“How did you know my name?”
Alex smiled and shrugged at the ease of the answer. “She always said she would name her first son Nicholas.”
Nothing was said for some time between the two, but finally it was Nick who broke the silence. “I am really sorry for having this put on you. I know it’s not fair and it doesn’t make sense.”
“It might help if you filled in the blanks for me.”
“It’s complicated,” Nick replied, grinning crookedly and using her own line on her.
Alex nodded, realising that was all she would get. “I understand. Well, look, it’s really late. Why don’t I make up my old roommate’s room, and we can see about getting your school things tomorrow?”
“You’re letting me stay?” Nick asked.
The hope in his voice touched Alex. “What else am I going to do?”
“Given everything, I don’t know. I’m just…grateful. Thank you so much.”
Alex ruffled his hair and the young man giggled, relief practically oozing from him. This really was Alicia’s last resort and Nick knew it too. “Hey, come on. Of course! We’re family.”
Chapter 8
A New Start
Nick walked into the St. Andrew’s administration office. The walls had been painted in a teal and pale-green colour scheme, giving the whole room the feel of a doctor’s waiting area. As he approached the front desk, the receptionist looked up.
“Yes, young man? What can I do for you?” She folded her hands on top of each other on the desk.
“Hello. Um… This is my first day and I don’t know where I have to go.” He felt nervous and uncomfortable in his grey tweed uniform. It didn’t fit him quite right—too baggy in some places, too tight in others—but he refrained from tugging at the fabric as he stood before the prim woman.
“Oh? Well then, welcome,” she replied brightly, thumbing through some files in front of her. “Mister Slade?”
“Nicholas Slade. Nick, actually.”
The corner of her mouth twitched upward. “Of course, Mister Slade. Principal Parkins will be right with you.”
Almost as if on cue, a tall man opened the office door and stepped out to greet him. Rather heavy and with a thin beard, he looked quite friendly as he offered his hand, which Nick shook.
“Good morning, Mister Slade, and welcome to St Andrew’s. Allow me to show you around.”
Nick was flooded with relief. The receptionist and principal had been welcoming so far, and it put him at ease. He’d been dreading this day for the past week, despite all the help from Alex and her mother Margaret. They’d been nothing but kind, helping him with registration and purchasing school supplies, but it had been clear they were still curious about what had happened that had prompted his mother to send him to Sydney in the first place.
Nick felt extremely guilty that he could not be entirely honest with Alex and her mother, given they had taken him in so readily. But he knew knowing would cause more harm than good. He also knew that their patience would only last so long, and he would have some tough choices to make when that time came.
Still, right now he had other things on his mind. As he began his tour, Nick took stock of St. Andrew’s and decided he could really grow to like it here. With nearly a thousand students, both boys and girls, it was one of the few schools in Sydney that went from pre-school to year 12. This meant that the majority of students who were in his year had been at this school their entire educational lives, which Nick thought was very cool.
He was shown the basic facilities—computer lab, science labs, library, sports field, canteen, or “tuck shop” as the principal called it—and was introduced to various handfuls of students and teachers along the way and so on.
Everyone seemed much less concerned with class systems and much more…real than the kids he’d encountered at Albert Hall. This school had the kind of character and life that he had always wanted to experience. It was rustic, put together in bits and pieces, and seemed to have been updated in the same way, by people with ideas and plans for the betterment of the students, and who did the best they could with what they had. Nick admired that.
“Well, that’s about it. Oh, well no, one more thing.” Principal Parkins led him to an open door, the last along the corridor he was on. “Hopefully, a place we won’t need to see you in much,” he said, gesturing to the sign next to the door: First Aid and Counsellor’s Office. “Let me just see if anyone is in,” he said, knocking on the door. “Hello?”
Nick stepped in just as a happy-sounding voice said, “Hello back.”
