Coming from someone who has actually been to Hell, I could say this with absolute confidence. High school was Hell. I have my GED. I don't need to be here. Undercover work wasn't always the ritzy galas I liked. At those, I could nab a drink and no one would question it. Here? Here was nothing but social hierarchy coupled with cutthroat classrooms. This sucks! Why couldn't I have just gone with Crowley as a detective? I bet that twisted son of a bitch was getting a laugh out of this. Granted, it was my idea, but I wasn't expecting him to roll with it!
"Hello!" I was greeted at the door by an overly uppity blonde in a short skirt and a cardigan. Gee, I wonder who you could be in the grand scheme here. My money was on student body president.
"Hi," I gripped my backpack strap a little tighter. She stares. This girl stared into my soul with a big ass grin on her face, "Can I help you?"
"I'm Rachael," she beamed, "You're the new girl, right?"
"Yeah," I took a healthy step away from her.
"As student body president…" Hey! I was right! I'm so shocked, "I'd like to be the first to welcome you to Sioux Falls High School. I'm sorry, but I never caught your name."
"It's…" Dammit! What did Crowley say it was again? I know it's not Lena. Not in this town anyway, "Charlotte MacLoud."
"It's so nice to meet you!" Rachael gushed, "Where are you from, Charlotte?"
"I just moved from Baltimore with my dad," I know that Crowley and I were in Philadelphia last, but we reconnected in Baltimore, "And please. Call me Charlie. I hate when people call me Charlotte."
"Charlotte sounds so pretty, though," she awed, "Ok. So, Charlie, what's your first class?"
"Um," I took my folded up schedule out of my pocket, "English."
"I'll walk you there!" Alright. I had visions of me stabbing this chick by the end of the day. I either needed a cigarette or a hit of Crowley's blood. And I hadn't even gotten through first period. Oh well. I'm not going to blow this girl off completely. I'm not that big of a dick. Maybe she'll know something about the missing girl.
Once we got to my English class, a feeling of sweet relief crashed over me. Not quite as good as the blood I'm about to drink, but I was a fan of anything that got her to stop speaking. I swore I knew her life story by now. Regardless, I slapped on a fake smile, "Well, thank you, Rachael. I'll see you around."
"You know what?" Rachael squeaked, "You should come find me around lunch. What kind of friend would I be if I let you sit by yourself?"
"You don't have to…"
"It's not up for debate!" she decided, a horrifying grin stretching across her face, "I'll see you then!"
Yikes. How devastated is she going to be when I leave? I met her ten minutes ago and she's already calling us friends? If she even utters the words slumber party, I'm shooting her. I can throw her to the vamps in town before I make heads roll. And she's a hugger. Nope. Abort mission. I don't like this. As soon as Rachael skipped off to whatever country club she came from, I hid in the back of my English class and took a pouch of blood out of my bag. Crowley was smart to put this round in squeezable applesauce pouches for occasions like this.
"A little much, isn't she?" a dark-haired boy sat next to me while I set my body at ease.
"Excuse me?" I popped the spout out of my mouth.
"Rachael," he clarified, "I saw you two standing outside and she tends to prey on new students."
"Oh," I went back to my new favorite vice, "Yeah. You could say that again."
"I'm sorry," he empathized, "I'm Seth, by the way."
"Charlie," I introduced my fake self. Actually, I knew a girl named Charlie once. She was part of a big brother, big sister program with the nuns and their network. Charlie was the only one I meshed with. I loved her, though. She's the one that taught me how to get around the blocks the nuns had on the Wi-Fi.
"Welcome to Sioux Falls, Charlie," Seth gave me a little smile. Ok. He's cute. I'm in. I'm keeping your number, "Next time Rachael is driving you nuts, come find me."
"She invited me to her lunch table," I cringed, "I'd rather get a sandpaper enema on a summer day."
"Tell you what," he offered, "Meet me outside the art room at lunch and I'll make sure you don't have to deal with that."
