Fashion Frightmare! (My Sister the Vampire) (2 page)

Ivy scowled. ‘I suppose it’s good at least one of us is excited.’ It wasn’t often she wished that movie vampire rules were true but, right now, she’d give anything
not to be able to show up in photographs. Then, no one would
ever
ask her to stroll up and down a catwalk!

Unfortunately, real vampires showed up perfectly well in photos – and in mirrors, too. The only thing that bunny screenwriters got correct was how much they hated garlic. And Ivy was
considering eating some just to get out of this fashion show!

DING!

Ivy looked up sharply. Pain sparked down her neck, but this time she barely noticed. She was in too much shock.

The girl at the door had to be Reiko . . . and she was not what Ivy had been expecting
at all
!

Olivia turned around to follow Ivy’s gaze. ‘No kimono,’ she murmured.

‘Nope.’ Ivy’s eyes widened as she took in the other vamp’s bright yellow tank top and neon green athletic shorts. ‘And she does not look like she’s been
raised in a strict community, does she?’

That’ll teach me to make assumptions,
Ivy thought wryly. Not only was Reiko
not
wearing a kimono, she wasn’t even a goth like every single young American vamp Ivy
knew.

Instead, she wore clothes that weren’t just bright – they were so luminous they could have lit up a pitch-black room! Her shorts even had a logo so big and sporty it made Ivy’s
fangs itch. But most of all, Ivy couldn’t stop staring at Reiko’s massive orange backpack.

It had a tennis racquet sticking up out of it.

‘Am I dreaming?’ Olivia whispered. ‘Or am I actually looking at a vampire
tennis player
?’

Ivy could only shake her head wordlessly. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’

And that wasn’t all. Above the backpack and the tennis racquet, Reiko’s long hair – which was a perfectly normal goth shade of purple – bounced in a high, bouncy,
cheerleader-style ponytail!

That is so not a vamp look!

‘Hey!’ Reiko’s face lit up in a grin as she saw them. Giving an excited wave, she bounded over to the table in fast, athletic strides. ‘You must be Ivy, right? And
Olivia! I recognise you both from
Banp
magazine!’

‘Did you say
Ban
magazine?’ Ivy asked, scooting over on the seat to make room for Reiko and her giant backpack full of sports equipment. Through the crack in the top of the
backpack, she could see tennis balls and even a basketball jostling for space inside.

‘No,
Banp
!’ Still standing – and bouncing on her toes – Reiko yanked off the backpack and tossed it on to the table.

‘Oops!’ Olivia jerked out of the way just in time, before the handle of the tennis racquet could slam into her head. She sat back, eyes wide. ‘
Bamp
magazine?’

‘No, no,
Banp
. You know . . .’ Reiko slid into the booth beside Ivy, then leaned forwards to whisper, with an infectious grin: ‘Japanese for
“vamp”!’

‘Aha!’ Ivy gave a sigh of relief.
Banp
must be the Japanese edition of
VAMP
magazine.

‘It’s so great to meet you two!’ Reiko said, bouncing in her seat. ‘And it is so nice of you to take care of me while I’m in Franklin Grove. This is a big adventure
for me, you know?’

‘It’s no problem. Really.’ Ivy didn’t have to force a smile. Reiko may have been a little over-energetic, but she did seem like a nice person. ‘I’m sure the
next two weeks will be killer.’

‘Absolutely.’ Reiko’s knee jiggled up and down so vigorously, Ivy had to scoot further to the side to keep from being bumped. ‘So, who’s playing tonight?’

‘Um . . .?’ Ivy gave Olivia a
Help-me!
look. ‘None of the bands I know . . . Olivia?’

Ivy’s twin shrugged.

‘Not
music
.’ Reiko laughed. ‘No way! But Franklin Grove has a sports team, right?’

‘Well . . .’ Ivy’s head was whirling.

‘You must have
lots
,’ Reiko said. ‘There are so many different sports in America, right? Just like in Japan. So, who’s playing tonight? And what time does the
game start?’

Dread settled in Ivy’s stomach.
No one warned me I’d have to watch sports for this!
‘I . . . have to check the newspaper,’ she said weakly. ‘I think . . .
are the sports reports at the back? Maybe?’

