Penny froze, suddenly looking hopeful. ‘Did you change your mind? Do you want to use one of their songs after all?’
‘That’s not it,’ Ivy said. She glanced at all the other students watching them from around the hallway. ‘Could you just come back here for a second? Please?’
As Ivy waited for Penny, she heard her friends down the hall hissing at each other in sudden panic:
‘What is she doing?’
‘She’s going off-script!’
‘Improvising was NOT part of the plan!’
‘Chill, guys,’ Ivy whispered. She knew Olivia wouldn’t be able to hear her, but Brendan and Sophia both would, with their vampire hearing. ‘I know what I’m doing.’
At least, I hope so, she added silently.
Penny came to a halt in front of her, quivering with nerves. ‘Y-yes? Was there something you wanted, Ivy?’
‘Yes,’ Ivy said. She looked her in the eye. ‘I want to know: do you really want to read the Pall Bearers’ lyrics?’
Penny blinked rapidly. ‘I thought you said I could! You said –’
‘Don’t get me wrong,’ Ivy said. ‘The Pall Bearers suck – I mean, they rule – but you don’t have to read one of their songs just because that’s what you think you should do. You know that, right?’
Penny looked around at the watching goths. Ivy could almost see the wheels turning in her head.
‘But if I don’t . . .’
‘Look,’ Ivy said, dropping her voice to a whisper. ‘The whole idea of Mr Russell’s assignment is to read something you connect with, emotionally, on a personal level. We both know the Pall Bearers aren’t it for you, right?’
Penny’s eyes dropped. ‘Right,’ she whispered. ‘I mean, I don’t think they’re bad, I just . . .’
‘They’re just not your thing.’ Ivy nodded. ‘So if you go up and read those lyrics, you’re not going to get as “into” them as everyone expects, are you? That means people are going to have questions .’ She laid one hand on Penny’s stiff shoulder, feeling a wave of empathy. Ivy, of all people, knew exactly how hard it was to pretend to be a different kind of person. ‘Don’t you think it would be better to give them questions you can actually answer?’ she asked gently.
For a moment, Penny just looked down at her feet. Then her chin rose. She met Ivy’s gaze. ‘Do you remember that poetry book I was reading at the skatepark?’
Ivy frowned. ‘That was while you were pretending to be a goth, wasn’t it?’ she whispered. ‘I’m not sure that book is the best –’
‘No!’ Penny said. ‘There’s one poem in there I really loved. Genuinely. “Shadows in Sunshine.” That’s the one I’d pick if I really could.’
‘“Shadows . . .”? Ohhh, yeah.’ Ivy’s eyebrows rose. ‘I remember that one.’ And actually . . .
Yeah, it was moody – but it was pretty, too. And the more she thought about it, the more she could see: it really would have meaning for Penny, the goth who secretly loved pink.
‘That sounds like a great choice,’ she said truthfully.
‘You think so?’ Penny’s lips curved into a smile of delight. ‘Then I’m going to do it!’
‘Fantastic.’ Ivy gave her shoulder one last squeeze, then stepped away. As she made her way briskly down the hallway, she barely even remembered that she was running the dreaded Hallway Gauntlet. Warmth filled her chest, making her feel light as air.
She bypassed the annoying skater-boy without giving him a glance, even as his backflip landed him so close to her that he actually apologised, backing away with his hands held up defensively. Maybe he thinks I’m going to go after him the way I went after that idiot in the trench coat, Ivy thought, and rolled her eyes. Honestly, I’m not that scary!
When the bunny girl with six piled textbooks scurried past, Ivy gave her a half-smile. The bunny girl stopped in her tracks, staring. ‘Um . . . um . . .’ She licked her lips, looking panicked. ‘I . . .’
‘Yes?’ Ivy asked gently. She stopped to listen.
‘What are you doing?’ Sophia whispered. The sound carried down the hallway to Ivy’s sensitive hearing.
Ivy ignored her friend’s question. Instead, she waited patiently for the bunny girl to work up her courage.
Finally, the girl gave Ivy a shaky smile. ‘Hi,’ she said. ‘I’m Julia.’
‘Nice to meet you, I’m Ivy.’
The bunny girl beamed, looking almost relieved as she continued walking down the hall. ‘Wow,’ the girl whispered to herself, not realising that Ivy could hear her. ‘She’s not scary!’
Nope, Ivy thought. And maybe I don’t need to be, either.
As Ivy joined her friends by her locker a few minutes later, she was smiling as broadly as Julia. She’d successfully run the Hallway Gauntlet . . . and she knew she’d never be afraid of it again.
Chapter Twelve
Olivia couldn’t have been happier for her twin . . . but now that Ivy had finally learned how to manage the dreaded hallway, it was time for Olivia to focus on her other mission: Get Famelia together – for the whole school’s sake!
As she headed for her locker on the other side of school, leaving Ivy and her other vamp friends behind, Olivia could actually feel the difference in people’s reactions. While goths and bunnies both stared at Ivy and everyone around her, Olivia turned into the Invisible Girl the moment she stepped out of Ivy’s charmed circle. There should be a loudspeaker warning every time I walk away from Ivy, she thought ruefully, as she stepped back to make way for a noisy group of goths. Warning! Warning! You are now leaving the popularity zone!