06 Love Bites - My Sister the Vampire (3 page)

‘Oh, no,’ Olivia said, reaching to give the girl a hug. ‘What’s wrong?’

Janie held out her fist and opened it, palm up. The candy heart was still there but the message now read, ‘I EAR U.’ The letters had smudged off in her sweaty hand.

She sniffled. ‘What am I going to give him now?’

Even though it was weird to have so many people obsessed with her boyfriend, Olivia
couldn’t let Janie be upset. She spotted a bunch of construction paper pink hearts taped up on one of the book displays. She looked both ways, to make sure no one was watching, and gently pulled off one of the smaller hearts.

Janie watched, her bottom lip trembling.

Olivia dug in her bag and pulled out a black pen. ‘We’ve got this.’ She held up the heart. ‘And this.’ She held up the pen. ‘And we’ve got about five minutes for you to write something for Jackson on it.’

Janie’s eyes lit up. ‘Thanks!’ She took the pen and the heart and wrote, ‘I ♥ YOU,’ in the middle. She spent the following four minutes admiring it.

‘Next!’ called a woman in a dark green tailored suit with an orange silk scarf. It was Amy Teller, Jackson’s manager.

Janie took a deep breath and stepped up to the table. Olivia watched as Jackson turned his
full attention to her, giving a trademark wide white smile.

‘Hello. What’s your name?’ he asked. His attention was fully on the little girl and he’d totally failed to see that Olivia was next in line. She couldn’t help smiling to herself.
He’s so good to his fans.

Janie was clutching the little pink paper heart so hard she was crushing it.

‘J-Janie,’ she replied, then thrust the heart out to him.

‘Thank you,’ Jackson said, his blond hair flopping over his blue eyes as he read it. ‘That’s really sweet.’

‘I messed up your first present,’ Janie confessed and stepped to the side, pointing at Olivia. ‘She helped me.’

Jackson looked over and Olivia felt her heart cartwheel. He half stood up and leaned over the
desk, almost knocking a pile of books over but not taking his eyes off her. She felt a flush of excitement and her heart raced.

‘Olivia!’ He looked happy but confused. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘Remember, I said last night . . .’ Olivia began, wanting to give him a hug but feeling like it would be inappropriate.

Jackson winced. ‘You totally did. I’m really sorry! Why didn’t you call?’

‘I tried,’ Olivia replied, glad that it was all over now and she could talk to her boyfriend at last.

Amy Teller, Jackson’s manager, was talking to a man at Jackson’s shoulder. ‘What do you mean, we’ve run out?’ She was towering over one of the store’s employees. His face was bright red.

‘We just didn’t expect this many girls,’ the short man in thick-rimmed glasses replied.

‘That’s right,’ Amy drawled, ‘because a visit
from an A-list movie star is so yesterday, isn’t it?’ She threw her hands up and leaned over to Janie. ‘I’m sorry, sweetie,’ she said, in a fake syrupy voice, ‘but we don’t have any more of Jackson’s Valentine’s photo frames.’

Janie’s eyes filled with tears again.

‘But she’s been waiting in line forever,’ Olivia said.

‘No more?’ Janie echoed in disbelief.

‘Don’t be upset,’ Jackson said.

Olivia looked at him pointedly. ‘She’s
really
been looking forward to seeing you.’

‘OK, wait there a minute,’ Jackson said, pointing to a couple of empty chairs behind him. Then he leapt up on to the table and called out to the rest of the line, ‘Everyone, I’m really sorry to say that we’ve run out of the Valentine’s photo frames.’

The crowd sighed with disappointment.

‘But,’ he went on, ‘my pen hasn’t run out of ink and I’ll be here until I’ve signed every last one of your copies of
Jackson’s Journal.’

Everyone burst into cheers.

‘Will you sit with Janie for a minute?’ Jackson said to Olivia, touching her hand gently. ‘We can talk after this.’

He sat back down and motioned for the girl behind Olivia to come over.

Olivia sighed.
More waiting.
She sank into the chair next to a very excited Janie.

‘Oh my goodness,’ she whispered. ‘This is so cool! I’m hanging out with Jackson Caulfield!’

Idly, Olivia picked up a copy of
Jackson’s Journal
from one of the displays on either side of the line. It had photos of the small town where he was from, pictures of him as a baby and all about his movie career. It mentioned
The Groves,
but there wasn’t any mention of Olivia.

‘Amy?’ she asked. ‘How come I’m not in here?’

