Vampalicious! (15 page)

Ivy pressed through all her friends. Brendan squeezed her hand briefly as she passed. She was about to cross the line into lane nine when Sophia shook her head. “No, no, no,” she said playfully.

“No improper footwear in the lanes, please,” Camilla added.

Rolling her eyes, Ivy bent down, unlaced her boots, and shuffled onto the lane in her black socks.

“Anyone who knows Ivy,” Camilla said, raising her voice, “knows about her distinctive sense of style. What would look ridiculous on the rest of us looks cool on her.”

“And there is one accessory,” continued Sophia, “that she has always wanted.”

Camilla and Sophia both eyed Ivy’s feet meaningfully. “Bowling shoes!” they declared as one. Sophia produced a box from behind her back.

Ivy grabbed the box and tore off the lid. Inside was a pair of black-and-white bowling shoes with smooth rust-colored bottoms.
These are killer!
Ivy thought, immediately dropping them to the lane and slipping them on her feet. They were a perfect fit.

“Everyone chipped in,” Sophia told her.

Ivy looked out at the crowd of people smiling at her. “Thank you all so—” But she couldn’t continue. Tears began flowing down her cheeks.

Ivy looked up and glimpsed Garrick Stephens and the Beasts making their way through the crowd, but Garrick froze when he saw her bawling.

“We just wanted to say good-bye!” he protested. “If we’d known it would make you feel so grim, we never would have crashed the party.”

Everybody laughed, including Ivy.
I bet there’s no one like Garrick Stephens in Europe,
she thought.

“I’m even going to miss you Beasts,” Ivy said, smiling through her tears. Olivia crept onto the lane and handed her a tissue. Ivy wiped her eyes, and the tissue came away black with eye makeup.

“I’m so lucky,” Ivy said as loudly as she could, “to have friends like all of you. I really, really don’t want to move. But at least I’ll be able to go, knowing that there are people here who love me.”

Sophia gave her a huge hug, and Camilla, Brendan, and Olivia piled on.

“You’ll always have friends in Franklin Grove,” Sophia said in her ear.

“You mean you guys aren’t going to chain yourselves to my dad’s car?” Ivy teased.

“We might.” Sophia smiled tearily.

Finally the five of them separated and faced the crowd, their arms around one another.

“I’ll never forget any of you,” Ivy promised. She wiped her eyes one more time and raised her arms in the air. “Now, let’s bowl!”

Olivia and Ivy sat together on a bench as the last guests milled around.

Toby Decker came up to say good-bye. “Interested in writing a regular guest column for the
Scribe
about what it’s like to be a Franklin Grover in Europe?” Toby asked with a grin.

Ivy’s eyes opened wide. “Are you serious?”

“You’re the best writer we have,” Toby told her.

“That would be deadly,” Ivy said appreciatively. “Thanks, Toby.”

“How cool is that?” Olivia remarked after Toby was gone. But Ivy didn’t seem to hear her; she was staring off into space.

“You okay?” Olivia nudged her sister.

“I was just thinking.” Ivy shrugged. “I’ve been so caught up in trying to get Dad to change his mind that it never occurred to me to do anything like this for him. He’s been in Franklin Grove for more than a decade. He should have a going away party, too.”

“That’s such a great idea,” Olivia exclaimed. “Reminding him of all the people he’ll miss could be just the thing to change his mind.”

“I doubt that,” Ivy admitted. “But it would make him feel good. And maybe that’s enough.”

Olivia nodded to herself. She had known Mr. Vega—her father—for such a short time, it would be nice to do something for him before he disappeared from her life.

“What are you two whispering about?” Brendan leaned over the bench between them.

“We want to throw our dad a going away party,” Ivy answered. “Do you think it’s too late?”

“Under normal circumstances, there wouldn’t be enough time,” Brendan admitted. He waved to Camilla and Sophia to join them. “But the good news,” he said as they trotted up, “is that you have Operation FANGED at your disposal!”

At 10 A.M. sharp, Sunday morning, Ivy convened the final meeting of Operation FANGED in Olivia’s family room. Camilla, Olivia, Sophia, and Brendan were all in attendance.

Ivy paced back and forth on the Abbotts’ blue shag carpet in front of the couch, where the others were all sitting in their sweats.

“We have exactly eight hours to plan and execute Dad’s going away party,” Ivy said. “Synchronize watches.”

Everyone looked at their wrists except Brendan.

“I forgot my watch,” he said with a wince, “but I can use my cell phone.”

Ivy frowned at him in mock seriousness. “You’d better shape up, Daniels, or you’ll be scraping cake plates at the end of the night!” She surveyed the group. “Now, to the first order of business: guests. At present time, we have none. We need invitations, and we need them fast. Any volunteers?”

