32
Are you sure you can do this?”
“I’m sure.”
“Are you positive?”
“I’m positive.”
“Are you sure you-”
“I’m sure! ” Vincent growled, whipping his head around to glare at me. “Stop asking the same damn thing over and over again!”
I blinked at his sudden outburst. “I-I… Sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” he muttered after a second, returning his attention to the outside world.
My eyes lingered on him for a moment longer, the corners of my lips turning up into a small smile before joining his gaze. We were parked in front of my high school, waiting for Fiona and Joel to show up. Every now and then Vincent’s brows furrowed together as he stared up at the massive structure. He had to be nervous. Heck, even I was nervous- and I’d been going to that school for four years.
“It’s not as scary as it looks,” I told him.
He snorted. “I’m not scared.”
“You look like you’re scared.”
His head swiveled around again, his face twisted into mock horror. “Oh no!
Teenagers! Look, I’m not like you and almost drop dead at the sight of another species.”
I glowered at him. “Yeah, well at least humans are supposed to exist!” A flat look crossed his face. With a gasp, I realized my words. “Wait, I’m sorry-”
“Stop apologizing.”
“I’m sorry- crap!”
He rolled his eyes. “What’s wrong with you today?”
I bit my tongue, turning my back to him. That was my question. What was wrong with him? Why was he being so much nicer lately? Surely being out of his house couldn’t have made such a drastic change of attitude, could it? I glanced at him again, narrowing my eyes.
“What now?” he asked, his eyes sliding over to mine.
“Nothing,” I muttered, snapping my head forward again.
“Turn toward me again.”
Curious, I rotated my head once more; jerking my head back when I realized how close Vincent’s was to me. “W-what?”
“Your hair,” he muttered, reaching a slim hand toward me. “This piece here is sticking up.” He put his hand on the top of my head, running it down the front of my bangs.
My heart stuttered in my chest at his unexpected gesture. “T-thanks…”
“No problem,” he responded, keeping his hand on my head.
“Er… what are you doing?” I asked after a moment.
He grinned evilly. “This.” Before I could protest, he ruffled the hair on my head roughly; messing up the perfect part it’d taken me five minutes to complete this morning.
“Vincent!” I cried in outrage, shoving his hand away. “What is wrong with you?”
He laughed- impossible, I know- and pulled his hand away. “What’s wrong with you?”
.
.
“My hair!” I snapped angrily, yanking down my visor to use the mirror to fix my hair. “Ugh, it looks like crap now.”
“It looks fine, stupid.”
I glared at him from the corner of my eye. “No it doesn’t, you jerk.”
“Whatever.” He shrugged, looking out the window again, an amused smile on his face.
After huffing out a burst of angry air, I tried to repair the damages he’d done to my hair. Fortunately for him, I was able to do so more easily- otherwise I would have murdered him. Even if I didn’t exactly know how to do so. My gaze wandered back to the school building, where class was probably already in session. Mr. Don’t-wake-me-up-early-unless-you-want-to-die had slept in for half an hour, causing us to be half-an hour later. And now we had to wait for Fiona and Joel, who were also running late. It was an awkward five minutes of silence before an unfamiliar, black BMW rolled up next to us. As I peered into the driver’s side window, Joel’s face suddenly appeared in it, his nose squished to the glass as he grinned at me. I jumped back in shock, not expecting it.
“Finally,” Vincent groaned, unlocking the doors.
“That’s really inconspicuous,” I mumbled sarcastically, feeling as though my out-of-date Mitsubishi was trash compared to his car.
Vincent paused, his door on the handle. “What is?”
“Your cars. They’re so fancy. How
Twilight .”
“If you were around for thousands of years, you’d be rich too,” he retorted, wrenching the car door open. “It’s okay to be jealous.”
I ignored his comment, pushing my door open as well. Not even five seconds after I climbed out of the car, Fiona nearly tackled me to the ground in a hug. “I’ve missed you!”
