Bryon climbed into the back seat of the Camero, his knees practically embedded into the back of the passenger seat. Pru gave us the go ahead to do the sweep of my neighborhood looking around for anything that was out of the ordinary. Apparently vampires are known for the cars they drive. They like Italian leather and fancy horses as emblems; obviously a car like that would stand out in my neighborhood. We don’t notice anything that seemed out of place so we went home.
No need for an alarm clock when you have the hot Oklahoma sun beaming in on you as you’re trying to catch a few extra z’s. I walk over to Bryon who had fallen asleep on my floor, putting my socked foot on his shoulder to shake him awake. He mumbles out some girl’s name before opening his eyes. He grabs my foot twisting it sideways. “Little Mary Sunshine, you need to get your funky butt up before we run late.” He shoos me away. “I’ll be downstairs.”
Bryon the eating machine and I stop by Sonic to grab some breakfast. The school parking lot is practically full; I find a spot next to a beat up SUV. I look over to the guys in the SUV and notice they are the school stoners. I don’t even need to dip into their thoughts to figure out what they are doing.
“What’s that guy’s name? He’s always stoned.” Bryon asked.
I grabbed my backpack and try to hold back a laugh. “You think? Yeah, that’s Brad; he’s been fried since middle school. He’s got issues, his parents split up when he was like twelve and he decided negative attention was the only way he was going to get his old man to come around.”
“Tragic, I hate hearing stuff like that. I gotta go, I need to get to my locker before the first bell rings or I’ll have detention. I’ll catch you at lunch.” He ran up the steps practically running Julie down. That would be epic.
It sounds like everyone is punishing their army green locker as they slam them shut, my ears too sensitive for the loud banging. I cringe and focus my mind to listen in on my classmates thoughts. When I turn on my listening it sounds like non-stop chatter until I push into one person and just focus on them. I bet the girls would die to know I know they think about sex almost as much as the guys do. The girls seem obsessed with their body image, especially their boobs and hair. Sometimes I catch myself laughing out loud when I hear something amusing, like the time I heard the science teacher Mr. Smith call the principal a few choice names one day during class. It was so funny, I had to pretend I was coughing.
I thought about vampires all day and the fact that my sister of all people would get herself involved with them. I pull into the gravel parking lot of the internet café that doubled as a convenience store. My mocha frappuccino with extra espresso is just what I need after a disturbing day of eavesdropping. I google the word vampire; it has over 54 million hits. I have to narrow it down. Of course Wikipedia has all of the definitions, and if you find it on the internet, it has to be true right? Now that I have the 411 on vamps it’s time to go kick some vampire butt.
I dial Allie’s number, “Hey sis, whatcha doin’?”
Allie tells me she missed classes and was taking a nap.
“Have you eaten today?” I say, thinking about how much I sound like mom.
“Are you spying on me? Is that what this is? Mom had you call and see if I’m eating because she is afraid her little baby girl is anorexic. Well, I’m not anorexic! I’m just not hungry okay. I don’t know why I’m not hungry!” Her voice breaks, she lost her conviction and burst into sobs. “Abe, I really don’t know what is wrong. I’m so afraid I have cancer or something, but I’m too afraid to go to a doctor because of what they will say.” She confided to me.
“For what it’s worth sis, I’m not spying on you. I’m just worried; you’ve been a little cranky lately. Oh crap, I do sound like mom, just shoot me!” I try laughing it off.
“Don’t you think you’d be slightly cranky too if you haven’t eaten much? Food just doesn’t appeal to me. I haven’t lost any weight, as a matter of fact my stomach has a solid six pack and my arms look like I’ve been lifting weights. I don’t get it. If I could switch my days and nights it would be great. I mean I can go to the parties and I’m fine, wide awake but man I’m draggin’ ass when I have to go to class. The bright side to all of it, I’ve met this guy that has been hitting the parties too and he’s really cool. You should see his car, omigawd it is an Aston Martin DB something.” She says totally impressed.
“A DBS? He drives an Aston Martin DBS? Holy shamoli! That is one sweet car! It’s like a $300,000 car, if it doesn’t have any custom stuff with it. He goes to school with you? What is he, like some Prince or something?” My mind was going in overdrive thinking about how I found the vampire responsible. I have to go see her. “I’m thinking about driving out that way tonight, it is so nice outside. Pru and I’ve been doing all of these work outs with Oakley and I want to relax. I thought we’d go out there and get some dinner. I guess you’re probably not up to having dinner…but maybe you could try. I really miss you and I know they’ll want to eat.” I crossed my fingers she would go for the bait.
“I dunno Abe, your friend Pru always looks at me like I’m retarded or something. You said they’ll want to eat, who else are you bringing?” Her voice sounding like she quit crying.
“I was thinking Oakley would probably want to come. Why don’t you bring your friend, what’s his name?” I keep staring at my laptop monitor with the ‘vampire’ definition by Wikipedia pulled up.
“Oh, yeah we got to talkin’ about his car and I forgot to tell you how yummy he is. His name is Arien and I can’t pronounce his last name, something like Bitch knee.” She giggled when she said his name.
“Did you just say his last name is Bitch Knee? What kind of name is that?” I grab some paper and pen to write down his name so I can tell Pru about our conversation.
“It is something like that. I’m not sure how you say it, but his accent is so thick, sometimes I can’t understand what he is saying. It doesn’t matter… anyway, he is so beautiful I don’t care what his last name is. You should see his eyes, oh I just love his eyes! They are almost mesmerizing when he is looking at me. I think he likes me, I’m not sure but he seems to be into me.” Her words were coming faster and faster. “Mom will totally freak out when she meets him. He wants to take me on a weekend trip to New Orleans, he said he has some family there and we’ll go out and party like I’ve never partied before.”
“What? You’re not really considering going out of town with a guy you just met are you? Before you answer that, I want to meet him. We’ll be there by 7. So, where do you want to eat? I’m craving Olive Garden, I’ll meet you there?” I start pacing back and forth on the phone with her, I have to talk to Pru and Oak soon, they will definitely want to see Allie.
“Okay, I’ll meet you there, but you better be on good behavior. I don’t need another dad, I have one, so I don’t want you grilling him to death. I have to see if he even wants to go out tonight. I need to nap so, even if he doesn’t go, I’ll meet you at OG. I love you and don’t tell mom about him. Promise?”
“Promise.” I might not tell mom but the Pack will definitely want to know about him.
I started thinking about it and was wondering if I should even take them with me. It may be easier to go talk to her and check him out alone. Not having a bunch of wolves up my butt will be a nice change. Ditching them was more the issue. I sent a text to Pru. “I’m going to go out 4 a while, I will c u at schl 2mrrw” Text messages are so impersonal but I didn’t want to talk to her, she would know I’m lying.