by Logan Byrne
“I love you too,” I whispered.
He let go and started walking to the window. He looked back at me before leaving.
“I will win you back,” he said.
“You’re doing a good job,” I joked back.
He smiled as he exited the window. I watched as he faded into the shadows. I went to sleep slowly, knowing I was safe with him there.
The next morning I awoke and looked out my window. James was gone. I wasn’t sure how long he had been there overnight, but I knew he kept me safe. His love surrounded and protected me, as if it was a suit of armor.
I was hoping he would be at school today so I could feel his touch against my skin. I wanted to feel the security of his embrace and his cold skin against my warm body.
I looked my best today. I wanted to look good and I wanted him to go crazy. I put on my best outfit and went downstairs to get my bags.
“You’re really dressed up,” said my mother.
“Yeah, I just want to look good,” I replied.
“For James?” she said, smiling.
“No, just for myself,” I said while bent over picking up my bags.
I was blatantly lying to her but it had to be done. My parents seemed so in love with James. It was as if they wanted me to be with him more than I wanted to be with him. It was strange to have this kind of a relationship with them.
“I’m running late, I have to go,” I hurriedly said to my mother as I rushed out the door.
I was actually running a little early but I just wanted to get to school early. I didn’t get too much time with James in the morning, but if I got there earlier I might get a few more minutes with him. A few more minutes lying in his arms would mean everything to me. It would change my entire mood for the day.
I got to school and ran to my locker. James wasn’t there. I knew leaving that early wouldn’t work. I got my things and stood against my locker waiting. As every minute passed, more and more people started to fill the school.
“Juliet!” yelled Ariel.
“Oh hey, what’s up?” I asked.
“Are you okay? What happened?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your dad called the other day asking where you were. You were missing or something. Are you okay?”
“Oh, yeah, I’m okay. I just got jumped by some girls, but I’m fine.”
“Do they go here?”
“I don’t think so. I’ve never seen them before.”
I felt bad lying to Ariel. She was the best girlfriend I had, and I didn’t feel right lying directly to her face. What was I going to do though? Tell her I got captured by a pack of werewolves and James and his vampire family came and rescued me? Nothing truthful would even sound remotely right.
“Well, I’m glad you’re okay. I have to go but I want to talk to you at lunch.”
“Okay,” I said as I gave her a hug.
Ariel left and I stood there for a minute before picking up my things. Just as I did, James showed up. I watched as he walked towards me, his skin glowing underneath the hallway lights.
“Hey,” he said as he gazed into my eyes.
“Hi,” I said gazing back into his.
Butterflies filled my empty stomach as he put his hand on my shoulder. I felt powerless whenever he touched me. Nothing else even mattered. All that mattered was that he was holding me, and the way we felt about each other.
“I want to be with you,” he said to me.
“We will be together again,” I replied.
“Why not now?”
“I want to make sure it will work. I don’t want to date right away.”
“I understand. I will wait until the end of time for your love,” he said while gazing into my eyes.
I leaned in and gave him a soft kiss as I held his hand in mine. My legs quivered whenever I felt his lips against mine.
“You should get to class,” he said.
“But I don’t want to leave you.”
“I am always with you,” he said while bringing my hand up to his heart.
He kissed my hand and helped me pick up my books. He carried them for me to my next class. I have never had a guy carry my books for me. He made me feel special.
I tried to take the books from him before entering class, but he wouldn’t let me. He walked me to my desk and placed the books on my desk. Everybody was staring, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to make me happy and show me affection. He didn’t even care who saw. He kissed me on the cheek and walked out of the classroom. I blushed as everybody stared at me.
“Today we are going to be working on some worksheets. They are a review for an upcoming test, so take them seriously,” Mr. Oliveri said.
Mr. Oliveri passed out the worksheets and I started working. My cheeks were still red from blushing so much. Having a man show you affection is one thing, but having a man who shows you affection in front of other people was a whole other thing. It made me feel like the only girl who mattered. I knew his attention was on me and nobody else. I never had this before, and I never wanted to lose it.
I tried to concentrate on my worksheets but my mind wandered. I had visions of James and me in the French countryside. We lived on a farm and there were wheat fields all around us. Our children played and laughed as they ran through the fields, James and I hand in hand as we watched on smiling.
Our children were beautiful. We had a girl and a boy: twins. Our life was so easy compared to our life here. There was no stress. No neighbors for miles. We were completely isolated in our own world. Never having to worry about anybody finding out what or who we were. My mother and father on the other side of the world thinking I was working at a university. Nobody would be suspicious at all. Our lives could unfold beautifully.
“Juliet, do you need help?”
I looked up to see Mr. Oliveri hovering over me. He must have been checking on everybody’s progress and I didn’t notice him coming.
“Oh, no,” I said, smiling.
“All right. If you need some help with the problems just let me know.”
