The soccer guys must have been impressed by my argument, because they didn't attack me or defend Trevor, but instead waited to see what would happen next. "None of your friends here give me the time of day," I went on. "It's 'cause they don't care about me, but you care. You care like crazy. You're telling me the time every day."
"You're crazy! You're nothing but a drugged-up, freaked-out loser girl, and that's all you'll ever be."
Trevor looked at Matt, who only smiled awkwardly and shrugged his shoulders. There were snickers from his other mates and whispered words I couldn't hear.
"You want me so bad," I shouted in his face. "And you can't have me!"
He came at me, everything swinging, and it was a good thing I had my dad's tennis racket to defend myself against his punches. There must have been something pitiful about a furious jock trying to attack a girl, or maybe Trevor's gang of soccer dudes secretly enjoyed seeing him humiliated, because they pulled him back and Matt, along with the goalie, stepped in front of me like a handsome barricade.
Just then Mr. Harris blew his whistle for practice. There was no time for thank-yous to Matt and the others or "Gee, this has been fun--we'll have to do it again some time." I ran back up the hill triumphantly. I couldn't wait to tell Becky.
Did I really believe Trevor was in love with me? No. It seemed as unlikely as the existence of vampires. Mr. Popular loves Ms. Unpopular. But I had made a good case, and the important thing was, everyone had bought it.
I was finally free.
Chapter 13 A Girl Obsessed
Suddenly other Dullsvillians reported Gothic Guy sightings.
"He's really great looking, but a major weird-fest must be going on in that haunted house!" Monica Havers whispered to Josie Kendle in algebra class.
"He actually came out of his dungeon?"
"Yeah, and Trevor Mitchell spotted him coming out of the cemetery at night and said he had blood dripping from his mouth. And when Trevor drove closer, he suddenly disappeared!"
"Really? Hey, you're hanging out with Trevor again?"
"No way! Everyone knows he's in love with that Raven girl. But get this. I saw that ghost guy at the movies last Friday. Alone. Who goes to a movie by himself?"
"Only a loony loser crazy person," Josie said. "Exactly!"
I rolled my eyes in total disgust.
Then after dinner I was at the 7-Eleven with Becky, picking up soda for my mom, when I noticed a tabloid headline that read, "I Gave Birth to a Two-Headed Vampire Baby."
"Well, it must be true then!" I joked. "Vampires do exist. I read it in the National Liar?"
Becky and I giggled like little girls.
I turned around and there was Gothic Guy standing right in back of me, staring at the candy bars below the counter.
He was wearing Ray Bans, like a ghostly rock star, and was holding a pack of candles.
"Aren't you the guy--" I whispered breathlessly, as if I had spotted a celebrity.
"Next," the clerk said, summoning him to the counter.
He didn't even notice me. I followed him closely but was edged out by a red-haired fitness queen and her tanning bed-addicted friend buying celebrity mags and bottles of imported water.
Gothic Guy took his bag and left the store, lifting his sunglasses as soon as he stepped into the dusk.
The two women leered at him like they had just seen a walking zombie.
"That reminds me, Phyllis," the fitness queen whispered. "I saw that kid at Carlson's Book Store. He's so pale! Hasn't he ever heard of the sun? At least he could use some fake tanning cream. He needs a makeover bad!"
"Did you notice what he was reading?" "Oh, yes," she recalled. "It was a book on Benson Hill Cemetery!"
"I'll have to tell Natalie Mitchell. She's convinced they're vampires!"