Switched (6 page)

“But I
thought you were having lunch with Jeff Moore,” Olivia said to the blue metal
divider.

“I am
going to
strangle
you,” Ivy said, clearly exasperated. Olivia’s clothes
appeared at ankle level.

“You
mean the guy in the hallway?” Olivia asked, gradually piecing things together
as she handed back Ivy’s clothes.

“Yes!”
Ivy said.

“You
don’t like him?” Olivia guessed.

“No!”
Ivy cried. “I am
utterly
in love with him!”

“Oh.”
It all made total sense now. Olivia felt like such a dork. “I get it,” she said
sheepishly.

“Well?”
Ivy prompted. “What did he say?”

“I
bumped into him by accident,” Olivia explained. “He asked about my book. It’s
due back next Tuesday, by the way.”

“Did
he . . .” Ivy’s voice was suddenly much quieter. “Did he know my name?” Olivia
heard her sister emerge from the next stall.

Olivia
straightened her skirt and pushed open her own door. “You mean you’ve never
even spoken to him?” she asked.

Ivy
sighed dramatically and shut her eyes. “No.”

“Well,”
said Olivia brightly. “It appears your unusual mating strategy worked, because
I’m pretty sure the guy is totally into you.”

Ivy’s
eyes flew open. “What? What did he say?”

“Nothing.
He just . . . he seemed like he really wanted to talk to you. He was, like,
hanging on my every word. He didn’t want me—
you
—to walk away.”

“Like
how?” Ivy demanded.

“Stop
obsessing,” Olivia said, handing Ivy her bag and taking back her own purse. “If
I were you, I’d thank me for breaking the ice.”

“I
told you not to talk to anyone!” Ivy protested.

“Come
on,” Olivia said, giving her sister a playful poke in the arm. “Will you please
just tell me what happened with Charlotte?”

Ivy
leaned back against the bathroom counter to lace up her boots. “Well,” she said
matter-offactly. “It’s safe to say you’re not the only matchmaker in this
bathroom. In fact, lunch went so well that Jeff Moore asked you to go to the
mall with him after school.”

Olivia’s
jaw dropped. “No!”

“Oh,
yes,” said Ivy as she reapplied her makeup and a little sunblock. “I said you
were busy of course. He’s too dumb for you. But you should have seen the look
on Charlotte’s face!” She did a perfect imitation: chest out, mouth open, eyes
popping out of her head. Olivia laughed.

“Still,”
said Ivy, letting her hair fall in front of her face. “I’m glad to be myself
again. Talking about sports makes the lunch period seem
eternal
.”

“Careful,”
Olivia said as she pulled out the container of facial wipes. “Brendan might
like sports.”

“Why?”
Ivy gasped. “What’d he say about sports?”

“All
right,” said Ivy, looking in the mirror one last time. “Swear to me that I don’t
have any more of that stuff on my face.” She couldn’t imagine anything more
devastating than Brendan Daniels seeing her and noticing that her ear was all
brown.

“I
swear,” replied Olivia. “You look totally pale and ill again.”

“Good,”
Ivy said gratefully. “Almost ready?”

Olivia
wrinkled her nose. “I still have to fix my hair. Besides, maybe it’s better if
we leave separately. Won’t people get suspicious if we’re seen together too
much?”

Ivy
nodded. “You’re right. I’ll go first.”

Olivia
put down her lip gloss. “You know,” she said, “you really did look terrific in
that skirt.”

“What
I know,” said Ivy, hugging her sister, “is that
you
look terrific in
that skirt. See you in science.”

Ivy
pulled open the heavy door.

“Ciao,”
Olivia called after her.

With a
shock, Ivy saw Brendan Daniels less than ten lockers away. He looked like he
was waiting for someone.

He
must have been there this whole time!
Ivy
realized, her heart jumping around in her chest like a bat caught in daylight.
What
if he heard what we were saying?

