"Isn't it strange when Matt's family is around?" I asked.
"Totally. He's a different person. No PDA. No holding hands. He even sits in his own chair instead of next to me on the sofa."
"That's what I'm afraid of. An end to my love life." "You just have to make up for it when they aren't home. Or save it for school. But Alexander doesn't go to school…"
"Don't remind me."
"So in your case plan more dates at the cemetery."
"What was it like when you first met Matt's parents?" I asked.
"I thought it would be fancy-like meeting them at the country club. Instead I was hanging out in Matt's family room when his mom came home from work. He said, 'Hey, Mom, this is Becky.' And she said, 'Hi, Becky, nice to meet you.' Then she disappeared. And it was pretty much the same with his father. It was different when Matt came to my house," Becky rambled on. "My mom made him. sit down in the kitchen and she baked him a whole apple pie. I was so embarrassed."
"Yes, I remember you telling me that. But how did you feel with Matt's parents?"
"I was so nervous. I thought since I don't live in the 'burbs that they'd view me as this unkempt farm girl. But they are always happy to see me. I'm still waiting for them to give me my walking papers."
I stopped slurping my malt. I didn't live in a Mansion. And more important, I wasn't a vampire. I'd been so focused on how Alexander said things would change. Maybe he was alluding to more than a few pewter vases. Maybe he meant me.
"What if they don't accept me?" I blurted out.
"Why wouldn't they accept you?"
"I'm not like them."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not…"
"Yes?"
I'm not a vampire! I'm a mortal. I'm not even like Luna Maxwell, who came from a vampire family. In Romania, Alexander had an arranged covenant ceremony with her, but since he wasn't in love with her, he couldn't go through with it.
"You're not what?" Becky asked.
"I'm not from Romania !"
"Duh," she said. "I think they know that."
"But maybe they want their son to date someone from Romania."
"Why would they want that when they live here?"
Because a girl from Romania would be like them, instead of like … us, I wanted to say.
"Listen, his grandmother built a mansion here. If Romania was so great, why would she move to this town?"
"But his grandmother was a baroness. My grandmother is a retiree."
"Alexander doesn't remind me of the snobby type. In fact, just the opposite. He's an outsider like…"
"Me?"
"Well… us," Becky admitted.
Maybe Becky was right. But I wasn't so easily convinced. I wasn't just from the wrong side of the tracks, I was from a different world.
Becky tapped her fork against my malt.
"Don't worry. Alexander is in love with you. That's all that matters. When Mr. and Mrs. Sterling see how happy lie is, they'll be happy, too."
I smiled at my best friend's words.
"See, this is why we need to hang out together more," I said. "We can't let our boyfriends get in the way of our schedules-as hot as they may be."
"Well, we'll get to see each other every day now that school will be starting."
"Don't remind me. Summer is over."
"Can you believe we'll be juniors?" she asked like she'd won the lottery.
Becky was lucky. She had an interest in school. Her best friend and boyfriend were by her side. I would have been excited to go back to school, too, if I were going to be seeing Alexander instead of my lifelong nuisance, Trevor Mitchell.
3
The night before school started, I was stroking my kitten, Nightmare, and surfing the Net when she began to glare at my window and hiss. Her back arched and her fur stood straight up. I couldn't contain her in my arms. She bolted across my bed and jumped on the windowsill. She batted the glass with her paw.
"It's probably a bird, Nightmare. Calm down."
Then I heard a tiny ping, like something had hit the outside glass. Nightmare freaked. She dashed across my room and pushed through the cracked open door.
I peeked out into the darkness. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust.
I didn't see anything unusual around the garage or the swing set that was a few yards away .
But a shadowy figure was leaning against the tree. I pressed my face to the window.
There he was. My Gothic Guy, my Knight of the Night, my Vampire Prince.
My heart throbbed.
I raced out of my room, down the stairs, out the back door, and into my boyfriend's arms.
Alexander greeted me with a long kiss. It sent shivers down my spine.
"I had to see you," he said. "I can't stay long but I wanted, to wish you luck before school."
"I've missed you so much."
"Me, too. I think even the Mansion misses you."
" How are your parents?"
"Fine."
"What are they like?" I probed.
"I don't know... The same as any others."
"Are they happy to be home?"
"My mom says the Mansion smells like flowers."
"Did you tell her I placed them around?" I asked.
"I think she guessed."
"I bet you're glad to see them."
Alexander shrugged his shoulders.
"It's okay-I know you had to have missed them."
