Here's chapter 5! I'm already done writing chapter 6, because my rough draft was so long I split it into two parts. A GIANT THANK YOU to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited and all that good stuff!
I do not own My Babysitters A Vampire
"What's wrong?" Sarah asked, seeing that Ethan was too deep in thought to keep up a conversation.
They were on their way to Ryellie's house for a Saturday night in.
The original plan was that the couple would double date with Benny and Ryellie- a first for all of them. It'd seemed that way since Wednesday night, after Ethan got back from his second date with Sarah. Benny could barely speak. He blamed that on his kiss with Ryellie, and its paralyzing effect.
Something had changed in the time since then. Benny swore the kiss was strictly a spur of the moment occurrence. Which made Ethan and Sarah swear that he was hiding something from them.
The fact that neither of them had seen him since, backed up that theory.
Sarah knew not to get lost in thoughts of Benny's problem, though. Not when she still hadn't heard what was bothering Ethan.
Ethan sighed. "Do you think it's possible for a vision of mine to… resurface?" Sarah pondered that question, even though she knew she wouldn't be able to answer it. Instead, she asked one of her own.
"You mean you had a… re-vision?" They laughed at the pun, but Ethan got serious again.
"I swear, I've seen it before." His eyes seemed to burn with the memory of it.
"What was this vision about?" She asked, linking her arm through his as they walked.
His smile showed itself thanks to the touch, but his tone was dark when he hesitantly gave his answer.
"Jesse, biting someone's neck."
Ethan wished he knew who the someone was, but the only face that came in clear in the vision was Jesse's.
The feeling that came over him when he first had the vision was immense sorrow. Reliving it, the feeling only intensified. Some poor soul very well could already be a vampire, and Ethan's vision was just a harsh reminder.
Sarah could see why Ethan thought he'd seen that before. Jesse was old news the both of them were tired of hearing about.
"He just doesn't know when to quit, does he?" She asked with an annoyed groan. "I thought he was gone for good."
"We'd hoped." Ethan replied as they reached Ryellie's front door.
Grandma Weir's voice rang in Benny's head as he reluctantly walked around the block.
"I'd hate to crash your pity party, but I think it's gone on long enough. I'm kicking you out."
"Really?" He'd asked, unable to keep from laughing. It was hard for him to take a statement like that seriously.
She had countered his contorted expression with a stern one, to show him she meant business. "I don't know what happened between you two, because you've barely spoken since. All I know is that Ryellie means a lot to you. And everything you do makes an impression on her. You got the wallflower off the wall. Imagine how this is affecting her. Go make it right. I miss seeing you smile."
Those words got to Benny the most. That was the reason he stood at Ryellie's front door. He knew his grandma meant well, but she didn't know the whole story. Sadly, neither did Benny.
When he went to ring the doorbell, he had a thought. One that almost made him head back toward his house. What if they don't even let me see her again? A flashback flooded Benny's mind.
He remembered standing in Ryellie's living room Thursday afternoon.
She'd said she had something for him, making the score-as far as gifts went-Ryellie: 3, Benny: 1. Though he knew she didn't mind. Ryellie wasn't about material things, she didn't have many of them.
Before Ryellie made it downstairs, her parents did. Her father's red hair was Benny's first clue to their identities.
Instinctively, Benny hid behind a wall when he saw them coming. Ryellie's mother looked furious, and he did not want to get in the middle of that. Her facial expression told Benny he was about to hear something that wasn't meant for his ears.
"We can't blame this on the girls, they were only teasing when they called him her boyfriend. They didn't expect anything to actually happen." Ryellie's father said, trying to keep up with his wife. She walked swiftly across the room, as if that would help her get away from her problem.
"I'm not saying we should, Noah." She replied. "We know exactly who to blame this on." Her tone was like poison. Benny gulped silently.
"Ryellie finally found someone who understands her, and we're gonna keep them apart?" Noah questioned.
"It's for her own good. Besides, how can some boy who hasn't known her two weeks understand her?"
"Grace, they're not gonna forget about this." Noah argued, sounding as if he thought that was beside the point.
"They're gonna have to."
"She's our daughter, we're supposed to support her."
Benny peeked around the corner just in time to see Grace's eyes water as she replied. He guessed that they were angry tears.
"We would, if it were anyone else…"
Benny forced the memory to fade, swallowed the lump in his throat and rang Ryellie's doorbell.
"Just so you know, Ethan and Sarah are downstairs and Benny's at the door." Reegan informed Ryellie as she and Rae came up the stairs, only to find Ryellie wrestling with a hairbrush in the hallway.
It was impossibly tangled in her curls. She blamed that on nervousness rather than knots.
