The Vampire Princess

Chapter 7

The principal has chosen me to temporarily be the captain. A few girls give me dirty looks and I deliberately ignore them.

   I'm excited. I always wanted to be cheer captain and temporarily I will allow myself to soak it up.

  "Okay girls I wanted to change our cheers up a bit," I said. Trixie's lap dogs are giving me the evil eye and I smile at them.

"Why? It's not like we're going to do them all year," said McKenzie.

"It's time for a change and while I'm cheer captain, I'm going to temporarily change things up." I remain cool and collected. Inside my I'm starting to become nervous.

"Trixie worked hard on these dances," she says.

"You mean her aunt did," said a redhead. "We all know she doesn't take the time to come up with dances."

McKenzie turns cold eyes toward the girl. "Have it your way, I'm going home."

  I wave at her while she goes and turns my attention back to the cheerleaders. "Who ready to began?"

The girls mutter among themselves. We have been doing the same dances for years. I know I'm not the only one tired of them

 
           ••••••••••••••••••••••••••

     At the end of practice I have a raging headache and my throat has began itching intensely.

  "I don't think I will make it," I said through the phone.
   
"You can not. I need you," she yelled.
  
  I reluctantly agreeded to go. I took an aspirin for the pounding headache. I usually love the movie's popcorn; but tonight it makes me nauseous.
 
I could be less interested in the movie. The sound and the light is doing nothing to help my headache. Dexter squeezes my hand. He can't see my face in the darken theater which I'm grateful for.
 
   I am. But I'm hungry; like when you haven't eaten something in twenty-four hours.
 
   I can't be more happy when the movie ends. My head is still killing me, If I don't think about it, I forget it's hurting.  That makes my hungry pangs double.  I'm horrified when my stomach starts to make these animal growls.
  
   Jordan laughs, "I guess Myla is hungry. How about we go to the pizzeria?"

   I glare at him and start to object but remember my promise. "Fine."

    Angel hangs back a bit from them. So that we are a couple of paces behind them. She looks beautiful tonight. She's curled her normally straight hair and it falls in waves on her shoulder. She wears a long strapless dress that fits her body well.

  Tonight she is far from adorable; she is gorgeous. "Myla please, can you act like you like him for one more hour."

   "You know I don't like him. I'm not the type of person to pretend to like someone I don't like," I said. She pleads with me and I know I will have to give in. "I'm not making any promises, but I will try."

  She squeezes my hand and runs up to walk beside Jordan. She might as well melt into his side. Still, I'm happy to see he is excited. He was her long-time crush after all.

I just can't bear the thought of him hurting her. I'm powerless to stop it; I'll just support her when it happens.

  The Pizzeria smells amazing. The building is crowded with other teenagers joking and laughing.

  The bright lights give off a buzzing noise that I find irritating. In fact everything seems to be giving off noise. What the hell?

   I take a deep breath, inhaling the scents around me. Maybe it's my stomach, but I can smell everything and everyone. There's something else that is slightly off; it's a metallic smell. I can smell it all around me.
     
   We slide into red booths in the back building. I close my eyes against the lights.
    
  "Love, don't go to sleep on us," said Dexter. He arches an eyebrow at me. "Are you okay?"

      "Of course, just hungry."

        He goes silent as a young red-haired waitress walks towards us. She snaps on gum and barely acknowledges me and Angel. She smiles slyly at Dexter and Jordan.
  
  "What would you like," she pointed her pin at Dexter, "sir."
     
  Oh, you bitch. I glare at her and interject his reply, "We will have a medium pepperoni pizza to share. Give us both lemonade."
   
  Dexter laughs softly beside me. The girl eyes me coldly and turns away from me. She snaps her gum and writes something down on her notepad.  She turns away from me and eyes Jordan. "And you?"
     
"Whatever she wants to eat, make it a medium though. I'll have water," he said. He doesn't sound like his usual seductive self. Angel looks at him like she's ready to lay at his feet. Oh come on, where's your spunk? I kick her under the table to get her attention.
   
She doesn't glare at me because of the pair of eyes on her. "Make that a pepperoni pizza too."
Her voice is softer than usual and I can see Jordan eyeing her. The expression on his face is unreadable and he seems to be drawn to chest. Dirtbag.

  "Okay and what do you want to drink?" The question comes off bitchy and rubs off on me the wrong way.
  
Angel's eyes narrow, "is there a problem?"  The girls snaps her gum and smiles politely. "Of course not."

"That's what I thought, I would like a medium coke."

She storms away from us muttering under her breath. I can hear her say something about birdbrain bitches.
 
Our food arrives and we dig in. I don't have an appetite for anything in front of me, but I know that I need to eat something. I force in each mouth full and it taste revolting. Each bite is unsatisfying but the hunger pains are numbed and they never go away. What's wrong? Something ain't right.
  
"Jeans look good on you," said Dexter.

    I smile and lean in towards him. He smells so good. "You want to take them off of me?"
He leans closer and I can feel his lips brush my ear.

"Lucky I didn't drive us," he said. I can feel the heat traveling and building in my lower areas. His body has always called to me and I'm tempted to nibble on his throat. I could leave a hickey and claim my territory.
 
We file out of the booth. We only leave 5 dollars for the waitress. Dexter stops and adds twenty to the money. "She wasn't all that good a waitress."
 
"Just good customer service love," he said. He holds my hand and pulls me into his chest. He kisses me softly before we get in the back seat. I can still feel his hand resting on my chin.

  I close my eyes and drown out the chatter in the front seat. I lean into Dexter and try to ignore the pangs in my stomach. My headache has faded,  at least that is something.

  I find it funny how you know your home without seeing it. I guess our brains have memorized it.

  I give Dexter a long kiss. I tell Angel

Goodnight and I give Jordan a cold look before
closing the door. He didn't see it.

  My dad is probably sleeping. I slide the spare key out from underneath the rug. We should find a better hiding spot. The house is dark and silent.

I try to be as silent as possible and it seems like it made everything ten times worse. For the past two days, I've been avoiding my father. Even wakes up an hour before he gets up and rushes to get washed up and to school.

I feel like maybe I'm taking this to extreme. What he said in his office creeped me out and it sounded like he believed it too. I can't imagine my father hurting me, but if he was having a psychotic episode maybe.

I'm thankful that we don't live in a house with creaking stairs. It's dark and I use my hand to find my way in the dark. I end up ramming my toe on the console table.

"Son of a bitch," I whisper. I bite my lip to keep from cursing any louder. I'm extremely careful and entirely grateful when I reach my room.

I left my night light plugged into the wall. One childhood phobia I still have. I make my way into my bathroom and down two Tylenol. I'm too tired to change my clothes and I collapse on the bed.

I welcome the relief of sleep.

 

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