Free Vampalicious! by Sienna Mercer

Maybe my father and I can decorate the tree together.
     

Chapter 6
    Ten minutes before her social studies exam, first thing on Friday morning, Olivia was huddled in a stall in the science hallway bathroom, rushing to switch clothes with her sister. She frantically peeled Ivy’s black leggings from her legs.
     
    “You saw Brian Warchuck?” she said to the metal divider.
     
    “He’s still in love with you.” Ivy’s voice echoed from the next stall.
     
    Olivia’s heart raced. “How’d he look?” She’d been waiting her entire life to see her Prince Charming again!
     
    “Like a pencil with pimples,” Ivy’s voice answered matter-of-factly.
     
    “Noooo,” said Olivia, grabbing the pink fuzzy sweater Ivy had just thrown over the divider. “He used to be so cute!”
     
    “Well, he still is, if you like boys who plaster their hair to their foreheads with Vaseline,” Ivy told her. Olivia heard her sister’s stall door open and shut. “Anyway, you’d better hurry up. We’re going to be late for our last midterm, and I still haven’t told you about how our dad’s not moving to Europe.”
     
    “What did you say?” Olivia gasped. She threw open her stall door to see her sister grinning at her with her arms crossed.
     
    “We’re not moving,” Ivy said. “Our father’s dream job has come up—and it’s right here in Franklin Grove!”
     
    Olivia listened intently as her sister told her all about overhearing the vamp curator’s conversation about the job opening at the art museum. It sounded perfect!
     
    “Do you really think he’d put himself up for it?” Olivia asked.
     
    “He already has,” Ivy said, raising one eyebrow. “I sent Mr. Grosvenor an e-mail from my web account using your parents’ computer last night. I talked all about my qualifications: my longtime patronage of the museum, what an upstanding member of the community I am, all the design awards I’ve won. It was some of my best writing.”
     
    “I didn’t know you’d got design awards,” Olivia said, impressed.
     
    “The e-mail wasn’t from me ,” explained Ivy. “It was from Charles Vega. Since my e-mail address is just my last name, Mr. Grosvenor will never know the difference.”
     
    “You forged an e-mail?” asked Olivia. “Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Ivy stated. “Even jail would be better than Europe.”
     
    That’s true , Olivia thought. “I’d bring you cupcakes,” she said. “And we could talk on the phone through Plexiglas, like they do in the movies.”
     
    A few moments later, they were back to looking like themselves, and Olivia and her sister were speeding down the hall toward social studies. “Can I ask you a favor?” Olivia asked, remembering the previous night with her father.
     
    “Anything,” Ivy said. “As long as I don’t have to go to cheerleading practice.”
     
    Olivia lowered her voice as they made their way through the bustling crowds. “Can we switch again tonight?”
     
    “Two nights in a row?” replied Ivy. “My skin will start turning pink!”
     
    Olivia smiled. “Our dad’s always so weird around me because I’m human. But when I pretend to be you, he’s more relaxed. It’s the only time I ever get to see what he’s really like. He wants to decorate the Christmas tree tonight.”
     
    Ivy rolled her eyes. “That’ll take hours .”
     
    “It would really mean a lot to me,” Olivia said softly.
     
    They stopped outside the door of the social studies classroom. “Sure,” Ivy agreed. “It wouldn’t be such a stake in the heart to spend some more time at your house. I’m starting to feel like your mom’s my mom, too.”
     
    “Thanks, Ivy,” Olivia said gratefully. “It might be my last chance to spend time with him.”
     
    “Not if I can help it!” Ivy said firmly.
     
    Olivia smiled at her sister’s determination and then followed her into the classroom to take their social studies exam.
     
    At the end of the day,