Chapter 1: The Bridesmaid of Frankenstein Rumorz All the celebrity gossip you need (and then some)! What''s Next for P2P ? by Shelly Mathers Fright TV''s Passport to Paranormal had a close encounter of the crazy kind last week while shooting an episode in an abandoned Brussels prison. Filming was interrupted when former host Emily Rosinski burst in, attacking her old flame (and the show''s psychic medium) Sam Sumners. And if the most obsessive fans are to be believed, the show was dealing with a rather nasty spirit they picked up in Rotterdam. Unfortunately, viewers didn''t get to see a lot of the action in last night''s episode (although the show enjoyed its highest-ever ratings, thanks to all the buzz). But many fans are getting their behind-the-scenes fix on a blog run by host Jack Sinclair''s daughter, Kat. Are her creepy photos and spooky stories fact or fiction? This reporter doesn''t care, so long as it''s entertaining. Pirate ghosts and knife-wielding stalkers are nothing compared to the nightmare that is shopping for bridesmaid dresses. Those things are the worst kind of villain.
That empire-waist halter looks so pretty and innocent on the hanger, luring you into a false sense of security--until you''re locked in a dressing room together with no escape route. Then it turns on you, strangling your neck with its scratchy lace and digging its beads into your flesh, cinching too tight around your waist but hanging all loose in the chest like it''s mocking you. Hey, I look great on that bridal-magazine model! Maybe I''m not the monster here. My mom dragged me to five different dress shops last week. Her soon-to-be-stepdaughter Elena paraded around in poofy flower-girl dresses and screamed like a vampire''s victim until the attendants let her try on the sparkly tiaras and necklaces locked up in glass cases, while I fought countless satin monstrosities. And my mom, a professional photographer, documented every grim moment with her camera. Flash! A-line Abomination. Flash! Evil Empire Waist.
Flash! The Bustier of Despair. It was Nightmare on Chiffon Street, starring Kat Sinclair. The worst part? I never even agreed to be in the wedding. When Mom tried to ask if I''d be a bridesmaid over the phone a few weeks before, I changed the subject. She never asked again. Instead, she acted like I agreed to do it. That''s how my mom operated: She pretended everyone was totally on board with whatever she did and left it to them to say otherwise. That way she could do whatever she wanted without worrying about other people''s feelings, and somehow they were the ones stuck feeling guilty when they finally spoke up.
And I fell for it every time. There I was, boarding a plane to Miami with my dad after two weeks in Chelsea, Ohio, and I still hadn''t told Mom I''d rather be the bride of Frankenstein than a bridesmaid at her wedding. "Window or aisle?" Dad asked, cramming his massive duffel bag into the overhead bin. I responded by ducking under his arm and flopping down next to the window. Our seats were right over the wing, which made me miss Grandma. (Her favorite episode of The Twilight Zone was about a guy who kept seeing a gremlin on the wing of the plane during his flight. We''d binge-watched a few seasons last weekend.) After tucking my backpack under the seat in front of me, I pulled my iPod out of my pocket and started untangling the headphones.
Two-and-a-half-hour flight to Miami; almost eight hours of horror movies to choose from. Of course, after Miami came a nine-hour flight to Brazil. But I figured I''d sleep at least a few hours since it was an overnight flight. Not too much, though--ghost hunters didn''t exactly keep normal sleeping schedules. While the flight attendants went over the usual safety stuff, Dad distractedly scrolled through e-mails on his phone. I wondered how he felt about returning to hosting Passport to Paranormal. He really loved the job, but I knew he still felt guilty about what happened back in Brussels. Like it was his fault the show''s first host showed up and attacked me.
Terrifying? Yes. But hey, it turned out to be great for P2P ''s ratings. Dad pocketed his phone as the flight attendant passed by, checking our seatbelts. When the plane began pulling away from the gate, he turned to me and cleared his throat. "Kat, there''s something we need to talk about." I groaned. " Dad. We did the safety-lecture thing already.
