LEGO Friends: Lights, Camera, Girl Power! (Chapter Book #2) Read online

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  Lights, Camera,

  Girl Power!

  SCHOLASTIC INC.

  Written by Cathy Hapka

  Illustrated by Ameet Studio

  Lights, Camera,

  Girl Power!

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded,

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  storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic

  or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written

  permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to

  Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY

  10012.

  eISBN 978-0-545-76604-3

  LEGO, the LEGO logo, and the Brick and Knob configurations are trademarks of

  the LEGO Group. ©2013 The LEGO Group. Produced by Scholastic Inc. under

  license from the LEGO Group.

  Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks

  and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  First printing, March 2013

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1: Seeing Stars . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

  Chapter 2: The Contest. . . . . . . . . . . . 6

  Chapter 3: Write On, Stephanie! .......... 13

  Chapter 4: Picture-Perfect Emma ...... 19

  Chapter 5: Mia’s Animal Surprise ........ 25

  Chapter 6: Olivia on Her Own . . . . . . . . 31

  Chapter 7: Andrea’s Night to Shine . . . . 35

  Chapter 8: A Friendly Idea . . . . . . . . . 41

  Chapter 9: We Can Do It! . . . . . . . . . . . 48

  Chapter 10: And the Winners Are . . . . . . . 55

  Chapter 1:

  Seeing Stars

  1

  “Heel, boy!” Olivia called as she ran across town.

  A happy brown puppy was scampering ahead of

  her. When he heard Olivia’s voice, he stopped and

  wagged his tail. He had been chasing a butterfly.

  Olivia laughed and bent down to pet him. “Good

  boy!” she said. A gray kitty on her shoulder purred.

  She patted her, also.“You, too, Maxie.”

  Helping her aunt Sophie train pets for the local

  vet clinic was Olivia’s second-favorite thing about

  her new home in Heartlake City.

  2

  Her favorite thing? That was easy. Olivia loved

  hanging out with her four best friends—Stephanie,

  Andrea, Mia, and Emma. In fact, she was on her way

  to meet them right now.

  “Hi, Olivia!” Mia called from a bench when

  Olivia reached the park. “I got here early to watch

  the people riding horses on the trails.”

  Olivia smiled. That was typical of Mia. She loved

  animals of all kinds and even had her own horse

  named Bella.

  “How’s the pet training going?” Mia asked.

  3

  Before Olivia could answer, Stephanie and

  Emma hurried over to join them. “Hi, guys!”

  Stephanie exclaimed. “Sorry we’re late. We would

  have been here on time. But

  someone

  had to stop and

  look at the new headbands at the boutique.”

  “What?” Emma shrugged, adjusting a pretty

  purple headband in her perfectly brushed hair. “The

  new season’s styles just came out. Besides, Andrea’s

  not even here yet.”

  “Maybe she’s working on a new song,” Olivia said.

  “I think Marie is letting her sing at the café every

  Friday this month.”

  The girls all nodded. Their friend Andrea was a

  fantastic singer. She worked during the summer as a

  waitress at the City Park Café and spent most of her

  time dreaming up new song lyrics. The café’s owner,

  Marie, didn’t mind as long as the food orders came

  out right. Everyone in town knew Andrea’s dream

  was to become a big star one day.

  Just then, Andrea came sprinting up to the

  4

  bench. She was out of breath. “You guys . . .never . . .

  believe . . . saw.”She panted.

  “Slow down.” Stephanie laughed. “We can’t

  understand you.”

  Andrea took a deep breath. “What I meant was,

  you guys will never believe who I just saw!” she said.

  “Look over there!”

  Andrea pointed to a woman riding a horse near

  the edge of the woods.

  Mia giggled. “There are always people riding

  horses in the afternoon, silly,”she said.

  “Forget the horse—look at the

  rider

  ,” Andrea

  insisted. “Isn’t that . . .

  Cassie

  ?”

  Emma gasped. “Cassie? You mean

  the

  Cassie—as

  in the host of

  Girl Power

  ?”

  “That’s my favorite TV show!” Stephanie cried.

  “What’s Cassie doing here?” Olivia wondered.

  “I don’t know, but let’s go ask for her autograph!”

  Andrea exclaimed.

  The five girls raced to the other side of the park.

  5

  But before they could get there, Cassie turned her

  horse onto a trail and cantered out of sight.

  “Oh, no! There’s no way we can catch up to her

  on foot!” Andrea groaned.

