Right at this moment, Olivia never wanted to leave the ranch.
She never wanted to see those three horrible girls again.
Chapter Seven
Ivy swiped her thick canvas gloves against the trouser-leg of her jeans, smearing brown mud across the tough denim. Her riding lesson was over and she’d been cleaning the stables. Ivy kicked the rubber soles of her boots against a mouldy doorframe, shaking out a shower of caked dirt.
While Ivy wouldn’t be making best friends with a horse any time soon, she was definitely improving. Today, Rebecca had even allowed her to trot. Ivy hung the horse’s bridle on a peg. Aunt Rebecca had gone for a walk with Olivia and Ivy had volunteered to spend extra time outside helping with chores. She hadn’t even broken out in hives at the thought.
But just as she was starting to get all Zen with her outdoor surroundings, Ivy’s ears pricked. The pattern of the footsteps was familiar and, without turning, she motioned for her dad to join her.
‘You thought you could trick me?’ Ivy jammed her hands on her hips, pretending to be serious.
Mr Vega chuckled. ‘Your hearing is getting better. That was the stealthiest walk I can do.’
Ivy knew this was a compliment, but it was hard to be too thrilled when the more super her powers got, the more likely it was that she’d have to attend finishing school. ‘Can I just be a normal vampire?’ she asked.
‘Ah, come on.’ Ivy’s dad gently rumpled the top of her hair. ‘I know you don’t want to leave home or go to Wallachia Academy, but the skills you learn there can actually be quite useful. I learned a lot when I went there, you know. You might even enjoy it.’
Ivy took a step back. ‘You think Wallachia is a good idea?’ She hadn’t thought her father had been as sold on her attending as the Count and Countess were. ‘I thought you didn’t care about tradition.’ After all, Charles had married Ivy’s human mother and that was the biggest break with tradition ever.
Mr Vega grabbed an armful of hay and started helping scatter it in the freshly cleaned stall. ‘Not all traditions are bad, Ivy.’ I’m not saying they are, she thought. For instance, she happened to like getting presents on her birthday very much – that was a great tradition. ‘What you need to understand is that your powers are stronger than the average Franklin Grove vampire’s and you may need some help finessing them.’ Charles brushed the leftover hay off his trousers. He gave Ivy a careful look. ‘It’s only because we care – because we want what’s best for you. Otherwise, we’d never suggest leaving Franklin Grove.’
Ivy’s mind flitted to the scene caught on Charlotte’s video where she’d smashed a glass with her bare hands. Maybe she did need some help. ‘Perhaps . . .’ she said, her voice trailing off. But before she could complete her thought, Ivy doubled over, pushing her fingers into her ears. ‘Ahhh!’ she screamed as a head-splitting noise assaulted her ears. The horses neighed and stamped in response. The sound was so loud she started feeling light-headed and wondered if she was about to faint. Her knees hit the mulch.
Somewhere in the distance, she could hear footsteps. ‘Is everything OK?’ It was Brendan. He cupped her elbow, holding Ivy upright.
She looked around. ‘What’s going on?’ Charles and Brendan weren’t bent over like this, clutching their ears. Ivy’s dizziness faded as the noise subsided and she was able to stand without feeling like she would black out. ‘What was that sound?’ she asked. So much for the peacefulness of Aunt Rebecca’s farm!
Charles and Brendan glanced at each other and Brendan answered, ‘Um, I think Mrs Abbott was just squealing at the cuteness of the ducks.’
Ivy’s eyes got wide. The ducks? Ivy’s super-vamp hearing really was working on overdrive. She gulped. Looks like I really do need to learn to control my powers.
Olivia walked the fence-line with Aunt Rebecca. The wet grass soaked through her sneakers, but the fresh air already seemed to be serving its purpose. Olivia’s nerves were slowly unwinding and she was able to take deep breaths and enjoy the sweet smell of the honeysuckle. Aunt Rebecca strolled beside her, asking a question every minute or two.
Olivia pressed her palm to her heart. ‘I swear. This dance is going to make me lose my hair. It’s turned into a total stress factory.’
Aunt Rebecca leaned in close, pinching a few strands of Olivia’s dark hair. ‘No,’ she said, examining them. ‘But you are turning a bit grey.’
