“I got it for my tenth birthday,” Ivy replied. “My father said my real parents wanted it that way. It was a condition of the adoption.”
“That’s exactly what my parents told me!” Olivia bit her lip. “Do you . . . do you know anything else about them?” She looked at Ivy hopefully.
Ivy’s heart sank. “No. My dad never even met them,” she said. “How about you?”
“No.” Olivia sighed.
For a moment, they were both quiet. Then Ivy’s mouth curled into a wide grin. “Well, Olivia, I’ve always wanted an evil twin.”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “That is just what I was going to say!”
Chapter 3
For as long as she could remember, Olivia had wished for a sister. Now she didn’t know which was hardest to believe: the fact that she had a sister, the fact that she had a twin sister, or the fact that her twin sister was her lab partner in science.
Studying Ivy’s face, she felt dumb for not realizing right away. Underneath the dark eyeliner and Goth outfit, Ivy looked exactly like her: the angular nose, the oval chin, the arching eyebrows. And to think Olivia had been scared she wouldn’t find anyone like herself at Franklin Grove!
“We need to talk,” Ivy said. She even had the same smile as Olivia. “Want to walk to the Meat & Greet for a bite?”
“Sure. I’m starved!” Olivia beamed. “I just have to call my mom so she doesn’t worry.”
“Use my cell,” Ivy said, reaching into her bag.
Olivia called home and said she’d be late because she was going out to eat with this really cool girl she’d met at school.
“That’s great!” her mom replied. “I knew you’d have no trouble making new friends, Olivia. Make sure you’re home by seven, and have fun!”
“What about calling your parents?” Olivia asked Ivy.
“It’s always been just Dad and me,” Ivy explained. “And he lets me be pretty independent.”
Olivia and Ivy got their bags from their lockers, then headed down the hallway and out through the front doors of the school. The beginning of football season was Olivia’s favorite time of year, and not just because of cheerleading. It felt like summer and smelled like fall. As they made their way down the street, Olivia looked over at Ivy walking beside her. The sun made shimmering patterns on her sister’s black dress.
“Don’t you think it’s weird,” Olivia mused, “that my dad just happened to be transferred to Franklin Grove?”
“I was thinking about that, too,” Ivy said, doing a hopscotch hop over a crack in the sidewalk, “and I think there’s only one explanation.” She stopped and turned to Olivia. “I think we were meant to find each other.”
Olivia’s heart did a round-off, and her eyes filled with tears. She gave Ivy a huge hug. She couldn’t help it.
Ivy didn’t move. Oh, no, Olivia thought. She was coming on too strong again. Or Ivy didn’t want a sister. Or Ivy didn’t want her as a sister.
But then Ivy hugged her back.
They both started sobbing right there in the middle of the sidewalk. If somebody had walked by, that person would have wondered what was wrong. But nothing was wrong. Everything was right. They were just thirteen-year-old twin sisters hugging for the first time.
Finally, Olivia let go and reached into her bag for some tissues. She blew her nose loudly. “Sorry if I snotted on your shoulder,” she said.
Ivy smiled tearily. “Don’t be sorry,” she said, wiping black mascara tearstains from her cheeks. “I think I might have ruined your dress.”
Olivia peered down at the smear of black on her bright pink sleeve. She couldn’t help laughing. “You Goths really don’t like pink, do you?”
Ivy chuckled as they walked on again. “I hope you like Franklin Grove,” she said to Olivia. “The bunny population here isn’t too bad.”
Olivia laughed. “Yeah, I saw that T-shirt your friend was wearing. So what’s it all about? Is this place infested with wild bunnies? I once read that when rabbits were introduced into Australia they, like, ruined the whole country.”
“Very funny,” Ivy said.
“No, really. I mean, their whole ecosystem was destroyed. The rabbits ate all the crops.”