You Were What You Eat

by Stephanie Prochaska

Anna was much less nervous on her second day of school than she had been on her first. After all, she’d managed to find all her classes, and even made a few friends. All in all, it had been a very productive day, she felt.

  She got to English a little early – she always did hate being late. Just like on her first day, most of the students were talking loudly to each other. Unlike yesterday, however, the teacher was missing, and Anna wondered where she could be. She decided to ask the only person she knew in class – the blonde-haired girl named Summer.

  “Mrs. Boyd?” Summer asked. “Oh, she’s never on time. The earliest she ever gets here is five minutes past. But don’t worry – it just makes class that much shorter!”

  Anna smiled halfheartedly at this, mulling it over. How could a teacher be late to her own class? A wad of paper flew over Anna’s head – clearly, she was the only one bothered by this lack of teacher.

  “So how was your first day here, anyway?” Summer asked Anna.

  “It was fine – I met a lot of nice people.” she replied.

  “That’s great.” Summer said, smiling warmly. Then, with a knowing glance, she added, “And how were the rest of your teachers?”

  This time Anna’s smile was genuine. “They were much better.”

  “See? I told you. Don’t worry – it’s really just like any other school. But if you have any questions, you know where to find me.”

  Anna thanked Summer, glad to know she had at least one person she could rely on. She was trying to decide whether or not to ask about after-school programs when the door swung open and in bounced Mrs. Boyd, wearing a neon-green shirt and an electric-blue skirt.

  “Good morning, class!” Mrs. Boyd called out in her sing-songy voice. She walked happily up to her desk and cheerfully set her large black bag on the chair. Then turning to the class, she asked, “How is everybody doing today?”

  At the sight of Mrs. Boyd standing up at the front of the classroom, Anna reached down into her backpack to get her notebook out. Even though none of the other students seemed to take note of Mrs. Boyd, Anna just didn’t feel right not being prepared for class, no matter the teacher.

  Still seemingly unaware of her class's lack of interest in her, Mrs. Boyd continued talking. “Well, I told you last Thursday we could watch parts of the movie The Odyssey, and today I finally remembered to bring it in! This way, you can actually see what’s happening in the story. So, if you’ll give me a minute, I’ll go ahead and put the DVD in.”

  Mrs. Boyd turned towards a television set that was mounted in the far corner and shoved the DVD into the player below it. After several minutes of randomly pushing buttons on the remote, all she’d managed to do was turn the screen blue. The class, which had finally started to quiet down, was talking loudly once again, ignoring the teacher's futile attempts to get the movie to play.

  After almost five minutes of this, the tall red-headed boy sitting in the front stood up. Anna recognized him as Michael Tomlin from Mrs. Boyd’s role-taking the day before. He walked over to Mrs. Boyd and after talking to her for a moment, took the remote from her. Anna watched as he pushed two or three buttons. The screen flicked from a deep blue to a picture of trees swaying gently in the breeze.

  “Why, thank you, Michael!” Mrs. Boyd said appreciatively as the boy walked calmly back to his seat. Realizing the movie was finally working, the class quieted down – though Anna could still hear whispers all around her.

  So Anna spent the next hour watching a movie in class. She had to admit, it was kind of nice. She didn’t have to pay too much attention, and even better, she didn’t have to worry about Mrs. Boyd. Class passed quickly, and before Anna knew it, it was time to go to biology.

  Anna was early to biology again, but Carmine followed soon after.

  “Hi!” Carmine said as she sat down next to Anna. She was holding a thick black book, a scarlet ribbon hanging between the pages.

  “Hello.” Anna replied. Then pointing at the book, “What’s that?”

  “Oh, this?” Carmine asked, trying unsuccessfully to sound casual. “It’s a book on demons from around the world. It has all kinds of cool things in it – like vampires, and werewolves, and banshees. It even has faeries. You know, they’re not nearly as nice as people think.” Then, thrusting the book towards Anna, she insisted, “Here, take a look!”

  But Anna didn’t want to look at the book. Why would she want to look at a book that listed her as a demon? But when she saw the look of excitement on Carmine’s face, Anna just didn’t have the heart to say no. She didn’t want to hurt the girl’s feelings, and it was obviously important to her.

  Carefully, Anna took the book from Carmine and started leafing through it. It seemed interesting enough, and Anna even caught herself reading up on the evils of various types of undead. She flipped through a few more pages before the book fell open to the spot marked with the red ribbon. Realizing that this must be the page Carmine was reading, Anna stopped – it was in the vampire section of the book. Anna started reading in earnest, wondering what her friend’s book might say about her:

  While the modern vampire is sometimes seen as a suave and charismatic creature, this is by no means the case. These stories of cool, in-control vampires are a modern invention. The real vampires of old are, in fact, bloodthirsty corpses that gorge not only on blood but on human flesh as well. They are mindless, almost zombie-like creatures, and as such are arguably some of the worst demons discussed in this book. A vampire is definitely not something you would ever want to meet in real life.

  There are numerous ways to get rid of a vampire, should you discover you do, in fact, know one…

  The book continued on from there, but Anna had lost all desire to read any further. Quietly, she handed it back to Carmine, trying to rearrange her look of horror into a more thoughtful expression.

  Carmine, who had been busy rooting through her backpack for a pen, hadn’t seen the initial look on Anna’s face. She took the book from Anna and set it on the table between them. Anna couldn’t help but stare at it. In old-fashioned gold lettering, the words Demons: Past and Present were scrawled across the cover.

  Carmine caught Anna still staring at the book and explained, “I got this from the school library. It’s pretty good so far, but I’ve read better – I’ve read most of the books on supernatural things that our library has.” Then laughing, she added, “I’m practically an expert.”

