13 Double Disaster - My Sister the Vampire (11 page)

Ha!
She couldn’t help smiling at herself as she picked up the smoothie and took a long, cold sip. Her life really had changed beyond recognition! Once upon a time, she would have
thought that the whole idea of vampires was
totally
weird and scary. But now . . .

Her thoughts were cut off by a sudden shout outside her trailer. Choking on her mouthful of smoothie, she set down the cup and ran to her window.

‘No, no, no!’ A woman’s voice roared through the air as Olivia lifted the curtain at her window. ‘Try harder!’

Olivia almost didn’t recognise Jackson with a scowl on his face, storming through the maze of production trucks and trailers. His hands were clenched into fists as he was followed by a
short, squat, middle-aged woman. She shouted after him in an exaggerated “Cockney” voice.

‘It’s “a
-rand
the corner”, not “a
-round
the corner” . . . You utter, utter
plonker
!’

Olivia’s mouth dropped open. It was Jackson’s dialect coach, Ingrid . . . who seemed to be the meanest woman in the world!

Before she could think twice, she lunged for the door.
Someone
needed to stand up for Jackson and tell that woman that she’d gone over the edge! How could anyone think that treating
an actor this way would get them to do their best work on set?

In her loose sweatpants and T-shirt, it was easy to move quickly. As soon as Olivia reached Ingrid, she opened her mouth to let loose – but Jackson gave her a light shake of the head,
making the message clear:
Don’t get in the middle of this
.

Olivia stared at him. Didn’t he
want
to be defended?

Ingrid kept shouting: ‘Apples and pears! A Weaver’s Chair! The Top of Rome!’

Was she insulting him, or setting him really bizarre riddles? Olivia had no clue. But the cruel tone of Ingrid’s voice was clear.

‘Can’t you keep any of them straight, with all the bread you’re getting for this tosh? Use your loaf
 
!’

I may not have any idea what she’s saying
, Olivia thought, crossing her arms,
but I know that I don’t like her.

Jackson didn’t argue back, though. He only smiled tightly. ‘I’ll work on it, Ingrid,’ he said. ‘I promise. I
am
taking this seriously. It’s just . .
.’ His gaze fell briefly on Olivia. ‘. . . I’ve got a lot on me mind right now. But I am focused.’

The accent was much better there
, Olivia thought, aware of the strange fluttering in her chest,
when you’re speaking from the heart.

‘Huh.’ Ingrid snorted in obvious disbelief. ‘We’ll see about that tomorrow.
Early.
We’ll go over your script together before shooting resumes – so that
you
don’t sound like a total wally on-screen!’

Olivia gritted her teeth and waited for Ingrid to walk away before she walked over to Jackson. In a voice pitched too quietly for anyone else to hear, she asked, ‘Are you OK?’

‘Yah, I’m awight.’ Jackson shrugged, keeping a nasal Cockney twang in his voice. ‘I been yelled at afore, ye know? She’s just been yakking on all afternoon about
it. It’s really narking me.’

‘
Oh
.’ Olivia’s eyes widened. ‘Is
that
why you looked so grumpy when I saw you in your trailer window just now?’

Grimacing, Jackson nodded. ‘I shouldn’ta got the ’ump like what I did, but . . .’ He dropped the Cockney accent. ‘Wait a minute. Why did
you
think I was
grumpy? What were you worried about?’

‘Oh . . . nothing.’ Olivia smiled, feeling a weight drop off her shoulders.

He hadn’t been angry at her, or at Will.
I should have known better.
When had Jackson ever been unreasonable?

He was frowning now, though, as he looked down at her. ‘Are you sure?’ he said. ‘You look so relieved –’

‘I’m fine!’ Olivia said. Hastily, she changed the subject. ‘But how can you handle being yelled at so much?’

‘Oh, well.’ Jackson flashed the smile Olivia had seen on movie posters and in dozens of magazines. ‘It’s easier to take when you can barely understand what’s being
yelled!’

‘I guess so.’ Olivia wrinkled her nose. ‘But still –’

‘It’s
normal
for the movie business.’ Jackson shrugged. ‘You get used to it after a while.’

