My Crazy Life

by Katrina Kahler

  “Why here?” I asked.

  “Nobody knows. Glitters are also highly unpredictable,” Mom said.

  “Why did that thing try to control me then?” I asked. “I’m not human.”

  “Correct,” Dad said. “They attack us because we protect humans.”

  “Yet we still have to hide our real identities from humans so they don’t fear us,” I sighed.

  “Correct again,” Dad said. “We have a complicated relationship with humans. They tend to fear what they don’t understand.”

  “They are silly,” Mom said. “But most of them mean well or just don’t know any better. We are the superior beings. We protect them.”

  “Okay, that’s cool,” I said.

  “It’s actually for our survival too. If the Glitters made enough people do enough silly things at once the world could be in chaos,” Aunt Mika said.

  “That’s why we must stomp them out now before they grow in power!” Grandma shouted.

  Mom nodded. “Yes, we must stomp them out as quickly as possible!”

  “I’m good at stomping on things! I have huge feet!” Frank said.

  “Then what’s our plan?” I asked.

  “Now that we know they are here in Lowville we need to find a way to find their Glitter lair,” Dad said. “Then we will go there and stop them.”

  “Sounds easy enough,” Frank said.

  “Until then, just lead a nice normal life,” Mom said. “Of course, you may have to drive off a Glitter or two, but I know you can do it!”

  “I have total faith in you, honey,” Dad said.

  “Me too, sis,” Frank said with a full mouth. “And I will be nearby if you need me.”

  “Kid, you are as cool and strong as they come,” Mika said.

  “I have just met you, but from what I have seen...you are a strong and formidable young lady,” Mumford said with a bow. “And I do not say that because I am in the employment of your parents. Being a white mummy, I am good and cannot lie.”

  “Not even white lies?” I asked.

  Mumford grinned. “May I take your plate?” he asked.

  Nina Note: Mummies make surprisingly good butlers.

  “I’ll hang around you all the time!” Grandma offered. “I might be able to scare them off or make them all go wacko!”

  Looking at her I said, “Thanks grandma, but I really don’t want my grandma around all the time.”

  “But I will be invisible. No non-vampires can see me!” she said.

  “Doesn’t really help,” I said. “In fact, it may hurt, I don’t want to be known as the new girl in school who talks to herself.”

  Frank snickered, blowing a bubble of milk out of his nose. He used his long tongue to burst it. “Yeah, that would be bad.”

  Grandma stood laughing at Frank (who couldn’t see or hear her). “I get your point about how you don’t want to be seen talking to somebody who can’t be seen.”

  “Thank you, grandma,” I said.

  “If you need me just whistle and I’ll be there!” Grandma said.

  I smiled. “Thanks, grandma.”

  Mumford pointed up at the clock on the wall. “Now not to be a nuisance, but I believe you two should get ready for the bus. It should be here in ten minutes.”

  Frank pointed to his backpack on his chair. “I’m ready,” he said while still eating.

  “My bag is upstairs!” I said.

  I darted upstairs at high speed. Being a vampire meant I could move faster than humans could see. It came in handy at times.

  Nina Note: I’m actually not sure what worries me more, going to a new middle school or dealing with Glitters that make people do bad and or silly things. Seriously, who I am kidding. I’m part vampire...to me the scariest thing by far is a new middle school. After all, everybody knows that kids can be real monsters.

  Chapter 3: Meeting the Locals

  Frank and I stood outside our house waiting for the bus. I guess it was good news that our house was right next to the pickup spot for our route. If nothing else, I figured it would be a nice time-saver.

  “Hi, you must be the new kids we’ve heard about,” a cute red-haired girl said, walking up to us. She had incredible green eyes and a nice smile. Holding out her arm she said, “I’m Ruby.” Moving her head to the left she said, “I live in the house over there.” She looked at our house. “Your house is awesome!” she exclaimed.

  “Thanks, Ruby,” I said shaking her hand.

  “I’m Frank!” my brother said. Extending a huge hand to her.

