This was the most fun I had writing a chapter in a long time, I'm really happy with it! Thanks to all who read, reviewed, gave ideas and all that good stuff! =]
This chapter is dedicated to Precious and xBreakingxSanityx
Enjoy!
I don't own My Babysitter's A Vampire. Or Star Wars.
Ryellie's affinity toward Ethan could only be explained by the fact that he was a familiar face. She knew nothing about him, but since he was Benny's best friend, she knew it was a good choice to be his substitute lab partner. Seeing as she made the class have an uneven number of students, it was their hope that once Benny returned, the three of them would form a 'lab team'.
"Good mornin' to ya, lassie."
She would have shook her head and glared at Ethan if she wasn't so busy laughing. As his first words to her, they were quite memorable. He could tell she was a little offended, and tried to defend himself. "What reaction did you expect to get out of wearing that dress?" He asked, referring to the kilt-like pattern.
"Exactly that one." Ryellie admitted. She didn't exactly mind, but the comment reminded her of teasing. Even though she knew Ethan didn't mean it in a bad way. "I guess it's what I deserve for making my mom short a curtain." It was Ethan's turn to laugh then.
They went about their class work silently. Ethan because he needed to concentrate, Ryellie because she didn't have anything to say. It was a comfortable silence, and the two somehow bonded through it. The day was shaping up to be a Monday Ryellie couldn't possibly hate.
Ryellie got to hear a lot about Sarah once the class work was done.
She knew that Ethan liked Sarah immediately, it was his tone of voice that gave that away. She smiled at this. It was a story she'd heard before, but with a twist: a crush on the on the babysitter. In Ryellie's opinion, it was cute. That wasn't the only reason she was rooting for them, though.
Aside from the fact that Ryellie thought Ethan and Sarah would make a perfect match, they gave her hope. Ryellie didn't know what for, but she liked the feeling.
Ryellie knew forming a friendship wasn't going to be as simple as it had been with Ethan when it came to the other kids at Whitechapel, but she didn't let herself worry.
She saw Sarah in the hallway later on in the day, and knew that when Ethan had said she was beautiful, he hadn't just been blinded by love.
Looking at her, it was almost as if Ryellie could see into Sarah's soul. The thought was slightly creepy, it gave Ryellie a chill. Or maybe that was just from the cold. Ryellie didn't know what to blame her shivers on, but she shrugged that off when Sarah spoke.
"Hey. Ryellie, right? Ethan's told me about you. I'm Sarah." She said with a smile, Erica at her side.
Ryellie was practically beaming. Knowing that Ethan had talked about her made her feel special.
"Hey, Sarah. Ethan's spoken a lot of you." Ryellie couldn't help the stress she put on that sentence, and hoped Ethan wouldn't be mad at her for dropping hints. Although, by the look of Sarah's sunny smile, it seemed that she didn't need any hints.
"I'm sorry… for what happened." Sarah told Ryellie, although her first day in Whitechapel had been the furthest thing from her mind. At least, the morning of it was.
"It's fine." She replied. "I'm really happy here."
"What kind of name is Ryellie?" Erica asked.
She either hadn't heard about Ryellie's first day, or she just didn't care. Sarah glared at her, but Ryellie brushed it off. She wasn't going to let that bother her anymore. In fact, she spoke louder, not letting herself be intimidated. "It's my kind of name. What's yours?"
"Erica."
"Erica as in brave, honorable leader?" Ryellie asked, referring to the meaning of Erica's name. "I don't see the connection." She left with that as her last word, and a shy wave. She had to get home.
Erica bared her fangs. "It's what you get." Sarah told her, trying to hide the fact that she was laughing.
Benny felt that most of his day was wasted. With no one else around, he'd been bored out of his mind. He knew he had to be, because he resorted to cleaning the house to keep himself busy.
He came across the pile of his old clothes that Ryellie had left on the chair, and was debating what to do with them when something caught his eye.
A sunflower earring, that had wound up looped through a buttonhole by the little metal hook.
He figured Ryellie was just getting home, and he could head over there and return it to her.
They didn't know each other well enough for him to be able to just walk in through the back door, so he went around the block.
It was Ryellie's crazy cousins who answered the door, and that was quite a sight.
They were fighting over a flat iron. Rae had it in her hand, but Reegan was tugging on the cord. The two had a few visible injuries.
Rae dropped the flat iron when she saw Benny, and Reegan didn't even seem to notice that it landed on her foot.
