Fashion Frightmare! (My Sister the Vampire) (15 page)

She popped up on to her toes . . . and groaned.
Oh, no.
Norah the server wasn’t even bothering to make any drinks right now. She was much too busy leaning over the counter,
flirting with Tall Tony, the comic book store owner!

Drat. So much for fixing him up with Blue Skye!

Olivia sighed. The truth was, she would actually think the scene in front of her was sweet, if only it weren’t for the fact that this line
just wasn’t moving.

In front of her, Maxie shifted from foot to foot, plucking nervously at the cuffs of his shirt. As she watched, his eyes darted towards the door.

No!
She tried to beam the silent message at him with pure willpower.
Do not turn tail and run. Not now!

But oh, no . . . when she looked back at the front of the line, the flirtation had only grown more intense. Was Norah . . .? Oh, drat, she
was
– she was
twirling . . . her . .
. hair!

This is a disaster.
Olivia clenched her fingers around her sparkly purple purse, desperately trying to think fast.
Time to come up with a Plan B!
But how could she get Penny
and Maxie talking now?
Unless
. . .

‘Reiko!’ She spun around to face the exchange student.

‘Huh?’ Reiko broke off from her raving about the wonders of gotu kola. ‘Did you say something?’

‘Yes.’ Olivia smiled purposefully as she looked at the tennis racquet still sticking dangerously out of Reiko’s neon backpack. ‘Can I borrow a comic book from you? Right
now?’

The other three girls stared at her.

Ivy blinked. ‘Um, Olivia? You want to start reading comics
now
?’

Olivia narrowed her eyes warningly at her twin. ‘Well, I need something to read if we’re going to be standing around for so long, right?’

‘OK,’ Reiko said. She shrugged, reaching for her backpack. ‘I’ve got a couple in here.’

‘Perfect,’ Olivia said.
And here . . . we . . . go!

She held her breath as Reiko un-shouldered her heavy backpack. Just as Olivia had hoped, the tennis racquet’s handle arced around like a dangerous weapon.

‘Ooh!’ Penny leaped back just in time, just before she could get bopped on the head . . .

. . . And she bumped right into Maxie, knocking his bag off his shoulder and on to the ground.

‘I’m so sorry!’ Penny gasped. ‘I – oh.
Maxie!
’ Pink flooded her cheeks. ‘I . . . I didn’t mean to . . .’ Her cheeks flushed even
pinker. Barely audibly, she mumbled, ‘Um, how are you? You’re not normally here unless it’s a Wednesday. Um, I mean, not that I
notice
what days you’re here or not
. . . or anything. Ha-ha . . .’

Ignoring the chaos at his feet, Maxie gazed at Penny with big, adoring eyes. ‘I – I – um, I mean, I’m fine. I’m . . . and you?’

Olivia gave a silent cheer of triumph.
They’re talking . . . OK, they’re barely getting their words out, but they’re
trying
!

Penny leaned towards Maxie, but she couldn’t seem to bring herself to look back at him. ‘I’m . . . fine,’ she said softly. ‘Just fine. How are you?’

Awww!
Olivia clasped her hands together in delight as she turned to Ivy and Reiko.

A wide grin stretched Reiko’s face under her pink-and-black hair. Ivy was smiling even as she shook her head and mimed bowing down to her twin.

‘
You win again,
’ Ivy mouthed silently.

Olivia sighed happily. It looked like Maxie wasn’t the only one who had a crush . . . and “Menny” was well on its way to becoming Olivia’s latest – and cutest
– matchmaking triumph!

Why can’t all romances be this simple?

Olivia would have loved to watch the scene unfold . . . but Ivy was already moving forwards to grab her arm and whisper in her ear.

‘These two won’t even notice if we take off.’ Ivy gave an impatient jerk of her shoulders. ‘I
need
to get this pashmina into the museum before anything else can
go wrong. Every second I wait, it starts to feel even heavier. Seriously, it’s already feeling like twenty pounds!’

‘OK.’ With one last, triumphant smile, Olivia sidled away from ‘Paxie’ and towards the door.

As the doorbell jingled over their heads, the three girls exploded on to the street.

