Chapter 3
When I pulled into the school parking lot, I found Taylor and Kyle leaning against the side of her car waiting. I barely made it out of my car when Taylor with her shiny blonde hair and sparkly blue eyes pounced on me.
“Where the hell were you last night?” she asked before I could open my mouth to ask her the same question.
“What do you mean?” I asked, confused. “I thought you guys ran late last night and then came to my rescue, right?”
Kyle spoke up, “We were behind the mall and got five of them lurking around the woods by the theater, but you never showed up.”
“I had orders for the park off of Tulane Street and was ambushed by three vampires,” I told them.
“You could have been killed,” Kyle said.
“I know; I nearly was,” I agreed with him. “All I know is that I killed one, and then the other two cornered me, and then I woke up in my bed this morning,” I told them. “I figured you guys had come to my rescue.” So who took me home?
“Maybe another team got to you,” Kyle said. I looked at him and could just imagine little wheels turning behind his dark eyes while he thought of different scenarios.
We looked around the parking lot as more and more students were arriving. We ended our conversation before someone could overhear us. Taylor and I started to talk about an upcoming school function that we were a part of, and within moments, Samantha arrived.
While I was closest to Taylor out of everyone on the team, Sam was also close to both Taylor and me. We three had been best friends since we were children and could barely walk.
“Hey guys,” she said walking up. Sam was a tall slender girl with long light brown hair that was almost blonde. She was also Kyle’s cousin, and they both had the same brown eyes. Without waiting for a response, she turned to me, “Where were you last night?”
Motioning to the full parking lot, I tell her that we will talk about it later.
Samantha looked thoughtful for a moment and gave a quick nod of her head in agreement that we could talk later.
The first bell rang and with it came a groan from Taylor as we began to walk across the parking lot to the school.
Kyle stopped us in our tracks. “Where are Lucas and Ben?”
We three girls just shrugged and continued to walk to the front doors of the school.
“They will probably be here soon. One or both of them probably overslept,” Sam told us.
“Probably,” Taylor agreed. “Are you guys going to the game tonight?” Taylor asked Sam and Kyle, trying to make small talk while we walked.
Taylor and I were both required to go because we would be cheering. Lucas and Ben would be at the game as well because they were both on the basketball team. The organization thought that we were well rounded people if we participated in school activities. So Taylor and I were cheerleaders, Lucas and Ben played sports, Sam danced and Kyle ran track. I honestly didn’t understand their reasoning because other than lots of training over the years, we had our families and went to school; we were all pretty normal. The big difference between us and our classmates was that our after school activities included weapons training and tactics on how to kill vampires.
As we entered the large double doors of the school, Kyle and I split from Taylor and Sam. Sam and Taylor were both seniors, and Kyle and I were juniors, so we were typically separated during the school day. It was the end of September, so we had barely been in school for the year, but I was ready for the year to be over with already. At least next school year I would be a senior, and it would be my last year of high school.
Down the hall we walked past several students who greeted the two of us on our way to class. Finally reaching our American History classroom, we realized that not too many kids had made it yet, and we took our regular seats across the room from each other.
I was daydreaming about sleeping through class when I heard, “You can’t sleep today,” from the seat to my right as if the speaker were reading my mind.
I turned to look at Hannah Stone and smiled. Hannah is a friend to Sam, Taylor and me. She is what people imagine your typical blonde, blue-eyed, all American, pepped up girl to be like. Hannah and Taylor are a lot alike.
“I won’t,” I told her, but she gave me a look that plainly said I don’t believe you. “I promise.”
She smiled at me. “So when are you going to tell me about this hot guy that must take you out every night to keep you so tired at school every day?”
I couldn’t help but to laugh at this. She did not know that my team and I spent our nights out hunting vampires. “No guy,” I said back. “Just a really bad reality TV habit.”
We giggled at this, and when the final bell rang, we watched as our classmates scrambled into their seats. Our history teacher, Ms. Johnson, or as we call her when she is out of ear shot, Old Lady Johnson, came into the room and frowned as she watched the last few stragglers take their seats. Old Lady Johnson is an older lady with beady, grey eyes and hair the color of snow. It wouldn’t surprise me if she had been there when the school opened.
Every class day she would give us our assignment and then a monotone lecture that could put even the most caffeinated students to sleep. As soon as Mrs. Johnson started to speak, someone knocked on the classroom door. The office messenger walked in and spoke to the teacher and then motioned to someone who stood outside of the door.
