BAD NEWS: My laptop is kaput and I have to do update's from the family computer using my flashdrive now. GOOD NEWS: I'm on vacation, so the updates should be faster for that reason. A BIG thanks to all my readers, reviewers, idea givers and all-that-good-stuffers. This ones for you (and my dad, who decided where Ryellie's family moved from), thanks for all the support and HAPPY HOLIDAYS! =]
I do not own My Babysitter's A Vampire
"This doesn't look like nothing to me." Ethan said, in a stern tone that made it seem like he was parenting his friend.
"Relax." Benny said, on the other line. He squinted as he stared at the page in his spellbook, as if making his line of sight smaller would somehow enlarge the text. "As soon as I figure out how to read this, I'll know what I'm dealing with."
"You mean like what you should've done when you first cast the spell?" Ethan asked flatly. "I'm amazed at how you never learn."
Benny scoffed, obviously not liking Ethan's attitude. "You should be amazed at how I was able to open the book while only using one hand."
Ethan paused on his front porch. "Yeah, how did you do that, anyway?" He shook off his spoken thought before Benny had a chance to answer. "Just read me the fine print!"
"I'm workin' on it." Benny insisted, passing the book Ryellie's way as they walked back through the forest, leading Rory and Erica. "Can you tell what this says?" He whispered. Though there was really no reason for him to whisper, since he took his phone away from his ear anyway.
"Not without my reading glasses." Ryellie answered, disappointed that she couldn't help.
"What?" Benny replied. "Your vision stayed the same after you turned? You really got the short end of the stick, huh?" He asked sympathetically. She shrugged it off while Benny tossed the book back in Rory's direction.
Rory caught the spellbook without even looking. "How does he do that?" Erica thought aloud in a hushed tone, annoyed that she was actually impressed.
"Read." Benny commanded, earning nothing more than a laugh in response, before Rory started paraphrasing.
"According to the warning, if no specifications are made to the spell, it takes effect on anything unintentionally stuck together in a literal sense, and then works its magic on everyone in the room. We're safe though. The spell doesn't break strong emotional ties. So by the time it wears off, we'll all be in couples. We don't have to worry about anybody splitting in half."
Erica gagged. "I really needed that mental image." She told Rory sarcastically.
"This coming from a vampire." Benny commented, even though he agreed with her. Since Ethan was growing impatient, Benny relayed the message to him.
Ethan thought about saying "You're lucky", but decided against that. He knew what his anger really stemmed from, and didn't want to take it out on anyone anymore. "Okay then, I guess we just… wait it out."
"Yeah, see ya soon." Benny said, not wanting to admit that Rae had led the group into a part of the forest where he had never been. I hope.
"Are we still gonna play?" Rae asked, as she lied upside down on Ethan's couch.
Sarah laughed, at both her position and her question. "How are we gonna play with half a group?"
Rae shrugged, which looked rather weird with the position she was in. "It's my turn to dare Reegan." She said, forgetting all about the fact that Ethan hadn't had a full turn.
"And what about the truth question?" He asked, unsure if he was trying to jog her memory, or actually curious. He had just gotten done with his conversation with Benny, only to be greeted by the sight of Rae as he walked into the living room. He was too busy laughing to care one way or the other.
Rae rolled over, since the blood had began rushing to her head. "I already know everything there is to know about her."
"I doubt that." Ethan answered.
"So, what's my dare?" Reegan asked, not acknowledging Ethan's comment or allowing anyone else to.
"Uh, go… raid Sarah's closet. Bring back the weirdest thing you can find."
"Whatever you say, sis." Reegan told Rae in a condescending tone. Never letting Rae forget who was in charge.
"Crazy." Sarah teased as the two girls left the house. Ethan watched the door close, and Rae watched him sigh silently as he sat down next to her.
Then the door opened again. "Forgot my keys." Sarah announced.
"It's gonna be hard to drive anywhere without those." Rae said, after a giggle. "Now who's the crazy one?" The two friends shared a warm smile as Sarah picked her keys up off the coffee table.
"Bye." She said, pecking Ethan's cheek before she went off again.
"Bye." Rae answered for him, since all Ethan could do was sit there and blush profusely. Although, half of him actually wanted to wipe the kiss off. The ghost of a 'real' kiss denied would forever haunt him, and thinking about that made it difficult to enjoy the good things he knew he had.
