Bite Me!

by Melissa Francis

“Me too, honey. Me too.” She leaned over and kissed my forehead. “Good night, my number one girl.”

  “Good night, Momma.”

  Chapter 13

  The next morning was another day at Camp Chaos. The twins and Oz had commandeered another note—this one from a girl named Mary Beth.

  Ana didn’t get very far reading the note before Momma came in and stopped her. “We’re not going to go through this every morning, do you understand me? If this happens one more time, it will mean no cheerleader tryouts for either one of you. Clear?”

  They both hung their pretty blond heads in shame. “Yes, ma’am,” they said in unison. But when Mom turned her back, they bared their fangs and silently hissed. Good thing Rayden was too busy putting together his backpack to notice.

  “Do that again and see what happens,” Momma said, not even looking up from the coffeepot.

  She poured herself a cup of coffee, then made Rick a cup of tea—both to go. “I’m not on call tonight, so we’re planning a family dinner. I want everyone here by seven. That’s all of you, not just the girls.”

  Aunt Doreen bustled in from outside, carrying a basket full of vegetables. “I’m sorry, dearies, I lost track of time while working in the garden this mornin’. There’s a loaf of fresh bread warmin’ in the oven and a bowl of butter on the counter. Ye can take your breakfast with you to school.”

  “We have a garden?” Ana asked.

  I opened the oven door. Steam hit me in the face, carrying with it the most awesome smell of fresh-baked bread. I pulled out the loaf and cut a large slice for myself.

  “Aye, we have a garden. It’s a bit past the giant tree in the back, on the other side of the picket fence.”

  “There was a raccoon out there having his way with a fresh squash last night,” I told Aunt Doreen. “Hey, Rayden, are you riding with me today?”

  “AJ, do you have a second?” Ryan asked as he walked into the kitchen.

  “Nope. Don’t you need to pick up your girlfriend this morning?”

  I looked up to see Momma pretending to fuss with Rick’s tea while she watched us out of the corner of her eye.

  Ryan walked over to me and set his backpack onto the barstool. He laid his hand over mine, his eyes pleading. “Please? Can’t we talk for just a second?” he asked, then silently mouthed, “Alone.”

  I buttered my bread and took a bite. “You get two minutes,” I said with my mouth full. “Rayden, get in the car if you’re coming with me.”

  Rayden grabbed his stuff and hustled out to the car. Ryan grabbed a napkin, tore off a piece of bread, and followed me to the driveway.

  “Time’s a-wastin’. What do you want?” I asked. I couldn’t look at him. My heart ached every time I caught his gaze or smelled his scent. And no matter how pissed off I was at him, if he smiled at me, I’d be toast.

  “I wanted you to know how sorry I am. Lindsey and I aren’t really dating.”

  I laughed. “Who are you trying to convince? Me or yourself? If you’re not dating, then what are you? Bene-friends?”

  “It’s not like that.”

  “It sure looked like that at the bonfire Saturday night. Of course, that was before you pummeled Noah and left him to die.” Ugh. Why did I say that? “Shit, Ryan. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”

  “Yeah. You did. I had no idea that’s what you thought of me.”

  “I said I was sorry. And I am.” I reached for his hand, but he jerked it away. He may as well have slapped me.

  “Listen, I just wanted to tell you that I did your campaign posters last night. I hope you like them.” He stomped away.

  God, I was a bitch.

  I drove to school silently fuming. Rayden had the smarts to keep his mouth shut. Part of me wanted to carry through with this whole bitch thing and take my frustration out on him. But I managed to find some self-control.

  I must be PMS’ing.

  My almost legal parking spot was open, but I remembered Mrs. Blanchard’s warning and decided to play nice. I didn’t need any more drama in my life.

  At least not today.

  I parked off campus, and Rayden and I walked the two blocks to school. I took the time to quietly study Ryan’s brother. He and Ryan were cut from the same cloth, as my Mema would say. Same color hair and eyes. Both with a dimple in their right cheek when they smiled.

  Rayden was in that gawky stage where his arms and legs didn’t quite fit his body. They’d both inherited their dad’s height. Rayden was already taller than me, and Ryan was near six foot.

