Wearily, my eyes fluttered open as I let out a soft, contented sigh. Warm sunlight streamed comfortably through the window and onto the floor where my cat Fernando was blissfully curled up. I stretched out lazily before becoming limp again, still spread out across Aro. I could've spent all day like this…
"Shit!"
Panicked, I hurriedly untangled myself from my sheets, muttering curses to myself and heading over to my clock to check the time; 9:18, which meant I was already late for class.
"What is the matter, tesoro?" Marcus asked while the three of them also casually stood up off of the bed as if they had all the time in the world.
"Class started almost twenty minutes ago, I'm late!" I yelled, grabbing the nearest pile of clothes and dashing into the bathroom.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit shit!" I muttered while picking up my toothbrush.
How could I be late? I was never late, never ever late. Jesus, I was turning into Corin at this point. Marcus instantly materialised behind me holding my hairbrush, clearly finding my panic-stricken face amusing.
"Itsh not funn-" I tried to argue, but my mouth was still full of toothpaste.
"What was that, bellissima?" he chuckled, brushing through my hair with ease.
"I shaid," I spat out the remaining toothpaste into the sink, "it's not funny."
"I beg to differ," he responded light-heartedly, quickly placing my hairbrush down before taking my arm and leading me down the stairs.
The smell of cooking caught my attention, but I honestly didn't have time for breakfast. Besides, how the hell can someone make food in the space of two minutes? I was dragged by Marcus into the kitchen where Caius briskly handed me what looked like a crêpe filled with chocolate sauce.
"Do not eat it now," he instructed just before it reached my mouth, "Aro will drive you to your school so you may eat in the car."
Before I even had the chance to argue, Marcus had placed my bag over my shoulder and my shoes in my left hand, the crêpe still held in my right. A light honk from a car sounded from just outside which prompted me to head for the door.
"Eliana, wait!" he called from behind me, "take your phone with you in the case of an emergency."
"Will do," I smiled, taking my phone from Marcus' hand, "I'll see you when I get back!"
Without hesitation, I sprinted out of the door and down the front path of my house to the kings' BMW which was parked in the driveway. I realised I was still in my socks after painfully stepping on a piece of broken plastic, which caused me to hop around on one foot to the passenger seat and leap in. Once I'd closed the door, Aro, who it turned out had been sitting there for the past few minutes, instantly sped away from the house at full speed, even faster than Alice would usually drive.
"I thought you had set your alarm last night," Aro remarked with a grin.
"Join the club," I rolled my eyes and stuffed down my breakfast in two bites. In my defence, time was of the essence.
I tied my shoelaces clumsily, stressing out about literally everything at once. My heart was beating out of my chest, my breathing becoming rapid. Eli, you're fucked, you're supposed to get your Chinese results today but you might miss it thanks to your incompetence, the little voice inside my head nagged.
"Calm yourself, cara mia. We have already called your school to explain the situation, and there should be no repercussions," he assured.
"How did you know that I was panicking?" I raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.
"Your heart rate was a dead giveaway, but you also apparently did not register the fact that my hand brushed against yours a mere few seconds ago," he explained happily.
"Do you have to read my mind at every given opportunity?"
"I view my ability as part of my identity. And besides, if you no longer wanted me to use my ability on you, that would entail ceasing all skin-to-skin contact. Is that what you would prefer?"
"No," I murmured almost silently.
"What was that?" he teased.
"No," I repeated, a little louder.
"No what?"
I growled, "No, I wouldn't prefer to surrender all skin-to-skin contact with you. Happy, babe?"
"Very much so, bellissima," he smiled smugly, pulling over just outside the main entrance to the school, "I will see you later."
"Toodles!" I yelled crazily as I climbed out of the car, slamming the door behind me and running into the school. Huh, and I thought today couldn't get any weirder than yesterday.
I bolted through my front door, slamming it behind me and throwing my bag across the room with a grin on my face.
"I passed Chinese! I actually passed Chinese! I got a pass!" I rejoiced, skipping up and down on the spot while clutching my result paper to my chest. No response.
"Um…hello? Anyone home?" Still no response.
A handwritten letter on a piece of paper with my name on it quickly caught my attention on the kitchen table. Unfolding it hesitantly, I read it over.
