"Just trust me," Zack said, his signature cocky smirk spread lazily across his face.
Normally, Trini wouldn't trust him, but her crush on Kimberly Hart was getting way out of hand, and she might have just been a little bit desperate to get her out of her system.
"I don't know, Zack," she said, even though she was almost 99% sure at this point.
"Well, do you, or do you not want to get over Princess Barbie?"
She frowned, and stared at Kim across the room, who was shrugging on her jacket and looked about ready to leave. "I do, I just don't think this is going to work."
"If you stick to my amazingly spectacular plan, then yes," he said, taking a swig from his near-empty beer bottle. "It will."
His 'amazingly spectacular plan' consisted of hooking up with a girl at the party who wasn't Kim, (bonus if she was 'easy') and from there, get the desire for sex out of her body, and somehow emotionally 'nut' (Zack's words, not hers) in said process.
She looked over at the girl he'd mentioned earlier again, and frowned. "Katherine Hillard? Are you even sure she's gay?" She questioned, taking note of how similar she was to Kim, in her pastel pink off-the-shoulder sundress, with a short black leather jacket draped around her shoulders.
Trini wasn't one to stereotype, but if she had to guess, this girl didn't look 'traditionally' queer, as terrible as that sounded.
"Yes," he replied, shoving her unceremoniously into Katherine's direction. "Check out her nails."
She stumbled forward, breaking away from the crowd that she'd used as her hideout with Zack, and took one last glance at Kimberly. Jason had his arm around her, and they were just exiting the front door.
Ignoring the sudden pang in her chest from the sight, she turned back to face forward, focusing on schooling her features into a neutral expression.
"Hey," Katherine greeted her, once she'd been within earshot.
"Hey," Trini repeated back to her, discreetly examining Katherine's very short fingernails that were wrapped around a red solo cup.
Katherine gave Trini a slow once over, her dark eyes downright predatory. Her full lips curved into a smirk, painfully reminding Trini of Kimberly.
"You wanna go upstairs?"
Yep, definitely not straight.
Trini woke with an annoying throb in her head, a result of too much drinking last night, no doubt. She opened her eyes slowly, the crust in her eyes making the action slightly more difficult.
Bringing her hand up to rub the sleep out of her eyes, she groaned in pain at the movement. She felt sore all over, as if she'd been run over by a truck repeatedly last night, but kept alive somehow.
The pain had only increased tenfold when she sat up very gingerly, and her body only protested more when she was sitting up. Sunlight poured into the room directly onto her face, and it stung a little bit.
Trini got up to shut her blinds completely, hissing ever so slightly in pain with each step. Once the room was completely shrouded in darkness, she'd barely made it back to the bed when she suddenly collapsed. A stabbing pain shot through her body, concentrated almost exclusively on her pulse point. It burned, and she'd clutched at her neck until the pain subsided.
It wasn't until she'd gone to the washroom to wash her face that she realized she was home. But how? She thought, struggling to think back on what happened last night.
She didn't remember much, just Katherine pulling her into a dark room, and then being kissed so roughly on her neck that it was basically a bite, and then blacking out- wait.
She wiped her face quickly with a towel, throwing it carelessly over her shoulder to study her neck in the mirror.
There was a dark, angry, purple bruise on her pulse point, and in the very centre of it, two barely visible holes.
Her breath caught. Surely this couldn't mean-?
She burst out of the washroom quickly, intending to text Zack, and tried to unplug her phone from its charger, only for it to disintegrate in her hands. Fuck.
Recovering quickly, she pulled a black turtleneck over her head, grabbed her yellow bomber from her desk chair, and slathered the exposed parts of her skin in 50 SPF sunscreen. Once satisfied, she made her way to the door. She stuffed her hands into her pockets, feeling a crinkle of paper in the palm of her hands. Curious, she extracted the makeshift note from her pocket and unfolded it.
don't worry, we didn't hook up, but i kind of underestimated how thirsty i was last night, so you may or may not be a vampire now - kat xx
The paper spontaneously combust in her hands, and she yelped before dropping it immediately onto the pavement.