  The two shook hands. Frank lifted Ruby off the ground.

  “Wow, you’re strong!” Ruby said.

  “Yes,” Frank said proudly. He kept a grip on her hand.

  “Frank, release,” I said.

  Frank opened up his hand. “Sorry, sometimes I forget I’m so strong.”

  Ruby giggled. “Hey, no problem. I have an older brother too. His name is Calvin and he is a bit of twit.”

  I laughed. Not sure why, but I instantly liked this Ruby.

  Then I saw him walking across the street. Tall, fair skin, dark-haired, and oh so handsome. He walked with confidence like he knew he knew he could handle anything the world threw at him.

  Ruby nudged me, bringing me out of my trance. “That’s Jim Chaser, I think he may be the cutest boy in the school, if not the whole country.”

  “I won’t argue with you, Ruby, my friend.”

  Before even getting across the street, Jim called to us. “You’re the new kids!” he said. “I’m so glad to see you!” he added.

  Nina Note: Not afraid to admit that my heart skipped a beat.

  Frank walked up to Jim and gave him a high five. “I’m Frank!”

  Jim returned the high five. “Man, you’re a tall one!”

  “Yes, I am!” Frank agreed.

  “I hope you play basketball,” Jim said.

  Frank nodded and smiled. “I play all sports except football. My mom and dad won’t let me; they’re afraid it will hurt my brain.”

  I walked towards them. “And believe me, Jim this boy can’t afford to lose any more brain cells.”

  “Ha! That is so right!” Frank said. He paused to think about what I said. He nodded. “Yeah, Nixy has a point.”

  I shot Frank my look.

  He jumped back.

  “Nixy?” Jim said. “I love it!” He looked into my eyes. “That’s an amazing name.”

  “Actually, it’s a family nickname. I prefer to be called Nina,” I said.

  Jim put a hand on my shoulder. I felt a spark. “Nina, I’m glad you’re both here. Not just because he’s so tall and you’re so pretty.”

  I smiled. Oh dear, I can’t believe I smiled at that. Me, a powerful vampire-weretiger. I had just learned that my family and I were here to stop these naughty Glitters from trying to control humans. I had a higher calling. Yet, a boy - a boy I just met - calling me pretty made me happy. Happier than I could ever remember feeling. How was that possible?

  “Man, I love your eyes,” Jim said. He shook his head. He hit himself in the head. “Sorry, Nixy, I mean Nina. I don’t know what’s come over me. Usually, I’m not this outgoing. I’m friendly, sure. But not this forward with a girl I just met.” He grinned. “Funny, though. I feel like I’ve met you before.”

  “Well my family and I just moved here,” I said. “Have you ever been to Thunder Falls? That’s where we lived before.”

  Jim shook his head, but his smile remained locked on her. “Can’t say I have.”

  “I guess I have one of those faces!” I said.

  “In a way, you do have a one-of-a-kind face,” he said. He blushed. “I can’t believe I said that.”

  Our bus pulled up.

  Ruby walked up and took my arm. “Come on, Nina let’s go sit!” she said.

  “Sure,” I said.

  “Nice meeting you, Jim,” I said.

  He pointed to the bus. “I’ll be on the same bus.”

  “Right, I knew that!�
� I said.

  Nina Note: Okay that was like extremely weird but in a good way. I had never seen this Jim Chaser in my life. That I knew, yet I also felt like I had known him forever. Not sure what that meant but I figured it had to be good. Right?

  Chapter 4: Bussing

  Ruby dragged me onto the bus.

  “Come on, let’s find a good seat. I can give you the rundown on the bus squad!”

  “Right,” I said. Fighting back the urge to say, but I’d love to sit with Jimmy.

  For his part, Jimmy had his arm around Frank. “I can tell we’re going to be good buddies,” he said loudly.

  Ruby stopped and introduced me to the bus driver. Back in my old school, the bus driver was a mean old woman. Mom swore that she was older than she was. Here the driver was a young, pretty brunette.

