Chapter Seven
Needless to say, renting Buffy the Vampire Slayer had never actually been my intentions. I had, in fact, begged the girls to take my instruments to school then run out the door to the nearest hardware store. It had been freezing that early in the morning, with the mist flowing through the streets. Bikers had gone past me a few times and people jogging or walking their dogs appeared along the way. I was hoping I could get this over and done with and make it to school as quickly as possible.
More or less, I'd gotten enough sleep last night and, for the first time in forever, it had been a dreamless sleep – a wonderful experience for me. Right now I felt a little silly and very ridiculous but I knew what I'd seen.
When I got into the hardware store, this is basically how the conversation went:
Me: Hi, do you have any of those picket fence thingies?
Old Guy Behind Desk Who Looked Amused: Picket fence thingies?
Me: Well... um.
Old Guy: Speak up, young lady.
Me (embarrassed): Stakes.
Old Guy: Steaks? Like meat?
Me: More like vampires.
Old Guy (laughs): Vampires, huh? Sorry, honey, Twilight isn't real.
Me: No shit.
Old Guy: Right. So why do you need these 'stakes'?
Me (annoyed): Um, building a picket fence. Yup.
Old Guy: Right. They're down the back, Buffy.
Buffy: Thanks. My name is Trist, though.
I mean, seriously? I'm not even that into the TV show! Sarah just turns it on sometimes because she thinks Seth Green is hot and I've caught a few snippets. And no way was I Buffy, with all her amazingly feminine cool-ness. Nope, I was a little more on the tomboy side with those things.
And yes, I felt ridiculous carrying the stake in my backpack. Safer, but ridiculous.
XoooooX
In fact, halfway through first lesson, I felt like throwing it in the bin or something. I hadn't seen vampires last night. They weren't real, I knew that. Everyone knew that! I'd just seen something funny on account of how scared I'd been. People see things in the dark, that was the explanation.
Still, I didn't feel like chucking it; probably because at home, the girls would ask why there was part of a fence in their bin, and at school, everyone would see me dumping it and would think I was even more of a freak.
'You okay?' Holly asked me when I sat down next to her. I smiled and nodded and before she could ask where I'd been, I put a more serious question forward. 'Did you bring my guitar?'
Holly whistled. 'Sure did. I was scared I'd kill the Fender.'
My Fender Jag-Stang is one of my most treasured possessions: one, because it is a freaking expensive guitar that Robert gave to me for Christmas when Alicia had been on my case all year, and two, because it was the guitar Kurt Cobain (okay, yeah, I think he's pretty cool) invented, a mixture of the Mustang and the Jaguar. It's weird that the guitars sound like cars.
'I left it in the hall, where we'll be setting up. It's behind my drum kit.' Holly's drum kit is bright purple with little white polka dots on it; she painted it herself and she's very proud of it. 'Apparently Mitch recruited some people. We've got another guitarist.'
'Okay. I'm cool with that.'
'Yeah, wait til you see who it is,' Holly whispered, trying not to laugh.
I stared at her in horror. 'If you say Dream Hottie –'
Holly immediately looked concerned and suspicious. 'Why did you think of Dream Hottie?'
'I –'
'Miss Cobain!'
I looked up and saw the wrinkled face of Ms Sarn glaring at me. She looks like she's been forced to swallow lemons non-stop because her face is so bitter-looking. She's hated me ever since eighth grade, when I pointed out in one of her history lessons that da Vinci (though awesome) barely finished any projects and he didn't create the David. She had in fact been talking about Michelangelo but mixed up the names, something teachers should really watch out for.
But, you know, it didn't match up to when one of Michelle's friends said, 'Isn't Leonardo da Vinci that guy in Titanic?'
That had been one very funny lesson.
I snapped back to the moment because Ms Sarn had been saying something. 'Hm?'
'I said can you tell me what's so interesting?'
'Whatever you were talking about. 19th century stuff. Go 1800s, yeah!'