“Ivy,”
he called.

He’s
talking to me!

“Ivy,”
he repeated, coming closer.

Ivy
forced herself to put one boot in front of the other. She ran a hand along the
wall of lockers to steady herself. “Hi, Brendan,” she said in a tiny voice.

“Listen,”
he began. He was the most beautiful boy she had ever seen. “Do you . . .” He
stopped and looked at the floor.

She
heard her voice say, “Uh-huh?”

He
looked right at her. Ivy put both hands on her bag to keep them from shaking.

“Do
you want to meet up at the mall? Like, after school?” he finally asked.

Ivy
didn’t respond. She thought she must have misheard him.

“Hey,
listen, I . . . never mind,” Brendan gabbled. He shook his head. “I’ll see you
around.” Suddenly he was walking away.

Speak!
the voice in Ivy’s
head cried.
Speak!

“Brendan!”
Ivy croaked. He spun around. “Um, what time?” she asked.

His
smile shone. “Does four work for you?”

“Sure,”
she answered, trying to sound relaxed. “I’ll tell my dad I’ll be home before
sundown.”

“Great,”
he said. He held up his hand, and then was gone.

Ivy
collapsed against the lockers. Her hands were still shaking, and her heart
pounded. People looked at her as they walked by on their way to class, but she
didn’t care.

Well,
she thought
breathlessly,
that’s one good thing about having a twin sister who’s a
social butterfly!

As if
on cue, Olivia emerged from the bathroom. “Wow! You look like you just did a
triple handspring and landed on your head,” Olivia said. “What happened?”

“He
asked me out,” Ivy whispered. She couldn’t believe she was saying it.

“What?”
Olivia asked, drawing closer. “Talk louder.”

“He
asked me out!” Ivy said again hoarsely.

Olivia’s
face burst into a smile. “Go, Ivy!” she shouted really loudly.

“Shut
up
!”
Ivy scolded, even though she couldn’t help smiling, too.

“That’s
awesome!” Olivia said. “When’s the big date?”

“Today.
After school.” Ivy panted. “The mall.”

Olivia
gave her a squeeze. “I have to scoot or I’m going to be late for art, but we
are going to have
so
much to talk about in science!” She hurried off
with a wink.

Ivy
was going to be late for class, too. She worked up the strength to start
walking, and, as she made her way slowly through the prebell crowd, she let
herself imagine her coming date with Brendan.

They
would walk around Spins, the record store, together; she knew he was into punk.
He’d hold up a pair of black jeans at Dungeon Clothing. He’d sit across from
her in the food court, drinking red lemonade through a straw.

As Ivy
turned into the main hallway, she imagined the two of them walking side by
side, talking on and on about . . .

What
are we going to talk about?
she
thought with a jolt.

Her
wave of excitement disappeared like predawn fog. How was she going to talk to
Brendan Daniels for a whole afternoon when five minutes ago she could barely
string two words together?

She
imagined herself with Brendan at the mall again, but now she couldn’t picture
him smiling. They’d sit in silence. He’d have to order another red lemonade and
drink it just to kill time. He would think she was an utter loser. She’d try to
come up with something funny to say, probably some stupid joke about the school
paper, but he wouldn’t laugh. He’d just look away.

I
can’t go
, Ivy
thought.

The
bell for the next class rang.

I’ll
tell him I’m sick,
she
decided.

Suddenly
somebody came up from behind and linked arms with her. She nearly jumped out of
her skin.

“And
where were
you
at lunch today?” Sophia demanded, poking her in the side.
“Giddyup! We’re late for English.”

Ivy
didn’t say anything. She let Sophia lead the way.

“What’s
with you?” her friend said. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. What, did
Brendan Daniels ask you for a pen or something?” she teased.

“I don’t
feel well,” Ivy replied weakly. “I think I’m sick.”

