Ivy slipped behind a school flag, hoping to catch a hint of what Garrick and Charlotte were talking about, but she couldn’t hear what they were saying. She did notice Charlotte’s bunny eyes light up and saw her nodding like Garrick had just promised her a shopping spree. Then Charlotte ran back to her friends, Katie and Allison, shrieking, “Guess what?” and Ivy heard them tittering excitedly as they disappeared down the hall together.
Garrick was slinking back to his friends with a devilish leer plastered on his face when Ivy intercepted him. “What are you up to?” she demanded.
“Vega,” said Garrick. “Wake up on the wrong side of your box again this morning?”
Ivy narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you think it’s time to wash your T-shirt?” she asked pointedly. “It’s ready to climb out of a coffin all on its own!”
“Hey,” Garrick retorted, “I got a free top-of-theline, brand-new Interna 3 out of all the publicity I’ve been throwing their way. And you thought jumping out of that coffin was a bad idea! Shows what you know.”
Ivy rolled her eyes. “What’s going on with you and Charlotte Brown?”
“None of your business,” he answered.
Ivy bore down on him with her death squint.
Garrick’s mouth spread into a sinister grin. “I’m, uh, interviewing her for my movie.” He raised his eyebrows and puffed out his chest. “Once Serena Star sees it, she’ll be begging me to come back on her show,” he added. “And Charlotte might just win an Academy Award for Best Victim,” he finished with a wink.
Then he sauntered back to his friends, who greeted him with hoots and hollers, and Ivy frowned as she watched.
Suddenly, there was a tap on her shoulder, and Ivy turned to find Serena Star smiling at her strangely. Right away, Ivy noticed that there was something different about her. For one thing, her cameraman wasn’t with her. Also, she was wearing the same suit she’d been wearing yesterday, and her hair looked unusually flat.
“I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” said Serena.
Ivy wanted to say You mean Toby has, but she thought better of it. “Well, here I am.” She shrugged. “Aren’t you leaving for Hollywood to interview Charlene Costa?”
“Not until I’m finished with Franklin Grove,” replied Serena, her eyes flashing. “I thought you’d like to know that I’ve decided to reshape my story.”
Ivy took a step back. “What do you mean?”
“Well,” Serena said, nodding wildly, “I’ve been in this town all week, and it’s clear that there’s no big secret here.”
Ivy stared at her incredulously.
“So what I’m going to do,” Serena went on, “is profile a Goth who’s really a leader in this community. Someone who all the others look up to, a real role model. I can’t think of a better way to show America that Goths are nothing to be afraid of. And guess who I want to profile?” Serena raised her thin eyebrows.
Ivy swallowed. “Me?”
Serena unleashed a smile that nearly blinded her. “That’s right.”
“You’re serious?” Ivy asked suspiciously.
Serena nodded enthusiastically. “Aren’t I always?”
She’s not kidding, Ivy thought. I think we might have fooled her.
“So?” Serena Star pressed. “Ready for your close-up?”
“I don’t really like being the center of attention,” Ivy said. It was true. Just the thought of being on TV made her stomach hurt—she’d had a hard enough time pretending to be head of decorations at the All Hallow’s Ball. “I’m not even wearing the right clothes,” she added, gesturing to her old black cardigan and flared black pants.
“I won’t take no for an answer,” Serena said, with a sparkly smile.
If this is what it takes to shut the coffin on Serena’s interest in Franklin Grove once and for all, Ivy thought, I’d better do it.
She forced herself to smile too. “Then I guess I have to say yes,” she told Serena.
“Maybe we can pull Edna’s jeweled fan across the screen to reveal a map of Italy,” suggested Olivia. Camilla nodded enthusiastically. “That’s a great idea.” They were in media studies, working on the storyboard for their movie. Mr. Colton said they had to plan every single shot, to make sure they used up the whole five minutes.
Behind them, Olivia could hear Garrick and his friends whispering intensely. Olivia heard Garrick mutter, “. . . on eBay. They were a sick bargain!”
“Let me see!” one of the other boys whispered. There was some rustling, and then Olivia heard something clatter to the floor. She looked down. Gross , she thought, making a face. Dentures. They were all old and yellow and pointy.
Wait a sec, Olivia thought. Those aren’t just dentures!
Garrick snatched the teeth off the floor and shoved them in his pocket. “You guys are going to get us staked!” Olivia heard him hiss as he slid back into his seat.
So Garrick’s finally got himself a set of fake fangs, Olivia thought, but at least he’s trying to keep them a secret. Maybe he’s finally decided to give the publicvampire routine a rest!
The bell for the end of school rang, and Ivy put her hand on Olivia’s open notebook just as her sister was about to close it. “Play dead for a minute,” she said quietly. “I need to talk.”
The other students in science class filed out of the room. Mr. Strain finished cleaning the blackboard and looked at them expectantly.
“We’re just going to stay here and talk about tomorrow’s experiment for a few minutes, if that’s okay with you, Mr. Strain,” Ivy said.
“Of course,” Mr. Strain replied. “I’m glad you girls are finally starting to take scientific exploration seriously.” He picked up a huge pile of papers from his desk, squeezed them into his briefcase, and walked out the door, leaving Olivia and Ivy alone.
“What’s up?” asked Olivia. “Serena Star wants to interview me,” Ivy answered nervously.
“No way!” gasped Olivia. “I thought she was backing off.”
“She is.” Ivy nodded. “She says she wants to profile a Goth student who’s a good role model.”
“Great!” Olivia declared. “At last this whole deep, dark vampire secret thing seems to be blowing over.”