Earlier that day after Professor Zarka's class, Bella stayed behind to go over some of her experiences being a summer TA for the class; the professor asked her if she could help some students that needed tutoring this semester too.
Money wasn't as tight as it was over the summer when they needed to put a down payment on Becca's application, but she wasn't going to turn down anything that could help pay the bills, so she happily accepted.
"I'm sure you'll find these lazy students to be enough of a challenge for you to sink your teeth into," the professor said.
Bella smiled uncomfortably. "I'm sure they just have some personal situations keeping them back. I don't believe anyone is truly lazy, maybe just unable or unmotivated to perform."
The professor shrugged. "Not my problem, frankly. That's why I make it yours," she said tapping Bella's nose playfully. "Speaking of problems, how is that troublesome sister of yours?"
"No trouble on the horizon," Bella smiled in reassurance.
"Really?" Professor Zarka asked, unconvinced. "What a shame. I was so looking forward to an early release today."
Zarka laughed as Bella gave an uncomfortably polite smile.
"Um, I should be off. I'll talk to you a little later Professor."
As Bella walked out, she bumped into a figure standing outside the room. Bella looked up to see Valeria and grinned.
"What are you doing here? I told you to go ahead without me."
"Psh. If you think I'm not sticking by my girlfriend like a remora to a shark on the days we have all of our classes together, I'm going to have to take you to Becca and have her check your head."
"I feel like you're more of a shark than me," Becca teased and poked Valeria's fangs. "Or a bat."
They walked down the rotunda and stopped to grab drinks from the vending machines. Valeria bought Bella her favorite chocolate marble soda and got a tomato juice for herself. Bella poked the marble out and it fizzed slowly into the soda, then took a big gulp.
"Look, we've discussed this. If you have a vampire fetish, we can play around with that. But I don't do blood. That shit's gross."
Bella choked a bit and laughed so hard she started to tear up a little. Valeria smiled, happy to see her so relaxed.
"Come on, I know I'm hilarious but it wasn't that funny," she chugged her can of juice.
"No, no it's just," Bella said as she caught her breath. "I can't get over how they made you a head of your family, the scariest clan of warriors on Earth for centuries, when you can't stand the sight of blood. If people knew how you dealt with it, do you think they would say anything?"
"Meh. I couldn't care less," she said. "Getting used to human blood is pretty easy. You guys bleed all the damn time."
"We do not!"
"Honey," Valeria said tapping Bella's body parts one by one. "Your nose bleeds whenever you get embarrassed, your fingers are so delicate you get paper cuts whenever you handle Zarka's paperwork, the beds of your nails bleed when you get nervous and pick at them, your hand and feet blisters bleed when you've played too much tennis, and your knees scrape easily."
Bella blushed as Valeria whispered in her ear. Bella braced herself for an embarrassing flirtation. Valeria savored the blushing, but instead said: "And you bleed for a full week a month religiously."
YOU ARE READING
The (Mis)Adventures of (Re)Becca Smellie
Science FictionWhen the Dark Overlord 's bride kidnapping doesn't go as planned, he is forced to deal with her mad scientist teenage sister - little do they know that this could work out to both of their advantages. ...
