You’re Fired!
“Fluffington!” Mr. Banner shouted.
“Fluffington!” Yasmine shouted at the same time.
Fluffington skidded to a halt. She blinked up at Mr. Banner and Yasmine with her emerald-green eyes and let out a loud, angry meow.
Nancy stared in amazement at the famous cat. Fluffington’s luxurious white fur was covered with gooey blue paint. She looked like an alien. She also looked bigger than Nancy remembered from the Krunchies commercials. Nancy wondered if she had been eating too many Krunchies lately.
“What in blazes is going on?” Mr. Banner demanded.
“Poor Fluffington,” Bess murmured.
“She needs a bath!” Hannah said worriedly.
Yasmine scooped Fluffington up in her arms. She made a face as the gooey blue paint smeared onto her clothes and arms.
“She was supposed to be with the groomers, getting her beauty treatment,” Yasmine told Mr. Banner. “I’ll check with Patsy and see if she knows anything. Patsy!”
A young woman came rushing up to Yasmine and Mr. Banner. She was holding a brush in one hand and a towel in the other.
“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry,” Patsy said breathlessly. “I was in the middle of grooming her. I turned my back for thirty seconds to get some supplies, and she was gone! What happened?” she gasped, taking in the sight of Fluffington’s blue fur. “What did she get into?”
From behind a pile of boxes came a muffled giggle. Nancy craned her head, trying to see who it was.
“Dad, I think someone’s hiding behind there,” Nancy whispered to her father, pointing.
Mr. Banner overheard her. He walked over to the boxes and peered behind them.
“Beezil!” Mr. Banner said angrily. “Come out here, right this second!”
A tall, skinny boy emerged. He had short, spiky brown hair, and his face was a sea of freckles. He looked like he was about twelve years old.
Nancy studied him closely. His hands and T-shirt were covered with blue paint!
“Hey, Dad,” Beezil said to Mr. Banner, waving. He’s Mr. Banner’s son, Nancy thought.
“Explain yourself, Beezil,” Mr. Banner demanded. “Why are you covered with blue paint? What did you do to Fluffington?”
“It’s just stage makeup,” Beezil said, rolling his eyes. “What’s the big deal?”
“Do you know what you’ve done?” Mr. Banner shouted. “This is one prank too many, son. You’re fired!”
“Fired?” Beezil repeated. “From what?”
“From this movie. You’ve demonstrated to me that you’re not mature enough to have even a small acting part. Go to your, uh . . . go into my office and sit down and think about what you did,” Mr. Banner ordered Beezil. “You’re not allowed to use your cell phone or your game player for the rest of the day.”
“Whatever,” Beezil said sulkily. He walked into his father’s office and closed the door behind him.
Wow, Mr. Banner just fired his own son, Nancy thought. That’s pretty serious!
“I’ll get Fluffington cleaned up,” Patsy offered. She took the unhappy cat from Yasmine and hurried off.
“I think Fluffington’s gaining weight. Maybe we should switch her to low-fat Krunchies,” Yasmine called out after Patsy.
“I’m very sorry about all this,” Mr. Banner apologized to Mr. Drew, Hannah, Nancy, George, and Bess. “You’ll have to excuse me. I need to talk to my son. Carson, I know you and I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon to discuss business.”
“Right,” Mr. Drew said.
Mr. Banner turned to Nancy and her friends. “I’ll have Yasmine take care of the paperwork for you to join our cast as extras. Maybe Carson or Hannah can bring you by here tomorrow morning around nine? We’re shooting a crowd scene, and you three would be perfect for it.”
“Sure!” Nancy, George, and Bess said in unison. They exchanged high fives.
Still, Nancy felt sorry for poor Fluffington. She hoped Patsy would be able to get all the blue paint off of her.
“Beezil’s mom and Brett are divorced,” said Meadow, who was one of the makeup artists. “Beezil’s got some, uh, issues having to do with rules. As in, he doesn’t like to follow them. Stay still, Nancy,” she added.
Nancy obeyed. It was Tuesday morning, and she was sitting in one of the dressing rooms at Thunderchickens Studios. Meadow had already done George and Bess’s hair and makeup. Now it was Nancy’s turn.
Nancy’s hair was in hot curlers; Meadow had decided to style it into big, fluffy curls. Meadow was in the process of brushing Nancy’s cheeks with pink powder.
Then Meadow smoothed pink lipstick onto Nancy’s lips. Nancy crinkled her nose. Lipstick tasted really weird!
After Meadow finished with Nancy, the three girls were to be taken to an outdoor set near Soundstage #3. There Mr. Banner planned to shoot a crowd scene on the Mitchell family’s “street”—not a real street, but a fake street with fake houses on it.
“Is Beezil an actor?” Bess asked Meadow.
“No way. His dad gave him a part in the movie—a really small part—because he needed to keep him busy,” Meadow replied.
“Why does Mr. Banner need to keep Beezil busy?” George spoke up.
“Beezil’s mom is in Europe for the summer,” Meadow replied. “Mr. Banner is supposed to be taking care of him. Beezil had a babysitter for a while, but she quit after Beezil put a mouse in her backpack. The second babysitter quit after Beezil slipped shampoo into her smoothie. The third and fourth ones also quit. Mr. Banner finally gave up and started bringing Beezil to the set.”
“Wow,” Nancy said. Beezil’s a real troublemaker, she thought.
“Mr. Banner figured that giving Beezil a part in the movie would keep him in line.” Meadow chuckled. “I guess not.”
The dressing room door burst open. Yasmine rushed in.
“Have any of you seen her?” she demanded.
“Seen who, Yasmine?” Meadow said.
“Fluffington,” Yasmine replied in an urgent-sounding voice.
Nancy, Bess, and George all shook their heads. “No. Why, Yasmine?” Meadow said curiously.
Yasmine frowned. She looked really worried.
“Fluffington is missing!” she announced.