Chapter 15: Human Boys and Vampire Girls

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I got back to school right when lunch was ending. October and I met in the girls bathroom again. October was really upset at me for not coming back sooner. I told him I was sorry and told him about Future Bat. He stopped being upset and his human eyes widened, flickering to his regular alien eyes.

"From the future?! How? Why?" He asked. I narrowed my eyes and looked down at the ground. "I don't know," was all I said. The bell rang to indicate class was in session. October turned back into a crow and flew back into the pine trees. I fixed up my tan colored makeup on my face and adjusted the beanie on my head. My wings slipped back through my backpack. I had to be careful since I was still hurting from the alien fight. I walked out of the girls bathroom and started walking along the hallway of lockers; when suddenly, Mirror appeared around the corner with Joker. I stopped in my tracks and felt my shoulders slump.

Great.

"Don't think we have forgotten about you," Mirror snapped. I rolled my eyes. "I don't have time for this," I said as I tried strolling past them. Joker pushed me backwards. His hair was super bright green today. Nearly tripping over my feet, I placed my hand on the side of the lockers to get my center of gravity back. My wounds and bruises from the alien attack were still healing on their own. I was still in a bunch of pain. I didn't want to get into another fight today.

"We aren't letting you off that easy, freak" Mirror said as she pointed at my sunglasses. "Why do you wear those all the time? You trying to be cool or something?" I snorted. "You trying to be cool by picking on people?"

Joker came up to me. I got in a ready position. He was hesitant from our first fight. I could see it in his eyes and feel it in his heart. I stared back at the big guy. He was wearing another Joker shirt. From the Animated Batman series. I still needed to watch that series.

"Why do you hang with her? You could do so much better," I told Joker. Mirror snapped and came at me herself. I jumped to the side, but Joker grabbed me while I was distracted with Mirror. Mirror grabbed for my beanie while Joker grabbed for my sunglasses.

I kicked Mirror away and used my other arm to shoulder Joker in the stomach. Joker's hand slapped me across the face. I stumbled backwards, tripping over my feet and landing on the cement walkway. I groaned in pain. My face was stinging from the slap. I gently touched it with my fingertips, then quickly pulled away. My sunglasses sat crooked on my face.

Joker gasped in terror. I looked up. His hand was covered in my tan makeup. Mirror's mouth was hanging open. Both bullies were staring right at me with looks of terror on their faces; like they just have seen a...

"Vampire!" Mirror shrieked.

I felt my blood run cold and heart pounding against my ribcage. The make up was wiped off from my face. They are seeing my paper white skin underneath. Mirror took huge steps backwards, still gapping at me. She didn't see Hunter as she bumped into him. She cried out and shoved Hunter away from her. When she recognized him, she pointed at me.

"Your freak of a girlfriend is a vampire!" She shouted, then ran down the hallway. Joker just stood there, stunned. Hunter gave both of us confused looks. I quickly turned away from the two boys and ran into the girls bathroom. I looked at my face in the mirror.

Most of my death white skin was showing.

I realized one of my normal eye contacts was gone. It must have been during the alien attack. One of them must have fallen off. I felt sick to my stomach as I stared at my one "normal human eye" and my real alien eye. That's why Mirror called me a vampire. She could see my yellow and orange eye through the lenses.

I didn't have a back up, so I was gonna have to avoid everyones eye contact the rest of the day. I made my way back to class. Hunter kept turning his head over to me. I avoided his gaze and kept my face hidden behind a book. The tips of my Bat ears burned inside the beanie.

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The rest of the day sucked. My backpack didn't have my homework so I got detention again. There was another test in another class and I most likely bombed it. And in my last class, Art, I got a C- for half finished work. Maybe Monger was right. I am not in an anime. I can't juggle being a teenager and a hero going out to save the world from alien Invasions. But as I said before, it's not easy being a teenager who was a monster. I learned the hard way I couldn't go back to being normal. This was how it was going to be.

The bell rang and I made my way to detention. I had my head low so no one could see my eyes. Kennith was there too. He noticed me and waved. I didn't wave back and waited ten feet away from him.

"Hey, hows it going?" He asked. I didn't answer. He kept trying to see my eyes but I would turn away. "Is something wrong? Hey...hey...Come on." He tried. He came up to me and placed his hand gently on my shoulder. I tried moving away but bumped into a tree. My whole face burned from his touch. What was he doing.

"I'm not gonna hurt you," he said gently before I could slap his hand away from me. I knew he wouldn't, but that didn't change the way I thought about him. He gingerly cupped my chin in his hand and tilted my head up to him. I closed my eyes.

"You are crying," I heard him say. His voice was filled with worry.

I turned my head away, out of his hand. He pulled out a small packet of tissues and offered one to me. I was hesitant. The guy smiled a small warm smile. "It's ok. You can take one," he said. I took one and turned away from him. I wiped my eyes from under my sunglasses.

"It looks like it's just going to be me and you today huh?" Kennith said. I stopped wiping my eyes and looked around. He was right. It was just the two of us. Kennith flashed a smile to me. "Wanna work together? We don't have to race." I hesitated. Why was he suddenly being nice to me? I wasn't sure how to respond. I've never had a guy take notice to me. I mean...besides Hunter. This was a new experience for me.

Eventually I nodded my head. Kennith smiled happily. "I heard from some students that you fought Mirr and Jason again. I wish I saw it. I like seeing a girl stick up for herself, not needing saving all the time. You are amazing," he said. I blushed.

We got our bags and started walking around the school together. I began to warm up around him and started talking to asking questions. As Kennith talked, I started to notice how pretty blue his eyes were...

Afterwards, i said goodbye to Kennith and made my way to my locker to grab my books. I sighed, already seeing the beginning of a horrible rumor. My locker was vandalized with drawings of teeth and fangs, crosses and 'Vampire Freak' written in big letters. I didn't even bare my fang at Mirror and she was already freaking out about my pale face and yellow alien eye.