A vampire?
She was going to kill Zack.
"You didn't tell me she was a vampire!" Trini accused, once Zack had closed the trailer door behind him.
He stumbled backward, his bum hitting the door as his hands were raised up in surrender. "My bad!" He exclaimed, clearly panicked. It must've been quite a sight, a 5'10 man being backed away into submission by a barely 5'0 girl. "I just thought she was a crack dealer!"
Her jaw dropped.
"She always hissed when she saw the sun, okay?" He continued, trying to explain himself. "I really didn't think much of it."
"How could you not see that-" she started, incredulous, but cut herself off. "Why would you try to set me up with a crack dealer?!"
Zack shrugged, not looking at all like the carefree and confident badboy from last night. His eyes were wide, and he seemed so much smaller.
Trini glared at him, before her eyes softened. There was nothing she could do- it'd been done already. "Just- don't tell Kim yet. I will," she sighed, feeling too tired and frustrated at the sudden changes she was going to have in her life.
Zack hastily nodded, scrambling to get back up into a proper standing position.
"So um," he said, clearing his throat after his voice cracked, "are we still gonna go to Kim's, then?"
Trini frowned. She hadn't thought about that. It was a Saturday, and her and the gang usually spent those days hanging out at Kim's, since it was massive, and her parents were never home.
She toyed with the pros and cons of going, and surprisingly came up with more pros:
- she'd get to see Kim
- kim would know something was wrong if they didn't show up
- she'd get to see kim
"I guess," Trini said, halfheartedly. "If we don't, she'll only get suspicious or pissed."
Zack nodded. "I'll lead the way, then."
When they got to Kim's front porch, Trini barely remembered to keep the scowl off her face when Jason opened the door to let them in.
"Hey guys," Jason greeted them, his hair heavily mussed from sleep. (Trini refused to think of the other possibility)
"What's good, man," Zack greeted back, patting Jason on the back before stepping into the house and glancing worriedly at Trini.
Trini pressed her lips into a thin line and blinked once, indicating that she was fine, and moved to step into the house.
Her foot didn't even pass the doorframe before she was met with a resistance. What the fuck?
"Dude, what are you doing?" Zack whispered, watching the whole scene unravel.
She tried again, only to be met with an invisible wall. Brows scrunched up in confusion, she pushed forward, still not making any progress. "I don't know, I can't get in-? Oh."
Then she realized.
Oh, right. Vampire. I need to be invited in, she thought glumly, feeling frustrated at the stupidity of it all.
Zack glanced behind his shoulder to check on Jason, who had disappeared from sight, and was probably in the living room. "What is it?" He asked, moving closer to help Trini.
"I need to be invited in," she muttered, and when she saw the look of confusion on Zack's face, she continued, "because I'm a vampire."
"Oh, right," he said, looking sheepish and apologetic, "come on in. I'm inviting you into Kimberly's house. Abra kadabra."
She rolled her eyes at him, and tried again.
"Fuck," she cursed, when the barrier was still there.
"What's going on? Why didn't it work?"
"Fuck," she repeated, sighing in defeat. "It's probably because it's Kim's house- she has to invite me in."
Zack looked at her, processing the information and trying to come up with a plan.
"Guys, why're you still outside?" A voice said, coming down the stairs. "Get in, you're letting flies in."
At the invitation from the host of the house, Trini and Zack relaxed, now relieved from solving their dilemma.
"Hey, Kim," Zack greeted her, while Trini nodded, "we were just, uh-" he struggled to think of an excuse for their weird behaviour.
She gave him a weird look, before waving him off, too impatient to wait for the answer. "Doesn't matter. Let's go, Billy and Jason are in the living room playing Mario Kart or something."
"You guys ready to do something else?" Kim asked, once she entered the living room to question the two boys on the couch.
"What took you guys so long?" Jason asked, falling off Rainbow Road for the millionth time. Billy patted him gently on the shoulder when his face fell. He'd already finished- Jason was still in seventh place.