I admit that I am just as nosy as any other teenage girl. Along with my classmates, I watched the door, and a guy around my age walked into the room. He was tall with light brown hair. I could admit that he was good looking, but his posture and expression made me think that he knew it. It made him come off as arrogant. I could tell that he was trying not to show it, but underneath the nonchalance, he was curiously glancing around the room at everyone. He turned his eyes toward me, and I could see that they were actually a brilliant blue. We made eye contact, and he smirked at me. I couldn’t help but to roll my eyes in response.
Our school was so small that any new student was going to be cause for talk, and I could see it already happening around the room. Especially the girls were talking already.
Johnson motioned for him to take the empty seat behind me without bothering to introduce him to the class. I pretended to be studying my assignment sheet as the new boy walked by.
“Silence,” Johnson said to bring order to the now loud classroom. The class quickly became silent and turned their attention to the front of the room. She began her lecture on the American Revolution, and I gradually began to slouch in my seat and hid my head in my arms. I slept through class until the dismissal bell rang.
“You should get more sleep,” Hannah said from her seat as she gathered up her books. .
“Oh, I know,” I agreed. “My insomnia is getting really bad.”
Hannah laughed and started walking to the door. “I will see you at lunch,” she called as she exited the classroom.
“Okay, see you there,” I said to her and stood to go to my next class by myself.
“You should really control your snoring if you are going to sleep in public,” I heard a low voice say behind me.
“I don’t snore,” I stated indignantly and turned around and saw that it was the new who had spoken. It was true. I had never snored in my life. Or at least I didn’t think I had ever snored.
He snickered, “If you don’t believe me, you might want to ask everyone else in the class.”
“Whatever.”
He held his hand out to me. “I’m Nick.”
“Okay,” I responded, ignoring the hand he offered and walking to the door of the now empty classroom. “I’m Riley, and it is rude to point out to girls that they snore, even though, I promise you I do not,” I replied to him. Exiting the room, I walked down the hall to my next class.
Entering chemistry, I found Ben already at our lab station and sat down next to him.
“Where were you last night?” he asked after I settled into
my seat.
“Everybody keeps asking me that question,” I replied back. “I was sure you guys knew and were just late meeting me last night.”
“Nope,” he replied while shuffling through his chemistry notes.
“It is all kinds of weird. We couldn’t figure out what was going on when we talked this morning. We’re going to talk about what happened later away from school.”
Ben nodded his dark head of unruly hair in agreement. Out of everyone on the team, Ben was probably the quietest.
“We should skip class and go get coffee,” I told him and Ben just rolled his eyes in response. He was used to my suggestions about skipping chemistry class and rarely ever verbally acknowledged that I’d even said anything. “It would be pretty awesome we could get extra espresso shots and donuts.” I tried convincing him, but he was not listening to me and was reading over his notes from the day before. It was too late for us to sneak out of class anyway because the bell had rang signaling the beginning of the period.
After chemistry class, my next two classes before lunch passed by in a blur of boring lectures and frantic note taking. Weaving in and out of the crowd, I made my way to my teammates on the other side of the cafeteria. At the table I could see that the whole team was joined by Hannah, Jenny, a couple of guys who usually hung out with us from the basketball team, and the new guy. What in the world was the new guy doing sitting with us?
I sat in my usual seat between Taylor and Hannah. “What is the new guy doing at our table?” I asked Taylor because I was for making new friends and different people sat at our table all the time, but he totally rubbed me the wrong way this morning with his comments. So I was not extremely thrilled about the idea of him hanging out with us at lunch.
“He is the new guy. He came in with Lucas,” Taylor explained.
“Oh, I know who he is. He accused me of snoring during our first period class,” I huffed at her. Maybe I was taking too much offense, but something about him bothered me. I had never been that frustrated by someone in my life. Not even when Taylor took too long trying on clothes on a shopping trip when I was ready to leave the store.
Taylor laughed at this. “You really do snore.”
“Whatever,” I replied, still not agreeing that I snore. “At least I don’t drool.”
She just shrugged nonchalantly, and we both just laughed and started to eat our lunches. I could be a bit immature, so I spent most of the lunch period glaring at the new boy when he was not looking. Something about the guy just annoyed me, and I wanted to make sure that he knew it.
