Vampire Boys Of Summer (Completed!)

Episode 61: Nora Breaks Bad

As I was being held in place, and Amanda taunted me with the prospect of opening up my arm from wrist to shoulder, I managed to twist my head around. I noticed nearly everyone had scattered to the four winds. While a few onlookers remained (those who would grow up to be the kind to stop at fatal car crashes and gawk), everyone else had made themselves scarce. It reminded me of the old westerns dad used to watch. Bad guy walks into the saloon and everyone backs out of the way or hides behind something so as not to get struck by stray bullets.

"Not going to beg?" Amanda hissed, bringing me back to the immediacy of my plight. The jagged piece of metal hovered over my arm.

"No," I muttered weakly.

I felt the sharp metal touch my arm. It rested lightly against my flesh, not cutting into it. Yet.

"How about now?"

She leaned closer and I could almost imagine Angela whispering in her head for me to go ahead and beg. But I was done with this. I was tired of living in fear of the Trump bitches. They had terrorized the whole school long enough, and I was determined my days of running and hiding from them were coming to an end. I shook my head and mumbled something anguished under my breath.

With an evil grin and a vain flip of her long blond hair, Amanda leaned so far down her ear was nearly at my mouth. She laughed between gritted teeth. "What did you say? I don't think I heard that."

I dared a glance at her. Self assuredness and triumph were in her eyes. Upon her lips a smile that reminded me of a poisonous snake hissing to strike its fatal lunge. "Um excuse me, what did you say, Nora Nobody," she snickered. "I...can't...hear...you."

She turned to look at her two cronies who seemed to be wearing the same confident smile that bullies all over the world wore. They laughed. And inside, so did I.

"I said, bite me," I spat and turned my head towards Amanda, sinking my teeth into her scrawny little neck.

She screamed and let go of my arm, trying to pull away. Chrissie let go too, backing up enough that I could scoot my chair away from the table. I reached up with my once imprisoned arm and grabbed Amanda by her hair, pulling her towards me. I bit down harder. I felt the tearing of her skin. I tasted blood in my mouth. It was pretty nasty and I spit it out, back onto her mauled neck. I let her go and shoved her away from me. She dropped the jagged metal on her way to the floor. I picked it up and pounced on top of her in an animalistic rage. She was holding her bloody neck with one hand and started to shriek at the top of her lungs, "Help! Help! She's killing me!"

I felt someone grab my arm and try to pull me off of her. It was Angela. "Don't do it, Nora," she begged, and managed to twist the metal shard out of my hand. Before I could protest, something collided with my head. Kari had picked up one of the cafeteria chairs and hit me with it. The room spun and everything started to go black.

Amanda was still screaming her head off when I fell over, my head hitting the cold school floor. I could hear footsteps running towards us. Looking up, I discovered someone had finally come to save me, but with my fading vision I couldn't tell who. I couldn't even find the voice to declare they were too late. Through my hazy view I could see Angela, dumbfounded and maybe a little angry, looking at me as someone knelt by my side. Their features were a blur, but the concerned, worried look told me Haru had come to save me at last.

I closed my eyes, knowing I was safe now. He wrapped his protective arms around me and cradled my head to his chest. I could feel his heart beating against my ear, but it didn't sound right. The beat was off slightly, sounding stronger than I remembered from our intimate times together. I managed to open up my good eye as he scooped me up with his strong arms to carry me away.

"Haru?" I asked.

He smiled. I could see his beautiful white teeth through the haze. His intense dark eyes. His long black hair with the purple streak through it. Purple streak, where the hell did that come from? It was starting to irritate me the way he changed his hair so much.

"Haru," I repeated in a confused daze. "Please change your hair back, it's terrible."

He laughed, but I could barely see the upturn of his smile. My vision behind the blackened eye was now completely gone, and the other eye was watering so much it made everything appear like the world was underwater. Still I managed to see that my rescuer was beautiful, and I told him so before unconsciousness hit.

There was a feeling of being adrift on an ocean, buoyed by the right to left motion of the waves. The rhythm of the sea made everything seem there was order in all the chaos of the moment. I managed to open an eye to see the blue sky above me. I felt as if I could drift up and light on the clouds if not for the life preserver that kept me safely in its confines. A life preserver that should have been Haru. But it wasn't.

I turned my head so I could see the face above me. He wasn't looking down at me, but stared straight ahead as the waves threatened to rock me back into unconsciousness. I told myself I wasn't on the ocean, but was being rocked back and forth by Ryo's stride as he carried me down an unknown street. This thought was interrupted by the pain that was in my closed eye, spreading out behind it and across my face. It was going to be an awful bruise. One thing I could say for Amanda is she has a powerhouse punch. And horrible tasting blood. I could still taste it lingering in my mouth and on my teeth. I was going to need a whole freaking bottle of mouthwash to rid myself of it.

My head pounded from where I'd been hit with the metal chair, and my arm, back, and shoulder throbbed with a dull ache that seemed to be growing rather than diminishing. Trying to still it, I turned my face towards Ryo's chest. His natural scent was earthy and it made me think of lying on cool, green moss awaiting the morning dew.

I closed my eyes and dreamed of indiscernible lovers naked in a fog, wrapped in the flesh, turning over and over in a shallow creek bed. One of them had a tattoo that read "loveless", the other looked remarkably like me. But It wasn't my dream. I didn't want it. I wanted Haru. I wanted to open my eyes and see that I was wrong. Ryo hadn't carried me out of the school in his strong arms, it had been Haru. But when my eyes did open, I was laying on a velveted divan in a strange room and Haru wasn't there. No one was, but myself and a shadow in the corner, sitting on the floor away from the sunlight that tried to peak through the curtains.