"Bless you." Alright. This part wasn't too bad. Seth seemed nice and I had a feeling I'd be able to bum a little more than a cigarette off him at lunch. Then again, he seemed too good to be true, too. Only one way to find out, "Christo."
"What?" he turned his head. I don't think I could count that as a flinch.
"Nothing," I brushed him off. He's safe, "Never mind."
"I'll see you at lunch," he shot me a wink, making my heartrate spike. I needed another blood pouch. Something to even me out. A warm feeling filled me inside. Damn, Crowley. I love you. It might not have tasted like applesauce, but it felt like a hug in liquid form.
"Excuse me, Miss MacLoud," the teacher scolded me, "There's no eating in my classroom. Unless you have enough for everyone, you'll have to throw your applesauce away."
"I'm hypoglycemic," I excused myself. Also, there was no way in Hell I was sharing my demon blood with anyone. One of me was enough. An entire classroom sounded way too messy, "If I don't have this, I'll die."
"I don't have anything saying you're hypoglycemic." This bitch was looking to get punched today.
"I think I would know better than a post-it note," I kept slurping on my blood bag while a chorus of excitable high school students hummed around me.
The teacher didn't know what to think of me. But something tells me she hated me already. And I might have caught her off guard, "It's your first day, Miss MacLoud, so I'll let that slide, but know that tomorrow, I won't put up with that kind of insolence."
"Okie dokie," I gave her a half hearted salute, "Do you want me to have a doctor's note about my hypoglycemia tomorrow, too?"
"It should already be on file."
"Dude," I kicked my feet up on the empty desk in front of me, "I just moved yesterday. I still have boxes that haven't shown up at my new house yet. I'm sorry that when my dad did my enrollment paperwork, he didn't put my doctor's note on file."
"Enough, Charlotte."
"It's Charlie."
"Not another word," my English teacher glared a hole through me. Yep. Safe to say she hates me. Maybe that's how I can keep this interesting. My goal here is to find the vamp food and get all of my teachers to hate me. Sounds like fun. But I'm not letting her get off the hook so easily. Unfortunately for her, I had a little extra energy to burn off. Under my desk, I held my hand out, focusing my energy into my fingertips. I didn't want to maim this poor woman and I did have a pretty good handle on my powers. How about a teeny bladder mishap?
As I kept my blood in my mouth and my bitch English teacher went along with the lesson, she froze in mid-sentence. What could have possibly caused such a thing? Perhaps it was the one girl in glass you really shouldn't piss off riding out her demon blood high. The dark spot soaking through her skirt was giving me a warm sense of justice. Is this what they mean when they say to use powers for good? Is this how Robin Hood felt? Because coupled with my feeling of justice was one of pettiness and smug. And I'm loving it.
"Excuse me, class," she swallowed her pride, "I need to step out for a minute."
Once that door was shut, everyone was on the floor, breaking into raucous laughter. Because watching a teacher piss herself is going to be funny. Justice well served, I think. Her drenched khaki skirt gave me such a sweet sense of satisfaction and all I could say here was that karma is definitely a bitch. Probably should've believed me when I lied about my hypoglycemia. We wouldn't be in this situation if you would have.
The bell rang a little while later and I was off to my next classes. Math was a pain in the ass, but I killed with history, so I had that going for me. Then, dreaded lunchtime came. I had no doubt in my mind that Rachael had memorized my schedule already. No, thank you. She was sweet with eyes like a baby deer. Something tells me she doesn't handle rejection. Instead, I searched the school for the art room.
"Charlie!" But before I could find him, Seth found me.
"Hey," I smiled, "Just the guy I was looking for."
"Hi," he smiled back, making me melt inside. I don't know if I like this or not, "Ready to go?"
"Yeah," I nodded, "Let's get going."
"Before Rachael finds you," Seth teased, "Come on. My car's in the east lot."
"What are you driving?" I wondered. If my brothers and my uncle have instilled anything in my brain, it's an appreciation for anything with a motor.
"Classic," he beamed, "It's a '74 Corvette. Had to work my ass off for it, but worth it."
"What color?" I held my breath.
