A week passed without much happening. Vlad went to class and diligently did all of his assigments. He could tell his teachers liked him for his responsible attitude, although he didn't talk to them much outside of answering questions in class. He would occasionally watch TV with Jack, whose favorite shows, of course, concerned ghosts. He spent a lot of his time sleeping. The next Monday, he walked into nuclear physics, expecting the same humdrum routine of last week. He slumped down next to Jack, who immediatley launched into one of his multiple daily ghost rants. Class soon started, and Vlad was jotting down notes when he heard a knock on the oak-paneled door.
"Come in," Hardwick said, not looking away from the chalkboard. The door creaked as it slowly opened, revealing the most ravishing creature Vlad had ever seen.
Everything about her was astonishingly beautiful from her long, smooth auburn hair, to her pale, porcelain skin, to her warm violet eyes and curvaceous body. She wore a white, floral sundress with calf-high brown leather boots and blue, circular plastic earrings. Within seconds of seeing her, Vlad knew he was love.
Hardwick, hearing her walk in, turned his head to look at the vision in white.
"Hello, he greeted her in a disinterested tone. "And who might you be?"
"Madeline Walker, she answered in a thick, honey-sweet Southern accent. Madeline, Vlad thought. So the angel does have a name. And what a lovely name. "I sent you a letter telling you I was going to arrive a week late. You see, my great-grandma died two weeks ago, and with the funeral and everything, I just wasn't able to get here in time-"
"Spare me the plesantries, Miss Walker." Hardwick interrupted her. "Now please take your seat. As you can see, we're in the middle of a lesson." Madeline walked towards the back of the room, and Vlad's heart leapt as he saw her making her way towards them. Please sit with us, he thought desperately . Please sit with us. Vlad's thoughts were interrupted by the most wonderful sound in the universe; the voice of Madeline Walker
"Hello," she said, sounding somewhat nervous. "May I sit with y'all?" Their small table had three seats, but no one wanted to sit near Jack and risk hearing a twenty-five minute tirade on ghosts.
"You can have my seat!" Vlad offered, getting up and letting Madeline sit in between him and Jack. In retrospect, he realized he should've just let her sit next to him, but he was desperate to impress her.
"Hi there!" Jack greeted her. Vlad jumped. He'd forgotten his friend was even there
"Hi," she said, reaching out a dainty hand to shake Jack's huge one. Even with his rudimentary knowledge of beauty products, Vlad couldn't help but be impressed with her perfectly manicured sky-blue nails, which were coordinated to match her earrings. "I'm John Fenton!" He introduced himself happily. "But you can call me Jack."
"Why, hello Jack," Madeline responded, amused to by his enthusiasm. "As you've already heard, I'm Madeline Walker. But you can call me Maddie." What a sweet nickname, Vlad thought.
"That reminds me, I had a teacher named Maddie once. Maddie Mortowski." Jack commented, the easily distractable boy going off onto another one of his tangents. "She was old. And mean. And ugly." Jack wrinkled his nose at the memory. Maddie looked up at him, her brow furrowed in confusion as to whether or not he was insulting her . "Oh, but you're not!" Jack corrected himself, realizing his faux-paus. "You're nice and pretty!"
Vlad bristled at his friend complimenting his future girlfriend. Alright, Vlad, don't jump to conclusions, he thought. This is gonna take time and work. And don't mind Jack, you know how he is. He probably just means it in an innocent way.
"Well, thank you Jack, it's nice to have someone notice all this hard work," Maddie quipped, laughing lightheartedly as as she jokingly flipped her hair. "I like your nails!" Vlad blurted out, desperate to get her attention off of his roommate.
"Oh, uh, thanks." Maddie replied, slightly startled by the sudden remark from the seemingly quiet boy. "My cousin Julie painted them. Don't they look nice?"
"Yeah, they look great." Vlad complimented her, glad to have her attention. "Your cousin is really talented."
"She is." Maddie agreed "She's in her second year of beauty school."
"Oh, cool. My cousin owns a barber shop in Chi-
"Excuse me!" Their conversation was interrupted by a clearly annoyed Hardwick. "What did I say about talking in class?"
