13 Double Disaster - My Sister the Vampire (10 page)

I assume he just means ‘bright and early’
, Olivia thought as she made her way off the set towards her trailer as quickly as she could. Unfortunately, that wasn’t very
quick. Her burgundy silk dress might have been drop-dead gorgeous, but between her fluffy bell-shaped skirt and tight ankle-length petticoat, walking was suddenly a
serious
challenge.

And tomorrow I have to somehow dance in this outfit!
She let out a groan.
How is that supposed to happen?

As she walked through the maze of production trucks and trailers parked outside the posh mansion where they had been filming, Olivia spotted Jackson standing with his back to her outside one of
the trailers. He was dressed in his ‘poor’ Victorian costume, flipping through a script, and his shoulders were hunched.

Olivia frowned. Was he just concentrating hard? Or was he nervous?
That’s so unlike him.
She hesitated, looking at his hunched shoulders.
Could he be nervous because of
us?

Their afternoon in London had been wonderful, but things had turned awkward again as soon as they’d started filming yesterday.
Then
again . . .
Olivia sighed. They were
playing people who were supposed to be in love with each other! For a real-life ex-couple, that was a tense situation to be in. How could they
not
feel awkward in this situation?

Maybe if she could lighten things up somehow . . .

All of a sudden, as Olivia stared at Jackson’s back, she felt an overwhelming urge to sneak up behind him, cover his eyes and say, ‘
Guess who?
’

Don’t be ridiculous!
she told herself.
Why would
anyone, in the history of anything,
ever
think that was a
good idea?

She turned away, shaking her head, then stopped. Because really . . .

She’d seen it in so many movies that it was actually kind of traditional, wasn’t it? Especially on a movie set! And even if it wasn’t . . .
I have to do something to break
this tension between us!

Finally making a decision, she crept up behind him. Her big skirt rustled as she moved, but Jackson was studying his script too intensely to notice, even when she was less than a foot behind
him. She stood up on tiptoe to reach out and cover his eyes . . .

Oh no!
Her feet were tangled in her tight chemise. Olivia lurched forward, hopelessly off-balance . . . and landed right on Jackson’s back, knocking him to the ground and landing
right on top of him. She could feel his body wriggling beneath her and his grunts of protest, but there was nothing she could do to roll off him – not in this ridiculous dress. Loose
script-pages fluttered everywhere.

Olivia closed her eyes in anguish.
Could that
possibly have gone any worse?

The answer was definitely
I don’t think so.

Her cheeks burned with embarrassment as she finally rolled off Jackson in her enormous hoop-skirt. She sat beside Jackson’s fallen body, her cheeks still flushed and her breath coming in
gasps because of the corset.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she wheezed. ‘I didn’t –’

She cut herself off with a gasp as Jackson turned to face her.
Oh no.

She’d been wrong. It
could
have gone worse. It
had
gone worse. Much worse!

Because it wasn’t Jackson she had tackled, after all. She’d taken a total
stranger
to the ground!

‘I’m so sorry,’ she repeated faintly. She felt light-headed, and for once, it wasn’t the corset that was to blame.

The stranger’s hair was the same shade of blond as Jackson’s and cut in the same hairstyle. He was the same height as Jackson, and he wore Jackson’s costume . . . but he was
definitely
not
Jackson.

‘I-I-I . . .’ Olivia stammered, scooting backwards. ‘I’m so sorry, but you look
just
like . . .’

The stranger smiled ruefully. ‘. . . Jackson Caulfield?’ he finished for her.

Olivia swallowed hard. ‘Yes,’ she admitted. ‘How did you know?’

‘Because I get that a lot.’ The boy’s smile turned into a grin. ‘I’m Will, Jackson’s body double.’

Olivia’s eyes widened. ‘Oh, of course! That explains it. But I didn’t know we were getting body doubles!’

He nodded. ‘You’re Olivia Abbott, aren’t you?’

‘I am,’ Olivia said. ‘It’s nice to meet you.’ She started to reach out for a handshake – then cringed as she suddenly realised that Will was still lying
spread-eagled on the ground, where she’d left him. ‘I really am
so
sorry. I just lost my balance with this crazy dress!’