He hesitated and then began as if he were revealing a national secret. "It's been great to talk to my dad. He's an art dealer. He's very interesting and has so much to share about the art world. He brought me a painting from a rising artist in France."
"Does he like your artwork?"
"I'm not sure he takes me seriously yet. He thinks I just I -.tint for fun."
"And your mom?"
Alexander's eyes couldn't help but twinkle.
"I bet she dotes on you," I said.
"She's my mom. She's insisting that I haven't eaten and I us promised to fatten me up."
"When will I meet them?"
"Hopefully soon."
"I think you're hiding me."
"It's true… I want you all to myself." He squeezed me hard and swung me around.
"Do they know everything?"
"I don't tell my parents everything. Do you?"
Alexander had a point. I certainly didn't tell my parents I hat we had dates in the cemetery and I slept during the day with him in a coffin.
"Do they know Tm not a vampire?" I asked.
"Do your parents know I am one?"
I was shocked. Did Alexander have to hide my identity like I had to hide his? I thought maybe they knew already or they'd gotten wind of it from Jameson or the Maxwells. hut either Jagger and his siblings, Luna and Valentine, hadn't returned to Romania or they hadn't wanted to share i hat Alexander had preferred a mortal to Luna.
And maybe Alexander chose not to tell his parents that L was mortal-like I'd chosen not to tell mine that he was a vampire. It didn't occur to me that he couldn't tell them the truth about me, I never realized how painful it must be for him that I couldn't disclose his reality to my parents or even my best friend.
"You don't want me to meet them, do you?" I asked. "Then they'll know."
"What?"
"You are ashamed of me."
"Why would I be ashamed?"
"That I'm mortal."
"All they know is that I have a girlfriend and that I'm happy."
I wasn't mad at Alexander. How could I be angty with him, when I hadn't shared him with my family, who I saw every day and he hadn't seen his in months?
But I was disappointed. I assumed Alexander would have told his parents every detail about finding the girl of his dreams in Dullsville and our adventures. But then, Alexander was a guy. I knew Billy Boy hadn't shared with my mom any crush he'd had on a very unlucky girl. I couldn't imagine Trevor spilling his guts about every girl he dated to Mrs. Mitchell-though he probably told the
entire soccer team. Not only didn't Alexander talk to his parents, but he didn't have a friend in Dullsville besides me.
I felt a pang of loneliness for Alexander. He didn't have anyone to share his thoughts with. I guess that's why he spent so much of his waking hours painting.
Instead of being impatient as I normally was, I knew I needed to give Alexander space to reunite with his family.
"I have to go now. But I wanted to say hi," he said suddenly.
"I wish you could come to school with me tomorrow. I might be more motivated to get a better education if you were in my classes. Especially if I got to pass you in the way for a quick kiss."
"How about this to keep you company, since I can't be there with you?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a dark-stained wooden bracelet with a dangling silver heart.
"I love it!" I said, putting it on.
Alexander gave me a long squeeze and a tender good-night kiss.
"When will I see you?" I asked, wrapping my arms around his waist like a giant handcuff.
"Sooner than you think." He gently pried my hands apart, stepped into the shadows, and disappeared.
Alexander was still a mystery. I ached to know everything about him, and his evasiveness only made me want him more.
4
Most people fear the dark, afraid of the unknown- unsure what curious creatures might be hiding in their bedroom closets or on deserted streets. I embraced the night. It was the daylight I dreaded. I could see the monsters-and they all went to Dullsville High,
This year I'd be entering school a little differently than in the past. Not only would I be a junior, but this would be the first time I was returning to Dullsville High with a boyfriend. Plus I had knowledge of a vampire world and had many nocturnal adventures under my studded belt. But one thing hadn't changed: I was late.
The bell had already rung when Becky and I parked her truck. Suntanned students were scampering to class. I still hadn't adjusted to the early-morning school schedule. My stomach was churning and my eyelids hung heavy. Becky eagerly raced ahead of me as I climbed up the school steps like a zombie.
"Hurry", she said, diligently holding her books and class schedule at the front entrance.
It was then I realized I was missing some valuable information.
"Where's my schedule?" I ransacked my Corpse Bride purse, safety-pinned jeans pockets, and my backpack. Becky grew fidgety.
We had requested the same classes, but we had only gotten a few. And I didn't remember which ones.
"I know I have English first bell," I said, straining to remember. But I hadn't checked the schedule since summer break. "I think I might have Spanish second bell and third bell gym."
"Well be late to them all!" Becky's face flushed red. Panic grew in her big brown eyes.
