Switched by Sienna Mercer

look really good, and she was dying
for something with meat in it. “Okay,” she said gratefully. “If you think you
have enough.”
    Camilla
slid a generous piece of lasagna onto a napkin and passed it to Ivy.
    “Thanks,”
Ivy said. She scooped up a hunk with her fork and popped it in her mouth. Right
away, her tongue felt like it was on fire. She gagged and swallowed to stop the
pain.
    Oh,
no! thought Ivy in
a blind panic. That was the gravest thing I could possibly have done! Her
stomach turned, and she felt ice-cold. She started seeing spots—big black and
blue blobs at the corners of her vision.
    “Ivy?”
Olivia said, leaning across the table.
    “Are
you okay?”
    She
couldn’t answer.
    “She
looks really pale,” Camilla said in a far away voice. “Like, even paler than
normal.” Ivy blinked. Her head was killing her. Sophia grabbed Ivy’s hand and
turned to Camilla. “Did that have garlic in it?” she asked urgently.
    “I,
er, don’t know,” Camilla stammered.
    “Maybe.”
    Sophia
stood up. “We have to go.”
    Ivy
felt her friend pull her to her feet. The last thing she heard as Sophia
dragged her out of the cafeteria was Olivia’s voice calling, “Is she okay?” from
a million miles away.
    “Do
you think she’s okay?” Olivia repeated as Ivy and Sophia disappeared out the
cafeteria doors. “I don’t know what happened,” Camilla said, shaking her head
guiltily. “Maybe Ivy’s allergic to garlic.”
    “She
looked so ill!” Olivia remarked. “Everybody says my mom’s lasagna’s great,”
Camilla tried to explain. “At least Sophia seemed to know what to do,” she
added.
    “Yeah.”
Olivia wrung her hands. “I just hope Ivy’s all right .”
    After
lunch and through the rest of the day, Olivia watched for her sister in the
hallways, but she was nowhere to be found. She didn’t see Sophia anywhere
either.
    Olivia
started to really worry when Ivy didn’t show up for last period. She remembered
how, at her old school, somebody’s little brother had almost died after
accidentally eating a peanut. All through science, Olivia had to fight the urge
to rush out of class. She kept staring at the door.
    “Olivia?”
Mr. Strain was pointing at her with a piece of chalk. “The process by which
plants turn sunlight into energy?”
    “Er .
. . chlorophyll?” Olivia suggested. The entire class chuckled.
    It was
the longest science class of her life. When the bell finally rang, Olivia had
already packed up her things and punched Ivy’s phone number into her new cell
phone.
    She
was the first one out the door, hitting Send the moment she crossed the
threshold. It rang once. Twice. Three times. Four times .
    “Hello?”
Ivy’s sickly voice answered.
    “Ivy!”
Olivia cried. “Are you okay?”
    “Hi,
Olivia,” her sister said weakly. “I’m all right. I just had a ...grave reaction
to . . . the garlic in Camilla’s . . . lasagna.”
    “You
sound awful ,” Olivia told her, leaning against a locker.
    “I’ll
be better . . . in a day or two,” Ivy said drily.
    Olivia
felt tears spring to her eyes. “I was really worried.” She gulped.
    “Really,
I’m okay,” Ivy said reassuringly. “I just can’t . . . practice today. I’m
sorry.”
    “Don’t
worry about that,” said Olivia. She’d been so worried she’d actually totally
forgotten they were supposed to cheer together this afternoon. “Just get
better! Do you need anything?”
    “No
thanks,” Ivy whispered. “Just rest.”
    “I’ll
call you later,” Olivia said.
    After
she’d hung up, Olivia spotted Camilla by her locker and went over to give her
the update. “Ivy’s okay,” Olivia said. “She went home.”
    “What
happened?” Camilla asked, her eyes wide with concern.
    “She’s
allergic to garlic,” Olivia explained. “She needs some time to recover, but she
says it’s really no biggie.”
    “I’m
so relieved she’s all right,” Camilla said, sliding a book into her bag. Then
she looked up at