Read Online Switched by Sienna Mercer - Free Book Online

basement of a supermarket? The only thing Olivia
could think of was a TV special she’d seen about some girls in Europe who threw
massive raves in warehouses. All their planning was top secret because the cops
were always trying to bust them.
    My
mom will never let
me go to this dance , thought Olivia with a tinge of disappointment.
    The
stairs led to a long, narrow hallway. The girls passed an unmarked door, behind
which Olivia could have sworn a crowd of people was laughing and talking.
Finally, after squeezing past a stack of chairs, they reached the end of the
hall and another nondescript door.
    Sophia
pushed it open, and Olivia was surprised to find herself in a room that looked
a lot like the conference room at her dad’s old office: dry-erase board, pukey
beige carpet, black imitation-leather office chairs. The only real difference
was the huge round stone table in the center of the room.
    There
were some Goths standing around drinking cherry punch. A serious-looking girl
with chunky glasses was organizing papers on the table.
    “Hi,
Soph,” said a girl wearing a studded collar. She nodded at Olivia. “Hey, Ivy. I
can’t believe you actually came.”
    Olivia
had no idea what the girl’s name was. She shifted uncomfortably.
    Luckily,
the girl in the chunky glasses cleared her throat in an official way and bailed
Olivia out by saying, “We’re five minutes late. Let’s get started.”
    Olivia
was already lowering herself into a seat when she noticed that everyone else
was simply standing behind their chairs. She jerked herself back up.
    The
room was silent. The girl in charge held her hands above the table like she was
warming them over a fire and closed her eyes. “May the Secret be cloaked in
darkness,” she said solemnly.
    “And
never see light of day,” the group responded as one.
    Olivia
was baffled. This must be the weird sense of humor Ivy was talking about, she
thought. She hoped no one had noticed that she hadn’t joined in. They were now
all sitting down, so she quickly slipped into her chair.
    “Okay,
people,” the girl began. “We only have three weeks to pull off Franklin Grove’s
two hundred and second annual All Hallows’ Ball, and I’m determined to make it
the best one ever. This is the first of three planning committee meetings.
Today we need to decide on the theme and who’s going to be responsible for—”
    She
was interrupted by raucous laughter in the hallway, and suddenly the door swung
open. In slouched four boys with dirty-looking hair and heavy metal T-shirts.
    It was
the boys who had cornered Olivia in the hall at school, the ones Ivy called the
Beasts. Olivia clutched her backpack nervously underneath the table. It’s
okay, she told herself. Ivy isn’t scared of them.
    “What
a surprise!” the girl leading the meeting said coolly. “You guys are late.”
    “Sorry,
Melissa,” said one Beast sarcastically as he and his friends grabbed seats. “We
had to, uh, grab a bite.”
    The
other Beasts guffawed dumbly, but everyone else just groaned.
    “You
wish,” said a girl with a streak of white in her hair.
    “As I
was saying,” Melissa snapped, calling the meeting back to order. “The first
thing we need to do is pick a theme. Let’s brainstorm.”
    People
started calling out ideas. A boy with a shaved head said, “What about a costume
ball?”
    “Or a
forest party?” suggested the girl with the white streak. “Like where everybody
dresses up as trees and things? We could do it in the woods.”
    “The
Ball of the Future?”
    “What
if everybody had to wear something purple?”
    “I
once went to a sweet sixteen where there was an ice cream bar, and people were
seriously into it.”
    “I
know! What about Franklin Grove Star Search?”
    Melissa
did not look impressed.
    Oh,
my gosh, Olivia
thought suddenly, I have the best idea ! “How about a vampire
theme?” she blurted. “You could do coffins instead of tables, and spiderwebs
and bats hanging everywhere.