The sound of lockers shutting and classroom doors closing echoed off the hallway walls.
"Go ahead. I don't want us both to get suspended on the first day," I teased.
Relieved, Becky hurried to Mrs. Naper's English class while I proceeded back to the school's main entrance.
I plopped my backpack on the registrar's desk. The administrators were bright and perky, fresh from the glow of the summer sun and a few months sans students.
"Wow, classes haven't even begun and you're already in the principal's office," I heard a man's voice say as he came through the door behind me. "That's a first for you, isn't it?"
I turned around. Principal Reed, like me, was holding a cup of store-bought coffee,
I found his joke only halfway amusing, which made our school leader chuckle.
"How was your summer?" he asked, and noticed my blindingly pale skin, "Not much for the outdoors?"
I barely cracked a smile.
"You'd better get to class," he said. "Whichever one that is." He shook his head as he entered his office.
The school registrar asked me a few questions and then printed my schedule from her computer.
"I still have those nightmares," the registrar said. "Showing up to school without knowing what classes I'm taking or where the classrooms are located. The worst one was showing up for exams I hadn't studied for."
"One person's nightmares are another person's reality," I said. I took my schedule, gulped some coffee, and apathetically headed for class.
Mrs. Naper, a wiry woman with a mind bent on classics-and the tenure to prove it-greeted me with a stern glare and a few verbal admonishments. She was known throughout the Dullsville school system for the "Naper Paper," a college preparatory essay all juniors were required to complete, graded under the strictest of standards. Several things were in my favor, though. There was an empty seat next to Becky, and Trevor Mitchell was nowhere in sight.
"To reiterate," Mrs. Naper began as I took a seat, "your guidance counselor will be in to talk to you next month college applications, scholarships, and grants. To prepare, your first assignment is a classmate interview and essay, followed by a brief presentation. Now that you are juniors you should be contemplating college and possible career paths. This essay will help stimulate you into discovering what you might like to pursue, and at the same time you'll get to know more about your classmates."
The Naper Paper actually sounded like a cinch to do. I knew everything about Becky, and likewise, she knew everything about me. We could complete the essay within the amount of time it took to type three hundred words and click spell check.
" Raven," she continued, "while you were making your way to class, we assigned you a partner."
I turned to Becky. "Thanks for saving me."
My best friend averted her gaze away from me.
"What, you picked someone else?" I pressed.
"Someone else picked me? Then she pointed to a student in the front row. It was Matt.
"Ugh." I sighed. I felt as double-crossed as Charlie Brown when Lucy pulls the football away from him.
The classroom door opened and in walked Trevor Mitchell holding several boxes of chalk.
"Thank you, Trevor," Mrs. Naper said, her cheeks blushing as red as her lipstick as she took the chalk from the handsome jock.
"He's in this class?" I asked Becky. "I should have changed my schedule while I had the chance!"
My nemesis checked me out as he sauntered down the aisle toward me. When he reached my desk, he leaned in. "Hi, partner" he said with a wink.
My heart fell to the cold Masonite floor.
"Say it isn't so!"
I envied my best friend. She was assigned to her boyfriend and I was going to be stuck with Trevor, Forced to ask him questions that I didn't care to know the answers to. And in return, he'd pry into my private life. Why couldn't I be like Becky and have a boyfriend who attended school with me during the day, instead of being homeschooled at night? Though I'd dreamed of dating a vampire, it sure had its dark side. For a moment, I resented the whole nocturnal thing.
And even worse, I was going to have face time with Trevor Mitchell. I should just surrender my grade to Mrs. Naper and accept my F now.
"So remember," Mrs. Naper continued, "Junior-year grades are important. It's time to start thinking about your future. It's important that you take this assignment seriously."
Great. Not only has Trevor tormented me since kindergarten, but now, if I failed this assignment, he could screw up my whole future.
I made a quick escape from Trevor after the bell rang, but I wasn't so lucky at lunch. I was lying in the grass, shaded from the blazing sun by my sunglasses and a maple tree, when I sensed someone next to me.
I could smell the inviting aroma of just-cooked french fries.
"Hey, Becky", I said, undisturbed. "Did you bring me my fries?"
"No, but I brought you something else, Monster Girl", I heard a male's voice say, "Me."
I yanked off my shades. Trevor was stretched out next to me, resting on his elbow.
"Get away," I ordered.
"I figured this was a good position to start off the interview part of the assignment
in," he said. "I can guar-i utee that you get an A. He held a fry in front of my lips, as if about to feed me.
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