‘No, tell me.’ Camilla put one hand on her arm. ‘What is it?’
‘It’s . . .’ Olivia bit her lip. ‘There was just a weird moment at lunch today . . . well . . . Ivy didn’t want me to sit with her,’ she finished in a rush.
‘What?’ Camilla stared at her. ‘That doesn’t sound like Ivy.’
Olivia shrugged unhappily. ‘Honestly, at the time I was just confused. But now that I’ve had time to think about it . . . well, it’s kind of getting to me.’ As hurt bubbled up inside her, she had to take a deep breath, focusing on pouring her cereal without spilling it. ‘She promised we’d sit together at lunch, but when I got there, the whole table was filled with goths. There wasn’t a single space left. And . . . well, the goths at that school hate people like me.’
Camilla shook her head as she took down a box of cereal for herself. ‘Do you seriously think Ivy would snub you just to please someone else?’
‘No!’ Olivia said. ‘Of course not. But . . .’ Her voice lowered to a whisper. ‘When another girl snubbed me, Ivy didn’t say a word. The truth is, I’m worried about her. I think she’s not finding it so easy to be herself.’
Or easy to stand up for what she believes in. Olivia sighed.
Where was her twin tonight? At home, hiding? Or out with one of her new friends . . . the ones who sneered at everything pink?
‘Well . . .’ Camilla blinked, giving a quick headshake as her gaze passed over Mr Abbott in the garden. ‘Wow, he still hasn’t moved. What martial art is he practising, Statue-Do?’
Olivia smiled weakly. ‘Maybe.’
‘Never mind.’ Camilla turned back to Olivia, a determined look in her eye. ‘Look, I strongly, strongly doubt that Ivy didn’t want to be seen with you. High school is a weird time for everyone, you know? It was probably just a misunderstanding.’
‘Yeah.’ Olivia sighed. ‘At least it wasn’t all bad.’ Her lips twitched into a mischievous smile. ‘I actually ended up sitting with a group of senior boys!’
‘Oh, reeaally?’ Camilla drawled. Putting on a mock-stern look, she added, ‘And what would your boyfriend have to say about that?’
‘Oh, shut up!’ Giggling, Olivia shoved her playfully. ‘I didn’t mean it like that. But I wanted to get a better read on one of them, anyway. His name’s Finn, and –’
‘Finn, hmm?’ Camilla waggled her eyebrows as she poured her own cereal. ‘I bet he has blond hair. Am I right?’
‘Of course you are.’ Olivia carried the big bowl of potato salad to the table, with two sets of forks and spoons stuck inside, and Camilla followed with the bowls of cereal. As the two girls settled in comfortably, Olivia explained the Finn-and-Amelia problem to her friend.
‘So it’s a Romeo and Juliet meets West Side Story vibe.’ Camilla nodded knowledgeably as she scooped up a spoonful of potato salad. ‘I’ve got it. We’re talking romantic tragedy here.’
‘I hope not!’ Olivia shivered. ‘Honestly, at first I was only interested because of that situation, but then I got a chance to actually talk to Finn at lunch – and he is kind of sweet! He coaches Lincoln Vale middle school kids in skateboarding every weekend. He’s just a really nice guy . . . and, you know, I’m not so crazy about Amelia, but at least she’s no Jessica Phelps.’
Camilla made a face. ‘Ugh. The world does not need another Jessica Phelps!’
They both shuddered at the reminder of the awful Hollywood mega-star who’d schemed and stolen the lead role in The Groves from Olivia, then done her best to steal Olivia’s Eternal Sunset role, too.
‘Amelia’s not so bad, though,’ Olivia said firmly. ‘I think if she had someone like Finn to balance her out, she might even be nice. So now I really want them to get together!’
‘You do, huh?’ Camilla looked at her thoughtfully. ‘Tell me the truth, Olivia Abbott. Is this just because of what happened with Ivy at lunch?’
‘No!’ Olivia felt her cheeks heat up. ‘Of course not. But . . .’ She ducked her head over her cereal as she admitted, ‘I don’t think I can deal with going to a school where I never get to have lunch with my own twin.’
‘Hmm.’ Camilla took a first, testing spoonful of cold cereal . . . and made a disgusted face. ‘Yuck! I can’t believe you eat this for fun.’
Olivia rolled her eyes. ‘Not all of us eat French croissants for breakfast every day, Madam Director.’
‘Whatever.’ Camilla shoved the cereal bowl to one side. ‘Here’s the real point. You’ve been at high school for just one day, and you already have a bunch of homework. Do you really want to add to your boatload of stress by trying to match-make two people you’ve only just met?’
Olivia sat back. ‘Why not? If it’ll make life better for everyone –’
‘Trust me,’ said Camilla, ‘every time people meddle in romance in the movies, it always goes wrong and creates chaos.’
‘But I really think I’m on to something here!’ Olivia held up her two spoons to make a point, ignoring the milk and potato salad dripping from them. ‘See, this is Finn and this is Amelia.’ She wobbled the two spoons meaningfully. ‘They want to move forwards, but they can’t. The social divisions in the school are too defined. Without some help, they’re going to be stuck in Act One forever.’
Narrowing her eyes, she spoke in the secret language guaranteed to get Camilla on board: ‘They need an inciting incident to propel them into Act Two . . . and we are just the directors to make it happen!’