14 Flipping Out - My Sister the Vampire (3 page)

Oops.
Olivia shook her head ruefully. ‘Sorry. Technical term. Maybe I should have saved that bit of gossip for Camilla?’

‘Maybe,’ Ivy agreed. ‘But you can do that later. Right now . . .’ She drew a deep breath, looking even paler than usual. Her lips twisted. ‘It’s time to face
the music!’ Squaring her shoulders, she headed into the crowd.

Why does she look like she’s heading into battle?
Olivia wondered. As she walked by her sister’s side, her concern deepened.
Something is seriously wrong.
Normally,
Ivy looked so confident as she walked around. She never cared about other people’s opinions. But here . . . she looked tense. Her eyes darted everywhere, as if she were afraid of being
attacked.

And maybe she had a point. As they headed for their lockers together, every head turned to watch them. Olivia didn’t need vampire hearing to pick up the whispers rising all around
them.

‘Is that Ivy’s
twin
 
?’

‘That’s not possible! She’s so . . .
pink
 
!’

‘Geez, look at her skin-tone. Why would she put on a fake tan like that?’

‘Maybe it’s not fake.’

‘Then how could she have let it
happen
 
?’

Gritting her teeth, Olivia hung on to the shoulder strap of her sequinned bag and forced herself not to react.
They’re not really making fun of me
, she told herself.
They’re just confused. And why wouldn’t they be? Ivy and I must be the least alike identical twins in the world!

She wasn’t the only one hearing the whispers. As Ivy came to a stop in front of her locker, Olivia could see the frustration on her twin’s face.

‘Are you OK?’ Ivy muttered.

‘I’m fine.’ Olivia gave her a reassuring smile.

Knowing how protective Ivy was, she guessed her sister had probably wanted to stop and shout at every single person who’d whispered about Olivia on the way. As sweet as that was, Olivia
couldn’t let it happen.

Unlike the students at Franklin Grove Middle School, Lincoln Vale kids hadn’t grown up with vampires. The Franklin Grove vamps had to work extra hard here to keep their secret safe. That
meant:
Make no waves!

‘It’s just going to take a while to get used to, that’s all,’ Olivia said firmly.

‘Good luck with that,’ Ivy grumbled. ‘I’ve been here a week already, and I’m not getting used to anything!’

‘Oh, come on.’ Olivia gave her twin a sympathetic smile. ‘There’s got to be something good about this school, right? I mean . . .’ she looked around the dimly lit
hallway, searching for something positive to say ‘. . . at least the light isn’t bright enough to hurt your eyes.’

Ivy snorted. ‘I wish . . . oh, no!’

‘What is it?’ As her sister’s eyes widened with horror, Olivia twisted around . . . just in time to see half a dozen goths descend in a mass of black hair, flapping black
trench coats and jangling silver jewellery.

They swept down around Ivy like a flock of blackbirds.

‘Oh, Ivy, where did you get that
killer
ensemble?’ The girl in front was almost shrieking with excitement, reaching out to stroke Ivy’s Pall Bearers T-shirt with one
black-nailed hand.

Olivia watched Ivy squint – not in one of her patented death-stares this time, but in an obvious attempt to hide the fact that she was rolling her eyes as she scooted backwards.

‘These are the exact same clothes I was wearing last Friday,’ she said, sighing. ‘There’s nothing special about them.’

‘Ohhhh!’ breathed the girl who’d asked the question. She clapped one hand to her mouth, her eyes widening in obvious wonder. ‘That is so daring of you!’

The two girls behind Olivia started whispering frantically.

‘She’s so cool, she doesn’t even do laundry!’

‘I’m going to try that, too!’

More and more goths gravitated towards them, as if Ivy were a magnet pulling them in from throughout the school. Olivia had never seen anything like it. Her twin had no choice but to keep
backing away to create room for the newcomers. Within a few minutes, she had somehow drifted from one side of the hall to the other, fending off fashion-related questions with every step.

‘But how do you get
so
pale?’ the closest girl asked imploringly. ‘I want to do it, too!’

‘Um . . .’ Ivy gave Olivia a look of obvious desperation, but they were separated by so many goths now, Olivia could only shrug sympathetically. ‘I don’t know,’ Ivy
said. ‘Just luck?’

The girl pressed on, forcing Ivy further backwards. ‘But what brand of pale foundation do you use? You can tell me, Ivy! I’d never tell anyone else!’

