Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to update. I had to retype the chapter because it was erased and replaced by scribbles, so I had to start over. I was halfway through the fanfic and everything. Man, I'm ticked! I think my dad missed it up when he was trying to download them stupid pictures. He won't admit it, but I can tell it's his fault. At times like these I wish I can hit him with a rock and...grrrrr...well, I have other reasons it took me so long to update.
Vincent stepped out of the limo, then headed to the school. The sky was an extremely light golden colour, close to changing to black because of it being so late. The warm summer air made the school grounds feel more peaceful. Vincent swatted at a mosquito that was buzzing near his ear as he walked to the school, but missed it. The insect kept annoying him with its buzzing. He continued attempting to swat it rapidly until the buzzing disappeared.
"That's one problem with summer. Too many bugs! Man, I hate mosquitoes! They're so annoying. Most bugs have a purpose, even flies, which is food for some animals like frogs n' stuff. Mosquitoes, on the other hand, are useless and annoying. Why do we have to put up with them? All they do is suck our blood or get us sick with malaria."
As Vincent got closer to the red building, he could hear some type of hip hop song booming throughout the school. Vincent entered and wandered down the empty halls. Navy green lockers were lined down the halls. He kept searching for the gym, where the dance was supposed to take place, but was still having trouble finding this room. He heard music faintly echoing through the school, so he followed the noise. He finally found double doors that looked like the type of doors normally in gyms. He pushed the doors open, and stepped inside.
The dance was almost exactly like he had expected. There were students (mostly boys) pigging out at the table covered in snacks. A group of girls hung out near the punch bowl. Couples and friends danced to the music. A DJ created some extra sound effects for the music. Some groups of people stayed near the walls, having a conversation with another. All kinds of noise filled the room, making the blaring. Different colours of light danced on the walls and other objects in the room.
The only thing Vincent didn't expect was for the lights to be so bright. The glimmer irritated his eyes. He shielded his eyes with his arm, protecting them from the lights. After some seconds, Vincent slowly lowered his arm. His eyes were now adapted to the lights, so he thought there was no longer the need to give his eyes the protection.
He started to make his way through the gym, searching for Joey. No one seemed to have noticed him at first. They were too busy enjoying themselves. One by one, students began to notice him. Their once joyful faces were now replaced by cold glares. They started to move away from him. It finally got to the point where everyone in the room was staring at him. People stopped dancing. Friends and couples were no longer talking. Students near the food table stopped stuffing their faces with food. The music even came to a halt.
Vincent felt the spotlight of attention shined upon him. He could feel everyone's glare beam at him. He began to feel confused. Why were they staring at him? He looked down and realized he was wearing his private school uniform instead of the dress outfit he was going to wear.
"How could this have happened!? I could have sworn..."
Vincent retraced his steps. He remembered setting the dress clothes on his bathroom's sink, taking a shower, quickly getting dressed, and running out to the limo. Well, actually he sneaked out of the mansion so his aunt or uncle wouldn't notice then ran to the limo once he got outside. Vincent was in a hurry because he was running late because of some of the classes Jonathon and Vernica still forced on him. He must have slipped on the school uniform without thinking.
This made Vincent's blood start to turn cold from terror, knowing the students were ready to pounce. His heart beat rapidly. A bit of sweat trickled down his face. He felt frozen, like a cold statue.
A student, probably two to three years older than Vincent, approached him, fists up.
His brain screamed run, but he was still frozen into place. It was as if he was covered in ice, unable to move. He remained still until the older student was now face to face with him. Vincent backed up a couple steps before the older student grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him up.
"Who do ya think you are!?" the older student shouted.
"Uh... I think I'm Vince," Vincent stupidly stammered even though this was way out of his character. He normally wouldn't make a stammer like that. If the older student wasn't so big, and there weren't so many people in the room who probably wanted to kill him, he would have handled the situation better.
"Oh, I see we got a smart guy!"
"No! I-I..."
"Smooth move, genius," the voice in his head remarked. "Now we're gonna die a very embarrassing death. Ya happy now?"
"Shut up!" Vincent commanded. "I'm already having enough problems. Why don't you bother somebody else?"
"You dumb#$, I can't leave your head, remember? If I could, I would have chosen a host with a real brain. Not some idiot who can't survive in the real world."
"Why don't you just back off!? If you don't mind, I'll fix this mess."
"I do mind. You're the one who is gonna get us killed."
"Too bad. This is my life. My choice. Get over it."
"Hey! I'm talking to you!"
The older student's yell made Vincent snap back to reality. "Huh? What?"