‘Really?’ Olivia looked around the bustling maze of production trucks and trailers with fresh eyes. ‘Yuck.’ Instinctively, she took another step closer to Jackson.
‘I mean, I’ve read about movie set drama in magazines, but . . . it’s different to see and hear it for myself.’ She shook her head. ‘And I just don’t understand
how anyone can accept that kind of meanness as
normal.
And what kind of person would
be
that mean in the first place?’

‘Honestly, there aren’t that many bad folks,’ Jackson said. ‘It’s just that everybody’s under so much pressure.’ He leaned closer to her, smiling
reassuringly. ‘Don’t worry. The more you work, the more used to it you’ll get. You’ll develop a tough shell to protect yourself, just like the rest of us do.’

Olivia couldn’t stop her expression from twisting into uncertainty.
But do I really want that? Do I really want to jump into a world where people are so crazy with stress and worry that
they are
this
mean to each other?

She looked down to hide her expression from Jackson . . . but she was too late. He must have sensed her feelings. She saw his hand start to reach for hers. Time seemed to slow down around them
as she held her breath, waiting for their fingers to touch. It was as if they were inside an invisible bubble, separating them from all the bustle and noise of film production. Just her and
Jackson, together . . .

Then his hand paused and fell away. Olivia felt a stab of pain in her chest as the bubble popped.

Maybe being on set together wasn’t going to fix everything the way that she had hoped. Maybe their lives weren’t compatible after all. No matter how much she cared about Jackson,
could she be sure that taking on the whole Hollywood lifestyle was the right choice for
her
?

Olivia wanted to shout at the sky.
This is so unfair!

Jackson took a step back and drew an audible, deep breath. When he spoke again, his Cockney twang was back in full swing. ‘Look, I’m sorry, but I gotter dive – ’Arker
said ’e’d need me on set now.’

Now that she did finally look up, Olivia could see Jackson staring at his watch. Was that why he’d let go of her hand – because he was running late? He started to turn away, then
hesitated. ‘What’re ye doin’ on Satahdee?’

‘“Satahdee?”’ Olivia repeated blankly. ‘Oh,
Saturday
! Nothing, I don’t think. I mean, I don’t have any plans. We have the weekend off,
don’t we?’

‘That’s right,’ Jackson said, ‘and I was finkin’ . . . d’ye wanna take a nanny-ride along the Thames shake?’

‘A
what
?’ Olivia stared at him.

He grinned. ‘“Nanny-goat,”’ he said. ‘That means
boat,
and “shake” means
river
. I’m asking you for a boat-ride along the
Thames.’

‘Oh. I get it . . . I think,’ Olivia said. Was a boat-ride with Jackson a good idea or a really, really bad one? She felt so numb, she couldn’t even tell. ‘That sounds
good,’ she said weakly.

‘Cushty,’ Jackson said. Olivia assumed that meant,
Good
. He swung off, striding quickly through the cluster of trailers and trucks. Just before he disappeared from sight,
Olivia heard him greeting Harker. ‘Awight, Guv’ner?’

Ingrid’s voice rapped out furiously from somewhere nearby: ‘That’s “Guv-
nah
”!’

Wincing, Olivia turned away. It was almost time for her parents to collect her from her trailer . . . and she still hadn’t come to any conclusions about Jackson, or about herself.

What ever happened to figuring things out?

The next day, Ivy sat with Brendan at the very back of the school bus, as usual, but Sophia was nowhere to be seen.

‘What do you think?’ Ivy whispered to her boyfriend, as the big banana-coloured bus rolled down the street towards the school. ‘Is she sick? Or is she just having a last-minute
gingham emergency?’

‘Ugh.’ Brendan grimaced. ‘Maybe she’s just got really, really into the whole subterfuge thing? Trying to be un-vamp-y, like our parents want?’

‘No way.’ Ivy kept her voice too low for the students in front of them to hear. ‘Trust me, she’s not doing this for her parents. She’d never do anything that stupid
for them. She has to be doing it for a boy.’

‘Really?
Sophia
?’ Brendan stretched out his legs under the seat in front of him, looking sceptical. ‘I don’t know. She’s always been smarter than
that.’

