"Benny!" I snapped, rushing up to the table. "What the heck are you doing?"
"Shh, you're scaring away customers," Benny said hastily, waving me away. "The Amazing Bernardo! I can look into you future for a mere five dollars."
"Five dollars?" Sarah exclaimed.
"It's a tough economy!" Benny whined.
"You have to stop this right now, before someone comes with a straight-jacket," I told him.
"If I'm so crazy, how come I already have thirty dollars, huh?" he gloated, waving the cash in my face.
"What?" I said in happy surprise, grabbing the money. "But school hasn't even started yet."
"Exactly," he said proudly. "Plus everyone gets real readings, since we're supernaturals!"
"And people are actually paying, knowing that the money is going for a video game?" Sarah asked.
"Uh, well...no, not exactly." I looked up in confusion. "They think it's for charity."
"Benny, you can't do that," I said angrily. "It's wrong on so many levels."
"Yeah, and evil," Sarah added, her hands on her hips.
"Relax," Benny said hastily. "I'll figure out ways to pay them back."
I rubbed the bridge of my nose as somebody walked up, wearing sweat pants, a t-shirt, and holding a box of tissues. It took me a moment to realize it was Liz.
"Hey, guys," she said, making it clear that she had a stuffy nose.
"Man, you look horrible," Benny said.
"Gee, thanks Benny," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes and blowing her nose into a tissue.
"Are you okay?" I asked, genuinely concerned.
"Yeah, I'll be fine once this-" She pause for a huge sneeze, "-passes."
"I didn't know fairies could get sick," Sarah whispered.
"We're in touch with everything natural in the world, which includes influenza," she explained regretfully.
"Shouldn't you have stayed home if you're feeling this bad?" Benny asked.
"Do you know what the prize for perfect attendance is this year?" We shook our heads. "It's a 2012 Toyota Camry. There is no way I'm gonna lose a chance at that."
"You're out of your mind," Sarah said, shaking her head. Ignoring Sarah, Liz seemed to finally comprehend what was in front of her.
"What the heck are you doing, Benny?"
"I am The Amazing Bernardo!" he announced again as a group of popular girls walked by and almost fell down laughing.
"Really?" she said in amusement. "You look more like The Amazing Dorkus to me."
"He's doing tea-leaf readings to earn money for a video game," I explained. "I have no part in this whatsoever."
"Fine, I'll do it all on my own," Benny said snobbishly.
"I guess you will," I said.
"Okay, then," he spat, trying to have the last word.
"Alright!"
"Boys, break it up," Sarah interjected, stepping in between us.
"We'll see who's too proud to hustle once I have the hottest video game of the year," Benny challenged.
"You wish!" I spat.
"Guys!" Sarah said, turning to me. "You know how Benny's plans go. This'll probably be over by tomorrow."
"Yeah, you're probably right," I agreed, backing away from the table.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a customer," Benny said happily. Sure enough, someone was standing behind us with five dollars in hand. I moved out of the way, unable to understand why anyone would fall for this scheme.
"It's so great that you're donating all this money to orphans," the person said gratefully.
Oh yeah. That's why.
I looked at him in disappointment, shaking my head. "Come on guys, let's go."
"I can't believe you and Benny are fighting," Sarah said. It was after school and she was driving me home.
"It actually happens more than you know," I said sadly, resting my head on the window. "I mean, he just doesn't think about consequences sometimes."
"Well, he'll learn someday," she assured me.
"I sure hope so," I said. She pulled up in front of my house and unlocked the car doors. "Okay, see you tomorrow Ethan," she said with a smile.
"I gotta ask you something," I redirected, turning to her.
"Okay," she said.
"What was wrong with the reading that Grandma gave you last Friday?"
"Oh, that," she said glumly. "It's nothing, I just had a lot on my mind that day."
"You looked upset though," I continued.
"Oh, no. I was trying to figure out what it meant," she said unconvincingly.
"Alright," I said, giving up. "You know you can trust me, right?"
She gave me a sweet smile. "I know."
I smiled back. "See you tomorrow, Sarah."
"Bye." Then she drove off, leaving me on the sidewalk to wonder what was going on inside her head.