  Funny. Ryan and I lived under the same roof, and I missed him more than if we lived oceans apart. I hated fighting with him and I hated not being with him.

  I sighed.

  “Hey, AJ,” Rayden said as we entered the hallway of the English building. “You know, Ryan didn’t hurt Noah.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I just do. And so do you. You’re just mad at him right now. But you should cut him a break.”

  “Why should I do that, Ray? He’s been an asshole.”

  Rayden stopped and looked at me. “Yeah, but this has been hard on him, too. Besides, would an asshole have spent all night doing this for you?”

  “Doing wha—” I said before stopping dead in my tracks. “Whoa.”

  Whoa indeed.

  The hallway was covered in posters. Fabulous, elaborate, and beautifully done election posters.

  All for me.

  AJ for president. Vote for Pedro AJ. And my favorite: AJ Ashe: Don’t hate her because she’s beautiful. Vote for her.

  Bridget ran up to me as I admired the hallway. “How the hell did you do this? How long have you been working on these posters? They’re in every building!”

  “Me? I didn’t do this! Every building?”

  “Yep. At least twenty in the science building. And I counted another fifteen in the corridor to the cafeteria. AJ, you had to have been here all night. How did you get into the school?”

  “I didn’t do this! Ryan told me he made me some posters last night…”

  “No way he did these in one night. No friggin’ way,” Bridget sputtered.

  And she was right. There was absolutely no way on earth that he could’ve done this in one night. They were so detailed. So perfect. And there were so many.

  Even if he had made the posters last night, there was no way he could’ve hung them before school. He’d left just before I did this morning. There hadn’t been enough time.

  Bizarre.

  Now I felt like a bigger bitch than ever. He’d worked his fingers off for me, and I had acted like an asshat.

  The first bell rang and I started toward my locker to retrieve my books. Which is where Lindsey decided to corner me.

  “You amaze me,” she sneered from behind me.

  I rolled my eyes and turned to face her. “Sometimes I even amaze myself.”

  “You’re one of those girls, aren’t you?”

  “I’m sorry, Lindsey. I’m pretty smart, but I need you to be more specific here. If you mean I’m one of those girls with a vagina, then yes. I am.” Sometimes I crack myself up.

  “No. I mean if you can’t have Ryan, you’ll see to it that nobody else can,” she said.

  “It seemed to me that you had him just fine last night. And Saturday night. Is Lindsey afraid she might be second choice? Awww. Poor baby.”

  “You just couldn’t get over the fact that he was helping me instead of you. Let him go already. Or do you wanna be known as the freak who’s dating her brother?”

  She had no idea what kind of freak I really was…and the tingling in my jaw was telling me to chill out quick or she was gonna learn real damn soon.

  “First, Ryan isn’t my real brother, he’s my stepbrother. Second, Ryan and I aren’t even together anymore. By all accounts, he’s your bene-friend now. Enjoy him while you can, I’ve got to go.” I slammed my locker shut, shouldered her out of my way, and headed to Advanced Anatomy. She had no idea who she was messing with
.

  Advanced Anatomy barely kept my attention this morning. Mrs. Simmons decided to do a recap of the cardiovascular system, and today’s topic was: blood. Well, if there’s anything a vampire is familiar with, it’s blood. So instead of actively listening, my thoughts alternated between apologizing to Ryan and getting rid of Noah.

  I guess I zoned out in my quest for an appropriate apology, because the ringing bell surprised me. When I crammed my books into my backpack, a small bouquet of basil and sage tied together with a white ribbon fell out. Huh. Weird. I threw it back into my bag, zipped it up, and with a sense of dread weighing on my shoulders, headed for Mrs. Crandall’s room.

  Please, no more drama, I mentally chanted. Please let there be a substitute, I added.

  Sigh. No luck.

  Mrs. Crandall sat at her desk like she was the queen. Her prunelike face almost smiled when she saw me. No. It was too condescending to be a smile. It was a smug.

  “Good morning, AJ,” she said as I walked by her desk.

