11 Flying Solo - My Sister the Vampire

by Sienna Mercer

  Oh my darkness! Ivy thumped her head with the heel of her hand. She had totally forgotten that she’d entered the competition! She’d been looking forward to that concert for so long and so had Sophia and Brendan. Ivy felt like she’d been staked. She hadn’t been there, which meant that they hadn’t got to go either.

  But wait – Ivy read further down the page. From the review’s photograph, it looked as if she had attended. Because there, holding a microphone, giving half-hearted Devil’s Horns and doing her best to scream along, was her twin Olivia – dressed up as Ivy herself.

  Ivy read the caption: The band brought super-fan Ivy Vega on to the stage to perform their hit single ‘I Hate You’.

  Ivy set the tablet down, not sure what to think.

  ‘And this was yesterday?’ asked Ivy.

  Petra nodded. ‘Of course! Don’t play coy.’

  But how . . . but why . . .? It must have been Olivia, pretending to be her. Olivia at a Pall Bearers concert though? She probably didn’t know ‘I Hate You’ from ‘Welcome to My Frightmare’! Ugh! She looked at the picture again. Poor Olivia. It was pretty funny.

  She peered closer. There, with their elbows propped on the stage and hair flying as they rocked out, were Brendan and Sophia. This time Ivy laughed out loud. At least she didn’t have to feel guilty about her friends missing the concert. Another win for Team Identical Twin!

  Petra grabbed Ivy’s arm, eyeing her intensely. ‘You have to tell me how you did it!’

  ‘Did what?’

  ‘Ivy!’ Petra playfully slapped her. ‘Hello, you can drop the mysterious act for me, can’t you? I’m your room-mate! What’s your secret?’ She tapped the tablet. ‘How in Dracula’s name did you pull this off?’

  Understanding dawned on Ivy. The girls at Wallachia thought that Ivy had managed to get home for the show and then back to school – from Transylvania to Franklin Grove and back again – all in record time and without a single teacher spotting her! Uh-oh. Time to set the record straight. She sucked in a deep breath.

  ‘Look.’ She angled herself outward so that the eavesdroppers would be able to hear too. Ivy was surrounded by a roomful of hopeful faces, watching her with wide eyes. They wanted her to have pulled this off, she realised as she looked around.

  Many of these girls had been students at Wallachia for years. In such a strict school, where there was an actual obstacle course separating boys and girls, how cool would it be if one of the students was so rebellious that she was able to get not just in and out of the Academy, but all the way to America and back without anybody noticing?

  Who was Ivy to crush their dreams? She chose her words carefully. ‘I do love The Pall Bearers.’ She waited for the cheers, or even just an awed murmur, but instead there was dead silence. Worse, the smiles had dropped from their faces and they’d started to back away hastily.

  Hang on! thought Ivy. Why are they suddenly treating me like I give off a bad smell ? Several of the girls had turned their backs and were now hunched over their meal trays. One girl glanced nervously over her shoulder and gave a small shriek before turning to whisper furiously in her friend’s ear.

  What the –?

  Ivy heard the sound of heavy footsteps on the stone floor. A shudder ran up the length of her spine. A shadow fell over her. Ivy didn’t have to turn around to know who was there. She craned her neck to look up and, sure enough, Avisrova was standing with her arms crossed and her face screwed up into an angry ball.

  ‘I didn’t expect my walk to lead me to this, Miss Lazar. You have some explaining to do.’

  Ivy’s heart pounded in her chest. The newspaper with the photo of Ivy at a concert in America was still spread out on the table before her.

  Miss Avisrova had been waiting for this.

  Chapter Six

  Olivia kept working her jaw open and shut, trying to get her ears to pop. They hadn’t stopped ringing since last night. And to top it off, her throat was raw from singing – well, more like screaming – up on stage with The Pall Bearers. Actually, she was sort of thankful for the sore throat. It meant she didn’t have to say much to Brendan in the Meat and Greet. They had been here for half an hour and had probably said less than one word for each minute.

  ‘So did you enjoy last night?’ asked Brendan, looking a tad sheepish. And so he should be, thought Olivia. After all, he’d dragged her into it.

  ‘If by “enjoy” you mean “endure”, then yes, it was OK.’