"I said what are you doing here? Just because you go to that fancy school, doesn't give you the right to waltz in here like you own the place."
"Let me explain."
"How snobby you are? Forget it. You don't need to tell me." The older student raised his fist towards Vincent.
"Hey, hey, hey! Now don't go beating him up. I invited him, remember?" Vincent and the entire room glanced at the direction of the voice to find a very ticked off Joey approaching the two boys.
"Wait, is this the guy you were talking about?" the older student asked.
"Well, duh! Do you think a private school student would just walk in here by himself, uninvited?" Joey said as he stood beside the older student. "Now put him down nicely."
The older student gently set Vincent down. "Sorry. Just because you invited him doesn't mean I trust him. I'm keeping my eye on him."
The older student walked away and joined the group of boys he had left earlier. The party slowly returned to normal, but Vincent still received glances from other people from time to time.
"Sorry about what just happened," Joey apologized. "Wayne isn't usually like this."
"It's fine. I should have expected this to happen."
"Wayne protects the school from threats. He was just being overprotective. Private students often pick on some of the people here, so he's used to these students doing cocky stuff. He's not evil, like Bruner. What were you thinking when you came here with that?" Joey pointed at the uniform Vincent was wearing.
"Sorry, I accidentally came here with this instead of the other outfit I was gonna wear. I was running late, so you could tell I wasn't exactly thinking."
"Just feel lucky I came here when I did or your face wouldn't still be attached." Joey smiled.
"Yeah, thanks. I didn't mean to..."
"It's all in the past now. Let's just enjoy the dance while we can."
"I don't know much about dances."
Joey stared at Vincent with a confused expression for a few moments. "Doesn't your school have dances?"
"I don't know. I only went to the school once, remember?"
"Oh, I forgot. Didn't your old school have any dances?"
"I was home schooled my whole life. I don't know anything about dances. Well, except for some stuff on tv."
"You were home schooled? Hmm, I never met anyone home schooled before. Was it great? Ya know, getting to stay home instead of going to school?"
"Uhh, not really."
"Why... never mind. Let's just party. Ya with me?"
"Uhh..." Vincent began to hesitate. "Yes."
"Great!" Joey grabbed Vincent by the arm and dragged him across the dance floor.
"W-Woah!" Vincent exclaimed as he was dragged.
Vincent was having the time of his life. It had been years since he'd had this much joy. For a while, Vincent didn't know what the warmness in his heart was.
"Is this... happiness? Is this what it's like to have a friend? To have someone who cares about you?" Vincent thought about this for a minute. "No, he's just being nice. He's probably not really interested in me. He'll probably get bored with me soon."
This thought made Vincent stop dancing, and put a frown on his face. He started to stare down on the floor.
Joey noticed his action and expression, and also halted. "What's wrong? Aren't you having fun?"
"Yeah, I was just thinking about something. That's all." Vincent directed his eyes back to Joey, then faked a smile.
"You're upset about something, aren't you?"
"How does he know!?" Vincent wondered. "Did I really make it that obvious?"
"No!" Vincent quipped. "I... just make this face when I'm thinking."
Joey studied him for a minute. Vincent was worried he could see through his lie. But instead Joey said, "Oh...okay. I just wanted to be sure you were okay."
Vincent wanted to be alone for a few moments. Just long enough to get his act together. Then he thought of the bathroom. "Is there a bathroom I can use?"
"Yes." Joey pointed at a doorless entrance that was at the right of the gym. "The restroom is down the hall to the left. There are a couple doors with signs on it. One says women, and the other says men. It shouldn't be too hard to find."
"Thanks. I'll be back." Vincent headed out of the gym, and down the hall.
The only noise he heard was the faint music coming out of the gym, and his own footsteps. After awhile, a familiar stench invaded Vincent's nostrils. Vincent sniffed the air again.
"No it can't be."
Vincent got closer to the end of the hall. As he got closer, the familiar stench kept invading his nose. When he saw smoke that was extremely thick, making it non-transparent, he knew he had recognized the familiar stench correctly. FIRE!
Sorry if some stuff Joey, and other characters in this fanfic said was cheap. I was kinda in a hurry when I was typing this. I'm also sorry this chapter is shorter than most chapters I wrote. I just wanted to get this chapter posted badly and couldn't stand to leave my fans waiting. I was getting bored with my own chapter so I was eager to skip to the exciting part. I'll try not to let it happen again. I'll have to go back to school Wednesday, so don't expect for me to keep getting this chapter updated so quickly. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, regardless of cheesy lines. The next chapter will be better.