  I stopped in my tracks.

  “Good morning?” I asked.

  I took my seat and waited for the bomb to drop. Nothing. I glanced around the room and saw Ryan’s chair was empty. It wasn’t like him to skip.

  The whole class seemed to zone out during Mrs. Crandall’s lecture. Not that she was ever really engaging, but today it seemed extra difficult to focus. I could feel myself nodding off, the lack of good rest finally taking its toll, when I heard that same sound from the other night.

  Scritch, scritch, scritch.

  My heart stopped and chills raced up my arms. I looked around to see if anyone else had heard it, but the rest of the class seemed near catatonic. I was the only person aware of any scratching.

  Scritch, scritch, scritch.

  I looked over at the window and froze.

  Noah had left me a message.

  I’m watching.

  I could hardly breathe for the remainder of class. I spent the time wondering if I could get a restraining order against a dichampyr. I also kept waiting for Mrs. Crandall to call me out for being distracted, but she just kept on smiling, never saying a word. I couldn’t believe I’d made it through a Crandall class without some sort of scarring. No bomb. No shrapnel. No phantom pains. Nothing.

  I should be celebrating my victory, but for some reason, I was uneasy. Something just wasn’t right.

  Malia caught up to me, and we left class together.

  “Is it me, or did she seem almost happy today?”

  “Yeah. It creeped me out. Big-time.”

  “Oh my God! Me too! Maybe she and Mrs. Young got it on in the teachers’ lounge before class. Maybe that was her ‘afterglow’ face.”

  “Ew!” I said, laughing. “I can’t go there. You’ve got to stop giving me that mental picture. It makes me wanna poke out my mind’s eye.”

  “Hey, where was Ryan today? I know he’s here; I saw him this morning.”

  “I have no idea.” I was still in shock and awe over the Dr. Jekyll side of Mrs. Crandall. Not to mention my little undead love note. I hadn’t even begun to contemplate why Ryan had missed class.

  Malia and I walked to my locker so I could exchange books for my third-period class. When we got there, Bridget was waiting for us.

  “I heard you and Lindsey got into it this morning,” she said.

  “Yeah. She came at me claws out. But I think I won the battle.”

  “Well, with these posters, it’s likely you’ll win the war, too. I haven’t even seen one of hers yet.”

  “I know she has some,” I said. “She and Ryan were working on them together last night.”

  “Ryan’s been a busy boy, then,” Malia added. “Sounds like he’s trying to dip his wick into two vats of wax.”

  “I think this is really hard on Ryan,” Bridget said. “And on AJ. I mean, one minute you’re trying to get into each other’s pants and the next you’re supposed to be siblings. And AJ, you did tell him to move on. Is he still trying to get you to date him despite your parents’ warning?”

  “No. He seems to have his sights set solely on Lindsey now. Which is really for the best. How many people meet their soul mate in high school, anyway?” I said.

  “You can do better than Ryan. He’s a loser if he wants to date Lindsey,” Malia said.

  “He’s not a loser,” Bridget said.

  “Gee, Bridget. I thought AJ was your friend,” Malia said.

  “All I’m saying is this situation isn’t fair and he’s doing the best he can. And you know AJ’s my friend, Malia. That’s not even funny.”

  “Okay, guys. Bridget is right. This situation is not fair. But Malia is right, too. If he wants to replace me with Lindsey, that’s his problem. I was a total bitch to him this morning and I’m going to apologize for that, but he and I cannot be together.” Even if one of his posters called me beautiful. I wonder if he used that same slogan for Lindsey.

  “Um, AJ?” Bridget said, tapping me on the shoulder.

  I turned to see Ryan coming down the hall with Mrs. Blanchard and Mr. Charles. Correction, he was being escorted down the hall.

  His gaze caught mine, and he was silently pleading with me. Pleading for what? I guess I was about to find out.

  “Ariel, we need to have a word with you,” Mrs. Blanchard said.

  “AJ, I’m so sorry.” Ryan looked stricken. “I was just trying to help.”

  “Sorry for what?”

  “Come along. You’ll find out soon enough.”