  Anna wasn’t sure what to think. Why was Carmine showing her this? Could it be that she suspected Anna herself was a demon? Quickly she brushed the thought from her mind; if Carmine really thought that, she wouldn’t have shown her the book. She'd be much more likely to keep the information to herself. Anna was starting to relax when suddenly a rather chilling thought popped into her head.

  “Is everyone else this interested in these kinds of things?” She held her breath, waiting for the answer.

  “Oh…” Carmine said, her face falling slightly. “Well…not really. I mean, everyone else listens to me, but they don’t really care – especially Sharon. She’s always telling me that nobody over ten cares about this stuff. But I still think it’s really interesting. My favorite is vampires, though.”

  “Really?” Anna found herself asking. She’d been caught off guard, and it just sort of came out. Her look of astonishment must have been misinterpreted as interest by Carmine, whose face brightened considerably.

  “Oh, yeah. I mean, they’re so–” but before Carmine could finish, she was interrupted.

  “Miss Zwaanstra!”

  Anna and Carmine both jumped about a foot out of their chairs. Ms. Harle was standing at the front of the room, notes already on the overhead projector, waiting to start class. Anna had been so engrossed in her conversation with Carmine that she hadn’t even heard Ms. Harle come in. Exchanging guilty looks with each other, the two girls turned their chairs around to face the front of the room.

  “Sorry, Ms. Ha
rle.” Carmine mumbled sheepishly.

  All throughout class, Carmine kept sneaking glances at Anna. But every time she was about to say something, Ms. Harle would turn around to face the class, and Carmine’s head would drop smoothly back to her notebook.

  Anna was surprised to realize she was much more interested in what Carmine had to say than whatever Ms. Harle was talking about. She wished Ms. Harle would stop turning around to answer questions.

  Unfortunately, cell functions appeared to be a rather complex topic, and Ms. Harle turned around every two or three minutes for the entire period. Anna would have to wait until the end of biology to continue the conversation with Carmine.

  Finally, the bell rang. Anna grabbed her backpack off the floor and threw her book and notepad inside. Like everyone else, Carmine had already gotten all of her things together and was now waiting patiently for Anna. Anna wondered if she’d have to start putting her books away before class ended too, but it just didn’t seem right; it was disrespectful. Besides, she was here to learn; if she allowed herself to pack before the teacher was even finished talking, how much information would she miss out on? She would just have to be quicker. She hurriedly zipped up her backpack and turned towards Carmine.

  As the two girls walked towards geography, Anna searched for something to say. She wanted to finish the conversation they’d been having before biology started, but she couldn’t figure out how to bring the topic back up. She wanted to know what Carmine thought of vampires. They were so…what? So fascinating? Unusual? Or were they creepy? Even scary? This last one held Anna back. She knew most people thought along the creepy-scary lines, and she didn’t want to hear either of those words come out of Carmine’s mouth. Hearing that Carmine really didn't like vampires would undoubtedly strain their budding friendship. She decided it was best not to ask after all.

  Carmine, on the other hand, had no problem figuring out what to say.

  “It sucks that Ms. Harle kept turning around during class.” she told Anna with annoyance. Anna nodded vaguely and Carmine continued. “I mean, how am I supposed to talk when she keeps staring right at me?”

  “I don’t think you’re supposed to.” Anna pointed out helpfully. Carmine stopped a minute and looked over at Anna.

  “Well, I know that.” she responded, her tone surprising Anna. “But I wanted to. I mean, who cares about cells anyway?”

  Despite her firm intention to enjoy school, Anna had to admit she didn’t care about that particular topic either.

  “Of course you don’t!” Carmine laughed. “Cause it’s not interesting. Not like vampires, anyway.”

  Anna was surprised at the ease with which Carmine had transitioned back to talking about vampires. And here Anna had been worried she wouldn’t be able to bring the topic back up!

  “So why are you interested in vampires?” she asked.

  Carmine glanced briefly at Anna. Apparently seeing the genuine interest in Anna’s face, she replied simply, “Why not? I mean, vampires are much more interesting than average, everyday humans.”

  “Really?” Anna had never made that comparison herself.

  “Well, sure.” Carmine replied, taking on the air of an expert. “They’re immortal, they’re practically invincible, and they can fly! Who wouldn’t think that’s more interesting?”

  “They can’t fly.” Anna said automatically.

  “Sure they can – well…they turn into bats to fly. But it’s still flying.”

  Anna laughed in spite of herself. She’d never heard of anyone believing that vampires could actually turn into bats before, and the image of turning herself into one and flying around town was too silly for her to contemplate. Seeing the surprise – or was it hurt? – in Carmine’s face made Anna stop laughing. But she couldn’t wipe the smile completely from her face.

  “They don’t turn into bats.” she informed Carmine.

  “Sure they do.” Carmine insisted, growing slightly defensive as they took their seats. Just like on her first day, Anna saw that Sharon had made it before them. As Anna looked over at her, Sharon sat up straighter.

  “Is she talking about some mythical creatures again?” Sharon cut in, a slight edge in her voice.

  “I was telling Anna that vampires could fly.” Carmine told her matter-of-factly, as if this were a perfectly normal conversation for anyone to have. “But she doesn’t believe me.”

  Sharon rolled her eyes, a trace of annoyance on her face.

  “Of course they can’t fly.” she told Carmine flatly. “Things that don’t exist can’t fly.”

  “That’s what you think.” Carmine said softly, but the conversation was effectively over; it seemed that the topic of vampires was not up for discussion as far as Sharon was concerned. Anna, for her part, had to admit she was sorry it ended.

  Chapter 6: Ye Olde Antiques Shoppe