I walked through the front door of my house and up the stairs to my room. Once inside, I almost had a heart attack, because Erica was sitting in my desk chair.
"Gah!" I exclaimed, dropping my backpack on the floor. "How did you get in here?"
"Don't worry about that," she brushed off.
"No," I said, frazzled, "I'm definitely gonna worry about that!"
"Okay, whatever! Stop freaking out, I have to tell you something."
"What?"
"You're in danger. Actually, we all are. I overheard a few guys at school today saying they were going to get back at you for what you did to Jesse. Apparently, they don't know he's back and they're some of his followers."
"What?" I said in disbelief. "I thought we killed all of his followers at the 'Dusk III' premiere."
"So did I," she said, "but obviously we didn't, and now they're coming after us."
"What do we do?" I asked, scared.
"Just be careful for the next few days," Erica instructed, walking towards the already-opened window. "I'm gonna go tell Sarah and Rory, and you tell Benny. Everything is gonna be okay, Ethan. We'll beat them like we always do." With that, she jumped out of the window.
"I'm not so sure this time," I said to myself. After I closed the window, I called Benny.
"Hey, Benny...yeah, it's me...we'll talk about that later. Right now, we've got big trouble."
"You're saying that Jesse still has followers running around?" Benny asked the next day at school.
"Yeah, and we've really ticked them off." I got my books out of my locker and closed the door, starting towards class. "Erica said we need to be really careful the next few days."
"You think?" he said sarcastically. "What are we going to do?"
"What we usually do, I guess," I said. "Fight and hope we don't become a late night snack."
"Great," Benny said. "Really great image to put in my head." While he said that, I saw Rory running towards us excitedly.
"Hey, dudes! Guess what? We just got invited to the most awesome party of the year!"
"We did?" Benny asked.
"Well, I did, but the guy said that I could invite anyone I wanted to. So we're all going!" he finished happily.
"Who invited you?" I asked.
"He didn't say his name, but he gave me this flyer." Rory handed us the small piece of paper to read.
"Tons of food...door prizes...live DJ?" Benny said excitedly. "Right on!
"So you guys interested?" Rory asked.
"Hecks yeah we are!" Benny announced as I nodded fervently.
"Great! I'll tell him."
"Wait," I started. "How are we going to get out of my house?"
"Don't your parents have a date Friday night, like usual?" Benny asked.
"Yeah, buy what about Sarah?"
"What if we invited her to come with us?" Benny suggested.
"That might just work," I said, a smile spreading across my face.
"Alright!" Rory said triumphantly. "Friday night, we party!"
For the next three days, we all played it safer than we ever had before, and Liz fully recovered from her flu spell. Now we were trying to figure out what to wear to the party.
"This would be the perfect time to wear your t-shirt with the tuxedo printed on it," Benny suggested.
"Good idea, I think I will." Just as I got the shirt over my head, there was a knock at my bedroom door. Benny opened it, almost too soon, to find a dressed-up Sarah, Erica, and Liz.
"You guys ready to party?" Sarah said excitedly, dancing on the spot.
"Oh yeah!" Benny shouted.
"Just hope this goes better than the last party we all went to," I said.
"It will," Erica assured me. "We're better trained now if anything does go wrong. Ooh, I hope they have some snacks there!"
There was a pause in which we all looked at her like she was crazy.
"What? A girl can dream, can't she?" she said defensively, walking away.
"Alright, let's go," Sarah said, pointing towards the staircase.
"Just a minute, I'm not done changing," I said.
"Well, hurry!" Liz said spastically as they both ran from the door.
"Sheesh, they are in a hurry," Benny observed.
"Can't really blame Sarah," I began, changing into nicer jeans. "She hasn't been to a good party since she became a vampire."
"Touché," he replied. "Oh, I almost forgot! I've finally sold enough fortunes at school to buy us each a copy of Immortal Enemies III!"
"Benny," I moaned, "what you're doing is wrong."
"Okay, okay, just act like you don't know where the money came from when I give it to you for Christmas." I just shook my head in disappointment.
Once outside, we picked where we were going to sit in the car, or Benny did anyway.
