Ivy swallowed. “Me?”
Serena unleashed a smile that nearly blinded her. “That’s right.”
“You’re serious?” Ivy asked suspiciously.
Serena nodded enthusiastically. “Aren’t I always?”
She’s not kidding, Ivy thought. I think we might have fooled her.
“So?” Serena Star pressed. “Ready for your close-up?”
“I don’t really like being the center of attention,” Ivy said. It was true. Just the thought of being on TV made her stomach hurt—she’d had a hard enough time pretending to be head of decorations at the All Hallow’s Ball. “I’m not even wearing the right clothes,” she added, gesturing to her old black cardigan and flared black pants.
“I won’t take no for an answer,” Serena said, with a sparkly smile.
If this is what it takes to shut the coffin on Serena’s interest in Franklin Grove once and for all, Ivy thought, I’d better do it.
She forced herself to smile too. “Then I guess I have to say yes,” she told Serena.
“Maybe we can pull Edna’s jeweled fan across the screen to reveal a map of Italy,” suggested Olivia. Camilla nodded enthusiastically. “That’s a great idea.” They were in media studies, working on the storyboard for their movie. Mr. Colton said they had to plan every single shot, to make sure they used up the whole five minutes.
Behind them, Olivia could hear Garrick and his friends whispering intensely. Olivia heard Garrick mutter, “. . . on eBay. They were a sick bargain!”
“Let me see!” one of the other boys whispered. There was some rustling, and then Olivia heard something clatter to the floor. She looked down. Gross , she thought, making a face. Dentures. They were all old and yellow and pointy.
Wait a sec, Olivia thought. Those aren’t just dentures!
Garrick snatched the teeth off the floor and shoved them in his pocket. “You guys are going to get us staked!” Olivia heard him hiss as he slid back into his seat.
So Garrick’s finally got himself a set of fake fangs, Olivia thought, but at least he’s trying to keep them a secret. Maybe he’s finally decided to give the publicvampire routine a rest!
The bell for the end of school rang, and Ivy put her hand on Olivia’s open notebook just as her sister was about to close it. “Play dead for a minute,” she said quietly. “I need to talk.”
The other students in science class filed out of the room. Mr. Strain finished cleaning the blackboard and looked at them expectantly.
“We’re just going to stay here and talk about tomorrow’s experiment for a few minutes, if that’s okay with you, Mr. Strain,” Ivy said.
“Of course,” Mr. Strain replied. “I’m glad you girls are finally starting to take scientific exploration seriously.” He picked up a huge pile of papers from his desk, squeezed them into his briefcase, and walked out the door, leaving Olivia and Ivy alone.
“What’s up?” asked Olivia. “Serena Star wants to interview me,” Ivy answered nervously.
“No way!” gasped Olivia. “I thought she was backing off.”
“She is.” Ivy nodded. “She says she wants to profile a Goth student who’s a good role model.”
“Great!” Olivia declared. “At last this whole deep, dark vampire secret thing seems to be blowing over.”
“I guess so.” Ivy sighed. “Then again, I’m not sure which I think is more painful: being found out and burned at the stake or being interviewed on national TV by Serena Star!” She felt like there were bats in her stomach every time she thought of the coming interview.
“Oh, please,” Olivia said, nudging Ivy’s arm reassuringly. “You’ll be awesome. Anyway, there’s something I wanted to tell you, too.”
“What?”
“In media studies today”—Olivia lowered her voice—“Garrick Stephens accidentally dropped something on the floor.”
“Like his brain?” Ivy joked.
Olivia cracked a smile. “Like he has one?” she joked back. Then she shook her head and looked serious. “Fake fangs,” she told Ivy.
Ivy pursed her lips. “Hmm, Garrick was acting seriously strange this morning about Charlotte Brown,” she admitted. “He was talking about his media studies project, and he made a comment about her winning a Best Victim Oscar.”
Olivia’s eyes widened. “You don’t think he’d try to bite her, do you?” she whispered. “He wouldn’t be that stupid, would he?”
Ivy gave her a doubtful look. “These are the Beasts we’re talking about.”
“Come on,” Olivia said, shutting her notebook. “Garrick’s been pretty desperate to get back on TV, and something involving fake fangs and a cheerleader could certainly get him noticed. We’d better find Charlotte.”
“And fast,” Ivy agreed, grabbing her bag. They bolted out of the classroom and into the hallway. “There hasn’t been a case of a vampire biting a human in generations,” she told Olivia as they raced toward the front hall. “If Garrick even tries to sink his fangs into Charlotte, he’ll do exactly what we’ve been trying to avoid—reveal the existence of vampires!”
Ivy spotted Charlotte’s blond ponytail bouncing across the hallway, with Garrick Stephens’ dark silhouette slouching after her.
Ivy and Olivia raced down the hallway after them, and Ivy peeked around the corner just in time to see Garrick duck into the media studies classroom. She and Olivia snuck up on either side of the classroom door and peered in through its glass window.