Here's Chapter 10! A MAJOR thank you to all my readers, writers, favoriters, and all-that-good-stuffers!
This chapter is dedicated to Mbsavsuperfan and IluvFabianRutter. House Of Anubis fans, please go check out House of Survival. It's PURE AMAZINGLY EPIC AWESOMENESS!
I don't own My Babysitter's A Vampire
"If Benny and Ryellie aren't back in five minutes, we should probably go searching for them." Sarah said this as she sat on the floor in the twins' bedroom, since the two of them had only bounced back to Ryellie's room-the starting point of the game-after the second split. The group wanted to stay together. In actuality, the twins had dragged Ethan and Sarah there to listen to them argue over party themes. Reegan and Rae didn't seem to be planning anything. The sisters seemed to have more fun fighting.
"More like five seconds." Reegan corrected. "As soon as the adults come home they're gonna start grilling us: 'Where's Ryellie? How long has she been there? Why isn't she back yet? Who's she with? What are they doing?'…"
"Where's her off switch?" Ethan whispered, putting a fistful of mini-marshmallows in his mouth.
"I'm still searching." Rae replied, making Ethan look like a human cannon, laughing out mushy white confetti.
"Ew!" Reegan shrieked, while Rae laughed and Ethan tried to hide his sheer embarrassment.
"Hot." Sarah joked, though that didn't help the situation.
"Let's just pretend that didn't happen." Rae suggested, knowing everyone thought that was best.
"No." Reegan answered bitterly. "Let's find a dustpan and leave finding Benny and Ryellie to somebody else."
"After all I've told you, I can't believe you're not mad at me for anything." Benny said sounding baffled, as he walked through the forest with Ryellie. He was trying not to lose hope of ever finding home, and couldn't remember the last time doing that had been so difficult.
"I don't have any reason to be." Ryellie told him. "I have to say, I didn't know meeting Sarah was such an amazing event, but I'm not surprised. Hearing that, it was difficult not to wonder if Ryellie's enjoyment of the story had blocked out all her other reactions. Especially the negative ones.
"It was like that meeting you, too." Benny replied, making Ryellie stop walking for a second. She hadn't been expecting that.
"Are you just trying to charm me, or do you really mean that?"
Though the question was more of a joke, Benny tossed his head upward slightly. As if he was contemplating how to answer. "Well, charming you is against the rule. And while your kind of craziness is different from what I'm used to, I love that you keep me on my toes."
"I'm glad then." Ryellie said, since she thought her brand of craziness could get overwhelming. "Oh, and… just so you know, I think no epic battle is complete without a kiss. Besides, you didn't know me then." Benny spoke before she got a chance to say anything else. Her next thought went unvoiced. Same goes for that… other kiss.
"Yeah, and now you really know me. What's it like finding out that the guy you almost dated is a total screw-up?" In retrospect, Benny had gotten his friends in quite a few situations. He hated looking like an idiot in front of Ryellie.
She was shocked that he would talk bad about himself, and gave him a look that was stern but not mean. "So you accidentally caused a zombie-animal 'apocalypse', brought a camera that makes evil clones to school, created a love potion that backfired, turned your best friend into a werewolf and helped resurrect a psychotic vampire… who hasn't done that?"
"Well, I don't know what kind of people you hung out with before you met me…" As Benny trailed off, the two shared a laugh. Even though, in that moment, he realized he was serious. He didn't know who Ryellie's friends were before she moved to Whitechappel. He didn't know much more about her than he had before they entered the forest. But what he did know she wasn't doing that on purpose. It was just her shy nature.
"I can't believe it still hasn't rained and it's not dark yet." She commented, after glancing up at the menacing clouds.
"You want it to be?" Benny knew how much Ryellie disliked the rain, and-after the way she ended up a fledgling-he could bet she wasn't too fond of the darkness either. That was the last thing they needed. "We better get home soon, all kinds of supernatural stuff happens after dark. What would you do if it turns out Rory read the fine print wrong and I, all of a sudden, just… poofed outta here?"
Panic. "I know what I wouldn't do." Ryellie answered. "If there's one thing your stories have taught me, 'charging at the enemy' is never a good idea." Their second shared laugh was cut short.
"How about you just ask for directions? You know, so you don't have to deal with all that… supernatural stuff?"
Benny and Ryellie whirled around to see Zander standing behind them.
"Were you following us?" Benny asked, betting on 'yes', while Ryellie just stared. Though she wasn't afraid, she didn't have anything to say. She stayed quiet to focus on Zander, and see if he answered honestly.
"No. A guy just can't walk through the forest at night?"
