Chapter Six: Thursday
Ally's POV:
I wake up gasping for air. I look at my phone. 6:03 in the morning. I drag myself out of bed because I feel fully awake. I walk to the bathroom to wash my face. I take out the face wash from under my sink. I look at myself in the mirror but I see something that shouldn't be there. I have my arm in a sling… I move it and a shriek escapes my lips.
"Jesus, that hurts!" I yell. "What's going on up here?" my dad asks walking into my room. "My arm is broken," I say. I move it again but it doesn't hurt this time. "Well, now it's fine," I tell him. "Jeremiah told me about how you all went to the head vampires yesterday. Phoenix broke your arm so it would repair your brain," he tells me.
"Oh," I say though I still don't really understand. I take the cast off and put it back under my bathroom sink. I walk downstairs. "Dad, what am I going to do?" I ask. "I have two more days. I'm getting weak." "Ally, you'll be alright. I promise," he says kissing me on the head. "I wish Mom were here," I say quietly. "She would know exactly what to do about this."
"I know, sweetie" is all he says. He's never been that good at comforting but I give him an A for effort. I can see he's really trying. I hear a phone ring but it isn't mine. "Hello?" my dad answers his phone. "Yes, she's awake… Alright. Jeremiah is on—" He's cut off by Jeremiah walking into the door.
"Is your arm feeling better?" he asks. I nod. "Completely fine," I tell him wiggling it around a bit. Suddenly, my meeting with Austin yesterday plays in my mind.
"What do you mean?" he asks confused. "Can you love me even with my dark side?" I ask. "Your dark side?" he asks. "What dark side?" "I can't tell you. Not yet at least. Someday soon, I promise," I say again. "Ally," he says putting his hand under my chin. "I would love you even if you were… I don't know, a vampire."
He said, 'I would love you even if…' Does that mean he already loves me? No. No, of course not. I've been pushing him away all week. Maybe he's saying it's possible to fall in love with me? No. That is completely and utterly impossible.
"I would love you even if you were… I don't know, a vampire."
"Ally!" Jeremiah says snapping his fingers in my face. I blink. "What?" I ask. "You've been spaced out for five minutes. What's going on in there?" he asks tapping my forehead. "Where'd my dad go?" I ask. Jeremiah points up the stairs. I look down at the granite island I'm sitting at. "Do you think it's possible for someone to love me?" I ask.
"I love you," he says. "I don't mean family love. I mean, like, the other kind of love," I specify. "Oh… Of course it's possible for someone to love you. How could someone not love you?" he asks. I shrug. "It's possible," I tell him. He shakes his head. "No. It's not," he tells me defensively. "Anything's possible," I say quietly.
"Okay, stop. Just stop," he says. I look up into his brown eyes. I've never really noticed this before but I think his eyes are the exact same color of his hair. He sighs. "What?" I ask. "You're delusional," he tells me chuckling. "Excuse me?" I ask. What the hell is he talking about? "You're delusional. I talked to Kaitlyn last week," he says cautiously. "What does that have to do with anything?" I ask. "She told me about how she had a vision… about you," he says. "What was it? Tell me," I demand.
"Are you sure you want to hear this?" he asks. "Yes," I say. I'm getting frustrated now. "I know who your mate is," he tells me. My mouth falls slightly open. "I don't have a mate," I say firmly. "I won't have a mate. I can't have a mate." "Well, you do," he tells me. "No! This isn't possible!" I exclaim rising to my feet.
"My plan was to grow up without having to worry about love!" "Well, your plan won't work that well," he says. "Who's my mate? So I can stay away from him," I say. He opens his mouth but I cut him off. "No, no, wait, don't tell me. I don't want to know," I tell him closing my eyes. "Wait, wait tell me. No, no, don't tell me. Wait, I do want to know. No! Don't tell me. Tell me!" "Ally, do you want to know or not?" he asks me.
"No… Yes, tell me… No, don't…" I trail off. I fight with myself in my head about it. "Fine, I won't tell you then," he says shrugging. "No, tell me. Don't. Don't tell me. Tell me. No, don't. I don't know. Don't tell me," I finally decide. "Austin is your mate," he blurts out. "A-Austin?"
Austin's POV:
Maybe I should just ask Ally about this. No, because then she would be mad about me reading her book. Why did I have to read it in the first place?! I sigh and stretch out on my bed. I should just talk to Dez about this. He'll know what to do… What did I just think? Trish would be a better option since she's Ally's best friend. Yeah, I'll go talk to Trish about this. But she's not awake yet. I'll wait a few hours.