Zack and Trini shared a panicked look, only for Kim to cut them off before they could come up with a stupid answer.
"Doesn't matter. These weirdos," she gestured to Zack and Trini, who were still standing awkwardly, "are here now. How about we go swimming instead of having to take turns playing Mario Kart? My head still aches from that party, and I could really use the wakeup call."
"NO!" Zack protested loudly, earning him a bewildered look from Kim, Jason, and Billy. Trini only stared at him in alarm. "I mean," he continued, trying to recover, "I just dyed my hair. Can't ruin these highlights."
Kim stared at him quizzically, looking doubtful. "Dude, your hair is literally black. There are no highlights."
Trini tried her best not to facepalm. This was going terribly.
"Maybe none that you can see, but it's very evident in the sun," he scoffed, trying to cover up his horrible excuse by being overly offended. The others looked at him as if he was crazy, Trini included, but didn't question him further. Zack was very conscious of his looks.
Kim rolled her eyes, and then shrugged, officially dismissing the issue from the group. "Whatever. You," she pointed at Zack, "can tan. The rest of us will be swimming peacefully in my pool, playing a calming game of chicken. I'm already calling dibs on Trini, because she's the only person I can carry on my shoulders."
Zack nudged Trini painfully in the side, after she still hadn't said anything. He gave her a look that said, 'dude, get your head out of the gay, and realize that this is a problem.' She startled, and cleared her throat before speaking. "Oh, um, I can't," she stuttered. "I've a rash."
Kim frowned at her, before grabbing her hand. "Don't worry, I've got something for that," and tugged her away from the others. Trini stared at Zack, feeling helpless, and he only watched her leave the room, unsure of what to do.
"Y'all better be ready when we come back!" Kim yelled over her shoulder.
Trini took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She should be fine- the bite was covered under her turtleneck.
She was not fine.
"I'm not really sure where my calamine lotion is, but I'm pretty sure it hasn't expired yet," Kim said, rummaging through her medicine cabinet while Trini stood awkwardly by the toilet, fiddling with the hem of her sleeve.
Trini nodded, even though Kim couldn't see the action. "That's fine, I don't really need it."
Kim hummed thoughtfully, pulling out several miscellaneous bottles from the cupboard to dig deeper. "No, no, it's fine, you don't have to be itchy- it's probably at the back here somewhere."
"Okay," Trini conceded, sure that Kim wasn't going to stop until she found it, and if her search turned out to be fruitless, she'd probably run over to the drugstore to get more. Trini figured she could just take the lotion and pretend it hadn't been effective, and then stay inside.
There were a few more bottles taken out of the cupboard before Kim uttered a loud 'aha!' and emerged with a small pink bottle labelled calamine lotion.
"Thanks," Trini said, stepping forward and taking the bottle from Kim's hands.
"No problem."
There was an awkward pause between the two, with them only staring at each other.
"So, you gonna apply it, or what?" Kim asked, breaking the silence.
"Um," Trini said, scratching the back of her neck nervously, "you're in here," as if that should be reason enough.
"Yeah…" Kim trailed off, looking confused. "Because I'm waiting for you to finish? Relax, bro, we've stripped in front of each other before. It isn't anything I haven't seen before."
It was true. With them being the sole two girls in their friend group, they found themselves more often than not paired together when it came to scenarios like changing, or exchanging outfits.
Trini stared at her blankly, quiet again. She tried to internalize the panic she was feeling, not knowing how she was going to get away with not applying this cream to her very obvious vampire bite.
Kim sighed. "Fine-" And Trini released the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, "oh my God," Kim said, her eyes widening in realization. "I get it, you don't have a rash."
Trini sucked in another breath, nervous. "W-what? Yes, I do," she stuttered, her heart racing and her palms somehow even sweatier.
"No, you don't," Kim protested, stepping closer to Trini, "you're wearing the tightest jeans and a formfitting sweater! If you had a rash, you'd be wearing open or loose clothing!"
