Fashion Frightmare! (My Sister the Vampire) (3 page)

‘Well, in that case . . .’ Lillian raised her eyebrows. ‘Why don’t you go home and finish up now?’

‘Oh, no, I can stay and help here some more first,’ Camilla said. ‘I’ll just –’

‘Camilla,’ Lillian said, smiling although there was worry in her eyes. ‘I need that film to be turned in by the end of tonight . . . perfect or not!’

Camilla winced. ‘It
will
be perfect. I swear it. No matter what it takes!’

With a hasty wave at the others, she grabbed her purple velvet beret from inside the wardrobe and darted out of the room.

Lillian sighed and looked around the space, her shoulders hunching.

‘Last-minute concerns?’ Tessa asked sympathetically.

‘Oh . . .’ Lillian gave an unconvincing smile as she walked over to join Olivia and the vampires. She was dressed just as elegantly as usual, in a black pantsuit and discreet pearls,
but she looked as if she needed to sleep in her coffin for at least a month. ‘I’m just really nervous about the opening.’

‘It’s going to be great,’ Olivia said.

‘It really will,’ Ivy added. ‘Seriously. Even
I
think this space looks . . .’ She winced, then forced the word out with an obvious effort: ‘. . .
Fabulous!’

‘Well, in
that
case . . .’ Lillian’s lips twitched. She looped one arm around Ivy’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

‘Luckily,’ Tessa announced firmly, ‘there is no need to be nervous, because . . . look what I brought!’ She held out the wooden box she’d been carrying.

Lillian blinked at it. ‘What – oh!’ Her face lit up. ‘I remember! Charles said that you were going to loan us the pashmina you wore at your wedding reception. That is
wonderful!’

‘Ooh! I want to see it!’ Olivia couldn’t help almost barging Ivy aside to get a better look as their stepmom opened the narrow box. A fabulous, blood-red pashmina lay folded
inside, embroidered with bat symbols in a mix of black and gold. The colours were so rich and vibrant, the pashmina seemed to glow against the wood.

Olivia gasped. ‘Tessa, that’s gorgeous!’

‘That is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen,’ Reiko agreed. She started to reach out as if to touch it – then yanked her hand back as if she’d been
burned.

Alex smiled proudly, wrapping one arm around his wife’s waist. ‘It was a gift from the Indian vampire community’s Senior Ambassador,’ he explained. ‘It is said to
bring good fortune to whoever holds it close. Franklin Grove Museum will have it on display until the spring. While it is here, nothing bad can happen. So, you see? There’s nothing to worry
about.’

‘Oh, thank darkness.’ Lillian visibly relaxed for the first time that day. ‘I can’t tell you how much this helps.’

As Olivia looked at her stepmom’s relieved expression, she had to stifle a giggle.
Vampires really are
so
superstitious!

O
livia was in such a rush to get to her locker at the end of school on Wednesday, she had to make a quick, dancing side-step to avoid the stooped,
elderly janitor who stood in her way. With only a few hours to go before the grand opening of Café Creative, she didn’t have much time – she’d have to rush home if she
wanted to scoff down a quick sandwich before heading over to the museum.

As she bundled her books into her locker, a familiar
clump-clump-clump
caught her attention.

It was the unmistakable noise of Amelia Thompson’s heavy black boots marching down the hall.

Olivia glanced around curiously. The gothabulous senior was making a bee-line for Penny Taylor. Penny was a bunny freshman who had once pretended to be the gothiest of goths – but actually
preferred the lighter, sparklier side of life. Today, Penny looked as bright as spring in a blue cardigan and pale pink dress . . . and Amelia was scowling as she marched towards her.

Uh-oh.
Forgetting her own hurry for a moment, Olivia turned around to get a better look.
Is Amelia mad at Penny about something?

Both Penny and Amelia were designers for the fashion show at the Café’s grand opening, and Olivia just knew Lillian would be devastated if anything fell apart at the last
minute.

Amelia came to a halt in front of the younger girl. ‘Is
it
ready?’ she demanded.

‘Oh, yes.’ Penny gave a satisfied smile. ‘I finished up the very last piece over lunch break. It is
definitely
ready . . . and it’s
definitely
going to
be great!’

‘Ohh!’ Amelia
wasn’t
mad at Penny at all. Olivia couldn’t help herself. Leaving her locker door hanging open, she rushed forwards, sidestepping around the
janitor again to race towards the other girls.

‘Please!’ she begged, as she arrived at Penny’s locker. ‘I’ve been dying to know about this show-stopping secret project. What
did
you guys collaborate on?
I know it must have been a dress, or . . . well . . .
some
item of clothing, right?’ She looked from one of them to the other, lowering her voice as a group of chattering students
passed behind her. ‘Come on, can’t you just give me a hint?’

Penny laughed. ‘It’s a
secret
, Olivia!’

‘Yes, but I’m one of your models,’ Olivia said. ‘So you don’t have to keep it a secret from
me
!’

Penny and Amelia traded a look. Despite their differences in style, when they turned back to face Olivia, they wore exactly the same teasing grin.

‘You’ll just have to wait and see, like everybody else,’ Amelia said sternly.

‘But . . .’ Olivia began.

Penny giggled as she closed her locker. ‘The one thing we
can
tell you is: it’s really kind of . . .’

‘“Altegular”!’ Amelia finished.

They both burst into laughter as they linked arms and walked away down the hall, leaving Olivia staring after them.

‘Altegular’? What does
that
mean?

‘Excuse me.’ It was the janitor again, his voice gruff and his face hidden under a ragged old baseball cap as he stepped up to mop the floor around Olivia’s feet.

‘Oh, sorry.’ Sighing, Olivia started to head back to her own locker.

