Vampire Boy

II

Balancing my parasol with my shoulder and arm, I rang the door bell of the neighbour's house with one hand and held a plate of cookies with the other. I stepped back to wait for them to answer and Andy went back to clinging to my hand the second I finished ringing the door bell, seeming rather nervous about us knocking on the neighbour's front door.

It took a while before anything seemed to happen and, for a moment, I thought that they weren't going to answer the door at all. All kinds of thoughts ran through my head: had they heard about their neighbour being a weirdo already? I felt rather silly for worrying, however, when I realised why it had taken a while. The boy who answered had clearly been showering; his damp hair was half-covered by a towel and he was still rubbing it dry when he swung the door open.

The first thing that caught his eye was the parasol, but he was easily distracted by the freshly baked cookies I was holding. He looked like your average, popular teenage kid, so the anxious feeling I had in my stomach didn't go away. I couldn't help but be intimidated by people my own age; it was engrained in me. He looked normal, attractive and confident, which was everything I wished I was.

His darkly tanned skin was the definition of a stark opposite to my pale, lifeless skin and his hair sported the occasional blonde streaky highlight, whereas mine was jet black. His eyes glistened in the suns reflection and you could tell they held a spark of life behind them.

I realised that we had both been staring at each other for a hot second, without exchanging any words, and I cleared my throat awkwardly. Extending the plate of cookies courteously towards him, he eagerly took them without waiting for me to explain why a stranger was giving him cookies, which seemed slightly odd to me.

"Our mum asked us to bring you these, to welcome you." I explained, despite him not asking.

I didn't both to to introduce myself properly, since I had a feeling he didn't really care.

"Thanks!" The boy beamed at me before disappearing back into the house with the cookies, leaving the front door wide open.

Looking at the open door in confusion, I raised an eyebrow; maybe this kid wasn't as normal as he looks. I shared a look with Andy, who just decided to pull me away from the door instead of waiting. Before we could get any further than off the porch, however, we were called back. Now an older woman, who looked remarkably like the boy, stood at the front door, seeming quite flustered; probably because she was embarrassed that her son had just walked off like that.

"I'm so sorry about that!" She blushed, "I'm Annabelle Dawchester, but everyone calls me Anne. Could you tell your mother I said thank you for the cookies? I would come and say thank you to her myself, but I'm afraid I'm covered in paint from decorating. Would you like to come in for a drink?"

"It's nice to meet you." I smiled politely, "My name's Daxx and this is my younger brother, Andy. I would love to come in, but I have to go and pick up my little sister at school now or I'll be late. Apologies, but my mum will be pleased your son likes the cookies."

"Two younger siblings? Are they close in age?" She questioned, leaning against the door frame of the house.

"They're fraternal twins." I nodded, "I suppose it doesn't get much closer in age than that."

"Oh, wow!" Anne beamed, "Hold on, is it time to collect them from school already? I've been so busy unpacking that I didn't even realise! Connor, you should be picking up Mary from school soon; why haven't you left, yet? You don't even know the way. The walk will take you forever at this rate."

Anne had focused her flustered yelling on the disappearing boy, her hands flapping around dramatically as she spoke. A few muffled groans filtered outside, telling me that the boy, Connor, wasn't very happy with this obligation to pick his sister up.