Chapter 2
A/N: Yes, it's been forever. I found most of this already written and thought I would post it. Might have another chapter if I get some free time.
It was around 10 am the next morning when Ally woke up. She felt a little tired, having only gotten about six hours of sleep that night, but since Dr. Murdoch ran on less sleep than she did, she would have to deal with it and not complain about being tired. The wine cellar was completely quiet as she dressed, the other vampires being asleep. She pinned her long brown hair to the back of her head, put in her contacts and slipped into a tank top and jeans before heading up to the passageway stairs.
As she reached the top of the stairs, she pulled down the lever to release the passageway door. The door eerily creaked open and she walked through. Dr. Murdoch had already left his office, so it was also completely silent when she walked in. Ally slowly walked over to door before opening it slowly. The hallway/lounge outside the office was also quiet. Obviously everyone was in class already.
Ally pushed stray hair away from her ear as she listened for Murdoch's voice, possibly giving her a hint to where she would have to be at this time. His voice was very quiet and calm as he spoke, being fair away, but after a few wrong turns, she easily found the room where Dr. Murdoch was teaching. She slowly crept through the doorway as Murdoch was speaking. All eyes of the students were on her as she entered, causing Murdoch to stop his lecture on whatever he was talking about. Ally turned and faced him.
"I'm glad you could join us, Ally. Running a little late this morning?" Murdoch asked. She nodded silently, feeling eyes bore into her back. "Please take a seat in the back and try not to be late again."
Ally walked quickly to the back of the room and sat down in an empty chair next to a tall girl with what seemed designer clothes and dark skin and a nerdy looking guy with glasses and a sweater vest. Murdoch continued back with his speech.
The girl nudged her. "You new here?" Ally nodded silently, trying to listen to both the girl and Dr. Murdoch. "I'm Mimi. This is Malcolm." Mimi motioned the guy with glasses across from her who seemed more interested in what Dr. Murdoch was saying rather than the new female student across from him.
"I'm Ally." Ally whispered to Mimi. Mimi smiled a welcoming and gentle smile. "Have you taken Dr. Murdoch's class before?"
"Sure have. The guy can be a real bore sometimes, but his lessons are pretty creative compared to some of the assignments. And he isn't boring like my math tutor here. That woman could put a person on eighteen cups of coffee to sleep." Ally smiled and snickered softly. Maybe going to Day and Night School wasn't going to be so bad.
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After class, Ally and Mimi were a little closer than before and getting along easily, having to settle for passing notes halfway through the period, after getting told by Dr. Murdoch to quiet down or suffer a detention, window and floor cleaning included. Ally stayed sitting next to from Mimi as the study hall period began, while Murdoch left to do whatever in his office for the next hour and a half. Malcolm stayed with them, reading silently, but listening with ears wide open. "So where are you from Ally? You never really did get to tell me that during class."
"Here and there. I used to live with my mom a lot of the time, traveled with her, mostly home schooled. Now I'm just staying with family while I attend school here." Ally pulled a sheet of paper and a pen from the end of the table and started writing.
Mimi pressed her forefinger to her lip in a thoughtful expression. "Is that why you aren't staying in the dorms with the rest of us?"
Ally shrugged and looked down at her paper. "Something like that. Another good reason is I have my own room I don't have to share…At my…grand mother's house! Not that I would mind a roomie…Its just…" Ally thought for a second and lowered her voice, whispering. "I snore. Loudly."
Mimi snickered. "When can I come over? To see your place? Maybe sleep over sometime? Escape the prison called Mansbridge Academy?"
Ally paused, caught off guard by Mimi's suggestion. How could she explain to her new found friend that she slept in the wine cellar of Dr. Murdoch with a bunch of vampires, and that she was half a vampire herself? She then shrugged casually, trying to not seem obvious and trying to sound cool. "Well, it really isn't all that big…and besides…my grandmother is still is moving stuff in her new apartment. It's really messy."
Mimi shrugged. "All right. Just let me know then."