Ms Sarn sighed and I shrunk down in my seat, realising this had not been a good morning to say something like that. 'Trist Cobain, do you want me to send you to the Principal's Office?'
'No, thank you,' I said sweetly and Holl elbowed me while some people snickered.
'I suppose you think you're hot stuff because of your party tonight?' Ms Sarn grunted and I saw Michelle smirk out of the corner of my eye, the joke being that no way was it my party.
Michelle! What was she doing here? If she was here, did that mean she hadn't stolen anything? Certainly if she had she would be in Hawaii by now.
Hang on. Hot stuff? Really?
'Um, not really, no, ma'am,' I said, arching an eyebrow at Ms Sarn. She glared at me and continued talking about so on and so on and so on –
I will admit, usually I would be concentrating, but right now, I couldn't even if I tried. This stake was making me feel so stupid, okay, I'm gonna throw it, I don't care...
Wait, what was she saying?
I blinked and looked up at Ms Sarn while her words seemed to move into my head and stay there. Holly was chewing a pencil and drawing spirals on the desk with it at the same time. I could see Sammy was flicking through a magazine under the desk she was sharing with Sarah and Jen, and they were all approving of what looked like a shirtless Johnny Depp.
Jen glanced at me and I smiled at what they were doing. She held up a picture and I saw Leo DiCaprio. She was obviously trying to remind me of that lesson in eighth grade.
Concentrate, Trist!
'... and seeing as how your Maths teacher is sick, we're going to spend the last lesson together, discussing literature from the 1800s.'
I glanced at Holly, who mouthed, 'Doesn't that mean a lot of stuff?'
'English literature,' snapped Ms Sarn, obviously seeing the faces we were pulling at each other. The bell rang and the class filed out while Miss Sarn tried to tell us some more things we weren't going to listen to –
Just as Sarah reached me to ask me – about Dream Hottie, about where I'd gone this morning, I don't know – Ms Sarn called me back. I froze in the doorway and Jen patted my arm. 'Good luck,' she whispered and Ms Sarn gave the girls the glare that meant Beat it. They scattered after Holly narrowed her eyes and stuck out her tongue when Ms Sarn turned to face me.
I kept a straight face then felt all urge to laugh leave me when Ms Sarn glared at me.
'I suppose I know why your name fits you.'
'Excuse me? Is this about tryst meaning secret lover? Because that's a little weird, Ms Sarn.'
Okay, I was treading on thin ice here. I usually wasn't like this but today I was feeling edgy, so, yeah, I was being a bit more aggressive. Ms Sarn's nostrils flared. 'I meant that poor man would probably shoot himself before meeting you if you were his daughter.'
My jaw dropped; I couldn't help it. That was a really harsh thing to say. Not just to me, but to Kurt.
That. Bitch.
'You're just mad because he had more life in his twenty-seven years than you did in your, what are you, like, a hundred? How dare you use someone you didn't even know for an insult like that?' I nearly yelled. Okay, so I was letting most of my past experiences with her jump out in this sentence.
'You are treading a very thin line here, Trist. Maybe it will make you pay attention!' replied Ms Sarn, just as dangerously. 'Now, I doubt you have read this, but –'
'No way!' I cried when she pulled the book out that we would be talking about next lesson. I realised how weird this must have looked and I tried to compose myself.
'Yeah, I've read that, Miss Sarn,' I said, feeling my eyes start to water. That freaking bitch. 'Dracula. Everyone's read that.'
'Not everyone,' Ms Sarn replied, her eyebrows rising. 'Are you feeling all right?'
I looked at her. You just told me someone would rather shoot themself than talk to me. Not really. 'Fine.'I gave her a final glare and she seemed almost taken aback. The book really unsettled me though.
I picked up my bag and turned to go, feeling terrible, when I stopped. Simon Sheppard was leaning in the doorway, glaring at Ms Sarn. 'I think you better apologise,' he directed at Ms Sarn and I was surprised to see the wrinkled old woman look afraid.
I felt my jaw drop open again.
