15 Secrets and Spies - My Sister the Vampire (4 page)

‘Hey, kids.’ Mrs Henderson, the bunny driver, smiled sympathetically. ‘Just take whichever spare seat you can find, OK?’

But there aren’t any pairs of seats together!
Ivy realised.

Brendan didn’t even seem to notice as he sank down next to a stranger. He just turned to stare out the window, oblivious to Ivy’s gaze.

Biting her lip, Ivy made her way to an open space on the bench at the very back of the bus.

‘Hey, where’s your boyfriend?’ an older goth girl called out as she passed. ‘You guys have a fight?’

Gritting her teeth, Ivy ignored the question. The bus started up with a lurch just as she reached the back, and she was half thrown into the empty seat. With no space to move, she found herself
crunched between a set of happily talking bunny girls and two goths busy arguing about whether the Pall Bearers’ new album was better than the one before. For once, she was too distracted to
even join in.

As the bus pulled away from Franklin Grove High, she turned to look back at the school through the window. Her gaze caught on an all-too-familiar figure.

Maya stood at the bus stop, staring right at the school bus as it passed her.

No
, Ivy realised, her eyes narrowing. Maya wasn’t just staring at the bus. She was staring straight at
Brendan
, right in the front of the bus. Her head swivelled to
follow
him
as the bus moved, and she lifted one hand in a half-hearted wave.

Suddenly, Ivy had a horrible certainty that she knew exactly who Brendan had been talking to. But how did he even
know
the new girl?

And why was he keeping it secret from her?

‘C
ut!’ Camilla yelled. ‘Let’s try one more . . .’

As everyone around them in the FoodMart turned to stare, Olivia stifled a groan.
Sometimes it isn’t easy to be best friends with a budding movie director!

‘What went wrong this time?’ she asked.

Camilla frowned intently under her plum-coloured beret. Her blonde curls sprang out around her face, looking wilder than ever after forty-five minutes of tugging at them with every failed take.
‘You need to walk
normally
,’ she said.

Olivia blinked. ‘I thought I was.’

‘No.’ Camilla shook her head. ‘Your “normal” walk is too graceful.’

‘Ohhh-kay.’ Olivia let out a soft sigh as she hurried back to take her place at the end of the Newspapers & Magazines aisle.

It was a good thing she’d put up with Tom Taylor’s ‘perfectionism’ on set the week before because, otherwise, she’d
never
be able to survive working with
her own best friend! Camilla had cornered her just after she’d gotten home from school, dragging her out to the FoodMart to work on . . . work on . . .

Frowning, Olivia came to a sudden stop, ignoring the irritated shoppers wheeling their carts around her. ‘What
are
we filming, anyway?’ she asked. ‘You never actually
told me.’

‘Oh, it’s a music thing.’ Camilla bit her lip as she fiddled with her smartphone, adjusting the settings. ‘This goth/indie band are inviting young film-makers to submit
footage for their new music video. The challenge is, they’re insisting it all be recorded on
smartphones
.’

Olivia stared at her in disbelief. ‘But you
hate
goth and indie music! You can’t even stand being in the same room as it!’

‘So?’ Camilla shrugged. ‘It’s going to be amazing publicity for anyone who wins. You’d never believe it from listening to their songs, but they’re
huge
.’

‘Really?’ Olivia felt a prickle of dread. ‘Wait a minute. We’re not talking about –’

‘The Pall Bearers!’ Camilla said cheerfully. ‘Have you heard of them?’

Olivia stifled a groan. ‘You could say that.’

Earlier that year, she’d been guilt-tripped into pretending to be Ivy at a Pall Bearers concert, so that she could get Brendan and Sophia into the show for free.
If only I’d
known that the band would invite me on stage
. Olivia could laugh about her “singing debut” now but, at the time, she thought she knew how Ivy’s tummy felt when she
accidentally took a bit of garlicky pizza.

‘Look,’ she said. ‘Have you really
listened
to their music?’ She waved a hand at the rows of newspapers and magazines on the racks beside them. ‘I can tell
you, footage from a nice local supermarket really isn’t going to do it for a goth band that thinks shouting “I hate you” over and over’ –
and over!
–
‘again is clever.’

