Going back to school was so surreal. I walked among hundreds of kids who knew nothing about what they didn’t know. I had been just like them once, really not that long ago. Walking around with no idea how much evil there is in the world and how close to home that evil can strike.
Lots of people said hello to me in the hallway and welcomed me back. I knew most of that was because of Elliott. Everyone on campus had loved him, and his death had sort of made me a celebrity since I had known him personally, outside of school. They all knew I’d attended his memorial. Sometimes they asked me questions about it, which was a bit macabre. Today, they nodded and smiled, said they were glad I was feeling better. No one seemed to think I resembled Edward Cullen at all or accused me of being too sparkly under the fluorescent hallway lighting.
“Hey, you’re back,” Lucy said, giving me a quick hug as we headed to choir class which we both had first period.
Brandon grew reflective and didn’t say anything for another span of lengthy seconds. “My mom is… an alcoholic.”I really wasn’t expecting that. I’m not sure why. I think, in retrospect, all the signs were there. I just didn’t really know anyone with a serious drinking problem, so maybe I didn’t know what to look for. I definitely had no words to show I understood, so I said, “I can imagine that’s hard for both of you.”He sort of chuckled, like he wanted to say, “To put it lightly,” or something, but he didn’t. Instead, he said, “She’s been one my whole life. When my grandparents were still alive, I spent a lot of time with them. But they died when I was ten. So, after that, I had to fend for myself a lot. She’s managed to hold down a job somehow, but the rest of the time, she’s pretty dysfunctional. And sometimes… living with her has been more than uncom
“There is no way in the universe I am letting you spend the night at Lucy’s house tonight, Cassidy,” my mom was saying as I tried to down my breakfast in time not to be late for school. I was dressed in my cheerleading uniform, as I was every Friday during football season, and the bacon and eggs she’d lovingly made me now seemed a little less infused with that particular emotion.“But Mom,” I began, “how else am I going to tell her and Em what happened? I’ve been back for three days, and they still don’t know anything.”“I understand that, dear,” she said, sipping her coffee, “but you’d have to be crazy to think I’d actually let you be out of my sight for that long so soon after what happened the last time you slept outside of this home.”I knew what she was saying, but the teenager in me was indignant. “You said there wouldn’t be any punishment.”
Lucy’s words lingered in my mind such that I wasn’t paying too much attention to anyone around me as I grabbed my books between third and fourth period. So I didn’t realize Liam was behind me until I turned around and bumped into him. “Sorry,” I muttered, hoping to hurry on my way.He grabbed my upper arm a little more tightly than I was comfortable with, though I don’t think he meant to hurt me. “Hey, Cass,” he said. “I just wanted to talk to you for a minute, if you’ve got a second.”I could tell by his poorly crafted sentence that he was nervous, not that he is usually a wordsmith. “What is it?” I asked. I hadn’t really talked to him since the day he’d asked me to the dance, and I’d laughed at him. I mean, I hadn’t been rude to him, but I certainly hadn’t sought him out. That was last March, over six months ago, and I felt like maybe he could’ve grown up
Before I could even get a statement of disbelief out of my mouth, Milo said, “It’s one thing to turn you down, but totally beyond disrespectful to then ask Jessica to go steady with him, just to rub it in your face.”“Totally lame,” Wes agreed.I didn’t have to defend myself. “WHAT?” Lucy exclaimed, pushing her tray of spaghetti away from herself. “You have got to be kidding me. That’s not even true! Cass doesn’t like Liam anymore—if she ever did. She turned him down for winter homecoming, remember?”“Sure,” Wes replied, just sort of staring at her. “But… I’m just telling you what everyone has been saying.”“So you don’t like him?” Milo asked.I realized in the time it took Lucy to explain the situation to my other friends that none of it even mattered. If Liam needed to spread rumors about me to get his kicks, then s
“As soon as we got off of the train, I ran to the bathroom. I felt like my bladder was going to burst.” We were sitting in my bedroom, Lucy and Emma on the bed, me in the chair from my desk turned to face them. I’d gotten them up to speed on everything that had happened in Kansas City and told them about how I talked Brandon into going with me to Philadelphia. Lucy thought he was my hero for going along to protect me while Emma said he was “an idiot” for letting me talk him into it.I had to take a deep breath before I continued, because even both of them were hanging on every word, like I was retelling a movie, it was all very fresh and personal still. “Once I was done, the stall door burst open, and Zabrina was standing there.”“Shut up!” Luce exclaimed, grabbing a pillow and squeezing it in front of herself. “Thank goodness you’d just peed or you probably would’ve wet your pants for sure.”
“It hurt so bad, I really wished I was dead. I was just staring into Brandon’s eyes, trying to breathe. And then Jamie gave me the pain medication, and everything faded away.”Quietly, Lucy asked, “How long were you out for?”“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “A long time. Until the next day. And then… when I woke up, I found out what I am.” It was hard for me to say it, hard for me to believe or admit.“Which is?” Emma asked, her eyebrows arched above the frame of her glasses.“I’m… a Hybrid,” I replied, wishing I could own it more. “I’m half-Vampire, half-Hunter.”“Shut up…” Lucy whispered. “How do you know?”With a sigh, I reached up and carefully removed my colored contact lens. Both of them gasped, but neither of them jerked away like I thought they would. “Jamie also says I have fangs,
The football game was at home again this week, so we warmed up in front of the high school for about thirty minutes before the game—which consisted mostly of gossiping, something I’ve always tried to avoid, but really try to keep my nose out of these days since I’ve realized none of that junk is really important. I knew it was killing some of the other girls not to say anything about Liam, especially Jessica. She just kept looking at me and shaking her head, like she couldn’t believe how pathetic I am. I wanted to straighten her out but didn’t see the point. If she wanted to believe Liam White and his little black lies, then so be it.“Girls, it’s time to head over to the field,” our cheerleading sponsor, Mrs. Jones, who also happens to teach some of the freshmen and sophomore science classes, shouted to us. We grabbed our poms, water bottles, and other necessities, and followed her over. She’s not too much older than us a
When the song was over, we headed to our spots on the track, and I watched Lucy, trying to keep pace with her. It was really cool having my own cheering section, even if having creepy Christian there made it a little hard to look at my sister (since he was sitting right behind her.) They all seemed to be enjoying the game, though, and Emma and Brandon were chatting it up. I hoped she wasn’t telling him anything I wouldn’t want him to know. I wasn’t worried about anything going on between them since Emma thinks most boys are disgusting. She doesn’t really like girls either. Basically, Emma thinks all people are revolting in general. It was a wonder she was talking to him at all….I was super careful with my movements, taking things nice and slow and sticking to the beat. When we did our dances to the music the band played, I tried not to bounce too high, and when I jumped, I gave it as little effort as possible. I knew our half-time performance w