Vampire's Aren't Real

Disclaimer: I don't own The Lost Boys.

Author's Note: If you read any of my other stories you may see this same note but for those of you that don't I will not be updating any of my stories after the 27th of this month until the 11th of next month because I will not be at home, this story may or may not have one more update before then but just in case it doesn't I felt the need to let you know about it now. As soon as I return I will likely post a new chapter for every story I'm currently updating since being away doesn't mean I won't write so look forward to that! Now onto the story!

*EDIT 10/28/18* Chapter beta'd by exaigon!

Chapter 2: Introduction to the Boardwalk

"Where are you going?" A little girl in a baby blue nightgown asked.

A teenage boy who was halfway out the living room window made a shooing motion while saying, "Go back to bed."

She shook her head making her curly blonde hair fall into her face. "Take me with you."

"No," he told her stubbornly.

The little girl was just as stubborn as him though, so she threatened, "I'll tell mom."

He sighed, "You're such a brat... Fine come on."

She smiled brightly.

Red.

It was dark and red.

It was suddenly raining red. She was no longer blonde and her baby blue nightgown wasn't very blue anymore either.

Laughter. Someone was laughing?

Screaming? Who? Zack!? Hazel eyes widened as a horrifying fang filled face appeared before her. Then another and another.

She was surrounded! Where was Zack? Where was her brother!?

She tried to run only to trip over something… It was her brother; his face was frozen in fear.

He was red too.

A dog barked. Ms. Minnie? Her mom's dog ran by and her hands gripped the sand under her small body. The beach? Standing up, she looked out at the ocean. A sign flashed saying, 'Murder Capital of the World.' But it disappeared just as fast as it appeared and the scene was peaceful for a moment until the music and the screams started.

Looking around she found she was standing on a hill and still a little girl… and still covered in red… in blood, she finally noticed.

She tried to wipe it away fearfully, but her hands were also covered in it so it did nothing but smear it further.

The music and screams stopped.

Her eyes looked up into a terrifying face…

A vampire's face.

She screamed.

Lydia shot up in a panic and looked around, frantically eyeing her unfamiliar surroundings before realizing where she was; her new bedroom.

The teen was drenched in a cold sweat.

It was making her queasy. She had to tell herself that it was not blood while trying to stop her body from shaking as well.

"It was just a dream," the blonde told herself trying to calm down her rapid breaths while her heartbeat continued to run at, what felt like, a mile a minute.

"Just a nightmare... It's not real." Grasping her hands together she looked around her mostly empty room, "No it was... but it didn't happen like that. I didn't run from anything… I was hiding, not running. I was under a car, and it was a murderer, not vampires."

Taking a deep breath, she continued speaking aloud hoping to make herself feel better, "Ms. Minnie wasn't there. That was because of what happened last night... and remember, vampires aren't real... I was just seeing things. It was stress, the move, mom, a new school, not being able to find the dog… it all just got to me."

See? Everything had a perfectly logical explanation when you stopped and thought about it all the way through.

With that thought, she flopped back down and tried to close her eyes feeling exhausted and just wanting to go back to sleep; without the nightmares hopefully. But the second she started to relax, the sound of screams echoed inside of her mind startling her awake fully and causing her heart to pound painfully.

Lydia had not had that dream... no, that nightmare in a long time…

The move was messing with her more than she thought it would. First seeing things and now the nightmares…

The teenager was so sure she had moved passed all of this. Hopefully, it would settle down as soon as the move wasn't so fresh. If not, the girl had no idea what to do... One thing she did know though was that her mother would not be finding out about it no matter what... The last thing her poor mom needed was a mentally unstable daughter with everything else that was on her plate.

The next day was Sunday so Lydia didn't have to get up early and try her luck out at her new school just yet. Which was good because she was sure she looked like the walking dead...

That was a zombie reference not a vampire one, she thought before deciding to avoid referencing dead things all together.

Simply put, she was tired...

She'd maybe gotten four hours of sleep in and then tossed and turned, only to just doze off when her mom came and woke her up so they could have a bit of breakfast before they got to unpacking.

After nearly face planting into her cereal bowl and assuring her mom that she was okay, Lydia decided to go walk the beach to clear her head. It was bound to help her, going back to a place that appeared in her nightmare to show herself that there was nothing to be afraid of.

Maybe that would help to calm her nerves. Mentioning it to her mom made her smile and ask, "Do you want to take Ms. Minnie with you?"

Her immediate shout of 'no' startled her mother so she was quick to say, "I just think it'd be too much excitement for her after last night... All the people seemed to really stress her out."

