Sophia shrugged, and they made their way over.
“Hey,” said Ivy, with an innocent nod toward Olivia. “Can we sit here?”
“Sure,” Camilla replied.
“Totally,” Olivia agreed.
As they sat down, Camilla said, “Your last photo essay in the paper was really great, Sophia.”
“Thanks,” Sophia replied appreciatively.
“Speaking of the paper, I read that book you reviewed last week. You know, the one you gave four devils out of five, The Vortex Effect? You were right. It sucks.”
“Doesn’t it?” gushed Camilla.
“Where’s your food?” Olivia asked Ivy, gesturing at Ivy’s half-empty tray.
“They ran out of burgers,” Ivy explained, rolling her eyes. “What kind of school cafeteria runs out of burgers?”
“We should riot,” joked Sophia, and everyone laughed.
“Want some of my beef lasagna?” Camilla offered. “My mom made it. It’s the best.”
Ivy peered into Camilla’s Tupperware. It did look really good, and she was dying for something with meat in it. “Okay,” she said gratefully. “If you think you have enough.”
Camilla slid a generous piece of lasagna onto a napkin and passed it to Ivy.
“Thanks,” Ivy said. She scooped up a hunk with her fork and popped it in her mouth. Right away, her tongue felt like it was on fire. She gagged and swallowed to stop the pain.
Oh, no! thought Ivy in a blind panic. That was the gravest thing I could possibly have done! Her stomach turned, and she felt ice-cold. She started seeing spots—big black and blue blobs at the corners of her vision.
“Ivy?” Olivia said, leaning across the table.
“Are you okay?”
She couldn’t answer.
“She looks really pale,” Camilla said in a far away voice. “Like, even paler than normal.” Ivy blinked. Her head was killing her. Sophia grabbed Ivy’s hand and turned to Camilla. “Did that have garlic in it?” she asked urgently.
“I, er, don’t know,” Camilla stammered.
“Maybe.”
Sophia stood up. “We have to go.”
Ivy felt her friend pull her to her feet. The last thing she heard as Sophia dragged her out of the cafeteria was Olivia’s voice calling, “Is she okay?” from a million miles away.
“Do you think she’s okay?” Olivia repeated as Ivy and Sophia disappeared out the cafeteria doors. “I don’t know what happened,” Camilla said, shaking her head guiltily. “Maybe Ivy’s allergic to garlic.”
“She looked so ill!” Olivia remarked. “Everybody says my mom’s lasagna’s great,” Camilla tried to explain. “At least Sophia seemed to know what to do,” she added.
“Yeah.” Olivia wrung her hands. “I just hope Ivy’s all right.”
After lunch and through the rest of the day, Olivia watched for her sister in the hallways, but she was nowhere to be found. She didn’t see Sophia anywhere either.
Olivia started to really worry when Ivy didn’t show up for last period. She remembered how, at her old school, somebody’s little brother had almost died after accidentally eating a peanut. All through science, Olivia had to fight the urge to rush out of class. She kept staring at the door.
“Olivia?” Mr. Strain was pointing at her with a piece of chalk. “The process by which plants turn sunlight into energy?”