"Shotgun!" he called, running to the car as I closed the house door. As I walked towards the car, he gave me a wink, and then I saw why. The only seat left was next to Sarah, who had already squeezed into the backseat with Rory and Liz. I gave Benny a deadly look and watched Sarah shrug her shoulders.
Once I was in, we drove off on the longest 15-minute trip of my life. Being around Sarah everyday of my life was stressful enough, so you can imagine how on-edge I was with her almost sitting on my lap. I hated Benny in that moment, but I also silently thanked him.
"Alright, we're here." Erica finally announced, pulling into a drive in front of what looked to be a mansion. When we got out, I almost fell out, to Sarah's amusement.
"Oops," I said feebly, feeling my cheeks heat up. Luckily, it was already dark so she didn't see. Hopefully.
We walked through the front door to find the party had already started. There had to be over two-hundred people there all over the place, holding soda cans and passing footballs back and forth.
"Dang, when he throws a party, he throws a party!" Rory yelled over the din of music, singing, and other people hollering.
"Dude, there's Della," Benny said in my ear, pointing in front of us. "I gotta go talk to her."
Once he rushed off, it seemed like everybody else went their separate ways, leaving Sarah and me standing in the main hall.
"So what should we do?" I called to her.
"Find a quieter place!" she called back with a laugh.
Suddenly, she grabbed my hand and pulled me towards what looked like a living room. I know it was only to keep me from getting lost in the crowd, but I still blushed.
Once in the room, she shut the door, which made me nervous. Even though we weren't alone, I still had no clue what she was planning to do. When she turned around, she spotted a couple making out in a corner chair.
"Well, that's beautiful," she said quietly with sarcasm. I just laughed. "I'm gonna go get us some punch."
"No, I'll go," I said, stepping in front of her. "It's the polite thing to do."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Of course," I said with a shrug.
"Thanks, Ethan," she said gratefully, sitting down on a couch.
I left to get the punch and saw Benny dancing with Della, Erica flirting with a random guy, and Rory and Liz chatting by the food table.
"Hey, Ethan," Rory said when he saw me approaching. "Is this a great party or what?"
"The best so far," I said truthfully.
"There's the guy who invited me," Rory said, pointing over my shoulder. I turned around to see a guy dressed in black with pale skin. He looked straight at me with a indecipherable expression, then walked away. It occurred to me that he looked like one of the Drama kids.
Drama kids…
"Nah, not here," I said to myself. Dismissing it, I filled up two cups with punch and walked back to the living room.
"Here you go," I said, handing Sarah her cup and sitting down beside her.
"Thanks," she said, taking a drink. I knew the punch was a cover so that she would seem normal and so she wouldn't draw any attention to herself.
We sat there for a few minutes, sipping on our drinks, when she gasped.
"I love this song!" she said, standing up and putting her drink on the side table. A slow song had just come on, one I had only heard a few times.
"Dance with me," she said, grabbing my hand again.
"Uh, I can't dance," I said nervously, breaking into a cold sweat as she pulled me up on my feet.
"Oh, it's easy," she assured me. She put my hands on her waist and her hands on my shoulders, then we started swaying back and forth.
I was thinking about pinching myself to see if this was real, when the music stopped and a voice came over the speakers. I stepped away quickly.
"Attention," the voice called. "We would like to announce the winner of our first door prize. And the winner is…Ethan Morgan!"
"What? I didn't put my name in or anything," I said in shock.
"They must have a list, just go on!" she said, pushing me towards the door.
"Ethan, please come up the stairs and step through the first door on the left to claim your prize," the voice finished, and the music resumed.
I walked up the stairs and looked over to see Benny and Rory giving me the thumbs-up. At the end of the stairs was a hall, which I walked down until I got to the first door on the left.
Once I walked into the room, I instantly knew something was wrong. There wasn't one piece of furniture to be seen, not even a fan on the ceiling.
"Hello?" I felt something hit the back of my head, knocking me the floor. My head was bursting with pain before it even hit the ground, and I lost consciousness once it did.
"Congratulations, Ethan Morgan," the attacker said quietly, throwing down the crowbar. "You just won the grand prize: dinner with the host. Or should I say, dinner for the host."