13 Double Disaster - My Sister the Vampire (4 page)

She was still rubbing her bleary eyes as she padded downstairs to the kitchen. In the doorway, she stopped dead.
Am I still asleep?
She rubbed her eyes and looked again. The sight that
met her eyes was the same.
No way!
She gently slapped her own face.
I have
got
to be dreaming!

Maybe marriage had changed her dad . . . but
no way
would her father ever sit at the kitchen table in a football jersey, with a backwards baseball cap on his head!

I must be in the middle of a spectacularly strange nightmare!

‘Excuse me.’

At the sound of Lillian’s familiar voice behind her, Ivy sagged with relief.
Thank goodness. She’ll take care of this madness!

She turned around – and gasped.

It might have been Lillian’s voice she’d heard, but it sure wasn’t elegant, confident Lillian she saw before her. Instead, she saw a mouse of a woman in silly pigtails, with
bookish glasses propped on her nose, textbooks tucked under one arm. As Ivy gaped in disbelief, the woman with Lillian’s voice ducked her head and whispered a shy, ‘Excuse me,’
trying to get past Ivy into the kitchen.

‘What is going on?!’ Ivy’s voice rose into a shriek. ‘Did I wake up in Upside-Down Land? What are you two
doing
? And where did you get
props
from
?
And those costumes, oh my darkness – Lillian, do you even know how much Olivia would freak out if she saw those horrific sweater-vests?’

Lillian grinned and patted her textbooks as she set them down on the table. ‘Think of it as a rehearsal. Your dad and I decided we should do some role-play to help you prepare for
interacting with the other kids at high school.’

‘And you couldn’t have warned me first?’ Ivy shook her head numbly as she sank down into her seat at the table. ‘I can’t be expected to deal with this kind of thing
– I haven’t even eaten my Marshmallow Platelets yet!’

‘He-e-ey now!’ Charles drawled. Hearing the dumb-jock tone in his usually precise voice made Ivy’s head spin. ‘This is deadly serious, dudette! You cannot be taken by
surprise when you get there. High school can be, like, so totally, totally
lethal
!’

‘Did you seriously just refer to me as “dudette”?’ Ivy put one hand over her eyes. ‘Please say I was imagining that. I have to have imagined that part. Or maybe I
really am still asleep in my coffin.’

‘
Seriously
,’ Lillian repeated, ‘there will be a lot of new faces. Like, a
lot.
You should definitely think about how you’re going to cope with so many extra
bunnies.’

‘Gaah.’ Ivy groaned and reached for her box of Marshmallow Platelets.

This was going to be a long morning. She needed all the help she could get.

‘I’ll go through with this dumb role-play if it’ll make you guys happy,’ she said, giving her dad and step-mom a weary look. ‘But, I’m telling you, if I can
cope with Charlotte Brown and her cheerleader cronies, with their perma-smiles, I can definitely cope with anything this new school throws at me.’

I think.

Suddenly, she was assailed by visions of a hallway full of perky bunnies . . . and all of their faces twisting in disgust as she walked past them.
Euch.

Ivy swallowed hard and concentrated on pouring her Marshmallow Platelets into a bowl, while she felt both her dad and step-mom watching her like hyper-anxious hawks.

Who knew the Wallachia Academy Experience would ever feel like a fond memory?

Promptly at eight a.m., Ivy was sitting outside her house, waiting for her ride to school and feeling like James Bond going undercover.

The week before, Lillian had shopped with her like a fashion master, helping her tear through the stores until they’d found the perfect
subtle
goth clothes. They were still
‘Ivy’ in style, but nothing that would catch the eye of Lincoln Vale bunnies as being
too
alternative. Now, she was dressed in all greys instead of blacks, from her deep grey
dress, embroidered with a tasteful silver bat, to her soft, dove-grey tights. Her eyes were still lined with kohl, but she’d even changed her usual black nail polish for sparkling silver.

The one thing she had flat-out
refused
to change was her bat ring. It had been a gift from Brendan when she’d first returned from the Wallachia Academy, and she’d never agree
to take it off.
It goes where I go!

