a Vampire Victim's Victory

chapter 9

I did a 180 turn to hit whoever the hand belonged to in the face with all my might. However, the person immediately grabbed my hand and held it above my head so that I wouldn't be able to touch him.
Fear gripped my heart, was I going to die? I started shivering uncontrollably again, I couldn't do anything. It felt like I was going to collapse any moment now. Well, the best thing I can do now is at least look my killer in the eyes, I thought. Slowly I started raising my head. Tears filled my eyes as the revelation of the killer came near.

Before me stood someone I had never expected to see here. Before my eyes stood an angry and somehow concerned looking Cedric.
" what are you doing here this late at night?" he grumbled at me as he started dragging me out of the alleyway. I couldn't comprehend was what happening and was still struggling against his strong grip. "I know you're the new kid and all, but even you should know it's not save to go outside this late at night," he said, a little annoyance creeping into his voice. I was still shivering and even my teeth started chattering. He sighed, then pulled of his jacket and wrapped it around me. "here you go," he said with a sweet-smile, a brotherly smile. I looked up at him confused by the sudden warmth of a jacket and still not comprehending anything that had happened. He sighed again. "what's your adresse? I'll walk you home," it wasn't really question, more like a demand. But I gave him my address anyway, since he was my Knight in shining armor. We walked back in utter silence, but it was a blissfull kind of utter silence. It gave me time to think about what I'd seen. Was it Real? Did it really happen? Or was it just a figment of my imagination?

I woke up feeling a lot better than the day before. I mean I had devised a strategy to make Nathan stop his claiming, and I my anxiety had probably just made the whole shadowy ordeal up. I mean that couldn't have been real.

This time I was completely on time for the bus, and the bus driver just nodded at me in response. I took my seat next to Kevin and we rode the bus together in silence.
Kevin was reading his chemistry testbook and making notes in it. I looked at it over his shoulder, he had just drawn the lewisstructure of sulphuroxide. Impressive, I thought.
Then he noticed me looking over his shoulder and turned his head towards me. "What are you doing?" he asked, his face getting red. Puzzled I looked at his face, what made him so embarrassed?
"do you feel okay?" I asked him, "it looks like your face is burning up." with that last statement my hand reached his forehead and started patting it to see if he was really that warm. His cheeks flared red and I realised that the fever wasn't the cause, no it was the proximity we were in. "whoops," I laughed nervously as I scooted back towards my part of the bench. 
I heard some sniffling sounds coming from behind me, even a foul sneer. Rigth after it I heard the first rumor of the day: " did you see that, she's such a slut, I mean she's even flirting with that nerd. I heard she has stuck her nails into Danny and Luke as well, even though she's already claimed by Nathan." Tears started forming in my eyes, not from hurt, but from anger. How could these girls talk about me like that, they haven't even made a little effort to talk to me. I don't want to be claimed by Nathan, why would these people say such things about something they know nothing about?
The bus door opened, and I tried to get out as quickly possible, whilst trying to wipe away some tears. I didn't even make it halfway to the school's front door before someone stopped me.
Cedric stood in front of me, he was wearing the same Stern, firm and dead look as usual. The black clothing didn't add much flair to his depressing demeanor. "how are you?" he asked me with the same monotone as always. Then he saw my face. My eyes were a bit puffy, while I furiously wiped at my remaining tears. His face softened, he then death-glared at the people behind me. Then he did something no one had expected.. His gentil hands went up to my face and as one held itself in place on my cheek, the other started gently wiping away the rest of the tears for me. Then he smiled at me, as if these people around us were mere insects and I should take pity on them, rather then be affected by their silly words. His smile was flabbergasting, the complete opposite of his exterior. It was warm, brotherly and kind."Let's get to class," he said putting his jacket around me, as if shielding me from everyone's stare, and guiding me towards the building. As we walked, I saw him send some more  death-glare to the people around us.
I knew this was only going to make my situation worse, but I just didn't have the strength to stop Cedric from doing it and somewhere deep down I liked the fact that for once someone was nice to me without any apparent reason. If Cedric wouldn't have been the brother of the devil himself (Nathan) we probably would've become good friends.

"Lunchtime," Fiona screamed happily while skipping towards the cafeteria. I just laughed at her silly behaviour. We got our food and joined Kevin at our usual table. We were very comfortably eating, when Kevin suddenly burst out, "did you hear?"
"Hear what?" Fiona and I asked in unison.
"Well," he hesitated for a moment unsure of how he should phrase his following revelation, "last night in the old part of town a dead body was found, presumably a girl from a town over. But here comes the weird part, it's the third victim since the start of this year and all the victims were teenagers."
As Kevin told us the news, I got sick to my stomach, the nauseous feeling from last night returned. Could it be that this was the scene I walked into last night? If so then I had witnessed murder. I stood up so unexpectedly that my chair fell backward onto the ground making a loud sound. All eyes turned towards me, especially Fiona and Kevin. They looked confused and worried.
I did a step back, tried to steady myself, but it was in vain. My body couldn't stand the stress anymore. Dark spots started forming in my vision, then I passed out.

I woke up at the infirmary post. Luke was sitting next to my bed playing pokemon on his phone.
"Why are you here? How did I get here? Why am I here?" I asked as soon as I was able to sit. He jolted up in surprise. "Damn you're awake already?" he asked. "I think so," I answered while rolling my eyes at him. The nurse said you would be out for atleast two more hours, I had hoped to enjoy the cute and angel-like Joy a little longer."
"Yeah keep on dreaming," I smirked while poking him.
"Hey," he yelled while massaging his side where I had just poked him.
"No but seriously. Why am I here? How did I get here and why are you here?"
"You're here because you passed out, you got here because Cedric carried you here (bridal style, he whispered into my ear).
I just silently sat there in embarrassment as he told me this.
"But I'm going back to class," Luke announced after he explained everything, "can't keep the teachers waiting any longer," he winked.
"Yeah," I mumbled not really listening, but still trying to comprehend everything that happened.
Ten minutes after he got back, I still wasn't completely myself. So instead I decided to clean up my back and structure everything inside. I took everything out of my back and started organizing it back inside. Then my hand landed on a fabric inside the back. I pulled it out and in my hands lay Cedric's jacket. The jacket he had given to me yesterday at the 'situation.' Shoot,I thought while face-palming myself, I still have to give it back to him. So I opened the door of the infirmary and walked onto the hallway. I started walking further down when I heard people talking. It came from an old classroom that was not being used anymore. As I got closer, I recognized the voice. It had the same monotone and dead touch to it, but it sounded a lot more formal and calm. It was Cedric. He was discussing something with none other than Nathan. I scooted closer to the open door. Now I could completely hear what they were saying.
"you've really gone to far this time," I heard Cedric say angrily.
"Come on she was from out of town and there is no evidence." I heard Nathan speak back.
"No evidence, someone saw you."
"like anyone's gonna believe her."
"This is your mess Nathan and you better clean it up. This could turn out to be a serious problem for us. We are lucky that she hasn't told anyone yet about what she saw."
"if she even tells anyone."
"I don't want any romeo and julliet buissiness anymore. This time I am not going to go down with you just because you messed up again. This time you need to fix this yourself and you better fix it fast."
"mark my words. Your karma will come to bite you in the ass, Nate. Fix it with the girl but don't displease her anymore."
"fine," Nathan growled back.