"He could." Benny replied. "But why would he want to with the storm that's brewing?"
Zander narrowed his gray eyes slightly, and resisted shaking his head. "What does it matter, anyway? You two need to get home. I know how to get there. That's all this is about."
"You trust him?" Benny whispered to Ryellie, half-hoping Zander would overhear.
Ryellie blinked, thinking it over. "Oddly enough." She admitted.
The two friends followed Zander when he resumed walking, but all the story telling and playful banter stopped. The three walked in silence. In Benny and Ryellie's eyes, Zander was the ultimate buzz kill. But he was also their only hope. So, they couldn't complain.
"Alright, spit it out."
Rory blinked, confused. "Spit what out?" He asked Erica.
"Whatever's been bothering you all day." I never thought I could miss hearing your voice. She added mentally. The two of them had wound up back at the park when the separation spell worked its magic a second time. Since then, they'd been wondering around aimlessly.
Rory heaved a sigh, but made sure it was inaudible, so Erica wouldn't think he was being overly dramatic. "I just miss you." He admitted.
She gave him a look. "Miss me? I'm standing right nex-" Erica cut herself off, realizing what Rory meant. She couldn't bring herself to say what she knew he was waiting to hear. Even though the thought was nagging her. I miss you, too. "Would we even work?" She asked, not sure how to phrase the question. "Do we even make sense?"
Erica thought Rory had been frowning before, until she saw the look on his face. It was pitiful.
Of all the places for Rory's thoughts to take him, he found himself back on Ryellie's rooftop. Only, his mind's eye didn't see Erica standing in front of him. Rory remembered meeting Ryellie, and how she answered his questions in reverse order. He figured that, in a weird way, doing that took some of the pressure off. He decided to test his theory. He just didn't expect that he'd only get to answer one question.
"No, we don't make sense. At least, not to other people. But I don't care."
Erica wondered if her brain could break trying to comprehend that. She didn't share in Rory's logic: love doesn't have to make sense. He could see that she had no idea what he was talking about, but he wasn't going to clue her in. Otherwise, he really would sound overly dramatic.
Erica didn't seem focused on what Rory was saying. Anytime she thought back to the breakup-or anything related to it-she gave herself a migraine.
She changed the subject, knowing he wouldn't be angry. "Don't you owe me dinner?"
"Like a date?" Rory asked, taking on the role of the puzzled one. He thought they were done discussing that, but dinner was what they had planned on the night they broke up.
"No…"
Erica's response was an echo of an earlier time. For a millisecond, Rory's mind transported him back to the school's computer room. He did his best to tune that thought out.
Rory was tired, hungry and frustrated. But he wasn't asking for an argument. He let Erica lead the way to wherever, hoping the place she had in mind wasn't a zoo. He was craving 'real' food, even if he didn't need it.
As they walked, Rory was still a little bit off balance. His shoulder ended up colliding into Erica's, though not with enough force to have her wobbling.
He waited for what he thought was the inevitable nudge-the repeat of another memory-but it never came.
All Rory got as he regained his balance was a questioning look. The words Erica's eyes spoke were "Are you okay?"
Rory gave a smile in reply. And this time he didn't have to force it.
"We're home… finally." Benny announced, as he led Ryellie to his front door, figuring she'd enter her house through the back. (After Zander got the two friends out of the forest, he went off somewhere on his own.) Before Benny reached the door, it started drizzling. "So close…"
The drizzle quickly turned into a downpour.
He turned around to see Ryellie, spinning in circles on his front lawn. That sight was something his eyes certainly weren't expecting to be greeted by. "What're you doing?" He asked, under a laugh.
"My dare." She told him, throwing a few random dance moves into the mix.
"You almost seem like you're having fun there." Benny teased, wondering whether or not he should get his camera. He thought it best to check with Ryellie first.
"I really hate this." She said, though she was smiling. Then there was no question about it. Benny had to ask, because this dare seemed like painful enough for Ryellie as it was (and the smile was probably a part of it).
"Rory's gonna need proof you took this dare, isn't he?" He didn't want her to think he was just going to leave her out in the rain, but decided he had to get this on film. It was too funny to go unseen.
"Would I even show up?" Ryellie thought aloud, knowing exactly what Benny had in mind, which didn't surprise him. Mirrors were one story, cameras were another. Her tone implied that while she'd be embarrassed to have her performance caught on film, she'd be more upset if that was impossible.
"Only one way to find out."
Ryellie stopped in her tracks. The way Benny said those words indicated that he still remembered when she had. This brought a small smile to her face, and made dancing in the rain a little less torturous.
