The New Girl

Chapter Two

I enlarged Lovina's photo in which she was wearing a white hairband and a tight smile. Her blue eyes were directly looking at me. A glimpse of her round necked cream colored tops was visible covering her shoulder. I ran a hand over her pixilated face.

"What are you doing dude?" Arvon asked.

When I didn't answer him, he tried to snatch back his Ipad. But I held my grip on it and didn't let it go. He gave up. The more I stared at Lovina the more I found her angelic. What was happening to me? Was I falling for Lovina?

Arvon confirmed my doubt.

"Oh my god, dude!" he exclaimed. "I can't believe this. You like this lady, don't you?"

I nodded dreamily, my eyes still on the picture.

"You're out of your mind, C." Arvon's expression was unbelievable: his eyes had turned round like coin behind those thick rimmed specs of his. "She's Neon's top chick, and look at you. Neontoppers has voted you as their number two dork. You can't be in love with Lovina."

"Are you my friend or enemy, A? You should be encouraging me."

"I'm simply stating you the fact, dude."

"What's wrong with liking her? Every boy likes girl."

"You can like her. But if you fall in love with her, you're gonna be in so much trouble, man. Mark my words."

Arvon claimed back his Ipad once we reached the arched doorway to the dinning hall. There we were stopped by none other than Neon's biggest jerks. Garrett Reed and Travis Reed. The Evil Twins.

"Well, well, well, look who's hungry?" Garrett drawled, unnecessarily running his hand through a mass of his black hair.

Arvon and I looked down at our Converse shoes to avoid looking at them directly. One time they had beaten crap out of David Benault for simply looking at them straight in the eyes in this very Big Hall. Frankly speaking these two gangly looking, pale faced brutes scared me. I mean they were strong and hunky and could beat the living day light out of me too.

"Congrats Casper on being top nerd," Travis taunted. "You deserve it, bro." He put his overly large hand on my head and ruffled my nicely combed hair. "Ew. It's disgustingly wet." He smelled his hand and, although I knew there was nothing wrong with my hair, wrinkled his nose. "Did you piss on his head, nerd?" he queried Arvon.

"No," Arvon squeaked, shaking his head.

Garrett and Travis laughed and the people who had gathered behind us joined in the laughter club too. I totally felt like a clown. An object of laughter. I don't understand why they had to always take the side of stronger team? Wasn't there anyone in Neon to voice in favor of those who were bullied?

"See you around, nerds."

With that the Twins were off. We took a sigh of relief and entered the hall. We didn't talk until we were seated around a table far from popular kids'.

"Why do you have to answer to Travis?" I said, angrily scooping a spoonful of porridge from the bowl.

"What was I supposed to do then?"

"I don't know. There wouldn't have been any laughter if you had just stayed quiet."

"Well, if you don't like people laughing at you, you should at least learn to speak up for yourself."

"Look who's lecturing me? The brave Arvon. Or should I say the Arvon who squeaks sometimes."

"And you know, you whine like a girl."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"I don't -"

"Guys, what's going on here?"

Arvon and I took in the new comer at our table. David Benault. He was standing over us clutching a copy of Daily Surprises. There were still tiny hints of bruises on his face from recent fighting with the Twins which had happened on September first, one week ago, when we were all just two days older in Neon. Nevertheless his face seemed excited this morning under his baseball cap.

"Just a nonsense discussion," Arvon said, bumping his knuckles with David's.

"Well, if you want to discuss, talk about this." David slammed the newspaper on the space between our food trays on the table and settled on the remaining vacant chair.

Arvon and I curiously leaned over the Daily Surprises. What we saw in it made our stomach lurch and immediately we shifted our eyes off it tilting our backs to our chair.

"Ugh. That photo is nauseating," I told David. "You know we're breakfasting, right?"

"Just read the news first, man. I think it concerns all of us."

Arvon spoke what was on my mind. "Let us finish our breakfast first."

After we had shoved every bit of food on our tray down our foodpipes, Arvon and me leaned on the table and silently read the news, all the while trying to not to eye the image of a semi-naked blonde with several bloody scratches on her body sprawled on the sidewalk under the headline:

                                            ANOTHER FOUND DEAD NEAR NEON

Around 2.A.M today, the cops on night patrol discovered the dead body of a woman, who is believed to be around twenty five years old, just two kilometers far from Neon Campus in Bucket, Washington.

The woman is covered in what looks like bite marks. The doctors at Bless Hospital reported the victim has not a drop of blood in her system. Her corpse was lying paper-white on the foothpath of one quiet street in Bucket.

Police officials at Bucket have come to conclusion that this is the act of one blood-thirsty psycho serial killer who enjoys torturing its hostages with the help of some fanged creature and freezing their body to death in some refrigerated machine afterward.  

'We pledge to tighten the night securities around Bucket and arrest this butcher on the loose as soon as we can,' promises Chief Franco of the Bucket Police Station.

The woman, whose identity is yet to be identified, is the third deceased exposed in bite marks within a stretch of this one week.

Arvon and I turned to David, not knowing exactly how to best express our reaction in words. Arvon's round chubby face was blank and so I guess mine was too.

David surveyed us with interest. "Didn't the news touch you guys?"

"People die everyday, David," Arvon said. "Why should we feel shocked or sad with news about dead unless the victim is someone we know?"

"But the case is different here, mate." He poked at the newspaper. "People are dying nearby our school, and they all have died with bite marks. I think those deaths have to do something with the supernatural."

"What are you trying to prove?"

David cleared his throat and said dramatically, "Someone is strutting around Bucket during night times, and I think it's a vampire."