After lunch, I had a free period where I worked as an office aide. Thinking about what had happened the night before, I found myself walking down one of the empty hallways. I couldn’t figure out the answers to the questions that were running through my mind. How come the team and I were sent on separate missions? It had to be a mistake. No one would do that on purpose because I could have gotten killed. My own grandfather approves all of the missions. He would not have done that to me.
“Ouch,” I cried out as I ran into someone and fell down onto the floor. I should have been paying better attention to where I was going, but I was too lost in my thoughts. As I started to compose myself, a hand reached down into my eyesight and offered to help me up. I took the offered hand, and as I stood, I looked up into the blue eyes of new boy.
I didn’t intend to, but there was just something about him that got me caught up in his eyes, and I had to admit that I enjoyed the feel of his firm, warm hand on mine. I shook my head and snapped out of the staring contest that I had been having with him. I took my hand back and started to straighten my skirt. “Um, thanks,” I said and started to walk away.
“Hey, it is my first day here, and I am just wondering why you glare at me every time you see me?” he asked. I stopped and turned to look at him.
“You accused me of snoring this morning, and I didn’t glare at you just then.”
He started to laugh, and I had to admit to myself that it was the most beautiful laugh that I had ever heard. Something told me that laughing was not something he did often. “You are holding a grudge because I said you were snoring this morning? I was just trying to make conversation.”
“Right, well it was rude and totally not the way to start a conversation with anyone, especially a girl,” I told him trying to walk away again. “I’m going now.”
“You would think that you would treat the person who saved your life last night a little nicer.”
I froze where I stood. “I don’t know what you are talking about.” I thought playing dumb was the best thing to do in the situation. I practically ran to get away from him and his accusation. Seriously there was no way that Nick the new guy was there and knew anything about vampires and hunting them.
I went back into the school office and wrote a pass to get Sam pulled from her class using the secretary’s stamp that as luck would have it, was not at her desk. I knew that Sam was the one to discuss the conversation that I just had with, and she would be the one to make sense of this. The probability of Nick the new guy saving my life and taking me home was like one in a million. Really there was some other explanation. My team and I were accidentally sent to the wrong places, and then I made it out alive and just forgot how I got myself home. It was a perfectly good explanation. Even if I knew that I was lying to myself.
Sam’s teacher did not even question the note from the office that released Sam from class, and Sam was not surprised that I pulled her out of class. Leaving her classroom, she and I walked down the hall to an empty classroom.
As soon as we entered the classroom, she turned to me, “What is going on?”
“Something is messed up with that new guy Nick. He said something funny to me about ‘saving’ my life last night a few minutes ago in the hall.”
“What?” Sam asked with a shocked look on her face, “Did you see him?”
“No, I don’t know what happened. I just woke up in my bed this morning and remembered being attacked by three vampires,” I told her as I paced back and forth across the room.
“Maybe he did,” she told me, sounding uncertain about the words that she was saying.
I turned to look at her. “No way, he probably does not even know that vampires are real.”
Sam looked thoughtful and nodded her head in agreement with me, and we were silent in our own thoughts. Could he be telling the truth? No doubt Sam was wondering the same thing.
“Maybe we should watch him and try to find out if he really knows anything,” Sam suggested.
When the bell rang, we filed into the hall full of students and headed to our last classes of the day. Mine was actually cheerleading, and since it was a game day, we were allowed to sit and do whatever we wanted. I sat with Hannah and Taylor, and we talked about our earlier classes until the captain gathered us all to go over what we would be doing during the game’s half-time show that night.
When school finally ended, Taylor and I gathered our bags and walked out to the school parking lot. We decided to get Sam and go have dinner with Hannah before we had to be at the gym for the game that night.
In the parking lot, Sam was already waiting for us next to my car. “Hey, I am going to ride with one of you. Kyle asked if he could take my car since he rode with Taylor this morning,” she said.
“I will drive us. We are going to meet Hannah before the game and have dinner. And you are going with us,” Taylor answered her.
Sam agreed, and Taylor sent a text to Hannah telling her to meet us. Since she had left to run an errand for her mother before she could meet us, the three of us got into Taylor’s car. On the drive to the mall, I finally took out my cell phone and started checking for messages. There were several messages from Taylor and Sam asking where I was at. There was no message from headquarters changing my orders.
It was all so odd.