I started scribbling in answers to make it look like I had no problem. I knew some of the answers, but I felt so embarrassed I wrote down anything just to make it appear as if I was okay.
The rest of the period went on without a hitch. We had open book study for the test, which was my favorite thing to do.
I had a couple more classes before lunch finally came. I was so excited to see James that I ran out of my class to make sure I could see him.
He was already sitting at his table when I got there. I ran over to him and jumped into his arms.
“Hey you,” I said in a girlish tone.
“Hey,” he replied before kissing me.
We weren’t allowed to show affection in school, but nobody really cared. There was no way they could stop us from doing it.
I was smitten every time he kissed me. When I was in his arms nothing else mattered. Only our love in that moment mattered in the slightest.
“How were your classes?” he asked.
“They were okay. It was hard though, because all I could think about was you.”
“You are all I ever think about. I don’t want to think about another person besides you. You’re so beautiful,” he said while looking into my eyes.
My heart melted whenever he was cute with me. No man compared to him and the way he made me feel.
“You should go sit with your friends,” he said.
“But all I want to is to be here with you.”
“You will see me later. It’s important that you spend time with them. Now go.”
I hugged him and went over to sit with Ariel and my friends. I had a pouty look on my face as I turned around to see his face before sitting down.
“So what happened with these girls?” asked Greg as I sat down.
“I’m not sure. I was just on my way home and all of a sudden I got hit. I don’t really remember too much,” I hesitantly replied.
“We sho
uld’ve all gone home together,” Taylor said.
“It’s fine,” I said.
Taylor looked at me and looked sad. I could tell she felt some sort of responsibility for what happened to me. I wish I could tell them the truth, but the truth doesn’t always set you free.
The rest of the day went on without any problems. I didn’t see James for the rest of the day, and I missed him. I wanted to spend my entire day in his strong arms.
I left school and got in my car. I was going to talk to my father about these guards taking me everywhere. I was starting to get sick of it and acting like a helpless puppy. I wanted some freedom and it was about time I got it.
On the way home, my phone beeped.
“Hey we need 2 talk.”
It was Marcus.
“What about?” I replied.
“I think we have a real connection. I want 2 be with u.”
I set down my phone and sighed heavily. I didn’t know how to react to what he was saying. I was in love with James. I wanted to be with James, and I couldn’t see myself with Marcus. It wasn’t the fact he was androidian, but the fact that I couldn’t see a life with him. He was so different and I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my life in a sewer somewhere. I didn’t want to be androidian either, and I was worried he would want to change me.
“I’m sorry, I just can’t.”
“Because of how I look?”
“Yes…”
It hurt even telling him that. To tell your good friend you don’t want to be with him because of how he looks is insulting. It’s a giant punch to the stomach.
“Then I’ll change.”
“You can’t change, you even said it yourself.”
“I don’t care, I’ll change.”
“I am talking with James again, I’m sorry.”
He didn’t reply. I was hoping he would take everything well, but at this point I really didn’t know. I felt as if I was breaking him emotionally and every time I rejected him it just dug the knife that much deeper into his heart.
Marcus was hurting. He sat there reading the text from Juliet over and over. Why didn’t she want him? She had kissed him back, so she must have liked him in some way. She even told him she had liked him. If he changed there had to be a chance he could get with her and be with her. He worked more on his device. He wasn’t doing this just for himself, but also all of the other androidians that wanted to be different, the ones who never asked for any of this. As he worked on, he had a picture of her taped to the wall. He had taken it when they video chatted for the first time. It was the only picture he had of her, and he cherished it.
I got home and walked inside to see my mother and father moving bags of decorations and refreshments around.
“What is all of this for?” I asked.
“Oh Juliet, you’re home,” my father said.
“We want to throw you a party,” my mother said.
“A party? How come?”
“Well, we want you to have some people over and make some more friends. We think you are a great girl and we want you to have a great school experience. We know you are new and that can be hard, and having a party can open you up to more people than you would have met otherwise,” my father said.
I wasn’t sure why my father was saying these things. He was a strict military man and had never allowed any kind of parties in the past. One time I had four friends over and he shut that down because it was too many people. I think our definitions of parties were different. I wanted to do this though. I wanted to get back with James and was thinking this might be the time to do it.
“Well, when do you want me to do this?” I asked.
“This Friday,” my father said.
“Just invite whoever you want to come over and we will make sure you have everything you need. We’re going out Friday night so you and your friends can have some fun and privacy. You don’t want some old-timers around anyway,” my mother said.
“Thank you,” I said in amazement.
I knew I could get a good amount of people to my party. Ariel was somewhat popular, and with Taylor being a cheerleader I knew she could get some of the jocks and other cheerleaders to bribe others to come. I decided this would definitely be the time I got back together with James. He had been so good and he even risked his life to save mine. He wasn’t the ruthless man I saw before. He was a gentle, loving man who loved me and wanted to be with me. I also wanted an excuse to kiss him.