Inside, Benny struggled to get a clear shot, but he blamed that solely on the rain. As he zoomed in, Ryellie came into focus. Not very clearly, but he could tell she was there. Which meant so could Rory.
The opened door was like a beacon, guiding Ryellie home. She bolted inside, happy the dare was over. Then, she and Benny burst out laughing.
"Déjà vu." He commented, while she looked at her dress pitifully.
"I survived the dare, let's hope the dress does."
"Don't worry." Benny assured her.
They shared a silent wave-something that had become second nature-and Ryellie disappeared out Benny's back door.
"I'm glad you guys finally made it back home." Ethan said, the following morning in school. "We all thought Mrs. Temberlon really was gonna have a heart attack this time."
Which means she probably hates me even more now. Benny thought. What he said out loud was: "I'm glad you're not still bummed about Sarah's stupid dare. Especially since she looked like she wanted to tear that tree limb from limb while you were proposing to it." He ended his sentence with a chuckle Ethan didn't return.
The response Benny got was look, and not an amused one. "Limb from limb? How long have you been sitting on that one?"
"Since you took the dare." It was then that Ethan joined in the laughter, as Sarah rounded the corner.
"I never thought I'd be so happy to come to school." She told the boys.
"Anything to get away from the twins and their arguing?" Ethan asked, feeling her pain.
"They drove me nuts!"
"Welcome to my world." Ethan replied with an eyebrow raise. "Somehow I always get stuck in the middle of whatever they're bickering about."
Sarah nodded, then something crossed her mind. "But, there is one thing I can't complain about when it comes to them. They sure know how to shop." She said, regarding the new outfit Reegan and Rae had given her. "Even if it is strictly from the store they work at."
"Yeah." Ethan agreed. "You know, Reegan asked me if I was jealous that Rory technically got more presents than the rest of us because he likes 'the layered look'."
Sarah giggled, shaking her head slightly over how wonderfully random the twins could be, while Benny realized something.
"Wait a second. We're all wearing the clothes they bought us today?" The three looked between one another, and that was silently confirmed. Though, anyone else would guess the clothes came from their own closets. The twins' apparently had an eye for their friends' individual style. "What, did we all forget to do our laundry?" Their laughter got interrupted.
"I remembered. And I had my dress all ready to go." Something about Ryellie's tone kept the others from turning around. She sounded utterly irritated, which was extremely out of character. "But, somehow, I misplaced it… along with all my other ones."
It finally clicked for Ethan. The reason Ryellie was so upset: Rae had gone through with her dare.
He was the first to look at Ryellie. "Wow."
What else could he say? What shocked Ethan was that Ryellie actually let herself be seen wearing something other than a dress-instead of staying home until Rae let her in on where she'd hid them all-but that wasn't the only surprising thing. He'd become so used to seeing Ryellie wearing dresses that this change had sort of a 'Cinderella effect'. Like seeing a tomboy in formal clothes for the first time. He barely recognized her.
Benny and Sarah could say the same. The new look was a definite attention-getter. Strangely enough, since it was so simple. Plain jeans and a long-sleeved blouse of a cranberry color.
Ryellie's hair swooped up into a high ponytail and-naturally-there were boots on her feet. In her ears were barely-noticeable studs.
"Nice jeans." Benny and Sarah said at the same time, exchanging odd glances afterward.
Ryellie felt right at home, despite how awkward she thought she must look. She thanked her friends with a smile, and said: "We're all walking advertisements today."
"I figured it out."
Rory wondered if this was some sort of new game. It seemed like, lately, he always had to guess what was going on in Erica's head.
She was standing with him by his locker, looking at him in anticipation. She wasn't going to bother with elaborating if he wasn't interested in what she had to say. Which meant the next word was his. "Figured what out?"
"The reason why we can't go out again."
"Oh." There was no way for Rory to keep smiling after hearing that. He was open to discussion, just not this specific topic. But Erica wasn't a mind reader, so she had no way to tell.
"It's like, when people date, they forget they have friends." Her shaking hands were balled into fists, but she quickly calmed herself down. "Think about it: when was the last time you saw Sarah? Not Sarah&Ethan just… Sarah."
Erica couldn't remember. But she did remember that when Sarah came up with the idea for everyone to relax after the battle, she passed hew own best friend's name in her contact list to go to Ethan's.
Rory was surprised that he actually did have to think about it. "...Last Tuesday."
"My point exactly." Erica answered flatly.
For a second, Rory hated that Erica thought of Ethan and Sarah as a model couple. And the only thing she thought they stood for was something negative: abandonment. Rory felt the same way Erica was feeling. But that was because of her, not them.
