“And never see light of day,” the group responded as one.
Olivia was baffled. This must be the weird sense of humor Ivy was talking about, she thought. She hoped no one had noticed that she hadn’t joined in. They were now all sitting down, so she quickly slipped into her chair.
“Okay, people,” the girl began. “We only have three weeks to pull off Franklin Grove’s two hundred and second annual All Hallows’ Ball, and I’m determined to make it the best one ever. This is the first of three planning committee meetings. Today we need to decide on the theme and who’s going to be responsible for—”
She was interrupted by raucous laughter in the hallway, and suddenly the door swung open. In slouched four boys with dirty-looking hair and heavy metal T-shirts.
It was the boys who had cornered Olivia in the hall at school, the ones Ivy called the Beasts. Olivia clutched her backpack nervously underneath the table. It’s okay, she told herself. Ivy isn’t scared of them.
“What a surprise!” the girl leading the meeting said coolly. “You guys are late.”
“Sorry, Melissa,” said one Beast sarcastically as he and his friends grabbed seats. “We had to, uh, grab a bite.”
The other Beasts guffawed dumbly, but everyone else just groaned.
“You wish,” said a girl with a streak of white in her hair.
“As I was saying,” Melissa snapped, calling the meeting back to order. “The first thing we need to do is pick a theme. Let’s brainstorm.”
People started calling out ideas. A boy with a shaved head said, “What about a costume ball?”
“Or a forest party?” suggested the girl with the white streak. “Like where everybody dresses up as trees and things? We could do it in the woods.”
“The Ball of the Future?”
“What if everybody had to wear something purple?”
“I once went to a sweet sixteen where there was an ice cream bar, and people were seriously into it.”
“I know! What about Franklin Grove Star Search?”
Melissa did not look impressed.
Oh, my gosh, Olivia thought suddenly, I have the best idea! “How about a vampire theme?” she blurted. “You could do coffins instead of tables, and spiderwebs and bats hanging everywhere. And . . . ooh, you could even get a big projector and show that old Dracula movie—you know, the black-and-white one with that Bela guy? And someone could take black-and-white photographs of all the guests!”
Nobody spoke for a long time. At last the boy with the shaved head said, “So you want to perpetuate the stereotype?”
Huh? thought Olivia.
“No, Ivy’s onto something . . .” Melissa decided, nodding slowly. “Retro is in.”
“Can you imagine? Everyone in fangs and capes and stuff?” mused the girl with the streak of white hair. “That would be deadly.”
“I agree,” said the girl with the studded collar, turning to Olivia. “This idea really sucks, Ivy.”
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.