Melabeth the Vampire (32 page)

“Let me guess it’s a basement.” I said dryly.

Jessica giggled. “No, silly, we don’t have a basement. Building Five isn’t a building; it’s a group of trailers on the other side of the auditorium. Wow, you’re lucky because I have to about run between third and fourth, or I will be late. After lunch, you just go to the girls’ locker room which is right next to the auditorium. After P.E. you can walk right over to the trailers. I have never had Mr. Wright, but I’ve heard he is a real creep.”

“So have I,
”I chimed in.

It wasn’t long before I heard a bell. After a few minutes, all the kids started to disappear. Then, by the second bell it was just me and Jessica. She was showing me where they served lunch. She pointed out all kinds of things; I was only half listening. I think she showed me which locker was mine.
After that, she led me to my first class of the day.

We stopped in front of Room 133. Jessica said with a smile. “Here you are. This is Mrs. Trexlor’s class. I have her in fifth period. She a real bitch…have fun.” And
then, she left me.

I looked at the ugly blue door with the numbers 133, painted in black. I was frozen; I couldn’t open the door. I took a deep breath; the air smelled bad. It smelled like dirty socks. I couldn’t stand out here forever. I mustered up the courage and opened the door and stepped inside.

The teacher was talking. She stopped what she was saying, and then looked at me like I had just interrupted her. I guess in a way I had.

Then she said in a stern monotone voice. “Can I help you?”

“New… I have my schedule. They told me to hand this to you.” I held out the little white paper.

“Oh, you must be Melabeth White. I have already received the paper work of your transfer into this class. Do you have a book?”

I had nothing in my hands so the question was ridiculous. “No.”

“No ma’am is how you will address me in this class.”

“No ma’am, I do not have a book.”

“You may sign a book out from me; grab one from that shelf.”

I felt all the eyes of the class on me as I grabbed a book.

Then, Mrs. Trexlor said. “Sit here.” She pointed at a desk in the front row.

Great, I didn’t want to sit up front. I sat down in the seat she picked out for me. Mrs. Trexlor’s eyes never left me.

Then she asked. “Do you have a pen, paper or a pencil?”

“No,” then I quickly added. “No ma’am, I do not.”

She gave me a tight smile, and went to her desk, fished out a pencil and some paper. She handed t
hem to me.

I took them with a, "T
hank you." She then went back to wherever she had left off with the class.

At the end of the class, Mrs. Trexlor asked me to stay. So, when the rest of the class piled out after the bell. I had to walk up and talk to the teacher. Then I got a speech about how I needed to be prepared for class. I left feeling like me and my parents were a bunch of losers for not preparing myself for high school. I think that’s what she was aiming at.

During the tour, Jessica had pointed out my locker. I had the combo and the locker number from a slip given to me at the office. I couldn’t even remember what building my locker was in. There were lockers attached to every wall. I didn’t care to look for it right now, so I decided to carry my book to the next class.

Of course that was easy. My next class was Room 136, only two doors down. When I went in, there were still plenty of students who hadn’t come in. A lot of the students were hanging outside the classroom door, waiting until the last second to come inside. Then I heard a familiar voice.

“Melabeth, sit next to me.” In the Science class room, instead of individual seats there were benches. Each bench sat two. In the furthest bench sat Lizzie. She was waving her hand at me and pointing at the seat next to her. This was starting off a lot better than the first class.

I checked in with the teacher. Mr. Carder was a nice man, young and handsome to boot. He retrieved a book for me, and even smiled when I told him I was going to sit next to Lizzie.

As I walked back to where Lizzie sat, I could hear Mr. Carder say under his breath, "It’s about time someone sat next to that girl."

I didn’t get a chance to talk to Lizzie, because, as soon as I sat down, the final bell rang. Mr. Carder was a great teacher. He was funny, and loved what he was doing and I couldn’t help but learn. Mrs. Tr
exlor should have to sit in his class and learn how to teach. She was sooooooo boring, and I think that I was now dumber for sitting in her class.

After second period was brunch. How clever, a break between breakfast and lunch, brunch. Soon as the bell rang Lizzie said. “Brunch time, so how's it going so far?”

I answered her like I was high. “It’s the best, and the sun…it’s all so wonderful.”

Lizzie
added, “Those contacts make you look silly. Still at least you don’t look like a vampire. I just knew you would find school wonderful. Now you know the wonder of being human. So what’s your next class?”

“Mr. Boyd, Social Studies, are you in that class?” I was crossing my fingers.

“Nope, but David is,” Lizzie added with a grin. I stuck my tongue out at her. Lizzie went on. “If it makes you feel any better, we’re both grounded for two months.”

“I don’t feel better that you’re grounded. I might be mad at David, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to see him.”

Lizzie looked at me. “Yes, yes it does. I wonder how mad you really are?”

She picked up the rest of her stuff and shoved it into her bag, then tossed her bag
over her shoulder and headed for the door.

I could never tell what Lizzie was thinking or feeling; she was so hard to read. I followed Lizzie, now carrying two books and a binder of paper thanks to Mrs. Trexlor. Soon, as we stepped free of the room, David was standing there waiting.

Our eyes met, and I could see the pain in his face. The sad puppy dog face made me want to forgive him right away, but, if I did that, then he would know he could get away with his shit in the future.

David about tripped over himself to take my books for me. “Melabeth, let me get those for you. Let me say, I am so, so, sorry. I really screwed up. I would have called you, but my stepdad put a spell on the phone. When I touched it, I got electrocuted.”

I laughed at that, and, from David’s wounded look, he didn’t find it funny. “Well I guess I owe your stepdad a thank you letter.”

