“Ivy! Sophia!” the voice came again.
“I think that fern is calling us,” Sophia murmured, pointing to the corner. The two of them walked over. Suddenly, a pink-nailed hand reached out and pulled Ivy behind the greenery. Olivia was huddled back there with Camilla.
“Did you tell her?” Ivy and Olivia asked each other at the same time. They nodded to each other and then had a big group hug.
“Congratulations on finding your father.” Camilla grinned at Ivy.
“Can you believe that, this whole time, their real dad’s been right in front of them?” Sophia said excitedly to Camilla, who shook her head in disbelief.
“You guys can’t tell anyone,” Olivia said seriously.
“Not even Brendan?” asked Sophia.
“Except Brendan,” Ivy replied. She was planning on telling her boyfriend after first period. She wanted to tell him in the science hallway, where he’d first asked her out. She’d made him a card, thanking him for all his support during her search for the truth.
“Must be a big secret,” said Sophia with a smirk. “After all, we’re hiding behind a fern!”
For once, Olivia didn’t smile. “Ivy and I are declaring a state of emergency; she and her dad are supposed to be moving to Europe.”
“He’s your dad, too,” Ivy reminded her gently.
Olivia nodded. “Right,” she agreed, thinking that that was going to take some getting used to. “And we’ve got less than ten days to convince him not to move.”
“We’re not going to let ourselves get split up again,” Ivy declared bravely.
“And I’m not losing my biological father now that I know who he is,” Olivia added.
Camilla and Sophia had both snapped to attention. “How can we help?” Camilla asked.
“Do you really think your dad might change his mind?” Sophia wondered.
“He has to,” Ivy answered.
“We’re going to come up with something that will make it impossible for him to leave,” said Olivia.
“Something so killer,” Ivy put in, “that he’ll be dying to stay.”
“Like what?” asked Sophia.
Ivy and Olivia looked at each other doubtfully. “That’s what we’re hoping you’ll help us figure out.” Ivy smiled weakly.
The four girls stared at one another. They were still standing there, deep in thought, when the bell for first period rang.
“Huddle,” Olivia called, and the four of them gathered close. “We’ll meet at lunch to come up with a plan,” she said.
Everyone nodded. Then Olivia prompted everyone to put a hand in the middle. “Franklin Grove or bust,” she said.
“Franklin Grove or bust!” Ivy and her friends repeated in unison, their hands pumping and then rising into the air like a starburst.
Chapter 2
After third period, Olivia was redoing her Natural Sky eye shadow in her locker mirror when out of the corner of her eye she spotted Sophia hurrying down the hall.
“Code word,” Sophia said meaningfully, her chunky digital camera swinging around her neck.
“You mean code black?” Olivia asked, referring to Sophia and Ivy’s secret lingo for an emergency meeting in the science hall bathroom.
“No.” Sophia shook her head. “Code word.”