Olivia chuckled but Alex didn’t seem to be listening.
‘Hello . . . Your Highness,’ Tessa said.
‘Uh, h-hello, Tessa,’ he said. Olivia was surprised to hear Alex stutter. It sounded as though he was going to say something else but was holding back. He offered a quick nod that was almost a bow. ‘Excuse me.’ Then he skated away towards his friends.
‘I should go, too,’ said Tessa. ‘I’ll get back to the kitchen.’
Why is everyone leaving? Olivia wondered.
Ivy frowned and called after Tessa, ‘Don’t go!’ But she was already zooming away.
‘Alex was so rude to Tessa just then,’ Ivy declared and started awkwardly skating after Tessa towards the edge of the lake.
Olivia hadn’t noticed. ‘What? How was he rude? No, I’m sure he didn’t mean anything.’ When Ivy wobbled she held out her hand for her sister to hold on to.
Ivy shot a look over at Alex and his friends.
The girl with the slick ponytail was sniggering. ‘And did you see her ancient coat?’ they overheard the girl say.
‘See?’ Ivy hissed. ‘Alex and his friends don’t want to be around Tessa because she’s a servant.’
‘That’s too harsh,’ Olivia replied, as they neared the frozen mud and grass that surrounded the lake. ‘Alex didn’t say anything bad about her. He probably just wants to spend time with everyone equally.’
Ivy almost collapsed on to the ground and started unlacing her boots. ‘You saw how his mother acted towards Tessa last night at dinner.’
Olivia looked back at the group, laughing and playing tag. It definitely wasn’t OK with her if they were being mean to someone just because of their job.
‘And are you sure you should be spending this much time with Alex?’ Ivy asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Olivia replied. She didn’t want to think that her friendship with Alex might be wrong in some way.
Ivy narrowed her eyes. ‘Well, do what feels right. Don’t let me stop you from enjoying the skating.’ Ivy waved her sister away and back on to the ice. ‘I’ll wait here.’
Olivia hesitated. ‘You sure?’ she asked.
Ivy patted the log she was sitting on. ‘Firm ground and me, we’re good friends. Besides, how often do you get to skate on a frozen lake?’
Olivia pushed off and skated smoothly round in a big loop. When she looked back over her shoulder, Ivy was watching her intently.
When Olivia turned back to where she was going, she just had time to realise she was skating straight towards Nadia, the younger maid. There was no time to change direction!
‘Move out of the way, quick!’ Olivia shrieked, waving her arms madly. But it was too late. She and Nadia crashed into each other.
Olivia landed on her backside while Nadia ended up on her front.
‘Oh my goodness,’ Olivia said, scrambling up to make sure Nadia was all right. ‘I’m so sorry!’
‘Don’t worry, miss,’ she replied. ‘I’m fine – oh!’ Her hands flew to her neck. ‘My necklace!’
Olivia scanned the ground and saw a gold chain, broken at the clasp, lying on the ice. She held up the necklace to get a closer look and was relieved to see that the clasp was just bent out of shape. ‘I can fix this,’ she declared.
‘Olivia!’ Alex called. ‘Come over here with us.’
Olivia wanted to, but she’d practically just tackled poor Nadia. She shook her head and called back, ‘I can’t, not now.’
Alex frowned but Olivia turned back to Nadia and helped her up. ‘Come with me and we’ll get this fixed,’ she said.
She skated Nadia over to the edge of the lake. Ivy was watching Alex with a scowl as she held her arm out for Olivia to hold on to. ‘That had to hurt,’ said Ivy. ‘I wonder if we’ll have twin bruises.’
Olivia rubbed her rear. ‘I’d rather not know,’ she joked.
Ice-skating on the lake was supposed to be fun, but instead it had turned into a slippery situation with Alex and Ivy and Tessa – and poor Nadia.
Plus, she still hadn’t managed to tell Alex about Jackson.
An hour later, Ivy didn’t recognise herself.
She was wearing a pink shirt with frilled sleeves, a knee-length white skirt, white woolly boots and a good layer of Santa Monica Sun in a Bottle on her face. The shirt wasn’t Olivia’s most flattering – the frills looked like jellyfish blobs – but it was pink so it would do.
There was one final touch she couldn’t go without. She picked up Olivia’s Blush and Bashful lip gloss, took a deep breath and applied it.
This could get me into batloads of trouble, Ivy thought, but I need to know what Prince Alex is up to.
The idea had come to her as she was watching Olivia and Alex on the ice. She had to find out Alex’s motives. I can’t do that as Ivy. Alex barely seemed to notice that she existed. But as Olivia? She could find out a whole lot of information.
And when Olivia had rushed off with Nadia, Ivy knew it was now or never.
She practised a hair flip in the mirror, careful not to knock the feathery pink hairband. Yup, still got it.
Olivia was busy fixing Nadia’s necklace in the servants’ quarters and Ivy knew that Alex had already come back from the lake.
As long as I don’t run into Olivia, I’ll be fine, Ivy thought.
She started trudging down the steps to the ground floor, but then realised who she was supposed to be. She forced a little spring into her step and bounced the rest of the way.
Being Olivia takes a lot more energy than being me.