The next day at school I started handing out invitations. I wanted a good amount of people to come, but I didn’t want the entire school to show up. I told Taylor to bring some of the jocks and cheerleaders and Ariel made sure people knew they were coming. Jocks and cheerleaders were like royalty at our school. Wherever they went, the others followed. If they came to my party, it would definitely be a success.
I felt a tingling down my spine and turned around. James was standing there running his fingers down my back and smiling.
“I finally found you,” I said, smiling.
“Yes you did, now you can’t lose me,” he replied playfully.
“I am having a party this Friday and I want you to come.”
“A party, huh? Are you sure you want me to go?”
“Of course. I want you there the most of all.”
“Then I guess I have to be there,” he said, smiling.
“I have to go pass out more invitations,” I said with a frown.
He leaned in, gave me a kiss and brushed my hair behind my ear before walking away. I watched him leave before handing out the rest of my invitations.
I looked around to see everybody looking and talking about the invitations. I was going to be popular for one night and I couldn’t have been more excited. I just hoped there wouldn’t be any problems. I was hoping that Derek and Cara wouldn’t decide to show up. I couldn’t take another fight happening, especially in my house.
People came up to me throughout the day to tell me they were coming. The longer the day went on, the more and more people confirmed their attendance. My life was falling into place. I had great parents, a great soon-to-be boyfriend, and great friends I was surrounding myself with. Nothing could bring me down.
Chapter Eleven
Change
Friday soon arrived and I was thrilled. Dozens of people had confirmed their attendance and everybody was talking about this party and how great it was going to be. My parents bought tons of food and drinks, and Ariel and Taylor made a giant playlist of the best songs to play all night. Everything was set and I was just praying it went off without a hitch.
“Are you all ready for tonight?” my mother asked as I grabbed my things.
“Yeah, I think so. I told people to start coming over at six,” I replied.
“Okay, dear. I am going to pick up a few more things to make sure you have enough food and drinks, but I will see you when you get home, honey.”
I hugged my mother and walked out the door to my car. As I got to school, everybody was giving me high fives and yelling “Party!” I started getting worried that too many people would show up, but I couldn’t stop it now. This party was happening no matter how many people showed up.
“Hey, are you ready?” Ariel asked as she put her hands on my shoulders, smiling.
“How many people are coming?” I asked.
“I really don’t know. I hope not too many but it looks like it’s getting a little out of hand.”
“Well, I can’t stop it now. I’m as ready as I possibly can be.”
We walked into school and got our things.
“What time should I come over?” Ariel asked.
“As soon as you can after school. My parents bought a lot of things, but we still need to set it up.”
“Is James coming?” Ariel asked with a huge grin on her face.
“Yes,” I said, trying to contain my excitement.
“Are you two ever going to get back together?”
“Hopefully tonight,” I said, smiling as the bell ran
g.
We walked to biology and I saw James sitting at our table. He looked up nonchalantly and gave me a slight smile. I put my head down as I walked. I was biting my lip trying to hold back my excitement. I just wanted to tackle him and cover his face with kisses.
“Do you still want me to come tonight?”
“Yes, I need you to.”
“You need me to? How come?”
“Just trust me. You are going to want to come tonight.”
“Attention, class. Today we have a very special lesson. We are going to learn about werewolves’ anatomy,” Mr. Johnson said.
“We have already learned about that, though, Mr. Johnson,” said Ivan.
“Yes, Ivan, we have, but today is different. A group of three werewolves were found dead in an old warehouse. They all had large fang marks in their necks, which is a trademark of the vampires. Pictures and a statement were released about the situation, and I wanted to show you the pictures so we can talk about the anatomy of a werewolf,” Mr. Johnson said.
James and I looked each other casually. I had a look of shock on my face. What if I left something there? We had thought that warehouse was abandoned, but somebody saw the bodies and reported it. My mind started racing to think of James being caught and captured. What if they found evidence against him and they took him? What if they found evidence of me being there and they took me?
“Now, we aren’t sure how these creatures got there. There is nothing to suggest anybody else was there,” Mr. Johnson said.
I let out a soft sigh of relief as I heard him say that. Maybe we would get off easy.
“The bodies were in full form, meaning they were fully grown and shifted werewolves. Their bodies were covered in fur of varying colors. They have canine-like snouts and large white fangs. Their hands and feet are longer and wider than they should proportionally be, which allows them to be fantastic climbers and jumpers. The fang marks in the necks imply that they got into some encounter with a vampire or multiple vampires. The marks were too small to be another werewolf, leading investigators to believe it was a fight between them and a group of vampires. The government will be dissecting the specimens and releasing a video on it that we can all enjoy!” Mr. Johnson said as the entire class groaned.
