Lucky Break

O
livia Abbott smiled to herself; the lilac crocuses in the flower beds along the sidewalk were the exact same shade as her mini dress. Franklin Grove was finally shaking off the snow from winter and spring was in the air.

Her twin sister, Ivy Vega, in her stompy black boots, seemed more interested in balancing along the line of black tar that ran between the slabs of concrete than in looking at the flowers.

‘Where’s he taking us?’ Olivia whispered to Ivy.

Mr Vega, their biological dad, was striding a few paces ahead of his daughters like he was
being stalked by a vampire hunter. He had asked for another bio-family afternoon together but hadn’t told them why.

‘Somewhere dark and quiet, I hope,’ Ivy whispered back, shading her black-lined eyes with her pale hand. ‘All this sunshine is giving me a headache.’

‘Don’t be such a hermit, Ivy,’ Olivia teased. Despite being complete opposites, Olivia totally loved her goth twin.

‘Come on, girls,’ said Mr Vega, his black blazer flapping as he beckoned them. ‘Our table at Mister Smoothie is booked for noon.’

Ivy stumbled, sending her long brown hair flying. ‘What?’

Olivia was surprised, too. ‘But last time …’ Last time, Mr Vega had accidentally ordered one of the smoothies that came with a sing-along from the whole restaurant, which hadn’t
bothered Olivia. But it was just about any self-respecting vampire’s worst nightmare and Mr Vega had been mortified.

‘Oh, that was only a bit of fun,’ Mr Vega said, clearing his throat and looking away.

‘Zombie alert!’ Ivy called, pretending to be scared. ‘Zombies have taken over the town!’

‘Don’t be silly, Ivy,’ Mr Vega said.

‘You must be a zombie,’ she retorted. ‘My father would never willingly go back to the bunniest place in town – no offence, Olivia.’

Olivia didn’t take any. All the vampires in Franklin Grove, like Ivy and Mr Vega, called non-vampires, like her, ‘bunnies’.

‘Don’t be silly,’ Mr Vega muttered. ‘It wasn’t that bad.’

What could possibly convince him to go back to Mr Smoothie?
Olivia thought. It might not be zombies, but something was going on. There
was something both sisters had been wondering about for a few weeks. At the beginning of the year, Mr Vega had told them that he was going to Dallas on a business trip, but Ivy had seen the tag on his suitcase for LAX – Los Angeles airport. Olivia had no idea why he would keep a secret like that.

‘You!’ commanded a voice.

Olivia looked over to see a woman in a deep purple skirt suit with brown high-heeled boots holding a phone to her ear and pointing straight at her.

It was Amy Teller, movie agent to the most famous male movie star, Jackson Caulfield, who also happened to be Olivia’s boyfriend. She marched over, stopping Mr Vega in his tracks.

‘No, I didn’t mean you. I’ve already told you!’ she shouted into her phone. ‘Jackson Caulfield does not do animal costumes.’ She clicked the
phone shut and pointed at Olivia again. ‘You can help me.’

Olivia gulped. ‘Uh, sure. What do you need?’

‘I need a decent coffee shop,’ Amy snapped.

‘I think the Meat and Greet serves coffee,’ Olivia replied. She was more of a fruit juice kind of girl.

A chirping came from Amy’s bag. She pulled out a different phone, checked the screen and then dropped the phone back in her bag, obviously deciding that whoever was calling wasn’t worth talking to. ‘But do they do a soy latte?’ she demanded.

Ivy snorted. ‘Doubt it.’

The Meat and Greet was secretly a vampire establishment catering to carnivores. Olivia could get a decent salad there but the word ‘soy’ was nowhere on their menu.

Something started vibrating in Amy’s bag and
she pulled out a third phone. ‘I have to take this.’ She turned her back on them and started to pace. ‘George, darling!’ she cooed.

‘We need to get going,’ Mr Vega told Olivia. ‘I, ah, I don’t want to lose our favourite booth!’

The perkiness that Mr Vega was putting on made Olivia even more suspicious. He was more of a moody violin than a chipper trumpet, so something was definitely going on.

‘OK.’ Olivia motioned for Amy to follow them down the sidewalk.

Soon the neon Mister Smoothie sign flashing ‘Fruitastic!’ came into view and as they crossed the parking lot, Mr Vega seemed to be staring at everyone. Amy was trilling in a high-pitched giggle to whoever George was and Ivy was still muttering about zombies.

Today is turning out to be a strange day
, Olivia thought.

‘Ciao, darling,’ Amy said and rounded on Olivia. ‘It’s your fault I’m stuck in this tiny one-horse town. The least you could do is help me find a decent cup of coffee.’