Amy rolled her eyes. ‘Do you have any idea how long it takes to make a book?’ she replied. ‘They’d finished writing it before he’d ever met you. Besides, having a girlfriend isn’t good for his image.’ She swept her hand out over the line of girls still waiting to get their books signed. ‘Think of all the broken hearts.’

What about
my
heart?
Olivia thought.

She watched the next person, a girl about Olivia’s age with cropped brown hair wearing a T-shirt from
The Right One
movie.

‘Happy Valentine’s Day,’ Jackson said to her with a smile.

He hasn’t even said Happy Valentine’s to me,
Olivia realised.

Girl after girl came up and received the full focus of Jackson’s attention for at least a minute – more than
Olivia had – and walked away happy.
At last, there were only three people left in line: two teenage girls and one older woman carrying her dog, with a studded dog collar that spelled out Jackson’s name.

When he was finished, Jackson turned to Olivia and Janie. ‘Well, now,’ he said, with a wink. ‘My two favourite Valentines.’

But before he could say anything more, Amy picked up her big grey handbag. ‘That was great. Now, just say a quick goodbye and we’ll get you to the VIP party.’

Olivia’s stomach lurched. ‘You never told me about the VIP party,’ she said, trying to control her emotions in front of Janie, who was listening to every word.

‘I forgot. I’m sorry,’ Jackson said, looking pained. He touched her hand again. ‘Look, if you’ll just hold on –’

‘I can’t,’ Olivia said.
And after hours of waiting
already, I shouldn’t have to!
‘Ivy has been waiting for me to leave; we’ve got to finish packing.’

Jackson looked unhappy. ‘I wanted to see you before you went away.’

‘That’s why I came,’ Olivia said. She wished that everything between them wasn’t always so fleeting. She pulled out the box she’d wrapped in crinkly silver paper and handed it to him. ‘Happy Valentine’s Day.’

He took it and gave her a huge hug. For a moment, it felt like everything in the world was just how it should be. ‘Thank you.’

He carefully unwrapped the paper and opened the little box. He pulled out the pair of cowboy boots and grinned.

‘Yeehaw,’ Olivia said quietly.

Jackson smiled, looking right into her eyes. She knew that he totally got her present.
Maybe the waiting was a little worth it,
Olivia thought.

‘Those are so cute!’ declared Janie, peering at the cowboy boots. ‘They look just like yours, Jackson.’

‘They do, don’t they?’ Jackson replied.

He looked from the boots to Janie and then to Olivia. She realised without him saying a word what he was thinking.

‘You don’t mind, do you?’ Jackson asked.

Olivia was torn. It was really sweet for Jackson to give Janie something so special – but it was his Valentine’s present.
Why doesn’t he want to keep it for himself?
Olivia thought.

Still, she wanted Janie to leave happy and knew that was all Jackson was trying to do. She shook her head and he handed one over to a beaming Janie.

‘And I’ll always keep the other one very close to my heart,’ Jackson said, holding up the one with Olivia’s initials on it.

‘You two are the best!’ Janie shouted, giving Jackson and then Olivia huge hugs. ‘I think you make the perfect couple,’ she whispered and skipped out of the store.

‘Jackson,’ Amy warned. ‘We have to go now.’

‘I’m really sorry,’ Jackson said to Olivia. ‘Your present isn’t . . . uh . . . ready yet. You know Valentine’s isn’t until the end of the week . . .’ he trailed off.

Olivia tried to smile. ‘It’s fine, don’t worry.’ But inside she felt like this morning had been nothing but a big disappointment. ‘We’ll see each other when I get back from Transylvania.’

‘If not before,’ Jackson said. He gave her a hug and squeezed her hand. ‘I’m really sorry about today.’

‘Jackson,
Amy insisted.

‘Bye,’ Olivia said quietly.

‘Bye.’ He waved as he walked away.

She was about to spend yet another week away from Jackson in Transylvania, and he didn’t even seem to care that much. As she walked out of the store, past the rows of Jackson Caulfield books, DVDs and posters, Olivia felt like a deflated balloon.

Might as well go home and finish packing for the trip,
she thought,
but where’s Ivy?
It had almost been two hours since she’d seen her sister. Olivia pulled out her phone and pushed redial.

The phone rang twice and Ivy picked up. Then Olivia heard a crash and a squeal. She yelped, holding the phone away from her ear.

‘That sounded painful!’

Operation Night Stalker was well under way. Ivy had wrapped her black scarf over her head like a ninja and she was peering around a shelf of shoes.