  The crowded hallway parted like the Red Sea as I was escorted to an empty classroom.

  “Have a seat.”

  Mrs. Blanchard was all business, which was pretty unusual. Not one smile or joke, which was not a good sign.

  I looked over at Mr. Charles, but his face didn’t give anything away.

  “Before we begin, AJ, can you tell me if there is anything wrong with your school email account? Have you been having trouble?” Mrs. Blanchard asked.

  “I dunno. I don’t guess so. I haven’t checked it yet. Why?”

  “Do you remember the announcement that all school-related issues would be emailed to the students? We’re cutting back on paper memorandums as much as possible, as part of the green initiative started by last year’s student council.”

  “Oh, yeah. I totally think that rocks, too.”

  “Well then, why haven’t you checked your email?”

  “I guess with everything going on, I just forgot. Did I miss something?”

  Mr. Charles sighed. “Betty, I really think we need to cut her a break. With Noah’s death and everything.”

  My face warmed as it pinked. “Cut me a break for what? What’s going on? I haven’t done anything.” Had I?

  “Mr. Charles,” Mrs. Blanchard chastised. “She’s the only candidate who did not follow the rules. If we do as you suggest and ‘cut her a break,’ we are doing a disservice to those students who made sure they followed the rules to the letter.”

  “What rules? Would someone please tell me what I did wrong so I can fix it?” Dread fisted in my stomach again, but this time it was peppered with a whole bunch of panic. What could I have possibly missed?

  “AJ, all the candidates for class officer were sent emails regarding the rules for this year’s campaign. It seems that some of last year’s posters got a little out of hand and the administration decided that all posters had to be preapproved by the class sponsor before they were hung. And you did not get yours preapproved.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. All this drama over campaign posters? Really? Posters I didn’t even make. Or ask for? So I was gonna get my hand slapped for putting the posters up before I’d had them approved. I could live with that.

  “I’m so sorry I didn’t check my email. I had no idea and I promise to have any future posters approved before they’re hung. Have you seen any with questionable content? I didn’t make them, so I haven’t even seen them all yet. I actually have no idea what they say.” I laughed. It was a littl
e forced, but I was trying to relax.

  “We know Ryan made the posters and hung them for you this morning. He came to us when he found out we were going to ask you to take them all down.”

  “That’s a little drastic, don’t you think? I mean, I didn’t even know he was gonna do the posters. And I hadn’t read the email yet.”

  Mr. Charles sat down in the desk next to me. “AJ, we understand what happened. Ryan really went to bat for you. But the rules were established for a reason. And we can’t bend on these. If we bend them for you, we have to bend them for everyone.”

  “Aren’t they more like guidelines?” I asked hopefully.

  “No, ma’am. They’re chiseled in stone like the commandments.”

  “So I have to remove every one of the posters. There are, like, a hundred of them.”

  “According to Ryan, there are more like two hundred of them,” Mr. Charles said.

  Great. Could this day possibly get any worse?

  Chapter 14

  Of course it could get worse. Why hadn’t I learned that by now?

  The thought of removing all those posters was overwhelming to say the least. And even though I knew Ryan had the best intentions, part of me was a little pissed off at the fact that I had to clean up the mess.

  Then my Catholic guilt punched me in the heart. Ryan had put up an astronomical number of posters for me because he cared. And if I were a betting girl, I would wager that he had barely even helped Lindsey.

  Mrs. Blanchard handed me an excused tardy slip for my next class. I walked down the hall with every intention of removing the posters as I went when I realized they were already gone.

  Huh.

  Ryan must’ve told Malia and Bridget and they’d probably started removing the graffiti while I was in my “meeting.” My friends are made of awesome.

  I exited the English building and headed toward study hall with Coach Gerard. He is your typical grown-up jock and pretty cute, if you’re into the bulk over brain kinda guy. He isn’t stupid by any stretch of the imagination, but he also isn’t the brightest bulb in the chandelier.

  The door creaked when I opened it, and of course every head turned to look. I smiled and waved as I walked over to Coach G. and handed him my tardy slip.