Ashes, Ashes
Page 4
April 23, Wednesday – 7:30 a. m.
As I got dressed for school the next morning, my thoughts revolved around Will. It amazed me that after all these years, I had managed to keep him a secret from the group. Of course now I wondered if maybe I hadn't. Had I slipped? Let them know that my best friend was really a vampyre? I could think of no other explanation for how Drew would know? I wondered if maybe Will could glamour them. I had seen a vampire do that once on a T. V. show. I would have to remember to ask him.
I dressed fairly simple; red skinny jeans, an Asking Alexandria tee shirt and my black and white striped Airwalks. I added two white extensions to my hair before doing my black eyeliner and hot pink eyeshadow make-up. I grabbed a jacket covered in black, bleeding hearts, and my bag, placing my piercings inside. I wasn't planning on wearing them today, but I didn't want Brittany to find them either.
I finished the rest of my morning routine, then left my bedroom and went to the kitchen. Brittney was on the couch, no doubt hungover.
“Brittany, I'm going to school.” I shook her.
“Stop yelling!” she spat, then rolled over, asleep. I sighed and walked out the front door, shutting it softly behind me.
I was in no rush as I walked to school. It was a gloomy, rainy day, and the sun hid behind the clouds like a coward. I didn't have an umbrella.
Most of the buildings I walked past were in a state of disrepair, especially an old house that looked as though someone had started to demolish it and stopped halfway through. When the rain began to whip my hair around and pelt my skin, I stepped in the open doorway of the half-demolished house (there was no door.) I hugged my jacket closer around me and pulled the hood up. I heard a noise behind me and jumped, but when I looked all I could see was darkness. Still. It felt like someone was watching me. Before long, it had me totally freaked out, so I jumped back onto the side walk and continued on to school.
My shoes squeaked as I walked through the door and to my locker. All of the usual kids were in our alcove except for Drew. That's weird. Where is he? I wondered. He was nowhere to be found as I headed to English. I guess it would be a less awkward day than I thought. I still wanted to know how he knew about Will. I couldn't talk to him if he wasn't here. But after last night I wasn't sure if I wanted to see him, anyway. During study hall, Peri and her friends watched me and whispered, just loud enough so I could hear my name. Jerks.
The rest of the day dragged on. Drew never showed up, which I found very odd. Most of my classes were boring, especially since there was no Abby and her strange humor to brighten the day.
Brittany didn't come home that night. Will didn't come over, either.
April 24, Thursday
The next day was pretty much the same. Abby was still suspended and Drew never showed up. I began to feel more than a little worried. I walked home alone. Though a chilly wind blew, it was also sunny and the light shone bright.
I tried to occupy my time sitting on the couch with homework but even that only lasted so long.
It was nearly dark when I looked down at my phone, 6:07. Will would be waking up soon. Wherever he was.
Matching a movie would be a good way to kill time, I decided. I grabbed the stack of DVDs from my room. They were all vampire films that Will had gotten so we could laugh at them. Will wasn't too fond of the way vampires were portrayed in books or films. Besides Dracula. Will thought Dracula was the coolest thing ever. I grabbed a random movie from the stack and put it in.
I woke up a few hours later. The T. V. screen had reverted back to the DVD menu. I turned it off and went to my bedroom. I checked my cellphone, 10:03. Where was Will?
After changing into my pajamas, I paced nervously around my room. I couldn't wait for Will to arrive. He was late, very late. I didn't really know what I would say when I saw him. After his sweet words (and our kiss) the other day, I felt as though everything between us had changed.
I'd known Will for most of my life. I would admit that in the last few years I had begun to have feelings for him. I wasn't experienced, Drew was the only boyfriend I;d ever had. My feelings for Will had faded while I was with Drew. I had thought Drew was a good idea, but it had never been love. That was painfully obvious.
Drew had been a...good boyfriend. Then again, I wasn't sure what a good boyfriend was. The guys that Brittany brought home were definitely not a shining example of what a good boyfriend should be. I could barely remember my father or my sister for that matter. But that was another issue entirely.
Drew had been a bit controlling at times, but he had never hit me or anything. Though he had seemed distant and yet too close sometimes. Like he was always watching me. Of course that didn't make sense.
Will had never been silent about his feelings towards Drew. Or lack of. Though he had never met Drew (or so I had thought), he had hated him from day one. I had thought it jealousy but maybe that was just selfish of me. I was still very jealous of the girl he had been with the other night. I couldn't stomach the thought of him with someone else. I wondered, then, if she was like him. Was she a vampyre, too?
Where is he?
I looked at myself in the faded mirror above my dresser. I wasn't the kind of girl to wait up for a guy. Screw him. I climbed in my bed and laid there, fully aware that I wasn't falling asleep anytime soon.
April 25, Friday – 3:23 a.m.