Ms Sarn, regaining herself, snapped at Simon, 'Who are you?'
'Simon Sheppard. I work at Carfax Abbey and I was coming to look for Trist. I wanted to talk to her about something.'
'And why should I apologise?'
'Because she's right; you're just annoyed that she's got more of a life than you have.'
I blinked. Me? Well, I was eighteen, and she was a hundred.
Simon winked at me and I felt confused.
'How dare you –?' began Ms Sarn.
'Look, can you just hurry up and apologise? I have a few things I want to talk about,' Simon said, tapping his bare wrist as if pointing to a watch. That only made him more cool.
'That was a very harsh thing and I apologise.' Ms Sarn looked like she didn't want to say it but had decided to. In all honesty, I was surprised she hadn't slapped me. I was surprised I hadn't slapped her.
She handed me the book. 'Read as much as you can through break,' she said through gritted teeth. Simon gave her a helpful smile and pulled me out of the classroom.
Halfway down the hallway, I burst with curiosity. 'What are you doing here?'
'Mary wanted me to check up on you,' Simon replied, glancing at the book in my hands. 'Haven't you already read that?'
'Uh-huh.'
'Well, second time's always better.'
I blinked. 'Right.'
'Anyway,' Simon continued, stopping in the middle of the empty hallway and moving in front of me so he could look straight into my eyes. 'Mary was worried about you. She said yesterday you just ran out on her.'
I couldn't help but feel touched that Mary worried about me. I also felt like a major jerk for running out on her.
'I didn't feel too good yesterday,' I said guiltily. 'Can you tell her I'm really sorry?'
Simon surveyed me once again, looking at my face hard.
'Mister Sheppard? Simon?' Thank you for saving me from Sarn but you can go now. I was surprised I actually liked having him around, but right now was not a good time.
'Sorry, it's just you remind me of someone,' Simon muttered, smiling a little forcibly at me.
I swallowed. 'You mean Mary?'
Simon smiled again; this one looked more natural. 'You do look a little like Mary. Of course, I never would have believed it possible, but your hair is a lot more unruly than hers.'
I rolled my eyes but was secretly feeling adored. I prided the messy hair. 'Thanks, Simon.'
'I try,' he said, starting to grin. Then his face turned serious and I looked away from his eyes. 'Look, Trist... has anything – weird been happening lately?'
I tried to look surprised and did a pretty good job. 'Sorry?' I asked, frowning ever so slightly to show my 'confusion'.
Simon's face set into a grim look. 'I don't know. Odd dreams, maybe. Things like that.'
I stared at Simon in real surprise, feeling my blood run cold. 'What did you say?'
He shook his head, taking my surprise in the wrong way. He thought I was confused over what he was talking about; I wasn't. I was surprised he'd known.
'Nothing,' he muttered, holding onto my jacket as he continued to walk the hallway. It seemed almost protective, like how a brother would hold onto you. George had never bothered to do things like that to me; he cared for his real sister, Molly, not the adopted kid. I felt a little happy to have the feeling of a big brother but quickly blocked it out.
Until he said, 'Y'know, that woman was just trying to get to you. Don't listen to shit like that, she's a ridiculous old bitch who doesn't know crap about Kurt or you.'
I smiled at him, trying not to be such a sap. 'I don't know Kurt either. Does Mary have these issues too?'
Simon laughed. 'I wish. They're a lot easier than her real problems.'
I didn't know why that seemed so funny but Simon seemed to having his own little private joke. 'Oh, by the way, you wouldn't happen to know anything about that safe, would you?'
Now I was confused. 'What?' Oh, the safe! Back in Carfax! 'No, why?'
'Someone broke into it and I seem to recall you trying to tell me something about it,' Simon shrugged. I swallowed. So James had actually done it. But I'd known that, I'd seen it in my dream.
'What did they take?' I asked casually. Simon rolled his eyes and I felt relief fly through me; he didn't suspect me.
