13 Double Disaster - My Sister the Vampire (16 page)

Olivia set one hand on her stomach, trying to settle the nerves fluttering there.
I can do this . . . for him.

‘Hey,’ she said, speaking quickly. ‘Whatever I’m about to say, just
please
don’t try to stop me. I have to get this out, or I’ll burst!’

Even as she saw his shoulders stiffen with shock, her words tumbled out. ‘I love you. I
do
! And I’m sorry things are so difficult. I have to be totally honest and say I just
don’t know if I’m going to be doing many more movies in the near future.’

She had to stop for a quick breath, almost panting in the tight corset.
What on earth did Victorian ladies do when they got emotional?
Ignoring the tightness in her waist, she carried on:
‘I’m pretty sure fourteen-year-olds aren’t meant to be
this
tired! I mean, I think you’re amazing for being able to do it, but . . . it’s just not for me. And I
don’t want to be part of an “it” couple. I want to be a normal boy’s normal girlfriend!’

She sighed. ‘Obviously, I know
that’s
not going to happen. You’re way too famous! But . . .’ She paused, closing her eyes as she finished: ‘I really think we
should give us another try . . . Do you?’

There was a long, terrifying silence. Finally, Olivia opened her eyes.

Jackson had turned around . . . Except, it wasn’t Jackson. It was Will.

‘Oh, stake me now!’ Olivia gasped.

Will frowned. ‘Huh?’

‘Nothing,’ Olivia replied, realising that she could not very well explain to him that she had blurted out something that her vampire twin sister did when she was mortified. Spots
danced in front of her eyes. Was it possible to faint from sheer embarrassment? She looked down at the ridiculous
prison
of fabric that she was wearing and wondered, didn’t she see
historical women in movies reach for paper fans at times of distress? Where was
Olivia’s
paper fan?

Then she burst out laughing, and put her face in her hands.
This is the kind of thing that could
only
happen to me
, she thought, shaking her head.

‘I’m sorry,’ said Will, his face flushed as he stood up from his chair. ‘I just didn’t know how to interrupt you once you’d got started.’ Then he smiled
ruefully. ‘So . . . I guess you’re the ultimate fangirl, huh?’

Olivia’s jaw dropped open. She stared at him in pure horror. ‘Is that . . .?’ She croaked the words. ‘Is that what Jackson told you?’

‘No! That was just a dumb joke. Sorry.’ Will ran a hand through his hair, in a scarily Jackson-like gesture. ‘Listen, that guy does
not
shut up about you – like,
ever.
’

Olivia blinked, trying to take that in. ‘Really?’

‘Really,’ Will said. ‘And hey, look on the bright side . . . at least you got to have a dress rehearsal. Can I give you some advice?’

Olivia nodded dumbly.

Will smiled. ‘Repeat that whole speech to Jackson. Don’t change a word. Now, go get him!’

Olivia staggered out of the make-up trailer, desperately trying to run through exactly what she’d said in the ‘dress rehearsal’. But she could barely remember any of it
now!

I can’t do it again. Not yet!
She aimed for her own trailer, trying to stay upright.
I’ll just take a minute, have a drink of water . . . get myself together. Then
I’ll go find Jackson.

She swallowed hard. It looked like she’d be improvising again. But at least, next time, she’d be aiming her declaration of love at the right boy!

Please let it work.

She opened the door to her trailer and was overwhelmed by the smell of . . .

Roses . . . Lots and
lots
of roses! As Olivia stepped inside, she gazed around in shock.

Her whole trailer had been transformed into a rippling river of beautiful red and white rose petals.
Romantic
rose petals, everywhere!

They covered her table, her chairs and the carpet, while twelve long-stemmed red roses lay on the side-table by the trailer door.

In one corner sat her laptop, with red-and-white rose petals scattered across its keyboard. As she stepped into the trailer, the laptop screen came to life, playing a pre-recorded message, but
she barely even noticed. Ivy and Brendan were yelling, ‘Congratulations on wrapping your first ever shoot! We can’t wait to see you!’ from the screen – but Olivia
couldn’t even see them through the mist of tears that had formed in her eyes.