I guessed that I would figure it out later because there possibly could have been an error with the
cell phone service. It all struck me as totally random and just pure rotten luck. There was no point in dwelling on it at the moment though. As we parked in the mall parking lot, I put my phone away and decided to focus on having fun with the girls before the game. I knew that we had no hunting after the game, so I planned to catch up on sleep afterwards.
I honestly could say that even though my friends and I hunted vampires, we were just like most other teenage girls; shopping was a weakness of ours. Just like the steaming shower this morning, shopping is extremely therapeutic after a hunt gone wrong. It just clears your mind and puts you in a happy spot that you never want to leave. As we walked around the mall, we went into nearly every store. But while we chatted and had fun, it felt as if we were being watched.
“Are you girls ready to eat yet?” Hannah asked the three of us after we walked out of a store. “We do not have very long before we have to head back to school.”
“I‘m sure Taylor is.” I glanced at Taylor with a smirk on my face. “She is always hungry.”
Taylor snorted at me indignantly while the rest of us laughed at her expense. “Let’s go eat,” she said.
We walked through the mall to the food court, and since none of us could settle on the same thing, we all went our separate ways and grabbed our selections. We met in the middle so that we could eat together. When we finished eating, it was time for us to head back to school for the basketball game. As we left the mall, Hannah and Sam rode in Hannah’s car since she had come to the mall alone. Taylor and I left in her car.
“You have been so quiet today,” she said. “Not really. Just trying to figure out what happened last night,” I sighed while I watched the road ahead of us. “I just don’t know what to think about what happened. There are all of these what ifs going through my head.”
“I figured,” Taylor agreed. “And I am sure there is a simple answer to everything.”
“I am sure there were cell phone reception problems causing me not to get the message, and the new guy is full of it and has no idea what he is talking about,” I told her even if I didn’t believe a word of what I was saying. It just all made no sense, so denial was the perfect alternative to logic. “He didn’t show up and save me.”
She nodded in agreement, and we were both quiet as we pulled into the school parking lot. We parked next to Hannah and Sam and got out of the car. The school parking lot was starting to fill up as we walked across to the gym.
“I just hope I get to sleep all weekend,” I muttered to Sam as we walked.
“I second that.”
In the gym, Sam left us to sit in the stands. The rest of us went to the girl’s locker room to get ready. Most think that my personality does not fit that of a cheerleader, and I honestly have to agree. I am not peppy, and I admittedly have a dark personality. I like it though because it takes my mind off of the horrors of the world. For a few hours, I am able to put the fact that there are terrible things out in the night in the back of my mind and just act like a regular teenage girl.
During the third quarter break, I approached my mom who was sitting in the stands. She had been chatting with Taylor’s mother during the game.
“You look exhausted, Kate,” Taylor’s mom said as I sat down.
“I am,” I agreed. They were mothers and had this weird sixth sense about being able to tell such things, so there was no use in denying it.
“I don’t think I am going to allow her out of bed in the morning until I think she has had enough sleep,” my mom told Kate.
Glancing around I could see that the gym was packed. Taylor and Hannah were talking to Sam at her seat. There were a lot of familiar faces and classmates present. I looked to the visitor’s side of the gym, and up in the top row, there sat the new guy. He was staring in my direction. I hoped that he was not looking at me and that it was just my imagination.
“Elizabeth, you should talk to the old man about keeping the kids out so late,” Kate said to my mother, shaking me out of my thoughts.
“Yes, I plan on it,” she said to Kate which did not surprise me. “There are more squads in the city now, so I don’t understand why he has them out every night. It wasn’t like that when we were their age.”
Kate paused. “I have not been active in years. Is there more activity now days?”
My mom just made eye contact with Kate and gave her a short nod. I had the feeling that she wasn’t expecting me to be paying attention. I started to wonder what could be causing the rise in activity that Kate asked my mother about.
I looked back to the floor and saw that all of the cheerleaders were being called back down to the sidelines. When I got back down, I reached into my bag and checked my phone. There was a single message.
No mission tonight.
I put my phone back into my bag relieved that I could either attend one of the parties that I was invited to or go home and sleep. Taylor and Hannah were actually talking about heading to one of the basketball players’ houses for a party. I probably would head home and sleep.
My mom would be happy with my decision.
Gathering my belongings after the game I turned to Taylor. “I think I am just going to head on home tonight.”
“Aw, but this party is supposed to be awesome,” she pouted at me. “It won’t be as fun without you.”
