Diary of a Newborn Vampire (BOOK #1)

Final Thoughts

           I found myself in the upstairs bathroom after my fight with Liv. A different me would brush it off or maybe even hit her back even harder than before. But the current me felt weak and more broken than ever.

Maybe Liv was right.

Howls of laughter echoed in my ears as I ran from the scene and toward the downstairs bathroom where a long line of drunk girls waited crossing their legs for the first time that night and maybe ever.

I knew none of them were sober enough to think about going to the bathroom upstairs, so I ran up there before anyone could see the tears running down my cheeks. I didn't want to cry. I wanted to prove that nothing fazed Ava Sumner, but that wasn't true.

The bathroom mirror showed the reflection of a girl with mascara running down her face. Her hair and dress were quickly becoming disheveled, but she didn't fix them. She stared back, her eyes asking how she ever became such a person.

I gripped the countertop to the argument rolling in my head over and over again. Part of me claimed Liv deserved it and I deserved it, too. We both knew our faults, but we somehow managed to go on and avoid them. I wanted to tell myself that half the people here tonight wouldn't remember it, but the few sober ones or those with a better memory drunk were sure to make my life a living hell Monday.

Now, they all knew my deepest secret. Ava Sumner couldn't love anyone.

I wanted to blame Luke. He showed up to the party. He had been in love with me since middle school. For years, I ignored it. I went around saying he was stalking me because of a little crush that went out of control. But I my stomach with always ache afterward with the lie.

Yes, at some point Ava Sumner had a thing for Luke Hartman too. I'd wanted to ask him to winter formal freshmen year when he was still his old dorky self. The boy who would hand me a pencil when I lost mine. The boy who would offer me his notes when I fell asleep in history. The boy who would mouth the answers to me in biology. The boy who'd been nothing but nice to me all my life.

Winter of freshmen year my mom left. During those few days, I sat in my room realizing how stupid love was and how I couldn't let myself fall victim. I thought my mom loved me, but she left my sister and me on our own with nothing but the letter of transfer to Val's bank account and a note saying she had to "go find herself".

My fourteen-year-old self thought that my mom didn't need to find herself. That she already had herself with Val and me. What more could someone ask for than two adoring daughters? But I guess fourteen-year-old me was wrong.

Truth Liv spoke exactly that. The truth. She didn't hold anything back or think about my feelings. All those times in our friendship where she attempted to give me advice in the kindest of ways turned into a tirade of remarks about my wrong way of doing things when she found herself under the influence.

Tomorrow morning wouldn't be filled with apologies and tears or anything like that. I couldn't easily forgive her blabbing my business to a third of the school, and she was the queen of holding grudges. Drunk Liv was bound to forget things that happened while she was drunk. But Truth Liv would remember everything she said and what was said back.

I grabbed a paper towel and ran it under some warm water. Then I wiped my tear-stained cheeks leaving next to no makeup. I had a tube of mascara in my purse for times like these. I quickly took it out and reapplied, making myself look just as I had before the waterworks.

I would go back downstairs and act like nothing happened. Maybe I would find Hanson again and we would talk some more. I would prove to Liv that I was going to let myself find someone. Hanson would be my first trial run no matter what kind of guy he looked like. Ava Sumner usually got what she wanted. Usually.

Music vibrated throughout the whole house. The hallway was dark in a creepy horror movie way. The only sound was the music and laughter from downstairs and the click-clack of my heels on the hardwood floor.

Moonlight shone through a tiny window at the end of the hallway, and all the bedroom doors were closed proving the ominous atmosphere.

I walked quickly down the hallways as the sound of the creaky floorboards echoed. I noticed a flash of movement from behind me in the reflection of a mirror. When I whipped my head around, I found nothing.

"Dear God," I whispered, my body shivering with paranoia. I crossed my arms and kept walking before another sign of movement caught my eye.

My steps grew quicker and more frantic. Like hell, I was going to let some freaky freshman try to play Stephen King with me. I wanted out of here. Out of this dark hallway. Out of this house even. I wanted to wake up all over again and relive this day better than before.

The sound of heaving breathing echoed from behind me. I froze, a tingle creeping up my spine, and looked into a mirror that hung at the end of the hall.

Behind me stood Hanson. His collared shirt slightly unbuttoned and twisted slightly. His dark hair messed up even more than it had been before and veins I had never seen so prominent on anyone before popped out in his neck and on his forehead.

"I told you I would see you again," he whispered through the darkness in a deep, raspy voice. He no longer held the charming, playboy persona. This Hanson was far creepier and darker than before.

I slowly turned around, my whole body shaking. And before I could scream at the sight of his twisted face--his eyes black with hunger and his incisors pointed like daggers--he lunged for my neck.

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