If Lydia had her way that troublesome mutt would never set a paw on the beach again after the scare it gave her last night. Maybe if she hadn't taken off, Lydia wouldn't have gotten so spooked that she started seeing things.

"...Okay dear if you think so. She can help me start to unpack but don't stay gone too long. You need to help with that too." After saying that, her mom put her bowl in the sink. They had a box marked kitchen opened and had pulled out some dishes along with one of the few things of food they had, that being a box of cereal. Some grocery shopping was in the near future for them unless they wanted cereal for dinner as well.

"I won't be gone long. I'll just stretch my legs a bit and then head back." The ride to the boardwalk had been a short one so the walk to the beach, which was right off of the boardwalk, shouldn't take her very long.

Turned out the walk from her new home to the beach was a little over four miles and while she didn't mind the walk it meant that she couldn't spend as long on the beach if it took her just over another hour to walk back home.

That was already two hours which she could've been using to help her mom unpack.

Lydia sat down on the sand to give herself a small break and admire the waves.

Next time she walked the blonde knew she would need to make a day trip out of it to make the distance worth it. That or she could get a job and get a bicycle… t was faster than walking and cheaper than a car, so it was manageable.

After that thought, Lydia considered calling a cab so she could get home quicker but that would be both a phone booth fee and a cab… She should probably be wiser with the little pocket money she had managed to save up.

Like using it to buy food… or help pay for that bike.

Well, at least the trip did help to wake her up as well as help get her mind off of certain things. Sadly, other thoughts, or rather worries, just took their place.

After a few more seconds she got back to her feet and decided to head back home and to the many boxes she has to unpack. Besides her clothes and her old sleeping bag, her room was bare. Maybe decorating it would raise her spirits.

That evening she stayed home unpacking while her mom left to pick up enough food for the next few days. While unpacking, she thought back to the boys she met on the beach, Paul and his friend? Marko! Who had found Ms. Minnie. Part of her had been looking for them earlier at the beach but as she didn't get to stay long it didn't surprise her that she didn't see them.

Lydia shook her head. It wasn't likely she'd run into them again. The way they dressed meant they probably wouldn't be interested in hanging out with someone boring and plain like her. She might as well change her name to Jane... she was that uninteresting. Such a depressing thought but nevertheless true in her eyes.

Putting away her clothes just moments before proved that. Her clothes were boring. Once, as a child, she had preferred girly clothes but that was mostly because she wanted to wear what Kim did. Now, though, if it fit it worked.

Not exactly the best way to make a good first impression at school tomorrow, she told herself with a sigh. Maybe she could throw together something decent… or even do something with her hair.

Looking into her mirror that she had hanging on the back of her bedroom door, she lifted some strands of hair away from her head before letting it fall back hopelessly. Her hair was straight, no volume or style whatsoever… Not that she ever had a reason to try. But, of course, now that she wanted it she didn't know how as Lydia never paid any attention to that type of stuff.

She regretted that decision now.

It wasn't like she could afford to go to a salon either.

What could she do by herself? There must be something… Maybe she could at least give it some volume.

Maybe not curl it though… Her mom used to put those annoying curlers in it to give her the Shirley Temple look that her mom found, oh so, adorable. It was cute for a kid and that's why she would not be asking her mom for any help in that department.

Sighing, she decided to worry about it in the morning.

When morning came Lydia had had another restless night due to the nightmares that still plagued her. It was all she could do to just try to make herself look presentable enough for going into public. After throwing on an old band tee, not caring which band it was, and a pair of blue jeans she proceeded to hide the bags under her eyes with some makeup that she had just for this type of occasion. She'd made up her mind. She wasn't going to make a big deal about it. Whether she made friends or not, it was still bound to be loads better than her last school.

In the kitchen her mom had made toast having bought bread and successfully finding the toaster last night while unpacking. So Lydia munched on a piece and drank some orange juice, though she wasn't a fan of the latter. Her mom wanted her to have more vitamin D in her life so this was the best way to appease her aside from going outside and actually soaking it up and that sounded less appealing than drinking her orange juice did so... juice it was.

"Ready for your first day?" Her mom asked a few minutes later as the two of them got into the car.

"I guess. What about you? Don't you start working today?"

Her mother nodded happily, "Yes. Are you sure you'll be fine until I get off?"

Lydia refrained from rolling her eyes at her mother's worry. The bakery opened at seven, but her mom's hours happened to be from one until closing which was at ten. That meant that the blonde would either be grabbing a ride after school or walking… Most likely she was going to be walking.

"Yes, I'll be fine. I'll probably just walk to the boardwalk and meet you at the bakery around ten."