Now Ivy twisted it nervously around her finger as she waited for the bus. For the first time in her life, Undertaker Hill didn’t feel quite safe. Instead, it felt eerily silent, apart from
the sound of the school bus that her vampire ears told her was only one street away.
Not long now.
It was already on its unstoppable charge towards her . . . and then it would take her all
the way to school.

High
school!

Just the fact that she needed
public transport
to get to school now, instead of walking, underlined how huge this day really was.

And she was doing it alone. Olivia was already on her way to London. Ivy’s chest tightened at the thought.
I am going to miss her so much.

The dull roar of a plane’s engine overhead made her head jerk up. Could that be the same plane Olivia was taking all the way to London? She narrowed her eyes. It was definitely the right
timing, but was it flying in the right direction? London was due east, right? And the sun rose in the east – everyone knew that. So, if the sun was in the east, then this plane looked like it
was flying north – which meant it probably wasn’t her sister’s plane. But then again, when Ivy and her family had last flown to Transylvania, the plane had taken off and slowly
turned around, so this plane
could
have been Olivia’s flight, just taking off . . .

Oh, I give up
, Ivy thought, as a slight headache set in. According to Charles’s detailed instructions, a headache would
not
be good for the ‘fiendish’ educational
challenge that was high school!

Then a new sound made Ivy’s head jerk up. The school bus had rumbled on to Undertaker Hill. Or rather: a Yellow Monster had! From front to back, the bus blazed fluorescent yellow. It was
as subtle as the sun, or a flashing neon sign that read to everyone in town:
Bunnies Aboard!

Ivy froze as the Yellow Monster charged towards her.

I can’t do this!

If only it had been black and purple, maybe she wouldn’t have minded being seen getting on board . . . but this? How could any self-respecting vampire go to school in a banana on
wheels?

But what choice do I have?
she realised.
I’m the one who didn’t want to stay at Wallachia Academy. I promised Dad that I could do this. I have to prove that he was right to
let me.

It took every ounce of pride Ivy had to force herself to her feet. Once she was there, she had to readjust her backpack just to give herself something to do . . . other than running for her
life!

The bus hissed to a stop outside her house. Its doors creaked open like the jaws of a dragon, waiting to devour her whole.

Taking a deep breath, Ivy stepped through the open doors.

The bus’s driver was a middle-aged woman in a fuzzy blue sweater, and Ivy’s stomach sank. Even as she smiled politely, she braced herself for the look of disdain that she knew would
be aimed her way any moment now. Bunnies like this
hated
goths!

But the bus driver just smiled back at her. ‘Welcome to the bus run, Ivy!’ She leaned forwards, lowering her voice to a whisper. ‘I know today is a big day for you, but
everything will be just fine. You take it from me.’ She winked encouragingly.

Ivy was so stunned, she couldn’t even speak. All she could do was give the bus driver another wavering smile and then make her way down the aisle, past rows of mostly unfamiliar chattering
bunnies towards the rear bench seat where –
thank darkness!
– she finally saw Sophia sitting all by herself.

Like Ivy, Sophia had dressed down for their first day of high school, wearing a plain black T-shirt instead of any of her beloved rock-band merch. Her long, dark hair was pulled back in a tight
ponytail, making her face look tense, and her fingers and ears were bare of her usual fashionable goth accessories.

‘I’m so glad you’re here!’ Sophia picked up her backpack and scooted over to make room for Ivy. ‘Is it just me, or do the streets outside look almost . .
.’

‘Scary?’ Ivy filled in sympathetically. ‘Trust me, it’s not just you.’ As she sat down next to her friend, the bus pulled away from her house with a rattle and
jerk. Through the window, Undertaker Hill slid past, then disappeared behind them.

Ivy took a deep breath. She didn’t just feel like she was being carried to school – she felt like she was being
pulled
along in an insistent current.
The current of
change.

And she didn’t like it one bit.

Forget it, world!
Ivy set her jaw hard.
No one takes Ivy Vega anywhere she doesn’t want to go. I’m still in charge of my life . . . even if I am riding in a bright yellow
bananamobile!