"DANG! You're cute for a nerd!" They told him.
"Thanks." He said-almost casually-although he wasn't used to hearing that from his own peers, much less a couple of twenty-year-olds.
"Can I come in? Ryellie left her earring at my house and I wanna give it back to her."
"We'll do it." Reegan replied, much too quickly and urgently to avoid sounding suspicious. The way her blue eyes bulged didn't help the situation either.
"She's not home yet." Rae told Benny. "Plus, we need to come up with a cover story." That sentence came out as more of a mumble. One that Benny overheard.
"Cover story for what?" He asked. Rae froze, and her sister gave her a sharp nudge.
"That was an…involuntary reflex." Reegan told Benny, which he wouldn't have believed even if she hadn't whispered "Rae!" Right afterward.
"A cat got in the house." Rae said as she rubbed her aching arm. "Two of 'em, actually. We don't know how, but they tore the place apart. Now that they're gone, we're trying to come up with something to tell Ryellie because she hates cats… with a passion."
Benny blinked. As unbelievable as all of that sounded, he couldn't help but ask: "Ryellie hates something?" His disbelief clearly showed in his facial expression.
"Just cats." Rae clarified.
Reegan raised her eyebrows when she added: "She's scared of just about everything else." That part didn't sound like a lie; it would explain Ryellie's shy nature.
"So, the earring?" Reegan went on, as she extended her hand. She was silently telling Benny to fork it over.
"Uh-uh." Benny said, almost sternly. He wasn't going to give in to her order. Instead, he made one of his own. "Not until I see inside the house." And Ryellie gets here. He thought.
It wasn't just his suspicions that tempted Benny, but his curiosity as well. For one thing, the house was huge. It wasn't anywhere close to mansion-size, but still, what house with six bedrooms and four bathrooms wouldn't be huge?
The girls sighed and stepped back, letting Benny walked in after Reegan kicked the flat iron out of his way. "Better him than Ry." Rae said to her twin, only after he'd walked by them.
Aside from the crooked picture frames that decorated the walls, the books knocked off the bookshelf, and the overturned coffee table, the scratches on the banister of the staircase that lead to the second floor were the first things Benny noticed.
He threw the twins a look. "Cats did this?"
"Yeah." Rae replied nonchalantly, adding: "Those crazy animals."
"Was it really so important who got the straightener first? Crazy animals is right."
The girls stared at Benny, with their mouths agape. "How'd you know it was us?"
"Nothing in this town is normal. Why should I assume your family is?"
"We are!" Rae argued. Then, she rephrased herself. "Well, mostly. It's just us, our dad and our aunt who can shape shift."
"It must have skipped Ryellie's generation." Reegan added. "Lucky her."
"The point is, she gets freaked out by housecats. Imagine what would happen if she found out we can transform into them. Or anything else, for that matter." Rae told him.
"We would never tell her." Reegan added, in a harsh tone. As if she was threatening Benny, in case he didn't keep his mouth shut. "It wouldn't be good."
"What wouldn't be good?" Ryellie asked as she walked through the front door, holding her keychain with the plastic teddy bear that doubled as a flashlight on it.
Her eyes were filled with worry, but she smiled since Benny was there. While she eyed her cousins questioningly, she gave him one of her signature silent waves.
In answer to Ryellie's question, Benny said: "Telling you your cousins are shape shifters. Your mom and uncle too."
Rae gasped, Reegan growled, Benny sent the twins a defiant smile, and Ryellie laughed.
The three others looked at her, stunned.
"You're not mad at us?" Rae asked slowly, while Reegan scowled.
"Do I have permission to kill your friend?" She added. Ryellie didn't answer either of them.
"Hey, Benny." She greeted happily. "What's up?"
While the twins looked appalled about getting the silent treatment, he said: "You left this at my house."
She took the earring and slipped into one of the pockets of the skirt of her dress. "Thank you. What's your grandma up to?"
"Gardening." He replied, wondering why Ryellie even wanted to know. He found out when she replied.
"Cool, let's go hang out with her."
"Alright." Benny agreed with a laugh, once again leading the way. Always full of surprises.
"Grandma, I thought we were supposed to be gardening." Benny said, wondering how the three of them wound up in the kitchen.
"We'll get back to that a little later. Ryellie just found out she's been surrounded by the supernatural all her life."
Ryellie had the look on her face to prove it. Benny had never seen her expression so sour.
