The Hopeless Life of a Teenage Vampire

Chapter One: Tag Along (Part Two)

I sighed with relief as I climbed back into my truck after school ended, I sat there for a few minutes looking out onto the school grounds, watching people walk about the parking lot. The first person I spotted was Brooke Martin, I saw her over a guy's shoulder. She was smiling and brushing her hair behind her ear. I could only see the back of his head so I couldn’t discern his response, and the metal framing  around me made it hard to focus my hearing . Though I doubted he was interested in her, his body looked ridged and uncomfortable, I couldn’t recognize him, he was wearing a Panthers Hoodie with a large number one on the back, same as most boys at school if they weren’t wearing maroon devils, our mascot, hoodie. He had black hair, styled in probably the most generic way possible. He and Brooke were standing on the side-walk in front of the main office. 

Is he a new kid?, I thought, I stared at him, looking for anything identifiable. Thankfully for my sanity, he turned around . He had black hair swept back? A strong jawline and a button-like nose, thin brown eyes set under intense eyebrows. His skin was a deep tan, a slight pink on his nose from the brisk autumn wind, he had a stack of papers clasped in his left hand.

Registration forms?, I strained my eyes to see if I could read anything. Nothing.  I continued to stare at him, until I was startled by my passenger door opening. I looked over to see Orphica crawling into the car. 

“Sorry, the chem club meeting ran a little late. We got off track talking about garden gnome repelling enchantments,” she said buckling her seat belt. Orphica had started a potions club with the world history  one teacher (who has never attended a single meeting, and is nowhere near qualified for his job) under the pseudonym the Chemistry club, for the magic folk of the school. 

“It’s fine, I-" I started but was interrupted by a tap on my window, I turned to see Rocco staring at me. His hair was ruffled, and he had a distressed look on his face. I rolled the window down with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes?” 

He took a deep breath before responding. 

“So….I kinda parked in Brooke’s spot this morning, and...she..like… got my car towed.” he rambled the distress in his eyes growing ever slightly. 

I could hear a stifled giggle behind me, it took everything in me to hold back my own laugh. 

“So you need a ride?” I replied partially laughing at the end. 

“Uh...yeah,” He said, he was playing with the rings on his fingers like a mad man at this point. 

“Okay, hop in I guess,” I replied pointing backwards into the back seat. He did so and I started backing out of my parking space and towards the mountain we called home. I had been driving for at least ten minutes before I looked over and noticed the maroon devils hoodie draped over Orphica’s shoulders. 

“Where’d you get the hoodie?” I asked, glancing over at her. She shrugged in response.  So I continued to look at her for 5 minutes before she finally caved. 

“A guy at Chem club let me wear it cause I was cold that’s all,” Wrapping the hoodie around her as if I were about to rip it off of her body. 

“Oh okay,” I replied shrugging it off while secretly looking in the rear view mirror to see Rocco smiling to himself.  The rest of the drive was sent listening to music. We reached the big house about 45 minutes after departure. 

“Wait, Why didn’t you stop at their house first? we’ve got that thing tonight…”Rocco said as I parked in the garage. The thing  he was talking about was a masquerade ball my parents were throwing for Halloween. 

“Don’t worry Rocky, she’s just helping me get ready,” I lied, but thankfully He bought it. He nodded his head and hopped out of the car. We all made our way inside and up the third floor of our Victorian style home. Which is where my room lays. Once we reached my room I closed the door behind us and locked it. 

Most would say my room is similar to an apartment, though most rooms in casa dei Luchesi were set up like mine. 

“Okay we have 3 hours to get ready, what are our rules Orphica,” I said looking at her from the doorway. 

“Dress nice, make myself look different enough that I don’t get recognized, and don’t let anyone fall in love with me.” She smiled at me and then the advanced game of dress up began. We had settled upon these rules two weeks prior, when Orphica had spent a whole day begging me to let her come to the ball. Technically she wasn’t supposed to come, because it was only for members of the clan, So we snuck her in. It took us nearly an hour to get dressed in our excessively large gowns I had snagged from my mothers collection. The last two hours were dedicated to hair and makeup, spending most of it in my bathroom to utilize the mirror. Yes I can see my reflection. I had just finished, convenient I know, when there was a loud crash from the room next to mine. I looked over at Orphica and quickly gestured between the wardrobe across from the bathroom door. She ran inside as I headed to investigate the noise. 

I knocked on the door slowly three times, I heard the inhabitants scurry around before the door opened and I saw my nephew Peter staring down at me. 

“Uh, hey Kal..what’s up” he replied, his awkward gangly form filling up the door frame. Peter is the youngest son of my oldest  brother, Brendo. Brendo was born June thirtieth 1930, to my mother and her first husband, Novus. Brendo went on to get married in the 50’s and had his two sons Grayson and Peter in 1987 and 1990, making Pete 10 years older than me.

“What are you doing up here? The party started 30 minutes ago?” I replied trying to catch a glimpse of his room over his shoulder. It appeared to be in disarray as if he’d been searching for something.  

“I uh...could ask you the same thing,” he retorted, at this point I was sure something shady was happening, but I was too lazy to deal with it.

“Well, I’m going to head to the party, you can join me down there if you want,” I replied and hurried back to my room. I opened the door and walked slowly to the wardrobe, slightly opening the door. Orphica stared up at me questioningly.

“Just Peter, you ready?” I asked as she stepped out. She had temporarily changed her hair to a deep brown and it was throwing me off. She had also put in a pair of the red contacts my father had given me. My mother and I had given up the blood lifestyle a few years prior causing our eyes to return to their natural deep brown state opposed to the red of most vampires, so he had forced me to wear contacts to events to stop the chatter. 

“Yeah I’m ready, we should probably get our masks,” she replied we both walked to the bathroom and grabbed our Martin raw type masks from the counter. We  headed outside where the party had begun, as we left the threshold I hand grabbed my shoulder. 

“Why are you late?” I heard my brother's voice behind me. 

“A vampire is never late, she arrives precisely when she means to,” I replied with a smile, turning around to see Brendo staring down at me. His jaw was slightly clenched. 

“Sometimes I wonder if you want to get in trouble,” he replied, releasing me and placing a hand on his forehead. 

I rolled my eyes in response, “it’s called being fashionably late, you’re not horrendously late but late enough to make an entrance.” I said before turning to face the hoard of dancing people. I took a few steps towards them and was quickly whisked into the dance by a guy with short brown hair wearing a full face smiling mask. He had tattoos and distinct purple eyes,

“Marc?” I asked looking at the masked face. He nodded and I could see that he smiled from the way his eyes crinkled at the edges. Marc had recently begun the transition to a blood free lifestyle and his eyes were stuck in halfway point between blue and red. 

“So you got her in?” He asked his voice slightly muffled by the mask. 

“Yeah, she ran off once we got out here,” he looked over my shoulder after I said that and then he turned back to me. He was smiling again,

“She’s with Roc ,” he chuckled before spinning so I could look over his shoulder and see for myself, and sure enough they were waltzing across the floor. I danced with Marc for a while watching Rocco and Orohica before he headed off to get a drink. I tried to escape the crowd but I was swept back in and greeted by a familiar smile. 

“Long time no see,”