The two girls sat quietly for a little while, preoccupying themselves with whatever they might be doing, occasionally making jokes or comments to one another. Malcolm still stayed in his seat, keeping to himself while he studied, but still listened to the girls as they bantered on to one another. All seemed right with the world, that is, until a blonde guy approached their table. He seemed cocky and sure of himself, the one kind of guy most girls hated. Ally was no exception. He smirked and sat himself on the table between the two girls. Mimi frowned. "What do you want, Nick? Getting bored with your new bimbo of the new semester?"
"Something like that." Nick turned his attention from Mimi to Ally. Ally pretended not to notice. "You're new here this, right?"
"Yes, I'm new here. Today is my first day." Ally looked over at Mimi, ignoring the look Nick was giving her. "Was there something you needed?"
Nick shrugged. "Nothing I that I wouldn't have in time." Ally frowned as his look he was giving her changed. Mimi frowned as well and hit him on the back.
"Why are you such a sleaze? She's only been here one day and already you're trying to scare her off." Nick's face fell. He pushed himself of the table to stand. "And besides Nick, no girl in their right mind would ever date you."
Nick rolled his eyes. "Mimi, Mimi, Mimi. No need to be jealous. There is plenty me to go around." Now it was Mimi's turn to roll her eyes. Nick turned back to Ally. "You really should have a scenic school tour. I'd be happy to give you one…"
"No, that's really all right. Mimi was just going to take me on the tour." Ally picked up her books. "Besides, I think I would like a tour that doesn't involve me in a broom closet with a complete stranger attempting to make out with me pretty awfully, trying to put a hand up my shirt and a hand down my pants, rather than one that does…so, I'm sticking with Mimi." Nick was speechless and confused, but mostly confused. Ally got up from the table, Mimi following the suit and they both left together, snickering to themselves as they left at Nick's speechlessness. Nick stood there still stunned that a girl like that had been able to shut him up.
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It was at the moment as well that Ally was being watched by her fellow vampires with a bit of envy. The five sat on the couch, witnessing what had just gone on in study hall between that new student and Nick. Some were silent, while others snickered. Drew sat on the floor beside Karl. Marty sat on couch arm beside Merrill and Essie who shared the couch.
"Play it again." Marty urged Drew. Merrill rolled her eyes and shot Mary a look.
"Rewind it and play it again. Merrill, don't give me that look. I just found that funny. I am allowed to find something funny, right? Or is that against the code of Merrill?" Merrill rolled her eyes again and left the room, a bit peeved with Marty's comment.
"Why have you been mean to her? Haven't you guys been going out since break?" Essie looked down at Marty. "Did you guys have a fight or something?"
Marty huffed softly. "It's not like that. She's just upset that I'm doing something else other than picking on the Half Bred, which I'm not. She's jealous or something, even though she has nothing to be jealous of. Besides that, we're not 'going out'."
"Then why don't you leave her alone if it's upsetting Merrill?" Essie interjected. "She obviously seemed ticked with your new little obsession with the new girl. And speaking of which, what do we really know about this new girl? Do we even know her well enough to get close to her and trust her? Does Murdoch even trust her?"
Drew shrugged and pressed the rewind button. "We can't really question Murdoch in letting her stay here. We've all caused our share of problems, and Murdoch has let us stay. Unless she gives reason to distrust her, we can't say anything."
"But she already has." Essie moved to the middle of the sofa and brushed the stray blonde hair away her face. "Until this morning, we didn't even know she was allowed to mix with the day schoolers. Shouldn't that count?"
Drew shrugged and pressed the PLAY button just as Karl spoke. "We'll just have wait and see, I guess. You guys, she seems decent, so lets just see what happens." The group glanced at the screen again as Ally told Nick off again on the screen.
"Besides, I think I would like a tour that doesn't involve me in a broom closet with a complete stranger attempting to make out with me pretty awfully, trying to put a hand up my shirt and a hand down my pants rather than one that does…so, I'm sticking with Mimi."