  Emma frowned. “Then how are we going

  to find her?”

  “We need to figure out what she’s doing in

  Heartlake City,” Stephanie declared. “Come on, I

  have an idea.”

  6

  Chapter 2:

  The Contest

  Soon the friends were sitting in Stephanie’s

  backyard. Even Stephanie’s cat, Kitty, could tell

  something big was going on. She wandered into the

  yard and circled the girls’ feet.

  “Okay,” Stephanie said. “Emma, you look

  through the Heartlake City newspaper and see

  what’s going on around town. And, Mia, you turn

  on the radio. If Cassie’s here for her television show,

  maybe there will be an announcement.”

  Olivia smiled.

  Leave it to Stephanie to take

  charge of the situation!

  she thought.

  7

  Mia turned on the radio. A pop song was just

  finishing.

  “

  Goooood

  morning, Heartlake City!” The DJ’s

  voice came on. “We’ve got big news to share today.

  Some of you may have noticed a special visitor

  around town. Cassie, the host of the television show

  Girl Power

  , is here!”

  “It

  was

  her!” Emma exclaimed, jumping up and

  down eagerly.

  “

  Ssh!

  Maybe he’ll explain why she’s visiti
ng,”

  Olivia said, leaning closer to the radio.

  “Now, fans, Cassie has just announced an exciting

  contest,” the DJ continued. “She is so impressed by

  our beautiful city that she wants to feature it on an

  episode of

  Girl Power

  . And one lucky girl has the

  chance to win a guest-star appearance on the show!”

  “Wow!” Stephanie cried. “That sounds like it

  would be amazing!”

  “Definitely,” Andrea said. “I was

  made

  to be on

  TV. If I win, maybe I can sing with Cassie.”

  8

  “The contest theme is

  The Heart of Heartlake

  City,

  ” the DJ said. “Whichever girl submits the

  most creative entry—from photos to videos to

  scrapbooks—about what makes our city special will

  win the grand prize. All entries are due at City Hall

  by five o’clock on Friday afternoon. That’s four days

  away. So get to work, girls!”

  As the pop music started back up, Stephanie

  clapped her hands. “This is going to be awesome!”

  “We should enter together!” Olivia cried.

  9

  “Yeah!” her friends agreed.

  “Wait a second,”Mia said suddenly. “Didn’t the

  DJ say only

  one

  girl could win?”

  “You’re right.” Emma’s face fell. “I guess we’re not

  allowed to enter as a group.”

  “Oh.” Olivia sighed. “That’s too bad. We could

  have made the best entry

  ever

  .”

  “I know.”Stephanie shrugged.“We should all still

  enter, though. That will give us five chances to win.

  Maybe at least one of us will get to meet Cassie.”

  Andrea nodded. “And then I—um, I mean,

  whoever

  wins can tell the rest of us all about it.”

  “Okay,”Olivia said. She still felt disappointed.

  But she didn’t want to spoil her friends’ excitement.

  “What should our projects be?”

  Stephanie grinned. “I know what I’m going to do.

  Wait here!” She ran inside her house.

  “I think I’ll do something about Heartlake City’s

  animals,”Mia said.

  “Of course!” Emma exclaimed. “That’s perfect.

  10

  Heartlake is special to you because of the animals.”

  “What about you, Emma?”Olivia asked.

  “I’ll probably do something about fashion,”

  Emma said, twirling a strand of her hair. “I can take

  photos of great outfits and write about them. It will

  be like a Heartlake City fashion magazine.”

  “And I’m going to write my very own song,”

  Andrea announced. “What about you, Olivia?”

  “I’m not sure,” Olivia said.

  Just then, Stephanie returned holding a book.

  “What’s that?” Mia asked.

  “It’s a book about the history of Heartlake City,”

  Stephanie explained. “I need it to research my

  own

  book.”

  Emma gasped.“You’re going to write a

  whole

  book by Friday?”

  “Wow!” Olivia exclaimed. That sounded like

  a lot of work. But if anyone could do it, it was

  Stephanie.

  Stephanie smiled. “This book only talks about

  11

  12

  old stuff that happened here,” she said, flipping

  through the pages. “I want my book to be about stuff

  that’s happening now. Like all the fun things there

  are to see and do around town.”

  “That’s really cool.”Olivia looked around at her

  friends. “All of your projects sound amazing. I bet

  Cassie will have a hard time picking a winner.”

  Mia nodded. “But you still need to think of a

  project to do, Olivia.”

