But until then, I had to suffer through it. I really should have stayed home.
A few whistles came my way and I rolled my eyes. Did people still do that? I walked along the school corridor, pass the rows of familiar lockers until I reached my own. I put in the combination quickly and began rummaging through it for my new schedule.
Monday had brought on the new quarter and hence, new classes to get accustomed to. Not that I already had enough on my mind. I sighed in relief once I saw it was Chorus class. I wouldn’t need anything for that. Nothing except my Marilyn Munroe voice.
“I didn’t want to believe it,” I heard a familiar voice mutter from behind me. I turned to face Margaret. Tears were flowing freely from her eyes, and I was about to ask her what was wrong when she punched me hard in the chest.
“Ow! What was that?”
“What are you mutilating your body like that for? You look like a whore, and a cheap one at that!”
“I know! I can’t help it!” I cried out. A number of strange glances came my way, and suddenly I realized that I should have chosen my words a little better.
“You can’t help it? That’s the best you got? Really? Don’t lie. This is because of Lucas, isn’t it? I called you fifteen times on Saturday and I didn’t receive so much as one text. One! You could have been killed for all I knew! Or worse, lost your…you didn’t, did you?”
“I would never,” I sighed, rolling my eyes.
“This isn’t funny!” she shrieked. “Why would you dress up that? Give me a valid reason!”
I didn’t know what to say. What could I say? That my body transformed on its own because it needed to feed on the soul of a human being?
“I need help,” I muttered, biting my lip. Margaret’s face dropped and for a moment I thought our strange, lopsided friendship was over, but then I saw a smile creep upon her face from ear to ear.
“Finally,” she said, grabbing my forearms. “Finally you have come full circle.”
“What?”
“When we first met, I thought I had found a kindred spirit in you. A sister for life. And I believed that to this day, but you were so distant. So secretive. And I saw the way you would look at the boys. I could see the lustful thoughts swimming through your head.”
My jaw literally dropped as she came over and hugged me tight.
“I was waiting for this day. I prayed for this day. Don’t worry, Alexandra. We’re going get you all fixed up. Come to my house tonight and sleep over.”
“I really don’t think –“
“– that wasn’t a request,” she said, breaking the hug and giving me a stern motherly glare. “Just be there around 8. We’ll stay up, watch movies…clean you up.”
“What would I do without you?” I sighed, and she embraced me once more.
“I shudder at the thought.”
* * *
I entered the Chorus room late and quickly apologized to the elderly fat man sitting at his desk. I nearly gave him a heart attack after he took one look at me, but I tried not to lock eyes. Instead I kept moving, past the sea of judgment into an empty seat by the labeled soprano section. Normally I’m an alto, but whatever.
I nodded to the girl on my left as I took my seat, and she gave me a “are you kidding me” look with a raise of her eyebrows. I wish I was.
The class was boring. The music teacher droned on about the importance of keeping your vocal chords warm, how long he had been teaching and how the student population (particularly their clothes) have changed over the years. When it was finally over, I tried to leave quickly, but my high heels wouldn’t let me. For some reason, my attire was also attached to my new body. Had to shower with my clothes on earlier. That was fun.
“So who are you trying to impress?” a sensual voice whispered in my ear. I screamed and instinctively went to slap him but my high heels buckled on me and I went flying backwards. Thankfully, the familiar intruder caught me. I tried not to wince at the huge welt on his cheek, courtesy of my roommate.
“You look different,” Lucas stated, looking deep into my eyes. I’m sure he was restraining himself.
“Understatement of the year,” I muttered as he helped me to my feet. “I feel like this is that movie Freaky Friday.”
“So in other words, you’re not Alexandra.”
“No, I am. I’m just…I feel lost.”
“We can talk about it over bad hamburgers and chicken parm.”
“No, thanks,” I laughed. “Not that place. Too many bad memories.”
“Then let’s make new ones. I said that the next time we went out, it would just be about the fun.”
“Who said I’m saying yes?”
“So,” he chuckled. “Alexandra really is under there.”
“Ha. Ha. Laugh it up.”
“Oh, but I can’t,” he said, lifting up his shirt to show me the bruise on his abdomen, from where I slammed the table into him. I probably stared longer than I should have. “You see,” he continued. “I have this mark. It’s like I was branded, and it says that I’m all yours. I guess you’ll just have to get used to me and my humor.”
“If I have to,” I said. I don’t know why I was still talking to him. I told the guys I would avoid him. This was the complete opposite of avoiding.
“Then I can take you out later?”
“Not tonight,” I said, immediately lifting up a finger afterwards. “But that’s only because my friend Margaret is having a sleepover that I can’t ditch. But tomorrow, sure.” What was wrong with me?
“Tomorrow then,” he said as the warning bell went off. I didn’t even know what class I was supposed to go to next. Of course, I left my schedule in my locker.
“Oh, but I have to know one thing before you go.”
“What’s that?”
“Why are you dressed like that? Seriously. I hope you didn’t do it for me.”
