Finally, at the end of the day, Craig was supposed to set off some landmines, which were supposed to send me flying as if I’d gotten blown up. I snuck out to see where I was supposed to land and confirmed the pads were very firm. I told Jessup there was no way I was doing it. I think he was a little relieved.
I left the comfort of the trailer to watch the scene. The stuntman had guide wires to help direct his flight. I watch in amazement as he shot like a rocket to the landing area. He landed awkwardly and didn’t move after the scene. The medical staff was checking him out when I decided to go back in. I went right up to Craig and hugged him.
“Thanks for talking me out of that. I think they killed him,” I said.
“Are you serious?”
“No shit. I think he’s really hurt.”
Everyone ran out to see except Kendal, who stayed to make sure I was alright. I was done for the day, so I went and changed. When everyone came back in, they assured me he’d be okay. They did think he broke his arm and possibly a few ribs.
ON THE BUS RIDE BACK, Craig talked smack about how I’d go down tonight at our lip-sync battle. He told me Bree had a killer set that would blow me out of the water. I wasn’t worried. My classmates had put together two songs for me I knew would kick butt. Kendal thought I was crazy even to think about doing it.
Kent organized dinner for everyone. It was good to see Craig’s right-hand man again. We went to a local bar and when we got there it was packed with everyone who worked on the movie. I was surprised to see Jessup and Janice, the producer, both there. It was obvious some of the cast and crew had been drinking before we arrived.
I was happy to see Halle come in and sit next to me. I talked to her and Kent while I ate. When they had cleared the table, Craig jumped up.
“You ready, Dawson?” he challenged me.
“Bring it on!”
Craig went up to the stage and found the mic.
“We have a special treat tonight. We’re going to have a lip-sync-off!” he said to cheers from the crowd.
Several people had pushed up to the stage to get a front-row view.
“To kick things off, we have our favorite dancing machine, joining us from Hicksville, USA, David Dawson.”
“I’m going to need a little help with this. I need everyone to gather around. Don’t be shy,” I said to get everyone closer to the stage.
“Shake it, baby!” one of the girls yelled.
“For my first number, I thought I’d release my inner rocker. I’m going to do a little something from AC/DC called You Shook Me All Night Long!”
Jessup just shook his head when I tore my shirt off halfway through. I made sure to throw it to Halle so I could get it back. She acted like she’d won some big prize as the girls screamed. I could see the doubt creeping into Craig’s eyes as I finished.
Halle tossed me back my shirt and I put it back on, to the complaints of some of the patrons.
“Now I thought I’d change it up to something a little more recent. I need Halle, Bree and Elizabeth to join me on stage,” I called out.
Once they were on stage, I covered the mic and told them what I wanted them to do.
“For my second number I would like to do something from Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj called Bang Bang!”
I got the crowd to clap and the girls to start shaking their hips to the beat of the music. Then I started my dance routine as the lip-sync portion started. When the ‘Bang Bangs’ started, the girls had gotten into it. When the rap section with Nicki began, I had the headshake going. By the end I had the crowd shaking it. When the song ended, I tossed the mic to Craig and strutted off stage.
“Not so fast, David, come back up here,” Craig called.
I strolled back up to people laughing and clapping.
“We need to let you in on a little secret. This was all a practical joke. We got a little help from our friends to film this,” he said and then pointed out the cameras around the room.
I was so going to get even with him. If there hadn’t been cameras, I might have hurt Craig. I guess it was ‘haze the new kid.’ Jessup and Janice had big smiles on their faces. There was no chance everyone wasn’t going to see this. I just decided to own it. I grabbed the mic from Craig.
“I have one more, if you want to see it,” I offered.
The girls had dusted off Carly Rae Jepsen’s song Call Me Maybe as a backup. My dance class had put together a line dance for this song last year for baseball. I taught everyone how to do it and then started the song. Of course, my shirt came off for this song, too. You have to do the lawnmower scene shirtless. I had Bree, Elizabeth and Craig on stage helping me. It only made sense Janice would want the four of us on stage to promote the movie. I noticed Halle had disappeared, but she came back later.
I think everyone had been under a lot of pressure and they needed to cut loose. I ended up having a great time with everyone. The only awkward moment was when I told Halle I had a girlfriend. I think we both knew we were just friends.
Kendal finally made me go back to the hotel because we had to be up early to be on location at zero dark thirty.
Saturday February 21
THE DAY STARTED OUT better since I didn’t have to get tattooed. I was able to keep warm and mostly sleep on the bus ride. We’d be shooting the scene where we took the town and saved all our classmates who’d left us at the outpost.
We started out at the outpost and did a final scene where Craig patched me up. At the very end, I would ad-lib something like, ‘It’s really cold out. I need some protective gear.’
Jessup finally agreed I could cover up my tattoos. They added to the scene where we jump on overpowered snowmobiles. I was able to take a coat and headgear from a downed rebel. I was thankful they let me because we rode all over the countryside during the morning.
For the afternoon, we moved to a new location where they had a small town built. I was amazed most of the buildings were just fronts. They hadn’t bothered to build sides or roofs. I asked Jessup about it.
“We’ll add the rest of the building’s structure in post-production. We’ll also be adding smoke and other details to make the town look more lived-in. We need the fronts for place markers so everything looks seamless,” he explained.
By the end of the day, Jessup was happy. On the ride back, he cornered Kendal and me on the bus.
“I wanted to tell you that you’re doing a great job, but I have a problem: your stuntman’s hurt and won’t be able to work tomorrow. There are a couple of shots I can get with other stunt people, but there are two I need you to do.”
“I have to answer to his mother, so you better tell me what you want him to do,” Kendal said.
“We’re doing the cliff-face scene where he has to swing across a frozen waterfall. The other is him rappelling down the cliff face.”
“I’ve never done anything like that before. I’m not sure how safe it would be,” I reasoned.
“I understand your concern. Think about it and let me know tomorrow,” he suggested.
I was glad Kendal didn’t look sold either. I’d watched what happened yesterday and was a little gun-shy.
WHEN I GOT BACK TO the hotel, I checked my emails. I had one from Bo Harrington, my quarterback coach from freshman year, so I gave him a call.
“I wanted to touch base with you and see if you wanted to hire me this summer?” he asked.
“Of course, I do. Have you heard from the Elite Quarterback Camp to see if there’s a slot for me this year?”