"You know," Rae said, slipping into a less hyper, more serious tone. "I hope Sarah always trips you up like that. It's never not adorable." Ethan smiled at her awkward choice of words and the meaning behind them while Rae thought of something. "Why don't you Truth & Dare me?"
Ethan considered telling her that Reegan would be mad, but he hushed his thoughts a second time. He didn't want to remind Rae that she was constantly under her sister's control. "Okay." He replied finally. "You choose."
"Truth." Rae decided, without hesitation.
It was Ethan who faltered. At first, he tried to ignore the question that popped into his head, but he kept coming back to it and couldn't resist asking. "What's the story with you and your boyfriend?" He said finally. By the way Rae's eyes went dull, he could tell he struck a nerve. "I was just curious because apparently the other day was your anniversary and he wasn't here to celebrate with you. Plus, I've never heard you talk about him and… you really like to talk… I didn't mean to-" Ethan cut his rambling short . He was only talking to fill the uncomfortable silence he created, but stopped when he realized Rae was laughing.
"Ethan, Ethan, it's okay." Rae insisted. "I just really wasn't expecting that question. I didn't think you paid that much attention."
"Why not? We're friends, aren't we?" He asked. It had never occurred to Ethan that the twins might just hang out with Ryellie's friends because they wanted to be with their cousin.
"Yeah, totally." Rae agreed, shining a smile. "And, I know this is gonna sound weird," She went on, bringing the volume down a bit. "but… in a way, you remind me of him."
"Your boyfriend?" Ethan asked, unintentionally raising an eyebrow. It was hard to imagine a girl like Rae going out with a guy like him.
"Yeah, 'cause you're both closet nerds."
Ethan blinked.
"Come on." Rae said, giving his arm a 'friendly tap', that was more of a shove. "You can't deny that you don't fully embrace your dorkiness."
"Well, I-" Ethan started, only disagreeing half way.
"You try to act the least geeky of your friends whenever anyone else is around."
"I'm not gonna argue with you, there's no way I can win." Ethan decided.
Rae pointed to him as if he had just made a very valid point. "See, that's why Walter and I make such a good couple." Ethan laughed sarcastically, but stopped himself to avoid getting another one of those 'friendly taps'.
"I'm kidding." Rae told him. She got quiet again, but only for a moment. "We make a good couple because we love each other; we have since we were sixteen."
"Wow." Ethan replied, incapable of saying anything else, seeing the wonder in Rae's eyes.
"I really miss him." She said sadly, but she quickly fixed her tone, so Ethan wouldn't worry. "But I should've known my family wouldn't stay in one place for too long. We were in Wisconsin for nearly half a decade. That's a record for us."
"Not to be cynical, but… if he loves you so much, why didn't he show up for your anniversary?" Ethan knew that sounded exactly how he hadn't meant it.
"Between our school schedules and work schedules, we both knew it wasn't feasible. I'm not worried, though." Rae told him, her smile resurfacing. "We'll find each other again."
Reegan jetted out of Sarah's car, thinking she wouldn't stop running until she got to Sarah's room. Only, something stopped her.
Since Sarah was walking at normal speed, she didn't see the fear come into Reegan's eyes. And she didn't see Reegan blink, to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.
The bleached-blonde was staring at a streetlight, which had a black letter 'G' carelessly scribbled on it. The smell that came with it was unmistakably nail polish. Reegan brought her hand to her cheek and let out a shuttering breath. Then, she pulled herself together and let out a dismissive snort. "Who does he think he is, Zorro?"
She put on a smile just as Sarah reached where she was standing, and continued on as if nothing had happened.
Erica wound up leading the crowd in the forest, but she stopped short when a realization hit her.
This caused a chain reaction, the three behind her trying their best not to bump into one another. Rory's reflexes failed him, and he found himself on the ground. "Second time today and it's still funny." Benny commented, after a chuckle. As Rory stumbled to his feet, Benny and Ryellie couldn't help but eye him strangely. He should have the best balance out of the three of them, being a full-fledged vampire.
