“You two.” Miss Everling pointed her pencil at Ivy and Sophia. “Follow me to the computers. I’m going to show you how to make a digital slideshow that’s guaranteed to make your friend laugh and cry. But, more than anything, it’s going to make her stay!”
At 4:30 P.M., Olivia stood behind her sister on the front porch of Ivy’s enormous house atop Undertaker Hill. They’d stayed after school with Camilla and Sophia, rushing to finish their presentation, and it looked totally awesome. But as Ivy reached for the doorknob, Olivia was suddenly filled with dread. “Wait,” she blurted.
Ivy stopped. Olivia turned and looked down on Franklin Grove; amid the fog and the bare December trees, she could just make out the roof of the school in the distance.
“Do you really think this could work?” she wondered nervously.
“Why? Don’t you think the presentation’s killer?” Ivy asked quickly.
“I do. I really do,” admitted Olivia. “But when my own dad decided to come to Franklin Grove for a new job, I begged him not to move. There was nothing that would change his mind.”
“Except my dad loves Franklin Grove,” Ivy said. “He always has. And while Europe’s a killer continent, I don’t want to spend the rest of eternity in some boarding school in Luxembourg.”
“Okay, but that doesn’t mean he loves...” Olivia’s voice trailed off before she said the word “me.” She’d barely seen Mr. Vega since finding out he was her father. The initiation with the Vampire Round Table meant that she’d been officially accepted into the vampire community, but even afterward he’d remained completely awkward around her. He doesn’t even like being near me, she thought.
“Maybe you should do the presentation without me,” Olivia said aloud.
“You have to come,” Ivy said. “You’re the best public speaker.”
“I know, but he’s never really seemed to... like me very much.” Olivia bit her lip doubtfully. “If I’m his daughter,” she said, her eyes starting to mist over, “then why doesn’t he love me? Is it because I’m human?”
Ivy’s eyes softened and she shook her head. “Our mom was a human like you,” she said gently. “She was the love of his life.”
“So what happened?”
“I don’t know, Olivia,” Ivy admitted. “Something that made him a separationist, more wary of mixing with humans. He changed. But that means he can change again.”
Olivia sighed deeply. “It’s just...I’d give anything to know what it’s like to have him as a member of my family, you know?”
“You will,” Ivy assured her. “But first we have to convince him not to move away.”
Olivia nodded and took a deep breath, determined not to let her sister down. “You’re totally right,” she said.
Ivy grinned encouragingly, gave Olivia a quick hug, and opened the door.
They found Mr. Vega hunched over his desk in his study. Ivy crept in while Olivia stayed back near the doorway. Even from across the room, she could see that he was sketching something with a piece of charcoal.
“Hey, Dad,” Ivy announced.
“Oh, hello, Ivy,” Mr. Vega said, bolting to his feet. “I didn’t hear you come in.” He shuffled his drawing under some other sketches.
“Hi...” Olivia said, momentarily unsure how to address the man before her, “Mr. Vega.”
“Hello, Olivia,” Mr. Vega responded stiffly, not having noticed her standing in the door until that moment. He quickly averted his eyes, and Olivia’s heart sank.
“What are you working on?” Ivy said.
“Nothing,” he said. “Just some design ideas.”
“My dad designed this whole house himself,” Ivy told Olivia proudly.
Olivia already knew, but she guessed Ivy was just trying to remind her dad of that fact. She tried to say something enthusiastic, but she was tongue-tied. “Cool,” she croaked at last.
“Each wall, each floorboard, each light switch, each shelf,” Mr. Vega said nostalgically. “I am going to—” He stopped himself abruptly.
“Miss being here?” Ivy finished his sentence, her dark lips curling into a grin.
“Yes,” Mr. Vega said. “Yes, of course. But a house is not a good enough reason to stay,” he added quickly.
“There are lots of other reasons,” Ivy said. “Right, Olivia?”
Olivia felt the familiar sensation of stepping in front of a crowd. She was still wearing her cheerleading outfit, after all. Her nervousness magically dissolved and she felt her voice bubble into her throat. “That’s right, Ivy!” she agreed. She reached into her backpack, pulled out the CD with their presentation on it, and held it out with a stellar smile. Time to cheer our hearts out! she thought.
“Please, Ivy,” her father pleaded as Ivy shooed him from his chair and slid the CD into his computer. “I am really very busy.”
“Too busy for the most important presentation of your entire life?” Ivy retorted. Her fingers were shaking as she grabbed the mouse, but she was determined not to let either her dad or her sister know how nervous she was. “You can go sit over there.”
“This won’t take long, Mr. Vega,” chirped Olivia. “You won’t regret it. Promise!” No matter what, Ivy thought gratefully, Olivia always rises to the occasion.
Defeated, Ivy’s father collapsed into the reading chair across from the desk. Once she had the presentation cued up, Ivy spun the monitor all the way around so her father could see, and then she and Olivia went around to the front of the desk and arranged themselves on either side of the screen.
“Ready?” Ivy whispered.
“Ready.” Olivia smiled, squeezing her hand.
Ivy reached behind them and clicked the mouse to begin, and the first plaintive guitar notes of “Paint It Black” by the Rolling Stones sounded from the computer’s speakers. Between Ivy and Olivia, a tiny speck appeared in the middle of the blank screen.
“I love this song,” Mr. Vega remarked approvingly.
Ivy couldn’t help rolling her eyes. “I know,” she said out of the corner of her mouth as the white speck grew larger and larger, like a meteor approaching from outer space.
“Shhh!” scolded Olivia as the title slammed to the front of the screen, accompanied by a sudden barrage of drums.