‘Oh, I’ve got all of that under control.’ Camilla’s eyes were flinty with determination. ‘I spent
hours
listening to their new song . . .’

And you didn’t go crazy?
Olivia wondered. She would have needed earplugs and a tranquilliser to get through that torture!

‘. . . and here’s the thing: it’s about a relationship that’s ended badly, and it’s called “Yesterday’s News”. So, if their director has even half
a brain, he’ll
have
to see the symbolism in all these newspapers and magazines!’

‘Uh . . . if you say so.’ Olivia sighed. She loved seeing her friend so fired up – but when Camilla was in full flow, there was nothing that could stop her, and no point in
arguing. ‘Another take?’ she offered weakly, taking her place back at the end of the aisle.

‘Everyone stand back, please,’ Camilla called out. She flung out her left hand to hold back any other shoppers from stepping into the aisle. ‘Aaaaand . . . action!’

Olivia started forwards.
Right. Walk normally!
Half-smiling, she let her arms swing gently by her sides. Her chin was up, her eyes fixed somewhere in the middle distance, and her kitten
heels clacked against the floor as –

‘Cut!’ Camilla yelled.

Are you kidding?
Olivia swung to face Camilla – but for the first time that night, Camilla wasn’t looking at her.

‘We have an intruder,’ she said, pointing up the aisle.

Olivia turned back to look . . . just as a cute little boy raced past her, giggling. A harassed-looking woman scooped him up and carried him over her shoulder.

‘Mommy T-Rex!’ the little boy shouted gleefully. He flung his arms around her neck and grinned at the girls over her shoulder. ‘Raaar! Raaar!’

Olivia laughed. ‘Aww. Why not leave him in the shot? He’s adorable.’

‘I can’t see the Pall Bearers putting out an “adorable” music video,’ Camilla said.

Olivia nodded. ‘I guess not.’

A minute later, the aisle was finally clear again, with the little boy’s roars fading into the distance. For the twenty-first time that night, Olivia took her place at the end of the
aisle. This time, though, Olivia stopped at the magazines halfway down the aisle, idly picking one up and flipping through it.

‘Cut!’ Camilla looked both annoyed and apologetic as she hurried over, releasing the crowd of shoppers she’d held back until then. ‘What’s with the
improv?’

Olivia shrugged, trying to ignore the glares of all the shoppers who’d been held up for the take. ‘It felt right in the moment,’ she said.

‘We should really keep it simple,’ said Camilla. But before she could explain what she meant, her jaw dropped. ‘Run!’ she gasped.

Olivia didn’t even have time to look around before Camilla grabbed her arm and yanked her down the aisle, not slowing down until they’d turned the corner. Then, breathing hard,
Camilla hid behind the corner display of birthday cards. She pushed Olivia behind her, and peered back up the aisle they’d come from.

Olivia stood on tiptoes to look over her friend’s shoulder. ‘What are we looking at?’ she whispered.

‘Shh!’ Camilla waved frantically at her to be quiet.

Olivia opened her mouth to protest, then blinked as a nearly-empty shopping cart turned into their aisle, pushed by a familiar figure.

Lillian.

‘Um . . . Camilla?’ she whispered into her best friend’s ear. ‘Why are we hiding from my stepmom?’

‘Because I really, really want to talk to her!’ Camilla hissed.

Olivia looked at her in disbelief.
Is this some
kind of joke?

But Camilla’s face was pale and strained as she stared at Lillian with what could only be described as ‘yearning’. She definitely wasn’t making a joke.

Gently, Olivia put one hand on her arm. ‘We can hardly talk to Lillian from here, can we? Not unless we’re going to call her cell.’

Biting her lip, Camilla looked down at the smartphone in her hand. ‘Do you think we should?’

Olivia let out a disbelieving half-laugh. ‘Camilla, what is
up
with you today?’

‘I can’t help it,’ Camilla groaned, slumping against the rack of birthday cards. ‘I just really want to get to know her properly. She’s been working in Hollywood
for . . . for, like,
forever
.’

