Fangtastic! (13 page)

Her
makeup looked a bit hurried, too.

“And
perhaps they are right,” Serena Star fin

ished
suddenly.

Really?
Olivia perked up.

“I’d
hoped to have the answers for you this

morning,
America, but”—Serena’s face changed

from
serious to smiling—“we were all shocked

and
overjoyed by last night’s breaking news!

That’s
right, I’m talking about Academy Award

winner
and former Miss America Charlene

Costa’s
surprise wedding to country music heartthrob Manny Shucker. Tune in this
afternoon for

exclusive
video footage taken by the maid of

honor,
the final word on Franklin Grove, and

other
hot stories on a special blockbuster edition

of
The Morning Star
later today!”

Serena
Star flashed her trademark smile and

approached
the camera. “Because the Star of

truth
must shine! My name’s Serena Star. Wake

up,
America!”

A smile
spread across Olivia’s face as she

clicked
off the TV.
Finally,
she thought as she

headed
upstairs to get ready for school,
the distraction we’ve been waiting for—Serena
will probably be on the next plane to California to cover the Charlene Costa
story!

Ivy
was walking down the hallway on her way to her first period class when she
spotted the Beasts huddled together in a corner. There was something about them
that wasn’t quite right, but it took her a second to sink her fangs into what
it was: none of them was laughing.
They’re up to something grave,
she
thought.

Charlotte
Brown was passing by with her clique of bunny minions. Garrick lifted his head,
and Ivy noticed that he was wearing the same Interna 3 T-shirt he’d been
wearing all week. “Charlotte!” he called. “Wait up!” He separated from his
friends and ran over to her.

Ivy
slipped behind a school flag, hoping to catch a hint of what Garrick and
Charlotte were talking about, but she couldn’t hear what they were saying. She
did notice Charlotte’s bunny eyes light up and saw her nodding like Garrick had
just promised her a shopping spree. Then Charlotte ran back to her friends,
Katie and Allison, shrieking, “Guess what?” and Ivy heard them tittering
excitedly as they disappeared down the hall together.

Garrick
was slinking back to his friends with a devilish leer plastered on his face
when Ivy intercepted him. “What are you up to?” she demanded.

“Vega,”
said Garrick. “Wake up on the wrong side of your box
again
this morning?”

Ivy
narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you think it’s time to wash your T-shirt?” she asked
pointedly. “It’s ready to climb out of a coffin all on its own!”

“Hey,”
Garrick retorted, “I got a free top-of-theline, brand-new Interna 3 out of all
the publicity I’ve been throwing their way. And you thought jumping out of that
coffin was a bad idea! Shows what
you
know.”

Ivy
rolled her eyes. “What’s going on with you and Charlotte Brown?”

“None
of your business,” he answered.

Ivy
bore down on him with her death squint.

Garrick’s
mouth spread into a sinister grin. “I’m, uh,
interviewing
her for my
movie.” He raised his eyebrows and puffed out his chest. “Once Serena Star sees
it, she’ll be
begging
me to come back on her show,” he added. “And
Charlotte might just win an Academy Award for Best Victim,” he finished with a
wink.

Then
he sauntered back to his friends, who greeted him with hoots and hollers, and
Ivy frowned as she watched.

Suddenly,
there was a tap on her shoulder, and Ivy turned to find Serena Star smiling at
her strangely. Right away, Ivy noticed that there was something different about
her. For one thing, her cameraman wasn’t with her. Also, she was wearing the
same suit she’d been wearing yesterday, and her hair looked unusually flat.

“I’ve
been looking for you everywhere,” said Serena.

Ivy
wanted to say
You mean Toby has,
but she thought better of it. “Well,
here I am.” She shrugged. “Aren’t you leaving for Hollywood to interview
Charlene Costa?”

“Not
until I’m finished with Franklin Grove,” replied Serena, her eyes flashing. “I
thought you’d like to know that I’ve decided to reshape my story.”

