She started up the steps, trying not to trip on any of the TV crews’ electrical cords as she weaved through the people. Scanning the reporter-studded crowd, she spotted a flash of soft blond curls up ahead. “Camilla!” she called.
Camilla Edmunson turned and waved. When Olivia joined her, Camilla said, “Can you believe this?”
“What’s going on?” asked Olivia.
“Everyone’s trying to get on TV,” Camilla answered. Nearby, Olivia saw Kyle Glass, one of the group of boys everyone called the Beasts, holding up two fingers to look like bunny ears behind an unsuspecting reporter’s head. The cameraman was waving frantically in an attempt to shoo him away.
Olivia frowned. “Uh, did I miss a memo?”
“You mean you haven’t heard?” Camilla asked incredulously. “Garrick Stephens popped out of a coffin in the middle of someone’s funeral yesterday. It was like when the villain Zolten escaped by hiding in a cryopod.”
Olivia assumed her friend was referring to one of the sci-fi books she loved. Olivia herself had always been more into vampire fiction. In fact, when she’d moved to Franklin Grove, she’d thought that vampires were only fiction.
Boy, had she been wrong. She still got dizzy when she stopped to think about the fact that Franklin Grove was teeming with living, breathing, blood-sipping vampires. Most of them, Garrick and his friends excluded, were really nice.
None of the other humans in Franklin Grove had any inkling that their town was like Vamp Central, because that was the Number One Biggest Rule of Vampiredom: no telling. So popping out of a coffin during a funeral was probably off-limits.
The only reason Olivia knew about the vampires was because of Ivy Vega, who she’d met on her first day at Franklin Grove Middle School. Olivia was pure cheerleader and Ivy was überGoth, so at first they had seemed as different as black licorice and cotton candy. But it hadn’t taken long for Olivia and Ivy to realize that they looked exactly alike.
In fact—and this is where, Olivia thought, it gets really mind-blowing—they were identical twins. Identical that is, except for one thing: Ivy was a vampire!
“Anyway,” Camilla was saying, “the whole of America is now fascinated by Franklin Grove, and the media—especially Serena Star—is trying to turn Garrick into this huge story about the decline of America’s youth.”
“No way.” Olivia’s jaw dropped. “Serena Star from WowTV? She’s totally famous!”
Camilla nodded, but she clearly wasn’t as impressed. “She thinks we’re all hiding some terrible secret.”
Olivia’s heart skipped a beat. “Like what?”
“Who knows?” said Camilla. “It’s not like she’s going to find anything. Franklin Grove is probably the most normal town in America.”
Olivia smiled uncomfortably. Camilla didn’t have a clue.
I’d better find Ivy, Olivia thought, and see what she has to say about all this! “Wanna go in?” she asked.
She and Camilla skirted the crowd on their way to the front doors of the school. Suddenly, Olivia heard a familiar high-pitched voice call out her name. She tried to ignore it and keep walking, but the voice shrieked even louder: “OLIVIA!”
Olivia winced and told Camilla to go on without her. Then she reluctantly turned to see Charlotte Brown, her cheerleading captain, gesturing for Olivia to join her in a circle of cameras.
Ever since Olivia had made the squad a few weeks ago, it was as if Charlotte had forgotten that she’d tried to sabotage Olivia at tryouts. In fact, Charlotte and her friends Katie and Allison all treated Olivia like she was their BFF. At least it keeps the squad cheering as a team, Olivia thought as she made her way over.
“Tell them, Olivia!” Charlotte said, grabbing her arm and pulling her in front of the cameras. “You know—what it’s like as a new student here. How frightening it is with all the bad influences.”
Olivia scrunched her nose. A camera flashed. “I, uh, don’t really—”
A reporter in a rumpled suit stuck a microphone in front of Olivia’s face. “Have you ever slept in a coffin?”
“No,” Olivia said incredulously.
A woman holding a tape recorder asked, “Are you familiar with a street gang known as the Beasts?”
Olivia shook her head. “I wouldn’t exactly call them—”
A short, determined-looking woman in a tight, bright-orange suit muscled in between the others, her blond hair shining in the sun. Olivia gasped; it was Serena Star herself! She looked much shorter than she did on TV.
“Have you ever,” Serena Star said, thrusting her microphone under Olivia’s chin, “felt threatened by everyone around you wearing black?”
What a silly question! thought Olivia. “Since when is there anything wrong with wearing black?” she asked.
Charlotte leaped in front of her. “Yes, Ms. Star, I totally have!” she cried, clearly overexcited to be talking to a celebrity reporter like Serena. “Once,” she said, flipping her hair dramatically, “I was in the girls’ bathroom, re-applying gloss, when two Goth girls came in. They were dressed from head to toe in black rags, and their nails were covered in black nail polish. And guess what they did. They growled at me!”
“Growled at you?” Serena Star repeated.
“Uh-huh.” Charlotte nodded seriously. “I was so scared I ran out without even doing my mascara!”
“So you think it’s a problem,” Serena Star pressed, “that so many Franklin Grove students are obsessed with darkness?”