She couldn’t even take in the words that Camilla and her bio-dad added to the message as they appeared on-screen.

All of Olivia’s attention was on the river of rose petals . . . and the sudden feeling that someone else had just entered the trailer.

Slowly, she turned round, hardly daring to hope. But there he stood, with a suitcase at his feet – the boy she’d been looking for all day.

Jackson gave her a slow smile.

I
vy almost laughed when she walked past the crowd of blonde skater-girls outside school on Monday morning. They had all turned at exactly the same
moment to glare at her, just as if they shared some kind of hive-mind underneath their identical pixie-cuts.

Don’t worry, clones
, she thought, rolling her eyes.
I have absolutely zero interest in poaching your skater king.

All that Ivy cared about was Sophia . . . who hadn’t been on the school bus.
Again.
Worse, Ivy hadn’t seen Sophia skating along the sidewalk, either.

Please don’t let her have had another crazy accident!
she prayed. Surely, after yesterday, her best friend would have finally had the sense to give up being a wannabe
skater-girl?

Up ahead, she saw Brendan standing near the school doorway, talking to Amelia Thompson. Ivy sighed but forced a polite smile for the Goth-Queen.

‘Ivy.’ Amelia nodded back with her usual cool courtesy. ‘I see you were getting a few dirty looks back there. Don’t let those skater-girls get to you. Or at least . .
.’ She frowned slightly. ‘Don’t
show
it if they do.’

‘Got it,’ Ivy said, and bit back a reluctant smile.

Goth or bunny, it seemed that all popular girls had at least one thing in common . . . an
obsession
with image!

As Amelia headed inside, Ivy whispered to Brendan, ‘Have you seen Sophia?’

Brendan shook his head. Holding out his hand to her, he asked, ‘What about you? Are you ready for another week of being part of the “it crowd”?’

‘Oh, gak.’ Ivy pretended to gag. ‘Let me think. New school, new students, and a rulebook I don’t seem to have . . .’

‘Look at it this way.’ Brendan grinned at her, giving her hand a warm squeeze. ‘If you don’t follow the “rules”, then that must mean you’re a
true
outsider here.’

Slowly, a grin spread over Ivy’s face. ‘Huh . . . You’re right, I am. Just the way I like it!’

She leaned forwards to give Brendan a hug . . . but he stopped her by nodding over her shoulder. ‘Here comes Sophia.’

Ivy’s heart sank. From the expression on Brendan’s face, the outlook wasn’t good. She turned, bracing herself to see a picture of Finn’s skateboard tattooed on to
Sophia’s face, or something equally ridiculous.

But, a second later, Ivy was letting out a sigh of relief. Her best friend was wearing a fashionable, halter-neck black dress. Her black, bat earrings might look unexpected against her pixie-cut
blonde hair, but otherwise she looked back to normal.

She didn’t look happy, though.

‘Are you OK?’ Ivy hurried over to her, looking for new bruises. ‘Did you have another accident? Or –’

‘No.’ Sophia sighed and gave a lopsided smile. ‘Although I did think for a minute that my eardrums might have exploded when my parents saw my new hairstyle.’

‘Ouch.’ Ivy winced, putting a supportive hand on her friend’s arm. ‘They didn’t like it?’

Sophia shook her head. ‘I’m pretty sure I’m grounded until
Christmas.
’

Ivy stared at her. ‘You’re kidding. They actually
grounded
you?’

‘They said I should have asked permission first. You were right. I guess I just . . .’ Sophia’s voice drifted off as she glanced over at where Finn stood with his
‘bodacious’ buddies just inside the hallway. She sighed.

One of them looked back at her and laughed.

Ivy’s teeth clenched together. ‘That’s it. I’m going to take care of this once and for all!’

Before either of her friends could stop her, she marched down the hall. Bunnies scattered out of her way, clearing a path, and she had to admit . . . it felt good.

Not that she would ever scatter bunnies on purpose.

‘Hey!’ she snarled, as she reached Finn and his crew. ‘I need to talk to you.’

Standing in the middle of the skater crowd, Finn looked nervous. ‘Is something wrong?’

‘In
private
,’ Ivy said, and gave Finn’s snickering friends a death-squint. They turned pale, and edged away.