"You can't blame her for taking an interest in magic."
Benny didn't blame Ryellie for anything, and figured he should be used to his plans changing whenever she was added to the equation.
What he couldn't wrap his head around was why the three of them were brewing up a love potion. The same one he and Ethan had used, except with one variation. This one worked on boys.
"Isn't this dangerous?" Benny asked his grandma. He couldn't forget what happened last time.
"Benny, every spell has the potential to be dangerous, and virtually every one of them has an anti-potion."
"Anti-potion?" Benny echoed, almost darkly. His grandmother smiled slyly. "You didn't think I'd let you boys get away with doing something like that without a lesson, did you?"
He grumbled, while his grandma handed Ryellie two miniature water guns. The blue one, filled with the love potion. The green had the anti-potion. "I've been told it's more fun this way." She said, while Ryellie and Benny laughed.
She pointed to the spell book and told Ryellie: "Say this with me, dear."
Ryellie helped Benny's grandma recite the incantation, and Benny watched her eyes light up as if she was a little girl who just spotted a puppy in a pet store window. He couldn't help but smile at her innocence.
"Alright, now give it a try." Benny's grandma instructed.
"Wait." Benny said, realizing something. "I'm the guinea pig?"
Ryellie turned to him, smiling in a jokingly evil way. "I love guinea pigs." She said. He chuckled, as she took a shot at him with the blue water gun.
Benny got quiet for awhile, leaving his grandma and Ryellie to have nothing to do but watch, wonder, and wait for a reaction. Then, he spoke. Suddenly and softly.
"Ryellie, can I tell you a secret?"
She wanted to tease him, and give a flat-out 'no' in reply. She resisted though, figuring that-being that she was dealing with someone under the effects of a love potion-it could be disastrous.
"Sure." With that, Benny whispered in her ear, making her flinch just slightly, from the tickling sensation she felt.
"I think you're pretty."
Ryellie giggled in surprise. Not what she expected to hear coming from a known flirt. As she pondered this, Benny disappeared. She quickly found out that the reason for that was to bring her flowers.
Roses, to be exact. From-where else, but-the garden. He'd made sure to take off all the thorns, and handed the roses to her.
Ryellie prepared herself for more ticklish whispers, which is exactly what she got.
"You are my Princess Leia." Benny told her.
Had she been at Whitechapel before Erica was turned into a vampire, Ryellie would have understood the reason for the stress on the word 'you'.
Benny paused slightly, but not out of fear. Ryellie could tell he was trying to be dramatic, and had to admit it was working.
"I think I'm falling in love with you."
Ryellie's smile seemed to leave nothing to question, and the lovestruck Benny took that as some sort of sign. He was too deep under the spell to account for witnesses, as if he and Ryellie were the only two people in the universe.
Ryellie only became aware of that notion when she noticed Benny's lips were dangerously close to her own.
Ryellie stumbled backward, and took the shot with the anti-potion in the meantime.
She couldn't catch herself in time, and fell backwards, causing the others to gasp, but she barely spent any time on the floor. Benny picked her up, like he had when she got caught in the rain.
When Ryellie was standing upright again, she gave Benny a tap that was a little less than gentle.
He was caught off guard. "Ahh! Ryellie, what gives?"
His grandma swallowed a laugh, and Ryellie replied: "That wasn't for you, that was for lovesick you."
Benny laughed. "Then why do I get the abuse?"
"Sorry." Ryellie said. "It's just, that was creepy."
Benny didn't know whether to laugh about Ryellie really being easily scared, or be offended that she was freaked out by his spell-induced love.
"This shouldn't be called a love potion. It should be called a lie potion." She mumbled to herself, feeling stupid.
"How's about we give one more potion a try?" Benny's grandma suggested.
"I'm all for that." Benny replied. "As long as she gets to be the guinea pig this time." Ryellie laughed, but accepted the challenge.
"Now, interestingly, you were telling us you felt deceived Ryellie."
"Well, yeah." She told Benny's grandma. "My family lied to me about who they were." She didn't want to dwell on that thought, so she just dropped it. It was easy to forget about when she was having fun.
"Well, there are a lot of spells that were created for deception." Benny's grandma explained. "The people who use them are looking for protection, when they try to blend in with those around them."
To Ryellie, it was as if she was saying the book had ways for her to shape shift, something she would never be able to do on her own.
