Chapter Two
We were watching a concert. It was me, Michael, and Sam. Some dude was wearing purple tights and nothing else. He was singing, an instrument by his side. Some people in the crowd were clapping, and nodding their heads to the music. The man began to play his saxophone. Then sung again. It was a repeat thing. Michael stopped watching the man as he started playing again. His eyes followed a girl with dark hair. Then, he kept staring at her. Sam and I looked at the girl, and turned Michael's head. He slowly looked at her again. Then, the girl left. Michael followed her, Sam and me behind him.
"So where are we going?" Sam asked.
"Nowhere." Michael answered.
"So what's our rush? You chasing that girl, aren't you? Come on, come on, admit it. You're chasing her. Case and I are at the mercy of your sex glands, bud."
"Oh, God." I said.
"Sam, Casey, don't you have something better to do than follow me around all night?" Michael asked.
"Yeah." Sam said, his eyes lighting up. "Actually, I do."
Michael took that as a sign to leave, and boy, did he. Sam looked at me.
"C'mon, Case."
"It's a comic book shop." I said.
"I know. Come on."
I glared at my brother, and then walked in beside him. Sometimes, he took being the older out of the two of us to his advantage. But, thing is, he was only older by an hour. Inside, we heard Inxs and Jimmy Barnes' Laying Down The Law playing over the speakers. Sam looked at some comic books. I noticed a young kid with light hair and a pink bandana around his head looking at us. He had brown eyes that he was inspecting us with. He had a binder or a book in his right hand. It was open. I wondered if he ran the place, and that was the stock book. Sam got uncomfortable, I guess, and looked at the kid. I noticed some other boy with dark hair and dark eyes and a box under his right arm looking at us. I nudged Sam, and he looked at the boy. Sam turned around, and we saw a man and a woman, high as a kite, leaning on their TV set that was playing some show on mute.
"Tells you about their upbringing." I muttered. Sam only raised his eyebrows in response. We walked off, and the two boys followed us.
"Got a problem, guys?" Sam asked.
"Just scoping your civilian wardrobe." The one with the bandana answered. I looked at him again. He was actually pretty cute. He looked at me, and I looked away.
"Pretty cool, huh?"
Now, let me fill you in on Sam's attire. He was wearing a jacket that seemed to be someone's long-lost 1960's curtains, a shirt that looked like Mom's tablecloth, then regular pants and shoes. Ew.
"For a fashion victim." The dark haired one said.
"Listen, buddy, if you're looking for the diet frozen-yogurt bar, it went out of business last summer." Said the one with the bandana. We stopped at a stand, and Sam was looking at the books again.
"Actually," Sam said. "I'm looking for a Batman, Number 14."
"That's a very serious book, man."
"Only five in existence." Added the dark haired one.
"Four, actually." Sam corrected. "I'm always looking out for the other three."
The two boys looked at each other. Sam looked back at the stand, and I just stood there, arms crossed, and bored out of my mind. Why did I have to have a twin brother that just loved comic books?
"Look. You can't put the Superman Number 77s with the 200s." Sam said, rearranging things. "They haven't even discovered red kryptonite yet. And you, uh, you can't put the Number 98s with the 300s. Lori Lemaris hasn't even been introduced."
I noticed that the one that had dark hair was sneering at him. I would be too. If Sam began to rearrange my stuff, he would get one kick in the you-know-where.
"Where the hell are you from?" asked the one with the bandana. "Krypton?"
"Phoenix, actually." Sam said. "But lucky me, we moved.." Sam took a look around "...here."
The dark haired one continued sneering as the one with the bandana left and came back with a comic book.
"Take this." He said. Sam took the comic. It said Vampires Everywhere. Sam handed it back.
"I don't like horror comics." He said.
"You'll like this one, Mr. Phoenix. It could save your life."
I saw some people take some comics. I reached over, and tugged on the dark haired one's shirt sleeve, since he had found a very interesting hole in the floor to look at.
"What?" he asked. I pointed to the comic book stealers. He looked in my direction.
"Hey!" he ran their direction.
"Hey!" yelled the one with the bandana, and followed the other.
"Come back here!"
"Hey, let's go!" the two yelled, as they ran out. Their voices died off.
"Come on. Let's go. Man, those are two weird characters." Sam said.
"Yeah." I said, in a dream state.
"Casey?"
My gaze had followed the one with the bandana.
"Casey?" Sam said again. He snapped his fingers in front of my face. "Casey!"
I jumped, and looked at him. "What?"
"Let's go." Sam took my arm gently, and led me out. We caught up with Michael, who was still following that girl. We heard engines revving as we neared him. The girl looked at us. She sat on a bike behind some guy with platinum blonde hair on a motorcycle. The guy looked over at us. He smirked at Michael. Sam looked at our older brother. "Come on, she stiffed you. Ha." Sam and I walked off, as Michael stood there, watching the girl leave.
