‘Sorry.’ Ivy shook her head, feeling her own spirits lower. ‘Franklin Grove High.’
‘Oh no.’ Charlotte slumped. ‘That just sucks! And with Olivia gone, too . . .’
Ivy and Sophia traded a glance over Charlotte’s head. Neither of them could have imagined a year ago that Charlotte would one day miss Olivia!
The bus bumped to another halt, and Olivia’s friends Camilla and Holly stepped on, waving happily to Ivy and Sophia.
‘At least they’ll both be at Willowton,’ Charlotte said, brightening. ‘But it’s so sad we’re not all going to the same school.’
‘It is,’ Ivy agreed. Silently, though, she thought maybe it was a good thing that Charlotte was starting fresh in a completely new school.
At Franklin Grove Middle, Charlotte had been so used to everyone grovelling to her, it had been fatal for her personality. Now was her chance to finally make a good impression with new people – people who weren’t already impressed with her for all the wrong reasons. She can start over, Ivy thought, as a nicer upgrade of herself. Charlotte 2.0.
As the bus rumbled through town, picking up more and more unfamiliar students on the way, Ivy and Sophia both took care to practise their mundane and bunny-friendly conversation. As usual, Camilla was too focused on planning for her next movie masterpiece to notice, and Holly was too nervous to say much at all as Ivy and Sophia dragged out a tortuous conversation about popular movies, TV, and even – gag! – pop music. But Charlotte Brown, the bunniest bunny Ivy had ever met, noticed straight away.
‘You guys!’ Charlotte batted at Ivy’s arm. ‘I’ve never heard you two talk like this before.’
‘Well . . .’ Sophia shrugged. Her expression looked pained. ‘We just thought we’d . . .’
‘Expand our horizons,’ Ivy finished for her, hoping she sounded like she really meant it.
She thought she might have turned green at the lie, but Charlotte shook her head in amazement.
‘I have to tell you both, you have never been more interesting! And your clothes – they’re so much better than they used to be. Whatever happened to you this summer?’
Ivy and Sophia exchanged a look of satisfaction. Their Undercover Bunny Operation was working perfectly. They’d just have to hope that the ruling bunnies at Franklin High were as easy to fool as Charlotte!
The bus slammed to a halt outside Franklin Grove High School, and Ivy’s new-found certainty drained away. Through the window, a massive, curving cement structure spread out before them. Franklin Grove High. The windows along its sides seemed to glare at Ivy accusingly, seeing right through her carefully chosen disguise.
I’ll never belong here, she thought. Everyone will be able to tell what I really am the moment they see me. I can’t fake it with all those bunnies for a whole four years!
‘Come on,’ Sophia whispered. Her face was pale.
Together, they followed the line of Franklin Grove High bunnies out on to the pavement. As the bus pulled away, Charlotte, Camilla and Holly all waved to them out of the rear window. Ivy’s chest ached at the sight. She waved back until the bus turned the corner . . . and then they were gone.
Ivy turned to Sophia. ‘We can do this,’ she said.
‘We can,’ Sophia echoed faintly.
Neither of them moved. Together, they stared at the huge school before them. Students streamed towards it from all directions.
At least I have Sophia, Ivy reminded herself. She reached out to link arms with her friend. Together, they walked up the boulevard towards the school entrance.
Everything is going to be fine. Everything, everything, everything . . .
She had to shake her head at herself. Funny how she’d never felt this nervous starting at the snoot-tastic Wallachia Academy!
Franklin Grove High looked like a completely different world from Franklin Grove Middle. It was monstrously big by comparison, with lush strips of well-kept grass and flowers spread out in front of it, almost sparkling in the morning sun.
‘Dad was right,’ she muttered to Sophia. ‘Goths would definitely stand out amid all this colour!’
Sophia only nodded. She looked too stunned to speak.
A walkway led from the front gate to the main building, lined with . . . Ivy’s feet thudded to a halt as she froze in horror. No way!
The whole walkway was lined with non-goths – from the older grades. Oh no, Ivy thought. We’re going to have to walk right through a gauntlet!
She gritted her teeth, bracing herself. ‘Are you ready?’ she asked Sophia.
Only silence answered her. Ivy glanced at her friend. ‘Sophia?’
But Sophia wasn’t paying any attention. Her eyes were fixed on a cluster of older boys halfway down the path, and her mouth had dropped open in an ‘O’.
This can’t be good, Ivy thought.
She narrowed her eyes, studying the group of boys. Every one of them was unfamiliar, which meant they must have come from Lincoln Vale. They all balanced on skateboards as they talked, gesturing animatedly and flipping their boards beneath their feet every few seconds to keep their balance. The tallest of them – and, OK, the cutest, Ivy admitted silently – was in the middle of a mime about some daredevil move he’d obviously performed on his board.
‘Whoa, Finn!’ The boy nearest him punched Finn on his shoulder. ‘That is, like, the raddest thing I’ve ever heard!’
Finn grinned goofily and did an extra flip on his skateboard – it was all the more impressive because Ivy could not figure out how he could see anything with his mop of long blond hair falling around his eyes.