Then she stopped.
Wait a minute.
The janitor wasn’t stooped any more. In fact, she was certain she
recognised
his posture from somewhere . . .

Narrowing her eyes, she turned to stare at him. Lowering his mop, he turned right back to her and raised the brim of his cap.

Olivia’s breath stopped in her throat.
That’s no janitor!

Even with make-up carefully applied to ‘age up’ his face, she would have known those blue eyes anywhere.

It was her far-too-famous boyfriend, Jackson Caulfield!

‘Oh,
really.
’ Olivia tried to scowl, but she couldn’t help laughing. ‘Has your career really slipped this far, Jackson? Is Amy getting you cleaning jobs now
between shoots?’

‘Ahem.’ Still speaking in his gruff, old man’s voice, Jackson gave a wink. ‘I don’t think you should be openly flirting with a school janitor, do you?’

‘Whatever.’ Rolling her eyes, Olivia walked back to her locker and pushed the door wide open, so that no one else could see her expression. ‘So,’ she said, through the
locker door, ‘what
are
you doing here, really?’

‘What do you think?’ Groups of students walked past behind them, but Jackson’s voice was too low for any of them to overhear. ‘I got into town early, and I wanted to see
you. But for obvious reasons, it didn’t seem like a good idea to be noticed coming into the school.’

‘Hmm.’ Olivia raised her eyebrows. ‘Do you know, I think there’s a part of you that actually
enjoys
the trouble you can cause!’

‘I just like the practice,’ Jackson said cheerfully. ‘It’s good to try out different roles.’ He shifted to mop the floor on her other side. ‘So, what time
does the event start tonight?’

‘Seven-thirty,’ Olivia said. It was a good reminder: she started packing her bag as she spoke. ‘Just remember, you can expect some chaos as we try to get into the
museum.’

‘That’s fine.’ Jackson shrugged. ‘It can’t be any tougher than that crowd at the premiere for
The Groves
. . . remember?’

‘How could I forget?’ She remembered feeling like she might pass out from the crowds pressing in on them that evening. Their excitement had been overwhelming.

‘Just wait,’ Jackson said. ‘I bet the one we have for “ES” is going to be an even bigger deal.’

‘Oh.’ Olivia gulped.
I hadn’t even thought of that.

Jackson was talking about
Eternal Sunset
, the film they were currently shooting. At its premiere, Olivia would be walking the red carpet as the
lead
actress of a major movie
for the very first time – and it would be the last time for at least five years, since she’d made the choice to put her acting career on hold until she had finished high school.

Would her big moment at the premiere feel exciting? Or just bittersweet?

Uh-oh.
She suddenly realised that Jackson had been talking through her moment of distraction. ‘Huh?’

‘Olivia Abbott, are you
bored
of me already?’ He raised his cap to give her a look of mock-offence.

She lightly swatted his arm. ‘You know that’s not it!’

Then she blushed, as she looked up and caught at least three other students staring at her from around the corridor.
I guess they weren’t expecting to see me hit an elderly janitor.
Oops!

‘I was just saying, it won’t be long before we’ve wrapped on “ES”,’ said Jackson. ‘Final scenes shoot in November.’

‘Right.’ Olivia sighed. Life would become so much easier once she didn’t have to balance schoolwork and filming any more . . . but she couldn’t be
completely
happy about that, because it would mean she’d get much less time with Jackson.

‘Anyway . . . I’ll see you tonight.’ He glanced left and right under the brim of his cap and nodded decisively. ‘I’d better get back to work. I see a corner over
there that’s
filthy.
’

‘What are you
doing
?’ Olivia stared at him as he started forward. ‘You’re not actually
paid
to clean the school, remember?’

Jackson shrugged. ‘I can never leave a job unfinished. Anyway, you probably ought to rescue Ivy.’

‘Rescue –? What are you talking about?’

‘Oh, I couldn’t possibly ruin the surprise.’ Jackson gave her a wry, amused grin. ‘You have to take a walk across the quad and see this one for yourself. Besides, you
wouldn’t believe me if I did tell you!’

It was such a familiar grin – and she’d missed him so much – that Olivia couldn’t help herself. She started forwards, her arms rising instinctively . . .

Then she pulled herself back, just in time.
No way.
It was weird enough for her to be seen hitting the janitor. If anyone saw her
hug
him, too, then they would
really
have questions!

So she only whispered, ‘Later,’ smiled, and turned away.

Time to rescue Ivy
–
whatever that means!

She hurried down the hall towards the quad, ignoring the students shooting her curious glances. As she stepped outside into the cloudy autumn afternoon, though, she was startled to see the
actual
janitor, Jonny, leaning against an outer wall and taking deep breaths.

‘Um . . .’ Hesitantly, she started towards him. She’d never spoken to him before, but she couldn’t just ignore his distress. ‘Excuse me, but are you OK? You
don’t look very well.’

Hastily straightening, Jonny smoothed down his grey hair with shaking fingers. ‘I feel like I’m going crazy,’ he mumbled. ‘I’ve been walking the halls of this
school for the last twenty minutes, getting ready to begin my end-of-the-day work, but . . .’ He shook his head in disbelief. ‘They’re already
spotless
! Either I’ve
come down with serious amnesia, or the students have actually started cleaning up after themselves . . . and I don’t know what would be scarier!’

Stifling a laugh, Olivia ducked her head so that he couldn’t read her expression. ‘Um . . . the teachers did ask us all to respect the school a bit more,’ she mumbled, and
moved away quickly, before he could say anything else.

As she walked across the quad, she kept her eyes open for Ivy, looking left and right, past groups of goths and bunnies and . . .

No. I can’t believe it!
Gasping, Olivia came to a sudden halt as she finally spotted her twin sister.

I know Ivy’s been struggling to keep Reiko entertained . . . but I would never have expected this!