Ivy looked at her expectantly.
Olivia put on her best poker face and said, “Let’s try another one.” This time, she did a much more complicated cheer. The girls on her old squad had called it the Washer-Dryer because it involved so much tumbling. It ended in three consecutive round-offs.
Ivy did it perfectly on her first try—except that she did four round-offs. When she finally came to a stop, her back was less than a foot from the wall of her house.
“Wow!” said Olivia.
“Told you so,” said Ivy, returning with a smirk on her face and her arms crossed.
“If we can get your yelling and smiling up to speed, we might just get away with this,” Olivia admitted.
“Can’t I just lip-synch?” Ivy asked, kicking the ground.
Olivia wrinkled her nose. “Sorry, but no.”
By the end of the hour, Olivia had taught Ivy four cheers, which was one more than Olivia had planned for. Ivy was a really quick learner. To end the session, Olivia put her hands on her sister’s shoulders and said, “Tonight, I want you to bury your head in your pillow and yell your head off. Okay?”
“I’ll do my best,” Ivy agreed. They hugged good-bye.
Olivia skirted the side of the house and bounded down the long driveway. She’d promised her mom she’d help make dinner to celebrate the unpacking of the final moving box.
She felt so much better. For the last three days, Olivia had been worried sick about how in the world she was going to train Ivy and be ready for tryouts herself. But today’s practice had changed all that. With a partner as good as Ivy, they’d both be in stellar shape! She skipped into the cul-de-sac at the end of the driveway.
“Hello, Olivia,” a familiar voice said coolly.
Charlotte Brown was standing in the next driveway, which led up to a peach-colored bungalow. Olivia had totally forgotten that she and Ivy were next-door neighbors.
“Hi, Charlotte,” Olivia said tentatively.
“Did you have fun at Ivy’s house?” Charlotte asked.
Good thing we didn’t practice in the front yard, Olivia thought. “Yeah. It was great,” she said vaguely.
Charlotte shook her head. “I don’t get you, Olivia,” she said. “You’re a good cheerleader. You could really have a future with us. But”—she shrugged—“if you want to be a gravedigger, that’s your choice.” She turned and started trotting away up the driveway. “Just don’t expect any of us normal girls to be in your cult!” she called over her shoulder.
As she headed home, Olivia marveled at how much had changed since she’d first met Charlotte last week. I can’t believe I actually thought Charlotte Brown would be my new best friend, she thought. Gross!
Chapter 9
“What about a big box of props for the photographs, so that people can pretend to stake each other?” Sophia asked eagerly as she added a chocolate brownie to her lunch tray.
Ivy tried to nod enthusiastically, but her best friend was driving her seriously batty. Lately the ball was all that Sophia wanted to talk about. Ivy scanned the cafeteria for a place to sit. Holly and Collette were both studying for a test in the library, so Ivy knew she had to do something to avoid an entire lunch debating streamers versus balloons.
She spotted Olivia sitting in the corner with Camilla Edmunson, who Ivy and Sophia both knew because she occasionally wrote for the school paper. “Let’s sit over there,” Ivy suggested. At least with them Sophia would have to take a break from the ball.
“With the bunnies?” Sophia said skeptically. “Why not?” Ivy answered. “You always like Camilla’s book reviews.”
Sophia shrugged, and they made their way over.
“Hey,” said Ivy, with an innocent nod toward Olivia. “Can we sit here?”
“Sure,” Camilla replied.
“Totally,” Olivia agreed.
As they sat down, Camilla said, “Your last photo essay in the paper was really great, Sophia.”
“Thanks,” Sophia replied appreciatively.
“Speaking of the paper, I read that book you reviewed last week. You know, the one you gave four devils out of five, The Vortex Effect? You were right. It sucks.”
“Doesn’t it?” gushed Camilla.
“Where’s your food?” Olivia asked Ivy, gesturing at Ivy’s half-empty tray.
“They ran out of burgers,” Ivy explained, rolling her eyes. “What kind of school cafeteria runs out of burgers?”
“We should riot,” joked Sophia, and everyone laughed.
“Want some of my beef lasagna?” Camilla offered. “My mom made it. It’s the best.”
Ivy peered into Camilla’s Tupperware. It did look really good, and she was dying for something with meat in it. “Okay,” she said gratefully. “If you think you have enough.”
Camilla slid a generous piece of lasagna onto a napkin and passed it to Ivy.
“Thanks,” Ivy said. She scooped up a hunk with her fork and popped it in her mouth. Right away, her tongue felt like it was on fire. She gagged and swallowed to stop the pain.
Oh, no! thought Ivy in a blind panic. That was the gravest thing I could possibly have done! Her stomach turned, and she felt ice-cold. She started seeing spots—big black and blue blobs at the corners of her vision.
“Ivy?” Olivia said, leaning across the table.
“Are you okay?”
She couldn’t answer.
“She looks really pale,” Camilla said in a far away voice. “Like, even paler than normal.” Ivy blinked. Her head was killing her. Sophia grabbed Ivy’s hand and turned to Camilla. “Did that have garlic in it?” she asked urgently.