How utterly great, thought Ivy, squinting into the rising sun as Avisrova walked off in the direction of the boys’ dorm. Now I have to get back through the forest without my hair turning white and then wait for my death sentence. She tried not to shiver in the chill dawn air and wondered what her sister was doing right now. Olivia would never get herself into trouble like this, she thought. Why can’t I be more like my twin?
Chapter Eight
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Olivia snapped shut the pink rhinestone cover on her phone. Of course the universe wouldn’t cooperate just so that she could pull off a lie. The best she could hope for now was to get out of her house without being spotted by anyone – especially her parents.
She clicked on her webcam and Ivy appeared at her desk on-screen. She and Ivy had been texting and Ivy had agreed to take a quick ten minutes during her lunch break to have a video call with Olivia.
‘Hey there, sister!’ Olivia waved to the camera. ‘How do I look?’
Ivy’s eyes grew wide. ‘Awful! What are you wearing?’
Olivia looked at the corner of the screen that showed her own picture as Ivy would see it through her computer. She had lined her eyes with dark eyeliner and coated her lips with a thick layer of Midnight Mauve lipstick. Her dark hair was pinned into a bun with two chopsticks.
Olivia shrugged. ‘You know what they say – “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. And anyway, you look a bit – um – rough around the edges yourself.’ She didn’t want to say too much, but her sister looked as though she’d been dragged through a hedge backwards!
Ivy hastily patted down her hair. ‘Er, I had a bit of a midnight adventure,’ she said.
‘Oh, goodie!’ Olivia cried, clapping her hands together. ‘A midnight feast? I knew you’d make friends quickly. Tell me all about it!’
On screen, Olivia saw Ivy stifle a yawn. ‘It wasn’t a feast, exactly, more of an assault course.’ Olivia’s brow crinkled into a frown of curiosity as Ivy continued. ‘I’ll tell you about it some other time. Once I’ve had a good night’s sleep. You fill me in on what you’ve been doing. What’s with the goth make-up?’
‘Um, see, I may have got myself caught up in a teensy little lie.’ Olivia held her fingers a couple of centimetres apart. ‘The thing is, well, I made this new friend called Holly, and she really wanted to meet you and interview you about Transylvania. She’s training to be a journalist and she’s entered a travel-writing competition and . . . she thinks you’re back in the country.’
Ivy palmed her forehead.
‘What? I couldn’t exactly tell her you were at a vampire boarding school! Plus, she thinks getting pictures of you will help her win the competition, and I don’t want to let her down. The deadline is the end of this week.’
Ivy shook her head, clucking her tongue. ‘Olivia, Olivia, Olivia.’ She broke out into a mischievous grin. ‘Don’t forget to bring your best death squint. At least I know you can fool people that you’re me, what with the Pall Bearers concert and everything!’
‘You heard about that?’ Olivia hid her face behind her hands as her shoulders shook with laughter.
‘Yes, we heard about it! And I got into a whole heap of trouble. My teacher thought I’d skipped school to go to it.’
Olivia’s hands fell from her face. ‘I’m so sorry!’ She couldn’t believe it. I’ve got my twin into trouble by trying to help her boyfriend. How twisted is that ?
Ivy batted a hand through the air. ‘Forget about it. I seem to get in trouble a lot here.’ Her smile faded.
‘You’re not still feeling homesick, are you?’ Olivia asked, suddenly concerned.
Ivy shrugged. ‘Kind of. A bit. What about you? How are you feeling now that you’re single again? Everything OK?’
Olivia smiled bravely. ‘Getting better. One day at a time.’
A bell rang at Ivy’s end. ‘Oops, that must be the end of our lunch hour. Speak later, sis!’ Ivy giggled and signed off.
Olivia’s palms were getting sweaty now and her heart was thumping in her chest. What if she messed this up?
She tiptoed down the stairs from her bedroom, straightening her black wig. How would she explain the long coat and hooded jacket she was wearing? It was going to be a scorcher in Franklin Grove today and this get-up certainly didn’t fit with Olivia’s usual fashion taste. This was the same outfit she’d worn to the Pall Bearers concert.
What am I doing? What am I thinking? Olivia was starting to freak out. Do I really think I can pull this off? Once could have been a fluke. Twice? That may be asking for too much luck. And how did she wind up having to cover one lie with another lie? I had to tell the first lie, Olivia told herself for the thirtieth time that morning. She hadn’t had a choice. It was either that or disappoint Brendan and Sophia.
Still, somehow she had a feeling that this was not going to end well.
One last step and . . . Creaaaaaaaak! Olivia cringed.
‘Olivia, are you there?’ her adoptive mother, Mrs Abbott, called.
Oh no! She made a beeline for the front door, but her mom stepped out of the living room just as she was reaching for the handle.
‘Why are you wearing that big coat, dear?’
Olivia reached for her hood, dragging it off quickly, along with the black Ivy wig. Now, as far as Mrs Abbott knew, her daughter was just in a hoodie and not dressed in a full-on Ivy disguise.
Olivia dug a pair of sunglasses out of the pocket of her coat and shoved them over her nose. Think, Olivia. ‘Oh, um . . .’ She squeezed her eyes shut for a split second, and when she turned around she had shaped her lips into her trademark megawatt smile. ‘I’m going over to Charles’s later, you know.’ She tried to sound offhand. ‘To talk wedding stuff. The plans are still all very hush-hush, remember, and I figure I’ll be coming back with notepads and bridal magazines and holiday brochures. So, I needed something with big pockets.’ She opened them up to demonstrate.