Camilla’s hand shot into the air. “I can design something on Olivia’s parents’ computer,” she said, gesturing to the desk in the corner.

“Go!” Ivy commanded, and Camilla raced across the room.

Sophia raised her hand. Ivy pointed to her.

“Why are you acting like you’re in a bad action movie about a SWAT team?” Sophia asked. Olivia and Brendan both chuckled.

“Because I’m moving to Europe in three days and I can do whatever I want,” Ivy said with a straight face. She cracked a smile. “Also, I found these cargo pants while I was packing, and I think they look deadly.”

“They are pretty awesome,” Olivia agreed.

“Now,” Ivy continued, “who wants to deliver invitations and spread the word as quickly as possible?”

“Brendan and I can do it,” said Sophia. “We can run faster than, you know, most people.”

“I used to do track!” Camilla volunteered from where she was sitting at the computer.

But Ivy knew what Sophia meant—vampires were just superior to humans when it came to strength and speed. “Don’t you worry, Edmunson,” she told Camilla, “there will be more than enough tasks to go around. Besides, we have you only until sixteen hundred hours.” Camilla was hosting a big online forum for sci-fi geeks this evening, so she wasn’t going to be able to attend the party—which was probably for the best, since it was going to be Vamp Central.

“The next thing we need,” Ivy went on, “is a guest list. We want as many of my father’s friends and acquaintances as can possibly make it on such short notice. Abbott—pen and paper?”

“Check,” said Olivia, holding them up.

“Commence brainstorming!” Ivy declared.

Everyone started calling out names, and Olivia scribbled them down furiously. In fifteen minutes, they had a list of almost seventy-five people.

“Wow!” said Olivia, flexing her aching hand. “Your dad’s almost as popular as you, Ivy.”

Camilla rushed over with a sheet from the printer and handed it to Ivy. It was a jet-black square with white text and an icon of a white airplane on it.

“ ‘You are cordially invited,’ ” Ivy read aloud, “ ‘to bid a fond farewell to Charles Vega, before he departs Franklin Grove for exciting opportunities abroad.’ ” She flicked the paper with a black fingernail. “Excellent work, Edmunson! Let’s print one hundred copies and put them in the hands of our invitation runners ASAVP.”

“You mean ASAP?” said Camilla.

Oops
, thought Ivy. She’d mistakenly used the acronym for “as soon as vampirically possible.”

“Yes,” she replied.

Sophia and Brendan put on their coats, and, the moment the invitations had finished printing, they rushed out the door to deliver them.

“What else can I do?” asked Camilla eagerly.

Olivia flipped through her notes. She looked up: “We need to get to FoodMart to pick up paper plates and cups.”

“Done,” said Camilla, pulling on her coat.

After Camilla left, Olivia tossed Ivy the phone and she dialed the number for the BloodMart.

“Catering manager, please,” Ivy requested. “Hi, Mr. Bobovitch, it’s Ivy Vega. I’m calling because we’re throwing a last-minute surprise going away party for my father tonight.” She ordered a bunch of finger foods to be delivered to her house that evening. “And I hope you can make it, too, Mr. Bobovitch,” she added. “My father has always said you’re the best caterer outside Transylvania. And pass the invitation along to anyone else you think might like to come.”

“Will do, Ivy,” Mr. Bobovitch answered. “Everyone was sad to hear that your father is leaving us. I know lots of folks will want to say good-bye.”

Ivy hung up and handed the phone back to her sister. “What’s next?”

Olivia glanced at her notebook. “Now that invites and catering are taken care of, the only thing left is decorating your house. We can meet there this afternoon. If we work together, it shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours.”

“That won’t work,” Ivy realized. “Dad’s going to be home all day packing.”

Olivia wrinkled her nose. “How are we supposed to throw him a surprise party if we can’t surprise him?”

Ivy pursed her lips thoughtfully. “This calls for a covert operation.” A plan came together in her mind. “Later this afternoon, you and I will go to my house, and you’ll sneak around back. You’ll hide in my room while I convince my dad to take me to the mall. I’ll keep him away until seven P.M., when all the guests should be there.”

“Great,” Olivia approved. “That gives Brendan, Sophia, and me about two hours to get everything ready.” She stood up from the couch and saluted Ivy. Ivy saluted back, and they both cracked up.

They had a few hours to kill before going to Ivy’s house, so Olivia invited her sister down to the kitchen to have a bite for lunch. Her parents were out visiting friends who had just had a baby, so she and Ivy had the place to themselves.

Watching Ivy pick at a patty of raw ground beef while she had tuna salad, Olivia couldn’t help marveling at the differences between the two of them—and at how close they’d become.

“You know,” Ivy said, crumpling her napkin, “there is one person who knows the whole truth about why our dad’s moving.”