“I’ve accepted the job,” Mr. Vega announced.
Ivy blinked. “I thought you already said no.”
“I did.” He cleared his throat. “But now they have made me an offer that I cannot refuse.”
“What?” gasped Ivy.
“I have to.” He paused. “I would not be able to live with myself if I didn’t take the job. I start in about three weeks.”
A chill came over Ivy. She pulled the sleeves of her pajamas down around her wrists. “So you’re going to Europe?”
Her father nodded apologetically.
“But how am I supposed to stay in Franklin Grove if you go to Europe?” she asked.
He pulled a black handkerchief from his pocket and wrung it absentmindedly. “You won’t,” he said, a pained look in his eyes. “You’ll be coming with me.”
Ivy’s heart seized. “You’re taking me out of school?”
“There is a very good academy for girls like you in Luxembourg,” her father answered in a weary voice.
“I can’t!” she cried in horror, pulling a black cat pillow in front of her.
“We must,” her father said.
“All my friends are here!” Ivy pleaded.
“You will make new friends.”
“What about Olivia?”
Her father studied his hands. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
Ivy could feel tears starting to slide down her cheeks. “Why are you doing this?” she quavered.
“Ivy, I am taking this job for you,” he said gently. “You will understand one day, when you are a parent.”
Without saying anything more, her father started to walk away. He turned to look back at her solemnly before climbing the stairs. “We’ll be moving during your winter break. I know how hard this will be for you, Ivy. But try to think of it as a new adventure. For both of us,” he finished. Then he was gone.
Ivy was stunned. How can I leave Franklin Grove? How can I leave Olivia and my friends? None of this makes sense!
Ivy instinctively reached for the phone, but then realized that it was too late to call anyone. She buried her face in her cat pillow and stayed that way, thinking, unable to fall asleep for hours.
Chapter 5
When Olivia walked out of homeroom on Friday morning, Ivy and Sophia were waiting for her. Ivy’s voice sounded weakly from behind her dark hair. “Can you come to the science hall bathroom for a second?”
Poor Ivy, Olivia thought. All the attention is really getting to her.
A moment later, the three of them were alone in the empty bathroom. Ivy pushed her hair out of her face, and Olivia saw that her eyes were red from crying.
“What happened?” Olivia and Sophia said at the same time.
Ivy smiled for a moment. Then her face crumpled like one of those buildings that gets blown up to make way for a parking lot. “I’m moving to Europe,” she sobbed.
Sophia looked sideways at Olivia. “Did she just say she’s ‘moody like syrup’?”
“I th-think she s-said she’s moving to Europe,” Olivia stammered.
“What?” Sophia cried.
Ivy nodded in confirmation.
Olivia put out her hand, and Ivy grabbed it as if it were a lifeline. Sophia grasped Ivy’s other hand.
“It’s okay,” Olivia cooed, trying to keep her head.
“When is this happening?” Sophia asked.
It took Ivy three attempts before she could get the answer out. “Winter break,” she sobbed.
“But that’s barely three weeks away!” exclaimed Sophia, and Olivia’s heart plunged into her sneakers.
“Why?” Olivia asked, her voice tight.
Ivy couldn’t answer. Not letting go of her hand, Olivia inched over to the dispenser on the wall and pulled out some paper towels. She gave them to Ivy, who took them and blew her nose.
Ivy took a deep breath. “My dad took a job in Luxembourg,” she explained. She said “Luxembourg” like it was the North Pole.
Olivia shook her head slowly, the reflection in the bathroom mirror blurring as her own eyes filled with tears. “But you can’t go,” she said. “I only just found you!”
“You can’t go,” Sophia repeated. “You’re my best friend!”
“I have to,” Ivy said, and now they were all sobbing. The three of them flung their arms around one another and bawled.
When Olivia finally pulled away, Sophia and Ivy’s faces were both muddy with black mascara. She couldn’t help laughing. “You two look like raccoons.”
“So do you,” Sophia laugh-cried. Olivia looked in the mirror and saw that Sophia was right. Their Goth makeup had rubbed off on her face.
Olivia washed her face and was starting to reapply some blush when something else occurred to her. “Have you told Brendan yet?” she asked Ivy.
Ivy didn’t say anything, but suddenly her skin started turning a color Olivia had never seen before. It was pink, as if she was blushing.
“She’s going to faint!” Sophia cried.
Ivy’s eyelids fluttered and she slumped against the sink. Olivia rushed to hold her up. Sophia turned on the tap and threw a handful of water in Ivy’s face. Nothing happened, so Sophia tried again.
“Stop!” Ivy spluttered. “Stop it!” She stood on her own two feet and glared at Sophia. “What are you trying to do—drown me?”
“You fainted,” Sophia said apologetically.
“What? I never faint!” Ivy said in disbelief.
“Olivia asked you about Brendan,” Sophia explained gently.
Ivy blinked. Then she let out a tortured sigh. “Oh, yeah,” she whispered.
“I thought people were supposed to turn white before they faint,” Olivia said.
“Not vamps.” Sophia shook her head. “We blush.”
Ivy started drying her face with a paper towel. “I hadn’t even thought about Brendan,” she said hoarsely. “I guess I just didn’t want to think about it. Losing the two of you is bad enough.”
Olivia set her jaw. She didn’t want to start crying again.
“I’m going to the arcade with him tonight,” Ivy went on forlornly. “I guess I’ll have to tell him then.”
Facing the mirror, side by side, the three of them silently went about cleaning themselves up. After giving Ivy a hug, Sophia left first, because she had to get a book from her locker before next period.