‘I don’t really . . .’ Ivy began.

As she backed away, she walked straight into a sweet-faced bunny girl who was trying to edge past the group of goths. It would have been bad enough if Ivy was human – but with her vampire
strength, she knocked the girl straight to the ground.

Oh, no!
Olivia raced over to help. Ivy was already apologising as she leaned over the bunny girl.

‘I’m so sorry!’ Ivy said, for at least the third time. ‘I wasn’t looking where I was going. Are you OK?’

Olivia and Ivy took an arm each as they helped the girl to her feet. But the bunny shrugged them off.

‘No, no!’ she said to Ivy. ‘Please don’t apologise. It was
my
fault. I totally should have been watching where you were going!
No one
should get in your
way. Ever!’

Hey.
Suddenly frowning, Olivia let go of her arm.
She didn’t have to be nasty about it.
That kind of cruel sarcasm had been exactly what their old nemesis Charlotte Brown
had specialised in, back at Franklin Grove Middle.

But as Olivia watched the other girl, the truth dawned on her. She wasn’t being sarcastic at all. She actually thought the collision
was
somehow her fault.

‘
Please
forgive me!’ she said earnestly, gathering up the last of her books. ‘I promise I won’t do it again.’

‘But . . .’ Ivy began.

It was too late. Still apologising, the girl had already hurried away.

Olivia met Ivy’s gaze and saw the desperate frustration simmering there. She started to step forwards but the goths had already moved back in. They swept between her and her twin like a
tsunami. Olivia felt dizzy as she watched the wave carry Ivy down the hall. Even though she was standing still, it seemed like the world was spinning around her.

Ivy and Sophia were right. High school really is weird!
Olivia was used to fangirls swooping down on Jackson and other movie stars. But on her own sister? Just for being
cool
 
?

Olivia took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes, trying to steady herself. But when she opened her eyes again, she saw the weirdest sight yet. Ivy’s best friend Sophia was walking towards
her down the hall, wearing one of her usual sleek black outfits . . . but her hair was . . . partially blonde!

It’s so different
, Olivia thought, staring.
But it’s fabulous!

Ivy had told her all about how Sophia had crushed on a skater-boy and gone pixie-blonde for a couple of days. The boy wasn’t anywhere in sight now, but Olivia absolutely
loved
Sophia’s new hair!

Sophia’s black roots were already growing back, and she had obviously taken the opportunity to dye the tips of her hair the same colour, leaving jagged streaks of blonde in chaotic
patterns all over her head. It looked a little bit like lightning!

‘Hey, you!’ Sophia’s lips curved into a smile as she joined Olivia. ‘You’re back! How was London?’

‘It was all great,’ Olivia said weakly. She shook her head wonderingly even as she moved forwards for a welcome-back hug. ‘But you . . . what about you? You look
amazing.
I love your hair!’

‘Thanks. Me, too!’ Sophia hugged Olivia. When she pulled back, Olivia could see her scanning the crowd of goths surrounding Ivy. ‘I saw that little scene with the bunny girl,
though. Is everyone here still sucking up to Ivy?’

‘Oh, yes.’ Olivia sighed as she stepped back. She could hardly bring herself to look at the disaster unfolding for her twin. How was Ivy, of all people, going to endure four years of
this? Even now, one of the goth-girls was stroking Ivy’s hair, and Ivy was visibly shuddering with displeasure. ‘Maybe I should ask Jackson how
he
deals with all the
attention,’ Olivia murmured.

Then she grinned.
Hey, that’s right! I get to talk to Jackson whenever I like, now.
After all their months apart, it still felt delicious to remember that they were finally a
couple again.

Sophia cocked one eyebrow at her in a
Come on, now
look. ‘Ivy may be popular, but she’s not quite A-list yet.’ She grinned mischievously. ‘Besides, can you
really see her using the classic Hollywood disguise of sunglasses and a baseball cap?’

‘Hmm. Maybe not,’ Olivia admitted.

As Sophia put her black faux-leather shoulder bag in her locker, Olivia looked around for her own locker. Her eyebrows scrunched together as she read the numbers. 61, 62, 63 . . .
Wait a
minute. Where’s 323?
She’d assumed her locker would be in the same area of the hall as all the others in her grade. But these numbers weren’t anywhere near her own!