  Brendan looked out of the window, squirming in his seat. Olivia inspected her nails. She had never realised their friendship was so dependent on Ivy being around, but that was becoming painfully obvious. Um, I could tell him about my bio-dad’s wedding plans? No, that would be a violation of her dad’s trust. Her heart sank.

  Brendan’s knees bounced up and down under the booth. It was clear his mind was elsewhere. Olivia was pretty sure she’d caught him counting the ceiling tiles!

  When they’d left the concert the previous night they should have been picking over every minute detail. Olivia knew that’s what Ivy would have been doing with her boyfriend, if she’d been there. But that was just the problem – Brendan was Ivy’s boyfriend and he was only Olivia’s friend because of that connection. Without Ivy there . . . Once Sophia had gone they’d waited for their lift home in near-silence as all the other fans screamed and chatted around them. It couldn’t have been more awkward – and now things were no better. They had to have something in common, didn’t they?

  We do, thought Olivia. Ivy. But too much talk about the one person they both missed would only bum them out – and this outing was supposed to be a fun distraction.

  It had been Olivia’s idea to hang out together at the Meat and Greet; she’d suggested it last night in the hope that they’d connect more when they weren’t surrounded by screaming fans.

  She took a sip of her fruit juice, looking out the window at the street. Hopefully she would see something that could spark a conversation.

  ‘Hey, look at that bag!’ Olivia cried, pointing to a girl in the street with a tote over her shoulder. ‘Leopard print is so up-to-the-minute . . .’ Her voice trailed off when she glanced back at Brendan. He was frowning at the bag as though it were an alien invader. Clearly, accessories weren’t his thing. Brendan didn’t care about this season’s fashion, or any kind of fashion at all for that matter. He had worn the same rock band T-shirts for as long as she’d known him. She sank further into the booth.

  There was a cute puppy being walked by a little girl with pigtails. Would that work? She snuck a glance at Brendan, but he was busy rubbing a thumb over his filed fangs. Olivia wrinkled her nose. Yeah, Brendan didn’t care about puppies – cute or not.

  Olivia sighed. Parked alongside the curb was a flashy red Mustang with white racing stripes painted down the hood. Cars . . . Boys liked cars. Ugh, but I don’t know an engine from an exhaust pipe, thought Olivia. Besides, she wasn’t sure Brendan liked cars anyway. He was more a music guru than a car buff. It was just too bad they didn’t like any of the same bands!

  A waitress in a grease-spattered white apron stopped by the table with an open notebook, pulling a pencil out from behind her ear. ‘Can I get you anything else?’ she asked. Then a grin stretched across her lips and she began pointing at Brendan and Olivia with the rubber on the end of her pencil. ‘Hey, are you two on a date? I could get you one milkshake with two straws!’

  ‘No!’ Olivia and Brendan burst out in unison. Olivia could feel her cheeks burning. This was so embarrassing, being mistaken for her sister’s boyfriend’s hot date. I’d never do that to Ivy!

  ‘No, no, not at all,’ Brendan said, shaking his head emphatically. ‘You’re totally wrong there.’ He gave Olivia a desperate glance, as though to say: How did we get ourselves into this? She gave him a smile back. This had seemed like such a good idea, and now it was all going wrong.

  The waitress flipped her notepad shut. ‘Woah! Just asking,’ she said and scurried away with a backward glance at the
ir table.

  Brendan sank back in his booth. ‘What chemistry could the waitress possibly think she’d seen?’ he asked, frowning in confusion.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Olivia said, crossing her arms across her body. ‘She must be having a bad day or something. I think we probably need to find a way of getting out of here.’

  ‘Past her?’ Brendan asked, chuckling and nodding to the waitress. She was telling off another customer for something. ‘Our glasses are still full – she’ll never let us leave.’ He jerked a thumb at the glasses of juice. He was right.

  Olivia began to tap her fingers on her glass, but froze mid-tap. She had an idea. Looking out the window, she swished her hand across the table, knocking the glass off. ‘Oops!’ she said, trying to sound surprised and staring at Brendan hard. ‘I’m such a klutz . . .’

  But Brendan had used his vampire reflexes and caught the fruit juice before it had even fallen from the table. Olivia’s heart sank. He didn’t get it at all! Ivy would have understood the escape plan straight away.

  Brendan offered a wry smile, setting the glass back on the table. Then he pointed out of the window. ‘I can see Camilla outside.’ Olivia turned. How did I miss that?