"Red."
Swoon…I bit the inside of my cheek, "Not bad. Not as cool as mine, but it'll do."
"Really?" Seth gave me a look, "And what are you driving around in?"
"My dad has my car," I grumbled, "But usually, it's a '65 Mustang in blue. Fully restored. Shines like a new penny."
"Nice," he gave me a high five, leading me outside, "I hope I get to see it one day."
"You think that's nice," I bit my lip, "I have a couple of older brothers that drive around in a '67 Chevy."
"I just saw one of them on the way to school this morning," Seth pointed out, "An Impala sitting outside some motel."
"Which motel?" So I know which one to avoid.
"The Sunset Inn, I think," he told me, "Want to swing by and take a look?"
"No, thanks," I shook my head, "I'll have to pass."
"Charlotte…" a familiar voice called out, "Come, darling. We need to talk."
"Who's that?" Seth asked, catching sight of my gentleman caller.
"That's my dad," I kept a level head, "I'm sorry. I think I need to take a raincheck on lunch. Tomorrow?"
"Sure," he allowed, "That's fine. I'll see you later."
"Bye," I waved him off and made a beeline for my "dad".
"Who's that?" Crowley jabbed, "Is my little girl experiencing her first taste of romance?"
"I just met him, dumbass," I rolled my eyes, "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Checking in," he got the car door for me, "How are you?"
"Super," I snatched the keys from him.
"And?" Crowley asked, "What have you heard? Anything?"
"Have you?"
"I asked you first."
"No," I wanted to punch him, but I'd probably send him flying right now and I don't want to draw attention to myself, "This girl was a complete unknown."
"Someone no one would think to miss," Crowley thought, "Smart on their part. Personally, I would've taken it a step further and got an orphan, but that's just me."
"That was low," I kept my eyes on the road, "You really don't think before you speak, do you?"
"Oh," he bit his tongue, "That's you, isn't it? Look at that! I was smart and got myself an orphan."
"Crowley," I sighed out, "You really need to develop a better filter."
"How about a bit of good news then?" Crowley switched tangents, "I found one of the vampires calling Sioux Falls their home lately."
"Excellent," I praised, "What'd you find out?"
"The girl's name is Christina Chapman," he filled me in, "That's all I know."
"And what'd you do with the mole?" I wondered.
"I killed him and threw his body in the river."
"Crowley, you idiot," I groaned, "We could've kept him for more information or even bait! Juice him up full of dead man's blood to keep him sedated!"
"You have become a regular sociopath, haven't you?" he awed, "My little girl is growing up. I'm so proud."
"You refer to me as your little girl one more time and I will start severing limbs."
"Oh, Lena," Crowley kept on, "Are you needing a little something special? Are you hungry?"
"I'd kill a man for tacos," I admitted, "But you're not talking about that, are you?"
"Nope."
"Yeah," I nodded, "It's always best when it's fresh from the source."
"You are keeping it for yourself, right?" he hoped, running a blade over his skin.
"Of course," I put my lips on his wrist, enjoying the warmth through my body, "Like I'm sharing."
"That's my girl," Crowley approved, "You know, I saw the boys today."
"Did you?" Just what I wanted to hear about while I'm getting looped up on demon blood. It's like having someone calling out my dad's name during sex. Way to kill the mood.
"They're coming up short, if it makes you feel any better."
"No need for that, Crowley," I wiped my mouth off, "Are you really getting me lunch or just tapping a vein for me?"
"I'll actually get you lunch," Crowley promised, "What kind of father would I be if I didn't take care of my little girl?"
A/N: I love how Crowley pushes her buttons. It tickles me in the weirdest way. Now, I know this seems like I'm cutting it off, but…Well…That's exactly what I'm doing. This chapter is plenty long enough and it's getting late. So, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go over here and do a thing. Actually, I'm going to go to bed here in a bit. But I have to take my pup outside first. And because I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow, I have to finish tomorrow's update, too. So, I'll see you next chapter! xx (Also…Happy birthday, Jensen. :3)