Ryellie chose a spell for masquerading as a vampire. She couldn't understand why, it just interested her.
The amateur version of the potion solely made the person who drank it grow fangs.
While Benny watched his grandma and Ryellie stir the ingredients the potion into a mixture, he asked his friend: "Are you afraid of vampires?"
She shrugged. "I don't know, I've never met one." While all three of them cast the spell, Benny almost couldn't keep from laughing.
He was surprised Ryellie hadn't caught onto the truth yet. "You've met two." He informed her.
Instead of looking shocked, Ryellie just seemed upset for not noticing.
"Sarah and Erica." Benny told her.
"Erica?" Ryellie repeated. "That doesn't surprise me." As she told him this, she took sip of the potion brew.
"Why not?" Benny asked. "Are you scared of her?"
In response to Benny's question, Ryellie outright scoffed. And bared her potion-made fangs.
Oh, apparently Ryellie is capable of hating something. Undead blonde chicks. Benny thought.
Ryellie wished she could've stayed with Benny and his grandma. She even thought too deep over that, and imagined herself as part of their family. She couldn't help it. She had never been lied to before. It hurt, like no pain she'd ever felt.
Which is why even after she got home-still trying to avoid talking to the shape shifter side of her family-Ryellie sat on the rooftop, deep in thought.
Until her thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash.
"I really gotta work on my roof landings. I thought I was getting better at this."
"Are you okay?" Ryellie asked slowly, dazed and a bit scared.
Of all the times she had been up to the rooftop of her house,-in all the places she'd lived througout her life- Ryellie had never had anyone up there with her.
Especially not a totally stranger.
If it wasn't for the fact that she'd seen him around school-with Benny and Ethan-that would have been her cue to skedaddle.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine." He replied. "That happens all the time. I'm Rory. What's your name? Is this your house? It's HUGE!"
The strangest part about the way Rory talked-or rather, overtalked-at top speed, was that Ryellie was able to keep up without a problem.
He didn't make her feel as shy as she knew she acted, either.
She answered with a smile on her face, going up the list of questions he'd asked rather than down it.
"Yeah, it's my house. I just moved here. You've probably heard about me. From gossip, anyway. I was the girl Benny punched someone for."
She said that part with pride, making Rory laugh. Then she continued.
"My name's Ryellie. Ryellie Katrice Temberlon."
She didn't know why she told him her full name, he hadn't asked for it. It rolled off her tongue so easily, and she was proud to have it.
"And your name is AWESOME!" Ryellie went on. "Did you know it means 'strong'? I bet you are. Stronger than you look. In spirit too, no doubt."
Rory was-oddly enough-stunned into silence. He was amazed at how well she was able to keep up the conversation.
"Rory, I have a question for you." Ryellie told him.
"Okay, shoot." He replied enthusiastically.
"How exactly did you end up on my roof?"
Rory searched Ryellie's eyes for a sign that she could be trusted. He quickly found it, because he gave her an honest answer: "Flight practice."
Had it not been for the day she'd had, Ryellie would have been surprised. And scared.
"Lemme guess, you're a vampire?" She asked.
On cue, Rory showed his fangs.
It was an answer that took the least amount of effort, but made a lasting impression. His voice rang in her head when he answered:
"The proof is in the fangs."
"Hey, Ryellie. What'cha up to?"
She almost fell down she was so startled, but-as-always-Benny caught her.
"What are you doing here?" She whispered, surprised but not angry. "You're suspended."
She said that word in a disgusted tone of voice, thinking that was her fault.
Lamely, she added: "And I was totally not spying on Ethan and Sarah, if that's what you're implying."
As Ryellie answered, she had to force herself to keep from looking up at the spiral staircase-which she loved so much she wanted for her own-from where she and Benny were standing.
"I snuck in using I spell I'd rather not mention, and the awesome power of stealth!"
Even being as dorky as he knew he was, Benny knew he had to be bored to tears if he had nothing better do than sneak into school.
He couldn't believe it was only Tuesday.
He also couldn't believe Ryellie's claim about not spying, and was about to reply to that with a cliché, sarcastic line, when he noticed what she was wearing. And her cinnamon-bun hairstyle.
"Oh. My. God." Benny said, with a beaming smile on.
Ethan and Sarah exchanged amused glances when they made their way down the staircase and caught sight of Ryellie. They didn't even question why Benny was there.
"Why?" Benny asked, because there had to be a reason why a girl would be bold enough to show up to school dressed like Princess Leia.