"Oh my gosh it's the vampire girl," I heard a guy and a girl whisper to eachother fifteen feet from me. Other footsteps were heard around me. People staring and some giggling. I just grabbed my books, then went to the girls bathroom for a paper towel to put under the water and erase what they wrote on my locker. I'm sure if I kept it up there, the principal would think I did it.

Afterwards, I walked to the place where Patrick always picked me up. I texted him that I was going to be running late because of detention. While I waited, I couldnt stop thinking about Kennith. Occasionally I thought of Link. Ok fine, I always thought about him. Even in class I doodled him in my notebooks. Sometimes writing little scenarios where he would take me in his arms and hold me. This time I was thinking about Kennith. I shook my head. No. I'm not going to start liking him just because he was nice to me this one time. I pulled out my homework to distract myself from my thoughts...

I waited for a half hour for Patrick to come. He was usually on time. I bet he was disappointed on me for ditching class too. He was like a dad to me. I told him I had detention. I started to wonder where he was. Possibly still at the base drinking coffee. I looked up at the sky as a few birds flew by. The sun was boiling down on my head and making me sweat. I wiped my forehead and felt my makeup melting on my face.

I really badly wanted to spread my wings and just fly back to base. I would already be there by the time Patrick got here. I started to imagine how that would be with people around. I think I'd smile if I heard gasps from kids. Maybe scare Mirror and Joker. Show off my fang and say I am feeling thirsty-

I looked up when I heard the choking sound of an exhaust pipe. Hunter came up in an old red Mustang. A bigfoot air freshener hung from the rearview mirror and there were a couple UFO stickers on the side.

"Hey! Need a ride? I finally got my car back from the shop. It breaks down a lot, but it seems to be doing allright."

I hesitated for a moment. Sinking in the scene that was laid out before me. "I don't know...I'm sure Patrick will be here soon," I said, not really sure. Hunter patted the pleather passenger seat. "Come on. I've got Mothman shaped pop tarts," he stretched out the words to sound enticing as he showed me one. "Since it's now October, the stores came out with their Halloween food. My faves are the cryptid pop tarts."

I stared quietly for a moment. Humter turned up the AC. "I've got a working AC." I got in. I was such an easy kid to kidnap. Hunter beamed as he gestured inside his car. "Welcome to the Cryptonomica! I named her myself. I take this baby everywhere to find cryptids and monsters. I tried sneaking out earlier to get closer pics of that UFO, but the school was on lockdown and they weren't allowing kids to leave." He pulled away from the sidewalk and drove down the long stretch of road.

"Oh," was all I said, feeling my wounds sting. Hunter kept talking while I nibbled on the wings of my mothman poptart. Soon, he stopped talking and the radio kept the silence from being awkward and played a couple songs. I looked out the window and watched the stretches of green trees and fields of grass go by, accompanied by a red house or a blue house.

"So um...w-would you like me to buy the tickets?" Hunter suddenly asked. I turned my head to him and narrowed my eyes in confusion. "Tickets?" I asked. Hunter blushed and looked away.

"F-for the H-Halloween dance..." he said. I felt the blood rush from my face. "What? I'm very confused," I said. Hunter seemed very hurt by my words. He told me that during lunch, he asked me out to the dance during class and I had said yes.

October said yes.

I made a mental note in my head to never ask October to pretend to be me. My face burned from realizing what was happening. I was going to a dance with a boy.

"Oh! Right...sorry I...have a lot of things on my mind...You can drop me off here," I said. Hunter blinked in surprise. "But there's no houses here for miles. Let me take you to your house-"

"I can walk, I'm fine."

Hunter pulled his car over and slowed to a rickety stop.

"Hey...if its about Mirr today, nothing changes between us. You don't need to hide from me. I accept you for who you are...a-and if it's about the dance...we-we could just go as friends," Hunter added. I blushed and nodded thank you to him. Hunter and I stood there for a while staring at each other. We both quickly turned away.

"Um...if you want to change your mind about walking home..." Hunter said awkwardly. I hesitated, then sadly shook my head. "I can walk home...thank you for the ride, Hunter. I'm glad you are my friend."

Hunter kept his eyes on the steering wheel as he nodded. Keeping his eyes away from me. His light blonde hair rustled in the breeze. I could hear his heart beating a hundred beats a minute. He was very embarassed and worried that I was thinking about changing my mind about going to the dance with him. I felt bad, but didn't say anything.

"Bye." He said.

"Bye."

With that, his rusty red Mustang choked and belched exhaust before taking off down the road, turning around and driving back. He waved as he passed by me. I waved back until he was completely gone. I walked alone on the beaten dirt path, deep in my thoughts. Thinking about all that has happened to me in the last eight hours.

I called Patrick, leaving a message of where I was, then kept walking.

When Patrick picked me up we drove the rest of the way back to the base. Patrick apologized for being late. He had to go pick his daughter up from school. Apparently she got detention too. Also her school was close to the city where the alien invasion happened so traffic was insane. I told him he didn't need to apologize. I told him about my day. He didn't say anything till I was done.

"Wow, you had a busy day it sounds like," he said. I nodded. "I just want one day to be normal," I muttered. Patrick smiled at me from the rearview mirror. "Well, tomorrow is Saturday. You wont have to deal with classes," he said, trying to cheer me up. I nodded again, but thought about my future self at the base. How was that going to make it any normal?

When I got to the base, everyone was gone, including future me. Monger told me there was another alien invasion. Of course there was. I didn't bother asking for any more details. After all that has happened today, I just wanted to lay down. I walked down the huge hallway, lingering along Link's room, then went into my room. I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.

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