At lunch time, everyone heads to the cafeteria. Vinny usually brings his lunch, as he likes foods that pretty much gross the other kids out.
Today, along with a few bloodberries, Mom has packed some yogurt with worms, and some cheese with mold on it.
Since most of his friends don’t like to watch him eat this stuff, the cafeteria workers have set up a special table for him. He doesn’t mind eating alone, as some of his friends’ lunches actually gross him out too. That broccoli casserole that Kevin was eating the other day almost made Vinny puke when he walked by the table.
Chapter Seven
After lunch, the class has their math lesson, then it is finally recess. Vinny and John can’t wait to get outside. Today they have decided to start a game of vampire tag, a game that Vinny himself made up.
In vampire tag, the person who is the vampire wears Vinny’s cape and hides behind it while counting to 30. All of the other kids run to different parts of the playground, and when the vampire is done counting, he or she runs around with the cape flying and tries to grab the other kids. When the vampire catches the first person, the vampire gets to draw a bat on his captive’s arm with a marker that Vinny keeps in the cape pocket, then that person is the vampire. At the end of the game the person with the fewest bats on their arm wins.
Vinny, John, Sarah, Kelly, Jack and Ernie are playing the game. Kelly is the vampire first, and she puts the cape on and raises her arm to hide behind it.
All of the other kids take off running. Kelly counts out loud to 30, but when she is finished, the cape drops to the ground, and Kelly is gone!
All the kids who have tried to run and hide from her turn and look, but they can’t see Kelly. Everyone runs over to where the cape is laying on the ground. “Kelly, where are you?” yells Vinny. Everyone calls out for her.
“What do we do, should we tell a teacher?” asks John.
Vinny is thinking very hard, no one sees Kelly anywhere. He really doesn’t want to get Mrs. Calloway involved. Suddenly Vinny remembers and thinks to himself, “OH NO, I think I know what happened! When I decided to switch out my cape for Dad’s, I forgot that my dad’s cape has real magic powers. Dad’s cape must have made Kelly disappear when she wrapped herself up in it! Oh, NO. What should I do now?”
Chapter Eight
Vinny looks up and sees Mrs. Calloway walking over to him. He starts to panic and starts talking so fast that Mrs. Calloway can’t understand anything he’s saying.
“I’m ssssssssssoooo shhhhhooorrrry Mrs. Calloway! The cape took Kelly and now my dad’s going to be angry and no one’s going to be my ffffriend and”…..
Mrs. Calloway puts her hands on Vinny’s shoulders and looks him in the eyes. “Vinny, calm down, what is going on? Talk slowly, I can’t understand you!”
At this point, Vinny can’t help it, he starts to cry, and Mrs. Calloway tells him “Vinny, don’t get upset, just tell me what happened, we need to find Kelly”.
Vinny sniffs and wipes his eyes. “We were just playing vampire tag, but I forgot that I accidentally borrowed my dad’s cape, and now the magic has taken Kelly away!!!” Vinny started crying again.
Mrs. Calloway told the rest of the class to go inside the classroom with Mr. Cordova, who came to help out when he saw all of the commotion on the playground.
Mrs. Calloway took Vinny with her to the principal’s office. Vinny had never been there before, and he started crying again. Usually only kids who were bullies or who did something really really bad had to go to the principal’s office.
The school principal’s name was Mr. Brown. He was very tall and had a moustache. His voice was very loud, and when he stood out in the hall every morning greeting the children, Vinny could hear him from out on the sidewalk. While he seemed like an OK guy, Vinny was still a little nervous around him.
Mrs. Calloway knocked on Mr. Brown’s door. She whispered something to Mr. Brown and he took them immediately over to his desk. Mrs. Callaway dialed the phone, calling Vinny’s dad at work. “Could you please put Mr. Van Buren on the phone?” asked Mrs. Calloway. Vinny started to sweat.
The secretary at the computer factory found Dad and he answered the phone. “Is there something wrong?” he asked as soon as he said hello. The secretary had told Dad that someone from Vinny’s school was calling, so he was already very worried.
