In Love With a Vampire

Chapter Eleven

Jim

Something was wrong.

It was evident really; her skin was so pale, her eyes so empty. Fear tickled the base of my stomach and for a minute, I forgot there were two girls crouching in the boy’s locker room. Wait, had they heard our discussion? I lifted my head and dragged my eyes to where the boys and I had huddled earlier; there was no way, it was too far. Somehow this made my heart a little lighter until I averted my gaze to roof girl. Gone was the fiery attitude and the confident aura. All I saw now was a scared, frail girl who needed my help.

“Come on, these guys will eat you alive once they know you are here…”

I elongated my arm and held out my hand to roof girl. I stole a glance at her friend. Tony was right, that was one attractive redhead. My eyes flitted back to roof girl who was studying my hand, her head c****d, her eyes rapidly blinking. I stepped forward, bent down, and lowered my voice.

“Are you alright? Should I get the nurse?”

Roof girl slowly lifted her gaze. Her grey eyes bored through mine. I shifted the weight of one leg to another, suddenly uncomfortable. I felt naked.

“I would like to see them try…”

Her voice was raspy and quiet but I distinctly heard her. My lips involuntarily quirked upwards, this girl had some balls.

“Excuse me hu- I mean young boy?”

Wait what? Did the redhead just call me young boy?

“Can you help us get out of here unnoticed? You see we are in a bit of a pickle and Mis- Donna here, needs to go see the nurse-"

“We do not need him Maria!”

I curved my hand into a fist and withdrew my arm. I had been right before, roof girl was nothing but a self-entitled brat.

“Suit yourself…Know this, in about five minutes, everyone that is here will walk out through this door and they will see you…If they will not extremely harass you, they will definitely report you. Either way, the rest of your day will suck,” Jim raked his eyes over roof girl’s frame, “and I can tell that you guys are already having a pretty sucky day.”

I turned, directing my body towards the door. Before I could grab the doorknob, a raspy voice whispered,

“Fine.”

I swallowed a bubble of laughter and angled my head to scan our surroundings. No one was paying attention to us. Another huddle had formed at the corner of the locker room. I squinted; there was a light emanating from the middle of the group. After a while, a peal of laughter blared through the locker room. I imagined they were looking at raunchy messages or images. I could not decide which one was worse.

“Stand up quietly, follow my every movement…”

I was about to shift my body weight when the corner of my eye caught sight of a movement. I paused, was roof girl mirroring my movements? To test my theory, I lifted my arm and waved it once; I saw her do the same thing. I lifted my leg, wiggled my foot and took a step forward; roof girl mirrored the movement. As we exited the locker room, I continued to make bizarre movements and enjoyed watching roof girl from the corner of my eye, copying them. Was she that daft? Or was she just naïve?

Once we were outside, I released the bubble of laughter that had been lodged in my throat.

“I am sorry, what is so amusing to you? The fact that you human boys dedicate an awfully huge amount of time trying to decide who you can copulate with or the fact that you derive sick twisted pleasure from discussing female body parts?”

I felt hot and uncomfortable. I felt as if the tips of my ears and my cheeks were on fire. I suddenly wished the ground below me was liquid or glass; something that I could go through.

How the hell had she heard us?

“Thank you for your help, young boy. We better be going now.”

The redhead grabbed roof girl’s arm and yanked it but roof girl did not budge. She simply stood there, pale and distraught, her grey eyes boring through mine. Her rage was palpable, my discomfort intensified.

“Well? Will you not answer me angry boy?”

Angry boy? Human boys? Young boy? What were these girls currently binge-watching? Wait, were they high? I suddenly took a step forward, closing the space between roof girl and me. I then sucked in the air around us, trying to get a whiff of whatever it is they were smoking. Once her scent infiltrated my nostrils, my eyes involuntarily closed.

I felt, warm.

“What do you think you are doing to my Mis-…to Donna? Move away from her!”

In one fluid movement, the redhead pulled my arm and yanked me away from roof girl. Her grip was strong, so strong that I moved a good two feet from roof girl. Before I could properly fathom what had just happened, roof girl closed the space between us.

“All female creatures deserve to be treated with respect. We are not property or cheap w****s…In fact, cheap w****s should also be treated with dignity. Now get the f**k out of my way.”

I clenched my jaw and c****d my head. Who did she think she was? If it were not for me the whole situation would have spiraled out of control. I was the one who had defended her in front of Tony. I was the good guy.

Is that what you tell yourself?

“You never said thank you.”

“What?”

“You were in a fix. I helped you. You never said thank you.”

“You want a thank you?”

“I have literally just said that.”

“Thank you for being a foul creature.”

“Hmmm…try again.”

“Alright…Let’s see, thank you for your eye-watering, pungent smell.”

I slowly brought my nose to my armpit and forced the air around it into my lungs. The smell made my eyes tear. Maybe skipping that shower after swim practice had not been a good idea.

“No no that’s not it…try again.”

“Ah…here is one, thank you for having an enormous forehead and-"

It happened quickly. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, a whimper escaped her mouth and her body sunk into the ground. The redhead screamed and dashed towards roof girl. A bitter taste formed at the back of my throat. My heartbeat accelerated. A loud, piercing ringing filled my ears. My eyes blurred.

I couldn’t breathe. It was happening again.

“Don’t just stand there, help me get her to the nurse’s office!”

As if in a trance, I bent to the ground and lifted roof girl into my arms. She felt light against my chest, like with one wrong movement, she would break into pieces, like glass. The redhead was screaming something incomprehensible. She was frantic, waving her arms, wailing. I wanted to tell her that it was going to be okay, that her friend would be alright but no sound came out of my mouth. How could I make such a promise?

How well did the last promise work out for you?

Instead of comforting the redhead, I focused on roof girl. She looked peaceful when she was unconscious. A strand of hair was spread diagonally over her face. I lowered my head and blew air across her face until the strand of hair rejoined the rest of her hair.

“What is her name?”

“Donna. Her name is Donna. You can let her down now.”

We had reached the nurse’s office.

“I can go in with you guys and-"

“No. We will be fine now, thank you.”

I glanced at roof girl, well, Donna. As peaceful as she was, as beautiful as she was, as bratty as she was, as annoying as she was; this girl was not my problem. I was not going to let her be my problem.

“Okay.”

I brought her down gently against the redhead. To my surprise, the redhead did not lose her footing or even flinch under Donna’s weight. Did that girl secretly lift weights or something?

With a tight-lipped smile and small salute, I turned to leave. Instead of heading to class, I went back to the locker room to take a shower.