Читать книгу Secrets and Spies - Sienna Mercer - Страница 8

‘If you really think you can miss weeks of school with no consequences, simply because of your little “acting” career . . .!’

Hearing Olivia be verbally attacked by the mean guidance counsellor, without being able to step in and help, felt like torture to Ivy.

Come on, Olivia, she urged silently as she passed back and forth outside the closed office door. Stand up to her!

Ms Milligan the guidance counsellor was feared all through Franklin Grove High for her vicious lectures. Now it was Olivia’s turn to speak, though.

‘I have been taking time off school for my acting work, it’s true,’ Olivia was saying in a calm, confident voice. ‘But I’ve also made sure to get all the reading and homework done for all of my classes. You can check with my teachers, if you like, but they’ve told me they’re happy with my work.’

‘Hmm.’ Ms Milligan’s voice sounded sour, as if that were the last thing she wanted to hear.

Take that, Milligan! Ivy cheered silently, feeling very proud of her twin.

But Olivia wasn’t finished yet. ‘I can absolutely promise that I will not fall behind,’ she continued. ‘And remember, this is just until I finish this movie. As soon as Eternal Sunset wraps, I’m going to put my acting ambitions on hold until I’ve finished my education.’

‘Very commendable,’ Ms Milligan muttered, sounding like she’d bitten into a rotten egg.

It really is, Ivy thought. She wished she could reach through the door to give her sister a hug.

For any young actress, a choice between a normal life and Hollywood stardom would be huge . . . and it had to have been even harder for Olivia since her boyfriend, Jackson Caulfield, just happened to be a megastar, who would continue to travel the world shooting blockbuster movies without her. Ivy didn’t know if she would have had the strength to make the same decision in Olivia’s place . . .

But she was very glad not to be losing her sister again so soon after being reunited with her – and so soon after they’d both finally managed to settle into their new school!

I’m so relieved Olivia is genuinely happy with her decision, Ivy thought. Otherwise, I’d have to call myself really selfish right now!

As she turned on her heel to pace back down the hall in front of the office, her gaze landed on an unfamiliar girl hovering nearby, covertly watching everything.

Wait a minute. Coming to a halt, Ivy blinked. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that girl before.

People didn’t usually start new schools in October. But this girl looked the same age as Ivy . . . and one of the few advantages of Ivy’s brief, and highly unwanted, stint as Ms Popularity in her new school was that she knew every student, especially those in her own grade.

At one point or another, they almost all sucked up to me, she thought, cringing at the memories. Thank darkness that’s all settled down now!

But she definitely did not recognise this girl. And, even more oddly, Ivy couldn’t figure out what social group the girl belonged to.

With her long auburn hair and pale blue eyes free of kohl, she definitely wasn’t a typical goth . . . but with her plain jeans and dark blue top, she wasn’t an obvious bunny, either. And at Franklin Grove High – the most socially divided place Ivy had ever known – the fact that this girl didn’t wear group colours meant she was practically an alien!

Inside the office, Ms Milligan had begun to speak again, her tone sharp and angry. ‘You may think you’ve solved everything with your plans, but I’ll be keeping my eye on you, Miss Abbott. And believe me, if your academic performance slips, even for a single minute . . .’

Ivy’s jaw clenched as she listened. I’d better go talk to the new girl, she decided. Because if I listen to any more of this, I might just go charging in there!

Forcing a smile, she started forwards. ‘Hi,’ she said. ‘I’m Ivy. Are you new in town?’

‘Um . . .’ The girl stepped back a pace, but she didn’t look nervous. Instead, she looked annoyed. ‘Sort of,’ she mumbled.

Ivy raised her eyebrows. What’s that supposed to mean? ‘And . . .?’ she prompted.

As the silence stretched between them, the other girl sighed. ‘I’m Maya,’ she muttered, her body language making clear what she was not saying out loud: she did not want to be approached unless the school was on fire and she needed directions to the nearest exit.

So much for my distraction! Ivy sighed.

After her first few weeks at school, when the other students had treated her like a rock star, it was a relief not to be fawned over any more. But she’d never before seen a newbie flat-out reject a conversation on their first day of school! Maybe Maya just hated the whole world . . .

No, wait. Ivy stopped herself, taking a deep breath. What would Olivia do? Maybe Maya has just moved to Franklin Grove and she’s homesick.

As if thinking of her twin could make her magically appear, the door to Ms Milligan’s office swung open, and Olivia stepped outside.

Oh, my darkness, that hair! Ivy had to put one hand over her mouth to hide her grin. Olivia’s completely frizzed, staticky hair billowed out from her head and clung to the doorway. The beehive style might be gone, but it had left some seriously scary after-effects that, Olivia insisted, only a trip to the salon could fix.

I can’t believe I’m actually looking forward to going to a salon, Ivy thought, shaking her head. There really is a first time for everything!