Rae swallowed a laugh. "Need some help?" She went to assist Ryellie, but was interrupted.
"If one of you could get the door, that'd be great."
Reegan didn't try to hide her laughter. "Ry, that's your job. You have to face Benny sometime."
"Not like this." She whined. Although she knew that wasn't what her cousin meant.
"Yeah." Rae said, in agreement with her sister. "I know you're more mad at Uncle Noah and Aunt Grace right now than you are at us-which I thought was impossible-but at least they're still letting you two be friends. That's enough of a risk already."
Ryellie stopped pulling on her hairbrush and looked her cousins square in the eye. She was over being angry. She sounded sad when she spoke next. "What, now you guys have something against Benny too?"
"No, not at all." Rae insisted.
"Quit stalling." Reegan ordered. "Your friends are waiting and you still have a brush in your hair."
Rae gave the brush a yank while Ryellie suppressed a scream. "There… sorry. I can't believe you gave Benny the silent treatment for two whole days. What did you do, have Grandma play messenger?"
Reegan gave her sister a weird look. "Did you just call Benny's grandma 'Grandma'?"
She found this strange, because neither of the girls called their own grandmas that.
Rae shrugged, as Ryellie made her way to the stairs. "Ry says practically everyone calls her Grandma."
At those words, Ryellie stopped and whirled around to face her cousin. "You've been reading my journal again?"
Ryellie walked down the staircase that lead to the first floor slowly, trying to postpone the inevitable. She would have to open the door for Benny, her friend. Ethan and Sarah would've taken care of that for her, if they weren't so caught up in each other. Lucky them. She thought bitterly.
Benny's voice sounded as bitter as her thoughts did. "Why do you do that to me?"
Ryellie knew he wasn't mad at her. Her parents were frustrating the both of them. His frustration came out in his question, but she had no idea what he meant by it.
"What do you mean?"
"I haven't seen you since your parents said we couldn't date and when I show up, you're dressed like that. Do you have to rub it in?"
Ryellie laughed happily, shaking her head as she looked down at her dress. It was tie-dye, but otherwise simple. "Benny, I made this out of a burlap sack. No joke." When she said this, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. It was one her designs that pushed the envelope, and she didn't like drawing attention to it.
Benny scoffed. "And you make it work!" By then, Ryellie could tell he was teasing.
She knew he was still aggravated, though. She honestly couldn't blame him. Lowering her tone to a whisper, Ryellie said: "I hate my parents' rule just as much as you do, but at least we don't have to cut each other out of our lives completely."
"Do you always look on the bright side?" Benny asked, as he finally stepped out of the doorway and into Ryellie's house.
She gave him a beaming smile as she replied: "Since you taught me to."
They both smiled, but while Benny was looking at Ryellie, she was looking at Ethan and Sarah.
Sarah was running her fingers through Ethan's hair. Trying to calm his nerves. He had completely forgotten about the vision, and was dead-set focused on her eyes.
"Hey, can you guys quit it with the k'noodling for a second? I think Ryellie's trying to tell us something." Benny hadn't meant to rudely interrupt their moment, but it was weird to see them act like that. Telling himself that was much easier than admitting the only reason it bothered him, was he would never be allowed to act like that with Ryellie.
"Oh, sorry." Sarah said as she and Ethan turned their attention to Ryellie. "What were you gonna say?"
"Oh, you guys can go back to…k'noodling." Ryellie answered awkwardly. The word was foreign to her, and made her tongue feel ticklish. "I'll tell you the plan when Rory gets here." After a beat, she fought off the urge to point at Benny, knowing that wasn't polite. She tried to make her tone sound stern but sweet when she spoke next, in a sharp whisper. "Don't make that face!"
Benny's jaw dropped. "You're not even looking at me, how did you know I made a face?"
Ryellie sounded just as confused as he had when she answered, under a laugh. "Well, for one you just told me. And two, I said 'Rory'."
The doorbell rang loud over a chorus of laughs. The others weren't surprised to hear the sound echo throughout the entire house. "Speak of the devil." Benny mumbled.
"Pun." Ryellie pointed out, under a laugh, not understanding why she had to let Benny know she was always listening. It was painful to realize that-because of her parents' rule-that would never matter as much as they both wanted it to.
The second Rory was inside, Reegan and Rae bolted down the stairs. They paused. This was the first time they had really seen Ethan and Rory up close.
"Is there some sexy geek store where you get all your friends?" Rae inquired curiously, making all the boys' faces flush.
Ryellie eyed her cousin as if she thought that question was absolutely ridiculous. Her tone reflected that quite well when she replied. "No… my friends are priceless."
She blushed in reaction to the collective 'Aw' she got in response.