Erica ignored Rory's strange behavior, and she didn't seem to find anything funny about what happened. In fact, the only one she was shooting weird looks at was Ryellie. "Where are your sunglasses?" Though the thick trees were doing a good job of blocking the sun, any vampire with common sense would know they must always be prepared.
"What sunglasses?" Ryellie questioned, puzzled.
"The ones you're supposed to wear to shield your eyes from the sun."
By this point, the others knew what Erica was getting at. This was another one of Ryellie's little quirks.
"I swear you're not a vampire. You're a freak of nature."
The look Benny gave Erica could've burned a hole in her head, but Ryellie took no offense. She had a point to make as well. "I can't heal myself, my vampiric speed… sucks," That lame pun earned her a chuckle from the boys. "and my eyesight hasn't improved. Some strengths need to balance out the drawbacks, right?"
"Whatever." Erica replied, as she resumed walking.
Maniacal laughter signaled Reegan's return. She burst through Ethan's front door at top speed, looking rather awkward with her hands behind her back. Ethan and Rae looked at each other.
"And I thought you were hyper." He commented, as Sarah walked in.
"Reegan, this is embarrassing."
"That's the whole point of the dare, Sarah." She replied, turning her attention to the two on the couch. As she brought what she had found out from behind her back, she said: "Now, can anyone take a wild guess as to what the rationale behind keeping this is?"
Reegan turned the pink shirt around-while Sarah repressed a humiliated whine-to reveal the discolored stain on the front of it. A stain Ethan remembered. A stain he had caused. He didn't have an explanation for why Sarah would keep the shirt, but he sure hoped she had one. For a moment, Sarah just stood there with her head in her hand. Rae couldn't help but giggle.
"Okay, yeah." Sarah began, talking directly to Ethan since she could see he was the most curious. And rightfully so. "It really does make me look crazy when you find out a kept a shirt from the day I wound up wearing my lunch. After I changed, I couldn't get the stain out so I just threw this somewhere in a fit of rage." She said jokingly. The three others laughed along with Sarah. "But by the time I found it again, you weren't just some dork."
"You were my dork." Reegan mocked, clasping her hands together and batting her eyelashes.
"Pretty much." Sarah said, sending Ethan a smile and making him blush.
"Alright, enough of this mush," Reegan said, carelessly throwing the shirt in a corner and then turning to her eye-rolling sister. "truth me."
"How long have we been walking?"
"Long enough, Rory." Benny replied. "I think we're going in circles." Regardless of that, Ryellie followed her friends. The first-and only-time she had been in the forest, she wasn't concerned about where she was going. She just wanted to get away. Her focus at the moment was on getting home.
"I don't get the point of this." Rory said. "We're just gonna split up again anyway."
"Even vampires need exercise." Ryellie joked.
She didn't know him well enough to know he wasn't just talking about being lost. His secret thoughts were projecting themselves.
Seeing his expression though, Ryellie had to get serious. "Are you okay?" She asked, in reaction to what was clearly a frown. She spoke with caution, not wanting to upset Rory, no matter the answer.
He looked up, not noticing that Erica was waiting to hear his answer as well. "Oh, yeah. Just… distracted." Ryellie gave a nod and a reassuring smile, before going to catch up with Benny.
A surprised grunt told her that was going to be a bit of a challenge. His spellbook-which he had long since gotten back from Rory-went flying, and he found himself on the ground.
"Benny!" The way Ryellie came running for him was with the same amount of urgency as when Grayson had kicked him over. Benny laughed while she helped him to his feet and fetched his spellbook for him. Then he looked at the root he had tripped over, pointing accusingly.
"If that's attached to Ethan's fiancée, he's gonna hear about this."
That earned Benny a collective laugh in reply, but Ryellie's laugh ended in a gasp. Rory and Erica's eyes darted down to Benny's knuckles, before he could see what the others saw for himself. He winced at the sight and the sting of the injury. "You guys are like sharks." He said. While the full-fledged vampires kept their hungry gazes locked on him, Ryellie just took his hand gingerly.
"Does it hurt?" She asked. It didn't look like much, but the how it felt was what mattered.
"Nah." Benny replied automatically. It was more annoying than painful, but he couldn't manage to speak his thoughts on account of Ryellie's magic touch. He forgot that he was even bothered, looking at her.
Rory's eyebrows knitted together, and he looked at Erica to see if she had the same thought. Both of them were waiting on the other two to catch on.
