“This is so secret agent.” Olivia giggled as Ivy pushed her out into the backyard.
A minute later, they’d reached the bottom of the driveway. “So what’s this meeting I’m going to?” Olivia asked.
“I’m not completely sure,” admitted Ivy. “Sophia is constantly signing me up for clubs and stuff. I think she didn’t want to tell me, because she knew I wouldn’t like it.”
They took the shortcut through the woods behind a neighbor’s house.
“Whatever you do,” Ivy instructed as they marched down the leaf-covered path, “don’t look happy to be there. No perkiness, no enthusiasm, no ‘Hi, guys!’ You do any of that, and they’ll eat you alive.”
“Got it. Where’s the meeting going to be?”
“I’m not sure. I know it’s not at school though. It will probably just be a bunch of ”—Ivy hesitated—“Goths debating something.”
Suddenly Ivy started to have second thoughts. What if somebody says something that makes Olivia suspicious? She stopped at a fork in the path. “Anyway,” she said nervously, “don’t pay too much attention to anything anyone says. At all.”
Olivia looked at her in confusion.
“You know, b-because,” Ivy stammered, “Goths can have really strange . . . uh . . . senses of humor.”
“Okay,” Olivia said, and shrugged.
“I’m going this way to the mall.” Ivy gestured down one path. “Keep going straight, and you’ll end up back on the field behind school. You’re meeting Sophia by the front doors.”
They hugged. “You’re going to be irresistible!” said Olivia.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Ivy answered. “Seriously.” Then she hurried off down the path to the mall, determined not to throw up at any point during her first date with Brendan Daniels—even on the escalator.
Chapter 6
Bring on the Goths! thought Olivia.
“You’re late,” said Sophia, charging up with her black scarf swinging. “I’ve been out of the photo lab for twenty minutes already. You weren’t trying to back out on me, were you?”
“No,” said Olivia, making sure she didn’t bounce. “I just ran home to change. And I couldn’t find my”—she hesitated and Sophia peered at her skeptically—“my fuzzy backpack,”
Olivia finished.
Sophia’s mouth dropped open. “You mean my fuzzy backpack that you borrowed and never returned!”
Oops. “I guess that’s the one,” Olivia said hoarsely.
“Well,” said Sophia, “it is a killer fashion statement. You look deadly.”
“Thank you,” said Olivia.
“So let’s go.” Sophia pushed her toward the sidewalk. “I don’t want to be late!”
So far, so good, Olivia thought with a rush of relief. If she could make it to the meeting without arousing Sophia’s suspicions, everything else would be easy.
They cut across the school parking lot and turned onto Thornhill Road. Olivia glanced over and caught Sophia sneaking a sideways look at her.
Shoot, Olivia thought. She’s onto me.
Sophia stopped and grabbed her arm. “We need to talk,” she said seriously.
Olivia held her breath and waited for the ax to fall.
“Listen, I know you’re not going to enjoy this,” Sophia said, frowning. “In fact, you’re going to hate it. But I really want to be on the planning committee.”
Olivia let herself breathe again. It seemed Sophia hadn’t discovered her secret—yet! And Olivia had been head of the planning committee for the spring carnival at her old school. It rocked. “Planning committee for what?” she asked curiously.
“The All Hallows’ Ball,” Sophia said apologetically. She sounded like a little kid who knows she’s in trouble. “Every year, they use the same lifeless professional photographer with a combover, and I think I could do something seriously great and candid. But we have to be on the planning committee first.”
Olivia blurted, “That sounds cool.”
Sophia looked completely shocked, and Olivia realized that Ivy would not think party planning was cool. At all.
“I mean you taking the pictures sounds cool. Not party planning,” Olivia added hastily.Then she continued in a glum tone, meant to convey Goth resignation, “Just don’t expect me to say anything in this meeting. I’ll sit there, but that’s it.”
“Agreed,” Sophia said, looking relieved.
“Thanks, Ivy.”
As they walked, Olivia wondered why she hadn’t heard anything about the ball before. At her old school, there would have been posters everywhere.
The tree-lined street had turned into a concrete thoroughfare, and they walked past a Funky Chicken and a Marly’s Discount Superstore.
Sophia leaped up on a bench and tiptoed along it, jumping down. Olivia struggled to limit her reaction to a close-lipped Goth smile, but it wasn’t easy. Then she noticed Sophia’s earrings—two little black bowling balls with white bowling pins dangling below them.
“Your earrings are so cute!” Olivia exclaimed. “Don’t be such a witch,” Sophia replied drily.
She must have thought her friend was being sarcastic.
Olivia mentally kicked herself. She had to stop using words like “cute,” or she’d never make it through the afternoon in one piece.
Sophia veered into the parking lot of a giant FoodMart. Olivia was a little surprised, considering they were already running late, but she followed Ivy’s friend inside without comment. Maybe they were supposed to bring food to the meeting, like pretzels or something.