Her mother glanced over. "You don't know where it is though."

Once more worry was present in her voice.

"I'll have plenty of time to find it. You just need to concentrate on showing off your amazing baked goodies to the world." Lydia smiled and then added, "Everything will be fine, you'll see."

The two arrived at the high school shortly after that and Lydia got out of the car while her mom rolled down the window and called out, "Bye, have a good first-day sweetie!"

She just waved back and tried to ignore the attention her mom put on her by the other arriving students.

Lydia didn't let it bother her, it was just her mom… and her mom was very good at her motherly skill to embarrass her children. Zack used to complain about it all the time. The blonde shoved that thought away not wanting to think about her brother during her first day of school.

If she had a total meltdown and saw something at school then she'd be back to being known as crazy. Having half a school year free of that couldn't be too much to ask for could it?

So far, the day had been normal, more so than she could ever recall. Lydia was eating lunch when some of her classmates approached her.

"Hey new girl," a blonde girl with much better hair than her own called before her and three others, two girls and a guy, flopped down on the outside bench with their own lunches.

The teen had decided to eat outside as opposed to in the cafeteria. It wasn't that she preferred a nice sunny picnic area. No, with her fair skin she'd likely burn if she stayed outside too long, but there were a lot fewer students out here and that's what made it appealing to her.

Lydia knew she'd have to eventually get used to not hiding away from people, but it was a hard habit to break.

"So, I'm Sarah," the girl from before said before pointing to the others and introducing them also, "this is my boyfriend Steven." He wasn't paying them much attention as he stuffed his face but he did wave a bit at the mention of his name. "That's Lizzy." Another blonde, but this one had enough volume in her hair to compensate for the whole school, let alone Lydia's own lack of it. "And she's Kimmie."

Lydia had to stop herself from cringing at the name. Great. Another Kim…

Honestly, though, it wasn't fair to judge someone based off of a name that someone else had and she knew that. But it still it kind of felt like the Kim back home was laughing at her and telling her she'd never get away from her. It was stupid… This Kim or Kimmie looked nothing like the other girl.

She was brunette while the other was blonde and the cut was different as Kim back home would never keep her hair above the waistline. This girl's hair wasn't even to her shoulders.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Lydia."

The other girl, Lizzy, chimed in, "Nope you're new girl! We've not had any new students in ages, so you're stuck with it."

"…Guess I'll have to let my mom about the name change then," she joked which caused Sarah to erupt into a giggling fit for several minutes. It really wasn't that funny… or funny at all but whatever. Weird or not they were still talking to her.

Though, they might not have the best intentions in doing s. She couldn't be sure.

"This is a weird time to transfer. I mean two weeks and then we're out for Christmas break." Lizzie stated.

True, but try telling that to someone that's repossessing your house… They don't care and letting her miss two weeks of her final year wasn't something her mom was comfortable with.

"So, how long have you been here?" Kimmie asked before biting into an apple.

"My mom got a new job so that's why we had to move so suddenly. We only arrived over the weekend."

"That's not long. Have you been to the boardwalk yet?" Lizzie asked

"No not really. I walked through it a bit to get to the beach, but mostly I've just been unpacking." That said she finishes off her sandwich while Lizzie looks to Sarah.

"Well that just won't do," the other girl nodded her agreement.

"She's right. You need the full Santa Carla experience. What're you doing after school?" Sarah asked.

"…Going to the boardwalk to find the store my mom works at, then finding somewhere to do my homework."

"Nope!" Sarah chirped.

"Now you're going to the boardwalk with us and we're going to show you all the cool places. Then you can tell us where your mom works and we'll take you there."

Lydia raised an eyebrow at their pushiness, or rather Sarah's, but the rest of them seemed on board with it. Looked like she was the unofficial leader.

"And my homework?"

Lizzie laughed, "You do that at home!"

There was a silent 'duh' tacked on that almost had the new student rolling her eyes but she didn't. Even if she got home after ten it wasn't likely she'd get much sleep tonight either so why not stay up late doing homework. It might be the key to making her too tired to have nightmares.

"Okay, I guess it could be fun."

Sarah clapped, "That's the spirit!"

Just then the bell rang signaling lunch was over and the group split up for next period. Though not her and Kimmie. It seemed they have the same math together. Joy.

Lydia tried to remind herself that all people with the name Kim couldn't possibly be horrible, but she didn't quite succeed.

After school let out she waited outside with Steven who she had last period with.

"So where did you live before this?" He asked but she could tell it was out of boredom and not any real desire to know more about her.

"Nevada." That's why she didn't elaborate on her answer and he just nodded with a, "Cool."