'A bit of this, a bit of that,' he muttered. 'You know, there was a heap of old junk in there.'
And a coffin?
But Simon didn't seem to want to talk about it anymore than I wanted to know about it. Okay, that was a lie, I wanted to know about it. But I wasn't going to push him, because he was being so nice to me.
'And between you and me,' he added as we walked into the cafeteria, letting go of my jacket and motioning for me to run along, 'I think that woman should be chucked for that.'
That did it.
I grinned. 'No way, you think so?'
Simon looked down at the book in my hands. 'I think you might want to read that.'
'I told you. I've read it already. I know what happens so Miss Sarn can't catch me out.'
'I know. But read it anyway. It might come in handy.'
My face suddenly turned blank. I blinked and tried to ask him what he was talking about, but instead Simon gave me a nod and was disappearing down another hall in a few seconds.
'Hey, Trissy-Bear,' Sarah said, slinging an arm around me. 'Was that Simon Kiss-Me-Now Sheppard?'
I nodded, too deep in thought about the book in my hands and the stake in my bag to roll my eyes. 'That most definitely was. Wait, what did you call him?'
'Simon Kiss-Me-Now Sheppard,' Sarah smirked and I heard a groan, indicating Holl, Jen and Sammy had arrived.
'He is pretty hot,' admitted Jen.
'Oh, so hot,' Holly agreed.
'Um, excuse me,' Sammy said, rolling her eyes and lifting up her hands. 'Married man, girls.'
'Mary sent him to check on me,' I said, smiling a little.
I realised Holly, Jen, Sammy and Sarah were staring at me in that way that meant I was going to have to tell them everything.
'Okay, okay,' I sighed, 'but can we just go to the hall to check out our instruments?'
XoooooX
Seeing as how I'd arrived pretty late at school (I had, in fact, stopped off for a hot chocolate), I'd managed to miss morning lesson all together, come halfway through middle and score getting a full last. I was having a pretty good week when it came to missing school.
And seeing as how our lunch hour was, well, an hour, and we still had a lot of time left that could be used to read some books, check some instruments, and bitch about Miss Sarn, I'd run to the library while my friends interrogated me.
'I cannot believe she said that!' Sammy growled while I snuck around in the Horror/Mythology sections.
'What does she know, anyway?' Holly agreed, rubbing my shoulder. 'Kurt would have a blast meeting you.'
I nearly cried and wrapped my arms around her. Funnily enough, I didn't. I just smiled the way I always did around her and said 'Thanks, bud.'
'One question,' Jen said, looking horrified as she picked up some Wiccan spell book, 'why are we here?'
'Miss Sarn wants me to look up some things about Dracula,' I said, rolling my eyes. I found what I was looking for; a book called Vampyres. It looked a little old with its worn red cover and I hoped I could trust it for that.
'I didn't know you and Mary hung out yesterday,' Holly contemplated, picking up a book that had Kiefer Sutherland, all young and 80s-ful, on the front (Popular Vampire Media).
I nodded eagerly. 'She's so cool! I mean, she likes so many things that we like... and she sent Simon to check up on me because she thought I was acting weird yesterday.'
'That's because you were acting weird yesterday,' Jen interrupted, looking at the book in my hands with disgust. 'What happened?'
'Nothing,' I sighed. I had conveniently forgotten to add in about Simon's warnings and his knowledge of weird dreams. Something must've shown that I was thinking about dreams, or maybe Sarah just caught something, because she said slyly, 'Did Dream Hottie make a move on you or something?'
I turned and stared at her, trying to think of a comeback. Nothing came however and the guys took my silence as an answer.
'Oh yeah!' Sammy laughed, grabbing my arm. 'What happened?'
'Any kissing?' Holly asked interestedly. 'If so, can we tell Mitch?'
Sarah howled with laughter and about ten people hissed at us to be quiet. Jen, trying not to laugh, calmly escorted Sarah out of the school library, ignoring the people staring after them. Sammy stood there for a second, seemingly composing herself before suddenly trying not to smile and running out of the library, holding her hands over her mouth.