Olivia only shrugged again. Reiko looked stunned.

‘Are you serious?’ she said. ‘I can’t believe you two live in
America
and you don’t follow sports!’ She shook her head at both of them. ‘If I
lived here, I’d go to a different game every night!’

Please not for the next two weeks,
Ivy begged silently.
I might start looking for a stake to walk into!

As Reiko launched into an excited list of all the different types of games she most wanted to watch while she was in Franklin Grove, Ivy sagged lower and lower in her seat.
Does she actually
expect me to watch a whole sports game? On purpose?

Worse yet . . . based on how packed full of equipment that backpack was, Reiko might even expect Ivy to
play sports with her
.

Ivy shuddered.
I can’t believe this is happening!

Of all the possible vamps that she had imagined turning up, she would
never
have expected a sports fanatic! Now, here she was sitting right next to one . . . who suddenly gave her a
nudge so powerful, she nearly slammed into the wall of their booth.

‘Hey, do you mind if we go somewhere else for lunch?’ Reiko tossed down the menu with a shudder. ‘This whole menu is
really
unhealthy. Does the Meat and Greet have
something against proper nutrients?’

‘Ahem.’ Next to the table, the waitress cleared her throat loudly.

Cringing, Ivy looked up. The waitress stood holding Olivia’s diet soda . . . and she’d obviously heard every one of Reiko’s words about the menu.

‘Ready to order,
finally
?’ the waitress snapped.

Ivy gave her best “apologetic” smile. ‘Um . . . can we please have the check?’

The waitress let out a growl. ‘I don’t believe this!’

Ivy sighed.
Trust me, neither do I.

Two hours later, Olivia led Ivy and Reiko through the echoing halls of the Franklin Grove Museum. She had to hold on to Ivy’s elbow to keep her twin moving in the right
direction. Ivy was walking backwards, her horrified gaze firmly fixed on the exchange student behind them . . .

Less than a minute after stepping into the museum, Reiko had pulled a tennis ball from her backpack. Now, she juggled it fluidly between her palms, elbows and shoulders as she walked. She was
obviously skilled, but Olivia dreaded what would happen if the museum’s intense vampire caretaker, Albert, caught sight of what was going on. And if Reiko’s ball actually crashed into
one of the museum’s priceless displays?

Ouch.
Olivia cringed at the idea.

Reiko was the only one who seemed completely unfazed by the priceless antiquities all around them. ‘ . . . and after we go to the basketball game,’ she was saying, ‘I want to
see a
real
American football game! And then . . .’

‘I can’t take this any more,’ Ivy mumbled. She pulled free of Olivia and turned to stride ahead.

Oh, dear.
Olivia sighed. She couldn’t imagine Ivy sitting through a single sports game, much less two weeks’ worth of them!

Still, she didn’t want Reiko to feel snubbed, so Olivia dropped behind to walk by the exchange student’s side as she chattered on and on, juggling her tennis ball all the way. As
they walked past an ancient ceramic vase sitting on a pedestal, the ball flew up over their heads. Reiko jumped up to catch it between her shoulder and jaw . . .

She missed.

‘Oh!’ Olivia gasped as the ball hurtled towards the vase.

‘Noooo!’ Albert suddenly appeared from the shadows of the hall, lunging towards them with his arms outstretched.

Ivy spun around. Horror spread across her face as she leaped forwards . . .

And, just in time, Reiko snatched the ball out of the air in a quick, backwards catch. ‘There!’ She winked at the others, grinning. ‘You weren’t worried, were you? I
never miss a catch.’

Albert put one hand to his chest, as if to soothe his racing heart. He took deep breaths. Olivia thought he might be about to pass out from shock. As soon as he had calmed down, though, they
were going to be in
big
trouble.

She traded a panicked look with Ivy. ‘Let’s hurry, OK?’
I don’t want to be here when Albert starts yelling!
Putting one hand on Reiko’s back, she steered
the exchange student through the marble halls at a quick trot. Aiming a wary look back at the recovering caretaker, she tried to laugh. ‘Sooo, Reiko . . . I guess maybe you shouldn’t
have had that second cup of Vitali-Tea at lunch, huh?’