Rory couldn't say that out loud. It just didn't feel right.
He had to find a way to convince Erica that things could be good again for everyone, including them as a couple (because-at the moment-no one in the group was in the best of places).
Rory was used to thoughts entering his mind and spilling out of his mouth, but finding the right words to say was going to take some time. When he did finally have an answer for Erica's argument, he knew that they would be well worth the wait for both of them.
"You survived an entire school day in pants, how do you feel?" Benny asked Ryellie as he held the door open for the rest of the group.
"Stupid." She said honestly. Though, 'weird' was a better fitting word. She felt like she had gone through a second transformation, and was a completely different person.
Benny's automatic reaction was to scoff, and then imitate a buzzer. He hated it when Ryellie spoke that way about herself, and vice/versa, that was obvious to everyone. "Wrong. The word I was looking for was 'proud'. Or, ya know, something along the lines of that."
"Sorry, forgot to put my mind-reader's cap on today."
Ethan laughed. H e found it odd that Benny and Ryellie had found a new hobby in teasing one another.
"Wasn't that funny." Benny said, sounding sour.
"It's not what she says, it's how she says it." Ethan clarified, surprised by his best friend's tone of voice. That's when it dawned on him.
All that teasing talk was made to fill a gap.
"I'm outta here." Erica told everyone. "Reegan and Rae sure know how to bring in business." No one had to ask what she meant by that. They knew she was headed off to do more shopping, in case her new outfit 'got lonely'.
"Wait." Rory called, the volume of his voice drowning out Ryellie, who'd said the same thing.
Erica didn't try to hide her annoyed groan. "What?" She hadn't even made it off the curb.
"Party planning." Ryellie reminded her hesitantly.
"You promised you'd help." Sarah chimed in. If anyone could 'guilt Erica into going along with this', it was Sarah.
"And I will, just not today." Or not.
"This is Reegan and Rae we're talking about." Ryellie said, surprised she was talking so fast. That was a nervous habit. "Even if we had their help, the party would take at least a week to plan." No one doubted that, considering the way the twins were.
"So if I miss one measly day of planning, it'll be a disaster?" Erica asked, not about to hang around to learn anyone's opinion on that.
"Well… no, but it won't be a special." Ryellie tried to make her words come out strong, but her mood was more sad. "It's their twenty-first birthday." It was plain to see that Ryellie had fully forgiven her cousins when she said that.
"How badly do you want my help?" Erica asked, crossing her arms. She took any opportunity to mess with Ryellie, just to see how she'd react. How far she could push her. "Would you chase me down?" The question seemed unclear even to even Erica, but Ryellie caught her drift.
"Like a race? There's no way I could win."
"Well, maybe if you'd apply yourself…" The look Benny gave Erica then was so heated that the others worried they'd catch fire if they stood too close. She ignored him, knowing no matter what she said, he would never punch her in the face. "Try embracing your vampirism, and quit cowering away from a challenge."
Ryellie's eyebrows angled downward, and Ethan told Erica: "You don't wanna make her mad." If something set Ryellie off, she could get pretty fiesty. Grayson had proven that.
"Yeah," Sarah agreed. "just stop it." Sarah taking Ryellie's side-and and only open her mouth to agree with Ethan-was just fuel to the fire.
"What's she gonna do, whisper me to death?" Erica didn't have to worry about making sense with that insult, though the entire group would agree that Ryellie rarely got loud.
Erica knew she was getting to Ryellie simply by talking about her like she wasn't there. So, she kept it up. "She couldn't scare a deer. Her grandfather's best cooking is tougher than she is."
Ryellie looked like she was about to blow a gasket-unlike her first day that, had it not been for Benny, would've been comparable to a dam breaking-and she hated that she still wanted someone to fight this battle for her. She was silently begging for anyone to acknowledge her.
Erica inched closer, just to get up in Ryellie's face. She spoke in a sharp, mocking whisper. "No wonder she doesn't consider herself a vampire, she'd be the world's… worst… one."
The response Erica got was an audible sharpness, the unmistakable sound of fangs shooting out. Ryellie stared daggers… from inches off the ground.
She'd made herself stand taller than Erica.
The others couldn't manage gasps. Erica gaped, Rory and Sarah stared wide-eyed, and Ethan and Benny did what their instinct told them to do. They got Ryellie back on the ground, looking around afterward to make sure no one else had witnessed what went on.
Erica wasn't going to let herself be angry over another one of Ryellie's strengths, despite the unwritten rule that fledglings can't fly. She had to admit the display was impressive, if only to herself. For that, she forgot about the race. And going shopping. "So," She said casually, to her still-stunned friends (Ryellie included). "party planning?"