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After dinner, Ally said good bye to Mimi and headed back to Dr. Murdoch's office. When she arrived there, he was still eating his dinner of meat loaf cut into small bites, some mixed vegetables which consisted mostly of corn and a piece of pecan pie with whipped cream on top for dessert. He smiled at her as she came in and closed the door. "Enjoying your new school?"
"Yes. Very much. This really isn't as bad as I thought it would be." Ally walked over to the crest where the passageway to the wine cellar lay. "I just wish I could stay up in the dorms with the rest of the other students…well, Day school students."
Murdoch stabbed a small piece of the meat loaf with his fork. "You know I can't let you do that. It is too temping for you to drink from them and you need blood every night along with food during the day. How would you be able to explain that to your roommate?" Murdoch shoved the small piece of meat into his mouth, chewed and swallowed. "Besides the fact that the Elders want you learn how to communicate with other vampires, and I mean more than you used to do with your mother."
"Then can I get my own room like the other vampires have?" Ally gave him a cute and begging face, as she was dog asking for his dinner rather than a student asking for a room.
"We'll see." Murdoch stabbed another piece of meat with fork. "Be quiet when you go down there. I don't know who is sleeping and who is awake. When I went down there during lunch, they were asleep, but they apparently were watching study hall today, when you were there." Murdoch ate another piece of meat and put his fork down on his plate. "I wouldn't flaunt the fact that you are allowed to mix with day schoolers if I were you."
Ally nodded and pulled at the sword on the crest. The door slowly opened. She turned back to Dr. Murdoch. "I don't intend to flaunt it. It might just make them hate me." She paused. "Would you like me to grade the quiz we took today while I'm down there?"
Dr. Murdoch nodded and motioned for her to leave. Ally stepped into the wine cellar, the door closing behind her as she walked down the stairs. She slowly walked down the stairs, pacing herself as she went. All was quiet as she stepped into the middle room. She smiled. Complete peace and quiet.
Ally took a seat at the end of the table. She pulled a lamp on the table closer before pulling out a nail file to file her nails. She went to work, starting with her left thumb, and filed away at the nail. A sound of something falling in another room suddenly erupted in her vampiric ears. Ally looked up. "Is someone there?" Still silence. She sighed and got up. Hopefully it was just a rat or a book just falling apart after years of use.
She slowly made her way over to the room where she heard the sound. It was in the entertainment room with the large TV, the books, the board games and all the other things the vampires might use when they don't have class. She glanced around. No one was there. Nothing was out of place. Ally turned back around and nearly screamed, but covered her mouth quickly enough to keep from it.
Drew stood in front of her with a worried look. "Are you all right?" He held a heavy book in his hand, as if he had just picked it up.
Ally nodded her head furiously as she moved her hand from mouth. "I'm just fine. I…I…just thought I heard something in here. I'm guessing it was just you then?" Drew smiled gently and nodded. "I didn't mean to intrude on your reading."
"It is fine. I was just finishing up for the day and about to head back to sleep, anyway." Ally stopped where she was, thinking Drew was going to choke her or something of the sort. Instead, he simply reached behind her, placing the book in his hand on the shelf. He then turned to leave, but stopped just before hitting the doorway. "Oh, and Ally…I have to ask you…Some of us saw you on the surveillance cameras today with some day schoolers. You're…allowed to do that? Does Dr. Murdoch know you've done that?" He tone turned seeming more accusatory with each word.
Ally blinked, still keeping her expression. "I'm sorry I didn't mention it. Dr. Murdoch told me not to flaunt my ability to tolerate sunlight. It is one of the few perks of being a half bred vampire, I suppose. I can't necessarily be an aide to Dr. Murdoch if I only live in darkness, now can I?" Her expression didn't change. Drew shrugged, his back still turned to her as he disappeared. "Drew?"
She sighed and pulled the papers out of the desk drawer to grade. Being a little less popular with her night school mates was going to prove troublesome. Something had to be done, unless she wanted her time at Mansbridge cut short and have to go back to her mother's home.