  “This is Ms. Knickels,” Ruby said to me. “The best bus driver in the whole universe!”

  Ms. Knickels smiled at me. “Don’t listen to her Nina! I’m good, but not THAT good!”

  “How’d you know my name?” I asked.

  “Ms. Knickels knows stuff,” Ruby told me. “It’s like she has mental radar.”

  Ms. Knickels kept the grin on her face. “Once again, Ruby gives me too much cred. I just saw your name on my new pickups list.” She pointed to a piece of paper on the dashboard. The writing was very small. A normal human couldn’t have read it. I could. I didn’t see my name on it, but I decided not to worry about that.

  Ruby led me to a seat near the back of the bus. We sat behind a small blond-haired boy. The boy looked away from us. I could tell he didn’t want to meet our gaze. That’s okay; I didn’t mind shy.

  Of course, Jimmy and Frank sat near the front of the bus.

  The bus doors closed, then we pulled away.

  “I see you like Jimmy?” Ruby said.

  “Is it that obvious?” I asked.

  Ruby nodded and smiled. “Yeah, a blind mouse could tell, but I can’t blame you. He’s so cute. You two would make a great couple.”

  “Thanks!” I said. I figured I must have been smiling widely. “Does he have a girlfriend?”

  Ruby shook her head. “No. A lot, and I mean A LOT, have tried, but he stays single. He says he doesn’t have time because of sports, school, and the family job.”

  “Family job?” I asked.

  “His mom runs an antique shop downtown. It’s got all sorts of old, cool things in it. Jimmy is the muscle and the stock boy and the cleaner. He does it all there. He and his mom are close.”

  “And his dad?”

  Ruby looked down. “He doesn’t talk about his dad. We don’t know much, just that he died a while back.”

  “Oh, that’s sad,” I said.

  “Some of the kids at school say his dad was eaten by a tiger, but that doesn’t make any sense. Kids just make junk up in their heads because they think it sounds cool,” Ruby said. “There are no tigers in this country!”

  Nina Note: Nope, no normal tigers! Surely it couldn’t have been a weretiger. I would have heard…

  “Yeah, kids are weird,” I said.

  I gazed down at Jim. Somehow our eyes met. He smiled at me. He waved. I waved back.

  Ruby nudged me. “He likes you!”

  “No, he’s just being polite,” I insisted.

  The bus came to stop. The door popped open.

  Ruby sighed. “This is a weird stop….”

  “Oh, how so?”

  “There are two sets of twins who get on here. Lester and Lewis Holmes. They’re jocks, and not to be rude, but I think they’ve taken too many hits to the brain. They aren’t bright, and they are mean.”

  “Ah, okay,” I said.

  I noticed two guys with very messy brown hair and olive green eyes get onto the bus. They weren’t tall, but they were solid. They walked past Ms. Knickels without a word, but they stopped and acknowledged Jimmy.

  “Hey,” they both said.

  “Hey,” Jimmy said.

  “They look like regular scholars,” I told Ruby.

  She laughed.

  The two scruffy boys noticed my brother. “Hey, who’s the new kid?”

  Frank stood and offered a hand. “Hi, guys I am Frank Thorn. I’m new here!”

  “Yeah, we can tell, that’s why we asked who’s the new kid,” one of the Holmes said.

  The other looked up at him. “You’re huge!”

  “Yes, that’s what people say,” Frank said. “My parents tell me they used the best genes on me!” he added proudly.

  The twin boys looked at his pants. “Yeah, they are nice pants.”

  Ruby and I both rolled our eyes.

  “See you on the field,” one of them said.

  “I look forward to it,” Frank said sitting down.

  I heard the two Holmes whisper to each other. “He’s a big dude, but if we team up...we can take him.”

  Next, two green-eyed girls dressed in matching green outfits got on. “Hi Ms. Knickels,” they both said.

  “Ladies,” Ms. Knickels said.

  Ruby sighed again. “Those are Randi and Sandi Dunn, the head cheerleaders.”

  “They are pretty,” I said.