‘No worries.’ Will took her hand so they could help each other up. ‘It was kind of fun to stop being Jackson’s body double for a while, and be his
stunt
double!’

Olivia laughed with him as she smoothed down her skirt with her free hand. ‘I promise not to make you perform any more surprise stunts!’

Will grinned, leaning a little closer. ‘I don’t know. This one was kind of fun.’

A flutter of curtain movement caught Olivia’s eye. It was coming from a nearby trailer . . .
Jackson’s
trailer. And Jackson stood at the window, scowling.
Oh no!

She lunged backwards, pulling free of Will’s hand.
Jackson just saw me holding hands with another
boy and laughing. What will he think?

Then she saw the look on Will’s face. He was staring down at her hand, which she had just yanked away from him with full force.

‘Sorry,’ he mumbled. ‘I didn’t mean to annoy you.’

‘Oh, you didn’t!’ Olivia bit her lip, cringing at her own clumsiness. Will had been so nice about being knocked over in her mistaken joke. The last thing she wanted to do now
was make him feel bad.

‘I know I’m not one of the stars,’ he said. ‘If you felt like I was stepping out of line –’

‘No, that’s not it at all!’ Olivia bit back a groan.
Why is this all so complicated?
She was all too aware of Jackson watching. Everything in her wanted to get away
before he leaped to any false conclusions.

But she certainly didn’t want Will to think she found him . . . well, whatever it was he thought! And honestly, only a blind girl would think he was anything but attractive. In fact, being
a good double for Jackson meant he was probably the second cutest boy on the whole planet!

His hair flopped forwards in just the right way, he had broad shoulders and a gorgeous spattering of freckles across his nose – plus eyelashes that any girl would die for. She opened her
mouth to tell him that . . . then caught herself just in time.

Stop now!
she ordered herself, in her best imagined Ivy-voice.
Don’t create even more confusion!

She gave another frustrated, side-long look at Jackson’s trailer, and then rolled her eyes at herself.
This is ridiculous. Why should I be so
embarrassed?

She hadn’t flirted with Will, she’d only been friendly. And even if she
had
been flirting, Jackson would have had no right to be angry. After all, they were not together.

And I can’t let myself forget that
, Olivia told herself.
It doesn’t matter how many scenes we shoot
together of a couple in love. It’s just acting.

So she hadn’t done anything wrong . . . but that didn’t make her feel any better as she said goodbye to Will and walked to her trailer. It felt as though she was surrounded by an
invisible storm cloud of gloom – a storm that she’d brought on.

After what felt like a year later, Olivia was finally out of her costume and lying on the bed in her opulent, lushly carpeted trailer, wearing loose grey sweatpants and a
pink-and-white Franklin Grove cheer-squad T-shirt. After her long day in a corset and Victorian hoop-skirt, though, she couldn’t imagine wearing anything more comfortable.
If only all
those journalists could see me now
, she thought.
I sure don’t
look
like a movie star!

When she’d first seen her trailer, she’d wondered why on earth it would include a bed as well as all the other luxuries, like the microwave and the flat-screen TV. Those might make
some sense, but a bed? Surely she’d never sleep on the set!

Now, though, she just wanted to curl up in her comfy sweatpants and pretend that none of the last half-hour had happened. As she pulled the sheets over her head, she let out a sigh of
relief.

Then she heard a familiar
ping!
coming from her laptop, which sat on the table by her elaborate kitchen unit. She knew that
ping
! It signalled an incoming message from the Lonely
Echo messaging system on the Vorld Vide Veb, the vampire Internet . . . and there was only one person in the world who would contact her that way.

Ivy!

With a burst of renewed energy, Olivia threw off her covers and ran over to her laptop, waving at her twin. ‘I am so happy to see you!’ she said. ‘How’s high
school?’

Ivy looked out of the computer screen with big, anguished violet eyes. ‘Horrible,’ she announced, in an Eeyore-like Voice of Doom. ‘I’m
popular
.’

