Obediently, Ivy leaned over and saw the temporary tattoo on Penny’s wrist: a ram’s skull with twisted horns. Seriously? She’s showing off a temporary tattoo? ‘Um . . . yeah,’ she finally managed. ‘Nice.’
It was true that Ivy liked all things Gothic . . . But weren’t temporary tattoos a bit childish?
Even if she’d been rude enough to say so, though, she couldn’t have gotten a word in edgeways. It was as if her admiration of Penny’s doodles had opened up a dam, and now all of Penny’s words were flooding out.
‘You wouldn’t believe where I went yesterday,’ Penny said. ‘A record store – can you believe it? Real, old-school vinyl in a real-life record store! I even managed to track down the EP of Death Rattle’s first live gig. That is seriously rare! Rare like a . . . a really rare steak!’ She lifted one hand to her mouth.
Is she about to be sick? Ivy stared at the other girl. ‘Ohh-kay.’
‘But we were talking about music!’ Penny visibly perked up. ‘You’ve heard of Death Rattle, right? They are an incredibly important goth band! Oh, and there are lots of other important goth bands, too. There’s the Pall Bearers, and . . .’
Ivy shook her head wonderingly as Penny listed off on her fingers every goth band she knew. It’s like she’s been cramming for a goth exam!
‘Wow,’ she said, finally breaking through the list. ‘You must be the ultimate student.’
‘Oh, no.’ Penny’s face crumpled. ‘Was it too much? A step too far?’
Ivy blinked. ‘Too much of what?’ she asked. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘Oh, forget it! You don’t have to pretend.’ Penny’s eyes brimmed with tears. ‘I knew you’d see through my act!’ she said. ‘Someone as cool as you . . . of course you’d know a genuine goth from a fake goth. I should never have even bothered trying. I’m such a loser!’ With a sob, she buried her face in her hands.
‘Hey!’ Shaking her head, Ivy hurried to the other side of the table to put a hand on Penny’s shoulder. ‘I don’t even know what’s going on!’ she protested. ‘Are you telling me this was all an act? You’re not even a real goth?’
Penny nodded without uncovering her face.
‘But what’s the point?’ Ivy slumped on to the seat beside Penny, her head whirling. ‘Who would pretend to be a goth?’
‘I hate goth stuff,’ Penny mumbled. ‘I hate the colour black. It’s so ugly! I like pink, sparkly things.’
‘Really?’ Ivy looked at Penny’s dyed-black hair and all-black outfit and let out a snort of laughter. ‘You should meet my sister, then.’
I just wish she was here now. Ivy sighed. How long had it been since she and Olivia had managed to have a heart-to-heart like this one? It’s ridiculous that ever since school started, I’ve had less time with my own twin than I do with any random goth!
That wasn’t Penny’s fault, though. Gathering her wayward thoughts, Ivy said briskly, ‘No wonder you’ve been acting so miserable. You must feel absolutely suffocated!’
‘I do,’ Penny said. ‘But it doesn’t matter.’ She lifted her tear-streaked face out of her hands, sniffing. ‘I can’t stand to be disliked at school. Haven’t you seen how the pink girls are treated?’ She drew a deep breath, sniffing back the last of her tears. ‘I won’t let it happen to me. I have to be liked . . . and if that means faking goth, that’s just what I have to do!’
Ivy stared at her in disbelief for a long moment. Then she let her head fall on to the table with a clunk. ‘This high school is even crazier than I’d thought!’
‘I just want to be popular,’ Penny whispered. ‘Is that so bad?’
Ivy groaned. ‘Trust me. I would happily hand my popularity over to you any day.’
Penny shook her head sadly. ‘That’s the problem. You can’t buy and sell popularity, can you? It’s not a commodity. You have to have . . .’ she waved a hand through the air and snapped her black-tipped fingers ‘. . . je ne sais quoi .’
‘Je ne sais . . . what?’ Ivy repeated, blinking.
Penny sighed. ‘You have it . . . and I just don’t.’ Scooping up the notebook and her backpack, she shook her head. ‘I should never have even bothered trying.’
Her shoulders drooped as she walked away . . . and Ivy felt her stomach sink as she watched.
This is ridiculous . She couldn’t just watch Penny suffer under the school’s idiotic social rules. There had to be some way for Ivy to share some of her popularity with Penny . . .
And better yet, she realised, if it works, it might just deflect some of the attention away from me!
Chapter Seven
The next morning, Ivy walked into school with a plan . . . and a swagger.
This had better work, she told herself.
She’d been up late last night perfecting her ‘don’t-come-near-me’ walk, up and down the landing. She hadn’t planned to do it on her own, but Olivia’s cell phone had been turned off when Ivy had tried to call her for help – and being out of touch with her twin again had only made Ivy more determined. I have to fix this!
She would have kept going even longer, but just after midnight, her dad had emerged from his room, elegant as always in his black satin pyjamas, and politely asked her to please, for darkness’ sake, go to her coffin and get some sleep!
It had been worth the late night, though. With a really arrogant swagger, Ivy would definitely put off groupies. This is exactly what I need to stall out my popularity at this school!