Sneering at them, Ivy pulled Finn away with her. ‘Look,’ she said in a fierce undertone. ‘I know you’re not the brightest crayon in the box –’

‘Sorry?’ His face creased into a frown. ‘Have we actually
met
?’

Ivy rolled her eyes. ‘The point is, though, I didn’t think you were a total
jerk
.’

‘What?’ He flinched as if he’d been slapped. ‘I’m not. Why would you think I am?’

Ivy pointed at the skater group waiting for him. ‘Can’t you see how cruel your friends are being to Sophia? Why don’t you stop them?’

His frown deepened. ‘Well . . .’

Ivy lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘And, anyway, what are you
doing
, giving Sophia skateboards to borrow? Can’t you see she’s crushing on you? Are you actually
trying
to lead her on, or do you just not care about her feelings?’

‘I’m not trying to lead her on,’ he said. His frown had eased, but he was flushed now with what looked like embarrassment. ‘I wouldn’t do that. It’s not my
style.’

‘Hmm,’ Ivy said sceptically.

‘And as for my friends . . .’ Finn sighed, tapping his skateboard against his side. ‘I’m sorry they’ve been uncool. I’ll talk to them, though. I
will
.’ He squared his shoulders. ‘I’ll make it clear that they need to leave Sophia alone. She’s a nice girl, and she doesn’t deserve to be unhappy.’

Finn’s voice softened as he seemed to catch sight of someone over Ivy’s shoulder. His eyes turned dreamy. ‘Believe me,’ he finished in a whisper. ‘I
know
how
she feels. Crushing on someone who doesn’t feel the same . . . it’s rough.’

Ivy twisted around to follow his gaze – and had to snap her mouth shut to hold back a gasp.

Amelia was sauntering into Homeroom, tall and arrogant in full goth-splendour . . . and Finn was gazing after her wistfully!

Ivy suddenly felt dizzy.
The skater boy has a thing for the Goth Queen? High school is even weirder than I’d thought!

She forced herself to think through what Finn had just told her. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘I accept that you’re not actually trying to hurt Sophia. But . . .’ She narrowed
her eyes in a medium-level death-squint. ‘Promise me you’ll be more sensitive in the future.’

‘Absolutely,’ Finn said. He raised one hand to high-five her.

Grimacing, Ivy accepted the high-five. As he went back to the crowd of skater guys and
SkaterGirl 2.0
clones, she walked slowly back to her own group. Sophia was watching her
carefully.

‘What did he say?’ she asked, the moment Ivy caught up with her.

Ivy shook her head. ‘It doesn’t matter. All you need to know is that Finn is going to be nice to you from now on, and his friends won’t tease you any more.’

‘Finn’s always been nice to me!’ Sophia protested. Ivy could hear the desperation in her friend’s voice.

Gently, she put her arm around Sophia’s shoulders. ‘Yes, but he’s not . . .
right
for you.’ These were hard words to say out loud and Ivy didn’t like hurting
Sophia’s feelings, but she knew it was time for this madness to end. Things could have been worse. At least Finn wasn’t a complete jerk. It turned out Sophia had good taste – even
if it was misplaced.

‘Don’t forget the Second Law,’ Ivy mumbled to Sophia, out of anyone else’s hearing. ‘“No vampire should fall in –”’

‘I know,’ Sophia interrupted her, nodding sadly. ‘Being with Finn was just a silly fantasy.’

Ivy felt a twist of pain at the wrecked look on her friend’s face.
First crushes are never easy!

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘And I’m really sorry if I’ve been annoying you this last week. I was only trying to help.’

‘I know.’ Sophia’s eyes brimmed with tears. ‘Starting a new school is just so confusing. I’m going to need my sidekick.’

‘No doubt,’ said Ivy, feeling the sting of tears in her own eyes. ‘But, wait . . . when did
I
become the sidekick?’

Sophia laughed, and pulled Ivy into a hug. Just then, someone walked up to them. It was a tall goth-boy Ivy hadn’t seen before, dressed in a black Pall Bearers T-shirt and ripped black
jeans. But it wasn’t his clothing that caught Ivy’s eye, it was his hair – his
bleached blond
hair.