Il mio amore,
Our greatest apologies, but we have been forced to leave your company much sooner than we would like. Unfortunately there is a pressing matter we must attend to this instant, meaning that we are unlikely to see you until the summer. Caius has returned your speaker and you should find it on your desk. Grazie for allowing us to visit you, we cannot wait to meet again very soon.
Ti vogliamo bene.
Seriously? They were only here for two days though. I wasn't trying to seem like a brat or anything, and I was lucky that they even visited at all, but I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye properly. Ugh, I barely even had a chance to hug them.
Folding the letter up, I carried it upstairs excitedly with my Chinese result paper. Nothing, I mean nothing, could ruin my mood at this point. I was so sure I was going to fail, and it was probably only thanks to the kings' reluctant tutoring of me that I passed. Fortunately, my bedroom still kind of smelt of them, so it wasn't like they left without a trace.
"Eli?"
"HOLY FUCK!"
I screamed, tripping over onto my carpet on my face in fright. Looking up at my window, I spotted Santiago comfortably perched on my windowsill, his arms crossed with a bemused look on his face.
"I was looking for something more along the lines of 'Santiago, I've missed your holy presence in my life!', but I guess 'HOLY FUCK' will do," he mimicked.
"If you wanted to visit, couldn't you have just come through the door like any other person?" I growled.
"But you of all people know our kind is far from 'normal', and anyway, dude your reaction was priceless!" he burst out laughing, to the point where I thought he was going to fall out of the window.
"Very funny, but who else is guarding me?"
"Why, am I not good enough company for you?" he pouted.
I ignored him. "Where's Jane and Felix?"
"They have to keep guard of the house, you can't have a bunch of house guests but no guard," he answered.
"Then why are you here?" I raised an eyebrow.
"I dunno. Bored," he shrugged.
I shook my head, settling back onto my bed and trying to block out the judgemental Santiago that was now keeping me company.
"By the way, I passed my Chinese exam!" I remembered, hopping off the bed and handing him the piece of paper with the result.
He let out a melodramatic gasp. "Incredible. Never seen anything like it. You, my dude, are a child prodigy."
"Oh, shut up," I snatched it back from him, "my pass was pure luck."
"Congratulazioni Eli, now all you need to do is move to China," he remarked.
"China's always sounded pretty cool though, they have good food."
"Don't they eat, like, dogs and stuff?" he chuckled.
"I think that might just be a little bit of a racist generalisation there, Santiago," I replied disapprovingly.
"What the hell is this?"
I spun around to face him, noticing he was clutching a copy of Girl's Life magazine with Miley Cyrus on the front.
"It's a magazine, stupid," I giggled, "I have loads of them."
"'Is he into you? How to tell for sure', Eli no offence but this is actually bullshit," he swore.
"Don't be like that, it's just a bit of fun," I laid down on the floor, my legs crossed at my ankles.
Santiago grabbed a pile of magazines from the windowsill and settled down beside me, glancing through them and visibly cringing.
"What the hell, Eli? How old are you?" he whacked his face with a copy with Ashley Tisdale on the cover.
"Come on, are you really going to try and convince me you don't like High School Musical?" I leant my head on my right arm, turning to face him.
"No, don't get me wrong, I love it, but why do you even buy these?" he asked, tossing one lightly across the room.
"What can I say? Last year, I was straight-up going through a phase and spent all of my money on a twelve-month subscription," I admitted.
"Hmm, look at this: 'back to school blowout! Make new friends, ace your classes, stress way less'. Dude, you should start taking advice from these," he read out sarcastically.
"Or maybe you should," I raised my eyebrows up and down teasingly.
He gasped, picking up another copy over-enthusiastically. "This one's a 'super quiz special'! And look at these: 'Get your dating rating! Are you for real? What's your friendship style?'" he laughed.
"Well, you're just jealous that my dating rating is higher than yours!" I joked.
"No way!"
"Uh, you're forgetting that I'm quite literally seeing three men at once so… I think that makes my dating rating way better!"
"Right, because they're going to put a box on the quiz with the question, 'How many guys would you say you approximately go out with at any given time?'"
"This jealousy Santiago, wow!" I quipped.
"Mine is probably way higher in anyway!"
"What makes you say that then, hmm?"
"I'm a lot older than you!"
"Actually, how old are you?" I asked him curiously.
