Fangtastic! (11 page)

Ivy
was tempted to argue, but she knew it was useless. “Thanks,” she said quietly,
taking the e-mail address and heading out the door. As she passed through the
bunny baby store, she couldn’t help thinking her father was right after all. “Look
to the future,” he always said, “not back to the past.”

Especially
because when I do look back,
she thought, trudging into the street,
I can’t seem to see a thing!

Having
looked everywhere else for Brendan’s book, Olivia kicked aside a pile of black
clothes and crouched down to peer under Ivy’s bed. Pulling up the black velvet
bed skirt, it took her a moment to realize the only thing under there was her
sister’s shiny coffin.

She
bolted upright. “Of course it’s not under there,” she said, rolling her eyes
like Ivy might. Brendan just looked at her, frowning. She couldn’t tell whether
he was amused, suspicious, or worried that his girlfriend had completely lost
her mind.

Olivia
peered around Ivy’s room desperately. It was a complete mess—the floor was so
littered with black shoes and clothes that she could barely see the carpet; the
bed was a nest of bags, pillows, and cosmetics; and Ivy’s desk looked like it
had been hit by an avalanche of paper and CDs. Olivia had been looking for
Brendan’s book for twenty minutes already.

All
she knew was she had to get him out of the house before Ivy came home.
He’s
bound to figure everything out if he sees two Ivys in one place,
she
thought,
and that won’t be good!
It had been stressful enough getting to
Ivy’s basement bedroom in the first place. Olivia had had to try three
different keys before she found the one that opened the front door, and then
she’d had to stand there awkwardly while Brendan and Ivy’s dad chatted amicably
in the front hall.

Suddenly,
Olivia spotted the corner of a book peeking out from underneath a gray towel on
the floor. She dashed over, pulling the soggy towel aside to reveal a
waterlogged paperback.

Olivia
had never felt so relieved to see a ruined book in her entire life. “Oh, no,”
she said, carrying the book over to Brendan, “it got wet.” She held it out with
an apologetic frown.

Brendan
glanced down at the book. “Ivy,” he said, “this is from social studies. I need
the English book I gave you last week.”

I
am so dead,
thought
Olivia. She had to find Brendan’s book fast, or he was going to realize
something was up—if he hadn’t already!

Ivy
turned a corner and glanced forlornly up at her house, which loomed atop the
hill at the end of the cul-de-sac. Right away, she saw that Toby Decker was
lurking in front of Charlotte Brown’s house, right next door to her own.

Ivy
dove behind an oak tree.

Peeking
out carefully, she saw Toby walking along the curb as if it were a balance
beam. He hopped off, looked up toward Ivy’s house hopefully, and then hopped on
again and teetered in the other direction.

Hasn’t
he given up yet?
Ivy
thought. Seriously, she’d had enough frustration for one afternoon. She was
certainly in no mood to wander around the neighborhood for all eternity,
waiting for Toby Decker to call it a day.

Unfortunately,
the alternatives were just as O negative. If Toby spotted her going into the
house dressed like Olivia, he might get suspicious. And even if Ivy could make
herself look normal again, Toby might guess that he’d been following around an
impostor all afternoon. Worse, he might run and tell Serena Star that there
were legions of identical queens of the damned roaming Franklin Grove.

This
bites!
Ivy thought,
leaning back against the tree.

Charlotte
was Ivy’s neighbor on one side; on the other lived the Carltons. Their property
ran up the length of the hill, to where a line of bushes separated the two
yards. Ivy had no choice. It was risky, but she decided to try and sneak behind
the Carlton’s house, up the hill, through the bushes, and into her own
backyard. Then she could climb in her bedroom window without Toby seeing.There
wouldn’t be many trees to hide behind on the way, but luckily she had vampire
speed on her side.

Ivy
peeked out again. She held her breath, waiting for Toby to turn his back on her
in his walk along the curb.