  Olivia shrugged. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll

  keep brainstorming. For now, I’m happy to help you

  guys out with your ideas.”

  “Okay.”Andrea grinned. “Well, then, may the

  best girl win!”

  13

  Chapter 3:

  Write On,

  Stephanie!

  As soon as Stephanie’s friends left, she started

  scribbling down an outline.

  “I can write a chapter about the beach,” she

  murmured to herself.“And another about our school,

  and the shops

  and restaurants

  downtown.”

  She picked

  up the history

  book and flipped

  through it.

  14

  What else should she write about?

  “I’d better go out and do some research,” she told

  Kitty. “Wish me luck!”

  The cat purred as Stephanie gave her a pat. Then

  Stephanie hurried off.

  Stephanie spent the rest of the day wandering

  around town, jotting ideas in her notebook. Soon,

  she had collected details about the stables, the

  flight school, the café, the pet salon, and even the

  Heartlake City Pool. By that evening, she was

  exhausted!

  Tuesday morning, Stephanie headed to the park.

  It was beautiful outside, and she wanted to organize

  her notes for the first few chapters in the bright

  sunshine. When she got there, Mia was sitting on

  their usual bench, taking photos of horses cantering

  along the trails.

  “Hi,”Mia called. “How’s the book going?”

  15

  “Great,” Stephanie said. “How’s your project?”

  Mia sighed. “Actually, it’s harder than I thought,”

  she confessed. “I’ve been taking photos of cute

  animals all morning. But I’m not sure how to turn

  them into a project Cassie will like.”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out,” Stephanie

  assured her. “I know you can do it!”

  “Thanks,” Mia said. “Actually, the one I’m really

  worried about is Olivia. When I talked to her this

  morning, she still didn’t know what she’s doing.”

  “Olivia’s supersmart,” Stephanie pointed out.

  “She’s always inventing cool science projects. She

  will probably do

  something about

  science that will

  show Cassie how

  smart Heartlake

  City girls are.”

  “I didn’t think

  of that,” Mia said.

  16

  Suddenly, Andrea ran up to them. She was

  clutching some papers and looked excited.

  “Guess what?”Andrea said breathlessly. “I’m

  going to sing my song for the contest at the café on

  Thursday afternoon! Will you guys help me tape it

  for Cassie?”

  “Of course!” Stephanie and Mia exclaimed.

  “Fabulous!” Andrea waved the papers she

  was holding. “I have some of the lyrics worked

  out already. Olivia has been helping me with the

  17

  rhymes.” She squinted at the paper. “I just wish

  she’d helped me with my handwriting. I can hardly

  read what I wrote.”

  Stephanie giggled. “Great artists don’t always

/>   have good handwriting.”

  “True.”Andrea grinned.“Speaking of writing,

  how’s your book going?”

  “It’s all under control,”Stephanie said.“Almost,

  anyway.”She frowned and wiggled her fingers. “My

  hand hurts from all the writing.”

  “You’re

  hand

  writing your book?” Mia asked,

  surprised. “How come you’re not using a computer?”

  Stephanie smiled. “Oh, don’t worry. I’m only

  handwriting my notes. For the book itself, I know

  just what to do.”

  A short while later, Stephanie ran up to her dad’s

  study at home. “Hey, Dad,”she said, rushing in.

  “May I borrow your laptop?”

  18

  Her father looked up from his desk. “Sorry,

  Steph. It’s not working right now. It keeps freezing

  every time I load a video or computer game. I need

  to have it repaired.”

  “I don’t need to play games,”Stephanie said. “I

  only need it to write my book.”

  “Oh. It should work okay for that if you’re

  careful.”He placed the old laptop on his desk.

  Stephanie turned it on and held her breath.

  “Yes!” she exclaimed when the screen lit up. It

  worked! With all her notes, Stephanie was certain

  she could finish her book by Friday.

  Maybe, just maybe

  , she thought,

  I will be the one

  to win the contest!

  19

  “Now stay just like that,” Emma said, looking

  through her camera lens.

  “Like this?” Olivia struck a pose. It was

  Wednesday morning,

  and she was standing

  in Emma’s backyard.

  Her friend had

  asked each of the

  girls to be in her

  Heartlake City

  fashion shoot.

  Chapter 4:

  Picture-Perfect

  Emma

  20

  Emma snapped the picture. “Perfect! Thanks for

  helping me. What’s your project, by the way?”