Mrs. Calloway said, “Hello Mr. Van Buren, it’s Mrs. Calloway. There has been a little incident at school this afternoon. It seems that Vinny has your cape, and somehow it has made one of his classmates disappear.”
Dad was quiet for a moment, then he told Mrs. Calloway that he had not worn his cape to work this morning. He wasn’t running late and it was going to be warm all day. Basically he hadn’t seen that it was missing.
“Mrs. Calloway, please put my son on the phone”, said Vince Van Buren. Vinny knew that he was in big trouble, and started crying again.
Dad said to him “Vinny, we’ll talk about this when I get home from work. First, we need to find your friend, so stop crying. What is her name?”
“Kelly”, said Vinny, as he tried to hold back his tears. “What was she doing in my cape?” asked Dad.
“We were playing vampire tag, and shhhhe was IT, so she put on my cape, but it was really yyyyyyourrr cape,” Vinny was slurring his words again as he got upset.
“OK, what I need you to do Vinny is calm down, and do exactly what I tell you to do. It may hurt a little, but you’ll need to do this to get Kelly back” said his dad. “OK Dad,” Vinny was trying to calm down.
“Take my cape, and go to the exact spot that your friend was standing when she disappeared. Put the cape on, and start spinning around in it until it is twirling so fast that you are almost dizzy. The string on the cape will start to get very hot, and may burn your skin.
Just as you feel like you are going to fall down, pull the string on the cape and toss it as high in the air as you can. You should see Kelly after the cape falls on the ground. She won’t remember anything about disappearing, as humans can’t process the things that happen in the other world.”
Chapter Nine
Vinny told his dad thanks, dropped the phone back on the desk and immediately ran outside to the playground. He didn’t have time to think about what Dad had said about some other world. Mrs. Calloway came running behind him.
The cape was still lying on the ground, so Vinny picked it up, put it on, tied the string around his neck and began to twirl.
The 4th grade kids were now out on the playground, and they stood around him as he spun around faster and faster. Vinny was breathing very hard, the string starting to burn the skin on his neck. He heard some of the 4th graders giggling but didn’t pay any attention to the laughter.
Just when Vinny thought he was going to pass out from dizziness, he flung the cape WAY up into the air.
Sparks and smoke came out of it as it hovered in the air way above the crowd of students, who stopped laughing and stepped backwards a little.
The smoke and sparks went away, and the cape floated gently to the ground. Nothing happened, everyone held their breath. Vinny was so upset, he began to walk away, his neck sore from the heat of the cape and wondering what he could do to find his friend Kelly.
“Hey look!”, he heard a girl yell from behind him. He turned around suddenly and saw his cape moving around. “Something is underneath the cape!”, someone exclaimed.
Vinny ran over and yanked at the cape. Underneath it, lying on the ground, they saw Kelly. “Is she dead?”, someone asked. Suddenly Kelly opened her eyes and smiled.
“Cool” said one of the 4th graders. Everyone in the crowd yelled and jumped up and down. Kelly stood up, but looked very shaky.
“What happened?”, she asked Vinny. “I forgot I had my dad’s cape, it made you disappear!” Vinny told her.
“Did it hurt?”, asked a girl standing next to Vinny. “Are you bleeding?’ asked another student. “Are you a vampire now?” asked another girl.
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Before Kelly could answer, Mrs. Calloway said “EVERYONE INSIDE, KELLY AND VINNY STAY HERE WITH ME”. Mr. Cordova led the 4th graders back inside the school. Vinny and Kelly stayed on the playground with Mrs. Calloway.
“Kelly, are you OK?” asked Mrs. Calloway.
“Yes m’am” said Kelly, “I feel fine, I think I was a little dizzy for a minute”. Mrs. Calloway checked Kelly over to make sure she wasn’t injured. “What’s my name?” she asked Kelly.
“You’re my teacher, Mrs. Calloway”, Kelly replied. “WHEW” said Mrs. Calloway, “ I think you are going to be just fine,” she said.