Trini felt a bead of sweat roll down her face. This wasn't your everyday standard panic. This was full-fledged, 'how do I get out of this?' panic.
"You're wearing a turtleneck for God's sake!" Kim continued, as if she was solving the biggest crime mystery of all time.
"Yeah, because it's cold," Trini said quickly, sounding like gibberish from how quickly she uttered the words.
Kim stared at her doubtfully. "Trini, it's like, thirty degrees out. Also, you're sweating buckets," she added, when she saw another bead of sweat roll down the shorter girl's face.
"Maybe I just like how turtlenecks look on me?" She cringed. It was a flimsy excuse. She hated turtlenecks, and she was surprised she even had one in her closet.
"No, you don't," Kim said, shaking her head. She was in front of Trini now, Trini's back to the wall, and Kim's face only an inch from her's. "You said you hate how they make you look like a Backstreet Boy!"
"H-how do you even remember that?" Trini asked, slightly impressed in her panicked state, dimly remembering that conversation at the mall from months ago.
"Doesn't matter! I know what you're hiding!" Kim looked downright hysterical at this point, and Trini wasn't sure if she was turned on, or terrified.
"I'm not hiding anything!"
"Then explain this!" Kim exclaimed, yanking down Trini's collar to expose the very menacing bite on her neck.
"Um, I can explain," Trini said, feeling very sheepish.
"Why were you hiding your hickey from me?" Kim asked, looking offended. "I'm not a prude."
Trini was silent for a bit, stunned at the fact that Kim thought her vampire bite was a hickey. How she hadn't thought of that glaringly obvious excuse, she was unsure. "Right… Yeah, it's a hickey," she chuckled awkwardly, only just resisting the urge to point finger guns.
The other girl's face scowled quickly, a flash of jealousy appearing in her eyes, or so it seemed to Trini. Probably just wishful thinking. The look was quickly replaced with a smirk, and she leaned even closer to Trini. "So, uh, who's it from?" She asked, and it kind of sounded like she was forcing herself to sound interested.
"Um, Katherine Hillard?" Trini said, trying not to overthink Kim's facial expressions. She did that a lot, and Zack told her so.
Kim backed away then, looking offended. "You hooked up with her? I didn't even know she was gay," Kim whispered the last statement, more talking to herself than Trini.
"Yeah, me neither, but Zack told me she was, and it just went on from there," Trini half lied. She didn't know Katherine was gay, and Zack did confirm that she was, but they didn't really hook up.
"I can't believe," Kim started, still half talking to herself, half to Trini, "that you'd hook up with a vampire, but not with me. This is speciesism."
Trini, feeling bold from the sudden secret revelation, decided to just continue with it. "I would've, if given the opportunity, but then you left with Jason- wait." She cut herself off, "how'd you know she's a vampire?"
Kim looked at her, as if that much should've been obvious. "Dude, she literally has a coffin in her room," she explained, "how'd you not see that?"
Trini frowned. "I don't know. I don't remember much, if I'm being honest. It was dark, and as soon as I stepped into her room, I felt a pain on my neck and passed out."
Shaking her head in disbelief, and her jaw clenched, Kim muttered, "oh my God… She turned you," she trailed off, "that snake ass bitch." She looked up at Trini again, her scowl transforming into a smirk, before she gave Trini a slow once over. "I'd still tap it, though."
The shorter girl was confused. Wasn't Kim with Jason? "Um, didn't you leave with Jason last night?"
"Yeah," Kim answered, but still look absorbed in her own thoughts.
"So?" Trini continued, waving her hand along as if Kim should be moving along a lot faster, "aren't you guys together?"
Kim's head snapped back up then, looking up at Trini in a grimace, "ew!" she said, sounding repulsed by the thought, "no, he's in my wolfpack. That's like fucking my brother."
"Oh," Trini said, feeling relieved. Then she mirrored Kim's movements from before, her head snapping up quickly as she realized what Kim had just said.
"You're a werewolf?"