"Our thoughts are with Serena Star as we wish her a speedy recovery. This is Jack Donnell," said the tanned former host of Hollywood Hijinx, who was filling in for Serena Star on Friday morning. "Wake up, America!"

Ivy flipped off the TV and smiled at her dad across the breakfast table. "Pretty killer story, huh?"

Her father looked at her proudly. "You cer- tainly made a finer impression than that boy Garrick Stephens." He looked at his tea thoughtfully. "The only element I still do not understand is how you were able to eat an entire clove of garlic without having a reaction."

Ivy had already thought of how she'd respond if her dad asked that question. "Dad," she said coyly, "you have to look to the future, not back to the past."

Her father sat back in his chair. "Does that mean you are not going to tell me?"

"Not unless you're going to help me find out about my adoption," Ivy said.

With a tender look, her dad reached across the table for Ivy's hand--and promptly knocked over his cup of tea. He leaped to his feet, his gray wool slacks soaked. "I have to change at once!" he said and darted from the room.

Ivy stared after him, wondering if he'd spilled his tea on purpose so he wouldn't have to talk about his least favorite subject.

After school on Friday, Olivia went to the Meat & Greet diner with Ivy, Brendan, and Sophia to cel- ebrate their victory over Serena Star. They grabbed Ivy's usual booth near the back, and soon enough Olivia was dramatically recounting the Toby Decker ladies' underwear incident.

Brendan laughed so hard red lemonade went up his nose.

Suddenly, Olivia saw Camilla walk into the diner and look around. She waved and came over. "Hey, everyone."

"Hi, Camilla," everyone replied, except Brendan, who was still laughing himself silly in the corner.

"Olivia," Camilla said, "I wanted to tell you I was finally able to book the video camera for--" She stopped midsentence, doing a double take as she looked at Ivy and Olivia sitting beside each other. She blinked, shifting her eyes between their faces. "Have you two ever noticed how similar you look?"

Some secrets should stay hidden forever, Olivia thought, but some really shouldn't. She and Ivy shared a look, and Olivia knew her sister felt the same way. "Camilla," Olivia said, "I think you'd better sit down."

Sophia and Brendan obligingly slid over on their bench. "It's like you're clones," Camilla said excitedly as she sat. "Or better yet, one of you traveled in time to meet yourself!"

Olivia laughed. "No, you sci-fi nut, we're twins!"

"You're joking," said Camilla. "How can you be twins when you just moved here?"

Olivia shrugged, and Ivy said, "Neither of us knew we had a sister until Olivia and I bumped into each other at school at the beginning of the year."

"Are you sure?" Camilla said skeptically. "I mean, apart from the fact that you look alike, how can you be sure you're actual twins?"

"Well, we both have the same birthday," Olivia said.

"We were born in the same town," Ivy put in.

"And we're both adopted," Olivia added. "Besides," she went on, raising her hand as Ivy held up her necklace. "Matching rings!" Ivy and Olivia said together.

"Left to us by our birth parents," Olivia explained.

Camilla leaned forward to examine the rings. "Wow!" she whispered.

"I just found out Wednesday," confided Brendan.

Camilla leaned back in her seat. After a moment, she said, "I'm really disappointed you didn't tell me sooner, Olivia--"

Olivia started to apologize. "I'm sorry, I--"

"because we could definitely have got an A plus with a movie called `The Long Lost Twin Sisters of Franklin Grove!'" Camilla interrupted with a grin.

Olivia smiled. "It'd be a really short movie. At least with Great-aunt Edna's stuff there's some history to talk about. Ivy and I haven't been able to find out a thing about our background."

Camilla was about to ask another question when all of a sudden Toby Decker appeared by their table, looking like his dog had just died.

"Hi, Toby," said Olivia. "What's the matter?"

"Everything," Toby sighed. "Now that Serena Star is getting `professional help,' I don't even have a story to put in this edition of the Scribe."

Olivia nodded sympathetically and turned to her sister. Ivy shrugged and gave a tiny nod, and Olivia knew they were both thinking the same thing. More and more people are going to notice we look alike, and we're going to have to tell everyone eventually.Why not now?

"Toby," said Olivia, "Ivy and I would like to give you the scoop of your career."

Toby reached into his book bag and eagerly pulled out his reporter's pad. "What is it?" he asked, squeezing into the booth beside her.

"Ivy and I are long-lost twin sisters who just found each other," Olivia announced.

"Oh, no, you don't," Toby protested, shaking his head. "You can't fool me. If there is anything I've learned this week, it's not to believe outra- geous stories with no basis in--" Suddenly Toby's jaw dropped, as he looked back and forth between Olivia and Ivy. "You are twins!" he cried.

Ivy and Olivia grinned and nodded.

"First," Toby said, scribbling on his pad, "I want to know whether you have any early memo- ries of each other."

Ivy whispered to Olivia, "Does this mean we both have to tell our parents now?"

Olivia scrunched up her nose and nodded. "They probably should know before the whole school does."

Ivy started to laugh, but then stopped abruptly. Olivia followed her gaze to the front of the diner.

Garrick Stephens was lurking by the door, wearing a different black T-shirt for the first time in days. The other three Beasts slouched in behind him, and they all started heading right for Olivia and Ivy's table. Olivia was steeling herself for a confrontation, but they stopped a few tables away, and Garrick looked down his nose at a cou- ple of sixth-grade boys drinking milkshakes.

"This is our table," Garrick hissed.

"Yeah." Kyle guffawed. "Like, we own it."

One of the boys looked them up and down. "It's a free country."

Garrick leaned on his knuckles and sneered, "You want to get bit?"

"Oooh," said the other sixth-grader sarcasti- cally, "coffin boy is going to bite us. Help! Please! Oh, where is Serena Star when we need her?"The boy and his friend both cracked up.

Garrick straightened. He looked like he was trying to think of a comeback, except he wasn't smart enough. Finally he turned to the other Beasts and whimpered, "I like sitting at the counter."

"Yeah, we can spin the stools," Dylan Soyle mumbled as the Beasts followed their leader to the other side of the diner.

"Some things never change." Ivy laughed.

Olivia held up her glass, and her friends fol- lowed suit--except Toby and Camilla, who held up salt and pepper shakers. "To the Beasts," Olivia toasted. "May their breath always be worse than their bite!"

Laughing, everyone clinked their glasses and shakers.

Ivy kept her glass raised aloft. "And to secrets," she said. "There are those that should never see the light of day"--she smiled at Olivia tenderly-- "and others that need the sunlight to blossom."

"Awww!" Camilla and Sophia both said.

Olivia's eyes welled with tears. She thrust her glass forward.

Clink! Clink! Clink! Clink! Clink! Clink!

P/S: Copyright -->www_novelfreereadonline_Com

***