"This is not the beginning of a great love story, or wedded bliss, or even a one-night stand," Joie Lenz hisses at the mob-connected groom seated in the next chair, staring, like her, into a wall of mirrors.

"I don't see any pajamas," Lenz then says, with horror.

"I don't wear them," the groom replies.

Most other 17-year-olds are probably in school, but Lenz -- a senior at Eastern Christian High School in North Haledon -- is "running" (or rehearsing) her lines with Paul Anthony Stewart, who plays the Mafia-connected Danny Santos.

In November, Lenz, who lives in Waldwick, first appeared as Michelle Bauer, the proverbial "girl next door" who now finds herself unhappily married to the mob. Thus far, there's been only a civil ceremony. Still to come is the big "official" church wedding with a drop-dead-gorgeous gown.

"I can't even fathom myself in a wedding dress," Lenz muses.

She won the part of Michelle -- which had previously been played by Rachel Miner (Macaulay Culkin's wife) and Rebecca Budig -- by impressing GL producers during a nine-show guest stint in a most unusual role. In March, Lenz was the young clone of Reva Shayne -- long played by blond, blue-eyed Kim Zimmer.

"I was really surprised when I even got a call back for it, because I didn't think I looked anything like Kim at all," says the brown-eyed Lenz. "They made me wear blue contacts and they lightened my hair a little bit, and I was surprised at how it worked." In her homey dressing room -- on whose light green walls Lenz has painted little fairies and cherries -- there's a photo of Lenz wearing those blue contact lenses on Halloween.

She also shows off an article featuring very obnoxious quotes from a 15-year-old tennis star. Lenz has attached a homemade headline: "This is your brain on fame."

In person -- as on camera -- Lenz seems much older than her 17 years, something she attributes to the fact that she's an only child who grew up in a business where she was surrounded by grown-ups. "I was never really popular in school," she says, matter-of-factly. "And, it could have been that I just felt more comfortable talking to older people."

On this December day, the self-possessed Lenz got to the Guiding Light set at 7:15 a.m., ate some fruit, then dashed off to a dry run in the rehearsal hall ("a big blank studio"). She also spent time honing her acting skills. (Actress Lisa Brown, who used to appear on the show, coaches her.)

Another regular stop is the hair and makeup room, where professionals, such as makeup artist Paul Gebbia of Little Falls, gild the lilies. (Lenz's long hair is naturally curly, but for this day's scene, it's been blown straight.) Daytime TV's pace and memorization demands -- it's not uncommon for an actor to have 30 or more pages of dialogue a day -- has daunted many an actor, but not Lenz, who says she has a "photographic memory. -- I go over the script the night before, kind of analyzing it and taking notes. Sometimes, I'll run it with my friends," she says.

On this day, Lenz's big moment (which, barring impeachment trial preemptions, is slated to air Tuesday) is Michelle and Danny's first bedroom scene -- which does not include sex.

The back story, for non-GL fans: Michelle -- a college freshman (though she hasn't been attending classes lately) -- is deeply in love with Jesse Blue (Paulo Benedeti). Before Lenz came aboard, their romance survived their families' disapproval, peer pressure, and a serious medical crisis (Michelle's temporary blindness).

But in the fictional Midwestern town of Springfield -- as in all of soapdom -- happiness is as fleeting as a snowman in Hades.

Michelle and her friend Drew wound up (apparently) killing a Mafioso named Mick, in self-defense. (One day, Budig was seen struggling with Mick. The next day, Lenz was continuing that same scene.) Unbeknown to Jesse, the only way Michelle could save their lives was to marry the dead man's brother, Danny.

Needless to say, Michelle is feeling a little "hostile" toward her new husband, Lenz says. "Michelle is going from being kind of passive to more standing up for herself," Lenz explains.

The old Michelle used to wear lots of jeans, T-shirts, and clunky shoes. Now that she's joined the Santos family, GL costume designer Suzanne Schwarzer says, "I've made her a Mafia princess. I've put her in little slim skirts, just above the knee, that are very ladylike, demure, and feminine."

Michelle and Danny's enormous honeymoon suite, built into a corner of the set, is wonderfully romantic, with tea-stained fabrics, a marble fireplace, gold fleur-de-lis architectural accents, and candles everywhere. There are also (real) oversized white and pink roses, and a bottle of (faux) champagne. Paul enters the suite in a gray suit. Lenz's Michelle is in a stunning pale-pink dress and jacket (a far cry from Lenz's jeans and brown turtleneck), and carrying a peignoir set over her arm.

The scene features Michelle saying lines like, "I wouldn't sleep with you if my life depended on it." As the actors rehearse for the cameras, the director's voice, on an intercom, periodically interrupts, with reminders to leave a door open, and to not lean on the mantle, which creates unwanted shadows.

Over lunch, Lenz explains how she got from her birthplace -- Hollywood, Fla. -- to this world. When she was 4, the family moved from Florida to Texas (they lived in Desoto, Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, and Bedford), where she started attending theater school. Invited to go with a drama school group to Los Angeles for pilot season, she landed her first professional job -- a commercial for the teen series

After the family moved to New Jersey when Lenz was 11, more commercials followed, as well as a role ("the typical cheerleader daughter") in the 1996 horror film "Stephen King's Thinner."

With just one class (government) to go before high school graduation, Lenz has lots of plans and dreams, including roles in movies and "possibly" on prime-time TV. "I think what I'm going to do is take a year off [from academics], and then, if I can get in, I'd go to Pepperdine or UCLA," says Lenz, who has a two-year GL contract. Someday, she'd also like to appear on Broadway and get classic training at London's prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

"Addicted" to her guitar, she is also working on a demo of original music and writing her second screenplay, as well as a pilot for a half-hour "comedy-drama" series.

Nice being a Renaissance teen, huh?

"I can't cook or do crafts. And put a soccer ball or a football in my hand, and I wouldn't know what to do with it," Lenz says. "But if you give me a creative outlet, usually, I'd be able to figure something out."