Not if you don’t want me to!
JS: We were introduced in this green room, yada yada yada. Emily could tell I hadn’t learned my lines and so to deflect attention from my own, uh, shortcomings, I said something hella shady about what she was wearing.
EM: You did! Horrible little boy.
[CARD: QUESTION 2 – What were your first impressions of each other?]
EM: Josh, you obviously thought I was such a little nerd, didn’t you?
JS: Absolutely. And you thought I was the laziest guy alive?
EM: I certainly did!
[They both laugh]
JS: So yeah I’d say we know each other pretty well?
[CARD: QUESTION 3 – What’s their biggest pet peeve?]
JS: Oh that’s so easy, when people aren’t prepared or they’re like slacking or whatever. You’re a hard taskmaster!
EM: It’s true!
JS: What’s mine?
[Giggling] EM: When you’re not getting enough attention?
JS: Damn, girl, my answer would be bad driving! Why did you come for me like that!
EM: I’m sorry! It’s not my fault I know you better than you know yourself!
[CARD: QUESTION 4 – What was their favourite moment from filming Wonderwick Woods: The Far Shores?]
JS: You want us to say the kiss, right? We’ll say the kiss if that’s what you want!
EM: Even though it’s obviously not true. Josh, if you knew me at all you’d know it was the scene where I have to look through all the books in the archive to find the one with the spell that can stop Loreia Buckthorn.
[Leans back in his chair] JS: Well, mine was the kiss so . . .
EM: Oh I bet it was. Next question!
[CARD: QUESTION 5 – What’s their idea of a perfect day?]
EM: This is more like it! Probably playing basketball and looking at cool buildings then eating noodles?
JS: OK now you’re talking, that actually sounds like a pretty sweet day. I’ll give you that. And yours? Hmmm . . . does it sound like too much of a burn if I say it’s being left alone while you read? Because I totally do not mean it as a burn!
EM: Consider me burnt but you’re not wrong.
[Pumps fist] JS: Hell yeah! You got any more questions for us? This is fun.
EM: You’re having a grand old time, aren’t you?
JS: Just really enjoying an opportunity to impress you, that’s all.
EM: Josh!
[Smiling, looking into the camera] JS: What?