Call of the Vampire by Gayla Twist Page B

fight him, but my blows were sluggish like I was punching through water. I knew I was going to die, and there was nothing I could do about it. The creature was delighted by my terror, laughing and mocking my fright. Just as it was lowering its head to tear out my throat, I saw them, its eyes, the animal’s dead, gray eyes.
    I woke with a shriek as my radio alarm clock started blasting me with information about the weather. It took a few seconds of thrashing around to realize I was alone in my room; it was morning, and it was going to be a beautiful day.
     
    “What are you doing tonight?” Blossom asked over burgers and fries. Juniors and seniors are allowed to leave campus for lunch on Fridays, so we decided to indulge in a little fast food. Before I could swallow the bite I had just taken, she added, “And don’t tell me you're still grounded because I won’t believe you.”
    “Nope, I’m on parole,” I told her. I actually was going to re-use the grounded excuse, but she anticipated me. “Why, is Jimmy’s cousin still in town?”
    “No, he’s gone. And you totally missed out,” she informed me. “Completely hot.”
    “My loss,” I said, dipping a fry in ketchup.
    “But the three of us could hang out. Jimmy would be totally cool about it.”
    I tried not to roll my eyes.
    “So...?” she said, waiting expectantly. “Do you want to do something? Are we best friends or not?”
    “Don’t give me that crap,” I told her. “You know we’re best friends. I’ve just been focused on other stuff lately. Besides, hanging around while Jimmy Stevens tries to jam his tongue down your throat isn’t exactly my idea of a good time.”
    “Oh, come on,” she said. “It won’t be like that.”
    I leveled her with a look. “Blossom, I’ve been a third wheel on your dates enough times to know that’s exactly what it’ll be like.”
    “Okay, fine,” she relented. “What if I ditch Jimmy?”
    I’d known Blossom for way too long to think that was ever going to happen when she was in the throes of boyfriend madness. “Why don’t we do a bake-a-thon on Sunday? I could look up some new cookie recipes,” I suggested, instead.
    “Fine,” she grumbled. “But you’re being such a drip lately.”
    I knew I could get Blossom off my back with the call of the chocolate chips. We both had a ridiculous sweet tooth; mine just revealed itself around my hips a bit more than Blossom’s. The truth was I wanted to be home in hopes that Jessie would return. I still had his watch, and I hadn’t asked him anything close to a hundred questions, so I figured there was a good chance.
    At school, I started taking on a lot of extra credit work in all of my classes. My grades were improving by leaps and bounds, but I needed more work to keep me from obsessing over Jessie. And to forget my dream from the night before. I’d had that nightmare hundreds of time as a child, but there had never been the eyes. I hated that my brain had decided to add that alarming detail.
    That evening, Mom and I watched The Breakfast Club like we’d planned. It’s one of the few teen movies I’d ever seen where I preferred the jock over the bad boy. Although, I did find it weird how, in most Hollywood movies, girls are encouraged to like boys who are obviously not good for them. Or at least, they wouldn’t be good for them in real life. I had no room to talk. I was obsessing over a vampire.
    I couldn’t concentrate on the movie. I kept thinking I heard someone landing on the roof, so I kept running upstairs under the excuse of needing the bathroom. After my third trip, Mom said, “Are you feeling okay? You don’t have a bladder infection or anything, do you?”
    “No, I’m fine,” I told her. “I just had a salty lunch and chugged a bunch of water earlier.”
    “Then why aren’t you using the downstairs bathroom?”
    Oops! She’d noticed. “I uh...” My brain went scrambling. “I read an article that said you should always use the