"As much as I'd like to go with you, Robin, I can't." Vlad said and plumped down on his best friend's green bedsheets. "Mum's having this get-together with her friends from gymclass and she wants me to help her."
Robin pouted, her puppy eye-mode on full attention. She really wanted him to go with her to the school's halloween party because she didn't want to go alone. Vlad knew that Robin had been planning her costume for weeks, dragging him with her to the different stores in Stokley to get the things needed. Even going to the next town, and that's a two hour ride on the bus she would never take willingly otherwise.
"Please, Vlad! Can't you ask George to help her instead?" Robin pleaded. Vlad could never resist those eyes, damn it!
"Okay, I can ask her." he sighed.
Robin's fist punched the air in victory and she immediately went to get her small whiteboard and some pens. The top of the pen clicked when she removed it, and a mischievous smile graced her lips as she seemed to recall something she'd thought of before.
"Time to decide your costume, Vlad! I am going as a vampire -"
"- no, shit, Sherlock -" Vlad said and grinned. Robin hit him on the shoulder with the board. "Ouch! Why'd you do that?"
He rubbed the sore spot, she smiling smugly at his pain and then continuing to speak.
"- but what are you going as?"
Her brown eyes shone with excitement, awaiting his reply. It was clear that she had already come up with something, though.
"Maybe a vampire slayer?" He earned another hit, still feeling that he somehow didn't deserve it.
"Dude, no. Vampire slayers are lame."
Vlad thought some more, not really trying as he knew she was going to decide for him anyway. He wondered if she would actually try and make him acceptable, or if it'd be a joke like last year when he'd gone as Shakespeare, thinking it was cool to know all the lines of Hamlet. No one else thought so, and he ended up in the container in the parking lot.
Vlad looked at Robin as she sat in silence. Her short, black and slightly curly hair reaching down to her ears, the military printed jacket she was wearing even though they were inside. The way she sat with her legs crossed like he couldn't. He'd comply even if she'd come up with a stupid idea, he knew that.
She woke him up from the daydreaming he didn't realise he was doing as she spoke.
"I was thinking that we could both go as vampires this time."
He looked at her like she was from a different planet; him, a vampire? She must be kidding! He, with his round cheeks and the temper of a butterfly? Vlad would surely be thrown in the container again.
Robin got up from the bed and grabbed the cape draped over her mirror.
"Come on, Vladimirrr." she rolled the 'r' mockingly. He got up and scoffed as she hung it around his neck.
"If this is what I'll look like tomorrow night, I won't be going. I look like a loser."
"No different from your everyday look, then." she teased and earned a hit on the arm. Laughing, she stepped back to get a proper look at him.
"But, in all seriousness, you don't look too bad. Remove a bit of colourful clothing here, add a bit of fangs there… you'd be good to go! You've already got the name."
He took off the cape, placing it over the mirror again.
"If I'm going as a vampire, you'll have to do everything." he said. She nodded. "Even pick out the clothes." She nodded again.
"Then it's settled, Vladimir. Your reign as the Prince of Darkness begins on Friday." she said formally, bowing. Vlad sniggered.
"Should I come by at four so you can get me ready?" he asked.
"Sure." Robin smiled.
xXx
"Mum!" Vlad shouted, not really expecting anything. His mother was usually not home till eight, and it was half an hour till then. But the door was unlocked, so someone must be home. He kicked off his shoes in the hallway and walked around the house, trying to find someone. He hoped that someone was his little sister George and not a burglar.
When he found all the rooms on the bottom floor empty of people, he went up the staircase to the attic where he and George shared a room. The sign on the door with "Keep out" in red crayon hung askew as per usual, and the sound of George's toy gun reached his ears. Vlad sighed of relief; not a burglar then.
He swung open the door dramatically, "Captain, Space Pirate Vlad at your service!"
George threw him a tinfoil hat, immediately catching up with her brother, "The deck is under attack so you must steer the ship away from the cliffs!" She pointed out the window.
"But Captain, don't you want to steer?"
"Space Pirate Vlad, only I can wield my sword against the bordlow!"
"Ay-ay!"
Vlad ran over to the window and picked up an old steering wheel from their mom's old car that she'd said they could borrow. The waves of the sea hit hard against the side of the boat, and the cliffs were nearing in a fast pace; would they make it? And would Captain George be able to fight off the bordlows, hostile seahorses with arms and legs that were climbing up on the boat?
They would never know, because a few minutes later Sally knocked on the door and asked them to help her unpack the groceries.
"Did you have fun over at Robin's?" she asked Vlad as she put biscuits in a jar next to the kitchen sink. He suddenly remembered about Friday night.
"Yeah." he knew she had been looking forward to spending Friday afternoon together with him, and there was a pit of guilt in his stomach. "Erm… mom, could I by any chance go to the Halloween-party the school's throwing?"
"Why not? When is it?"
"On Friday." He awaited the sledgehammer of mom-guilt to hit him. It didn't come.
"Okay."
He was confused.
"You sure?"
"Yes, Vlad. I'm sure."
"A hundred percent?" he persisted. Sally gave him a fond look and patted him on the shoulder.
"Yes. It almost sounds like you don't want to go!" She chuckled. "I can help you with your costume if you'd like."
Vlad smiled.
"I've got Queen of the Sewing Machine on the job so I think I'll pass. But thanks anyway."
"Sooo, what are you going as this year, Hamlet?" she teased, pulling a frozen pizza out of a grocery bag and holding it to her heart. "Oh, Romeo, Romeo! Where art thou Romeo?"
"A, that's not from Hamlet, and b, it's wherefore art thou Romeo." Vlad corrected, George rolling her eyes. "And, FYI, I'm going as a vampire."
His little sister looked surprised, but continued unpacking the food. Then she accidentally dropped a package of frozen peas on Vlad's foot. He then accidentally dropped a bag of oats on her foot. Sally told them to stop before the word 'accidentally' lost its meaning altogether.
xXx
Vlad went to bed at the usual time, 10 pm, and brought with him a book as he does every night. He thought he'd get into the role as a vampire so he chose "Dracula" by Bram Stoker from the bookcase outside of his room where his mom kept her book collection. Never really enjoying old literature - except for Shakespeare - Vlad didn't think he would get hooked. But notice his surprise when he found himself completely and utterly into it. He loved it! Why did Robin think vampire slayers were lame?
The attic door slowly creaked open as George entered, "Vlad?"
He turned his head her way, "Yeah?"
"You're awake?" She raised an eyebrow.
Vlad gave her a weird look before checking the digital by his bed: 23:50. He'd been reading for almost two hours. He was on page 262.
"Yeah." he repeated. "But I'm going to sleep now."
"What are you reading?" George asked and went up to his bed to look at the cover. "Dracula! That book is great." She smirked. "The Count dies in the end."
"George, why'd you have to do that!?" he exclaimed.
"It wasn't hard to figure out. I read half of it last year but got bored." she said and went over to her bed.
Vlad reached up to the switch of the lamp on the wall and his half of the room went dark. George soon followed his example on the other side, and soon the only sound they could hear was the one of Jeremy Clarkson saying "And with that bombshell". Sally turned off the TV and rustled around in the kitchen for a while before everything went quiet.
Sleep came over Vlad and he couldn't help but feel like something was going to go wrong tomorrow.
He didn't know how right he was.
xXx
Hiiiiiii! What did you think? Review and I'll see you next time. Or not review. It's up to you. (But I know one fanfiction who'd be RRRRRREEEEEAAALLLLY happy if she saw reviews *wink wink*)