"It's a long story." Ryellie replied vaguely.
It was her own inside joke, one Benny had no memory of.
"No wonder she hangs out with you guys." Erica said when she met up with the others at the bottom of the staircase. "She's queen of the dorks."
"Don't listen to her." Benny told Ryellie. "That's hot."
"Totally!" Rory agreed. The group jumped. Ryellie the most, because he was suddenly standing right next to her.
"Vampire Ninja strikes again." She declared, leading to Benny's inevitable faceplam.
"I can't believe he got to her too." He whispered to Ethan, as if he felt sorry that the two had met.
Ryellie on the other hand, was happy she'd met Rory.
Especially since when he came around just then, he distracted everyone form noticing that her cheeks had turned the color of her hair.
When the school day was over, Ryellie was all set to ride home with Sarah, Ethan and Benny.
That hadn't been her original plan, but they caught up with her while she was walking home, and she gladly accepted the offer.
Before she could say so, however, Reegan and Rae showed up.
"Hey, Ry. Wanna go for ice cream or something? Your friends can come too. Our treat." Rae told her.
They had resorted to bribing her with food to get her to talk to them.
Ryellie only blinked, she didn't respond. Reegan scoffed, annoyed. "You're still mad at us?"
"Have you guys apologized yet?" Benny asked the twins, seeing where Ryellie was coming from.
"Shut up, dork!" Reegan replied harshly.
Ryellie glared at her two cousins, but she still didn't say anything. "Fine, be that way." Rae whined.
"As long as you don't have anything to say," Regan began, motioning to the backseat of Sarah's car. "we'll just go ahead and tell Benny here about how since you didn't know his name until Friday afternoon, you called him 'Stripes' for the first eighteen pages of your diary entry for the day."
They were surprised to see Ryellie remain unflinching. She said: "Benny, you know how they like to lie." As she said this, Ryellie couldn't help but grit her teeth.
She told her friends: "I'll see you guys tomorrow." and she got into Reegan's car instead. Rae never promised ice cream and didn't deliver, but Ryellie didn't think she could stand to have her friends come along, with the way the twins were embarrassing her.
Rory-who had only showed up just that second-waved after Ryellie enthusiastically. "Bye!"
She had to laugh, while her cousins eyed him strangely in the rearview mirror.
"Where did he come from?" They asked. Ryellie scoffed. "I can't believe the shape shifters question something like that."
Ryellie needed a break from her cousins' constant teasing, so she took up Ethan's invitation to come over to his house.
"I think I'm slowly dying of embarrassment. He's not here, is he?"
By 'he' she meant Benny, that was obvious. When she said it, she sounded worried. As if she would get teased by the two of them as well for what her cousins had said.
"No, but he will be." Ethan replied, motioning toward the fridge to ask her if she wanted anything. Ryellie shook her head. She wasn't hungry, and she wasn't sure if she should blame that on the ice cream, or her cousins' teasing.
Ryellie looked around, and then spotted Jane, sitting at the table eating cereal.
"You have a little sister? I've always wanted one of those!"
Ethan rolled his eyes playfully. "Who'd you think Sarah babysat for?" They shared a laugh.
Then, Ryellie said: "I'll trade you for my cousins!"
Ethan and Jane both laughed at that. "Get your own." He teased. Ryellie pouted jokingly and crossed her arms. Then, she caught sight of something.
"What's that for?" Ryellie asked, pointing to a reminder on the fridge.
"Oh, it's something about my parents' date Friday night." Ethan told her.
He watched Ryellie's eyes light up. She couldn't contain her excitement. She gave Ethan a playful tap as she raved: "Your parents still go on dates? That's so CUTE!"
Ryellie's touch sent shockwaves through Ethan's body, because it triggered a vision.
One of a very different Ryellie, covered in cuts and bruises, red in the face from crying. It was easy to read her lips as she ran toward Ethan's backyard. There was only one thing she screamed.
"BENNY!"
By the way Ryellie screamed, it looked like she had lost her voice. Whatever happened left her speechless.
Just like Ethan after he had that vision…
Thanks for reading, PLEASE REVIEW! Two first appearences, I got to use the word 'skedaddle' and Rory did the title drop! I feel accomplished. Hope you loved this chapter as much as I loved writing it. Any ideas? Anything from this chapter you want me to expand on in the next? I'll update ASAP! =]