Days have passed and I haven't received a single text back from James. All of my messages still remain unanswered despite all of my efforts to reach out to him daily.
Monday 11:38am To: James Hey! I'm sorry for running out like that yesterday I just felt like you two needed to catch-up.
Monday 11:39am To: James So text me when you're ready to finish our meeting. I'm still eager to learn.
Monday 7:02pm To: James Hi.
Monday 7:02pm To: James Still hanging out with her?
Tuesday 8:45am To: James I'm not bothering you am I?
Wednesday 5:11pm To: James I get it. I'm being clingy. You will come back when you are ready. Peace
After figuring that James was ignoring me to hang out with his new girlfriend or whatever, I called Jackie over for a much needed girls-day.
"Don't you guys think he's acting weird?" I ask, looking at her confused face.
How can she not realize her brother has become a completely different person over the last few days? He won't even talk to me. It's like he can't waste any of his valuable time with her doing anything other than being with her.
"I've hardly seen him lately. He's grieving. You have to give him time." Jackie places a hand on my knee, trying to comfort me.
I feel like I've suddenly lost the only friend I've got around here and I don't really understand why.
"He's not grieving Jackie! He's sucking down someone's tongue!" I argue with her.
"Ew. That is a visual I did not need. Gross." Jackie throws her hands up in defense to get me to stop talking about her brother's actions.
"No, I'm serious. I see them through my bedroom window all the time. They are attached at the hip!" I add. She needs to know what is happening. I need her to tell me what I have done to make James stop talking to me.
"I didn't know he had a girlfriend?" Jackie
I shrug. "Fine. We can stop talking about him. I just thought you might know. And I'm not even sure if they are together or not but by my observation, him and Elise are totally fucking."
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"Did you say Elise?" She asks, her ears perking up.
"Yeah. I think that's her name." I shrug. I could care less what her name is. All I know is that I don't like her because she is stealing all of James' attention from me.
"Shit." She stands up quickly. "I have to go."
"Go?" I stand up as she stands. "You just got here." I try to stop her. "We can stop talking about James. I'm sorry. Just please don't go."
"I have to." Jackie cups my face in her hands. "But it's not your fault. I promise. I won't ghost you like James is." She smiles softly and returns to packing up the things she brought with her.
"I just don't understand what I did to make him stop talking to me." I say sadly, sitting back down on my bed. "We were getting so close and then she showed up and now it's like I don't exist anymore. Do you think I should go over there and talk to him? Both of them maybe?"
Jackie sighs. "Elise is a vampire."
I shrug. "Okay? Is that supposed to worry me? You guys are vampires too and I don't mind you. In fact, I like you guys."
"No, you don't understand. Elise is a bad vampire." She places extra emphasis on the bad. I didn't realize there was such a thing.
"What is the difference between a god and a bad vampire?" I ask, totally clueless that they aren't all under one category. Are there good and bad werewolves too?
"No there aren't any good werewolves." Jackie reads my thoughts before explaining the situation. "Exhibit A: me and my family. We are good vampires. We don't go around terrorizing humans and draining them of their blood." She paces the room back and forth. "Exhibit B: Elise and her family. They are bad vampires. They terrorize neighborhoods and cities one at a time, trying to kill as many humans as possible. Bad. Vampires." Jackie returns to gathering her things as she prepares to leave my house and do god knows what to Elise.
"So, how do we get rid of her?" I wonder if I should be gearing up for a fight. I will personally fight this girl myself if it means getting James back. I miss hanging out with him.
"We don't. I do. You need to stay as far away from her as you possibly can until I fix this. She won't hesitate to kill you. Especially if you keep worrying about James." Jackie warns me, pointing her finger in my face as to be my mother disciplining me after I've misbehaved.
I purse my lips together. I don't like being told what to do. Especially by someone younger than me. Well, I suppose she is quite a bit older than me but still! In human years she is 15. There is no way I am going to let a 15 year old boss me around like this.
"If I can just get James alone for a second, I can help him see that she is bad."
"Listen to me. I know you feel like I'm punishing you, but she won't be bothered about killing you in front of James. And he's too blinded by her that he won't even realize what she's doing until it's too late. The two of them have had a wild, on and off relationship for hundreds of years. There's no changing his mind." Jackie grabs on to my shoulder before slipping into the darkness of the hall.
Author's note: do you think Elise is going to be a problem? Or is Jackie blowing it way out of proportion