‘All set.’ Olivia beamed at her. ‘Are you ready for homeroom?’

‘Absolutely.’ As Ivy walked past Maya, she mumbled, ‘See you around.’

It was like talking to a statue. The other girl didn’t even blink.

Whatever. Ivy rolled her eyes. At least I tried!

Halfway to homeroom, she and Olivia had to split up to collect their things from their lockers. Olivia’s own late start at school meant that her locker was not with Ivy and the rest of her class – she’d been placed with the older students. As Ivy waved goodbye to her sister, she turned towards her own locker . . . and smiled when she saw her boyfriend leaning against it, his back turned to her.

‘Hey!’ Running up behind him, she poked Brendan in the shoulder.

‘Ah!’ He jumped, dropping the phone in his hand . . . and when a vampire jumped, he really jumped. Ivy had to grab his arm to keep him from landing several feet away.

‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.

‘Sorry.’ Smoothing down his messy dark hair, he gave her a weak smile. ‘Just startled. I didn’t hear you coming.’

‘Really?’ Ivy blinked. ‘You know, Olivia said Lillian didn’t hear her approaching yesterday, too. Maybe there’s an epidemic of “vampire deafiness” going around!’ She snickered . . . but Brendan’s expression was blank as he gazed over her shoulder.

‘Hey!’ Ivy prodded his arm. ‘OK, I know that joke was dumb, but a true boyfriend would have given me a pity laugh.’

‘Oh.’ Brendan gave an obviously forced chuckle. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Good one.’ He met her gaze for a moment . . . then looked again back over her shoulder.

Ivy peered up into his face. ‘Are you OK?’ Stepping closer, she dropped her voice to a bare whisper. ‘You’ve been acting kind of weird ever since yesterday. Was it that phone call you got?’

He swallowed visibly. ‘What phone call?’

‘“What phone call?”’ Ivy stared at him in disbelief. ‘Come on. You got a mysterious phone call, and left the house to answer it – and then you came back and said you suddenly “had to go home” just because of some TV show you were missing.’

‘Oh. Well.’ Brendan ran one hand through his hair, not meeting her eyes. ‘That was nothing. I’m just tired . . . And y’know, I had a lot of homework to do yesterday. That English assignment really bit.’

Ivy frowned as his gaze drifted back over her shoulder. ‘So . . . that’s the only reason you look so tired today?’

‘Yes!’ His gaze snapped back to her. ‘Definitely. Totally. That’s absolutely it.’

‘Ohhh-kay . . .’ Ivy forced herself to nod, as if she’d accepted it . . . but her mind was churning.

Brendan is not the type of person to answer a question three times!

She reached out to touch his arm. ‘Brendan . . .’

He jumped away before she could touch him, moving hastily to his own locker a few feet away. ‘Hey, we should get to class.’ He scooped his books out in a rush. ‘I don’t want to be late, OK?’

‘OK.’ Biting her lip, Ivy grabbed her own books from her locker.

He started down the hall without her.

It’s all right, Ivy told herself. He’s just tired . . . I guess?

This really wasn’t like Brendan, the boy who had given her an awesome bat ring, and who had encouraged her to attend an elite school in another country without getting even the slightest bit jealous. As she shut her locker door, she looked over her shoulder and saw Maya, the new girl, looking in her direction.

Or . . . Wait a minute. A chill ran through Ivy as she followed Maya’s gaze.

It wasn’t Ivy that Maya was looking at. It was Brendan. And as Ivy watched, Maya moved towards Brendan’s locker. She didn’t even seem to see Ivy as she reached out to run one finger along the metal surface, still gazing after Brendan in the distance.

Standing frozen, Ivy replayed her weird conversation with Brendan in her head. He’d kept on looking over her shoulder, hadn’t he? It was as if he couldn’t look away.

And Maya was still looking right towards him.

Had Brendan actually been stealing looks with Maya?

The answer was a shout straight from Ivy’s heart. Absolutely not! Brendan would never do that!

‘Hey,’ Olivia called, as she weaved her way through a stream of students towards Ivy’s locker. ‘You ready to –’ Olivia’s eyes narrowed. She put one hand on Ivy’s shoulder. ‘Are you OK?’

‘I’m fine,’ Ivy mumbled, without looking around. ‘Just fine.’

But even as she followed Olivia in the direction of homeroom, she craned her neck to look backwards, keeping a watchful eye on Maya.

Something weird was definitely going on between Brendan and the new girl . . . and no matter what it took, Ivy was determined to get to the bottom of it.

By the time the bell sounded to signal the end of Chemistry, Ivy was so wired, she could have snapped at any moment. Worse yet, even as all the other students headed straight to the sinks to wash their hands clear of the gunky chemicals they’d been using, Brendan jumped up like he couldn’t wait to escape. Shrugging off his lab coat, he grabbed his bag, slung it over his shoulder, and practically ran out of the classroom with unwashed, green chemical-covered hands . . . alone.