No going anywhere by myself. Phone and calling card on me at all times. No more provoking crazy stalkers on the forums--although to be fair, Emily started it--" "Not about safety," Dad cut in. "About your . . . involvement with the show." "You mean my blog?" My "behind-the-scenes look at the most haunted show on television" had started out as a way for me to keep up with Grandma and my best friends, Trish and Mark.
But then some of the P2P fans found it. And after the whole Emily debacle, I was up to a few thousand followers. Which was pretty cool, but also kind of intimidating. "I had a call with Thomas Cooper while you were at your mother''s house," Dad said slowly. "Fright TV''s noticed how popular your blog is with the show''s fans. Especially the, er, younger demographic." "You mean kids?" Dad nodded. "Thomas sees this as an opportunity to attract more young viewers to P2P .
Expand our audience." "So, what, he wants me to blog more or something?" "No, he . . ." Dad paused, studying me. "He wants you to be on the show." I stared at him. "Like .
. . on TV?" "Yup. What do you think?" "I don''t want to." The words spilled out quickly, even though I''d barely had time to process what Dad was saying. But after enduring a full week of dressing-room "fashion shows," just the thought of more on-camera time made me want to crawl into a hole and never come out. And this would be on television. If seeing photos of myself on my mom''s Facebook page made me cringe, how could I possibly handle seeing myself on TV? Flash! Ghastly Girl , Coming Soon to a Screen in Your Living Room.
Dad gave me a funny smile. "I thought you might not be wild about the idea. You don''t have to do it," he added quickly. "But Lidia and I promised we''d at least ask you and Oscar." "They want Oscar on the show, too?" "Mm-hmm." Oscar Bettencourt was the producer''s nephew. We kind of drove each other crazy at first, but eventually we became friends. I imagined what his expression probably looked like when Lidia asked him to be on P2P , and I grinned.
Neither of us really liked to admit it, but we were a lot alike. I couldn''t imagine he''d want to be on TV, either. I braced myself against the back of my seat as the plane picked up speed. "Oscar''ll say no, too." "You think so?" I snorted. "I know so. Tell Mr. Cooper thanks, but no thanks.
" It might have been my imagination, but I thought Dad looked a little relieved. Our plane roared into the sky, and ten minutes later I was watching Jaws devour its first helpless victim and wondering if shark attacks were common on the beaches in Brazil. *** After a surprisingly short wait in the customs line, I tucked my passport back into my bag and followed Dad through the crowded international terminal of the Miami airport. The theme music from Jaws was still playing in my head. Da dum . . . Da dum .
. . Da dum, da dum . . . Da-dum-da-dum-da-dum-da-dum-- "Kat!" I turned sharply, whacking a bearded guy in the arm with my backpack. "Sorry!" I called after him. A few feet away, Mi Jin Seong dropped her duffel bag, spread her arms wide, and looked at me expectantly.
"Well?" she said, and for a moment I thought she wanted a hug. Then I noticed her shirt and burst out laughing. "Nothing like seeing my almost naked mother-in-law on a T-shirt," Dad said wryly as we dragged our suitcases over to Passport to Paranormal ''s intern. After giving Mi Jin a quick hug, I pulled my phone out. "Can I get a picture for my grandma?" "Oh my God ," Mi Jin said, eyes wide. "Seriously, you''d text a photo of me in an Edie Mills shirt to Edie Mills ? Will she think I''m nuts?" "Are you kidding? She''ll love it." I took a few steps back and centered her in the screen. Mi Jin was a huge fan of Grandma''s from back in her horror B-movie star days.
The poster from Mi Jin''s favorite Edie movie, Vampires of New Jersey, was featured on the front of her T-shirt: a younger version of my grandmother with ridiculously teased-up black hair, deathly pale skin, and an embarrassingly skimpy bikini, standing on a boardwalk with her spike-heeled foot on the chest of a dead surfer. Blood trickled from her mouth, and you could see two tiny holes in the guy''s neck. The tagline at the bottom said: This Summer, the Shore Is Really Going to Suck. Mi Jin struck a pose just like on the poster,.