‘No!’ Olivia snatched her hair and held it out in front of her face. ‘Where?’
Rebecca squeezed Olivia’s shoulder. ‘Relax! I’m kidding.’
Olivia tried to give her aunt a reproachful look. ‘Hair is not something to joke about.’
‘Sorry.’ Rebecca pretended to zip her lips. ‘Now, explain to me what’s going wrong.’
Olivia sighed. So much had happened since she’d first accepted the position as chairperson. ‘There are these three girls – Lucrezia, Melinda and Veronica,’ Olivia began. ‘They are just plain mean, like evil-stepsister mean. They have forced their way on to the committee and now they’re trying to make the whole dance pink. Worse, they want to exclude most of the school, and anyone that dresses like Ivy will be strictly blacklisted. How O-negative is that?’
She stopped. Olivia had been ranting so fast, she hadn’t realised she’d borrowed a vampy phrase from Ivy.
‘It’s bad,’ Olivia picked up, hoping Aunt Rebecca put her strange choice of words down to teen speak. ‘I want everyone to be at the dance, wearing whatever colour they like. But how do I get around the Terrible Trio?’
Aunt Rebecca hummed thoughtfully. ‘That’s a tough one.’ She walked with her hands in her pockets. ‘Do you want to know what I think?’
‘Absolutely.’ Olivia wished that planning a school dance came with an instruction manual, but getting some grown-up advice seemed like the next best thing.
‘Olivia, you are stronger than you give yourself credit for. I think you need to stand up to these girls and fight for what you think is right. It wasn’t easy for me, buying back this farm, for instance. But I did it.’
Olivia imagined her aunt without a family, without any support, but still trying to play hardball against the bank that had taken back the property. ‘Why did you do it?’ she asked.
Aunt Rebecca’s hair blew softly in the breeze. ‘Because I knew I had to have this piece of family history back in our lives. Your mother and I grew up together here on this land. I knew it was the best thing to do and it turns out I was right. It’s given us a place where our whole family can gather. And look at how Ivy has tried to be better around the animals. She’s riding horses! She’s learning! Everyone can do the best that they can, if they put their minds to it. If you think the pink plan is a bad idea, you should come up with a better one. You’re the chairperson. Be pleasant, but stand your ground.’
Olivia ogled her aunt like she was a five-star general who’d just urged her into battle. Olivia had always thought Ivy got her tough streak from being a vampire, but now she was thinking that perhaps the toughness came from the human side of the family. And if that was the case, surely Olivia could be tough, too.
‘I know you’re right.’ Olivia reached down and plucked a dandelion from the ground. Pondering, she twirled it between her fingers. ‘But the atmosphere has become so bad. I don’t know how I can fix it.’ Olivia blew on the dandelion and the fluffy white of the flower scattered in the wind. She made a wish. I wish for the perfect night. And then she quickly added, Complete with the perfect boyfriend.
‘You’ll think of something,’ Rebecca assured her. ‘I remember when I was your age, your mother and I used to love holding big barn dances at the farm. Dancing with Brendan brought back a lot of memories. Dressing up in boots and hats and country cowgirl gear! Oh, those days were so fun.’
Olivia drew in a sharp breath. ‘That’s it! Aunt Rebecca, we can have a barn-dance theme! No one in Franklin Grove will expect it. Maybe that will bring everyone together!’ Olivia gave her aunt a giant bear hug. Maybe it
was a good idea to come away for the day after all.
New dance theme? Check! Now all she had to do was deal with the mean girls . . . and find out what was bothering Ivy . . . and talk to Jackson. Gulp!
Ivy scraped sawdust off the back of her trousers. How utterly embarrassing. Brendan wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her close. Ivy was so not into the damsel-in-distress thing, but she guessed if she had to be saved, it might as well be a goth-gorgeous guy with skin the colour of pure white marble and high cheekbones that made picture-perfect valleys in his handsome face.
Ivy glanced up at her boyfriend. ‘I’m fine.’ She pulled away. ‘Really,’ she said after seeing the worried look on Brendan’s face. ‘It’s my super-strong powers acting up again.’ At all the wrong moments, Ivy added in her head.
‘Super-strong powers?’ Brendan’s eyebrows swooped up.
This was going to take some explaining. She looked to her father for help.
