This was Ivy’s first day at a new school. She didn’t want to make enemies – not yet. It wouldn’t be fair to Brendan or Sophia to draw the fire of the most popular girl in school.
And it’s sure not happening so far. Ivy’s mouth twisted. Amelia had announced at the beginning of lunch that Ivy would be sitting on her left. At the time, Ivy had shrugged and agreed, not realising exactly what an ‘honour’ it was supposed to be. Now, she could feel admiring glances aimed her way from all around the cafeteria. They made her hunch her shoulders with irritation.
These people really are crazy. I’m not supposed to be popular!
Beside her, Amelia had launched into her opinions of the Pall Bearers’ latest album, Ivy’s favourite. At least we can agree on one thing, Ivy thought. We both know that the Pall Bearers totally suck, in the best way possible!
As if she’d heard Ivy’s thought, Amelia shot her a sudden look. ‘That’s it!’ she said. ‘That’s why you seemed so familiar. You’re that girl who got up on stage and sang at their summer show in Franklin Grove!’
‘What?’ Ivy frowned. ‘I didn’t –’
‘You didn’t realise anyone would remember?’ said Brendan, grabbing her left hand under the table and squeezing.
Sophia reached over to grab her other hand. ‘How could anyone forget something so memorable?’ she asked firmly.
Ivy stared at them both. ‘But –’
‘Yup, that was Ivy,’ Brendan told Amelia. ‘She was picked right out of the crowd.’
Ohhh! Now Ivy remembered. Olivia had gone to the concert disguised as Ivy to use Ivy’s set of free tickets, as a favour to Brendan and Sophia while Ivy was at school in Transylvania. Unfortunately for Olivia, she’d been chosen at random to sing in front of the audience. She’d been photographed in her Ivy-guise, desperately trying to look comfortable while singing the words ‘I hate you’ in front of thousands of goths!
Poor Olivia. Ivy bit back a laugh at the thought of her prim, pink-loving sister in that situation. The fact that they were identical twins could be useful . . . but their twin-switches did sometimes get them both into trouble!
‘That’s right,’ Ivy said, gathering herself. ‘That was me. I sang with the Pall Bearers.’
Amelia stared at her, her expression suddenly open and vulnerable. ‘Was it amazing?’
‘It was . . . awesome,’ Ivy muttered, and picked up her burger to hide her expression.
At least that wasn’t much of a lie. It really would have been awesome, if only she hadn’t been trapped at Wallachia Academy!
She had never been so glad to hear the bell signalling the end of lunch. The moment it sounded, she leapt to her feet, carrying her tray – and collided hard with a blonde bunny in a baby pink mini-dress. Ivy’s tray tilted and spilled edible carnage all over her deep grey dress.
‘Oh no!’ The bunny girl gasped, jumping backwards. She clapped one hand to her mouth and stared at Ivy with stricken eyes. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to! It was an accident!’
‘Don’t worry about it.’ Ivy shrugged. ‘It was my fault. I wasn’t looking where I was going.’
The bunny girl gave a squeak of panic and took another step backwards. ‘No, no, no. I didn’t say that! I never said that!’ She swallowed hard, pulling out her wallet and handing it to Ivy with trembling fingers. ‘I’ll reimburse you for any damage to your clothes, I promise. Please –’
‘Don’t be silly.’ Ivy gently pushed the wallet away. ‘It was my fault, remember?’
‘No, it wasn’t your fault. Please!’ There were beads of sweat popping up on the bunny girl’s forehead now, as she darted a look at the table of watching goths. ‘Let me buy you lunch tomorrow.’
Ivy winced. ‘You really don’t have to do that.’
‘Yes, I do. I really do.’ She forced a five-dollar bill into Ivy’s hands. ‘Please, just take it!’ With a wail of panic, she turned and fled for the door.
Ivy stared at the crumpled bill in her fingers and shook her head helplessly. She couldn’t wait to get out of the crowded cafeteria. The moment she’d finished clearing up the mess, she hurried out with Sophia and Brendan on either side. Once they were safely out of hearing range of the others, she hissed, ‘This is ridiculous! I thought being the new girl would be difficult, but I had no idea being a bunny would be even harder! What is wrong with this school?’
Sophia just shook her head, looking shell-shocked.
Brendan sighed. ‘It’s different, that’s for sure.’
Ivy gritted her teeth. ‘The ceilings might as well be the floors. It’s that upside down. I don’t like –’
‘Hey, wait up!’ It was Amelia, calling out behind them as she stepped out of the cafeteria, surrounded by a group of black-clad girls.
Ivy sighed as she watched the group move. Amelia strode forward confidently, but every girl around her did a funny kind of crab-walk, keeping one eye on Amelia with every step, and trying to copy her every move. Maybe they were trying to do it without looking super-obvious . . . but as it was, it was still very noticeable.
With both eyes on Amelia, the girl beside her walked straight into a locker. Crash!
Ivy cringed, but Amelia didn’t even look around at the noise. She aimed straight at Ivy, forcing Sophia to step aside. ‘Well done!’ She tucked her hand into Ivy’s arm, lowering her voice confidentially. ‘I saw how you handled that tricky situation in the cafeteria. Bunnies have a tendency to turn up at the most unwelcome moments, don’t they?’