Olivia tried not to laugh.
You don’t even know how true that is
.

‘She could give me so much advice on real film-making,’ Camilla said miserably. ‘But I just can’t make myself talk to her!’

‘That’s ridiculous.’ Olivia rolled her eyes. ‘I know you’ve spoken to her before. What about at the engagement party? Or the wedding? Or –’

‘That was different!’ Camilla said. ‘We were just
chatting
then, about
unimportant
things. If I want to ask her for help and advice, though . . . Well, I want
her to take me
seriously
.’

‘I’m sure she will.’ Olivia nudged Camilla gently, trying to push her back towards the aisle. Over Camilla’s shoulder, she could see Lillian coming to a stop to look at
the rack of magazines. ‘She’s really nice. And why wouldn’t she take you seriously?’

‘Have you even
looked
at me tonight?’ Camilla seemed ready to cry. ‘I’m shooting footage on a
smartphone
. And, and, and . . . I’m wearing
completely the wrong beret!’ Camilla tore off her plum-coloured beret and looked at it sadly. ‘I need my
black
one when I talk to her. It’s my
lucky
beret!’

‘Camilla –’

Camilla shook her head, backing away from the aisle where Lillian stood, obliviously browsing a magazine. ‘I should go. I’ve got everything I need for the Pall Bearers’ video,
so I’m just going to . . . to . . .’

Run away
, Olivia finished silently for her friend, as Camilla turned and scuttled off without another word.

Sighing, Olivia started to follow, but then stopped.
Wait a minute
. Something about Lillian’s appearance had been niggling at her ever since she’d seen her stepmom turn on
to the aisle, but talking with Camilla had distracted her.

What was it?

Frowning, she peered back around the corner display.
Aha.

Unlike the last time she’d seen Lillian, her stepmom no longer looked ‘less-than-perfect’. In fact, Lillian had somehow found a way to look
too
perfect. Flicking
through the magazine, in an elegant black twin set and pearls, she looked more like someone who should have been on their way to a fancy vampire banquet, rather than ordinary grocery shopping. Her
hair was pulled back by a velvet headband, her make-up was perfectly – and elaborately – applied, and . . .
Are those false
eyelashes?!

Olivia stared in disbelief at Lillian’s thick black eyelashes, which were at least half-an-inch longer than usual.

Lillian would have seemed perfectly put together –
for a Hollywood party!
– if it weren’t for the glazed look in her eyes. As she put the magazine back and pushed the
cart slowly down the aisle, her gaze sailed over the books and newspapers on the shelves, clearly not taking in a single thing. And as for her ‘shopping’ –

Olivia sucked in a worried breath. There was only one thing in the cart: a big bag of candy. Perfectly normal for some people, maybe, but Lillian
never
ate candy.

What is going on?

As if she were asking herself the same question, Lillian suddenly came to a dead stop, nearly knocking into another woman’s cart.

‘Are you OK, honey?’ the other woman asked. ‘You look a little . . . lost.’

‘Oh . . . um . . .’ Lillian blinked, glancing around as if she’d only just realised she’d turned into the Newspaper & Magazines aisle. ‘I’ll be
fine,’ she said. Then she added, in a lower voice, ‘I hope so, anyway.’

She’s clearly not used to doing a weekly grocery run
, Olivia thought.
At least not in the FoodMart.

Maybe that was it. Maybe Lillian was actually here for the vampires-only secret store hidden beneath the FoodMart. The BloodMart was where the local vampires went to buy their synthetic food.
Since she hadn’t been in town long, though, maybe she’d forgotten which aisle held the secret door that the vamps used to get there – and of course, she wouldn’t be able to
ask just any ordinary shopper for directions.

At least I can help her with that part
, Olivia thought.

As the other shopper settled in to browse a cookbook, Olivia prepared to slip over and guide her stepmom to Aisle Twelve. She was just about to start forwards when she saw Lillian’s gaze
suddenly focus on a book in the Life & Style section. She scooped it up from the stand, looked at the front cover – and burst out laughing.