  Olivia’s best friend, Camilla, was squatting down in the bushes with a video camera and a French beret, filming one of her crazy scenes. Her lens was pointed at a boy in a snazzy pinstripe suit wearing full zombie make-up and lumbering down the pavement with his arms stretched out in front of him.

  ‘Yeah! I guess I’d better go say hi. Do you want to come? That waitress can’t make me finish my drink!’ Olivia slid out of the booth and waited.

  ‘No, you go ahead.’ He smiled at her as if to say: It’s probably best if we leave it here. She knew he wasn’t being mean; it was just that there was a big Ivy-shaped space between them.

  ‘See you later then,’ Olivia said, and walked quickly past the waitress who was scowling at a receipt.

  At the door of the Meat and Greet, Olivia looked back to see Brendan breathing a big sigh of relief and resting his head back on the cushioned booth behind him. Any other day she would have been offended, but today, she knew how he felt.

  Outside, Olivia hurried down the street, but she couldn’t see Camilla. Where did she go? There was another girl from Franklin Grove Middle, though – Aurora. She was leaning against a wall doing absolutely nothing, wearing a fabulous sequinned gown more fit for a dance or the Oscars than a normal weekday afternoon. Now that’s what I call style, thought Olivia, marching over to her.

  ‘Hey, Aurora! I totally love your outfit. Did you see where Camilla –?’

  ‘Cut!’

  Olivia jumped as Camilla popped out from behind a postbox across the street, holding her camera.

  ‘Olivia! You ruined the take!’ Camilla crossed the street wearing black skinny jeans, ballet flats and a scarf tied around her neck. Ever since she had written and directed the school play, Romezog and Julietron, she had become quite the passionate film-maker. She’d even been on a trip to film in Paris.

  ‘I’m so sorry!’ Olivia clasped her hand over her mouth. ‘I didn’t see you there. I mean, I saw you before, and I wanted to know where you were, and . . .’ She was gesturing this way and that trying to explain herself. ‘I wandered into your scene, didn’t I? I’m so sorry.’ Olivia had prided herself on her film-making expertise ever since starring in a movie with Jackson. How could she have been such a fool?

  ‘It’s OK.’ Camilla smiled, picking up her black-and-white clipboard. She erased ‘Take Two’ and wrote in ‘Take Three’. ‘I’m experimenting with a new documentary, hidden-camera style, blending it with the classical forties film-noir look.’ Olivia had no idea what that meant, but she nodded anyway.

  ‘That’s why I’m all dressed up with nowhere to go,’ grumbled Aurora, picking up the train of her gown.

  Camilla placed her hands on her hips. ‘Do you want to be introduced to Craig Cash or not?’

  Olivia almost gasped. Aurora and Craig Cash? Tall, popular, athletic – he was one of the most eligible bachelors in the whole school.

  ‘Oh, wow, that’s amazing!’ Olivia started to say. She’d love to find out all about this. But Camilla was frowning at her.

  Um, I know when I’m not wanted, Olivia thought. I can take a hint! ‘Maybe I’ll see you later then?’ she told Camilla. She didn’t want to hold up their movie any more than she had already.

  Now Camilla was busy repositioning Aurora so that she looked more ‘old Hollywood’, leaning up against the wall. She waved a hand over her shoulder without even looking around.

  ‘Later.’

  ‘Maybe we could get pizza tonight?’ Olivia called. She waited for a response – nothing. She slunk away, starting down Orange Grove Avenue and heading back to her house. She couldn’t ignore the pain of – was it loneliness? – in her chest. For the first time since Ivy had gone to Wallachia Academy, Olivia had to admit the truth to herself.

  Who am I kidding? I’ve been miserable since the moment she left. Olivia almost never walked home from town on her own; Ivy was usually there to tease her about the latest pink outfit she’d bought or grumble over the newest rom-com movie she’d persuaded Ivy to sit through.

  Olivia remembered her mom dropping her off on her first day at Franklin Grove. She had been intimidated by the campus, which looked ancient in comparison to her former school’s ugly modern building. Franklin Grove had leafy vines, huge columns and a yawning hallway. Olivia recalled staring up at it and being terrified that she would be the friendless new girl forever. But all that had changed quickly, and Olivia had even been put in charge of the biggest social event at school.

