I just wish she was here now. Ivy sighed. How long had it been since she and Olivia had managed to have a heart-to-heart like this one? It’s ridiculous that ever since school started, I’ve had less time with my own twin than I do with any random goth!
That wasn’t Penny’s fault, though. Gathering her wayward thoughts, Ivy said briskly, ‘No wonder you’ve been acting so miserable. You must feel absolutely suffocated!’
‘I do,’ Penny said. ‘But it doesn’t matter.’ She lifted her tear-streaked face out of her hands, sniffing. ‘I can’t stand to be disliked at school. Haven’t you seen how the pink girls are treated?’ She drew a deep breath, sniffing back the last of her tears. ‘I won’t let it happen to me. I have to be liked . . . and if that means faking goth, that’s just what I have to do!’
Ivy stared at her in disbelief for a long moment. Then she let her head fall on to the table with a clunk. ‘This high school is even crazier than I’d thought!’
‘I just want to be popular,’ Penny whispered. ‘Is that so bad?’
Ivy groaned. ‘Trust me. I would happily hand my popularity over to you any day.’
Penny shook her head sadly. ‘That’s the problem. You can’t buy and sell popularity, can you? It’s not a commodity. You have to have . . .’ she waved a hand through the air and snapped her black-tipped fingers ‘. . . je ne sais quoi .’
‘Je ne sais . . . what?’ Ivy repeated, blinking.
Penny sighed. ‘You have it . . . and I just don’t.’ Scooping up the notebook and her backpack, she shook her head. ‘I should never have even bothered trying.’
Her shoulders drooped as she walked away . . . and Ivy felt her stomach sink as she watched.
This is ridiculous . She couldn’t just watch Penny suffer under the school’s idiotic social rules. There had to be some way for Ivy to share some of her popularity with Penny . . .
And better yet, she realised, if it works, it might just deflect some of the attention away from me!
Chapter Seven
The next morning, Ivy walked into school with a plan . . . and a swagger.
This had better work, she told herself.
She’d been up late last night perfecting her ‘don’t-come-near-me’ walk, up and down the landing. She hadn’t planned to do it on her own, but Olivia’s cell phone had been turned off when Ivy had tried to call her for help – and being out of touch with her twin again had only made Ivy more determined. I have to fix this!
She would have kept going even longer, but just after midnight, her dad had emerged from his room, elegant as always in his black satin pyjamas, and politely asked her to please, for darkness’ sake, go to her coffin and get some sleep!
It had been worth the late night, though. With a really arrogant swagger, Ivy would definitely put off groupies. This is exactly what I need to stall out my popularity at this school!
Unfortunately, her swagger required her to keep her chin and nose up in the air, which made it more than a little difficult to walk, especially in the crowded school hallway. She couldn’t see a single thing on the ground . . .
Like the leg of an older boy in an absolutely ludicrous leather trench coat, sticking out for no other reason than to trip up a stranger!
Ivy’s legs flew out beneath her. Flailing for balance, she would have fallen flat on her face if she’d been a human . . . but, taken off guard, her vampire reflexes took over. Before she could stop herself, she sprang into a front-flip and landed neatly on her feet.
All around her, students broke into spontaneous applause.
‘Oh, Ivy!’
‘That was amazing!’
‘How did you do that?’
‘You are soooooo cool !’
Aaaargh! Ivy bit back a scream of frustration. Why didn’t I let myself fall on my face?
It was as if the whole universe was conspiring to make her more and more popular, whether she liked it or not!
Growling, she stalked over to the older boy, who was snickering with his friends.
‘Oops,’ he said. ‘Did I trip you? I must not have seen you coming. Heh.’