by Donna Flynn
“Good morning,” I responded, kissing her cheek and taking the plate she offered me before walking into the dining room where my father sat at the head of the table, reading his morning newspaper. He looked up as I entered the room, his smile as warm as my mother’s had been, and I was struck by how truly good looking the man I called my “father” was. His dark hair was short and tapered, and his green eyes twinkled with happiness as he watched me approach. The charcoal-grey designer suit he wore emphasized his fit physique and made it easy to see why all the moms flirted shamelessly with him at school functions and around town despite the fact he made it clear my mother was the only woman for him.
We were extremely close, probably closer than most fathers and daughters. He had told me many times he had never expected to have children and that when they had found me I had been the answer to their dreams. I supposed that was why he always made an effort to spend time with me no matter how busy he got. Paul, who came to them shortly after my arrival, had been an added bonus, one he had also embraced wholeheartedly, but he had raised me for most of my life so our bond was a little different.
“Good morning,” he said as I leaned over and kissed him on his cheek. “Did you sleep well?”
“Uh, yeah,” I murmured, sitting down to eat hurriedly before my brother appeared and began berating me about being late. (Something he had done every morning before school for as long as I could remember.)
I was hurriedly shoveling my breakfast down when Paul walked in seconds later, giving me the dark, impatient look that he used when I was holding him up. “Are you going to take all day eating that?” he asked leaning against the wall, frowning as I lifted the fork to my mouth for another bite. “You are going to make us late.”
He sounded gruff, but I knew he wasn’t really mad, so I didn’t take it to heart. “Good, maybe that will give you time to brush your hair,” I teased.
“There’s nothing wrong with my hair,” he growled, but looked into the decorative mirror positioned over the antique buffet server across the room to run a hand through its untamed mass.
I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. Paul was seriously good looking: his light brown hair with its blond tips always had that just-got-out-of-bed look, which although messy, suited him. He had muscles that went on forever and a face that made females drool. Dressed in faded jeans and a tight T-shirt from a trendy store all of the kids shopped at, he looked more like a model for one of their ads than a vampire. Every girl in town wanted to date him, and I wondered if they knew what he was whether that would detract from his allure or add to it. With the current popularity of vampires in my generation, I figured that if they found out, he just might find himself a celebrity instead of a monster to be feared. Not that it mattered. Paul never dated. It seemed his sole mission in life was to watch over me and he took that job seriously, whether I wanted him to or not.
“Come on, you know I hate to be late,” he growled.
“I just started eating, nerd boy. It’s not my fault that you eat from a bottle. Some of us actually have to chew our food.”
The corner of his lip lifted in a sneer. “It’s not a bottle, it’s a bag, and I could eat from your friends instead if you’d like.” He flashed me a bit of fang and made a low, sucking noise to emphasize his meaning.
“Paul,” my father warned with a frown.
“Yuck, that’s gross.” I stuck my tongue out at him just as my mother walked into the room. She spared me a disapproving look then turned to Paul with her hands on her hips.
“We do not drink from humans, Paul, so stop teasing your sister,” she scolded. I chuckled, but then she turned her motherly glare upon me. “It is not ladylike to stick your tongue out.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, ashamed.
She directed her stare back to Paul, who mumbled a similar apology. “Now knock it off, before I punish you both.”
I fought back the laugh that formed in my throat and saw my brother doing the same. My mother had never lifted a finger against either of us and she never would. She loved us too much, and we both knew it.
“I was just kidding, runt. I don’t drink straight from the source, it makes you humans squeamish,” Paul teased.
My mother glared harder at him, but I knew she loved him as if he was her own and that she would forgive him, for his statement. Besides, she was used to our teasing; Paul and I harassed each other all the time. He was not my brother by blood, but in my heart he was the greatest brother I could have asked for, and I loved him dearly.
“No problem, Dracula,” I teased, knowing he hated to be compared to the infamous vampire who gave their kind such a bad reputation. It had become somewhat of a joke between us now, but when he had bought the movie and made me watch it when I was younger, I had been terrified for months afterward. After seeing what the famous vampire could do I did everything Paul asked without question, until my parents found out what he had done and chewed him out for his duplicity.
“Three minutes or you’re walking,” he said, looking pointedly at the clock before leaving the room.
He wouldn’t leave me, I reassured myself, but just to be sure I finished my breakfast quickly, grabbed my backpack from the floor, gave my mother a hug, said goodbye to my father, and hurried outside to where he stood waiting impatiently beside the new truck my parents had brought him for his birthday a few weeks before.
The truck was dark blue with skulls and white ghostly wisps hovering over tombstones custom-painted on the sides, and stood on wheels so high I struggled to get inside by myself. He chuckled, lifted me inside, and then handed me my book bag before he got in the driver’s side, revved the engine, and took off down the long driveway that hid our palatial home from the rest of the world.