"I'm v-very sorry sir," Maddie stuttered an apology. "I-I was just trying to get acquainted with my classmates, and-"
"Quiet," Hardwick calmly ordered the teenager. "Since this is your first day, I'll spare you the lecture.
"But as for you two, Mr. Fenton, Mr. Masters,"
Vlad let out an exasperated sigh as the professor turned his aggravation towards the two boys.
"This is your final warning. Any more talking in class and you're going straight to the dean's office. Is that clear?
"Yes, Professor Hardwick," Vlad and Jack quickly mumbled in unison. And so the three students quietly jotted down notes, Vlad stealing covert glances at Maddie as often as he could. The bell rang, and following their routine, Vlad and Jack rose from their seats and headed out of the classroom towards the school cafeteria, where they walk out to eat lunch in one the campus' many courtyards. As they shuffled through the hallway, Jack chattering on about ghosts, Vlad suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw, to his immense delight, Maddie Walker.
"Hi fellas!" She sweetly greeted them. "You were awful nice to me back there, and I just thought I'd thank you. It's tough gettin' here late.
Vlad hoped his blushing wasn't as obvious to her as it was to him. "Oh, well, it's no trouble at all." He replied sheepishly.
"You're very welcome!" Jack loudly chimed in. Vlad sighed. Why does he always have to butt in with her, he thought.
"I'm just doing what my mother taught me," Jack said, tipping an imaginary hat.
"Well, she taught you well," Maddie complimented him. Goddamn, what is going on here? Am I being upstaged by a doof? Vlad wondered. Alright, alright, chill out, man, don't be too hard on the guy, and besides, you just met the girl. Don't get ahead of yourself. He didn't have a ton of experience with girls back home, but he was proficient enough. He'd gone on some dates, although he'd only ever had one real girlfriend, a friend of his Russian cousins, Irina Kuznetsov, another child of Soviet defectors. She was a sweet girl, but she wasn't the brightest bulb and they had little to talk about, so their relationship only lasted a few months. And while he wished her all the best, he wasn't too bummed out when they broke up. Then again, it didn't seem like she was either. Besides, Irina and any other girl he'd ever been with no longer mattered. Now there was only Maddie.
Vlad was brought out of his reminiscing by the sound of Jack and Maddie's rather animated conversation. She was grinning as he told her about his ten sisters in the Ozarks. Shit, Vlad, say something! Don't just stand there like a dumbass! "So, Maddie, where are you from?" Vlad sputtered out the first thing that popped into his head. Get it together, man. He was usually so cool and calm. But something about Maddie made him tongue-tied.
"Well, I'm from a little town called Spittoon," she answered. "It's in Arkansas. Real tiny place, we only got about 2,000 people living there."
"Wow," Vlad replied. "I grew up in Chicago, so I can't imagine that. I'm used to quite a crowd."
"You mean you grew up in a big city!" Maddie's eyes lit up with excitement, and Vlad felt a surge of happiness as he saw her smile and knew he was the cause of it. "Oh man, I've always wanted to go to one. It's my lifelong dream to visit New York City. See the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty. Go to a real major league baseball game!
"Well, I've never been to New York, but I've been to many Cubs games in my life." Vlad remembered his aunt Francesca and uncle Angelo taking him to Wrigley Field with his cousins Bella, Antonia, and Vinny several times growing up. They were the only members of his Italian-American father's family that stayed in touch with him and his mother.
"Wow! You're so lucky!" Maddie said.
Vlad found Maddie's amazement at what he considered mundane to be absolutely adorable.
"I'd love to go to New York City!" Jack added. Vlad felt dejected as Maddie immediatley turned to him. "I hear there are lots of ghosts there!" Oh this is just fan-fucking-tastic. This'll drive her away for sure.
"Ghosts?" Maddie said quizzically. "You believe in ghosts?"
"Why of course I do! I've been observing paranormal phonomena since I was knee-high."
"Well then that must've been a very long time ago ." Maddie commented. "You're taller than a horse on its hind legs!" At that, both Jack and Maddie laughed. From anyone else, Vlad would've thought that was an insult. But coming from Maddie's sweet voice, it almost sounded like a compliment. Shit. Of All the people to be upstaged by, Scooby-doo over here takes the cake.
