Diary of a Newborn Vampire (BOOK #1)

The Last Night

   Ava

"Oh my God, Ava. Can't you just give everyone a break for once?" Liv groaned as we headed to my house to get ready for the party. "We all know you aren't the fearless bitch you put yourself out to be."

I sighed leaning my head against the cold glass of the window. "I have no idea what you're talking about. You're the one who keeps hooking up with countless guys night after night."

"Well, at least I know it when a guy likes me," she muttered.

"Shut up". Liv always managed to be the person who rubbed in my situation with Luke. As if I didn't feel bad enough, she always seemed to press the situation down on my like a cement wall making my whole body numb.

She smirked over at me mockingly. "No way in hell."

We made our way back to my house as Liv raged about some freshman claiming she planned on hooking up with every guy tonight. I rolled my eyes along with her but I couldn't keep my head in the conversation. My thoughts drifted to Luke and his blank expression. It throbbed just as it had all day.

When we drove up, I noticed Val's car parked in the driveway. Usually, she worked eight to four and stayed even later. I knew she was dedicated so I never questioned her work ethic. But never in her years had she been home before me.

"Val!" I called out as we walked through the front door. "Are you home?"

I heard the sound of someone throwing up in the downstairs bathroom. I tried jimmying the door's handle, but she'd locked it.

"Are you okay?" I asked through the door. Her coat, purse, keys, and phone were thrown throughout the house leading the way to the bathroom as if she rushed to it the second she walked through the door.

"I'm fine," she croaked from the other side. "Throwing up in the toilet is normal, you know. People do it all the time."

Liv sat down at the kitchen table and propped her feet up in the chair beside her. "Is she pregnant?"

I rolled my eyes and turned back to the closed door. "What happened? You're supposed to be at work right now. Are you sick?"

"I don't know," Val mumbled. "One of my coworkers ordered Chinese and I guess I got food poisoning." She started hacking again, so I turned away.

"Poor kid," I said, grabbing an open box of opened cereal off the countertop.

"That's why you don't become a lawyer," Liv said. "Food poisoning, my ass. Clients and your opponents are always trying to kill you. It's a mad, mad world out there. Everyone's after something."

"What TV shows do you watch?"

She laughed and stood up brushing off pants. "Okay, so what are you wearing? Because I really wanted to borrow that short black dress you bought for your date with Jarrod Matthews before you stood him up."

I raised an eyebrow picturing the dress she talked about. All lace and sequins. Barely even a piece of fabric especially considering how much I paid for it. "Really? Don't you think that's a little over the top for a high school party?"

She placed her hands on my shoulders and shook me. "Ava, what do you not understand about this being the party of the year? Everyone is going to be there and we'll have tons of competition. We have to look our hottest."

I pursed my lips snootily and held my head higher. "Like we have any competition."

†††

Liv ended up picking the black dress, and I chose a tight-fitted, red one. We both found a pair of heels and matching clutches. I curled like hair and Liv braided her intricately into a knot. Then I broke out my latest of the MAC collection and we plastered our faces just as we did for formal freshmen year.

"How do I look?" I asked her, twirling in front of a full-length mirror.

"Smokin'." She took another chug from the bottle of vodka we'd stashed under my bed on New Year's Eve.

"Whoa, don't get yourself too drunk before the party even starts."

I avoided drinking tonight. My head still whirled like an eternal hangover, and I decided I shouldn't make it any worse. Maybe the party atmosphere would drive me to a numb stupor after a while.

She hiccupped loudly. "Who cares? It's a party. Everyone's going to be too drunk to realize that I'm twice as drunk as they are. "She held three fingers on 'twice'.

I placed a tube of lip gloss in my clutch and grabbed her keys off my dresser. There was no way I would let her drive tonight. I had no intention of dying anytime soon. Especially at the peak of my senior year.

†††

"You were totally right," Liv whispered to me as we walked through the front door of Dean Karr's three story house. I didn't even get to see what it looked like on the outside. I was too busy trying to help Liv walk straight and not run into any of the scary-looking, tattoo-covered guys.

All eyes strayed to us. We had to be the hottest girls there. The rest of the girls tried their hardest in leather and leopard and fringe, but they didn't dare compare. Guys practically drooled at us and girls stomped their feet noticing their defeat.

"We are so awesome," Liv slurred into my ear. She downed the whole bottle of Vodka on the way here, and now she grabbed a plastic red cup filled with foul smelling beer only adding to her drunkenness.

"And you are so drunk," I said, pulling the cup away from her before she yanked it back. "You're not even going to remember this being the party of the year."

She pointed to a guy across the room. Tall, dark, handsome. Pale eyes full of intensity, and they were on me. "But if one of us sleeps with that guy, I'm sure we will."

I rolled my eyes as she stumbled over my feet. "You're awful. You know that, right?"

"Hey, I'll pass my whorish crown to you if need be, but only for tonight. I'm going to need it for that Frat party next weekend."

I glanced back over at Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome who couldn't seem to keep his eyes to himself. Most of the time, I would shrug off something like this and claim the guy was clearly not worth my time. But this one seemed different.

He had that old school look about him. His hair was grown longer than most of the shaved heads around here and his eyes held mine like he knew everything I was and dreamed of being--all my mistakes and heartbreaks and victories and worth. It made my skin crawl and my feet light all at once.

Liv mumbled something incoherent before her eyes landed on a guy twice her size across the room. He had piercings on his eyebrows and tattoos on his biceps. "I'll see you later."

She ran over--well, stumbled, really--to her new person of interest leaving me alone in the middle of the crowded room.

Mr. Intense Stare smiled over at me and nodded his head to the empty stool beside him. I glanced around the room like I was assessing my whereabouts and where I might be needed before walking over to him.

Later in life, I would have realized how much of a mistake that was. How much I changed my course. Everything I wanted--to do, to be--would disappear because I decided to talk to one mysterious guy.

Sometimes I wondered: where would I be if I turned away? What would I be if I didn't go over to him? If I let Liv have him while I went on to talk to another future Fraternity dud. If I hadn't been so stupid and broken.

Maybe I would still be alive.

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