05 Take Two - My Sister the Vampire (5 page)

Ivy was determined it was her turn to play matchmaker.
I’ll make this happen
, she swore.
One way or another
. . .

Olivia was woken by Ivy bouncing on her bed. ‘What bunny magic has made you so chirpy?’ she groaned as she peered through her half-awake eyes.

‘Tai chi with your dad,’ said Ivy, who had developed a refreshing glow. ‘I feel amazing! Energised and enlightened!’

‘Can you be enlightened somewhere else
please? I’m trying to sleep.’ Olivia pulled the duvet over her head, but she was only teasing; she loved seeing her twin getting on with her family.

‘Hey, I thought I was supposed to be the grumpy one, remember?’

Olivia pushed back the covers and sat up straight. With a huge grin she said, ‘That’s right! Let’s call Sophia and we’ll have a full-on girlie morning!’

‘Awesome!’ said Ivy, jumping up in an uncharacteristic cheerleading pose.

Sophia was over within half an hour. Sophia and Ivy, declaring themselves Olivia’s stylist team, debated over what Olivia should wear for her second meeting with Jackson, and settled on a light blue sweater with denim shorts and lacy leggings.

Then they had a quick hair and make-up session. Olivia did Ivy’s nails with Diva at Dusk
blue-black and Sophia chose Vampy Violet. Olivia covered her own in Just Peachy. It meant they had to eat their scrambled eggs carefully, holding their forks so that they wouldn’t smear the varnish.

As they left Olivia put on her glittery earmuffs.

‘Jackson’s favourite accessory!’ Ivy teased.

But Olivia ignored her. ‘Bright red, frozen ears only look good on elves,’ she announced.

They headed out of the door for the Meat & Greet.

Ivy continued to talk about Jackson. ‘What if we rented a helicopter and dropped you inside? Jackson would be impressed by that.’

Or I would break my neck and be rushed to hospital
, Olivia thought.

‘As long as I don’t have to chip in to pay for it,’ Sophia said.

‘That won’t be necessary,’ Olivia replied.
‘Besides, I’m going back to the set to learn about movies, not stalk the male lead.’

‘Is that . . . is your nose . . .’ Ivy was peering at Olivia’s face. ‘Is your nose growing, Pinocchio?’

Olivia poked her tongue out and gently pushed her sister away.

Jackson coming to Franklin Grove was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to Olivia, but making a fool of herself in front of him was one of the worst. She just wanted to put the whole thing behind her.

The three girls turned the corner to the Meat & Greet and staggered to a halt. In front of them was a crowd bigger than the biggest pep rally Olivia had ever seen. And the noise! It looked like every girl within twenty miles had gathered around the barriers. Some were even holding signs. One had the very unoriginal, ‘Marry me, Jackson,’ but another had an illustration of a jack
from a deck of cards, then a picture of the sun, then an equals sign and a big red heart after that. Cute.
Jackson equals love.
The girl with the pink and blue polka-dot jacket from yesterday was still right at the front. Her hair was a lot messier and Olivia wondered if she’d even been home.

‘So, it looks like the word’s out,’ Sophia said drily.

‘Hmm,’ Ivy said, surveying the huge crowd. ‘How are we going to get in now?’

‘Got to be the helicopter or nothing,’ Sophia replied.

‘Have you heard about the side entrance?’ a familiar voice said behind them.

Olivia and Ivy whipped around to see Brendan wearing his black trench coat and a sneaky grin.

‘No,’ Ivy said, giving him a quick hug hello. ‘Tell us!’

‘What’s in it for me?’ he said.

‘How about a rare burger on me when the Meat & Greet opens again?’ Ivy offered.

‘Sold!’ Brendan said, shaking Ivy’s hand in an official way. ‘Come on. Follow me.’ He led them around the crowd to the side of the parking lot. There were only a handful of spectators gathered by these barriers: an older lady in a scruffy coat, two men with big Jackson posters, and a mom with two excited little girls. Three security guards stood with their arms crossed, keeping an eye out for anyone trying to sneak in.

‘Since it doesn’t look like much is happening,’ Brendan said, ‘I’m going to head to the Juice Bar. Anybody want anything?’

‘I’m starving.’ Ivy clung to Brendan’s arm. ‘Food at the Abbotts’ is . . . um . . . a little light for me.’

Olivia and Ivy had already planned to sneak a roast-beef sandwich for Ivy to eat after dinner
tonight, and to say Ivy had a tummy ache so that Olivia wouldn’t have to eat twice as much.

‘How about a Breakfast Bun with Bite?’ Brendan asked.

‘Ooh, with extra red sauce.’ The excitement on Ivy’s face made Olivia smile.
They are so cute together
, Olivia thought.

‘And a blood orange juice?’ Brendan offered.

‘My hero!’ Ivy said, batting her lashes like a damsel in distress.

As Brendan left, Olivia realised that one of the security guards was Jerome, their friend from yesterday. She waved until she caught his attention and he came a little closer to the barrier. ‘Thanks so much for the heads up yesterday.’

‘No problem,’ he said, tipping his Harker Films baseball hat.

‘Any chance of some insider info today?’ Ivy asked.

‘Sorry, ladies.’ He lowered his glasses and shrugged. ‘I’ve got nothing for you. Being on barrier duty means I don’t know what’s happening on the inside.’

‘Thanks anyway.’ Olivia shrugged in an effort not to look stalker-ish.