“Vinny, I’m going to take Kelly in to see the school nurse. You’ll meet me in the principal’s office.” Then she walked away holding Kelly’s hand.
“Uh, oh” Vinny said to himself. He knew he was in a lot of trouble. Now completely alone on the playground, he walked slowly up the back steps and down the hall to Mr. Brown’s office. Vinny was very worried as he came to Mr. Brown’s door for the second time.
“Vinny Van Buren?” Vinny heard that loud voice before he even stepped into the principal’s office. “Yes sssir”, answered Vinny timidly.
“What have you been up to young man, you are not one of my regular visitors, as a matter of fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had to invite you to my office before have I?”
“No ssssir,” replied Vinny. He was so afraid of what Mr. Brown might do, he was shaking in his shoes and thought his fangs were going to disappear into his head.
“Vinny, I don’t think you meant any harm to Kelly, but I will still need to punish you for what happened today, it was a very dangerous thing to do.” Vinny swallowed hard and held his breath.
“Vinny, you will apologize to Kelly, and then I’ll need for you to write a note to her parents telling them what happened and apologizing to them as well.”
“You’ll also need to ask your parents to call Kelly’s parents.” This is what upset Vinny the most, as he knew that his dad was going to be very unhappy with him. “You’ll stay here in my office until school is over, go have a seat in the Trouble Chair.”
“Yes sir”, Vinny replied. He had heard of the Trouble Chair from other kids, but had never sat in it. One of the 4th graders had told him that there were spikes and nails in it, and that it would shock you if you moved.
He sat down very carefully and did not move at all. It was a hard, uncomfortable chair, but he didn’t feel any nails or spikes. Vinny sat as still as he could because he did not want to take a chance on getting shocked. There were some red spots on the seat that looked like bloodstains, yikes!
Mr. Brown brought Kelly into his office and Vinny apologized to her. Kelly said “It’s OK Vinny, I know you didn’t mean to do it, I was just a little scared as everything turned dark and I couldn’t tell where I was.”
“I have to write a note to your parents too”, said Vinny. Mr. Brown let him get out of the Trouble Chair for a minute to write the note and hand it to Kelly. The note read:
Vinny handed the note to Kelly and she left the office. He remained there in the Trouble Chair, sitting very still.
The rest of the afternoon went by very slowly for Vinny. When the school bell rang for the end of classes, he was not even happy to be going home. He knew that when his dad came home from work, there would be more trouble than the Trouble Chair.
Chapter Ten
Vinny walked outside and saw his mom on her bike, waiting to pick him up. It was obvious that she had heard about the cape incident, as she did not have a smile on her face, and she had Dad’s cape stuffed in her bike basket. Maybe Mrs. Calloway had given it to her and told her everything. She must have left Vasser at home, he was nowhere to be seen.
“Vinny, I heard what happened at recess today, Dad called me from work right before I left to come up here to pick up you and Vanessa. I am very disappointed in you…” she was going to keep talking but Vinny couldn’t take it, he started crying again. Mom continued.. “I have Dad’s cape, you go get your bike. We have to ride by and pick up Vanessa at her friends house, then we’ll head home”.
Vinny pedaled slowly with his mom, they picked up Vanessa, who had not heard about the cape yet. She wouldn’t stop talking for the whole ride, something about her friend’s new puppy. Vinny wanted to tell her to shut her mouth, but he didn’t want to get in any more trouble.
When they got home, Vinny knew to go straight to his room. He closed the door. He could still hear Vanessa talking, boy, she got on his nerves.
Mom opened the door “you will have to stay in here until Dad comes home from work”. Vinny knew that he was in big trouble.
Sitting there on his bed, Vinny thought about what he had done. What had made him be so stupid and decide to take his dad’s cape? Why did he have to do that? He laid back and stared at the ceiling, feeling very sorry for himself.
Suddenly, he heard the door creak open. He looked up and saw a huge figure step through the door. His dad walked over to the bed, only this didn’t look like his dad.
He had green skin with bumps all over it, and his fangs were all rotted and green, and there was blood dripping from them!
