Vampire High Sophomore Year - By Douglas Rees Page 0,14
place. I need some grunge.”
And she left.
“Perhaps we should go with her,” Ileana said. “She does not know New Sodom well. She might become lost.”
“I was sort of hoping,” I said.
“She is your family, Cody,” Ileana said. “You must help her. She is in great pain.”
“She is a great pain,” I said.
“Stop it,” Ileana said, and led me out of the center.
We caught up to Turk in the parking lot.
“You don’t have to come with me,” she said, and drove off. Her little black car sounded like it was cursing us.
“Do I still have to be nice to her?” I said.
“Yes,” Ileana said. “And so do I. But we do not have to like it.”
Getting home was no problem. There were stretch limos for anybody who wanted them, or Ileana could call for her own car and have it there in minutes.
But she said, “Let us walk home today. To my house. You will get a ride from there.”
The way to Ileana’s house led down quiet streets shaded by fine old trees whose leaves were just beginning to turn gold at their tips.
I took Ileana’s hand.
“It will all be well,” she said.
“You really think so?” I said.
“Yes,” Ileana said. “Turk is vain and silly, but she is not stupid. She will find something hard to do, and she will do it, and then she will think less about herself and more about whatever that thing is. She has a large soul, and she needs to feed it.”
She looked up at me and smiled a wicked little smile.
“She is rather a lot like you, you know.”
“No way,” I said. “I’m not that bad.”
“Not now,” she said. “But when you came, you were very full of the act you were putting on. But then you found your big thing. You decided to challenge us to admit that you could be as good as we thought we were. And you did, and you are.”
I looked at Ileana and thought about how smart she was. No, not smart. Wise. Wise in a very special way that I would probably never really understand.
Then I did something very brave. I said what I said next. Which was “I found something bigger than that. I found you.”
And I kissed her under the trees.
I don’t know how long we stood there. A week or two, maybe. But when we broke, she said, “This was why I wanted to walk home.”
“We’ll never make it at this rate,” I said.
And we kissed again.
Eventually, we made it up the long hill to Ileana’s house. And Ileana had her limo take me home.
“All will be well,” she said again, as the car pulled away from the curb.
I wished right then that I were old enough to drive. It was a comedown to walk my girlfriend home kissing her and then be hauled away by somebody else, like a little kid. But overall, I thought, things were pretty good just then.
7
There was no little black car sitting in front of the house when I got home.
“Where’s Turk?” Mom said as I came in the door.
“She took off by herself after school,” I said. “For all I know, she’s on her way back to Mexico.”
“Did she have a bad day at school?” Mom asked.
“She gave about as good as she got,” I said.
“What does that mean, exactly?” Mom asked. She wasn’t happy.
“It means she insulted everyone she could, sneered at everything except lunch, and felt sorry for herself all day,” I said. “You know. She was Turk.”
“Cody, I really wish you’d be more supportive right now,” Mom snapped. “This is very difficult for all of us. I know Turk isn’t the easiest person in the world to be around, but she needs help.”
“She doesn’t want help,” I said. “If she’d been on the Titanic, she’d have jumped into the water and bragged about how cool she was.”
“That’s not helpful,” Mom said.
“It’s not supposed to be,” I said. “Look, can we fight about how mean I am some other time? I have a lot of homework.”
Mom waved me away.
I went up the stairs, stomping on every one. Turk. Damn Turk. Even when she wasn’t around, she caused trouble. Mom and I never fought. That was a Dad and me thing.
I slammed the door to my room, threw my backpack on the floor, and talked to the ceiling until it was time to eat.
Turk didn’t come home for dinner. The long sunset left the sky, and a few stars came out. Still no Turk. Dad tried