Vampire Kisses (gxg)

Chapter 14

It was just under two weeks later, and fog smothered the town like a towel in a waterboarding session. Every car that passed Penelope as she drove to school seemed to leap out at her through the mist.

When she made the turn into school, a sophomore almost scratched her front bumper. It stopped halfway through a turn as if the driver was shocked at what almost happened. Penelope honked, and the car moved again.

Penelope let out an exasperated sigh. In the public school, sophomores weren't allowed to drive and instead had to take the bus. At Valley of Death, there were no buses, besides the ones hired to take them on field trips. Instead, sophomores were free to drive their jacked-up trucks and rusted kias.

She went into the lot and began to scroll on her phone for five minutes until she went inside to talk to Victoria and Chris. She began to wrap it up, and as she lowered her phone, she heard a thud, and an echo coming from where her trunk was.

For one terrible second, she considered that someone had driven through the bushes that lined the road outside of school and into the parking lot, hitting her car. It wouldn't have surprised her after what had happened that morning.

But instead, she turned around, only to see a flash of pale skin and dark hair - Victoria. She felt confused - Victoria's car was normally just in front of hers, and today it wasn't there.

Penelope stepped outside of her car. "You scared me!" She explained.

"Sorry," Victoria said.

"Where's your car?" Penelope asked.

Victoria shrugged and looked away. "I shadow-warped here."

"You shouldn't do that in public places! People might pick up on it."

"It's foggy today. I didn't think people would notice."

"Other vampires could. And we think that the killer may be another vampire," Penelope explained.

"I really didn't think that one through," Victoria grumbled.

"I can drive you home," Penelope said. "You're on my route." Even if she wasn't, I wouldn't hesitate to help her.

"Sounds good," Victoria replied. Penelope picked up her bag and they begun to walk into school together.

"Anyways, the reason why I was in such a rush was because a new person has disappeared," Victoria told Penelope.

"Really? Who?" Penelope asked.

"They haven't officially announced any names yet, but I hung around the scene. His name is Ashton Preacher, and he was an alumni to Valley of Death," Victoria explained.

"Once we get in, I'll have Chris search for any social media accounts. He should be in the courtyard today," Penelope said. "Will that be a problem with the sun?"

Victoria shook her head. "No. It's foggy enough that I can be outside without wearing a sweatshirt. Like right now."

"Good," Penelope said. "I couldn't imagine having to hide from the sun."

"I might hide from the sun, but some people hide from the dark," Victoria said.

"The dark is scary," Penelope told her.

"Yeah, but it isn't an imminent threat like sunlight is to me."

"It could be," Penelope said and paused for a minute as they pushed through a throng of seventh graders looking at a video on someone's phone. Then, as they reached the end of the hall into the courtyard, she continued. "I don't really think it's the dark that people are scared of. Maybe its the fear of being hurt by it."