Nick caught sight of a buxom beauty crossing the room. She swept her long brown hair into a quick pony-tail with curvaceous arms, and then picked up a bunch of files from a low table. She sashayed past the two men and placed the files on the desk before turning around to face them. Nick felt a hitch in his breath as he lowered his eyes slowly, taking all of her hour glass figure in, from her luscious rounded hips and thighs to her lovely full bosom.
“Ah, Miss O’Brien, good morning. Is Mrs. Davies in?”
“Good morning! No, I’m afraid she called in sick today.”
“I see. Well, I just wanted to introduce our new student. This is Mister Nicholas Slade.”
“Nick,” Nick blurted without thinking.
“Sorry?” The girl and principal said nearly simultaneously.
The girl blinked and leant her head to the side, expecting. Expecting what, Nick had no idea, not even aware he had to answer something, staring with his mouth half open. She was all ovals. She had an olive tinge to her skin, or maybe it was a tan, Nick wasn’t sure. She continued to stare at him with big but not huge brown eyes and the longest lashes he had ever seen, but she started to smile. It was a curious smile, showing two front teeth that were slightly crooked, through a pursing of the lips. And her eyes sparkled above perhaps the most adorable dimples Nick had ever seen.
“Uh, hello,” he said, in a voice barely above a whisper, holding out his hand. “No, I’m sorry. Nick. I prefer— Uh… My name… I’m Nick. Nick Slade.”
Her smile grew bigger as she took his hand. “Hello, Nick. I’m Nicole.” She spoke slowly and gave his hand a deliberate shake—Nick imagined she was trying to wake him up—before finally releasing herself gently from his grip.
“Ok then, son. Let’s see about getting you to class,” Principal Parkins said quickly. “And look, it’s on right now. Just outside here. Physical Education. Take care, Ms. O’Brien!” he finished, leading Nick out of the office.
“You too, sir. Bye, Nick,” she waved, grinning.
*
Nick got changed into his sports uniform, a singlet and shorts at lightning speed, not believing how foolish and bumbling he had been. What must she think of him? Hell of a way to make a first impression. But he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Surely she couldn’t be a counsellor—she looked no older than he was—yet the principal spoke to her like an equal almost. Oh well, regardless of how many questions he had, they would go unanswered. He’d been such an idiot, there was no way she’d be interested in talking to him again.
“Hey, new kid. Wake up!” a voice shouted.
Bugger this. She was just a girl. A very beautiful girl though. Some of the kids at Albert Hall would no doubt have called her fat, as anything above a size twelve was considered obese there. But really, Albert Hall kids shunned pretty much anyone unless they had more money than they themselves did. Even then, they were known to insult anyone behind their backs if they didn’t fit their idea of perfection. Beauty there was considered only that narrowly defined “ideal” in the pages of the latest fashion magazine.
Nick felt Nicole had a woman’s body, regardless of how thick she was. Hips, boobs and a bum. Nevertheless, he needed to forget about her for the sake of his sanity, and to avoid having a ball smack into his head. As the game continued, Nick fumbled and bumbled his way around. He began to run decoys quite a bit, fooling his opposition classmates if he was actually going to recei
ve the ball or not.
The teacher’s whistle blew. “Ok, take five minutes.”
Nick jogged to the bubbler and heaped the cooling liquid down his parched throat. As he drank, he could feel both sides of his head pulse with a tension headache. He could’ve taken his shirt off and wrung it out. The other students were not sweating as much, but they were probably not used to the cooler grey summers of Europe.
The whistle blew again, Nick and his team now running in the direction of the counsellor’s office. He found the speed of the game a bit better the more he played, evidenced by the increase in passes he received. When his team had to turn the ball over, Nick noticed they had a spectator. Nicole was watching the action, taking sips from a coffee mug.
It went back and forth for a few minutes, nothing really changing but then Nick got his chance.
He got the ball about thirty metres from the opposition goal line, and threw a fake, which his opposite fell for. The spiky black-haired teen was almost twice as broad and a foot taller, but Nick was faster. He dashed through the gap his feign created. Nick easily outran the other boy and scored.
