Vampire Girl (Book 1)

~4~

When I had gotten home I was surprised to find my mom sitting on the couch with her arms crossed, her hard gaze penetrating my soul. "Where were you?" she asked, angrily. I shrugged like I didn't know what she was talking about and dropped my backpack on the floor. I took off my leather jacket and started taking off my boots when she asked me again: "Where were you, Vivian?" I stopped and straightened to face her. I noticed that her eyes were puffy, as if she had been crying. I frowned. "Were you crying?" I had to ask. She continued to stare at me with that hard gaze of hers as she said: "I am the one asking questions, Vivian. Now where were you?" I sighed. "I was just at the library. It was a crazy day at school and I needed a break." I told her. That was a half-lie. Yes, it was a crazy day at school; well, at least I considered it to be crazy enough. But no, I didn't need a break. I needed somewhere to hide from Carter, and the only place I thought of was the library, because usually boy gangs didn't go into the library. So I thought I'd be safe. But apparently, they surprised me. My mom sighed and uncrossed her arms. With a sad look in her eyes, she patted the space on the couch beside her. I had to keep myself from rolling my eyes as I finished taking off my boots and walked over to her. I swear... if she wanted to do this sweet mother talk with me, I'm going to pass out from boredom. She placed a hand on my leg once I had sat next to her on the couch. My eyes widened upon the sudden contact. My mom never touched me like that. What was going on?

She took a deep breath and looked into my eyes. I wanted to look away, but when I saw the pleading in her eyes, I refrained from doing so. "Vivian. I heard about the incident at your school. Something about a cheerleader with bite marks on her neck?" she said. I nodded solemnly. "Yeah. She went out with the new kid to some place and came back with bite marks all over her neck." I said. My mom frowned at me and patted my leg, encouraging me to go on with my explanation. I sighed and continued: "The new kid's name is Carter Clyde. He moved all the way from California to here. No one knows the real reason though, and a lot of people are saying that he's a creep. And I, for once, have to agree with them." I told her. She smiled warmly and moved her hand from my leg to my hand, and squeezed it. I looked at her face and saw that there were tears forming in her eyes. "Thank you, sweetie, for telling me this. His name sounds like something you'd find in New York. Probably a cover model or something." she said to me. I burst out laughing. "Yeah, right. I really doubt that he, of all people, would come from New York to escape from cover modelling. But it's not like he's super popular, anyway. You'd have to be at that school for ages in order to become as popular as Madonna." I said. My mom kept on smiling warmly at me, and she caressed my cheek with her free hand. "No, truly, Vivian. Thank you for telling me this. I just wanted to make sure that you're safe, that's all." she said, softly. I fixed her with a stern look. "I am safe, Mom. I am probably safer than when I was in elementary school." I said, casually. Now it was my mom's turn to burst out laughing. "Alright, alright. You can go do your homework now, if you'd like." she said, smiling. I returned her smile with one of my own, and leaned forward to kiss her cheek. She opened her mouth slightly. "Thanks, Mom." was all I said to her, before getting up from the couch to head towards my bedroom and went straight to bed. I didn't even bother completing my homework or taking off my clothes and makeup.

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I woke up with only one thought in my mind: today is Wednesday. The same day that Carter said he was going to take me out or whatever. Heck, why was I even worried? He doesn't know where I live, and there's no way I'm going out with him anywhere. I jumped out of bed to hop into the shower. A few minutes later, I stepped out and covered my body with a towel, then squeezed the excess water out of my hair and put a towel around my head. When I walked out of the bathroom, I found my mom sitting at the kitchen table with a bunch of paperwork laid out in front of her. I frowned upon seeing the papers and came up to her, and placed my hands on her shoulders. She jumped slightly, but still kept writing with her blue pen on the paper. "What's all this, Mom?" I asked, both curious and suspiciously. She mumbled something under her breath before looking up to meet my eyes. She smiled weakly and then went back to her papers. "Just some paperwork to get done for the bank. They threatened to lower my interest if I didn't give them back the money I borrowed to pay the taxes for this month." she explained to me. I nodded and opened a cupboard to grab a bowl, but when there was none, that's when I remembered that I had used the last bowl yesterday. I swore under my breath. Oh well. I'll just have to do without breakfast then. Hopefully she won't mind. I closed the cupboard and started heading towards my bedroom, but my mom stopped me before I could walk a couple of more steps. "Honey, you're not going to eat some breakfast?" she asked me, her eyebrows furrowing. I shook my head. "Not hungry. I'm going to dry my hair now." I said to her and headed towards my room.