‘Are you joking?’ Reiko shook her head so vigorously, her long purple ponytail whipped against Olivia’s cheek. ‘That One Planet place you guys found is great! They even
had gotu kola in the Vitali-Tea!’

Olivia glanced to Ivy for help, but her twin only shrugged.

‘Gotu kola is one of my vices,’ Reiko said happily. ‘It’s much better for you than caffeine, you know.’

‘If you say so.’ Smiling weakly, Olivia pushed open the door to the old South Wing.
Finally.
‘Ta-da! Check out Café Creative!’

‘Cool!’ Reiko didn’t stop juggling, but she looked around with obvious interest.

Olivia felt a wave of pride as she followed the exchange student’s gaze around the wide hall that her vampire stepmom had decked out so impressively. ‘Isn’t it great?
Lillian’s done fantastic work with the space in here.’

Once, this whole wing of the museum had been abandoned and full of dust. Now, light beamed in through long windows, showing off the tables arranged in star-formations around an X-shaped
platform.

Olivia pointed to it. ‘See? That’s going to be the catwalk for the fashion show this week.’

‘Really?’ Ivy groaned. ‘It’s raised, like, five feet off the ground. If I fall off that, I’ll leave a dent in the floor!’

Laughter sounded behind them, and a familiar female voice spoke: ‘Now, I
know
you’re more graceful than that, Ivy Vega!’

Olivia, Ivy and Reiko all spun around . . . and for the first time since they’d stepped into the museum, Reiko actually dropped her tennis ball. It bounced away across the floor and rolled
underneath the catwalk, but she didn’t even seem to notice. Her mouth had fallen open and her eyes were wide as she stared at the two new arrivals standing in the doorway: a young man with
spiky black hair and high cheekbones, and a young woman with long, silky black hair tied in an impossibly long braid.

‘Is this . . .’ Reiko stopped and swallowed visibly. ‘I mean, are you
really
. . . can you be . . . Prince Alex and Princess Tessa of Transylvania?’

Olivia hid a grin. Who knew the sports-mad vampire could be so star-struck?

‘Of course they are,’ she said warmly, and ran forwards to hug them. ‘What are you guys
doing
here?’

‘We’re on, um . . .
official
business,’ said Alex, giving Ivy a hug. ‘But we couldn’t come all this way and not swing by to visit our favourite
twins!’

‘Just look at you!’ Olivia exclaimed, moving to hug Tessa. ‘You’re such a princess now!’

Tessa laughed as she gave Olivia a careful hug, holding a thin wooden box to one side. ‘It took a lot of training,’ she whispered. ‘But the Queen is finally pleased with
me.’

‘Of course she is.’ Smiling, Olivia stepped back and looked her friend over. With the grace and poise in every line of Tessa’s posture, no one would ever recognise the timid
serving girl the twins had first met. ‘Married life really suits you!’

Tessa smiled, her cheeks flushing. ‘I think it does!’

‘Watch out!’ The strained voice belonged to Camilla Edmunson, Olivia’s best friend. ‘Wardrobe coming through!’

As the others all scattered to make way, Camilla and Lillian staggered into the room, pushing a tall, intricately carved oak wardrobe on a wheeled platform. Normally, Lillian’s
vamp-strength would have been enough for her to carry it by herself with ease, but she had to keep up the act of ‘being human’ in front of bunnies like Camilla.

She also looked
genuinely
exhausted.

‘What do we still have to do?’ Lillian rasped, as she and Camilla heaved the wardrobe across the room. ‘Do the caterers have their menu?’

‘Done,’ Camilla panted as they shoved the platform the last few steps forward.

‘The news releases are all sent out?’

‘Done.’

‘And the short film?’

‘Um . . .’ Camilla shook her head, looking shifty, as she let go of the platform’s handle. ‘Not quite done yet.’

Lillian winced. ‘Camilla, this film is supposed to be playing on loop all through Wednesday evening,’ she said. ‘That’s just
four days
from now. Is everything
OK?’

‘It’s just not quite perfect yet!’ Camilla ran one hand through her short, springy blonde curls, her face scrunching into what Olivia called her ‘artistic scowl’.
‘I’m still editing, but I swear I
will
lock the picture very soon. It just needs a few more touches!’