  That was almost a year ago. Now, in the space of just a few minutes, she had felt like both Brendan and Camilla were strangers. Plus, of course, her sister was on the other side of the Atlantic. Olivia was beginning to feel like an outsider all over again. She knew this was probably part of growing up – that one day she and Ivy would be leading their own lives – but why did it have to be so horrible right now? I’m not ready for this! She didn’t even have a boyfriend to call any more.

  Olivia scuffed her wedges along the sidewalk, sticking her hands in the pockets of her pink bubble skirt. On a day like today, dressing like Ivy would have fitted her mood much better!

  Loitering outside the grocery store were Garrick Stephens and his buddies, nicknamed the Beasts by everyone in Franklin Grove. Garrick was bouncing a basketball loudly on the pavement when he looked up, noticing Olivia.

  ‘Watch out!’ He faked throwing the ball at her. Olivia didn’t flinch. They could try their scary act on her all they wanted, but Olivia wasn’t afraid of the Beasts any more. She had seen all they could do and, frankly, it wasn’t much.

  ‘Think you’re tough?’ said Garrick. He and his Beastly buddies formed a circle around her, forcing her to stop. She was surrounded by evil snickers and sneers. Their breath was so bad it should have come with big yellow-and-black warning signs: Danger! Biohazard!

  Olivia wrinkled her nose and tried to leave, but Garrick blocked her. ‘Where’s your little bunny boyfriend, Olivia?’ He frowned and pretended to rub tears from his eyes with his fists. ‘Oh, that’s right. Didn’t he break up with you? Boo hoo.’

  ‘Very funny,’ said Olivia through gritted teeth. A cosmic black hole was opening up in the bottom of her stomach.

  Garrick put on a fake baby voice. ‘Oooh, is Ivy not here to protect you any more?’

  Olivia rolled her eyes. ‘Excuse me,’ she said, once again trying to get out of the circle.

  ‘I don’t think so.’ Garrick leered at her. ‘Because I don’t see Ivy anywhere.’ He pretended to look around.

  ‘Listen, buddy.’ Olivia poked Garrick in the chest. ‘You must be a real coward if you are that scared of one little girl!’ Whoa, where did that come from?

  Garrick’s face darkened. ‘I’ll bite you for that.’

  The boys tightened the circle around her. Garrick bared his teet
h. Suddenly Olivia felt suffocated.

  ‘Get away from me, or I’ll . . . I’ll –’

  ‘You’ll what ?’ interrupted Garrick nastily. ‘You don’t have your sister now. You don’t even have your Hollywood boyfriend. Like you were ever going to keep him!’ Garrick spat the last word, bringing his face close. ‘A-list stars don’t date nobodies. And without him and Ivy, that’s what you are – a nobody.’

  Olivia could feel her face crumpling. Then . . . Ding, ding! Ding, ding! Was that a bicycle bell? A figure appeared from around the corner, riding a blue vintage-style bicycle. She leaned low over her handlebars, aiming straight for the Beasts. They leaped out of the way as the girl slammed on her brakes and sent the back wheel skidding out so that the boys’ legs were nearly knocked out from under them. They scattered just in time, yelping in protest. One of them fell on the ground, limbs flailing. The others bent to help him up, dusting him down. Looking at them over the handlebars of the bike was Holly.

  ‘Are you crazy?’ yelled Garrick.

  Holly was wearing a long, flower-power summer dress, and a camera dangled round her neck. Her hair was dyed with gorgeous bright red streaks.

  ‘You could have hurt someone,’ said another Beast, as Holly came to a stop next to Olivia.

  Olivia furrowed her eyebrows and got up in Garrick’s face. ‘You guys are so tough until somebody stands up to you, isn’t that right?’

  He stepped back, rubbing the back of his neck. ‘Whatever,’ he mumbled.

  Holly tapped her camera. ‘You guys better leave or I’ll take a few more pictures of you harassing an innocent girl. How would you like that?’

  Garrick’s eyes widened, and he held up his hands in surrender. ‘OK, OK. We’re going!’

  Olivia knew that Garrick wouldn’t want the authorities looking at those pictures. That might lead to people snooping around, and if the vampire community wanted to maintain their secrecy, they couldn’t afford any prying. The Beasts were dumb, but they weren’t that dumb.