"My little cousin probably would take the job… you know, if she wasn't so scared of people, but-" Reegan stopped short in her bedroom doorway. "Boss, I'm gonna have to call you back, okay? Bye." The second she hung up her phone, she transitioned back to normal volume. "RORY!"
"Wazzup?" He asked her, shining a smile. Though he barely knew what to say. Especially since Rae seemed to be M.I.A. "How was school? And work? And… stuff?"
"How did you get in here?" She demanded to know, stamping her foot for emphasis. It had much less of an effect because of the rug under her feet.
"Victoria let me in." (Rory couldn't very well tell her why, or mention that she caught him in the middle of putting his vampire ninja skills to work.) His smile vanished when he added: "She wants to cut my hair."
Reegan bought it. Probably because both things were true.
"There's no way I'm letting that happen, I'll be your bodyguard. Come taste-test this putting I just made!"
"Pudding?" Rory repeated, puzzled. He suddenly had no idea what was going on. (Reegan switched subjects faster than he did.) She pulled him toward the kitchen, while he wondered why she disregarded all punctuation aside from exclamation points when she spoke. Rory figured it was the pudding that did that to her.
"Yes before Miles eats it all let's go!
Meanwhile, party planning was going on at Ethan's house.
"Erica, your entire 'recommended music list' is made up of Metal bands." Sarah said, obviously not liking that idea.
"Good Metal bands." Erica corrected.
"Do Reegan and Rae even like Metal?" Ethan asked. Though the question was directed more at Ryellie, who might actually be able to answer.
"Sure. They like a little bit of everything." A satisfied smile spread across Erica's face. "But I'm not so sure that they'd want their whole party play list to be made from one genre of music."
Erica mumbled as she put her list down on the table, that Benny's phone proceeded to vibrate off of.
"Avalanche." Ryellie called out as a warning. The phone nearly hit the floor, but Benny caught it with ease. "Interrupted." Ryellie revised, impressed by his quick reflexes.
"Rory says there's a snag in the plan." Benny reported as he read the text message he'd received.
"Meaning?" Ethan questioned, since the snag could be a number of things. Everyone looked at Benny at that point, curious about what the story was. Which prompted him to read the text message verbatim.
"Reegan showed up…dragged me away…force-feeding me pudding." Benny faced the screen outward and tilted his cell phone back and forth, as proof that he couldn't make this stuff up.
"Poor guy." Ryellie sympathized.
Ethan didn't see things her way, especially since that 'poor guy' was being treated to dessert at four in the afternoon. "As a vampire 'ninja', he should've been out of there in two seconds flat. He's getting rusty." The others laughed.
Ryellie said: "Take a wild guess at where the twins' address book is." Though she thought she came off sounding mean, no one else seemed to agree. The challenge was for anyone. Sarah spoke up.
"In their desk drawer." She was confident she'd be right. It was logical.
"That would make sense." Everyone looked at Ryellie as if that was a given. "When have my cousins ever made sense?"
"Do they make a game out of hiding it?" Benny inquired. He didn't understand that, or why the group hadn't just sent Ryellie to get the book intsead of Rory, but he was about to.
"Around this time of year, they do." Ryellie almost didn't say any more, but staying silent made her feel like she wasn't being fair to her friends. So, she explained herself. "Reegan and Rae love to party, but they hate when people go through a big hassle to throw a party for them. I feel like this is a big birthday, it deserves to be celebrated."
"They don't know about this?" Benny asked, unable to resist smiling. (Ryellie had never said so specifically, but he'd picked up on the hints she'd dropped.) He still couldn't believe Ryellie kept secrets, but the surprise party was a good one.
Ethan and Sarah couldn't believe the twins' fought over a party they didn't even want to be thrown for them.
"They'll know once their birthday comes." Ryellie replied.
A thought crossed Ethan's mind, and he had to speak it. "Ryellie, if Rory's still currently being fed pudding against his will-" His question was interrupted briefly by a chuckle, before he continued on. "doesn't that mean you'll have to… sneak into your own house?"
If either of the twins saw their cousin, they would immediately become suspicious.
Ryellie realized Ethan was right, but that's not how she worded her response. "Nothing this weird ever happened to me before I met you guys."
Benny gave Ryellie a playful nudge and sent her a sweet smile. "See what you were missing?…"
Thanks for reading, PLEASE REVIEW! What party planning mishaps do you wanna see? All ideas are greatly appreciated, I'll update ASAP! =]