Three Hours Later:
I take out my phone and call Trish. "Austin, what do you want? I'm kind of in the middle of something," she answers her phone. "Dez put down the cymbals! You're going to—" She's cut off by a crash. "Oops!" I hear Dez yell. "I also told you to stay away from the guitars! You're paying for that! Austin, come to Sonic Boom. Please." She hangs up the phone and I rush to Sonic Boom as fast as I can.
"What is going on?" I ask Trish. "Dez is going insane!" she exclaims. I look over at my red headed best friend who is in the corner eating some kind of sandwich. "He seems fine," I tell her. "Because I gave him that sandwich," she whispers. I walk around a broken guitar and a few piano keys to Dez. "My sandwich!" he screams at me.
"I'm not going to take your sandwich, Dez, I promise. How much sleep did you get last night?" I ask. He looks up in thought. "Maybe five minutes," he says with a bright smile. "Go upstairs and get some sleep," I tell him. "Can I take my sandwich?" he asks. I nod my head. "Awesome sauce!" he yells before running up the stairs.
"How did you do that?" Trish asks me. "I am in awe… Anyway, what did you want?" "I need to talk to you," I say lowering my voice. "It's about Ally." "A-Ally?" she asks. I nod my head. "She told you?" she asks. "Told me what?" I ask. "Nothing. What about Ally?" she asks. "Can we go upstairs and talk about this?" I ask her.
She looks around the store. It's like a ghost town. Dez probably scared everyone away. Trish switches the sign to closed and we go upstairs. Dez is fast asleep on the couch, his hair strewn across his face and his sandwich half eaten and hanging out of his mouth. Trish takes out a marker and crosses over to him. She draws a mustache on his face quickly and turns back to me.
"Wow, um, he probably won't bother us… Sit down," I suggest to her. She sits down on the piano bench and I sit down on the stool I use when I'm playing a guitar instead of piano with Ally. "I read Ally's journal," I say then I flinch. "Please don't hit me!" "I won't. What do you have to say?" she asks. "I read a page… and at the end she said 'I wish I were human'. What is that supposed to mean?" I ask.
Trish jerks her head around to look at Dez, sending her black curls flying. Then she looks back to me. She just shrugs but her shoulders are tense. "Are you sure?" I ask. "Yep, I'm sure. I better go back down and open the store back up before I get fired. Wait a minute, I can't get fired. I still need to open the store back up," she says quickly.
She runs downstairs. She knows something. Dez lets out a large snore. I take his sandwich out of his mouth and take a bite of the opposite end. This is an awesome sandwich. I walk downstairs too. "Is that the sandwich that was hanging out of Dez's mouth?" Trish asks me giving a customer his change. I nod. "Gross! And hey, no eating in the store," she snaps. "Alright, whatever. Ally," I say.
"Shut up," she tells me. I walk out the door. My feet carry me to Ally's house without even asking me. My hand knocks on her white door. Ally opens it. "Austin?" she asks. Her eyes widen. "Ooh," Jeremiah says walking up behind her. "What?" I ask. "N-n-nothing," Ally stutters. "But now isn't a good time, Austin."
Suddenly, I feel really mad. "Ally, when is a good time? Next month? Next year? Next generation?" I ask loudly. I look down. "Never?" I ask in a lower volume. "Austin, I don't mean to—" "No, Ally. You can't keep pushing me away!" I exclaim looking back up at her. Hurt spreads across her face. "I'm sorry," I say quietly.
"No, you're right. Come inside," she tells me opening the door wider. I walk inside. "Jeremiah, can you give us a few minutes? Alone?" Ally asks. Jeremiah smiles at her in a weird way and winks. He walks up the stairs. "S-sit down, Austin," Ally tells me. I sit down on the couch in the living room and she sits down beside me.
"I'm sorry for pushing you away the last week. I've just… had a lot on my mind," she says. "That's not what I'm worried about," I tell her. "What are you worried about then?" she asks me. "I read your book. I know, I'm sorry," I add quickly. "What did you read?" she asks me. "Ally, I'm really sorry about it but—" "What. Did. You. Read?" she asks through clenched teeth. "I read something about the sun being too hot but what I'm worried is the ending. What do you mean 'I wish I were human'?" I ask her.
She looks away. I put my fingers under her chin and force her to look at me. "What did you mean?" I ask looking into her eyes. "It's a metaphor," she tells me quickly. "For?" I press her for more. "Um, sometimes I wish I were more normal. Sometimes I feel like an outcast. And 'I wish I were human' is a metaphor for 'I wish I were more normal'," she explains to me.
Ally's POV:
I can't believe I came up with that on the spot. I'm proud of myself. Austin scratches a spot on his cheek. "You're not weird," Austin tells me. I look down at the floor. If only he knew… I sigh. "Look, Austin, I can't—" Suddenly, the smell of blood fills my nose. I look to Austin. Turns out, Austin had scratched a scab on his face: scratched it right off.
