05 Take Two - My Sister the Vampire Read Online Free Page B

Ivy’s trademark death stares.‘You must think I was born yesterday,’ she said, folding her arms.
    Ivy burst out laughing. ‘OK, OK. Will you help me
start
packing?’

Chapter Three
    O livia’s mom was very excited indeed when they got home. ‘I love sleepovers!’ she declared. ‘Olivia hasn’t had one since we moved here.’
    Olivia helped Ivy haul her heavy black duffel bag down the hall and dumped it at the bottom of the stairs. There had been lots of debate over how many pairs of boots Ivy should bring (two), how many chunky sweaters (three) and, of course, which nail polish colours (Goddess of the Night, Diva at Dusk and Vampy Violet).
    ‘Thank you for having me, Audrey,’ Ivy said.
    ‘We’re thrilled you’re staying over,’ Olivia’s dad said, poking his head out of the living room. ‘I greet the sun with an hour of tai chi every morning. Beginners welcome, if you’re awake.’
    Olivia rolled her eyes. Her dad was always a little too inclusive with his martial-arts hobby, but Ivy was nodding along like she planned to join him.
    Mrs Abbott clapped her hands together. ‘Steve, will you take Ivy’s bag up to Olivia’s room?’
    ‘Ah,’ said Mr Abbott, after only one lift of the duffel. ‘A worthy opponent. A moment’s meditation is needed before attempting to move this mountain.’ He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths.
    Olivia giggled.
    ‘I hope you’re hungry,’ said Mrs Abbott.
    Olivia felt her tummy rumble. With all the excitement of the movie people showing up andthen working her way through Ivy’s enormous and scattered wardrobe, she’d barely eaten all afternoon.
    ‘I’m starving,’ Ivy said.
    Mrs Abbott ushered the girls into the dining room. ‘I wasn’t sure what to make, so I just made all of Olivia’s favourites.’ With a flourish, she revealed ten dishes with different meals arranged around the table. All of them vegetarian.
    This could be a problem
, Olivia thought.
    She should have realised that there wouldn’t be any meat on the menu at their house. ‘There’s plenty of iron in spinach,’ Olivia whispered, knowing that wasn’t going to help fill Ivy’s stomach.
    ‘Oh!’ her mom exclaimed. ‘I forgot the garlic bread!’
    Oh no!
Olivia thought. She remembered all too well what happened when Ivy ate even the tiniestamount of garlic – it was a full-scale vampire emergency.
    Ivy sat down at her place with a forced smile on her face, but when Mrs Abbott went into the kitchen for the bread she leaned over the table and whispered, ‘You’re going to have to eat twice as much!’
    ‘What?’ Olivia asked.
    ‘Your mom has gone to loads of effort. I can’t leave tons of leftovers.’
    Mrs Abbott came back and Ivy had to keep quiet. Mrs Abbott said brightly, ‘Are you two girls going to spend all night talking about boys?’
    ‘Mom,’ Olivia complained.
    ‘What’s this about boys?’ Mr Abbott said, walking into the room and sitting down.
    ‘Nothing, Dad.’ Olivia rolled her eyes.
    ‘You know,’ Mr Abbott said, stuffing his napkin into his shirt collar. ‘I could help if you have boytroubles – I did use to be one, you know.’
    Ivy chuckled. ‘My boyfriend’s trouble is that he’s hungry all the time.’
    ‘That’s easy to fix!’ Mr Abbott declared. ‘Feed the boy!’ And with that, he took a huge scoop of the mustard macaroni cheese in front of him.
    Olivia watched as Ivy took a little bit of everything, a spoonful of the olive salad and the tiniest slice of the nut loaf. She could hear Ivy’s stomach rumble and felt totally guilty.
    Poor Ivy
, Olivia thought.
    ‘So what errand have you two sent Charles jetting off on?’ Mr Abbott asked, taking three of the lotus-leaf parcels.
    Mrs Abbott passed around the veggie dumplings. ‘He said something about it being a trip for his daughters?’
    The sisters exchanged a glance.
    ‘We thought it was a business trip,’ Olivia said.
    ‘A piece of garlic bread, Ivy?’ Mrs Abbott