For a second, Olivia thought she might get thrown out of the meeting, but then she remembered again that “suck” was good. She glanced over at Sophia, who was staring at her in shock but who still managed a small, surprised smile.
In the food court at the mall, Ivy fidgeted at a little table, watching as Brendan Daniels waited in line at Deep Slice for a small Carnivore’s Delight pizza for the two of them to share. A long silver key chain looped out of his back pocket. He turned and smiled at her from under his cowl of dark curls. She gave a small breathless wave and continued stacking the spice shakers on the table.
Their date so far hadn’t gone anything like Ivy had imagined. The first thing Brendan had done was lead her right past Spins and Dungeon Clothing to the arcade, where he challenged her to an air hockey tournament.
For the next forty minutes, they had barely spoken. Instead, they shouted and laughed and banged their little round paddles on the table as the thin puck whizzed between them, cracking against the boards.
Ivy took four games out of seven. “You let me win!” she had said, grinning and bravely nudging Brendan’s arm as they walked out of the arcade.
“You think so?” he’d replied, spinning on his heels and grabbing her hand. “Then let’s make it best of eleven.”
Brendan had won that round, but only just. He’d promised Ivy they’d keep a running tally.
Now she was watching as he filled two huge cups at the drinks dispenser. When he comes back, she thought, remembering her sister’s advice, I’m going to ask him about himself.
Brendan approached carefully, his eyes on the two tall cups that were filled to the brim with red lemonade. Steam rose off the pizza and bathed his face. He set the food down in front of Ivy and looked at her.
“You know I’ve been scared to death,” he said.
“Of spilling something?” Ivy asked, pretending to be distracted by balancing the oregano atop the pepper atop the salt.
Across from her, Brendan shook his head. “I have so many questions I want to ask you,” he told her.
Ivy blinked at her tower and prepared to put the crushed red pepper flakes on top. “Like what?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Everything?”
Ivy couldn’t help recalling what Olivia had said about boys who ask questions. Boyfriend material! she thought, her heart pounding. She tried not to seem excited.
Brendan asked, “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
Ivy’s hand jerked, and the chili peppers knocked into the oregano, and the entire tower of spices collapsed, crashing right into Ivy’s full cup of lemonade and sending it flying.
Brendan was already on his feet. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll get some napkins.”
Pretty soon everybody at the planning committee meeting was talking about the theme Olivia had suggested for the ball. Meanwhile, the Beasts kept whispering and snickering to one another.
Finally Melissa turned to them and said, “Care to share?”
They all looked up. One of them said, “Uh, yeah. We got an idea.”
“Okay,” said Melissa.
“It’s a really excellent idea for a—what do you call it?—a decoration,” the same Beast went on. His friends chuckled.
“Totally excellent,” one of them muttered.
“Okay,” said Melissa impatiently.
“A blood fountain,” the first Beast announced.
“A what?” said Melissa.
“You know. A fountain of blood.” All the Beasts were totally cracking up now.
“As if,” said Melissa, rolling her eyes. “Talk about perpetuating stereotypes. Besides, fountains were last year’s party feature.”
Sophia whispered, “What losers!” in Olivia’s ear, and Olivia felt relieved that Ivy’s friends didn’t want to take her idea that far.
“All right,” Melissa continued efficiently. “It looks like we’ve got our theme. The next big question on the agenda is where should we hold the ball? Any ideas? And, no”—she glared at the Beasts—“the graveyard is not an option!”
Olivia felt a nudge under the table, and looked over to find Sophia looking at her intently.
“Anyone?” asked Melissa.
Sophia was now pursing her lips and glaring at Olivia, clearly trying to say something with her eyes, but Olivia had no idea what it was.
Sophia sighed and turned to face the table. “How about Ivy’s house?” she suggested. “You know, that mansion on top of Undertaker Hill? It has a massive ballroom on the third floor.You can see all Franklin Grove from up there.”
Olivia kicked Sophia under the table. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea!” she put in hurriedly. “I don’t think my parents ...I mean, parent ...I mean, dad . . .” She shook her head wildly. Everybody was looking at her. “Well, he won’t like it,” she finished lamely.
“Who are you kidding, Ivy?” said the girl with the shock of white in her hair. “Your father loves this kind of thing. My parents still talk about the Dead of Winter fund-raiser he planned a few years back.”
The girl with the studded collar nodded. “I’ll bet he’d even be willing to help out with decorations,” she added. “After all, he is one of the top interior designers.”
“He redid my aunt’s place last year,” put in the bald-headed boy. “It looks killer.”
Well, Olivia thought, at least that explains the inside of Ivy’s house. “But a ball for the whole school is a lot of people,” she pointed out.