  “And they so know it!” Ruby said.

  The two beauties sat in the seat across from Jimmy and Frank.

  “Who's your cute friend, Jimmy?” one of them asked.

  I did not like them talking to Jimmy or my brother.

  Nina Note: I had to fight back the urge to hypnotize them into thinking they were chickens!

  Before I could do anything though, the two brothers stopped and focused on Timmy Taylor. Timmy turned away, avoiding their glare. One of them, I don’t care which one, snapped his fingers in Timmy’s face.

  “Yo nerd, look at us when we are talking to you.”

  “You haven’t talked to me yet,” Timmy said, meekly but correctly.

  “We were going to and you know that,” the other big brother said.

  He put an open hand out in front of Timmy’s face. “Lunch now!” he demanded.

  “But I only have one lunch,” Timmy protested again without looking at them.

  “Not our problem. We suffer too because we have to split your lunch,” one of the Holmes bullies told him.

  Timmy reached into his book bag.

  Nope, this wasn’t going to happen. Not on my bus!

  I stood up. Ruby’s eyes shot up. “Sorry guys this is no bully zone now,” I told the Holmes boys. Pointing to the seat across from Timmy, I said in my sternest voice. “Sit!”

  The two Holmes brothers looked at me. They looked at each other. They moved over and sat down in the seats across from Timmy.

  “Why did we listen to her?” one of them said.

  “Don't have a clue,” the other gulped. “I guess because she is really cute.”

  Timmy turned and looked over the seat at me. “Thanks,” he said. “If you need help with your homework or anything like that, I am your man!”

  “Thanks, Timmy, I’ll be okay though. I love homework!”

  “Wow! So do I!” Timmy smiled.

  I sat back in my seat as the bus pulled away again.

  “Nina, that was awesome,” Ruby said to me.

  Nina Note: Bullies drive me batty! I don’t like it when bigger more powerful people pick on little people just because they can. Nope, not right at all. That might be my vampire side talking there. It’s kind of funny, throughout history vampires have always prayed on the weak. Well, those weaker than them, which is pretty much everybody. Even vampire hunters didn’t have much of a chance unless they were heavily armed and caught us off-guard, and that’s why I don’t tolerate bullies.

  I don’t want to be anything like my ancestors. I want to relate to people and build relationships and friendships around common goals, not fears or power. I believe the world is better when we all look past our differences and look at what we share. Of course, that still doesn’t mean I won’t use my powers to get my way when it’s easier. In this case, with the an
noying Holmes boys, commanding them was a lot simpler than taking them down. That would have been fun, but that would also have created a lot of questions. I didn’t need questions now, especially with these Glitters around.

  Besides that, I didn’t want Jimmy thinking I was a fighter and stronger than two big brutes. I know most guys have trouble with powerful women. I wasn’t sure if Jimmy would be one of the exceptions. I hoped he would, but I didn’t know him well enough yet. After all, he was being raised by his mom, which I was guessing meant she was a strong woman.

  Chapter 5: School Rules

  Moving from an impersonal big city school, this smaller school had some charm. The walls seemed freshly painted a bright yellow. The lockers weren’t dented. The white tile floor didn’t seem that sticky. It hardly felt like a school.

  A big thick balding man met us as we walked in.

  “That’s principal Pete Peters, Ruby whispered to me. He can be a bit tough.”

  Principal Peters looked at me with his intense blue eyes. He motioned with his hand for us to come over.

  “New kids, come over here,” he barked.

  Frank and I walked over to him slowly.

  He looked down at me. “You must be Nina!”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He looked up at Frank. “You must be Frank.”

  “Yes, sir,” Frank said with a salute.

  “No need to salute son,” the principal said with a smile. “I’m not in the military any longer.”

  “Yes, sir. Sorry, sir,” Frank shouted obediently.

  Nina Note: My brother could be such a suck-up at times. Nah, he was just a nice guy who wanted everybody to like him.

  Principal Peters stared at Frank. “I like you, kid.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Frank said.