"Tell them what we're playing!" Reegan told her cousin, inviting herself to play along as she gave everyone a flashlight.
While her friends looked at each other, Ryellie shook her head. "I will not tell them what we're playing, I'll ask if they would like to play." She told Reegan, thinking that was the nice way to go about it. Although, she couldn't help how eager she sounded when she did.
"Now that we have a big house, we're really excited to play the first game that came to our minds when we saw it. Can you say 'Sardines'?"
"Sardines?" Her friends chorused, along with disgusted expressions.
"Not the food." Reegan clarified. "Although, that's where the game gets its name."
"So, how do you play?" Ethan asked. Everyone seemed eager to learn. Ryellie was usually so sheltered, and it was rare for them to see her open up about something, even if it was just a game.
"It's like Hide & Seek, only backwards." Ryellie explained. "Basically, one person hides, then everyone else looks for them. The first person to find them hides with them. It goes on like that until the last person finds the group. And the first one who found the 'hider', hides next."
The first person to respond to Ryellie's explanation was Benny, with a tiny fit of laughter. "Really, the first thing that came to your mind was to play Hide & Seek-"
"Backwards." Reegan cut in, while Ryellie bit her tongue.
She had a feeling that Benny would be the first of her friends to make her cry, but that was because they were so close. She took everything he said to heart.
"Where have you been all my life?"
Which is exactly what made hearing that statement all the more worth it to her.
She didn't take his question seriously though, thinking it would take too long to name the seven other places she'd lived, and deal with everyone else's reaction.
"Well, I guess we've got Benny's vote." Rae said happily. "Who else is up for Sardines?"
Everyone seemed excited to play, considering they all answered at once.
The doorbell rang for the fourth time that night.
"Did you guys order pizza?" Benny asked. It was his automatic reaction.
"Ooh, another potential player." Rae said cheerfully, making her sister scoff.
"Doubt it. Who else do we know?" Reegan asked while group made there way to the door, too curious to stay seated.
Rory knew the answer to that question, which is why he got to the door first.
He expected to see Erica, but no one was there. The others couldn't help but laugh. "Ironically, this is how you play the other version of Sardines. We should look for a group of people lying down in our driveway." Ryellie joked.
"Well, that was mean." Rae remarked.
"Not to mention a total waste of time." Reegan added, going to close the door.
Rory, with a look of something more than disappointment-and more like heartbreak-was her roadblock. "Dude, move." She ordered. He gave the outside world one last look, and backed away.
"Why does Ryellie get to hide first?" Reegan whined. Benny gave her a look in the darkness. (It wasn't a rule that Sardines had to be played in the dark, they just found it more fun that way.)
"Because it's her house."
"It's our house too!" She argued, making Rae nod in agreement. "Besides, she's terrible at hiding. " Reegan added sourly.
"What number are we up to?" Sarah asked, making everyone realized they'd lost count.
"One hundred." Benny decided, turning on his flashlight and walking to find Ryellie, clearly annoyed with her cousins.
Ethan looked at his girlfriend. "Well, I guess that means we're splitting-"
Rory ran past the others at vampiric speed. "up." Ethan finished lamely, pouting just slightly.
Sarah shrugged in replying, knowing what he was thinking. "We don't have to." Sharing a smile, the couple walked off hand-in-hand.
Reegan scoffed, and glared after them. "Aw, how sweet is that?"
Rae sighed, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Don't be mad just because they're happy and-"
"It's not fair." Reegan said. "I can't believe Uncle Noah and Aunt Grace-"
"Are doing what they have to?" Rae interrupted.
That was an extreme rarity, and it stunned Reegan silent as they started their search.
"What's taking everyone so long? I'm just being impatient, aren't I? Why am I talking to myself?"
Ryellie pondered her last question. She came up with an answer, but it sounded crazy. Especially out loud.
"That's a dumb question. I know exactly why I'm talking to myself. No one's here and I need to vent. I think I'm in love with Benny."
"Are you serious?"
The question hung in the air. If anyone else had asked, Ryellie would have answered right away, but not easily. Part of her hoped that if she kept quiet, Benny would think he was hearing things. The other reason Ryellie stayed silent was her throbbing head.
Benny had heard her hit her head on the frame of the bed she was hiding under. As loud and clear as he'd heard everything else. He crawled under to see if Ryellie was alright, and hide along with her.
Physically, she seemed fine, other than the fact that her face was noticeably paler, from shock. Benny hadn't thought that possible. "Wow, it's pretty spacious under here. But I don't think six of us are gonna be able to hide here without being blatantly obvious." He was whispering when he talked, the way she thought she should have. Ryellie thought he'd drop the question, but Benny only asked again. "So, are you serious?"