Ivy
took a step back. “What do you mean?”

“Well,”
Serena said, nodding wildly, “I’ve been in this town all week, and it’s clear
that there’s no big secret here.”

Ivy
stared at her incredulously.

“So
what I’m going to do,” Serena went on, “is profile a Goth who’s really a
leader
in this community. Someone who all the others look up to, a real role model. I
can’t think of a better way to show America that Goths are nothing to be afraid
of. And guess who I want to profile?” Serena raised her thin eyebrows.

Ivy
swallowed. “Me?”

Serena
unleashed a smile that nearly blinded her. “That’s right.”

“You’re
serious?” Ivy asked suspiciously.

Serena
nodded enthusiastically. “Aren’t I always?”

She’s
not kidding,
Ivy
thought.
I think we might have fooled her.

“So?”
Serena Star pressed. “Ready for your close-up?”

“I don’t
really like being the center of attention,” Ivy said. It was true. Just the
thought of being on TV made her stomach hurt—she’d had a hard enough time
pretending to be head of decorations at the All Hallow’s Ball. “I’m not even
wearing the right clothes,” she added, gesturing to her old black cardigan and
flared black pants.

“I won’t
take no for an answer,” Serena said, with a sparkly smile.

If
this is what it takes to shut the coffin on Serena’s interest in Franklin Grove
once and for all,
Ivy thought,
I’d better do it.

She
forced herself to smile too. “Then I guess I have to say yes,” she told Serena.

“Maybe
we can pull Edna’s jeweled fan across the screen to reveal a map of Italy,”
suggested Olivia. Camilla nodded enthusiastically. “That’s a great idea.” They
were in media studies, working on the storyboard for their movie. Mr. Colton
said they had to plan every single shot, to make sure they used up the whole
five minutes.

Behind
them, Olivia could hear Garrick and his friends whispering intensely. Olivia
heard Garrick mutter, “. . . on eBay. They were a sick bargain!”

“Let
me see!” one of the other boys whispered. There was some rustling, and then
Olivia heard something clatter to the floor. She looked down.
Gross
,
she thought, making a face.
Dentures.
They were all old and yellow and
pointy.

Wait
a sec,
Olivia
thought.
Those aren’t just dentures!

Garrick
snatched the teeth off the floor and shoved them in his pocket. “You guys are
going to get us staked!” Olivia heard him hiss as he slid back into his seat.

So
Garrick’s finally got himself a set of fake fangs,
Olivia thought,
but at least he’s
trying to keep them a secret. Maybe he’s finally decided to give the
publicvampire routine a rest!

The
bell for the end of school rang, and Ivy put her hand on Olivia’s open notebook
just as her sister was about to close it. “Play dead for a minute,” she said
quietly. “I need to talk.”

The
other students in science class filed out of the room. Mr. Strain finished
cleaning the blackboard and looked at them expectantly.

“We’re
just going to stay here and talk about tomorrow’s experiment for a few minutes,
if that’s okay with you, Mr. Strain,” Ivy said.

“Of
course,” Mr. Strain replied. “I’m glad you girls are finally starting to take
scientific exploration seriously.” He picked up a huge pile of papers from his
desk, squeezed them into his briefcase, and walked out the door, leaving Olivia
and Ivy alone.

“What’s
up?” asked Olivia. “Serena Star wants to interview me,” Ivy answered nervously.

“No
way!” gasped Olivia. “I thought she was backing off.”

“She
is.” Ivy nodded. “She says she wants to profile a Goth student who’s a good
role model.”

“Great!”
Olivia declared. “At last this whole deep, dark vampire secret thing seems to
be blowing over.”

“I
guess so.” Ivy sighed. “Then again, I’m not sure which I think is more painful:
being found out and burned at the stake or being interviewed on national TV by
Serena Star!” She felt like there were bats in her stomach every time she
thought of the coming interview.