"Well, ghosts aren't very scientific," Maddie mused, continuing her conversation with Jack. "But they are quite interesting. My aunt Flora always swears she saw one. But then again, she did a lot of drugs in the 60s."
"Trust me Mads, ghosts are very scientific. You just have to know where to look." Great, she has a nickname now. What's next? A date at a haunted house? . Vlad's anger at this fact quickly faded. Chill out. The guy loves nicknames. You were V-Man within seconds of meeting him. "Well that sounds fascinating." Maddie said. "Maybe we can all look together somday." Oh my God, she's probably the only person on the planet besides his parents and gajillion sisters that takes this shit seriously, Vlad thought, shocked that she seemed to take interest in or even believe Jack's theories. But hey, maybe she's just humoring him. Besides, she did say "we all," and not just "we." And I'll even go on some stupid ghost-hunting expedition if it means I get to spend time with her.
"Aww, no." Maddie sighed, glancing at her pink plastic watch. "I was really enjoying our conversation, but I have to run over to my next class. But it was great meeting you guys!" To Vlad's surprise, she turned and gave Jack a quick hug. His jealously immediatley subsided when she turned and hugged him as well. Despite the fact that the hug lasted about two seconds, it was heavenly. Her hair smelled like cherry blossoms, and her smooth, soft arms felt lovely as they brushed against his neck.
She pulled away, and at his surprised expression, Maddie's pale cheeks flushed crimson. "Sorry, fellas. Back home everyone hugs everyone, so I'm just used to it."
"Oh, it's fine!" Vlad quickly replied, hoping he assuaged her embarrassment.
"Yeah hugs are awesome!" Jack added. "I used to hug my pet pig Shirley every morning when I went to go feed her!" Someone needs to get this man on Johnny Carson stat. He'd have everyone in stiches without even trying. Maddie laughed again, and it was a beautiful sound. It was so nice to hear that Vlad didn't even care that he wasn't the one making her laugh.
"Well before I go," Maddie said once she stopped laughing, "I'd like to give you both my number. Would you mind giving me yours as well?" Yes yes yes! Even though she was giving both of them her number, Vlad was delighted to know that he at least had a chance. He'd beaten much worse odds in his young life. "Oh, of course. It's no trouble at all," Vlad smiled.
"Sure!" Jack enthusiastically agreed.
"Do either of you have a pen?" Maddie asked.
"Yeah! I mean yeah, I do," Vlad quickly answered, try to act calmer than he really felt. Girls didn't like it when a guy got all starry-eyed in front of them. He fished an old, scratched-up blue pen from his pocket and handed to her. She tore four tiny scraps of paper out of her notebook, handing two to the boys and writing her own number on the other two. They all jotted down their numbers and passed the little slips of paper to each other. "Buy fellas!" Maddie yelled down the hallway as she walked away. "It was great meetin' y'all! Call soon!"
Vlad and Jack watched her gorgeous form get smaller and smaller as she dissapeared down the long, narrow grey hallway and turned down the linoleum steps.
"Wow, she is sure is something." Jack commented. "Yeah," Vlad agreed, too entranced to feel any jealousy. "She sure is."
Wow, that chapter was a lot longer than the last one! We seem to have a little love triangle on our hands here. I know Vlad seems to resent Jack somewhat here, but I promise it's just romantic jealousy. Their friendship will continue to flourish. I also promise I have a lot in store for these characters, and the many more characters that will show up along the way. There some be some familiar faces, and some new ones too. This story in currently in Vlad's POV, but I expect to write from different POVs as this story continues. From now on I will always show whose POV it is at the beginning of the chapter. And anytime I'm writing a characters' internal thoughts, it will be in italics, like this.I would like to add that each chapter will be named after a song from the 60s, 70s, and 80s, when this trio was born and grew up. I highly recommend you listen to all of these songs. The last chapter was named after Only The Beginning by Chicago, and this chapter is named after Girl by The Beatles. It should also be noted that while in the show Maddie had big 80s hair and leg-warmers during flashbacks, this is still the very early 80s, so most of the trends from the late 70s were still going strong. But don't worry, Maddie and the rest of the characters will be in all their 80s glory soon enough . Please leave reviews, and be as honest as possible. And as always, thank you for reading!