Amy was right. Jackson and his family had wanted to get out of Hollywood, and Jackson had convinced them that Franklin Grove was the place to go, because of the good school and quiet lifestyle.

The thought made Olivia want to skip the rest of the way.

‘Madam,’ Mr Vega put in. ‘There are many delightful things hidden in our little town.’

‘If you can’t
find
a delight,’ Amy replied, ‘how can it be
delightful
?’

‘Why don’t you try a smoothie?’ Mr Vega said.

Olivia was astounded. Mr Vega had become a Mister Smoothie spokesperson!

‘Never mind,’ Amy said. ‘Just tell me where
Jackson is.’

Olivia shrugged. ‘I think he’s with Brendan.’

‘And who’s Brendan?’

‘He’s my boyfriend,’ Ivy put in.

Amy narrowed her eyes. ‘And what exactly are they doing?’

‘Just hanging out, I guess,’ Olivia replied.

‘Jackson does not just hang out.’ She looked Ivy up and down, taking in her black combat trousers and skull-and-crossbones T-shirt. ‘If he goes goth, I will never forgive you. He’s already turned down a new big-budget movie series called
Striker
.’

‘He did?’

‘It would have taken him to St Petersburg for the summer,’ Amy went on. ‘But instead he wants to audition for the school play of
Romeo and Juliet.
The
school play
!’

Olivia grinned as Amy stalked off, exasperated.

‘That woman needs a vacation,’ Mr Vega said as they pushed open the door and stepped inside the brightly coloured restaurant.

The three of them approached the counter. Olivia already knew what she wanted, but Ivy buried her nose in the menu.

‘I’m pleased to hear your school is putting on
Romeo and Juliet
,’ Mr Vega said.

‘Me, too,’ Olivia said. She was planning to try out for the role of Juliet.

‘But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?’ Mr Vega said, putting one hand on his heart and the other pointing towards an imaginary balcony. ‘I played Romeo once or twice in my youth.’

‘Do you mean what neon horror assaults mine eyes?’ Ivy asked.

‘I would never be so rude.’ Mr Vega smiled.

The serving girl – it was the same one as
on the last visit, Olivia recognised her cow-shaped earrings – looked baffled at their return. ‘Welcome to Mister Smoothie?’ It was more a question than the usual perky statement. ‘I’ll be your elixir mixer.’

‘I’d like a small Cookies and Cream,’ Ivy said.

‘And I’ll have a Mini-Mommy Pear Perk-Me-Up,’ Olivia said.

Mr Vega studied the menu intently.

‘How about a Twist and –’ Ivy began with a wicked grin on her face. It was the Twist and Shout that made everybody sing.

‘No!’ Mr Vega jumped in. He cleared his throat. ‘I … I would like this one.’ He pointed to a Spacey Sour Apple smoothie and the serving girl looked relieved.

‘Coming right up!’ She busied herself with the blender.

‘Ah, Shakespeare.’ Mr Vega looked wistful
for a moment. Then he grabbed an orange straw from a cow-shaped dispenser. ‘
En garde!
’ he declared, pointing the small plastic ‘sword’ at Olivia. ‘You know, girls, I had to learn stage fighting for the role.’

Then he started to demonstrate by attacking Olivia.

‘Hey! You’re attacking a defenceless girl!’ Olivia shouted. She grabbed a yellow straw in one hand and a pink one in the other.

‘O happy dagger!’ she declared. It was one of Juliet’s lines from the very last scene of the play.

‘
Touché!
’ replied Mr Vega and they pretended to duel.

They even did a fun slow motion scene where Mr Vega pretended to get skewered.

‘Trips to Mister Smoothie are always eventful,’ Ivy said drily as the server handed over the three colourful smoothies.

Olivia poked her tongue out at her sister and followed her over to a four-seater booth by the window with a bunch of mini helium balloons that spelled out ‘reserved’. She was impressed with how spontaneous and relaxed her bio-dad was being.

‘I’m planning to audition for Juliet,’ she said to Mr Vega. She wasn’t going to admit it to her bio-dad, but she desperately wanted to play Juliet to Jackson’s Romeo.

It would be the most romantic thing
, Olivia thought,
to have our first kiss on stage in the most famous love story ever told.
Olivia didn’t mind that they hadn’t kissed yet. She totally believed in waiting for the right time, and the play could be the perfect moment.

Mr Vega bowed. ‘I look forward to watching you from the front row.’

‘Uh … great!’ Olivia made a mental note
that if she did win the part, she would have to bribe an usher to make sure neither of her dads was sitting in the front row. She definitely didn’t want them that close if she was going to be kissing Jackson. ‘Ivy is going to be the stage manager,’ she said to change the subject. ‘And my friend Camilla is the director. Although she did say she had some sort of twist planned.’