Wait
. . . wait . . . go!
she thought, sprinting out from behind the tree and dashing for the Carlton’s
backyard as fast as Olivia’s pink mules could carry her. A weather vane planted
in the grass spun wildly as she zipped past.

“You
know what?” Olivia said desperately, tossing a tangled black skirt in the air. “I’m
really sorry, Brendan, but I don’t know what I did with that book.” She pointed
to her head. “Cobwebs!” she sang manically. “But I promise I’ll keep looking
and bring it to you tomorrow in school. Okay?” Olivia glanced anxiously up the
stairs toward the door.
Ivy’s going to be here any second!
she thought.

Meanwhile,
Brendan just kept staring at her with that same impenetrable look.

“Okay?”
Olivia pleaded again. “I promised my dad I’d set the table for dinner, so you
really, really have to go now.”

Without
a word, Brendan started for the stairs.
He’s finally leaving!
Olivia
thought, nearly overcome by relief. Then he appeared to think better of it.

“Something’s
not right,” he muttered to himself.

He
turned around at the bottom of the stairs. “You’ve been acting weird since the
moment I saw you in the mall,” he told her. “The way you talk, the way you move
. . .You’re not acting like— like my girlfriend.” He looked at Olivia, his eyes
filled with concern. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay, Ivy?”

Olivia
gulped and nodded.

Suddenly,
a totally horrified look spread across Brendan’s face.

Olivia’s
heart stopped.
He’s figured it out,
she thought.
Ivy is so going to
kill me!

“Are
you
mad
at me about something?” Brendan asked shakily.

Olivia
is not going to be happy,
Ivy thought with a grimace as she stood panting at the back of her house. She’d
run so fast that one of her sister’s pink mules had shot off her foot like a
rocket and flown way up in the air. Ivy didn’t even know where it had landed.
Still, she was seriously relieved to have successfully made it into her backyard
without Toby seeing her.

Ivy
hopped along the back of her house to her bedroom window, which sat at ground
level. Kneeling down, she glimpsed her sister in the room below.
Good thing
I left this window open this morning!
she thought. She got down on her
belly and scooted through the window feet first.

“Hey,
Olivia!” she called. “I’m back!” As she felt for the landing with her feet, the
other mule fell off and clattered down the stairs. She continued loudly, “Toby
Decker should be the one everyone’s worried about. What a stalker!”

Olivia
didn’t answer. “Olivia?” Ivy called. “Olivia!” She found her footing, shut the
window, and turned around.

Right
away, Ivy noticed the panicked look on her sister’s face, and she froze. For a
moment, she couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Then someone stepped out of the
shadows. It was Brendan, staring up at her from beside the foot of the stairs.

Ivy
watched her boyfriend look from her to Olivia and back again, a wrinkle of
confusion spreading across his brow.
He just heard me call Olivia “Olivia”!
Ivy thought in panic.
Several times! And she’s supposed to be me!
As she
stared at Brendan, she realized that it was time to tell him the truth, but her
heart sank.
Once he finds out I’ve been keeping this a secret,
she
thought,
he probably won’t want to see me ever again!

Olivia
peeled her eyes away from her sister, who was frozen on the landing, and looked
at Brendan, who was staring up at Ivy with his mouth hanging wide open. He
looked even paler than usual.

“Bren,”
Ivy said quietly at last, “there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”
She pulled her hair from its ponytail and descended the stairs to stand before
him. “Olivia and I are twin sisters,” she said, her voice trembling.

Brendan
looked over at Olivia. “You’re not Ivy?” he asked.

Olivia
shook her head.

“Whoa,”
he said, and for a moment Olivia thought he might faint.

Ivy
grabbed his hand to steady him, and Brendan’s eyes flickered. “That hand
feels
like you.”

Ivy
smiled. “That’s because it
is
me,” she said quietly.

“You
two . . . are
t-twins
?” Brendan stammered.

Ivy
nodded. “We only just found each other at the beginning of the school year,”
she explained. “I never even knew I had a twin sister before.”