Lizzie jumped in,
“Now that’s cold, so cold. If you keep that up, David will need a jacket.”

I said,
“I don’t know about a jacket but a handkerchief for the tears may be a good idea.”

David jus
t shook his head back and forth, “Will you ever forgive me? What can I do?”

“You could start by groveling.” Me and Lizzie said in stereo.

Lizzie hid her mouth, and then David said, “I really need to separate you two. I will make this up to you, you’ll see.”

Lizzie started
walking, turned to me and said, “Come on. I’ll show you where all the Goths hang out. We all go to the same place for brunch and lunch.”

It didn’t take me long to see half a dozen kids sitting and standing around a bench. The bench was under a tree and had lots of shade. It also stood away from anything else; the rest of the student body was hanging out under a giant awning. There were rows of picnic benches set up there; you ate year round outside. You only went inside to get the food.

I wasn’t going to have to do that. Michael had said that lots of kids don’t eat lunch, so it wouldn’t make us stand out. I wondered where the Goths hung out when it was raining. Lucky it didn’t rain much in California.

When we got closer, I could see Michael was already there. He was talking to some of the other Goths. Michael even looked good as a Goth; you couldn’t even hide his sexiness under make up. I could already see some of the Goth girls eyeing him.

Michael looked up at me as we approached; he smiled at me, and then said. “He still has a face?”

“Thanks to you,” I retorted.

David looked puzzled, and then asked. “What's that supposed to mean?”

Michael answered for me. “Well, Melabeth said something about eating your face off.”

I chimed in, “But Michael said I couldn’t, well not at school.”

There were chuckles and laughs. Michael and I both knew that the others would take it as joking. The other Goths introduced themselves to me. By the time I made it around the group, I had forgotten most of their names. Michael introduced himself to David; I had forgotten that they had not met yet.

Most of the Goths told me their nicknames, not their real names, like the girl who introduced herself as October. Somehow I didn’t think her parents named her that. A boy made a remark along the lines of, “Melabeth? Now that’s a cool Goth name.”  I guess it kind of is; it’s not my real name; I made it up too.

We didn’t have much time to hang out; it was only a fifteen minute break. The first bell rang, which meant we had five minutes to make it to class. I did find out that the Goths hung out under this tree rain or shine. The Goth’s hangout was right next to Building Two. In fact, I could see Room 204, and that was where my next class was. So, I didn’t have to hurry. Almost everyone had to get going to keep from being late. It was just me and David.

David was leaning against the side of the tree. I could see the stress in him, and I could feel his worry. Maybe it was because he was a Necromancer, or maybe it was because I was a vampire. No matter the reason, I wasn’t mad enough at David to see him suffer. I walked up next to him and gently rubbed his arm. He looked over at me with hope in his eyes.

So much for being tough on him. “I forgive you; in fact, I am not even sure I was ever that mad about it.”

“Really?”

I went on. “Since those bikers kidnapped me… well let’s just say it’s been one thing after another. I have been in countless fights, and that was the first fight where no one died. Well, second, if you count the one I had with Lea and Michael. Wait, make it the third…I forgot about the fight with Alice. No one died; I just lost."

David smiled. "I think I understand what you're saying. It's been rough for you."

"Yeah, it’s been rough, but you have always been there for me, and, even though what you did was stupid, it was also amazing.  You tried to bring a vampire into your life. I do believe that normal people wouldn’t even think of bringing me home to mom.”

David looked as if I had taken a hundred pound weight off of his back. Then he said. “Thank you, you will not regret it, I promise. We better hurry before we’re late.”

Even though we were only twenty feet from the door, we just got inside when the final bell rang. David hurried to his seat while I headed toward the front of the classroom to the teacher’s desk.

Now that I was looking at Mr. Boyd, I was taken aback by him. I would have to describe him in two parts, first his head; he was balding with some brown hair around the sides. He looked to be in his early forties. He wore large glasses and sported a very large mustache. In a word, his head and face reminded me of a middle aged nerd. Then there was his body; the man stood at least six two. He was huge; his muscles looked as if they were going to rip out of his shirt. He reminded me of that actor that Michael likes, Arnold Swarchhammer or something like that.

He looked at me with a big smile. He had a friendly face
. “The new girl, Melabeth right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Well, it’s good they have manners in Transylvania. Go ahead and take a seat next to the other vampire.” And with that he pointed at David.

David yelled out,
“It's Goths.”

Some other boy said,
“Goths suck.”

That was followed by,
“I bet she does.”

Mr. Boyd said with great
authority, “Quiet…I will have no disrespecting women in my class. Tim, why don’t you come and see me after class.”

“Yes sir.” 

Mr. Boyd gave me a wink as I sat next to David in the back of the class. The class was fun, Mr. Boyd was funny, and I loved the way he taught history. The next 55 minutes flew by. The bell rang, and I was off to Art class. No one had Art with me, like first period I would be on my own.

David had to go in a different direction to get to his class. We said our goodbyes; it wasn’t far to my class so I walked slowly taking in all the activity around me. I had never witnessed this in my life. These kids were rude and mean; they swore every other word. I was called a freak at least four times before I reached my class. It didn’t bother
me that they called me names, because I was looking at them all like they were fish in a bowl.

I walked into my Art class. The teacher was an Egyptian woman, who could hardly speak English. I had to have her repeat herself three or four times. The class was ridiculous. The teacher gave us an art assignment, and then most of the kids fell into conversations with each other. Only a few kids did anything. I found myself sitting in the back while no one gave me any attention. I guess this Goth outfit sent a signal out; leave me alone; I don’t want anything to do with you.