‘Score!’ Reiko carolled. She bounced an invisible basketball in her hands and made a perfect, invisible shot into an imaginary hoop. ‘We did it!’

‘Everything’s working out perfectly,’ Olivia cheered. ‘All we have to do now is get the pashmina back into the museum, and then –’

She was interrupted by Ivy’s phone ringing. Ivy took it out of her jacket pocket. ‘Huh. It’s Dad. We’d better both take this one.’ Frowning, she put the phone on
loudspeaker mode as she held it out between her and Olivia. ‘Hello?’

‘Is your sister with you?’ Charles sounded worried. ‘I think both of you should head to the museum as soon as possible . . . I just hope you won’t be too late.’

Olivia gasped, crowding close to Ivy. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked, even though she was kind of afraid of the answer.
Has someone discovered that the pashmina is a
fake?

‘Alex and Tessa are just about to stop by to say farewell before they leave.’

‘What?’ Ivy’s voice came out as a near-shout. ‘But they weren’t supposed to go home for at least another week!’

‘I know.’ Charles’s sigh gusted through the phone line. ‘Unfortunately, they’ve decided to cut their trip short.’

‘But why?’ Ivy looked ready to tear her hair out, and Olivia knew exactly why.

They can’t leave now! Not before we’ve replaced the pashmina!

Charles’s tone was heavy. ‘You won’t believe what’s happened to them now.’

Oh, no.
Olivia closed her eyes.

The phone signal flickered, cutting off most of Charles’s words, but the few that Olivia caught were more than enough to convey the horror story.

‘. . . garlic . . . fang . . . contact lens!’

‘
Ouch
.’ Ivy and Reiko both spoke at once, cringing.

‘And they’re coming to the
museum
to say goodbye?’ Olivia whispered. Then she winced.
Of course they are.

They would definitely want to pick up their ‘lucky’ pashmina before they left.

The twins couldn’t let them carry the replica all the way back to Transylvania!

Ivy’s face hardened with determination. ‘We’ll be there as soon as we can.’ She snapped the phone shut.

Olivia, Reiko and Ivy all shared one frantic look as they absorbed the news.

Then, without a word, they turned and ran. The two vampires shot ahead within moments. Olivia struggled behind, panting. She didn’t ask them to slow down, though, even as they turned the
corner well ahead of her and disappeared.

We don’t have any time to waste!

T
wenty-three minutes later, Ivy led the charge on to the museum’s front steps, with Olivia gasping at the back.
Poor Olivia,
Ivy
thought. Without a vampire’s strength or speed, her twin had still run flat-out, first to the bus from Lincoln Vale, and then from the bus stop to the museum – all while wearing
kitten-heels!

I have to buy her some tennis shoes for our next adventure,
Ivy decided. For now, though, she just lunged towards the front door.

‘Wait!’ Olivia panted, leaning over with her hands on her knees and her usually smooth brown hair sticking to her face as she inclined her head towards the street nearby.
‘Look. They’re here.’

Whew.
Ivy let out her breath as she saw the unmistakable royal figures of Alex and Tessa walking down the street towards them.

Now, where’s Brendan?
She scanned the long street but didn’t see any sign of her boyfriend.
Oh, no!
She’d texted him to meet them at the museum, specifically
so that he could distract Prince Alex while Olivia distracted Tessa, Reiko distracted Charles, and Ivy replaced the pashmina.

When did a simple ‘switch’ become so complicated? How are we going to do this without him?

‘Hello!’ Prince Alex’s voice boomed down the street. He raised one hand, looking weary, but pleased to see them. ‘I’m so glad you made it.’

‘Thank darkness.’ Tessa gave a weak smile as she walked with him towards the steps. ‘I was so worried we wouldn’t be able to say goodbye before we left.’

‘We’d
never
let that happen.’ Ivy tried to smile back, but her hands were sweating so much, it was hard to concentrate.
I just hope no one tries to give me a
hug!
There was no way that Alex or Tessa would miss the feel of the pashmina bulking under her jacket . . . To Ivy, it was feeling like it weighed at least fifty pounds!

