Physics, the urban definition of 'boring as hell'. This was the reason I found my head frequently dipping as my eyes glazed over uncontrollably; it really didn't help if you were tired in this class either. It was a shame I did not take after my mother in her love for everything complicated; Mom was super-duper smart to the point where it was indescribable. I, on the other hand, took after dad; a high school drop out that got his kicks out of shooting virtual zombies. Sucks to be me…
"Alyssa Collins. If you are going to choose not to answer at all during my class, the least you can do is listen." Crap, that was my cue to look busy.
I nodded, sighing to myself and began to scribble random lines on my notebook to make it look like I was taking notes, my own crafty invention. I watched the clock anxiously, just waiting for the last bell to ring just like I always did. I really hated school; it was a complete and utter waste of my time. Just two minutes left, two minutes until the weekend… hurry up!
When the bell finally did ring, after what seemed like two hours rather than two minutes, I found my younger sister waiting for me outside class. "Rose? What are you doing here?" I asked, raising my eyebrow sceptically.
Rose shrugged her shoulders lightly, causing her straight, blonde hair to topple around her face. "Dunno, just seemed easier to meet you here than to wait for you outside."
"Fair enough…" I sighed, though not convinced. How did she even get out of class early? "Come on, we need to pick up Connor on the way home; Moms working late again." I sighed, though I was used to this by now. Mom worked for NASA and even though most of the time she worked from home, it was an often occurrence when she was called in to do some manual work. This meant it was our job to pick up Connor from kindergarten.
"And Dad?" Rose wondered as we weaved in and out of the maze that was the students of Trinity High.
"Working…" I frowned. I remembered the text message my mom had sent earlier this morning; 'Working late tonight, pick up Connor, Dad be home around 8, love you x'. Another very typical occurrence.
"Oh well, least now I have until later to clean my room." Rose smiled triumphantly, holding her geography textbook firmly against her stomach.
"Our room." I reminded her. It was true though… Rose really did need to clean up our room; it was a mess and to be perfectly honest, it was all her mess.
"Yeah, yeah… whatever." She waved me off, ignoring me for a couple of moments while she waved goodbye to her loser friends. They're not really losers, I only call them losers because it annoys her. Muhahaha; I'm an evil big sister. We walked along the sidewalk side-by-side, still frequently having to dodge other students that got between us. Thankfully, Lakeside Nursery was only a couple of blocks from Trinity High; it took about four minutes on average to get there and believe me, I've counted before. Why? Boredom, mostly…
"By the way, Grandma and Grandpa are coming over this weekend." Ugh, seriously? And there was me thinking I was actually going to have a relaxing couple of days. Don't get me wrong, I loved my Grandparents, but there were so… boring.
"Seriously? When did Mom tell you this?" I turned to Rose, furrowing my eyebrows in clear irritancy.
"Um… Wednesday, I think." Huh, figures she'd tell me two days after she was told.
"And you're telling me now? Seriously? You're a sucky sister." I scolded, shoving Rose hard enough so that she landed roughly against the shoulder-high wall to our left.
"Hey! Mom says not to push!" She shoved me back and I tripped, stumbling onto the road off-balance. Instinctively, my hands reached out to catch anything to prevent me from hitting the road in a full-force face plant, but I managed to regain my balance. Before I could get back onto the pavement however, a huge, jet-black sedan skided to a half in front of me, inches between my thigh and its bumper. Wow, talk about being a close one.
"Sorry…" I mumble, holding my hand up in clear surrender. I quickly get out of the car's way and watch as it drives off past the both of us. I couldn't see inside the car because the windows were so tinted they were as black as the body paint itself, but I swear I saw something in the back seat. A set of cold, silvery eyes. Those eyes sent chills running down my spine like tiny spiders, made my heart leap and skip three beats… something deep inside my gut warned me about those eyes and whoever owned them.
"Alyssa! Wake up, idiot!" Rose slapped me hard on the arm and I yelped in surprise. God, she was annoying. "Are you okay?" She asked then, her brown eyes softening. It was obvious she cared, though she just didn't want to show it; it made me smile.
"Yes, I'm okay, despite the fact my sister tried to kill me…" I was going to play this one out.
By the time we reached home, little brother and groceries collected, it was already four o'clock. I always wondered where the time went; it seemed to fly past so fast that it made me dizzy. "I call dibs on the TV!" Yes, that was seriously the first thing my sister said when we got home. I sighed and ignored her, knowing I had no intentions of wasting my time watching 'Hannah Montana' anyway… I had better things to do.
"Take Connor with you!" I called as she disappeared into the living room. The theme tune for 'Hannah Montana' then found my ears, confirming my earlier suspicions. I told Connor to follow Rose and when I was convinced Rose had him seated and occupied, I went upstairs to our bedroom. The left side of the room, my side of the room, was utterly spotless; everything had it's place and everything was in it's place. The right side, however, was like an explosion of clothing, towels and papers. God, Rose was unbelievably untidy…
I frowned and dumped my bag on my neatly-folded bed. The room was dark and shaded, but that was because the blinds were still closed from this morning; neither my sister and I were fans of early-morning sun. I crossed the room and pulled the cord, watching the hot-pink material fold up to reveal daylight once more. I was about to walk off when I noticed something strangely familiar, like a sense of déjà vu. The Black Sedan…
I was sure it was the same one as before, sure of it. Today was the only time I had even seen one of those cars and it definitely was not a coincidence that the same one that had almost killed me was now sitting across the street. Saying I was 'freaked out' was a total understatement…
The chat Mom and Dad had with me a couple of years ago had never re-entered my brain until now, the chat that involved something totally crazy and absurd. My parents said there was such a thing as Vampires and that one day, they might come looking for us… I was always to watch out for a woman with blonde, almost-white hair and icy grey eyes. They said I would know her if I saw her. I never believed them, just assumed it was a story to scare me from walking around after dark, but why did I get the feeling that this was that day?
Oh god, what do I do? It's my responsibility to keep Rose and Connor safe, but what do I do?
I reached down into my pocket for my cell phone and scrolled down to 'Dad'. It rung out thirteen times before I cursed and hung up. Shit! I scrolled down to 'Mom', but it didn't even ring; the answer phone immediately sounded as soon as I clicked 'dial'. "Oh no…" I muttered.
I looked down in time to watch someone getting out of the back seat. She was a very, very beautiful woman; her hair was a very silvery-blonde, tied up in a neat crown on the top of her head and she wore a spotless white suit that was literally the same colour as her translucent, marble skin. From here I could only see the sunglasses she wore, perched on the end of her nose, but I didn't need to see behind them to know what eyes to expect. It was Amelie, the most powerful Vampire my parents had ever met.