“Oh,
please,” Olivia said, nudging Ivy’s arm reassuringly. “You’ll be awesome.
Anyway, there’s something I wanted to tell you, too.”

“What?”

“In
media studies today”—Olivia lowered her voice—“Garrick Stephens accidentally
dropped something on the floor.”

“Like
his brain?” Ivy joked.

Olivia
cracked a smile. “Like he has one?” she joked back. Then she shook her head and
looked serious. “Fake fangs,” she told Ivy.

Ivy
pursed her lips. “Hmm, Garrick was acting seriously strange this morning about
Charlotte Brown,” she admitted. “He was talking about his media studies
project, and he made a comment about her winning a Best Victim Oscar.”

Olivia’s
eyes widened. “You don’t think he’d try to bite her, do you?” she whispered. “He
wouldn’t be that stupid, would he?”

Ivy
gave her a doubtful look. “These
are
the Beasts we’re talking about.”

“Come
on,” Olivia said, shutting her notebook. “Garrick’s been pretty desperate to
get back on TV, and something involving fake fangs and a cheerleader could
certainly get him noticed. We’d better find Charlotte.”

“And
fast,” Ivy agreed, grabbing her bag. They bolted out of the classroom and into
the hallway. “There hasn’t been a case of a vampire biting a human in
generations,” she told Olivia as they raced toward the front hall. “If Garrick
even tries to sink his fangs into Charlotte, he’ll do exactly what we’ve been
trying to avoid—reveal the existence of vampires!”

Ivy
spotted Charlotte’s blond ponytail bouncing across the hallway, with Garrick
Stephens’ dark silhouette slouching after her.

Ivy
and Olivia raced down the hallway after them, and Ivy peeked around the corner
just in time to see Garrick duck into the media studies classroom. She and
Olivia snuck up on either side of the classroom door and peered in through its
glass window.

Inside,
Dylan Soyle was fiddling with the school video camera as Kyle Glass adjusted a
big light and Ricky Slitherman maneuvered a fuzzy sound boom into position,
huge headphones on his ears. Charlotte was sitting on a chair in the center of
the room, illuminated by the spotlight. She was looking at herself in a pink
plastic compact, putting on extra makeup and fluffing her hair. Ivy watched her
cycle through a series of facial expressions: a fat smile, a sultry pout, a
surprised open mouth. Then she blew herself a big kiss.
Well, she’s sure
doing her best to look juicy,
Ivy thought.

“Where’s
Garrick?” Olivia whispered. Ivy scanned the room and directed her sister’s gaze
to a darkened corner near the back. Garrick’s hands were lifted in front of his
face, like he was putting something in his mouth. “Please tell me that’s just
bubble gum
,
” Olivia quavered.

“I’m
afraid it’s the fangs,” Ivy whispered. They could see Garrick’s lips bulging
slightly as he shot a ghoulish close-mouthed smile at the other Beasts.

Just
then, Dylan Soyle burst into a coughing fit. Ivy couldn’t hear him through the
door, but it was clear to her he was faking it. All at once, he recovered, and
when he brought his hands away from his face, Ivy could see there was something
in his mouth, too.

Kyle
and Ricky had their own suspicious bulges behind their lips. Garrick wasn’t the
only one with fangs—they all had them.

They’re
actually gearing up to bite Charlotte!
Ivy thought incredulously. She glanced at Olivia and saw that her sister had
turned white as a sheet.

Garrick
took his place behind the camera, and Charlotte put her compact and makeup away
in her bag. A moment later, Dylan pressed a button on the camera, and Garrick
pointed a crooked finger at his star. Right on cue, Charlotte plastered a smile
on her face.

The
other boys crept along the sides of the room as Garrick looked through the
viewfinder and called something out to Charlotte. Ivy could just make out
enough to know it was a question; the interview had begun.

Charlotte
took a deep breath, batted her eyelashes, and started to speak directly to the
camera.