Act normal,
she ordered herself. She started forwards – then stepped back.
Wait. What
is
‘normal’? I don’t even know any more!

‘Do you really have to leave so soon?’ Olivia asked. ‘It’s a pity to only see you for such a short time!’

‘I know.’ Tessa sighed as she joined them on the steps. ‘I’m disappointed, too, but it’s been a long and . . . well, a rather difficult few days. Also . . .’
She touched her baseball cap with a pained smile. ‘I need to get back to my stylist in Transylvania to sort out the mess that is my hair!’

Alex rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. ‘I’m sure she’ll fix it beautifully,’ he told her. He sighed as he turned back to the twins and Reiko. ‘My mother has a few
“important” functions planned for next week, so Tessa and I really need to look our best. If only the myths were real, and vampires couldn’t show up in photos!’

‘Ha!’ Ivy grinned. ‘That’s exactly what I thought just before the fashion show at Café Creative!’

Alex and Tessa both laughed sympathetically.

‘But you looked beautiful at the show,’ Tessa said. ‘Truly. Even wearing Olivia’s dress!’

‘Well . . .’ Ivy gulped. Suddenly, the pashmina she was wearing –
Tessa’s
pashmina – felt like it was a living thing, crawling and tightening around her
shoulders. How was she going to get it back in place without them noticing?

She couldn’t tell them what had happened, not without getting poor Maxie into serious trouble. But otherwise . . .

‘Do you want to go for a quick smoothie first, before we go inside?’ she blurted.

‘Ugh!’ Tessa shuddered and stepped back. ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t ever want to go to Mister Smoothie’s again! Not after last time.’

‘Never,’ Alex agreed. He put one hand to his head as if testing it for leftover drops of peach juice.

‘Besides,’ Tessa added, ‘I’ve been so longing to really
see
the museum. I’ve been hoping that your father might even give us a quick tour of his triumphant
Transylvanian exhibit before we head off. We can see the pashmina in its place of honour, and then I’m afraid we will take it back home. I’m just too nervous to be without it any
more.’

‘Well, then . . .’ Olivia’s smile was bright, but Ivy could clearly see the panic behind it. ‘I can’t think of a single reason to refuse that request. Not one. Who
could?’ Her voice rose, growing tight with panic. ‘Ivy? Reiko? There’s no way we can say “no”. Right? I mean, who could possibly think of a reason to say
“no” to that? There is no reason!’

Uh-oh. Olivia’s about to lose it!

Ivy grabbed her twin’s hand and pulled Olivia with her to the front door. ‘You’re absolutely right,’ she said. ‘There’s no reason to refuse the request. So
let’s give Alex and Tessa that tour . . . and make sure it’s
memorable
!’

‘OK?’ Olivia whispered.

As Ivy pushed the front door open, she felt her sister’s gaze focus on her in a silent message:
Are you sure you know what you’re doing?

Ivy stepped inside to hold the door open for the rest of the group, giving her twin the most confident smile she could manage.

Let’s just hope she doesn’t guess . . . that I don’t have a single clue what I’m going to do now!

‘Are you all right?’ Alex looked at Olivia with concern as they walked inside. ‘You seem a little breathless.’

‘Oh . . .’ Olivia gave him a weak smile, still panting from her earlier exertion. ‘I’m just really excited about getting back into the museum, that’s
all.’

‘Wow!’ Alex’s eyes widened. ‘Now I’m
really
looking forward to this tour!’

Uh-oh.
A nervous shiver ran all the way down Ivy’s spine.
Whatever it is that I’m about to do . . . it has to work!

Reiko was the last inside, looking around with bright curiosity.

Darting around the others, Ivy caught Reiko’s eye and mouthed: ‘
Stall them!
’

Then she ran, leaving Reiko and Olivia to make her excuses.

Ivy’s feet pounded on the marble floors of the museum, sending crashing echoes through the long display rooms and making museum guests turn and stare as she passed. She couldn’t
stop, or even slow down. She just had to get to the decoy pashmina before –

‘Ivy!’ Strong hands grabbed her shoulders. ‘Watch out! You were about to crash into me.’