"Seriously embarrassed." She responded with a sigh. He blinked, wondering if Ryellie would give him a straight answer. "Yes." Hesitantly, she added: "But it's not like we can do anything about it."
Benny shrugged. "We could break the rules."
Ryellie smiled, but she didn't sound like she was smiling when she spoke. "No." Benny was visibly hurt, and she rushed to rephrase herself. "I hate that we can't be together, but my parents wouldn't do this unless they had a good reason."
Benny couldn't help but think the only reason Ryellie said that was because she hadn't heard her parents talking about him. "They have a reason, alright." He told her. "They just don't like me."
Ryellie dismissed that immediately. "How could anyone not like you?" Benny couldn't help but smile then, but they got quiet after that.
Ryellie was alone with her thoughts that she wouldn't dare voice.
She thought back to lilacs, the clover and the kiss. Dinner, dancing and spells. Like the one Benny put her under. Over and over, day after day.
"First love." She stated, making him look at her.
Every time Ryellie said the word, it made Benny's mind go blank. So, he replied with a curious "Hmm?"
"It's what lilacs mean." She explained. He gave a happy nod of understanding as her mouth snapped shut like a steel trap. She was tired of hearing herself talk, thinking she'd said too much already.
Benny listened out for footsteps, wondering when someone was going to find them. He could hear sounds, but they were faint. He guessed that everyone was looking on the wrong floor, and thought it was smart of Ryellie to hide on the second.
Benny turned back to her when he realized her eyes were still on him.
The second he did, her hands were cupping his face and she was kissing him senseless.
He never knew it was possible to cram so much fervor and, regarding the rule, fury into-roughly-four seconds.
Ryellie didn't look like she regretted what she did. She just looked lost. "I don't know what that was." She told Benny, still stunned by her own actions.
He couldn't be mad at her as he replied with: "I know what it was. Awesome."
As they laughed, a familiar face came into view. Sarah smiled at the two of them, although she had no idea what had just gone on. "The bad news is, I lost Ethan. The good news is, I found you guys." She crawled underneath the bed beside them. "So, what's up?"
While exchanging a glance with Benny, Ryellie thought up something to say. Something she forgot to mention. "I'm getting my braces taken off Monday."
It wasn't a lie, and it saved her cheeks the burning.
"When I find Ryellie, we should ask her to design clothes for the store. We'd make so much more money if the outfits were originals." Reegan told her sister, as they entered the library on the second floor with Ethan.
His eyes bulged over the enormousness of it. Shelves upon shelves of books and music, a regular geek's paradise.
Rae shook her head. "Bad idea."
Reegan's heel clicked when she stamped her foot of the hardwood floor. "Name one reason." She challenged.
"I can name two." Rae told her, basically giving herself an odd look when she realized she'd held up three fingers. She quickly corrected her mistake while Reegan and Ethan laughed. "One, we don't run the store, and we're in this business for love, not money. Two, we're not gonna exploit our little cousin's talents."
Reegan laughed that off. "We're not exploiting her, we're employing her. There's a big difference. Besides, she could use a job. And a distraction from Benny."
"Where's the logic in that?" Rae asked. "Obviously, the more we try to get her mind off of Benny, the more she's gonna think about Benny. Do we really wanna put her through that torture? Especially when she's still mad at us?"
At this point, Ethan was sure he could slip past them without being noticed, if not for them blocking his path.
"What do you think, Ethan?" Or that question from Reegan. She really had no guilt in putting him on the spot.
"Uh…" That was the only word he could get out before he was interrupted.
"Of course you're gonna take my side, right?" Rae asked. "I'm the trustworthy one. This is my natural hair color." She said, playing with a light brown strand.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Ethan asked, beyond confused.
"Yeah!" Reegan agreed defensively. "I only dyed my hair because people could never tell us apart."
Rae scoffed. "Sure they could, I'm the nice one."
"Can we just get back to finding Ryellie?" Ethan asked, hoping he wasn't risking losing a limb when he said that.
"Ethan's right." Reegan decided. "We can finish our argument later." With that, both twins walked out of the library. Ethan sighed with relief.
"Thank God."
Benny and Sarah had their hands over their mouths to keep from laughing, and risk being found. Sound really traveled in Ryellie's house. She rolled her eyes playfully and whispered softly: "They're closer to us, and I guarantee Rory's gonna find us before they do."
Benny swallowed his laughter and spoke at Ryellie's volume. "Speaking of Rory, where is he?"
"My guess is the roof." Sarah answered, looking at Ryellie. "That's where you guys met, isn't it?"
"Took you long enough, but you found me..."
Thanks for reading, PLEASE REVIEW! I've already started typing up chapter 6 and I'll update ASAP! =]