Holl and I glanced at each other and shrugged. As I walked up to the desk to check out the book, Holly whispered, 'What really happened, Trist? Yesterday? And don't bother lying, missy.'
I knew I'd tell her. I was about to when the librarian, Mrs Manson, asked me, 'Is that all, love?'
I nodded, smiling brightly at her. She looked at my book doubtfully and glanced back up at me. 'This isn't Twilight, you know.'
'Thus the basis of its appeal,' I said, still smiling.
She rolled her eyes, checked it out and handed it to me. 'Two weeks and then I expect it back, Cobain.'
'Sure thing, Shirley,' I saluted; Mrs Manson had confessed being a Garbage fan in her youth, despite being the Quiet Librarian type now.
Holly dragged me off into an aisle before we walked through the front doors. 'What's going on?'
'Nothing...'
'Trist.'
'Look, you'll think I'm being stupid. I am being stupid.'
'You're not stupid,' Holly said irritably, crossing her arms.
'Wanna bet?' I asked drily.
We looked at each other for a while before I said, 'Look, Holl, I'll tell you later. It's really weird and I kinda need to work it out.'
'Just tell me one thing.'
'Sure.'
'Did Dream Hottie make a move on you?'
I smirked, despite my last encounter with Dream Hottie, which made goose bumps rock up all over my skin. 'Sorry to disappoint, but no, he did not.'
Holly sighed. 'Pity. I could've done without Mitch.'
'Well, you're going to be seeing him some more as he's in our band so he'll be here tonight.'
Holly grabbed me by my jacket and pulled me out of the library where we saw Jen, Sammy and Sarah had already gone to the hall.
XoooooX
The hall was covered in streamers for tonight. There were couches and tables and seats everywhere and I could see a bar had been set up. I knew Jen had volunteered to work that, and I think Sarah had too. I wouldn't mind helping.
On stage, I could see Holly's drum kit half-assembled in the middle and a bunch of amps and stereos and microphones, combined with millions of cables. The curtains around the stage were dark blue with stars painted on them and the room, as I knew tonight, would probably be dark tonight except for a few of those coloured lights that Michelle seemed to like so much.
There were heaps of speakers around the room too, and I expected music would be play via an iPod or a computer. I mentioned this to Holly, who replied, 'Yeah, and as we're doing the band and working the bar, guess whose music choice.'
I squealed and gave her a high five. 'Coldplay shall reign down with the Killers!'
'I would appreciate that,' Jen called, waving her arms in the air. 'Chris Martin shall rule the room!'
'But we do need some music for dancing,' Sarah added, shrugging. She was into that stuff as I told you before, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Justin Bieber (okay, so I was fine with a bit of Beyoncé, but not much). 'I mean, I know some things are fine, but –'
'I say we Beatles' everyone,' Holly said strongly, raising her hand in a peace sign. Sammy, Jen and I cheered and I ran up on stage to check my Fender was unharmed.
'Oh, yeah, Trist,' Sammy added, picking up her bass, 'apparently Mitch added some new guy to the band because he can't play guitar all too well.'
Though this was true, I felt I should defend Mitch. 'He's not that bad –' I began.
'Yes, he is,' I heard four voices say in unison, so I decided to let it go.
'Who is he? And does he know how to play what we're playing?'
'Um, don't know. Him and Mitch are friends though.'
I picked up my crimson Jag-Stang, played the beginning to 'Where Is My Mind' by the Pixies and carefully placed it back down. 'Okay, I'm all good. Now, while you guys talk, I've been told to read some vampire books!'
'Trist, what's in your bag?' Jen asked and I felt my stomach drop; I hadn't even realised I'd put my bag down. It was next to a couch I'd intended to drop onto so I could read.
'Nothing,' I said casually, jumping off stage. 'Just some books.'
'Frick, it's heavy!' Jen exclaimed. She put her hands on her hips and glared at me.
'Books, Jen!'
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