Charles gave a slight nod. ‘You’ll have to excuse me,’ he said, clearing his throat, ‘but I should go back to check on my parents.’
Ivy took Brendan’s hand and led him to the big porch that wrapped around the main house, where they plopped down on one of the swing seats. Ivy let her boots dangle as Brendan pushed the swing back and forth, his fingers still curled around hers.
‘When I told you about Wallachia Academy, I might have left out a few parts.’
‘Oh?’ Brendan’s eyebrows shot up beneath his hair.
‘Apparently my powers accelerate as I get older,’ she told Brendan. ‘It’s a part of being one of the gentry of Transylvania. It’s pretty freaky, really,’ Ivy admitted. ‘It doesn’t happen to most vampires. I accidentally broke a glass in my bare hand at Mister Smoothie the other day.’ Ivy laughed uncomfortably. ‘So anyway, that’s why I’ve been invited to finishing school – to learn to control them.’
‘Ivy!’ He stopped the swing. ‘Then that absolutely means you have to go. If you know this about yourself, isn’t it your duty to learn to control your powers? Do you want to risk blowing the vampire secret wide open?’
‘Are you being serious? I thought you didn’t want me to go.’
Brendan’s smile faltered. ‘I didn’t want you to go, but that was before you told me about your powers.’ He shook his head, staring out at the horizon.
‘What’s wrong? Why are you reacting like this?’ Ivy asked.
Brendan’s face was turning red. ‘Can’t you see, Ivy?’ He said quietly. ‘You owe it to everyone to learn to control your powers. If the vampire secret at Franklin Grove got out because you gave the game away, everyone would suffer.’
Ivy couldn’t believe Brendan was making out she was in danger of letting down every vampire she knew.
‘I’m sorry you feel that way,’ she said.
Brendan turned to face her. ‘It’s not about how I feel. It’s about the truth. I don’t want you to be far away from me, but if it’s for a really important reason . . .’
‘We’ve never, ever argued before,’ Ivy said, sadness leaking through her.
‘We’re not arguing now.’ Brendan’s rigid expression softened. ‘But I’m going to tell you when I think you’re wrong.’
‘So if we’ve never argued . . .’ Ivy poked her finger into Brendan’s ribs, trying to get him to laugh. She needed this mood to change super-fast. ‘Does this mean I’m never wrong?’
Brendan swatted her away. ‘This isn’t funny, Ivy. For one thing, Olivia knows something’s up and she’s been asking me awkward questions. I don’t want to be stuck in the middle. I mean, how bad does it have to be when one twin is asking the other twin’s boyfriend what’s going on? Please . . .’ He pressed his palms together. ‘For my sake as well as Olivia’s, can you just come clean with your sister? If you do decide to leave the country, at least warn her. It might break a vampire rule, but I’m pretty sure you’ll be breaking a much bigger twin-sister code if you sit back and do nothing. You shouldn’t be lying to your sister, no matter what your grandparents say.’
Ivy couldn’t have been more surprised if Brendan had popped out of her coffin. He had never lectured her and she wasn’t sure she liked him mixing the role of schoolteacher and boyfriend. Brendan pulled Ivy into his chest, but it felt clumsy instead of comfortable.
She felt his warm breath tickle her ear. ‘It’ll be fine,’ he whispered. ‘The two of us can enjoy one last perfect night at the dance before you leave for Transylvania. Deal?’
‘Oh my darkness.’ Ivy sat up straight. ‘Now I know you’re joking!’
Brendan looked like he’d been staked. His face got splotchy.
‘What?’ Ivy asked, confused.
Without a word, Brendan pushed off from the swing, shoved his hands in the pouch of his black sweatshirt and walked inside the house.
‘Brendan!’ she called. Have I hurt his feelings about the dance? This is crazy!
The screen door clattered shut behind him and any ounce of happiness leaked out of Ivy. Her boyfriend wasn’t coming back. He thought she was wrong and that she was being selfish and that she should spend who-knew-how-long across the ocean at Wallachia Academy. She pushed the swing with the tips of her toes, staring at the empty spot beside her. Pinks, purples and oranges spread over the sky. As Ivy watched the beautiful sunset lighting up the ranch, she wondered: How and when did everything start to go so wrong?