OH NO, NOT A ZOMBIE!!!! Vinny was terrified.
The creature loomed over his bed, and said “WHY DID YOU TAKE MY CAPE? I am going to bite your face off!”
Vinny screamed, and jumped out of bed. He looked around, no one was in his room. He must have fallen asleep. WHEW. He was still shaking from that dream.
Vinny’s mom had heard him scream and opened his door. “Vinny, what’s happening?” She asked. “I guess I fell asleep and I had a very bad dream. I dreamed that Daddy was going to bite me!”
“Oh Vinny”, him mom hugged him. “You know your dad is going to be mad, but he doesn’t bite anyone. He actually just got home.”
Vinny looked up and his dad was standing in the doorway. “I’ll let you two talk” said his mom, and she left the room.
“Vinny, tell me why you took my cape this morning” said Dad (who did not look at all like a zombie, thank goodness).
Vinny sniffed and said “ Dad, I don’t know what made me do that. I am so sssssorry, I will never do it again. I wasn’t thinking about what could happen, it just ssssseemed like it would be fun to wear your cape for once”.
“Well ,Vinny, it’s a good thing that your friend did not get hurt. You know that little vampires can’t wear adult capes until they turn 16, then you have to take a test and practice using it.”
“Human kids can’t use adult capes either, and even when human adults try to wear a vampire cape, they usually get injured and sometimes have to go to the hospital, you know that. Wearing a vampire cape is a big responsibility, I’ll tell you more about it once your punishment is finished”.
“ I am sssorry Dad. I really didn’t plan for Kelly to disappear” he was about to start crying again.
“So if Kelly hadn’t disappeared, would you have told me that you used my cape without my permission?” Vinny knew what he should say to that question. “Yes Dad, of course I would have told you!”
“Well I’m not sure of that, but I do trust you Vinny”, said Dad, “ I forgive you son, I love you. But I want you to also learn to think about how your actions can hurt others. We all must learn to think about people other than ourselves”. Vinny’s dad hugged him. “You do know you are going to be punished for this”.
“I know Dad”, Vinny replied. “What’s going to happen to me?” He hoped he wouldn’t have to give up all of his video games.
“Vinny, do you know what being grounded means? I am sure you’ve heard it from your friends at school. It means that you cannot go anywhere except for your house, and you can’t have anyone over to play.”
“You are going to be grounded for three days. That means no baseball practice tomorrow, and John can’t come over to play with you on Wednesday. Each day you will have to come straight home from school and do your homework and play only with Vanessa. No video games or telev
ision either”.
Dad kept talking, “I’m going to call Kelly’s parents tonight after dinner.
I know you had to write them a note, but you’ll need to apologize over the phone as well”.
Ouch, Vinny dreaded telling Mrs. Miller about what happened.
“I don’t want people at your school to start worrying about you being a vampire. You could lose friends over this if parents don’t feel comfortable that their children can play with you and not get hurt. You know they already see us as different than they are, so we have to try a little harder to make sure people are not afraid of us.”
“OK Dad” Vinny was not going to argue about this punishment with his dad, but he was thinking “ Three whole days???? What am I going to do for three days???” Oh well, it could have been worse, his dad could have taken his video game forever or something.
Vinny knew for sure that he’d try to never take his dad’s cape without asking, and that he would also TRY to make a habit of thinking about what might happen before he did something that maybe he was not supposed to do. It seems like that stuff always came back to get him in the end. He did feel very terrible about scaring Kelly so badly.
Vinny and his dad walked out of his room. Dad had brought home pizza for dinner, and Mom and Vanessa were waiting for them. Victor was having dinner in his room due to his blisters. “Now let’s have some pizza”, said Mom.
They sat down at the kitchen table, and Vinny’s mom said the blessing.
Vinny took a big bite of pizza and got a pepperoni stuck to his fang. Everyone laughed, and he did too…. “Even if I’m grounded for a few days, I’ll make it” Vinny smiled to himself, “plus, if I’m really nice to Vanessa, I bet Mom will let me watch TV with her!”
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