Read 14 Flipping Out - My Sister the Vampire for Free Online Page B

and confident, and just the sound of it made her shoulders relax. ‘But things will get easier at school soon. I know it.
Hey, you’re a movie star now, remember?’
    Olivia rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help laughing as she propped herself up against her pale lavender pillows. ‘Yeah, maybe I should tell the goths at school to keep that in
mind.’
    Jackson laughed too, but when he spoke again, his tone was serious. ‘Just remember, it could be a lot worse. You wouldn’t want to be fighting off paparazzi every day, right?
That’s why you went back to Franklin Grove in the first place – because you wanted a normal life. No Hollywood lifestyle, no hangers-on . . .’
    ‘You’re right.’ Olivia took a deep breath. ‘Of course you’re right. And if that means being unpopular . . . that’s OK.’ She nodded firmly, bracing
herself. ‘I don’t need to be popular to be happy.’
    The doorbell rang downstairs, and she jumped up, balancing the phone against her ear. ‘Oh, Camilla’s here! I’ve got to go.’
    ‘Have fun tonight,’ Jackson said, ‘and say hi to her for me, OK?’
    ‘I will.’ Beaming, Olivia hung up and hurried down the stairs to the front door, where her best friend was waiting.
    Olivia hadn’t seen Camilla since she’d left for filming. Now that high school had started, they weren’t even going to the same school any more . . . but they had vowed to hold
sleepovers every two weeks to make up for it. Even though it was a school night, their parents had allowed them to hold their first sleepover, on the absolute promise that they would go to bed on
time.
    Just the sight of Camilla’s grinning face under her big glasses and floppy new velvet beret was enough to make Olivia start to feel like she was really home again, after all the weirdness
of the filming, the jet lag and her bizarre new school. And as they went into the kitchen to make potato salad for dinner, Camilla’s burbling energy was infectious.
    ‘I missed you so much!’ Camilla bounced into a movie director’s pose, holding out her hands to frame Olivia’s face as if she were directing a shot. ‘Scene: A school
hallway . . . but something is missing from the picture!’ She dropped her hands, sighing. ‘School is so different without you.’
    ‘I know.’ Olivia winced as she thought of just how different her new school was. Shaking it aside, she leaned over to pull out a sack of potatoes from a storage drawer.
    ‘I mean, Charlotte Brown is great, of course!’ Camilla said. ‘But it’s not the same.’
    ‘Excuse me?’ Olivia jerked upright, the sack of potatoes slipping out of her hands. ‘Did you just say Charlotte Brown was
great
  ?’
She stared at Camilla. ‘Are we talking about the same Charlotte Brown?’
    As the queen bee of Franklin Grove Middle School, Charlotte had tormented them relentlessly all through eighth grade.
    ‘Well . . .’ Camilla shrugged and picked up a carrot stick from the platter Mrs Abbott had left on the counter earlier that evening. ‘She’s changed. She’s actually
really fun to be around, now. She’s good at organising events, and we’re working together on the school play.’
    ‘Wow.’ Olivia shook her head in wonder as Camilla crunched the carrot stick. ‘So . . . you and
Charlotte Brown
are BFFs now?’
    Camilla cringed, almost dropping the carrot. ‘No! Not exactly. More like . . . maybe SOFFNs?’
    Olivia laughed helplessly.
And Ivy thought film language was hard to understand!
‘What does that even mean?’ she asked, as she leaned back over to pick up the potatoes.
    ‘I just made it up.’ Camilla grinned, looking delighted with herself. ‘Do you like it? It means Sort-of-Friends-For-Now.’
    ‘Got it.’ Olivia smiled ruefully. ‘No long-term commitment.’
    ‘We’ll just have to see how it goes,’ Camilla said. Her brows lowered as she finished the carrot stick. ‘Have you noticed how high school changes people?’
    Olivia sighed. ‘That