Chapter Eight
‘Can everyone please take a seat!’ Wrangling a roomful of chatty girls was no easy task for Olivia. She was standing at the front of the common room, waiting to start the committee meeting, but the room was buzzing with so much excitement she could hardly get a word in! ‘We only have a few days left, people!’ She clapped several times. Chairs screeched, heels clacked, and at last it was quiet enough for Olivia to speak.
Before she began, Olivia chanced one quick glance at Lucrezia, Melinda and Veronica, sitting in the front row wearing three matching sneers. Wait till they hear what I have to suggest.
From the back of the room, Charlotte shot Olivia the thumbs up and the recording light blinked green. Into what weird universe had Olivia fallen that meant she was actually happy that Charlotte Brown had decided to attend another committee meeting after all? At least the camera would keep the Terrible Trio in check.
Fortunately for Olivia, that wasn’t her only backup. Ivy had come along. Operation Delete Footage was on and Ivy was helping Charlotte in the hopes that she might have an opportunity to delete the vampy-looking footage.
‘First,’ Olivia began, ‘I wanted to thank the committee for taking care of things while I was away and for the lovely suggestion of a pink theme.’ Olivia watched as Lucrezia gave a smug flip of her hair. But Olivia wasn’t done. ‘And it was a lovely suggestion.’ This time she emphasised the last word.
Olivia retrieved a folded sheet of paper from her straw tote. ‘This,’ she fluttered the page so that everyone could see, ‘is a copy of the committee contract that the principal had me sign when I took on this role,’ Olivia said, silently thanking Jackson’s manager, Amy, for always encouraging her to read the fine print. ‘Here, in clause 2 of option 3, point 4 on the appendix for page 10 –’ Olivia cleared her throat and began to read – ‘“The committee organiser shall take ultimate responsibility for all details of the dance, further to final approval by the principal.”’ She made a crisp fold in the paper and put it away.
Veronica twisted a string of chewed gum around her index finger. ‘Translation?’
‘I’ve already run an idea by the principal and it’s been approved. This year’s theme will be a barn dance and there will be absolutely no pink – and no black – whatsoever. Got it?’
The room erupted into howls of disappointment.
‘But I already bought a pink skirt!’
‘Does this mean I can’t wear my fuchsia sundress?’
‘Pink compliments my skin tone!’
Olivia shifted her weight on her feet. She hadn’t expected her other cl
assmates to be upset. She looked out into the small crowd. Even Jenny was shaking her head. Olivia had come this far and she wasn’t turning back. Everyone needed to feel included and that meant putting a stop to anything and everything that could make people uncomfortable. Right?
Doing her best Ivy impersonation, Olivia stared down Lucrezia, Melinda and Veronica. ‘Listen, I’ve made the decision – barn dance it is.’ Before they could say anything, Olivia jerked her head in the direction of Charlotte’s camera, daring them to argue. Thankfully, none of them did. Olivia’s heart pounded. She’d done it. She had stood up for what she believed in. If she hadn’t been wearing a skirt, she’d have performed a perfect straddle jump! ‘OK, then,’ she said, ‘I want you all to go home and research ideas for food, music and decorations to fit the barn-dance theme, so that we can finalise details tomorrow. So, unless anyone has questions, I guess that’s it for the day.’
The committee got to their feet. ‘Dictator,’ Olivia heard one girl mumble over her shoulder.
‘Yeah, who does she think she is?’ asked another.
Olivia’s chin drooped. She had thought she was doing the right thing. ‘Too much?’ she asked, going over to Charlotte.
Charlotte removed the camera from its perch on her shoulder. ‘Nah. Those girls needed putting in their places.’ She raised her eyebrows and scanned Olivia from head to toe, as if seeing her for the first time. ‘Seems like those three could actually learn a thing or two from you.’
From me? Do I really want to be a role model for bullies like that?
Thankfully, Olivia didn’t have too much time to answer that big question because Ivy wandered over, her combat boots sticking out amongst the committee girls’ dainty shoes like two black seeds in a giant pink watermelon.
‘So?’ Olivia probed her sister. ‘Did Mission Deletion work?’
‘Yeah, I took care of it when you were talking to Charlotte.’
Twin Spins! Page 7