“What if I did?” I asked, and he hesitated to answer.
“Listen,” he said, “I’m not going to lie to you. This…I…”
“You find me really attractive,” I said for him. He stared at me for a moment.
“I do, but that’s not what I’m looking for anymore. I can’t, Alex. I think you’re a cool girl, and I want to get to know you. I really do. But please, please don’t dress like this anymore. It reminds me too much of everything I’m trying to forget.”
“What if I’m perfect for you now? The body and the personality all wrapped up in one package?”
“Nah,” he said, giving me a smirk. “I’m done dealing with fake people. You be who you are. I’ll be who I am. And hopefully, that’s good enough for the both of us.”
“I guess we’ll see,” was all I could say. He sounded genuine – that he was trying to change who he was, but I also knew the reality. That people rarely changed, even with someone else in the picture. Perhaps it worked for his mom and dad, but that certainly didn’t mean it was going to happen with a life sucking Siren like me. Not to mention that he had only been on this path of change for a short time. I may not have noticed him outright before, but I had seen him around school the past couple of years, hanging out with a giggling popular girl under each arm. It may have been a haze then, because I didn’t associate with those groups, but I remembered clearly now.
I wouldn’t blame him if he decided in a week or two that I wasn’t worth his time. It was the nature of people like him. They only thought of themselves.
Not that I was one to talk.
“Then, until tomorrow,” I said, and he gave me a curt nod.
“I’m serious by the way,” he said. “I want to get to know you, Alexandra. The real you.”
“I understand,” I said. He gave me a smile, then turned to walk away.
He had taken only three steps from me when I felt myself getting dizzy. I tried to call out to Lucas, but I lost my voice. I hit the floor hard as my vision blackened.
When I awoke, I found myself in Lucas’ arms, carrying me through the nurse office door.
/>
But more importantly, my body had gone back to normal.
I was me again.
TRACK 11 – Danger is My Last Name (Don’t Question it)
“You’re perfectly fine, honey,” Nurse Beatty said, looking down at the thermometer. “You can go back to class now.”
“She blacked out,” Lucas said. “She might seem fine, but that’s not normal.”
“Well, she’s a little thing. Not getting enough to eat probably.”
“She wasn’t like that before,” he said, looking into my eyes. I had no explanation for him - how my body had changed so quickly, to the point that even my hair and make-up had gone back to normal. It must have happened in seconds. How was that possible?
“She has to go,” the nurse snorted, grabbing a tissue from a box on the counter and spitting into it.
“She’s staying,” Lucas ordered.
“Listen, I get the tone, honey. It’s cute. But she’s fine. You want me to go get the principal?”
“Do it,” he said. She shrugged her shoulders and walked away to make a call from her desk.
“It isn’t a big deal,” I said. “We can go.”
“Whatever happened back there, it’s not normal…what did happen back there?”
“If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” I said with a straight face and he laughed out loud. The nurse returned.
“The security will be here in a couple minutes, young man.”
“Okay,” he said. “That means I have about ten. Now leave us alone.” The nurse snorted again and let us be.
“You’re going to get in trouble,” I said to him, but he didn’t look nervous.
“Trouble is easy. I can deal with trouble. I’m more concerned about you.”
“When you say stuff like that, it’s so hard to believe you. I just…I can’t believe that you’re this changed man all of a sudden simply because you choose to be.”
“I’m not that man yet,” he said. “But isn’t that what trying to change is? Doing something different over and over until it becomes habit?”
“Maybe.”
“All you need to know is that when it comes to you, there is no practice. It comes naturally. I never met a girl that I could just…talk to.”
“Yeah, you would be surprised by what some of the female species has to say,” I groaned, sitting up in the chair. “But, you have to be wondering how my body changed like that.”
“Of course,” he said, his face going serious. “To be honest, I almost don’t want to know.”
“If we continue this, you’re going to have to know.” He didn’t know what to say to that. After a few moments of silence, he decided to probe.
“Then tell me.”
I thought about it for a moment, but the risk was too great. Especially not in the middle of the school. He could easily run away and I could probably catch him…I’m sure my body would transform into a new hunting mode, but I couldn’t go after him without exposing what I was to others. If I was going to tell him, I had to know him more first, and do it in private. Just in case.
“Let’s have fun for now,” I said, giving the weakest smile ever. I could see the curiosity in his face, but he let it go. I didn’t know what to say to him next, so I jumped to my feet, grabbed his hand and began pulling him out the nurse’s office. “Let’s go,” I said. “Come with me.” He obeyed and allowed me to lead him out into the hall, and eventually through the school doors. I usually wasn’t one to draw attention to myself, but I was done worrying about how I felt about Lucas. I had a dangerous idea…a way to get a read on who he was once and for all.
I would see how he acted in his natural habitat.
“Where are we going?” he asked, as I led him to the garbage can I called my car.
“To the city.”
“What city?” he asked warily.
“Your city. To Blaketon.”
“Why are we going there?” he demanded. The shift in his tone was so noticeable that I was nearly rendered speechless.
