A/N: Hey everyone! So, sorry for my little cliff-hanger yesterday (heeheehee), but every authoress has a right to her tricks, and it kept you reading, right? Right. So, now vindicated, I presesnt you with chapter 14 (Yay!!!!!). As always, READ! REVIEW! CHECKOUT THE PLAYLIST! REVIEW! And, oh wait, there was something else... REVIEW!
"Then I'll run away." I could see the images of myself running along the streets, through the woods…
"I don't know, I'm so scared for you-" Carly stopped short because we both heard the terrifying sound of a door creaking. I whipped my head around to face the bathroom door, and my heart stopped when I saw a miraculously pale hand pushing it open. Scarlett must have heard my voice and decided to meet me-
No. It was even more unbelievable than that. The beautiful creature standing in front of me was none other than Lisa.
Chapter 14 A New Ally
I was dead. We both were. This was what my mind was screaming at me as soon as I saw her shove the door closed behind her, but before I had time to react, she spoke and said the absolute last thing I would have expected.
"Don't be scared. I'm here to help you."
I blinked furiously. I gasped for breath. I even felt like I was going to fall over, but nothing changed the sparkling clear image in front of me. Carly caught me and tried to hold me upright, but Lisa rushed forward and held me instead, issuing instructions.
"Listen; this is very important; You must go back to class and tell Madame Newton that you found Tessa throwing up in the bathroom and you're going to help her down to the nurse. Then meet us in the parking lot outside of the girls' locker room. I will explain everything as soon as I can, but we have to get away from the school first. No one can know what is going to happen."
Carly looked doubtful, but a glance at me made up her mind, and she rushed out of the bathroom.
Lisa sat me up straight and looked into my eyes, calculating my expression.
"Are you alright? Do you understand what I'm asking of you?"
"Yes, I understand," I said faintly, blinking one last time to make sure that I was still seeing the pale girl in front of me. "Could you just tell me one thing, though?"
"That depends, but I'll try."
"You're not going to kill me, are you?"
Lisa rolled her eyes with exaggeration. "Not even on my agenda. Now come on." She lifted me up onto her shoulder effortlessly and moved to the window, cracking it open and somehow shimmying us out and onto the ground. She didn't put me down though, and instead ran around the side of the building, ducking around windows, to the side of the gym where a shiny back sport car waited for us just outside the girls' locker room. She only put me down when we had reached the car, and shoved me in the passenger seat, already on the other side, turning the ignition.
"What is your plan?" I asked hurriedly.
"First, to get us as far away from Hardgrave as possible before Sean realizes that you're missing."
"And then…?" I urged.
"And then, hopefully work out how exactly you're going to get away from him permanently."
"You say that like it's possible," I grumbled sarcastically.
She turned to look at me, a grave expression on her face. "Oh, it's possible. And I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure it happens."
"Why?" I asked, incredulously. "I mean, it's not like you were ever my biggest fan. Why would you put yourself up against your family for my sake?"
She sighed before answering. "Because, I happen to love my family, and I want what's best for them, and you are not it." Her tone assured me that if I was suspecting any secret friendliness hidden under her rough exterior, I was mistaken. She did say she wasn't going to kill me, right? Would I be able to tell if she was lying? Oh man, what had I gotten myself into
Just then, Carly crept out of the door to the girl's locker room, and ran over the car, jumping into the backseat as Lisa peeled out of the parking lot. In no less than three minutes, we were on the expressway heading south towards Providence.
"Ok," Carly began, her voice calm and steady, but forceful. "Someone better start explaining, and I mean now."
"Girl's day out?" I suggested meekly. She didn't buy my joke.
"Well, Tessa, I suppose you should start by explaining the truth about Sean. Everything will be easier to understand that way."
"Are you sure?" I asked skeptically.
"Yes," She answered firmly. Carly looked at me, waiting.
"Ok," I began, slowly. "Do you remember the Twilight books I read over winter break?"
"You mean those horrible books that Sam forced me to read in February? Yeah, I remember them. What about it?"
"Hey!" I bantered, "I like those books!"
"Please, they are so lame!" Carly chided.
I was about to make another retort, but Lisa barked, "Get to the point, Tess!"
"Right, sorry." I couldn't bring myself to say it, it all sounded so stupid in my head. "The thing about those books is… there's more fact to them than fiction."
"Elaborate, please."
I took a deep breath for the hard part. "Sean's a vampire."
She stared at me, mouth open and eyes blinking furiously. "Wait… Pause, rewind. What?"
