Ivy scooped up her menu. ‘I will see Brendan’s Burgel and raise him a . . . um . . . er . . .’
Olivia leaned over to scour the menu at the same time as her twin. ‘Wow,’ she breathed. ‘I can’t believe it. The Burgel really is listed!’
‘And it’s the most ridiculous thing on there,’ Ivy moaned. ‘How am I supposed to top that?’
‘Yes!’ Brendan pumped his fist. ‘I win!’
‘Not so fast, Buster.’ Ivy smacked down the menu with a look of triumph. ‘Because I will have . . . a doughger!’
‘A what?’ four voices chorused at once.
Ivy beamed at the whole group. ‘A hamburger,’ she said, ‘inside a doughnut!’
‘Oh, please.’ Joy rolled her eyes even as she wrote the order down. ‘And for you?’ She turned to Olivia, her expression weary. ‘Let me guess. A hamburger in a brownie? Or in an ice-cream cone?’
‘No, thank you.’ Olivia smiled. ‘I’ll just have a chickpea salad.’
Joy blinked rapidly. ‘Could you repeat that order, please? I don’t think I got that.’
Olivia repeated it calmly, while her three vampire friends covered their mouths to keep from laughing. Joy sighed as she turned away. She stopped after a few steps, turning to call back:
‘I forgot to ask. How would you kids like your burgers?’
Olivia shook her head. As if she had to ask.
All three vampires chorused as one: ‘Rare.’
Half an hour later, Olivia set down her spoon and looked around the table.
Ivy was lolling in her seat, clutching her stomach. ‘Why didn’t anybody stop me from eating that doughger?’
Brendan had his arm around Ivy and was grinning as he teased her. ‘We didn’t dare. You and that doughger had a special thing going!’
Sophia was drawing fashion designs on her napkin with a bat-winged fountain pen. Olivia smiled around at all of them and stood, picking up her beaded purse. ‘OK,’ she said, giving a little wave. ‘See ya.’
‘Wait a minute.’ Sophia dropped her pen. She turned from Olivia to Ivy and then back again, shaking her head. ‘That’s it? Olivia Abbott, you are going to be in other countries for quite some time. Is that really all you can say? “See ya”?’
‘Well . . .’ Olivia shrugged, still smiling.
‘It has to be bigger than that!’ Sophia said. ‘Think of Ivy!’
Olivia looked at her twin . . . and they both burst out laughing.
‘Don’t worry,’ Ivy said to Sophia. ‘We worked this out ahead of time. We are so done with the big, sad, sappy goodbyes. We’ve had way too many of them recently.’
‘We don’t need them any more,’ Olivia said, as she and her twin exchanged warm smiles. They had been through a lot this past year – but that had just confirmed exactly how strong their bond was.
‘If there’s one thing we both learned from eighth grade,’ she said, ‘it’s that the two of us drifting apart is pretty much impossible!’
‘That’s right,’ Ivy said. She lifted one hand in a wave. ‘See you later, twin.’
Olivia was still smiling as she stepped out of the Meat and Greet a minute later. As the front door closed behind her, she cast a last look over the familiar shop fronts of Franklin Grove – the town she wouldn’t be seeing for quite a while, just as Sophia had pointed out.
I really wish she hadn’t said that.
Olivia took a deep breath, feeling a sudden heaviness in her chest.
This is good. It’s wonderful. Because of this movie, I’m going to see the world!
But would things be different when she finally made it back?
She couldn’t help it. She looked back over her shoulder . . . and found Ivy looking right at her through the diner window.
Ivy gave a little nod, just as if she had read Olivia’s mind and was letting her know: Everything’s going to be OK.
Olivia felt her shoulders slump in relief. Ivy’s always right about this kind of thing.
With one last smile for her sister, she turned and walked quickly home. She had packing to finish and a movie to make!
Chapter Two
Brrrring!
The shrill sound of the alarm clock sent Ivy jerking upright. Her head hit the lid of her coffin-bed. Ouch! As she sat up, rubbing her head, she groaned. Welcome to ninth grade, huh?
It was pitch black inside the coffin-bed, but Ivy didn’t need to see the clock face to know exactly what time it was: Ridiculous O’clock!
Any other day, she would have turned over and gone right back to sleep. Today, though . . . Dad will just come and get me otherwise.
She yawned and pushed the lid open. It creaked softly. She kept her eyes closed against the dawn light streaming in from her bedroom window.
Ivy hadn’t thought anyone could be more nervous about her first day of high school than she was, but Mr Vega had proved her wrong. Her dad had insisted on the insanely early wake-up so that they could go over their ‘plan of assimilation’ before school. Worse yet, Ivy was pretty sure that he was right to be worried.
Because Franklin Grove High School was on the north edge of town, Ivy was going to meet a lot of new kids from Lincoln Vale, the next town over – kids who had not grown up with vampires in their midst! Kids who would ask questions that Franklin Grove’s youngsters just didn’t:
Why are these goths faster, more agile and stronger than most other boys and girls their age? Why do the goths from Franklin Grove stay so pale, even in summer? How can anyone eat a burger so rare?