At
least we don’t have to keep it a secret anymore,
Olivia thought.

“I
have to sit down,” Brendan said drily. He pulled his hand from Ivy’s and
staggered to the corner of the bed.

Ivy
followed, talking faster now. “Not even the two of us noticed how much alike we
look at first. But, apart from the fact that Olivia’s a cheerleader, we’re
practically identical.”

Brendan
shook his head. “I don’t understand,” he said. “How come she doesn’t look like
a cheerleader right now?”

“Because,”
Ivy said, wincing, “we switched places.”

Brendan
blinked slowly.

“Bren?”
Ivy quavered. A single tear tracked down her face, and Olivia felt her own eyes
well up. “Are you okay?”

Brendan
didn’t answer.

Please,
please don’t break up with her,
thought Olivia, biting her lip.

Brendan’s
voice erupted hoarsely at last. “I— I just can’t believe it.... Long-lost twin
sisters? It’s like something from a book.”

Ivy
took a deep breath. “I’d understand if you never wanted to see me again,
Brendan.” Her lip trembled violently. “I should have told you. I
wanted
to—”

Brendan
suddenly stood and put his hand on Ivy’s face, gently wiping away a tear with
his thumb. Ivy’s spray-on tan rubbed off to reveal a pale stripe of skin.
Brendan smiled and hugged her. “I’m a little confused, but I’m not mad,” he
whispered, as Ivy wrapped her arms tightly around him.

Olivia
wiped her eyes as she let out a heavy sigh of relief.

“There’s
something else.” Ivy sniffled, pulling back from Brendan after a moment.

“You
mean you’ve got a secret bigger than your twin sister?” Brendan teased. Olivia
chuckled nervously.

“Olivia
and I aren’t
completely
identical,” Ivy began. “She’s not a vampire.”

Brendan
did a double take. “Ivy!” he whispered disapprovingly, shooting a quick,
sidelong glance at Olivia.

“I had
to tell her, Brendan,” Ivy said.

Olivia
stepped forward. “I promised Ivy that I would never, ever tell anyone, and I
won’t, Brendan. I’ll do anything to keep the vampire secret safe.” Brendan
looked at her doubtfully. “That’s why I’m dressed up like Ivy right now— to
keep Toby Decker off her trail.”

“What
does Toby Decker have to do with anything?” Brendan asked.

“Serena
Star has got him spying on me in the hope of finding out something sensational,”
Ivy explained.

“Oh,”
Brendan said. “I guess that makes sense, then.” He chuckled. “It’s completely
insane, but it does make sense.”

He and
Ivy hugged again.

Olivia
realized that her feet were killing her from marching around in Ivy’s heavy
black boots all afternoon. “Hey, now that the big secret’s out,” she
interrupted, “can we switch back?”

Ivy
looked down at the pink sparkly top. “Definitely.”

“Aw,”
whined Brendan, “but I really like you in pink.”

“Really?”
Olivia and Ivy both said in surprise.

“No,”
Brendan answered mischievously. Then he winked at Olivia. “No offense.”

“None
taken.” Olivia laughed as she and Ivy headed for the black-lacquered screen in
the corner of the room to swap clothes.

Brendan
started to laugh, too. “No wonder you couldn’t find my book!”

Ivy
pulled her top on over her head and came out from behind the screen in the
corner of the room, leaving Olivia to finish changing.

Brendan’s
eyes lit up when he saw her. “There you are,” he said, and Ivy’s heart
fluttered. With a grin, she walked straight to her desk and pulled Brendan’s
English book from the middle of the heap. She walked over to him and held it
out. “Thanks, Brendan,” she said, and she wasn’t just talking about the book he’d
lent her.

Brendan
brushed her hand as he took the book. “You’re welcome.” Then he added, “No more
secrets, though. Okay?”

“Okay,”
Ivy said, pushing aside a shoe and some bags and sitting down beside him.