"Ryellie?" Rory called, trying to break her from her trance. Subconsciously, he knew he took the place of a record scratch in her mind.
"Yeah?" She asked, turning to him. Her emotions got the best of her though, because she still didn't let go of Benny's hand.
"That's a really cool trick." Rory was joking with her-despite his awe-while Erica glowered.
Ryellie looked down to see that Benny's scratches were gone, and only a few drops of blood remained.
"Bonus." Benny said, regarding Ryellie's healing ability. He sent her an impressed and thankful smile she couldn't return. She was scared of her own strength.
"Lemme get this straight." Reegan said, looking at her sister and their two friends disappointedly. Her tone was slightly venomous, but that was just because she was overreacting. "First you ungrateful people, my so-called friends still haven't opened your presents."
Ethan didn't bother interrupting Reegan to say that they all had busy lives and hadn't gotten around to it yet. Not to mention it was the twins' idea to play Truth & Dare in the first place, delaying the gift opening even further. He knew that no matter what his argument was, Reegan would tell him he was wrong.
"Then you… unsportsmanlike people," Reegan went on, pointing to Sarah "you and my own cousin buy a dress from the competition."
Ethan, Sarah, and Rae exchanged odd glances and shared a pitiful laugh that was drowned out by Reegan's chatter.
"And to top it all off, you impatient people, one of my three favorite geeks in the whole entire universe and my own twin sister, can't even wait 'til Sarah and I get back to go on with the game?"
"Ryellie's pretty geeky too." Sarah pointed out.
"Yeah," Ethan agreed. "so is Walter."
Rae gave him a high-five for making her point for her since she didn't have the guts. Reegan's ranting was more enjoyable for the three others than the actual game had been so far. She made it clear she didn't feel that way, though. With one stern look.
Rae swallowed a sigh and thought of a truth question. "Why did you break up Grayson, anyway? Was he always this crazy and you just didn't realize it?" Reegan didn't take too kindly to her sister's teasing, especially considering the answer she had for it. She supposed it was payback for the way she had just talked to the others. So, she answered, despite how tired she was of talking about Grayson.
"We used to get made fun of, for a lot of reasons. Especially since years before he got his license, I would pick him up from school. Kids were just mean, and I was tired of fighting with them." Reegan was happy that her stupid sob story was over. Only, no one else saw things the way she did.
"You expect us to believe you broke up with Grayson just 'cause there's an age difference between the two of you?" Ethan asked. "What does that matter?"
Only then did Reegan realize she struck a nerve.
"It doesn't. It shouldn't." She stammered. Ethan and Sarah's expressions weren't making this easy on her. She would understand if they were angry, but the couple just looked crushed. "It did to me, at the time. And that was shallow, but… I act on impulse. I can't help it."
The others knew Reegan had a better reason behind the breakup, but Ethan and Sarah silently accepted her rephrased answer as an apology. While Rae got herself together, told herself to stop being stubborn, and moved on. She wasn't satisfied with her sister's answer, but it would have to do.
"Hey, you never got a truth question, Ethan." Reegan realized. When he looked at her in anticipation, she said the first thing that came to her mind. "Have you ever had a vision about me?"
Ethan prayed he hadn't swallowed loud enough to be heard.
"Yeah." He answered, afraid to elaborate. Reegan waited for him to say more, but he didn't dare. She was already upset by the way her own answer made her look, and Ethan didn't want to make her feel worse.
Sarah brought her hand to the small of Ethan's back comfortingly. His eyes flickered with that natural nervousness, that only Rae took notice of.
"Dare me already, I'm growing impatient." She knew what she was risking by interrupting Reegan, but figured it was worth it, for Ethan's sake.
"Okay." He thought deeply but briefly, thinking that with her personality, Rae was likely to do just about anything. "I dare you to find a way to force Ryellie to wear pants."
"That's ridiculous." Reegan commented, while Sarah giggled. She doubted her sister could pull it off.
"That's… challenging." Rae said. And she loved a challenge. "I'll do it."
"Here you go." Ryellie said to Rory, who had taken the lead. It seemed that no matter who guided the group, they weren't getting anywhere.
"What's this?" Rory asked, though he knew the answer. It was the point of her giving it to him that he didn't understand.