His teammates congratulated him. Even the teacher clapped. Nick looked as slyly as he could to see if Nicole was impressed at all, but she was texting.
There was no time to get shirty about it. The next set, the ball flew toward him, and Nick passed the ball quickly. Just as he let the ball fly, SMACK! He found himself on his back, trying to gasp for air, sharp pain in his chest, the tall black-haired boy standing over him.
The whistle blew. “Hey Miller! What was that?”
“That’s how I play football,” Miller said, laughing.
“Elbowing blokes in the chest when they’re not looking. Yeah you’re a real pro. You pull a stunt like that again, you’re benched for the finals!” The teacher stood over Nick and held out a hand to help him up. “You all right?”
Nick nodded, accepting the teacher’s help to rise. He noticed Nicole watching him with her fingers clasped under her chin.
Nick closed his eyes, cursing to himself. Of course. THAT she witnesses.
“Come on. Five minutes left. Line up.” The teacher blew three short, sharp tweets on his whistle.
Nick nodded and got back into line. Finally, Nick’s team had the last play of the game. He spotted an overlap and sent the ball soaring out wide. Once the ball left his hands, he noticed Miller charging directly for him again, and time seemed to slow down. Miller had an almost crazed look in his eye as he barrelled toward Nick.
“Shit” he sneered to himself, seeing the taller, stronger-looking boy heading in his direction. Nick made to step aside but regardless, he was going to get flattened again.
Just then a voice cracked through his mind like a bolt of lightning. No. Stand still.
Without any real time to think, Nick stood his ground, Miller still coming at him with a full head of steam. The bigger boy crashed into Nick with enough force to send him several feet back. But Nick didn’t fall. In fact, he barely felt a thing, while Miller, with a grunt like he had slammed into a brick wall, crumpled to the ground in a heap. With an unfamiliar charge of adrenaline, Nick took his turn to stand over Miller. Surprise turned to a small sense of satisfaction. Nick hadn’t been this fired up since Wilson had insulted his mother.
“Ok! Time to hit the showers! Miller…get up.”
Nick stepped over Miller and followed the rest of his class to the shower room. A small tiled room with just six showerheads hanging from the ceiling and a tap with a hose attached. The view left a bit to be desired, but Nick didn’t care. He stripped and walked in as water poured from each showerhead. He stepped under one and was jolted by the icy water. ‘Damn, is this imported directly from the arctic?’ He thought.
“Hey, new kid…”
Nick turned as an opposition player stood behind him, extending his hand. Nick shook the water out of his eyes and took it.
“Nick.”
“Yeah, okay, cool,” the boy replied dismissively. “I’m Jason. Look, I wanted to apologise for Miller out there. I’m his best mate, and I know he can get a little hot headed.”
“He sent you to say sorry?”
“They had to help him to the first aid room. He was suffering dizzy spells or something. You got him a good one.”
This struck a chord with Nick. “What? I just stood there. Look, I hope he is ok. If you see him before I do, tell him no hard feelings, yeah?”
“Yeah sure, bro. Will do.”
Nick stepped out from under the showerhead as Jason took his place. Nick noticed others chancing glances at the two of them, but he just draped his towel around his neck and ignored them.
“Oh, by the way.” Jason looked at Nick as he poured shampoo into his hands and rubbed it into his hair. “Just a friendly message that Miller wanted me to pass on: Stay away from Nicole.”
Nick stood there dripping wet. “Is she his girlfriend?”
“Not exactly. It’s just that he has been trying to nail her for years, and everyone in the school knows it. Thick chicks do way more in bed, they say, right? And Miller wants to tap that and find out if it’s true. So, you know, ‘bros before hos’ right?”
“For years, huh? Sounds like she’s not interested. Maybe we should let her decide who she likes.”