I couldn’t help but to laugh at her ridiculousness. “I think the fun will go on without me,” I told her.
“Yeah, you're probably right,” she agreed. “You do party like an old lady.”
“Whatever! You just wish you could be as awesome at parties as all of this,” I said to her as I motioned to myself.
We started to giggle and then noticed that we were getting odd looks from the people around us. This made us giggle even harder than we were before.
“Seriously,” I told her sobering, “I am really tired, and I think my mom would like me to get home before eleven for once.”
“Yeah, my mom probably would too,” she agreed. “But it is my dad’s weekend, and he probably isn’t even home.”
I nodded. “Well, I am going to head out. Is Sam going with you?”
“Yeah,” Taylor said, and we gave each other a quick hug. “Be safe.”
“You too,” I replied and turned to look for my mom.
Most of the spectators had emptied out of the gym, and I did not see my mother anywhere. I picked up my bag and started to head out to the parking lot.
Fighting my way through the people that remained, I exited the gym and started to navigate through the cars and people. I finally spotted my mother at the edge of the parking lot talking to a man around her age that was probably half a foot taller than she is with dark hair. I had never seen the man before. I started to walk toward them, and then I stopped about thirty feet away because my mom was not just talking to the man; she was arguing with him. Curious, I started to walk up as quietly as I could.
“You shouldn’t try to eavesdrop on people,” a voice said behind me. Startled, I turned around to face the new guy.
“I’m not,” I hissed. “That is my mom, and I was trying to find her.”
“Oh, by sneaking up on her,” he replied, raising a naturally well shaped eyebrow in obvious disbelief.
“No, I was just going to tell her I was heading home.”
“Hey Riley,” my mom interrupted my conversation with Nick. “Are you looking for me?”
I turned to see my mom walking up to us, but the man she’d been arguing with was nowhere to be found.
“Yeah, I was about to let you know that I was going to head home.” I smiled at her. “Nothing going on tonight, and I am ready to sleep.”
“Sounds good,” she said. “Who is this?” She motioned toward Nick.
“Some new kid from school,” I said with a glance at Nick, “that doesn’t know how to leave girls alone. I am pretty sure he is stalking me.” I looked Nick in the eyes and smirked.
My mom ignored me and turned to Nick. “I am so
rry for Riley’s attitude. I’m Elizabeth Spencer.” She reached her hand out to Nick.
“Hello, Mrs. Spencer. It’s nice to meet you. My name is Nicholas Parker.” I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at him.
“Everyone calls me Elizabeth,” she said. “It’s nice to meet you too, but it is time for my daughter and me to head home.”
After exchanging goodbyes with Nick, my mother and I walked to our cars and agreed to meet at home. I got into my car and followed my mother out of the parking lot. The drive home was a short one with barely any traffic for ten at night.
“You will never beat me,” my mom said as I got out of my car.
I couldn’t help but to laugh. “I had no idea we were in a race. If I had beaten you home speeding, then I am sure I would be in trouble.”
“Yeah, probably,” she said after pretending to think about it.
I just shook my head and followed her into the house. I sat down at the kitchen bar while my mom started to dig through the refrigerator.
“You want something to eat?” she asked while she moved things around.
“Yeah, I’m starving,” I told her, and to confirm my hunger, my stomach growled audibly. “Oops, I guess I am really hungry.”
She laughed at me while she started to heat up left over pizza and Chinese food in our microwave. While she warmed up food, my mind started to wander. This time last night, I was nearly killed. I considered telling my mom everything that happened, but I figured it was best not to freak her out with my story. It was all extremely confusing, and then there was the new guy who showed up at school today for the first time and claimed that he was there last night and saved my life. I couldn’t help but be unsure of whether or not he was being truthful. He hadn’t indicated that he knew anything about the existence of vampires. I was truly overwhelmed by the things that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. And then there was my mom arguing with that strange man.
“Hey, who was that guy you were talking to out in the parking lot tonight?”
She looked surprised that I asked and covered it up quickly. “Oh, him? Just somebody I used to know.”
I just nodded and let it slide even though I had watched her argue with him. She probably did not realize that I had seen the argument. I figured that she had a good reason for not telling me.
She slid a plate in front of me. “Thank you,” I told her as I started to dig into the Chinese food. As we ate, we talked about our days. When I started to yawn, she sent me to bed.