His tone was about as interested as it was when he answered a question in their class together and by that she meant not at all interested. He was probably just waiting here because of Sarah. Lydia wasn't sure what the other saw in him... he seemed boring.

But then again she didn't really know him so maybe he was the life of the party outside of a school setting. Glancing at his zoned out face she thought maybe not.

Then they waited in silence for a few more minutes before the other girls appeared. For once she's glad to have the girl's chatter as the boy beside her didn't seem to care about her presence one way or another.

Lydia spent the next two hours walking around and going shop to shop, mostly boutiques and antique shops… It wasn't boring looking at things, but constantly telling the girls she was just going to browse and not buy was annoying.

"We'll bring you back tomorrow so bring some money with you then, okay?" Sarah told her and the teen didn't argue. She didn't want to waste the little she had saved up on something pointless, but did she really want them to know she was that broke?

All of them were just buying worthless things left and right. It was irritating, but not because they had money, because they seemed to expect everyone else to as well.

Eventually, she told them where her mom worked and the group went to the bakery. Mom was thrilled to see her and to see that she wasn't alone but didn't have time to talk. Instead, she offered to give Lydia and her friends a muffin. It was enough to tide her over until they got home and had dinner.

The group happily accepted and then mentioned going to go grab some dinner, which in turn had her mom giving her money to go eat out with her friends.

Lydia tried to quietly protest so her new maybe-friends wouldn't hear but her mom just shook her head and said, "Don't worry I have a job now." She didn't argue back that it doesn't pay much, not wanting to upset her mom, "So I can afford to give you money to eat out with your friends occasionally."

Reluctantly, she took the money.

It was just after six when they found a place to eat and, mostly, they talked about nothing in particular. Lydia wasn't used to having conversations like this. It wasn't overly fun, but it wasn't horrible. She didn't think she had anything in common with this group, but she was willing to try or to fake it, at least until school was over.

What came next she had no idea, but it was best to focus on the present.

By the time they finished eating they were just sitting around talking much to the annoyance of the waiters. It was close to eight o' clock and Lizzie told them she had to go home so Steven gave her a ride and said he'd come back to pick up the other girls later.

So it was just Lydia with Sarah, the pushy leader girl, and Kimmie, the girl with the unfortunate name. Hopefully, she'd get over that soon but at least the new student didn't think she treated Kimmie any differently than the others so that was something.

"Where to now?" Lydia asked and just as Sarah was about to speak bike engines filled the air.

"Not them again…" Sarah groaned and grabbed both girls' arms and backed them up.

"I don't get it, Sarah, they're so ho. How can you say that every time!?" Kimmie squealed.

Lydia just looks back and forth between them confused.

Sarah, still holding onto each of the girls' arms, huffed, "They nearly ran me over!"

Kimmie giggled, "Is that it. You're still not over that? It was like last year and, well, you weren't paying attention."

The girl glared in response, "Of course I'm still not over it! And why should I pay attention? I wasn't the one riding on those-those things!" The last part was said with enough distaste that the new girl immediately understood Sarah wasn't a motorcycle fan.

The two continued their argument but Lydia tuned them out as the sounds grew closer until they were right there. The bikes passed by them and Lydia caught sight of a familiar face. Two, in fact, from two nights earlier.

Paul and Marko. The others she'd seen only at a distance and didn't catch their names, but it was definitely them. Her eyes locked with Paul's for a minute and he smiled at her but then the group of bikers had passed and they were out of sight with only the sound of the bikes to let her know that they were ever there to begin with.

Did he really see her? Look at her? Was he smiling at her or was it just wishful thinking?

She was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts by a tug on her arm, "Oh come on not you too!" Sarah said and Lydia smartly replies with a 'huh?' Yeah totally using her brain for that response.

"I get that they're hot and all but don't be fooled! They're not your type or anyone's type-"

Kimmie snorted but Sarah continued to rant, "They don't care about anything. Certainly not if they run over someone with their stupid bikes," Wow she could hold a grudge. The blonde decided to remember that for future reference, "and did you see what they were wearing?"

Lydia's eyes drifted to Kimmie who shrugged as if used to this rant.

"They're no good. Anyone with eyes and a brain can see that!"

Not knowing how to deal with this, Lydia just nodded as if she agreed with everything the girl said. It seemed to appease her.

Still, Lydia kind of hoped that, bad news or not, Paul had been looking at her. Knowing her luck he'd just been glancing in her general direction and didn't even see her or worse didn't remember her.

Thanks for reading, sorry the boys weren't really in this one, but Paul and Lydia interact again in the next chapter! Drop a review if you feel like it, thanks!