"Sean's a vampire. His whole family is. I found out in February, and I've been keeping the secret ever since."
"Ok, freeze!" Carly yelled, processing information. "You're telling me that Sean is one of the ultra pale, insanely gorgeous, blood-drinking, car-lifting, sparkle-in-the-sun, super strong, incredibly fast, immortal vampires that are in those books?"
"The same."
"Look, kid, I think you've been drinking too much of the Kool-aid. Newsflash: Vampires don't exist!"
"I beg to differ," Lisa said very coolly. She flashed Carly a smile of her impeccably white, and razor sharp teeth. Carly gasped and fell backward onto the leather seats.
"Oh… my… God…"
"I know,' I said hurriedly, "I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. That's why I have the bruises, why I stopped talking to you and everyone else, why I don't come to school when it's sunny out-"
"Wait!" She said abruptly, "You're not a vampire too, are you?"
"No! Of course not!" I screamed. "Don't be stupid! I meant that Sean doesn't let me go anywhere without him, excepting track practice. He's attached to me like a magnet."
"He isn't… attracted to your blood is he?"
"No!" I almost laughed. "They're vegetarians, just like the ones in the books. And my blood doesn't smell like a normal human's blood does, so I'm safe."
"Umm, I wouldn't say that, seeing as you've already admitted that you need to get away from him."
"I meant for some time, not forever," I said defensively. "I just need air, that's all."
"I hate to break it you," Lisa laughed sharply, "But forever is exactly what you need. More than you know."
"Don't be silly," I said, "Sean would never hurt me."
"Listen, girl, I'm not talking about any infliction of pain, I'm talking about your life."
"I don't understand."
Lisa pulled over into the break down lane and turned in her seat to face me.
"Sean wants to change you into a vampire."
I laughed. It just seemed so ridiculous in my head. "No he doesn't! Why would he do that?"
"Because he thinks you're his soul mate that he's meant to spend the rest of eternity with."
I just stared at her, disbelieving.
"Umm, call me crazy, but wasn't it you that said the 'only way to be friends with humans is if their heart stops beating'? Isn't this what you want? For me to become a vampire? Aren't you the enemy here?"
"Believe me, the last thing I want is for you to become a vampire."
"Then you want me to die, then, is that it? So much for a safe car ride, I'm out of here-"
"Don't be ridiculous! I already told you, I'm not going to kill you! I'm probably the only one of my little family-" She said the word with utter disgust. "-who is actually concerned with keeping you alive."
"And why is that?" I asked skeptically.
This surprisingly caught her off guard. She hesitated, then said, "That I can't tell you. But you should trust me when I say that Sean is the enemy in this case."
"Really? How so, if he's so in love with me he want's to spend the rest of eternity with me? What about my being his 'soul mate' or whatever?"
"That would make sense, except that you're not." My mouth dropped wide open in shock. "Don't doubt me, you know it's true. Deep inside, you know that you don't love him like that. You know that you couldn't be happy with him forever."
"Of course I know that!" I laughed. "I never planned on forever! We don't even have the same taste in music! How do you know it?"
"Please, I know Sean told you about my ability." Lisa rolled her eyes at my confusion. "I thought he was the idiot in this situation. I told him the first day he met you that you weren't the one, and he didn't believe me! None of them did. They were all so convinced that my vision was failing me, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with it!"
"What vision?" Carly asked me quietly.
"Lisa can see the future," I explained, "Or at least parts of it."
"I can see what will make someone happy," she added. "What road they must take to achieve their goals, where to go to find what they are looking for. Sean was looking for love, and he didn't believe me when I told him you weren't the one. He somehow deluded himself into thinking that you were the love of his life."
"This still doesn't explain why we're plotting to sneak Tessa out of the state," Carly prompted. "Or how we're going to accomplish it."
"We're doing this because it's the only way to save her life, the beating-heart, pumping-blood part of it, anyway. How we're going to do it is still a little elusive to me, but it involves you going to Dartmouth."
"Well, I figured that much out on my own," I said vexed. "If I'm away at college he won't be hanging around me every second, just as I said."
"No, it's something more than that," She said, her forehead creased and her eyes shut in concentration. "It's so frustrating, I can't see why you need to be there. If it were up to me I'd send you all the way to Canada, but there's just this gaping hole in my vision-"
"Maybe you aren't seeing everything perfectly," I pondered, concerned. "Sean said that-"
"There's nothing wrong with my foresight!" She snapped, her eyes piercing into me. "Sean's conclusions are blatantly biased and inaccurate. The only thing that ever affects my vision is being near Roger, because he's always happy. I do sort of go numb when I'm around him, but this is something completely different."