Talk about suspicious! Ivy gritted her teeth as she washed her own black-and-red-covered hands in double-quick time.

It’s time to practise my investigative reporter skills – on my own boyfriend!

She aimed for the door like a loaded missile heading for its target. Unfortunately, someone hopped in front of her before she could even move three steps.

‘Ivy! Hey, Ivy. Hi! I just wanted to introduce myself !’ The perky blonde bunny girl who blocked her way grinned hopefully, bouncing on the toes of her pink tennis shoes. ‘I’m Marcia!’

‘Um . . . hi, Marcia. Nice to meet you, too,’ Ivy fibbed. She had seen this bunny girl plenty of times before, but this was definitely not the time she would have chosen for official introductions! She shifted to the left, shaking her head. ‘Sorry, but I’m –’

‘Oh, I won’t keep you,’ Marcia said brightly, even as she sidestepped to stay in front of Ivy. ‘But I thought it was definitely time that we met for real, right? Before next week?’

‘Uh . . .’ Ivy shrugged helplessly. ‘I guess? But the thing is, right now I’m –’

‘You’re Ivy Vega, right? And I’m Marcia Vincent. So . . .’ Marcia flung out her hands, beaming. ‘It’s fate! Because we’re definitely going to be paired up for next week’s assignments, right? Vega, Vincent – Vincent, Vega!’

‘Great.’ Ivy forced a smile. Brendan was getting away! All she could see of him now was the back of his head disappearing into the crowd. She tried a quick sidestep in the other direction, only to have Marcia jump in front of her like a football player making a block.

Is there any way past this girl?

‘Marcia . . .’

Marcia grabbed her hand. ‘Oh, I’ll let you go,’ she said. ‘But I just want to shake hands first with my . . . new . . . partner !’ She squealed the last word so high that Ivy’s eardrums hurt.

Ow! Sometimes it really did not help to have sensitive vampire hearing.

Ivy’s smile was definitely wavering by the time Marcia finished her enthusiastic handshake. The moment Marcia let her go, she lunged for the door . . . only to feel her nose twitch at an odd, pungent scent as she escaped into the hallway. Where is that coming from?

Her gaze landed on her own right hand, which was stained with some kind of chemical goo. Thanks a lot, Marcia!

Apparently, Brendan wasn’t the only one who hadn’t bothered to wash his hands at the end of their Chemistry lesson. To make it even worse, not only was Marcia’s goo foul and sticky, but it was also utterly, inescapably pink.

Bright pink.

Aaagh! Ivy let out a silent scream as she stared at the bubblegum-pink mess on her hand. No way can I walk around like this, she realised. The colour would make me sick even if no one else noticed it!

Growling, she veered off towards the closest girls’ bathroom. Thank darkness, at least no bunnies were there to waylay her this time. As soon as her hands were clean, she hurried back out, stuffing her hands safely in the pockets of her black cargo pants.

Unfortunately, having both hands buried in her pockets made her elbows jut out dangerously from her side . . . which made the crowded hallway into an obstacle course. Or a really sucky pinball game, Ivy thought, as a senior football player bumped into her and immediately bounced off, knocked aside by her vampire strength to fall against the closest wall of lockers.

‘Hey!’ he yelled.

‘Watch where you’re going!’ Another senior glared at her, rubbing his arm where he’d walked straight into her other elbow.

‘Sorry,’ Ivy mumbled. But she didn’t have time to slow down. She shoved the front door open with her foot, training her vampire ears.

Brendan’s voice came from the bus stop. ‘Look, we need to be careful,’ he was muttering to someone. ‘If anyone sees us together . . .’

“Us”? Ivy’s heartbeat pulsed hard against her skin as she started towards the bus stop. She couldn’t see Brendan yet, or hear any response from whoever he was talking to. Is he having another secret call on his cellphone?

Then Brendan said, ‘Come on. Don’t look at me like that.’

Aha! Ivy sped up until she was almost running. Mystery Person is right there with him!

She hurtled through the school gates and raced towards the bus stop . . .

Only to find Brendan standing by himself, his shoulders hunched, staring into space.

Panting, Ivy slowed down. ‘Are you OK?’

His head jerked up as he seemed to notice her for the first time. ‘Yeah! Of course . . . Why wouldn’t I be?’

‘Uh . . .’ Because that’s the second time today you’ve blurted three answers to a simple question? But the words dried up in Ivy’s throat, swallowed by sick dread.

She and Brendan had been so happy together for so long. What could be going wrong now? And why ?

The school bus ground to a halt in front of them, and Brendan started through the doors with what sounded like a sigh of relief. Ivy followed, her eyes widening as she saw just how crowded it already was from the last school’s pick up.

‘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?