“I’ve missed you too,” I replied honestly, squeezing her tightly. It’d only been one day, and yet it felt like forever. Sebastian floated through my mind for a moment, causing my heart to clench. Who knew spending a week with people could make you feel so strongly about them? “How’s Sebastian?”
Fiona chuckled, releasing me. “He’s good. He says the mansion is too boring without you.”
“That’s what I said,” Vincent interjected, an annoyed expression on his face.
Joel elbowed him in the ribs. “Aw, you jealous?”
“No,” he said, shoving Joel away from him and into the BMW.
I winced, expecting a dent. “You can’t do that in the school, Vincent.”
“I’m not stupid.”
“Vivi!” Joel cried, looking at him in mock horror. “You’re still insulting her? You’d think after your first night together you’d-”
Fiona gasped. “First night together?”
“Not like that!” Vincent and I said at the same time, my eyes giving Joel and accusing look.
Vincent was a safe distance away from me at night- not that I thought he was going to kill me in my sleep or anything, but my dad thought he might try something, so he placed a lock on the guest room door. I covered my mouth quickly to stop myself from bursting out laughing. Vincent was
not happy with that. We both knew he could easily break the door if he wanted to, but it was still amusing. He wasn’t allowed to leave his room at night.
.
.
“So, Emily,” Joel said, breaking the silence that had settled. He threw an arm around my shoulder, dragging me closer to him. “You’re a human. Show me around this place!”
“Well since you guys are new, I think you have to go to the office first to get your schedule…” I trailed off, my mouth drying. Why hadn’t I thought about that? The chances were high that we wouldn’t have any classes together! “What happens if you guys don’t have classes with me? What are you going to do?”
Joel clapped me on the shoulder. “Sebastian took care of that!”
I was afraid to ask what he meant by that. Deep down, I knew I already knew, but I didn’t really want to hear it out loud. “Wait, don’t tell me…”
“Every single class!” Fiona chirped.
“Why?” I cried. I was going to go crazy!”
Vincent sighed heavily. “Stupid really is a fitting nickname. Why are we here again?”
I faced him, putting my hands on my hips. “To make sure I don’t get into any trouble.”
“Now, pray, tell me how are we supposed to do that if we don’t have classes together?”
“Uhhh…” I hesitated, a sheepish expression crossing my face. “Good point.”
“Yeah. Now let’s go.” Without waiting for any of us, Vincent began stalking off in the direction of the school.
Fiona watched him for a moment, a dissatisfied look on her face. “I thought getting him out of the house would make him ease up a little bit… Generally when we go out he loosens up.”
I frowned at her. So he wasn’t acting weird after all. He really did act different outside of the manor. “He was kinda like that before, but when you guys showed up…”
“It’s me!” Joel gasped dramatically, retracing his arm. “I’m a bad influence.”
“You’re his best friend,” Fiona pointed out. “Aside from Sam. He wouldn’t change his attitude in front of you.”
“Then it’s you.”
Fiona quietly snorted. “Yeah, right.”
“Well, whatever. Just let him be moody. He’ll scare all the girls away this way,” I said, starting for the school building now. Vincent was already at the entrance. “Come on.”
Joel threw me a sly grin. “You don’t want the girls all over him?”
“No,” I grumbled.
“Ouu, do you have a crush?”
I did my best to keep a straight face. Was it that obvious? Couldn’t I just not want girls all over him? I grimaced. No, I couldn’t do that. “No,” I finally lied smoothly. “It’d just be annoying to have all the girls around him when he has to be around me all the time. That means the girls will be there too.”
“Ahh,” Joel responded, nodding his had understandingly. “That could get annoying.”
Fiona cocked an eyebrow. “If girls surrounded you when Vincent was around?”
“Well for me it would be other guys,” he clarified.
“Vincent!” I shouted, waving my hand frantically at said man. “Wait a second! I’ll show you where to go!”
He turned back to me, his lips pressed into a flat line. “I can figure it out myself.”
“We can all go together. Our excuse for being late could be I had to go pick you guys up because you couldn’t find your way.”
.
.