Was that why she said all those awful things?
Ivy swallowed hard as she remembered some of her own mean behaviour this past week, as she’d coped with her sudden popularity. Not only had she said some pretty nasty things herself to try to put people off, but there had been times when she had actually meant what she’d said.
Ouch. Ivy took a deep breath as she realised just how similar she and Charlotte might be after all. But no one is un-saveable, she told herself. Not Charlotte . . . and not me, either.
‘Are you OK?’ Olivia whispered, steering Ivy to one side as the others fell into a noisy debate about which movie this situation was most like. She frowned as she looked into Ivy’s face. ‘You look a little . . .’
‘Unnerved?’ Ivy gave a sad half-smile. ‘I guess I am. I just never realised that if I were given half a chance . . . I might actually be even worse than Charlotte ever was.’
‘Are you kidding?’ Olivia gave her a quick, tight hug. ‘You are my twin, Ivy Vega. Do you think I’d ever let you go that far?’
Ivy couldn’t help laughing at that, even as she hugged Olivia back. ‘Good point,’ she said. ‘You may look all pink and fluffy on the outside, but you’re an unstoppable force on the inside. No one could stand against you for long.’
‘That’s right.’ Nodding decisively, Olivia clapped her hands, breaking off the others’ movie debate. ‘Everyone! Let’s have a dress rehearsal for the Hallway Gauntlet. Camilla? Will you direct? And Charlotte? For now, can you just stand back and watch how Ivy handles it? Then you can offer her advice on how to do it better.’
‘Got it!’ Camilla snapped to attention, her eyes sparkling under her latest velvet beret as she went into full-on Director Mode. Wiping off the crumbs from her hands, she jumped up from her seat. ‘Sophia and Holly, you’ll be the clingy goths. Brendan, you’re the annoying skater-boy!’
‘Liiiike, got it!’ Brendan drawled. ‘Totally, dude.’
Ivy rolled her eyes at him. It didn’t help with the sudden sick tension in her gut, though. Even the thought of those hallways filled her with dread.
Camilla was still busy handing out the last of her assignments. ‘Olivia, you’re the timid cheerleader who doesn’t want to upset the cool girl.’
Olivia fluttered her eyelashes. ‘How perfect!’ she cooed.
Ivy groaned.
Camilla ignored them both. ‘Everybody got it?’
‘Got it!’ they all chorused.
‘Got it,’ Ivy mumbled, a moment later than everybody else. Her shoulders sagged. Brendan gave her a sympathetic look before slouching off to take his place, carrying an imaginary skateboard by his side.
‘Now!’ Camilla pointed. ‘Ivy? You stand by the front door. Everybody else, take your places along the hallway!’ She mimed holding a clapperboard. Her voice switched to a movie narrator’s rich tones. ‘It’s a normal morning at Franklin Grove High. Ivy’s just about to step inside. Aaaand . . . take one!’
Her arm swung down. Obediently, Ivy stepped forwards . . . and was immediately swarmed.
‘Iiiivy!’ Sophia and Holly fluttered towards her, blocking her way. ‘You are soooo cool! Won’t you tell us how you did your hair? And your makeup? And your laces? And –’
‘Um . . .’ Smiling desperately, Ivy tried to sidestep past them, but they wouldn’t give her an inch of space. She could barely breathe as they clung closer and closer, filling up her vision.
‘Wasn’t the homework boring? What did you do last night, Ivy? Won’t you tell us how to be like you? Ivy, Ivy, Ivy, Ivy . . .’
Panic made Ivy’s heartbeat thrum against her skin. Her face twisted into a scowl, but they wouldn’t step back. She couldn’t escape. She couldn’t breathe. She looked desperately to where Olivia waited, further down the hall, but her sister was too far away to help.
‘Can we cut?’ Charlotte asked sharply.
‘Cut!’ Camilla bellowed.
Grinning, Sophia and Holly high-fived each other and stepped back to await Charlotte’s verdict.
The ex-head cheerleader was frowning intently. ‘You can’t do that thing with your face,’ she told Ivy.
‘What thing?’ Ivy stared at her.
Charlotte shook her head impatiently. ‘That squinty, I-hate-you face. That’s too mean.’
‘But they were smothering me!’ Ivy protested.
‘I know.’ Charlotte rolled her eyes. ‘Believe me, I know! But at most, you should look mildly annoyed.’
‘Sorry?’ Ivy shook her head wearily. ‘I don’t even know what that looks like!’
‘Oh, for heaven’s sake. Let me.’ Charlotte swept past Ivy to take her place in the gauntlet, and Ivy was only too happy to step back.
There may have been a real Gauntlet at Wallachia Academy for vampires . . . but the Hallway Gauntlet at Franklin Grove High is infinitely worse.
Camilla counted down. ‘Three . . . two . . . one . . . action!’
Walking briskly, Charlotte stepped into the hallway. Sophia and Holly swept down around her, shrieking with excitement.
‘Ivy, Ivy, Iiiiivy!’
Huh. Ivy’s eyes narrowed as she watched Charlotte’s reaction. She stood listening, without trying to step past them, but her forehead was drawn into impatient lines. As she listened, she glanced down at her watch in a move that read clearly: I have somewhere else I need to be!
Without a word of prompting – or an I-hate-you face – Holly and Sophia started to clear a path for Charlotte to walk through.