Sophia
stopped in her tracks. “No way, Ivy.” She shook her head. “You are
not
going
to bail on me! You promised me ages ago that you would come to today’s meeting.”

Ivy
realized that she had completely forgotten about the meeting. She couldn’t go
to the mall with Brendan; she’d agreed weeks ago to go to a meeting after
school with her best friend. Sophia would put a stake through Ivy if she backed
out now.

“I
know you, Ivy,” Sophia declared. “You
never
get sick!”

“That’s
not true,” Ivy replied halfheartedly. “I got sick in fourth grade.”

Sophia
smirked. “You got a marble stuck in your ear.”

“Okay,
okay,” Ivy said. She took a deep breath. “I’m going. Four o’clock, right?”

Sophia
nodded, and Ivy felt the blood drain from her heart.
It’s better this way
,
she told herself.
I’ll put a note in his locker after school, telling him I
can’t go.

She
let her hair fall in front of her face and followed her friend into their
fourth-period class.

“Okay,
class!” Mr. Strain shouted, holding a ridiculous red hunting cap on his head. “Spread
out! I want to see a full report on this soccer field’s flora! Remember,
conifers are extra credit!”

Olivia
clutched her sweatshirt around her and looked down at the leaf-covered grass. “I’m
all in favor of science class outside,” she said just loud enough so that Ivy
would hear. “But this is really dumb.”

She
turned to see her sister’s reaction, but . . . Ivy was gone. Olivia spun around
and spotted her sister’s black figure trudging off into the distance. “Wait up!”
Olivia shouted.

She
caught up with Ivy near the edge of the field. “Hey!” she said. “What are—”

Ivy
held up a red leaf. “Do you think this is an oak or an ash?” she asked
tentatively.

“An
oak,” Olivia told her, slightly confused. “I didn’t know where you went.”

Ivy
threw the leaf away and bent down to pick up another and then another. She
mumbled, “I didn’t want anyone to disturb my leaf sampling.”

“Okaaay,”
said Olivia doubtfully.

Ivy
kept working silently, picking up leaves, looking at them, jotting notes down,
throwing them back. She looked really sad.

Olivia
sighed. She touched her sister’s shoulder. “You’re really nervous about your
date with Brendan, huh?”

Ivy
moved away.

“It’s
okay, Ivy,” Olivia continued, full of sympathy. “This summer, there was this
guy I had the biggest crush on and he—”

“I’m
not going,” Ivy said to the grass.

“What?”
Olivia said.

“I can’t.”
Ivy shook her head. “I forgot I had this meeting I have to go to. I promised
Sophia ages ago.”

“The
guy you’re ‘utterly in love with’ asked you out, and you’re
not going?
”
Olivia cried.

Ivy
wouldn’t look at her. “That’s right,” she said. “And it’s for the best anyway.
If I go, I know I’d just do something seriously grave, like throw up on him on
the escalator or something. And then I’d regret it for the rest of eternity.”

“What
are you
talking
about?” Olivia demanded.

“I
know I would, Olivia,” Ivy barreled on. She was scattering leaves this way and
that. “And he’ll hate me—worse, he’ll think I’m seriously bizarre. And—and I’ll
have ruined everything.”

“Oh,
my gosh,” Olivia said with a shake of her head. “If this were the movies, I’d
have to slap your face to make you snap out of it.” She was so dumbfounded she
couldn’t think of anything else to say. Finally she just sat down on the
ground, eyes closed, thinking hard. She could hear her sister scribbling and
picking up leaves.

It was
a windy day, and Olivia shivered. She wished she was still wearing Ivy’s long
skirt.
That’s it!
she thought, springing to her feet and rushing to her
sister’s side.

“I
really wish you’d stop disturbing my sample,” Ivy said, stomping around.

Olivia
grabbed her sister by the shoulders. “Ivy, we have to switch again,” she said
sternly.

“You’re
right,” Ivy replied with a frown. “You’d be much better on a date.”