The drive down the mountain to the town below was peaceful and we drove in silence, both of us caught up in the beauty of the late summer morning. We reached the center of our small town, where a few local shops and restaurants were situated, and he slowed down to obey the thirty-mile-an-hour speed limit, cautious as always when I was in the car with him, and I couldn’t help but smile. Although he was annoying for the most part, as most brothers were, his concern for my safety was touching.
Just outside of the town center, tree-lined streets with family homes were situated in neat rows. American flags waved in the morning breeze in front of each house as mothers passed on the sidewalk with their young children, stopping periodically to talk with their neighbors as they walked down the street to the small elementary school. Small-town America was alive and thriving in our little community. Everything was so idyllic that no one would ever suspect vampires lived amongst them, which I suspected was why we lived there.
At the town border, we turned into Rosemont High’s Parking lot. Well-maintained lawns and fields surrounded the red brick high school. Although it was not by any means large, it was sufficient for our small town’s need, and thanks to a generous donation made to the school the year before I had started there, we had the most advanced technology available and boasted some of the best teachers in the state.
Paul pulled into his assigned parking spot and his friends converged on us, all of them focused on his shiny new toy. My brother was oddly popular amongst the teens at school despite being a hundred years old. He once told me that it was because vampires learned to quickly adapt and fit in no matter where they were, but I thought it had more to do with his outgoing personality, though I didn’t dare tell him that. He prided himself on his ability to “blend in.”
He helped me from the truck, picking me up and placing me on the ground before handing me my book bag. Conversation that had been plentiful just moments before ceased as I stepped in front of the vehicle. All eyes turned in my direction, many of the males gathered staring at me as if seeing me for the first time, and I felt my cheeks warm in response.
Matt, my brother’s best friend, found his voice before anyone else and pushed past everyone, walking directly to my side, giving me the once-over wi
th his eyes. “Well, well, little Katie, you sure have grown up,” he said, leaning against the truck, trying to be smooth but failing miserably.
I smothered back the chuckle that rose in my throat. Before I had a chance to respond Paul moved to my side, pulling me away, giving all of the males present a warning glare that had them lowering their gazes.
I felt my cheeks burn with embarrassment and wanted the pavement to swallow me whole, but thankfully I saw my best friend Jess waving from across the parking lot, which gave me an excuse to get out of there. Quickly I took the opportunity she presented to escape all the male testosterone that surrounded me. “I’m going to go with Jess to get my schedule, alright?”
Paul surveyed the parking lot, waved to Jess then looked down on me, his six-foot plus frame imposing next to my five-foot-five one. “Sure, see you later, and don’t talk to strangers.”
“Yeah, because I always do that!” I rolled my eyes and ran across the parking lot, feeling his gaze on me, watching my every movement with his hawk-like eyes.
“Hey, Jess.” I stopped in front of my friend and waved to Paul. He waved back then turned to talk to Matt, but I knew he was still aware of everything I was doing and who was around me. It was a vampire thing that he refused to explain and it drove me insane.
Jess sighed, looking forlornly at the building before us. “Can you believe we are back here already?”
I sighed too. “What I wouldn’t give for another day of summer,” I moaned as we walked into the building, going directly toward the cafeteria where everyone was collecting their schedules. After receiving ours we went to our lockers, which were situated next to one another, as they always seemed to be since the year we had met in elementary school.
I was having trouble opening my lock when a male voice behind me asked if I needed help. I recognized the voice immediately and felt my heart race as I turned to find Scott Jordan standing behind me. With wavy brown hair, caramel-colored eyes, and the muscular build of an athlete, he was one of the hottest guys at our school. I had been secretly crushing on him for years and was totally lost as he smiled down on me, his hand resting against the locker right next to my head.
“Hey, Katie, how are you?” he asked, his smooth voice making me giddy with excitement.
My heart skipped a beat. “I’m fine,” I answered nervously, unsure why he was talking to me when in the past he had not even noticed I existed.
“I saw you around the pool this summer. You sure are looking good.” He looked me over from head to toe and grinned.
“Uh, yeah, I saw you too,” I answered lamely.
“Let me see your lock combination, maybe I can get the door open for you.”
He bent his head close to mine and over his shoulder, I could see Jess fanning herself and mouthing “oh my God” repeatedly behind him. I couldn’t help thinking the same thing as he reached around me, his arms brushing my sides, his warm breath on my neck as he turned the lock. It only took him a few seconds to get my locker open, but with him so close, his arms around me, I found it hard to breathe.
“There,” he said, pulling the lock off and dropping it into my hand, brushing one finger along my palm.
My hand trembled slightly and my cheeks flamed with embarrassment. “Thanks,” I said breathlessly.
“No problem,” he replied, pulling his hand away. “By any chance, can I get your phone number?”
“I…uh…” Jess shoved a piece of paper and a pen at me. I wrote down my number with a shaking hand and handed it to him.
Scott stepped back and looked me over again, grinning as he put my number in his pocket. “Great, maybe we can go out sometime?”
