Unfortunately, her swagger required her to keep her chin and nose up in the air, which made it more than a little difficult to walk, especially in the crowded school hallway. She couldn’t see a single thing on the ground . . .
Like the leg of an older boy in an absolutely ludicrous leather trench coat, sticking out for no other reason than to trip up a stranger!
Ivy’s legs flew out beneath her. Flailing for balance, she would have fallen flat on her face if she’d been a human . . . but, taken off guard, her vampire reflexes took over. Before she could stop herself, she sprang into a front-flip and landed neatly on her feet.
All around her, students broke into spontaneous applause.
‘Oh, Ivy!’
‘That was amazing!’
‘How did you do that?’
‘You are soooooo cool !’
Aaaargh! Ivy bit back a scream of frustration. Why didn’t I let myself fall on my face?
It was as if the whole universe was conspiring to make her more and more popular, whether she liked it or not!
Growling, she stalked over to the older boy, who was snickering with his friends.
‘Oops,’ he said. ‘Did I trip you? I must not have seen you coming. Heh.’
Even Garrick Stephens, the head of the middle school Beasts, would have found this boy’s grin repulsive. His stench battered her sensitive vampire senses, but Ivy walked straight up to glare at him.
‘You’d have a lot more luck seeing where not to stick your legs,’ she told him, ‘if your hair wasn’t greasy enough to cook French fries on!’
‘Ooooohhhh.’ The students behind her let out a collective gasp.
‘Did you hear what she said to Josh?’
‘She is so brave!’
The older boy – Josh – glared back at her. Stepping closer, he opened his mouth as if to say something.
Ivy narrowed her eyes into a death-squint . . . and Josh paled. Stepping back, he cowered against the lockers.
‘That’s better,’ she told him, and turned away.
As she walked into homeroom, she could hear him complaining to his friends. ‘If I’d known this school was a haven for crazies, I would never have transferred here!’
Whatever. Ivy rolled her eyes. She couldn’t escape the groupies all clustering around her now, though, as she headed for her desk at the back of the room. The goths pushed and shoved past each other to clap her on the back in congratulations, while the bunnies hung back, gazing at her with big, dazzled-looking eyes.
‘You were so awesome!’
‘The whole school is going to be glad you took Josh down a peg. He’s deserved it ever since he started here.’
‘He probably deserved it at his last school, too.’
‘You’re such a hero!’
Across the room, Ivy glimpsed her twin finally walking in. Thank darkness for a voice of common sense! She waved eagerly – but with the mass of followers surrounding her, they might as well have been miles apart. Olivia’s gaze passed over the crowd, and she sighed. Giving a sad half-smile, she went to join Sophia without even making a move in Ivy’s direction.
She’s probably right. They’d never have let her through to me.
Grimacing, Ivy sat down at her desk, desperate for the teacher to walk in and force everyone else to disperse. How many more pats on the back could she take before it bruised? So much for my plan to stall out my popularity.
As she looked around for the teacher, she caught Penny Taylor’s eye.
The pseudo-goth-girl sat alone near the front of the class, looking horribly alone. The desks on both sides of her were empty, and as she watched the other students crowd around Ivy, her eyes glimmered with wistfulness.
I have to do something, Ivy realised. But what?
She still hadn’t figured out what to do by the end of the morning. But as she walked towards the cafeteria for lunch, she glanced out a window and saw Penny sitting alone in a quiet corner outside, reading a familiar-looking magazine. Ivy couldn’t see what the magazine was called, but she knew exactly who it was aimed at: girly, teeny-bop bunnies. It pretty much had to be, because it had a picture of her sister’s boyfriend on the front cover!
Pushing open the closest door, Ivy stepped outside. Penny gasped and slammed the magazine shut. ‘I wasn’t really reading it! I was just . . .’
‘Does the article on Jackson mention Olivia?’ Ivy asked. She pointed to the picture of Jackson’s smiling face. ‘If it does, I might have to buy it.’
‘Oh, well . . . um . . . I mean, I wasn’t really reading it. I mean, not for pleasure. I just . . .’
Ivy raised one eyebrow as Penny stammered to a halt. ‘I saw you smiling as you turned the pages.’
‘Um, that was an ironic smile.’ Penny swallowed visibly. ‘A pitying smile! At how silly the articles in these magazines are. You know. Mainstream? They should – they should call it lamestream !’
Ivy rolled her eyes. ‘You shared your secret with me, remember? I know you like the lighter side of life. It’s OK, I won’t tell anyone.’
‘Well . . .’ Penny relaxed. She gave a guilty-looking grin. ‘The truth is,’ she admitted, ‘the “Have You Spotted?” section is quite entertaining, if . . . oh!’ She gave a sudden gasp and clamped her mouth shut.
Ivy looked around. Aha. A group of goth-girls was sidling towards them, obviously trying to eavesdrop on their conversation. Penny’s scared of blowing her cover. Which means . . .
Moving with vampire speed, Ivy snatched the magazine from Penny’s hands. ‘See?’ she said, pointing. ‘That’s the part I wanted you to look at.’