“Um, I – I want to see where you grew up.”
“No one wants to see that dump.”
“What? Are you scared?” I goaded him. “Don’t tell me you’ve been lying all this time.”
“No, I haven’t. But you don’t get it. I’m trying to get away from there.”
“It’s been a few years since you lived in the city. You’ll be fine.”
“Alright,” he chuckled. “But you’re not going to enjoy it.”
“We’ll see,” I said, as I got into the driver’s seat. I wasn’t terrified one bit. My body was already in need of its next feeding and if we were attacked I was certain that I could provide all the protection.
“Can this thing even make it?” Lucas laughed as he climbed into the passenger seat. My car sputtered and coughed as it came to life. I tried not to laugh as Lucas plowed his legs through mounds of empty soda cans and fast food wrappers.
“I have no clue,” I said honestly.
“Odds are we’re probably going to get stuck.”
“Probably,” I laughed, pulling out the parking lot. He shook his head and leaned against the door. “You shouldn’t do that,” I told him. “You might end up flying out.” He shook his head again and sat up. For a few minutes I drove in silence. He wasn’t looking forward to our trip, but it was the only way. I had seen it all too often. The guys who would act one way in front of their girls, but completely different in front of their boys. I didn’t know what our relationship was, if you could even call it that, but how he would react would speak volumes about where I stood in his mind, especially if he was as tight with his friend Reign as he claimed.
“This is the opposite of fun,” he huffed. I glanced over at him for a second and then turned back to my driving. “I know what you’re doing.”
“What am I doing?” I asked innocently.
“You’re testing me again.”
“Testing? What do you mean? When did I test you before?”
“You don’t trust me.”
“No one said that.”
“No, it’s clear. Explain to me what happened that night at your house.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied.
“Yeah, right. I remember setting up a date with you, next thing I know, I’m waking up at dawn behind Angelo’s with a bruise the size of a baseball on my face.”
“It’s not that big,” I murmured.
“Obviously someone sucker punched me,” he said. “And I thought you were going to bring it up when I saw you in the hall earlier, but you acted like it never happened. What’s the deal?”
“I hadn’t noticed,” I laughed. When he didn’t laugh with me, I cleared my throat and calmed down. “Well, to be honest, there’s a lot I don’t really want to talk about.”
“Because you don’t trust me. You have these roommates, and one of them is a missing person. Your body obviously changed in seconds back at the school, and you live in this big house that no one ever enters. I asked about you around the school. You know what people say about you? That your house is haunted and you’re probably a succubus in disguise.”
“People said all that?” I laughed nervously.
“And you know what? I’m no stranger to rumors. I let them go, and try to figure out the truth myself because I’ve been burned a lot in the past. I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt, but I don’t get you…you’re not sure what to think of me yet you’re the one with all the red flags. How is that fair?”
“My intention wasn’t to upset you,” I said, putting on the right turn signal, away from the highway and Blaketon. If Lucas was this upset, no good was going to come of our trip. To my surprise, Lucas leaned over and forced the lever upwards, making the car signal that we were going left instead.
“We’re heading to Blaketon,” he huffed. “You wanted to see it. We’re going.”
“But not if you’re going to be angry about it. I didn’t mean to –“
“ – we’re
going,” he said sternly. “I’m going to have you meet Reign.”
“Are you serious?”
“That’s what you wanted, right? What? Were we just going to drive around the city mindlessly until we happened to stumble upon them? No, let’s not waste our time. You have a sleepover to get to tonight. I’ll take you straight to them. Just watch what you say. It’s been awhile since we’ve all seen each other in person.”
“What are they going to do? Slap me?”
“They might.”
“I would like to see them try.”
“You’re not that tough,” he said flatly and I turned the wheel to the right sharply for a second, sending his head banging into the window. He winced and glared at me, but all I did was stare straight ahead and smile.
“Reign will probably be cool with you,” he muttered, “but I can’t speak for the others. And it doesn’t matter if Reign is the leader, sometimes his men break rank and act on their own, especially if they think the reward will be greater than the punishment. Don’t do anything to draw too much attention.”
“Oh they don’t have to worry about me. I mean, I’m ugly and everything and I know how you gang types roll.”
“You’re not ugly. You’re kinda cute,” he murmured. I leaned my ear in close to him.
“What was that? I didn’t quite catch it.”
“You heard me.”
“My car makes a lot of noise, especially here on the driver’s side. Plus I’m trying to focus so my senses aren’t as strong as usual and –“
“– I said that you’re cute!” he shouted at me and then slumped back into his seat. Since we were on the highway, there was no room for him to escape. I gave him a moment to bask in his embarrassment.
“What’s cute about me?” I asked innocently.
“Are we really doing this now?”
“We still have ten minutes before we hit the city border. I want to know.”
“Can’t you settle for being cute? Why do you need specifics?”
“I have to know before we get to our destination, or I’ll start giving your friends lap dances and then you’ll have to protect me from their advances.”
My Immortal Playlist (The Siren Collection #1) Page 11