“Sounds good,” I murmured, trying to remain calm despite my fluttering belly.
“I’ll call you,” he said then walked away to join his friends across the hall.
My stomach was in knots and my hands were still shaking when I turned back to Jess with a smile that I was sure lit up the hall.
“Oh…my…God! The first day of school and Scott Jordan asks you out,” she said with a grin. “This is going to be a life-changing year!”
“He probably won’t even call,” I told her, still unable to believe myself that he had even talked to me.
“Hey, Jess, Katie, what’s up?” Chris, my other best friend, asked as he joined us.
“Hey, Chris,” we answered in unison.
I turned to look at my longtime friend with a smile. Chris was a good-natured fun-loving flirt, and by the looks he was receiving from other females in the hall I could tell they approved of the changes the summer working at his father’s feed store had wrought to his body.
“What do your schedules look like?” he asked, pulling a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket.
“Jeez, Chris, we just got those, and yours looks like it has been through a war already,” Jess teased, as he tried to flatten out his schedule.
“Hey, I’m a guy, we don’t laminate things and make them all pretty like you girls do.”
Jess and I shook our heads, unable to stop the laughter that erupted between us. We compared schedules, groaning about the teachers we had each gotten and trading gossip we had heard through the grapevine until the bell rang, signaling the start of our day.
Chris left us at the door of Algebra class, promising to meet up with us later.
Jess and I had just gotten settled in our seats when Scott and his friends walked into the room. All of the girls primped and preened as he passed, vying for his attention, but he didn’t seem to notice. His eyes were glued on me.
As he made his way down the aisle I held my breath, wondering if he would stop to talk to me, but to my utter disappointment he walked past me without a word and took a seat in the back with all of the other football players.
The teacher cleared her throat called us to attention, and I forced myself to focus on the lesson instead of the guy behind me.
*****
Any happiness that I had felt about Scott’s flirting with me faded quickly when Jess and I walked into the gym and saw Brenda Calhoun holding court. Brenda was the most popular girl at our school and the biggest pain in the rear I had ever met. She had singled me out in third grade and made it her sole mission to aggravate and humiliate me, for reasons known only to her. Generally, I avoided her like the plague. It just made things easier.
I ducked into the locker room and dressed quickly, hoping to avoid her, but as Jess and I turned the corner, there she was with her flunkies, badmouthing all the other females at school, as they dressed and preened as if they were going to a fashion show instead of gym.
“Did you see the new girls this year?” Brenda said snootily. “Totally tragic. I mean, I know people cannot help how they look, but really, they have makeup and TV shows about fashion now, so really, there is no excuse not to try and look your best,” she sneered. “Well, I guess that just leaves more men for me,” she added, before turning back to her locker and applying another coat of lip gloss to her already slick red lips.
“Did you get a good look at Scott?” her best friend Samantha asked, her question followed by a lot of twittering from the other girls that surrounded her.
“He looks good,” Brenda answered with a slow smile. “I suppose it is just a matter of time before he asks me out.”
“Funny you should say that, because this morning he was hanging all over Katie Sutherland,” Samantha told her with a smug grin.
Brenda slammed her locker door and turned to the others, her face pink with rage and I took a step back, praying she wouldn’t see me.
“Just because she grew boobs over the summer, all the guys are talking about her. Well, I don’t think she’s all that pretty and I am sure Scott would never ask her out, at least not while I’m an option.” She tossed her short dark hair and turned back to her locker, confident Scott would fall at her feet just like all the other males at school did. I had to admit she was gorgeous and I understood their attraction, but how anyone could be with such a me
an-spirited, cold- hearted person was beyond me.
“Let’s go,” Jess whispered.
I nodded, and we got out of there before she turned around and saw us.
Once in the gym, our coach spent the better part of the next forty-five minutes splitting us into groups for intramurals. Jess and I were separated, which sucked, but Scott was in my group so I could not help but be happy about that.
“Looks like you lucked out, having me on your team,” he said, reaching over to brush a lock of hair from my cheek.
“Guess so,” I answered shyly. He was so cute, and I was nervous just being so close to him, but somehow I managed to control my excitement so I didn’t look like a total geek.
Once we were all divided, each team played basketball against one another for the rest of class. I didn’t play much since Scott and his friends hogged the ball, but I really did not mind since Scott made a point of seeking me out to flirt outrageously in between plays.
Unfortunately, his flirting also had Brenda glaring at me from across the gym and others watching us curiously, so I knew that by the end of the day gossip would be flying about the two of us. It was how things worked in such a small town where everyone knew everyone. I just hoped it didn’t get back to my brother, who I knew would freak out at the idea of any guy being interested in me.
*****
I told Chris after Gym that Scott had been flirting with me, thinking he too would share my joy, but it did not get the response I had expected.
“He asked her to go out sometime,” Jess told him as we walked down the hall toward our next class.