Her suspect was ten feet due north, staring intently at a row of belts hanging on pegs.

She’d trailed him through Midnight Clothing, the Sweet Tooth candy shop and George’s Glass Emporium but he still hadn’t bought anything. Now, he was in Batty for Beads, the accessory store, and was looking baffled by the huge range of bags, shoes, jewellery and belts.

‘Can I help you?’

The voice behind her made Ivy jump.

‘Uh, no,’ Ivy mumbled to the store assistant. ‘Just looking, thanks.’

Brendan moved out of sight.

Drat,
Ivy thought.
I’m going to have to follow.

She flattened her back against the end of the shoe shelf and leaned out briefly, like a SWAT team member about to storm a building.

Clear
, Ivy thought.
Go, go, go!

She crouched down and scurried to the end of
the aisle. She had no idea which way he’d gone, so she grabbed a pocket mirror off the shelf in front of her and held it out, tilting it this way and that.

Bingo.

Brendan was over by a rack of necklaces and browsing through the semi-precious stone section. He picked up a long strand of chunky blue lapis lazuli with silver beads.

Ooh,
thought Ivy.
That’s a good one.

Focus!
she berated herself.
Don’t lose sight of the mission.
She darted behind a stack of turntable shelves of beads where she could see most of the store.

Brendan was engrossed in the necklaces but, out of the corner of her eye, Ivy saw the security guard who had warned her earlier. He was walking through the entrance of the store and looking around.

I’ve been rumbled,
Ivy thought, pulling the black scarf further over her face. She wondered if she should abandon the mission, but Brendan had three necklaces in his hand and seemed to be finally making a decision.

The security guard stopped to talk to the store assistant, who pointed back towards the shoes where Ivy was a moment ago.

‘She’s over there, Hank,’ Ivy heard her say.

Now Brendan was moving towards the counter and Hank was approaching Ivy’s hiding place. If she fled now, she’d miss whatever Brendan was going to buy, but if she didn’t, her cover would be blown and she might end up in mall prison.

Before she could move, her phone blared out the tune of ‘Double Trouble’.
Olivia.
Then several things happened at once . . .

Ivy panicked and fumbled for her phone.

Brendan started to turn around.

Hank spotted Ivy, his eyes widening.

She turned away just as she pressed the green button on her phone, desperately trying to silence it. Her foot hit the bottom of the bead display and her bag swung behind her, knocking into one of the layers of multi-coloured beads, making a great racket. She twisted back, trying to stop her bag hitting it again. Out of the corner of her eye, Ivy saw Brendan look over just as she went over on her ankle and wobbled into the rack. She tried to hold the display steady, only to tip the whole thing on top of her, crashing to the ground with a squeal, and sending little plastic globs of circles, squares and heart-shapes everywhere.

Lying on her back, surrounded by a rainbow of little plastic beads, Ivy felt like a smudge of black paint across a Picasso.

Brendan ran over to her. ‘Are you OK?’ he gasped.

Hank’s face loomed. ‘Gotcha!’

The store assistant shook her head at the mess.

‘Uh, I’m OK.’ Ivy scrambled to her feet and started collecting the beads. ‘I’m really sorry; I didn’t mean to.’ She realised her phone was still in her hand. ‘I’ll call you back,’ she whispered to her sister and hung up.

Hank stood there with his arms crossed and Brendan hurried to help the store assistant lift up the display rack.

‘This is going to take me hours,’ the assistant said.

‘No, no,’ Ivy replied. ‘I’ll do it.’

‘We’ll do it,’ said Brendan. He crouched down among the beads and started to sort them into piles.

Ivy sat next to him, picking out the four-leaf
clover beads, completely embarrassed.

‘You sure you want to help this girl who was trying to mug you?’ Hank asked Brendan.

Brendan smiled. ‘She wasn’t trying to mug me, sir. She’s my girlfriend.’

That completely baffled Hank, but at least he and the store assistant left them to their sorting.

‘What’s going on?’ Brendan asked as he scooped all the alphabet beads into one of the lower racks.

Ivy opened her mouth to try to explain without actually confessing what she was doing, but nothing came to mind. ‘Uh, well, Brendan. Honestly?’ Ivy said. ‘I was stalking you.’

Brendan chuckled.

She explained how she saw him and, when he lied about where he was, she guessed he might be shopping for Valentine’s. ‘I didn’t want to
be caught out as a neglectful girlfriend if you bought me a present,’ she said.