‘I talked it all over with Lillian last night,’ Ivy told him. ‘She says it’s not uncommon for girls to do the stupidest things to impress boys.’

A lock of dark hair flopped over Brendan’s eyes as he shook his head, letting out a half-laugh. ‘I’ve never seen
you
do anything like that.’

‘No?’ Ivy nudged him playfully. ‘Remember when we were in elementary school, and I was “really,
really
into” Ninja Warrior 7?’

‘You were?’ Brendan frowned.

‘Oh that’s right, I forgot,’ Ivy laughed. ‘You ignored me all through our childhood.’

‘I did not,’ Brendan protested.

Ivy gave his hand a squeeze. ‘The point is, I
mastered
that game, just because you once wore a Ninja Warrior 7 T-shirt!’

‘Are you kidding?’ Brendan stared at her for a long moment. Then he started to laugh, even as he wrapped one arm around her shoulder to hug her close. ‘I didn’t even like
the game! The shirt was a Christmas present from my mom . . . and I only ever wore it
once.
’

‘Argh!’ Ivy groaned and buried her face in his shoulder. ‘I wasted a whole summer on that game, just in case you ever invited me over to your house to play it. I was going to
impress you with my mad Ninja skills!’

‘Aww.’ Brendan tipped up her chin and kissed her. ‘Ivy Vega, you are a tremendous dork.’

‘Whatever!’ Ivy whispered back. As the bus jerked to a stop in front of the school grounds, she gave him a mischievous grin. ‘You just love me for my Ninja powers, and you know
it!’

Still laughing, she jumped up to follow the students in front of her off the bus, while Brendan playfully hung on to her backpack. She stepped off the bus – and then leaped back, gasping
and almost knocking Brendan over, as a flash of black and white gingham swooped past.

Was it a bird, was it a plane . . .?

Oh no. It’s worse!

Ivy cringed as she recognised Sophia, her skateboard swerving dangerously towards a collection of stone benches on the school grounds.

‘Look out!’ Brendan yelled.

Ivy could only watch, speechless with horror, as Sophia’s skateboard took another violent swerve. Sophia’s sunglasses fell from her face, just in time for her to see the bench rising
up in front of her. With a super-agile vampire leap, she hopped straight over the bench as her skateboard whizzed beneath it.

Ivy counted it as an absolute miracle when Sophia landed back on the board on the other side of the bench and turned to wobble back over to her friends.

Ivy caught her up halfway. ‘Do you have any idea how close you came to being rushed to the nearest emergency room?’ She pointed at the skateboard under Sophia’s feet.
‘Stop riding that thing!’

But Sophia obviously wasn’t listening. Instead, she was gazing directly over Ivy’s shoulder at something that made her lips curve into a dreamy smile. Using the skateboard to shoot
away from Ivy, she scooped up her sunglasses from the ground and shoved them back on her nose.

‘And that’s another thing!’ Ivy yelled after her friend. ‘Stop wearing those things! They’re not good for your health!’

Brendan came up beside her, shaking his head. ‘You do realise she isn’t paying any attention to you.’

‘I know,’ Ivy said glumly, as they watched Sophia aim her skateboard at the group of skater-boys and girls gathered near the front of the school building. She was clearly intent on
joining them . . . but in her rush, she seemed to have forgotten how to put on the brakes. She tried to stop, but it was too late. Her arms windmilled through the air.

As Ivy let out a moan of sympathetic horror, Sophia skated her board right over Finn’s feet.

‘Please tell me I imagined that,’ Ivy breathed.

‘I wish you had,’ Brendan whispered back.

Together, they started running, even as the group of blonde skater-girls near Finn all started screaming at once.

Every time Ivy had ever seen Finn, he had been wearing pristine white tennis shoes. They’d been so perfectly white, Ivy could have written an essay on them. Now, though, Ivy could see
dirty black wheel marks running over the top of them.

She cringed at the sight.
It’s like a sign saying, ‘Sophia was here!’

Sophia’s face was bright red, and her words were tumbling over each other as the skater-girls all glared at her from behind Finn, whispering to each other.