Trevor snatched a bag of fries from Becky. "I believe these are mine."
Matt stepped before him, but Becky held him back. "It's going to be a long year," I said resignedly, and flipped my shades back on my head.
I barely spoke as Becky drove me home. Each of my classes was more miserable than the last. My thoughts weren't on history or mathematical equations but on a vampire on Benson Hill. As we made our way home, Alexander was still safely tucked away in his attic room, unaware of anything going on in my world. It was strange that so much was happening and he wouldn't be able to find out until the sun set. I really wanted to be a part of his life-not just for the summer, but forever. I gazed out the window as we passed Dullsville's cemetery. So many romantic dates Alexander and I had spent on sacred ground. Why wouldn't I change my world for his? If only Alexander would bite me, plunge his fangs into my neck and draw out my sweet blood. It would mean an end to school and Trevor.And a new beginning for us.
That night, I danced on my front steps in wild anticipation of Alexander's arrival. I could almost smell hisDrakkar and feel the soft skin of his cheeks against mine, his fingers sliding up the back of my spine, and his leg touching mine as we sat on the stoop. But after ten minutes had vanished like the setting sun, I began to pace. I was desperately waking to jump into his arms and tell him about my horrible situation at school. He'd insist I was overreacting and my circumstances would right themselves before I knew it. I had taken care of myself for years, and this case was no different except for one major thing: I had a hunky boyfriend in my corner. I had someone to watch my back-even if that person was sequestered in a coffin.He'd laugh off the whole Trevor thing and threaten to turn my nemesis into dust if he so much as looked at mewrong.
Instead of hearing the twigs snap as Alexander emerged from the shadows, I heard the ringing of my cell phone.
"I won't be able to make it," Alexander said flatly.
"You're kidding..."
"My parents want to talk to me."
"Well, so doI ."
"I guess that will have to wait. I promise I'll make it up to you."
"How's the drawer?"
"Everything is still intact. But I'd rather be holding you thanyourhoodies ."
I didn't even have a chance to tell Alexander about the classschedulemixup , much less my run-in with Trevor.
I heard Jameson calling for him in the background, so my knight in shining Doc Martens had to hang up.
My evening schedule was making me as miserable as my daytime one.
Chapter 5 Risk
I was feeling all doom and gloom-and not in a good way. I'd been stood up by my own boyfriend-the most dependable gentleman I knew. So I thought I'd find comfort in the only other man I could count on: my father.
Billy and my dad were playing Risk in the family room and fighting for global domination while my mom was laboring at the family computer.
"I thought you were going to meet Alexander," my mom said.
"I did, too," I said. I peered over my mother's shoulder. She was designing flyers forDullville's Annual Art Auction.
I plopped down on the La-Z-Boy.
"How was school?" my dad wondered.
"The pits," I said. "I have a partnered English assignment and it's with Trevor. Matt picked Becky, and Trevor deliberately picked me. His sole mission in this world is to ruin my life. I'm not going to get into any college. I'll be forced to live here for the rest of my life."
My parents looked at each other in horror. The thought of a thirty-year-old gothic slacker running to raves and getting tattoos instead of jobs wasn't what they had planned. It didn't fit with their golf- outings -and-mixed-doubles- filled retirement plans.
"Why can't I be homeschooled like Alexander?" I whined.
"I think I saw Alexander's parents," Billy said suddenly.
"You did?" I asked. "You're not supposed to see them before I do!"
"Henry and I left Shirley's Bakery," he said, rolling dice, "and were cutting through the square when we spotted a lady anda man, dressed from head to toe in black, enter the Main Street Gallery."
I jumped up from my chair and faced my brother. "Did you see them up close?"
"I was too far away," he said, focused on his army. He was preparing to overtakeSiberia . "But I'm sure it was them. No one in town is that ghost white. Their skin was so pale you could almost see through it."