Chapter 2: Stoplights and 7 11s
School the next day was dull. I couldn't keep my eyes open through any classes, and ended up falling asleep in my two morning classes, only to be awakened by dreams of demons breaking into my house. I had witnessed a demon attack this morning; two Skags had caught a dog in and alley, and were feeding on their breakfast. The thing with Skags is that once they inject their venom in to something, it too becomes unseen by humans. So being me, I had to walk past, with out a second glance, it would have been too late by the time I got there anyways. So with the day starting shitty and continuing in the same fashion, there was nothing I wanted to do more than go home and catch a nap.
"Hey, Violet!" I turn to see Vince trying to get passed a bunch of grade 8's standing around, blocking the hallway. Okay, so maybe I could think of something I'd rather do. "Could you move?! Please?!" he look of frustration on his face making me giggle.
"Having a little trouble there?" I asked still laughing, he had settled for pushing past them.
"Not anymore..." glancing down at me, a small smile started to play on his lips. "So what do you want to do today?"
"I don't know, there isn't much to do in this town. I guess we could go to the skate park, or go bug my mom and see how much stupid shit we can say before she notices, or we could go to your house," I looked up hopefully, I loved his house, and he knows it.
"Well I guess....we could go to my house. Just cause I am hungry and I have really good food."
"Sweet! Let's go!" I grabbed his arm and dragged him to his car, around the back of the school. I only had my L so Vince got to be the designated driver. Sucker had no idea what he was getting himself in to when he offered to pick me up from school.
The drive didn't take very long, about ten minutes. Then again it only takes about fifteen minutes to get from one side of town to the other. That's saying a lot I guess, since there are about 7 neighborhoods or areas, depending on how you look at it. Once we pulled in to his driveway I jumped out of the car and sprinted to the door. I heard Vince clicks the locks just as I opened his front door. I knew his parents wouldn't be home, so I ran strait to the kitchen, and started making grilled cheese, for the both of us. It's his favorite. I heard a low chuckle coming from the side of the room. I looked over to see Vince staring at me, a very amused expression on his face.
"What?" I asked glancing down at myself. Not seeing what's so funny I looked back up to see that he had moved from the doorway to about three feet in front of me. I stumbled back, startled by the quick advance, my elbow landing in the heated pan. Letting out a scream, I yanked my elbow out of the pan, and ran over to the sink, to put in under cold water. I felt a pair of hands come around me to get a better look at the burn. I jumped a little, hitting the burn off the metal tap. Man I am super jumpy today. Still scared of last night's events, the images coming back to me perfectly.
"Stay still," he whispered in my ear, still holding my elbow. I froze the feeling of his lips that close to my skin stopping all thought. After turning off the sink, he took me to the bathroom and opened the cupboard, grabbing a Band-Aid.
"I know this isn't going to do much but, I guess it's better than nothing," He chuckled, bringing me back to my senses.
I glanced up at him from under my eyelashes, "Sorry," he fumbled with putting on the Band-Aid and looked at me.
"Why are you sorry?" Confusion shining through his eyes.
"Because of what just happened."
"What? You getting burnt? Why would you be sorry about that?"
"Because it shouldn't have happened," I said truthfully, if I had told someone about what happened last night, I might not have been so jumpy. That and if I didn't have any feelings for Vince, I wouldn't have freaked out about him being so close.
"Let's just go do something, okay?" I asked hopefully, wanting to get out of the small room and get my mind off of what just happened.
"Sure, you wanna play Modern Warfare 2?"
"Okay."
That night I couldn't sleep. I was jumping at the slightest sound, and imagining it as someone breaking in to the house. Terrified that 'he' would come back. Still not knowing how he knew my name, how long he had been watching me, just how much he knew. Slowly thought started to spill from my mind as my body grew tired. My eyelids slid shut and I felt my head hit the pillow behind me. The last thing I heard before passing out was a faint whisper from deep within my mind.
"Goodnight Violet, we will see each other soon."
The next morning I felt exhausted. I had gotten about four hours of sleep last night. I had awoken to the sound of a dying radio. Turns out I had chucked it at my wall. I had awoken to an empty house, my dad had already gone off to work, and my mother was most likely at one of her friend's house, organizing event where she gets to stick me in a dress and have me act 'proper'. I hated it. Sitting down on the couch, cereal bowl in hand, I flicked on the TV to the news. I know that almost no teens specifically go to the news, but I find it interesting. There was so much going on in the world that I had no idea about. Living in a small town, we were never on the news, unless it was a VERY slow news day and all they had to say was about the crime rate in Squamish. I've seen it twice...in 7 years. They didn't even put the stabbing that happened recently on the news. Finishing my cereal I walked over to kitchen and rinsed out my bowl, putting it in the dishwasher. I glanced at the clock and saw that Vince was going to be here in about 5 minutes. I ran downstairs to the laundry room, and pulled my skinny jeans out of the dryer. Slipping them on, I heard the front door open and close. I did up the button and zipper, just as Vince turned the corner.
"See, I should have run the red light," he chuckled, catching me blush.
"Well let's go," I grabbed his arm, and dragged him out of the house, locking it behind me. I hopped into the passenger seat and pulled out my Ipod, putting it into the holder, I selected my on-the-go playlist and heard All Time Low's 'Damned If I Do Ya, Damned If I Don't' blast through the speakers. Vince slid into the car and started the chuckle under his breath.
"What?" I asked looking at him, a broad smile on my face.
"Oh nothing, just your music choice."
"What's wrong with my music?" I asked a small pout forming on my face.
"Nothing, just ironic is all," He let out a humorless laugh and focused on the road.
Well that was weird. I looked at the trees passing by, whipping by so fast you couldn't focus on anything. As we passed the last row of trees I could see the school in the distance, only about a two minute drive from here. Focusing, we came to a red light. I looked over at the 7 11 and saw a familiar head of blond hair.
"Oh shit," I mumbled pulling up my hood, and shrinking down in my seat. I glanced up from under my fringe, and saw him looking strait at me. He lifted his hand towards the car and curled his finger, beckoning me towards him. Zipping up my hoodie and slinking further down in my seat I looked away from the window and looked toward Vince, he was watching cars go past. The light went green and Vince hit the gas burning out from the intersection. I glanced back at the storefront only to see an empty parking lot, void of any evidence that he was ever there.