Jason stepped out of the shower and stared at Nick, no longer jovial. “Kay, maybe you’re not getting it coz, you know, you’re British or whatever. So I’m gonna make this real clear. Stay away from her. If not, you’d better watch your back. He can get really mean.”
Nick snorted. ‘Sounds like just the sort of guy she should sleep with,’ he thought, but to Jason, he only replied, “Whatever.”
“Let’s go!” yelled the gym teacher. “Time for your next class! Get a move on.”
*
As the bell rang for the end of the day, Nick walked out of the grounds feeling that his first day hadn’t been too bad. His other classes had consisted mainly of things he’d covered in Switzerland the previous year. His teachers didn’t seem to think he’d have any problem catching up with the rest of the students.
He met some nice people, both male and female. Maybe they weren’t all friend material, but they could maintain an intelligent conversation without it always referring back to money, which made a refreshing change. And he also met some dickheads. He had not seen Miller or Jason from the time he stepped out of the shower and back to class. He had a feeling that the fewer times their paths crossed over the year would be better for everyone.
“Hey, Nick! Hey!”
Nick turned to see Nicole walking quickly along to reach him. “How was your first day?”
“Ah, good! Thank you for asking.” His stomach did small flip-flops as he tried to maintain his cool.
Nicole laughed, giving a little bow and a flourish of her hand. “Oh, well, sir. It is absolutely my pleasure.”
Nick giggled, enjoying her teasing. “Yeah yeah,” he replied with a sheepish smile.
“See you on Thursday then?” She leant in a little closer. “By the way,” she whispered, “that was a sweet hit.”
Just like that, she continued on, leaving Nick with that same fluttering rush of adrenaline somewhere in his chest.
Turn around.
That commanding voice again, the same one that told him to take the hit from Miller. Nick listened to it, turning his attention to two figures at the entrance gate. Miller and Jason were leaning against it. Nick made a good bet with himself they had seen the whole exchange. An exchange that pretty much ignored the warning Nick was given. Jason was shaking his head in disbelief; Miller just stared.
Knowing he had made two fresh enemies, and knowing there was nothing he could do about it, Nick just smiled and waved.
Chapter 9
A Dish Best Served Cold
Lauren stared at the ceiling. She had never seen a chandelier with rubies instead of crystal. Red, it must just be a vampire thing. Even though she no longer needed to breathe, let out a s
igh anyway.
She had been alive for twenty seven years and dead for about six months. She had never understood the whole vampire craze that gripped women from the books and movies. So many fan girls would love to be in her position, she guessed: immortal, strong and young forever. No sickness, no death. She was probably one of the most enviable women in the world.
I am so fucking bored.
The superpower of newborn vampirism had worn off months ago and, since then, she had spent the majority of her time as a vampire in this room, waiting to be fed from a vein slave. Night after night, her stupid routine never changed.
She had been placed here following her altercation with Matt. Ok, so altercation was putting it a bit mildly. She’d broken Matt’s back and almost killed Dante with her suped-up newborn rage. That had resulted in an impromptu meeting with Vincent, and he had told her he would find use for her.
He’d seemed pissed, yet impressed. Lauren got the idea though, that it was more the former than the latter. Being locked in here for so long was her punishment. What was the use of eternal life if you spent it in one fucking place?
Her hearing suddenly picked up something now. Footsteps outside. Actually a few of them. Maybe more than ten or so. The house must have guests. One of those guests might be getting closer; she could hear someone coming down the hall.
Her door opened and Clive, the hacker that worked for Vincent took a step forward. He cleared his throat and looked at the ground. “Um…I’ve been asked to get you.”
Oh, great! “So he sends you? What did I do now?”
Clive still couldn’t raise his head. “Uh… I—I don’t know.”
“Bullshit,” Lauren spat, rising. Clive, ever the coward, jumped at the speed she used. She smirked and feigned a lunge toward him, making him jump again. “So where are we going then, lackey?”
“Downstairs. The dungeons. That’s all I know.”
Day Dreamer (Undeadly Secrets Book 2) Page 6
