Over the next few days, Anna did her best to put Fredrick out of her mind. After all, what happened between the two of them had been over long ago; he probably didn’t even remember her after all these years! For the most part, Anna was successful in suppressing any and all thoughts of the man she was supposed to have married. After seeing him in the hallway, Anna had spent the next two days scouring the faces in each and every one of her classes until she was absolutely sure that Fredrick wasn’t in any of them. Only then did Anna allow her mind to focus on other tasks.
Now, there was only one time during the day that had Anna looking around frantically for Fredrick – lunchtime. There were two lunch periods at the school. That meant that Anna had a 50% chance to have the same lunch as Fredrick – pretty good odds, as far as she was concerned. So, each time she entered the cafeteria, she scanned the crowd – checking the tables, the lunch line, even the groups sitting on the floor – expecting at any moment to see him. So far, she had yet to spot him. It was starting to look like he might, just might, have the later period for lunch. Anna really hoped this was the case. And once she knew for certain, she hoped she could finally relax.
After Anna had finished what was now her daily scan for Fredrick, she opened the brown paper bag containing the sandwich she’d brought and joined her friends in eating lunch. As Anna carefully unwrapped the plastic enveloping her peanut butter and jelly, she heard Carmine exclaim in frustration.
“I hate math!”
Anna looked at her friend in surprise. Carmine had a sandwich in one hand, a juice drink in the other, and her math book spread out in front of her.
“Do you have that test today?” Joanna asked sympathetically. Joanna was a year ahead in math, but she’d heard about the test that Carmine’s teacher was giving; apparently, it had already brought more than a few students to tears.
“Yes.” Carmine said, her anger turning into a pout. She stuck her lower lip out slightly and slumped her shoulders as she continued. “I’ve studied all this week, and I still don’t get it! It’s taken up all my time for the past four days!”
“I’m sorry,” Joanna told her with feeling. “What’s it on?”
“Quadratic equations.” Carmine said, glaring at her book. “I was supposed to go out this week, but I haven’t had time because of my stupid math class!”
“Where were you supposed to go?” Sharon asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion. Anna had heard nothing but despair over the test in Carmine’s voice, but Sharon had apparently picked up on something else as well.
Carmine looked quickly at Sharon and shut her mouth tightly, as if she’d said something she wasn’t supposed to. Sharon gave her a look that clearly said she already knew what Carmine’s foiled plans had been. Carmine, however, wasn’t offering up any information.
“Oh…” she said, stalling for time. “I was just…going out. You know.” She tried to sound casual, but Sharon was having none of it.
“I’ve known you for a long time.” she told Carmine with thinly veiled annoyance. “And only one thing gets you that upset. You had plans to go do something with all those fairy tales of yours, didn’t you? Were you going to go hunt for your vampire?”
Carmine flushed a little at Sharon’s accusation, and Joanna gasped. Anna exchanged meaningful glances with Mina, but the two remained silent.
“Carmine!” Joanna exclaimed, clearly aghast. “You can’t do that! Do you know how dangerous it is?”
Carmine looked defensive and opened her mouth to reply. But Joanna held up her hand to prevent Carmine saying anything as she continued on.
“People are actually getting hurt! What if something happens to you?”
Carmine looked down sullenly at her math book.
“It’s a good thing you have that math test! You shouldn’t go out alone these days! Now come on, I’ll help you study.”
Carmine stole a glance at Joanna, glad that the scolding was over, and even more excited that she would get some much-needed help before her test.
Anna absentmindedly got out the little notebook she used to keep track of her homework assignments and began thumbing through it. She pretended to go over her list of upcoming projects in order to avoid having to talk to either of her currently unoccupied friends. With her eyes reading the week’s assignments for the 6th time, Anna went over Carmine’s statements again in her mind. Had Carmine really been planning on going out to hunt for vampires?
Anna had spent the last few days being so caught up with the idea of seeing Fredrick again that she’d completely forgotten about Carmine’s idea. Mentally, Anna kicked herself – how could she have been so stupid?
If she had to be completely honest with herself though, the answer was easy; Anna hadn’t thought that Carmine was really serious. Anna had figured when it came down to it, Carmine would be too scared to go out alone at night – especially in areas where there was likely to be an attack. Who wouldn’t be scared of the possibility of not only seeing someone get hurt, but of maybe even being that person? Clearly, she had underestimated her friend’s conviction.
Anna sat for the rest of the period in silence, lost in her own thoughts. She was amazed at how complicated her life was suddenly becoming, and she wondered if all humans had these kinds of unexpected intrusions into their lives. Aside from keeping up with homework assignments and tests, Anna now had two major areas of concern in her life. She knew she should be most worried about Carmine. After all, if her friend found out Anna was a vampire, it would quite literally ruin her life.
Still, try as she might, she just couldn’t help but dwell on Fredrick. She just seemed to have such a hard time concentrating on anything else – the possibility of seeing him again was just too great, and the thought never seemed to completely leave her mind. But, as difficult as it was, Anna knew she would have to stop worrying about Fredrick for the time being and focus on the more immediate concern – the potential problem that Carmine was creating.