After school, Ivy stalked the halls with her note- book, trying to find the right quote for Serena Star. It was clear that Serena wanted something Goth, so Ivy was hoping for some tidbit that would seem really grave but was actually absolutely harmless. She talked to a sixth- grader whose cousin had got a tattoo of a skull on her ankle; a janitor who swore that spilled black nail polish could not be removed from school floors using any known cleaning solu- tions or polish removers; and the librarian, who told her that books with black covers were taken out less often than those with colorful ones.
None of it was what she needed.
She was trudging along, feeling utterly hope- less, when she spotted one of the Beasts, Ricky Slitherman, rush out of a side door. No matter what I come up with, Ivy thought angrily, Garrick and his friends will still be flapping their coffin lids. She decided to follow Ricky outside.
When she emerged into the sunlight, Ivy saw Ricky heading toward the football field.When she got over there, she discovered that the Devils were only fifteen yards from the opposing team's end zone. The bleachers were pulsing with cheering people. Ivy peeked underneath them, thinking that that was where the Beasts were most likely to lurk, but there was no one there.
She was just walking around to the front of the bleachers to scan the crowd when she caught sight of Olivia, cheering on the sidelines. Her sis- ter was standing atop another girl's shoulders with her hands on her hips and her face aglow with a natural smile. Olivia pumped her fist in the air and did a flip off the girls' shoulders. Two spotters on the squad caught her, and the crowd went crazy.
Ivy couldn't help going wild with everyone else, clapping and hooting loudly for her sister. Olivia seriously sucked--there was no doubt that she was the best cheerleader on the squad. Especially compared to Charlotte Brown, who looked desperate for attention beside her.
Charlotte's face was plastered with a smile and her eyes were so wide that she looked like a car- toon smiley face. She was jumping up and down like a rag doll, throwing little waves and winks high up into the crowd. Ivy shuddered. It was seriously embarrassing.
Apparently, Charlotte couldn't even bear to turn her back on the crowd when the cheer called for her to spin around. She rushed her move, immediately refocusing her gaze high into the bleachers and tossing off another cloying wave.
Ivy followed Charlotte's gaze and saw . . . the Beasts, sitting by themselves in the top row of the bleachers. Dylan Soyle had a huge video camera hoisted onto his shoulder, and he was pointing it down at Charlotte, while Garrick whispered in his ear.
Ivy remembered that the people in media studies were making movies; the Beasts must be at work on their project.
What's their topic? Ivy wondered. Extra-annoying cheerleaders?
Without thinking, she marched to the top of the bleachers and stood in front of their camera, blocking its lens with the back of her notebook.
"Hey!" Dylan cried, pulling his face away from the eyepiece.
"Turn it off," Ivy commanded icily.
"You're interfering with an important movie shoot!" Garrick Stephens said.
"Turn . . . it . . . off," Ivy repeated, narrowing her eyes into a death squint.
There was a long silence before Dylan glumly put down the camera.
"What do you want?" whined Garrick.
"I want you to climb back in your coffins and stay there!" Ivy snapped. "You're putting us all in danger."
"It's just a video camera," Kyle said. "It's not like a, uh, wooden stake or anything."
Ivy rolled her eyes. "It's not your camera I'm worried about," she snapped. "It's Serena Star's.
At this rate, she'll be onto the vampire commu- nity in no time. You idiots are digging all our graves."
Garrick shook his head. "You're so misguided, Vega," he said condescendingly, using the same word Serena Star had used about him on the news. "Serena Star's not interested in all of us. She's interested in me."
"Yeah." Ricky guffawed. "I think she wants to be Garrick's personal donor." All the boys laughed.
"Serena Star is more likely to eat you alive," Ivy seethed. "You guys better start watching what you say."
"Can I help it if the bunny ladies love me?" Garrick shrugged. He gestured to the cheerlead- ers. "For example, look at Charlotte Brown, the star of my movie."
Ivy spun around to see Charlotte glaring at her and waving her hands. "Get out of the way!" Ivy could imagine her screaming. "You're blocking my scene!"
Ivy turned back to face the Beasts and found that Dylan was filming again. "You want a wooden stake?" she said with disgust. "Here!" She flung her pencil angrily at Garrick--who shrieked and threw up his arms to shield him- self--then spun around and stalked away.
After the game, Olivia and Camilla sat on the school's front steps, waiting for Olivia's mom to pick them up. All the TV news vans were gone, and the setting sun cast an orange glow over everything.
"We killed them!" Camilla said happily. "Forty- six to three must be a record. Could you believe it when their lineman ran into the wrong end zone? Maybe our film project should be about embarrassing sports defeats."
Olivia grinned. "I think the Willowton Badgers have had enough humiliation for one year, with- out us making a movie about how bad they are."
Camilla laughed.
"Hey, didn't you get a new cat?" Olivia asked.
"You mean Captain Whiskers?" said Camilla.
Olivia nodded. "Maybe we could do something about him? I could imagine a cool documentary about what the world's really like for a cat."