‘Now can we try the helicopter?’ Ivy whispered.

Olivia held a finger to her lips. She jerked her head in the direction of the other two security guards. ‘Listen,’ she hissed. ‘I think that guy is talking about Jackson.’

‘What is the big deal with this Caulfield kid?’ the shorter guard was saying. ‘He’s probably just some pretty boy with fewer brain cells than a jellyfish.’

His taller companion in a hat and sunglasses replied with a strong English accent, ‘I hear he works pretty hard at what he does.’

His friend continued, ‘Bah! He doesn’t know
the meaning of hard work. We’re the ones standing out here in the freezing cold! These boys are a dime a dozen; he’ll fade away into obscurity.’

Olivia could feel her toes curling up with anger – how dare the man say these things? ‘Excuse me,’ she called over. The two security guards turned in her direction while Jerome leaned on the barrier near the girls. ‘It’s really not fair to judge someone you don’t know.’

The short man took off his sunglasses. ‘I was just saying –’

Ivy put a hand on her arm, but Olivia wasn’t going to be dissuaded. ‘You were just being pretty mean about a guy you don’t even know.’

The guards all stared at her.

‘Are you going to make the effort to actually get to know Jackson,’ Olivia went on, ‘or will you just end up spreading around ideas that he’s not a good person, simply because of what he does?’

‘Listen, kid,’ the short man said. ‘I don’t know who you are, but I don’t give two hoots what you think about Jackson. Now, get out of here!’

‘Come on!’ Ivy pulled her sister away before things could get any worse.

‘Wh-what?’ Olivia said, almost tripping over her faux-fur boots.

Even when they were a safe distance away opposite one of the big trucks, Ivy and Sophia had to stand between Olivia and the guards, she was so ready to go back and keep talking.

‘You’re going to start a lynch mob,’ Ivy said.

‘Did you see that lady behind us?’ Sophia pointed to the large lady in the coat. ‘She was about to jump in and give that guard a piece of her mind, too.’

‘We’re trying to get you a second chance to see Jackson, not get thrown off the set,’ Ivy scolded.
This matchmaking thing was turning out to be more difficult than she’d expected.

‘Pardon me,’ said the voice with the English accent. Spinning round, Ivy saw the taller security guard. His hat, sunglasses and turned-up collar covered most of his face.

Uh oh
, Ivy thought.
I bet he’s going to make us leave the premises.

‘Yes?’ she asked, shoving Olivia behind her to prevent her saying anything else.
Maybe I can talk our way out of this
, Ivy thought.

‘I just wanted to say: don’t worry about Harry,’ the man said. ‘He was born grumpy.’

Olivia stepped out from behind Ivy. ‘I didn’t mean to be rude; I just wanted him to know how wrong he was.’

‘Those earmuffs look smashing, by the way.’ The security guard smiled.

‘Uh, thanks,’ Olivia said, her hand moving to
touch one of the muffs.

‘Sorry,’ Ivy said. ‘We didn’t mean any harm.’

But the security guard wasn’t listening to Ivy; he stepped closer to Olivia and said, ‘I should be thanking you.’

‘What for?’ Olivia asked.

He slid his glasses down his nose and Ivy could see a light of recognition in Olivia’s eyes.

‘Olivia, do you know him?’ Ivy asked, staring. Then she caught sight of the guard’s sparkling blue eyes.

Ivy pointed and said, ‘You’re, you’re . . .’

Sophia slapped her hand away and said, ‘Don’t blow it!’

The security man was Jackson.

Chapter Four

‘H
i there,’ Jackson said, dropping the English accent. ‘Nice to see you again, Olivia.’

He remembers my name!
Olivia thought.

‘Um, nice to see you, too.’

Jackson’s disguise was so complete, with the heavy boots and walkie-talkie; he even had the muscled arms to fill out the uniform. ‘I never would have guessed it was you,’ she said, wondering why he would want to be mistaken for a security guard.

‘How about I take you and your two friends
on a quick tour of the set?’ he offered, pushing his sunglasses up his nose. ‘To say thank you for standing up to Harry for me.’

‘That would be killer!’ Sophia said.

‘Quick, through here!’ Jackson pulled away one of the plastic barriers just enough for them to slip through. He looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching. ‘Get behind that truck!’

As Olivia ducked through first, Jackson whispered. ‘Don’t draw any attention to us or we’ll get swamped.’

‘What about Brendan?’ Ivy said as they stepped past the barriers.

‘We’ll meet up with him later,’ Sophia said, pushing her own way through. ‘Come on!’

Ivy and Sophia scurried behind the back of the truck, but as Olivia followed them she stumbled over the base of the hollow plastic
barrier, making a loud thump. She fell against Jackson with a muffled squeak. In an instant, his strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her behind the truck. So much for not drawing any attention.
Why am I such a goof ball in front of Jackson?
Olivia thought.

‘I think we got away with it,’ Jackson said, risking a glance around the truck. He was still gently holding her arm. He noticed her looking down at his hand and pulled away. Olivia found herself loosening her knitted rainbow scarf.

‘Warm?’ Ivy asked.

Sophia grinned. ‘Despite the frost?’

Olivia shook her head, yanking at the scarf. ‘It’s all the excitement.’

‘The excitement?’ Ivy said, raising her eyebrows and directing a pointed look at Jackson.

‘I mean of sneaking in!’ Olivia hissed, digging an elbow into her sister’s ribs.