```~~~THE NEXT DAY~~~```
Grandpa opened his garage door, and his 1957-1958 car sat there.
"Well, how do you like that baby, huh?" Grandpa asked.
"It's a beauty." Sam answered.
"Come on, let's get in."
"Alright. Hey, can I drive it on the way back?" Sam asked, as he got in the passenger seat. I got in the back. Honestly, I couldn't wait. As soon as I could, I was going to go back to that comic shop, and get that strange bandana kid's name.
"Fat chance." Grandpa said. "Nobody drives this baby but me." He got in, and started the car. Sam and I looked at each other, and high-fived. The car had a very nice engine. "Yeah. You gotta let it warm up a little. Hear that sound? Just like a baby pussycat. Okay, let's go to town."
"Alright." Sam said. I was bouncing up and down in my seat. I was thinking about bandana boy. God, he was so hot! But then, the engine stopped, and Grandpa got out. He looked at us through his window.
"Well, are we having fun or what?" Grandpa asked.
"I thought we were going to town." Sam said.
"That's as close to town as I like to get." Grandpa said, and left.
"What a weirdo, man." Sam and I said at the same time. I got a sly smile on my face, and headed towards the driver's seat.
"No-no. No." Sam said. "No. Bad Casey."
I looked at him. "Come on, Sam."
"No."
"Fine. I'll take Mike's bike."
"You do that, and he'll murder you. Why do you want to go there so badly?"
"No reason." I shrugged.
"Which kid is it?"
"What do you mean, 'which kid'?"
"I saw you eyeing one of those boys in that comic store last night. Which one is it?"
"None ya."
"Casey."
"Sam."
"Just answer my question."
"Bandana boy! There!"
```~~~LATER~~~```
Sam and I walked into the comic book shop, and saw the two boys. I looked up, and the one that wore the bandana was looking at me again. I swear, he must've gotten hotter overnight. Sam picked up a comic, and looked at it as the two boys walked over to us. Sam looked at them, and then looked back down at the comic. Bandana boy's bandana was red today. I watched as the two looked at each other, and Sam and I walked down further.
"Notice anything...unusual about Santa Carla yet?" the dark haired one asked.
"No, it's a pretty cool place." Sam answered. "If you're a Martian." He stopped again, his arm on my wrist, gently.
"Or a vampire." Said bandana boy. A sarcastic smile broke out on my twin's face.
"Are you guys sniffing old newsprint or something?" he asked.
"You think you really know what's happening around here, don't you? Well, let me tell you something. You don't know shit, buddy."
I made no sound. All I did was listen intently to the two boys. The four of us moved on again.
"Yeah. You think we just work in a comic book store for our folks, huh?" The dark haired boy asked.
"Actually, I thought it was a bakery." Sam said, sarcastically. We stopped, and bandana boy spoke.
"This is just our cover." He said. He took a comic book off of the shelf, and rolled it up in his hand. He pointed it at my twin's chest. "We're fighters for truth, justice, and the American way."
I just about swooned right then.
"Right." Sam said, sarcastically. It was funny, really. The two boys were so serious, and Sam was being a smart-ass. Sam and I walked off, the two boys behind us.
"Hey, man." Bandana boy said. "Read this." He held out a comic that said Destroy All Vampires.
"I told you I don't like horror comics." Sam said.
"Think of it more as a survival manual." The dark haired one told him. "There's our number on the back." He said, handing my bother the comic. "And pray you never need to call us."
"I'll pray I never need to call you. Sure." Sam said, and the two walked off. I watched bandana boy walk off. He seemed to notice my eyes watching him, and he turned. I looked down, blushing. Sam smirked, and walked out. Bandana boy watched me as if I was going to do something. I decided to make the first move. I walked up to him, and extended my hand.
"Hi. I'm Casey Emerson." I said. Bandana boy looked at my hand, and then looked at me.
"Hi." He said. I looked around, and then took my hand down.
"I'm afraid I didn't catch your name." I said.
"Edgar."
"And...and who's that other boy with you? Is he your cousin—"
"He's my brother."
"Oh." I said. "What's his name?" I asked. Edgar eyed me suspiciously. Okay. Sorry I asked. "Um..." I looked around, and dug in my pocket. I took out a sheet of paper, and a pen. How that got in my pocket without me feeling it, I have no clue. I wrote down my name and then my number. "Here." I said, handing it to Edgar. Edgar looked at it. "It's my number."
"I know what it is." Edgar said, and went to take it. His hand brushed against mine, and I swore that he blushed.
"Uh..." I said, the redness growing in my cheeks. "Call me sometime. Okay?"
"...Sure." Edgar said, but he didn't sound sure. The whole time, he seemed suspicious, mainly. I smiled, and then left.
"Hey tomato face." Sam said, when I caught up to him.
"Shut up."