Frowning, she pulled out her cell phone.
Maybe I’m misremembering it.

When she looked in her phone’s message box, though, she saw a second text from the school – a text she’d never actually read, in all the craziness of filming.

Drat.
She sighed as she read the text. It turned out, because she had missed Week One of school, her locker wasn’t with the other freshmen at all! Instead, it was further down
– with the juniors and seniors.

Oh, well. Considering how pushy her fan club is, I wasn’t going to get to hang out with Ivy anyway.
Shrugging, Olivia put the phone in her backpack and stood on tiptoe to try to
catch her twin’s eye.

‘
I’ll see you in homeroom
,’ she whispered. The crowd might be intense, but she knew her vampire twin would have no problem hearing her words. ‘I have to go find
my locker. It’s not with yours.’

Ivy broke off from yet another fashion question – ‘Honestly, I don’t really
have
an opinion on whether purple lipstick “totally stakes” black
lipstick!’ – to wave back at her. ‘See you later!’ she called.

At that, Ivy’s entire adoring crowd swung round to glare at Olivia. Every goth eyed her up and down with curled lips and frowns . . . then turned their attention back to Ivy.

Dismissed
, Olivia realised. She gritted her teeth, forcing herself to keep her head high.
Whatever!

Maybe Ivy’s goth-fans didn’t approve of her sparkly pink outfit, but that didn’t stop it from being fabulous . . . right?

Right
, she told herself firmly. But she couldn’t help a small voice in her head from asking:
Why is Ivy staying with them even after she saw them do that?
Olivia had
never seen her looking so helpless or so overwhelmed . . . but she
knew
her twin. Ivy was the strongest person she’d ever met. Why wasn’t she just speaking her mind to her
‘fans’ and walking away?
She isn’t secretly enjoying all this attention . . . is she?

Olivia took a deep breath and forced the suspicion aside. Leaving Ivy and her fan club behind, she started down the hall, following the locker numbers higher. But she couldn’t forget what
she’d just seen.
Who knew Ivy would turn into Most Popular Girl at School?
she thought wryly.
Just wait for the yearbook!

She had to weave her way through the mass of older goths in the hallway as she headed for the junior and senior lockers.
There really are a LOT of goths here
, she realised.
Does
that explain why Ivy’s so popular?

As she waited for a space to clear, Olivia suddenly came face to face with the most gothabulous senior girl she’d ever seen . . . and the most confused-looking one, too. She looked Olivia
up and down, shaking her head in amazement and making her heavy silver earrings jangle.

‘Is something wrong?’ Olivia asked.

‘Oh, come on, Ivy,’ the older goth-girl said. She crossed her arms over her leather jacket. ‘Are you really
so
bothered by being liked that you’ve gone
“alternatively” mainstream? Or did you just get into a wrestling match with a Glitter Goblin?’

Ouch!
Olivia couldn’t help glancing down at her sparkly top.
Maybe this isn’t my favourite souvenir any more, after all.

Then she took a deep breath.
Yes, it is
, she told herself.
Whatever this girl thinks of it!
Still, she found herself shifting her bag to cover it up as she answered, swallowing
down her hurt for the second time that morning. ‘Sorry for being so mainstream,’ she said coolly, ‘but that’s because I’m
not
Ivy. I’m Olivia,
Ivy’s twin.’

‘Oh.’ The older girl stepped backwards, frowning. ‘I’m Amelia Thompson.’

And you’re not apologising for being rude, are you,
Olivia thought.
Hmm . . .

‘Hey, you were in the newspapers, weren’t you?’ Amelia’s eyes narrowed. ‘Back when Jackson Caulfield came to town. You two are making
Eternal Sunset
now,
right?’

Olivia smiled. Just thinking of Jackson was enough to make her lips stretch into a goofy grin.
My boyfriend . . .
she thought giddily. ‘That’s right!’

‘Hmm.’ Amelia’s pale face hardened. ‘That’s one of my favourite books. I hope you guys don’t mess it up.’

Olivia felt the smile stiffen on her face. ‘I’ll try my best not to,’ she said.

Amelia didn’t reply . . . and as Olivia gazed at the older girl, she wondered: was her expression actually supposed to be threatening? Or did she just
never
smile?

With an impatient sniff, Amelia swept past, silver jewellery clanking and black-painted lips pursed. Olivia shook her head in bafflement.