The bus screeched to a stop, throwing everyone forwards in their seats. As Ivy pushed herself back into place, the doors hissed open and a timid figure hesitated at the entrance. Finally, she
moved forwards . . . and Ivy choked as she recognised Charlotte Brown, cheerleading queen bee of Franklin Grove Middle School, looking around the bus as nervously as a baby zebra heading into a den
of ravenous lions.

Charlotte’s anxious gaze skittered all around the bus – then landed on Sophia and Ivy. Her face lit up into a beaming smile. ‘You’re here!’

She waved excitedly.

‘Is she for real?’ Sophia whispered, even as she half-lifted a hand to wave back.

Ivy had to bite back a laugh of astonishment. ‘Well, I guess our relationship did improve a lot by the end of last year . . .’

‘But still,’ said Sophia, ‘it’s not like we’ve been meeting up with her over summer vacation.’

‘Well . . .’ Ivy hesitated as Charlotte hurried towards them. ‘It’s actually quite . . .’ No, she had to stop there. Just thinking the word ‘sweet’ made
her shudder.

But honestly, on a day full of danger, it didn’t hurt to see how eager Charlotte was to be friendly to two of the goths she’d once despised.

‘Eeee!’ Charlotte squealed. She plopped herself down between Ivy and Sophia, forcing them to make space. ‘I am so happy to see you guys! Are you heading for Willowton High?
Please tell me you both are!’

‘Sorry.’ Ivy shook her head, feeling her own spirits lower. ‘Franklin Grove High.’

‘Oh
no
.’ Charlotte slumped. ‘That just sucks! And with Olivia gone, too . . .’

Ivy and Sophia traded a glance over Charlotte’s head. Neither of them could have imagined a year ago that Charlotte would one day
miss
Olivia!

The bus bumped to another halt, and Olivia’s friends Camilla and Holly stepped on, waving happily to Ivy and Sophia.

‘At least they’ll both be at Willowton,’ Charlotte said, brightening. ‘But it’s so sad we’re not all going to the same school.’

‘It is,’ Ivy agreed. Silently, though, she thought maybe it was a good thing that Charlotte was starting fresh in a completely new school.

At Franklin Grove Middle, Charlotte had been so used to everyone grovelling to her, it had been fatal for her personality. Now was her chance to finally make a good impression with new people
– people who weren’t already impressed with her for all the wrong reasons.
She can start over
, Ivy thought,
as a nicer upgrade of herself. Charlotte 2.0.

As the bus rumbled through town, picking up more and more unfamiliar students on the way, Ivy and Sophia both took care to practise their mundane and bunny-friendly conversation. As usual,
Camilla was too focused on planning for her next movie masterpiece to notice, and Holly was too nervous to say much at all as Ivy and Sophia dragged out a tortuous conversation about popular
movies, TV, and even –
gag!
– pop music. But Charlotte Brown, the bunniest bunny Ivy had ever met, noticed straight away.

‘You guys!’ Charlotte batted at Ivy’s arm. ‘I’ve never heard you two talk like this before.’

‘Well . . .’ Sophia shrugged. Her expression looked pained. ‘We just thought we’d . . .’

‘Expand our horizons,’ Ivy finished for her, hoping she sounded like she
really
meant it.

She thought she might have turned green at the lie, but Charlotte shook her head in amazement.

‘I have to tell you both, you have never been more interesting! And your clothes – they’re
so
much better than they used to be. Whatever
happened
to you this
summer?’

Ivy and Sophia exchanged a look of satisfaction. Their
Undercover Bunny
Operation was working perfectly. They’d just have to hope that the ruling bunnies at Franklin High were as
easy to fool as Charlotte!

The bus slammed to a halt outside Franklin Grove High School, and Ivy’s new-found certainty drained away. Through the window, a massive, curving cement structure spread out before them.
Franklin Grove High. The windows along its sides seemed to glare at Ivy accusingly, seeing right through her carefully chosen disguise.