‘What?!’ Olivia stared at her sister as she pulled out a chair by the table. Of all the bizarre things that had ever come out of Ivy’s mouth, this had to be the most
unexpected. ‘Is that a joke?’

‘I only wish it was.’ Ivy buried her face in her hands. ‘I need your help.’

Olivia sat down in front of the laptop, her own worries forgotten. ‘Anything you need,’ she said firmly. ‘Just tell me all about it.’

As she watched, Ivy drew a deep breath. ‘The goths,’ Ivy announced, ‘are the in-crowd. There are just
so many
of them! And . . .’ Ivy’s eyes looked wild.
‘I really need to ask: how did
you
deal with being popular at school? Because I’ve only been dealing with it for three days, and I already want to nail my coffin shut so I
don’t have to face it any more!’

Olivia let out a snort. ‘Me? “Popular”?’ She shook her head as she leaned to grab a fresh strawberry-banana smoothie from her mini-fridge. ‘Have you already
forgotten? All of my friends were goths or sci-fi nerds. Remember?’

‘Oh, yeah.’ Ivy’s shoulders slumped. ‘Now that you’re a big Hollywood star, I sometimes forget you weren’t always that way.’

‘Hmmph.’ Olivia rolled her eyes and took a long sip of the sweet, cold smoothie. ‘Speaking of my friends, though . . . how is Camilla?’

‘Oh.’ Ivy winced. ‘I don’t actually know. Sorry! She’s going to Willowton High, and it’s hard to get a word in when we’re riding the bus with Charlotte.
But I’ll catch up with her, I promise!’

‘Don’t worry,’ Olivia said, seeing her sister looking as gloomy as the black and dull-crimson hangings of her bedroom. ‘How are the others doing?’ Olivia asked,
trying to change the subject.

Ivy let out a groan. ‘I think Sophia’s having some kind of breakdown!’ Olivia’s twin leaned forward, whispering: ‘She’s taken to wearing
gingham
.’

‘
No way.
’ Olivia almost dropped her smoothie.

‘It’s true.’ Ivy shook her head. ‘She’s also become permanently attached to her shades and she’s taken up skateboarding . . . or at least, she’s
tried.’ Ivy looked pained. ‘It hasn’t gone very well so far.’

‘But what’s going on?’ Olivia asked. ‘Sophia’s always been so fashion-conscious! I’ve never even seen her wear an
earring
that wasn’t
black.’

Ivy picked up a bat-figurine from her desk and scowled down at it. ‘Well, she’s changed now, big-time.’

Olivia stirred her smoothie with its straw, frowning. ‘Could she just be trying really hard to fit in at the new school?’

‘If that’s the case, it isn’t working.’ Ivy grimaced. ‘If anything, she’s drawing
bad
attention to herself from our school’s Queen Bee, Amelia. I
don’t think she can stand any goths acting ungothlike.’

‘Ouch.’ Olivia winced in sympathy. ‘I wish I could help.’

‘I wish you could, too.’ Ivy let out a sigh. ‘I guess I was hoping you’d be able to help me with everything – my popularity problem and Sophia’s weird
behaviour.’

Olivia shrugged helplessly. ‘If you think of anything I
can
do from thousands of miles away . . .’

‘I don’t know. Maybe just scream some sense into everybody, long-distance?’ Ivy gave her a crooked grin. ‘Still, it’s really helped just talking to you about it.
But I’d better go now. I’ve got some last minute homework to cram in. There’s a
lot
more of that in high school!’

‘I’ll bet,’ Olivia said, returning the smile. ‘Good luck with it!’

After Ivy clicked off, Olivia sat for a long moment gazing sightlessly at the computer screen. Her smoothie was still mostly full, but she set it down on the table and tuned her ears to the buzz
of activity outside her trailer. Movie-set activity – a world away from queen bees, popularity and homework . . .

Ivy’s life was so different to Olivia’s. It was
normal.
With this glamorous Hollywood contract, Olivia had signed away all her chances for normal education and even normal
teenage drama. Maybe that should have been a relief, but it wasn’t. As much as she loved the excitement of the movie set, part of her wished she was just hanging out in Franklin Grove with
regular, normal vampires.