"Wait," Carly called our attention, "What are we going to do during the three months before she leaves for college? Cause, personally, I don't like having Tessa around this guy who's clearly not good for her. I mean, just look at her arms-"
"Will you stop picking on my bruises? They don't hurt, ok? I'm not in any pain."
"You're numb, aren't you?" Lisa asked suddenly, looking at me intently.
I gawked at her. "What do you mean?"
She grabbed my hand and moved her fingers lightly across the tops. "Do you feel this?"
"You're touching my hand."
"Yes, but do you feel the cold?" I didn't answer. She looked at Carly. "Pinch her, will you?"
"What?" Carly objected skeptically.
"Just do it, please." Carly reached over and pinched my hand. I didn't even flinch. She did it again. Nothing.
"What's wrong with her?" She asked, fear in her voice.
"Her body has shut off all its normal senses as a defense mechanism. It just means that we need to get her away from the source of the pain sooner, which brings me back to my original point."
"Hey, listen!" I yelled, yanking my limbs back. "You're not going to take me away now! It would break Sean's heart if I just disappeared! Besides, we still have a month left of school-"
"I don't want you hanging around with someone who's hurting you any longer than you have to!" Carly rebuked.
"Carly, you don't understand. I love him. No, not in the same way you love Mike, but enough that I don't want to hurt him. He's terrified at the thought of losing me. I'm not going to up and leave now, without any warning. At least he'll be ready for me to leave for college."
"But tell me one thing; you do want to get away from him?"
"Yes. I do."
She looked between Lisa and I, and I could almost see the cogs turning in her head. "Here's my idea. We finish out school, graduate, the works. You spend as much time with me, and as little time with him, as possible. Then, right after graduation, we leave. Go on vacation. Go somewhere. Just you and I, and then we'll go straight to college together. Dartmouth is only thirty miles from New England College, it would make sense to go together. This way, you won't see him all summer. You'll be safe-"
"I'm just going to leave all summer? And do what? Get a job? Sit on a beach somewhere? It's your plan, you tell me."
She smiled with a glimmer of excitement in her eye. "How does a road trip sound?"
It sounded ridiculous. But now that I thought about it, a road trip with my best friend wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. We could go to all those theme parks and historical places we always said we wanted to go, and visit my grandparents out west, and maybe even spend a few days at the beach. Just the two of us and our favorite CD's…
She saw me deliberating and her grin grew. "See? Wouldn't it be fun? Oh please, please say yes! It would be the best summer we ever had! And we wouldn't have to worry about money since I got a huge scholarships and my parents gave me half its worth to spend on whatever I want, and we could drive down to the beaches in North Carolina, or maybe out to California, since you've never been there, or up to your folk's place in Canada…"
She kept planning, and the excitement kept building, but I was still lost in thought.
It was possible. I could make an escape. Even when I had put my deposit for Dartmouth in the mail, I didn't think that it would come to this extreme. I just couldn't imagine any way that Sean would truly let me go, forever. I figured that someday I would have to make the uneasy choice between life and immortality, and I could only hope that my heart was intact enough to know what choice I was making. I didn't feel like Bella had felt in the Twilight books, so sure that she wanted to be a vampire. I couldn't even imagine it as a possible future. My mind told me it was, but my heart was utterly silent on the topic. I was stuck.
But if there was a way that I could avoid that decision, would I do it? Carly seemed to feel that I could just hide from him, and be able to live my life. If there was anyone that could hide from a vampire, it would be me.
My options just seemed incomplete. Something was missing, just like Lisa had said. Something I couldn't see…
What I could see was Carly's eager face, pleading with me to give life a chance. Wishing it for her best friend.
"Ok," I finally agreed. "We'll go on a road tip for our last summer as reckless adolescents."
She squealed with delight. "Yes! It will be so much fun! I promise!"
Lisa rolled her eyes at the infantile glee. "Ok, that's the plan. You two will hit the road, and I'll stay close to Hardgrave to keep an eye on Sean and the rest of them. You can't tell him where you're going to go, or that you're not coming back before the summer is up. This is what has to happen," she said with certainty. "We can't tell anyone what was discussed in this car," she said even more firmly, looking at Carly.
"I know how to keep a secret," Carly replied defensively.
"It's not you I'm judging, it's a general dislike for your species." Lisa turned around and restarted the car, while Carly glared at the back of her head, but she grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze that was a combination of fear, sympathy, worry, care, and excitement.
We had a plan.
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