Now it's bleeding. Awesome. My eyes slide shut. "Austin, you're bleeding and you need to go," I say quickly. I speed walk up the stairs, making sure not to run. It's a few seconds before I hear the front door close. "That was a short talk," Jeremiah tells me closing my songbook. "Don't touch my book," I mutter snatching it away from him.
"What happened?" he asks. "His face started bleeding," I say. "His face?" Jeremiah asks me. I nod my head. "He scratched a scab or whatever and it started bleeding. Jeremiah, this is the second time something like that has happened," I say. "You resisted the urge, though," he tells me. "Well, it's not like I was going to suck his face or his elbow!" I exclaim.
"When you're a thirsty vampire, it doesn't matter if the blood is coming out of someone's butt, you'll drink it. Trust me. You didn't drink because he's your mate," he tells me. "Austin is not my mate!" I scream at him. I run outside. I don't know where I'm going but I just keep running. Soon, I'm at the beach. I hate the beach.
So I run to Sonic Boom. Trish is lying asleep on the counter and the store is empty; probably because no one can buy anything. I see a mess of guitars, cymbals, and piano keys in the corner but I don't care. "Trish, wake up. I need to talk to you," I say shaking her. She doesn't wake up; she just lets out a large snore. I pull her blanket off of her.
"Huh? What?" she asks sitting up. "Oh, hi, Ally. I wasn't sleeping," she lies badly. "I need to talk to you," I tell her. "About what?" she whines. "Stuff," I say. We have a code word for these kinds of things. When I say 'stuff', she knows it's about my vampire side. "Oh, um, let's go to my house. Dez is asleep upstairs," she tells me. We close the store and walk to her house.
Dez's POV: (OMG but it's short)
I wake up and look around. Practice room. I walk over to the fridge and look inside. No! Someone ate the rest of Benjamin! Trish. I look back inside my gingerbread house to make sure no one else was eaten by that she-monster. Everyone else went untouched. I go to walk outside but notice something in the mirror beside the door.
Oh, my God.
I grew a mustache while I was asleep! I smooth it down and it smears. Aw, it's just marker… Trish probably did it. I walk downstairs. Where did everybody go? Wait a minute… The store is empty. I take off my pants and my shirt, leaving me in only my underwear. I lay down on the counter. "I feel so alive!" I yell into the empty store. I fall asleep right there on the counter.
One Hour Later:
I feel myself hit the floor. I see Trish hovering above me. I jump up. "You ate Benjamin!" I yell at her. "And I'm not wearing any pants!" I grab my pants and slip them on. "Why are you so pale?" she asks looking at my chest. "Gingers burn easily so I'm not in the sun that much," I tell her shrugging. "Anyway, why did you eat Benjamin?!"
"You should really work out more," she tells me pointing to my stomach. I scratch the back of my neck. "Um, yeah, I-I know that. Tell me why you ate Benjamin!" I exclaim. "I was hungry. Oh, and he was delicious. Bake me more gingerbread men," she tells me forcefully. "Oh, and by the way, your mustache is smeared." "You're mean," I mutter walking out of Sonic Boom to make more gingerbread men for Trish.
Ally's POV:
Austin isn't your mate. Austin isn't your mate. Austin isn't your mate. Austin isn't your mate. Austin isn't your mate. This line runs through my brain over and over again as I walk home from Trish's house with my head down. "Would you love me… even with my dark side?" I sing under my breath. Suddenly, I stop walking in the middle of the sidewalk. What if he was joking?
I have a vision of myself kissing Austin. Passionately. That's the universe's way of answering my question. I sigh and continue my journey home. Then it starts raining… and thundering… and lightning… It's a full out storm. I'm soaked within seconds. I would run but I just don't have the energy. So I walk off the sidewalk and sit down under a tree.
Do you hear the thunder, baby?
There's a storm coming
I don't want you to miss the lightning
If lightning strikes, so be it because I don't care anymore. I'm going to die in two days anyway.
I need someone to come save me
Will it be you?
Or will it be somebody new?
Of course it won't be somebody new. Austin… is my mate. There: I said it… No, Austin can't be my mate. He's my best friend. We can't just jeopardize our friendship like that. I'm sure Austin would agree. Please, let lightning strike this tree. There's a thunder clap then lightning strikes a tree a few yards away. "You missed!" I call out. The tree doesn't catch on fire like I thought it would.
I just sit there under the tree for the rest of the night in the pouring rain.
Yep, go ahead and say it: The ending sucked. I was distracted. Marathon of Glee on Netflix hehehehehe. R5GirlyPenguin, I WANTED PIZZA ALL DAY YESTERDAY! No lie. And yeah, you're right about Ally's vampire side and Austin's oblivious side. Anyway, review.
Love, Kenzie