"That's a pinecone, Rory." Benny told him in a slow, teasing tone.
Ryellie nodded slightly in agreement. "Also known as lunch."
Erica would've laughed if she didn't find the dare disgusting. She hadn't even known that the group was still playing, but she didn't bother wasting her breath arguing about it.
Rory owed the success of his dare to his fangs. Otherwise, going about it would've most likely been next to impossible. Benny found the way Rory devoured the poor pinecone with such relish to be funnier than both of the falls he had taken combined. Erica was surprised to find that she could barely watch, as hearing all the crunching was bad enough. Conversely, Ryellie wasn't at all surprised, and she admired Rory's fearlessness.
"Not bad." Rory announced once he was finished. Though he was sure he wouldn't be able to say the same if he were still human. Being a vampire changed everything.
With that in mind, he expected that whatever truth question Ryellie could come up with was going to be no sweat.
"In a word, tell us how you feel about being a vampire." She kept her eyes on Rory as she walked, stepping carefully to avoid falling like her friends had. Especially in a new dress Sarah had paid for.
Rory kept his eyes forward, thinking it was just like Ryellie to come up with something so deep, without doing so on purpose.
She saw him take a deep breath. After much hesitation, he spoke.
"Ambivalent."
Rory heard everyone's footsteps stop behind him.
"Whoa." Benny said, unable to keep his thoughts quiet.
"What?" Rory asked innocently, not seeing what was so shocking about his answer.
Apparently, Benny and Erica shared the same mindset.
"Why ambivalent?" She asked, not sure she really wanted to know. Rory's vampirism had been her fault, after all. Even though neither of them had had a choice in that matter.
"Well, for one thing, I love flying," He began his reply on a strong note, but got softer as he went on. "but I hate landing since I'm still no good at it."
"Mm-hmm." Benny agreed. Not that he was holding a grudge over Rory knocking out the satellite dish when he was trying to enjoy Jacuzzi Time Machine.
"And all the perks of vampirism are pretty awesome." Rory continued. "But sometimes… I miss being half-blind and asthmatic."
"Why?" The others chorused. Though Ryellie's tone was only curious, not confused nearly to the point of anger. Benny and Erica couldn't see how he missed being human. Ryellie just wanted to know why.
"Because it's normal." Rory said simply.
That lifestyle was all he had known before he turned.
"You were never normal." Erica pointed out, saying exactly what Benny was thinking. The point was valid since Rory was virtually the same person post-transformation.
"But now I'm even less… not normal." He couldn't even make a good argument, afraid of what Erica would think of it all. He wasn't blaming her for anything, but knowing she thought that way was heartbreaking. And scary. That thought gave Rory an idea, and he turned to Ryellie when a question crossed his mind. She looked back at him in question, and he spoke. "Ryellie, what are you afraid of?"
"Fire." She answered, qucikly and softly.
Rory and Erica looked at each other, while Benny struggled to speak. In that moment, he wished he wasn't surrounded by people with a super sense of hearing. Lucky for him, he was drowned out by a comment from Rory.
"That's ironic."
"Yeah." Ryellie agreed, since Erica didn't have to. Rory knew she was thinking the same thing. "But what do you expect from a fledgling like me?" For her, the question wasn't exactly rhetorical. Even she didn't know what to expect.
Benny answered, but what he said didn't sound like it was just meant as a compliment. "I don't think there is a fledgling like you."
Ryellie would've responded, if the graying clouds overhead didn't distract her. "Looks like rain."
Her tone left nothing for interpretation, but Benny knew her best. He knew she was holding back a quiet whine of annoyance.
Ryellie was preoccupied with laughing over Rory whispering the dare he thought of in her ear. Then she gave him a look. She wasn't mad, just intrigued. Benny and Erica looked at each other, trying to piece together whatever the big secret was, before deciding that Rory was probably just whispering to get on their nerves.
"How did you manage to combine my two least favorite things with a dare?" Ryellie asked.
She got no answer. She and Benny shared a worried glance. They were alone in the forest...
Thanks for reading, PLEASE REVIEW! Any ideas would be awesome. Especially for the kinds of gifts the twins got everybody. And anything to do with party planning, since their birthday is coming up! I'll update ASAP! =]