"Guess."
"One hundred?"
"Higher."
"Five hundred?"
"A little higher.
"Six hundred?"
"Still a little higher.
"Six hundred and fifty?"
"Ding ding ding! I mean, approximately, I lose count," he responded.
"So what year were you born?" I tilted my head.
"Roughly 1350 AD."
"That's-"
I was interrupted instantly when my mother flinged the door open, an excited smile on her face. Turning around, I noticed that instead of acting like any other vampire and escaping, Santiago was still lying on my floor, Girl's Life magazine in hand.
"Hey mum, um, how was the work trip?" I asked nervously.
"It was great, your father is still over in Germany but I was lucky enough to come back a few days earlier to see my baby!" my mother cooed, pulling me into a suffocating hug.
"Okay, can you let go of me please?" I struggled, spotting Santiago's judgemental expression out of the corner of my eye.
She gasped excitedly. "Eli, I didn't realise you had a friend over!"
Santiago waved like an absolute dork, only to be kicked in the arm by me. Of course it didn't hurt him, but he groaned in pain just for effect.
"Yeah, mum this is Sa…," I paused, "…m."
"Sam? Well, it's lovely to meet you, Sam. Can I get you anything? Will you be staying for dinner? We'll be eating in fifteen or so minutes, its pizza night."
"Oh, I don't think-"
"That would be lovely, Mrs. Arrowood. However, due to a current medical condition, I will not be able to eat with you, but I will gladly join you," he smiled politely. Geez, where was Mr. Nice Guy earlier?
"I'm very sorry to hear about your medical condition Sam, but you are welcome to stay during dinner nonetheless," my mother answered happily before turning to me, "I also expect you to do the laundry once your boyfriend has left."
"Mum, he's not my-"
I didn't even have a chance to finish my sentence before she left the room, closing the door behind her and skipping back down the stairs while humming goodness knows what song. Instantly, I turned to glare at Santiago.
"What the hell? Dinner? You're really inviting yourself for dinner?" I hissed.
"Chill dude, it was your mother who offered, and it's rude to turn down such a kind offer like that," he chuckled innocently.
"But she thinks we're dating!"
"So? It's fine, just tell her that we're simply friends," he added.
I flopped backwards onto my bed and sighed. "Why are you doing this? Actually, why are you doing this?"
"To be honest, I'm just in it for the embarrassing stories really. You should see the way you blush when you're embarrassed, it's hilarious!" he laughed.
"Hmm, I'm sure," I growled.
"So, Sam," my mother began once we were settled at the table, "how long have you and Eli been together for?"
"We're not dating!" we both accidentally yelled together.
"Ah, just friends. How did you two meet then?"
"Well, Eli here is actually in my Chinese class," he responded.
I just wanted to leave the table in that exact moment. Why was he doing this to me? If anything, I was hoping to simply spend the evening watching a movie and eating pizza by myself, but no, instead I was listening to Santiago create this alter-ego in which he is an ill classmate of mine.
"That reminds me, how was your Chinese grade?" my mother asked.
"I passed," I murmured, grouchily picking at my pizza.
"Well, that's brilliant, I'm so proud of you!" she squealed, squeezing me into another painful hug before switching to Santiago, "what about you, Sam? If you don't mind me asking."
"Not at all, I in fact passed as well," he answered.
"Wow, I guess we have two Chinese speakers in this house! This calls for a celebration!" she jumped up and bustled over to the wine cupboard, bringing back a bottle of rosé wine and three glasses, "Sam, do you drink?"
"I'm afraid not, thank you for the offer," he replied politely.
She poured me a glass, and I growled before taking a massive gulp. In my defence, the only way I was going to make it through the dinner would be if I was drunk.
"Has Eli shown you her baby photo album yet?" she asked, leaning back and picking up the album.
"MUM!"
Author's note: Ugh, the kings are gone, but instead you get some quality Santiago content, so you're welcome. Sorry if this whole chapter was kinda uneventful, but things will hopefully pick back up soon-ish.
ALSO NEW COVER ALERT! I just thought that my story deserved to have a slightly better cover so I went with my instincts and made one, yay! Sorry if it's crap, I tried haha.
Anyways, thank you so much for reading, be sure to leave some feedback because reading your comments makes my day honestly, stay safe, and ily!