Hell was a loud band, girls squealing at each other's dresses, dazzling lights, and students trying to hide the fact that they were already drunk.
Hell also came in the form of horrendous pink and red decorations.
Edgar and Alan froze in the entrance to the hall and both gazed around with their upper lips curled up in matching disgust. They glanced at each other once and both could tell what the other was thinking. Was it possible to change their minds and run back home?
The doors leading to the hall had a red beaded curtain hanging from it. Not too bad compared to the rest of the decorations. Red, pink, and white rose petals had been scattered across the floor and there was a table set up where juice and fizzy pop had been spread out. The plastic cups even had the same colour scheme.
When they glanced up, large pink and red hearts hung down from the ceiling with curly ribbon and helium filled balloons. Triangular bunting had been stuck on over the stage where the band was playing with the message 'Be My Valentine'. One letter for each piece of bunting.
Alan leaned towards his brother. "Remember when we thought vampires were the worst evil?"
Edgar shuddered. "I hate Valentine's Day."
With a brief nod at each other they gritted their teeth and marched in, over towards where their friends stood. Leon and Bernice were already on the dance floor, smiling at each other as they slowly stepped along to a slow song. Both looked completely in their own world with their eyes focused on one another.
Bonnie was swaying to the song in a chair, smiling happily as she took in the hall around her and commented on how amazing everything looked to Sam. He also had a huge smile on his face, already pleased with the evening. Edgar and Alan joined Bridget who stood with her arms folded and gazed around in boredom.
"Having fun?" Alan asked Bridget, laughing when her eyebrows rose and the left corner of her upper lip tugged up. "That was exactly my expression when I walked in."
He leaned against the wall, arms folded and looked around. The five of them were the only ones who weren't dancing. Everyone else had seemed to have found a partner or were dancing in a group, smiling and laughing. Some couples were already sucking face with each other. Alan heard his brother make a half groaning, half gagging sound, and knew Edgar must have caught sight of the same couples. He snorted and grinned at his older brother but that quickly disappeared when he spotted Imogen Reece near the stage. She was dancing with Bobby Denton, arms around his neck and looking absolutely smitten with him. Alan stiffened, watching Bobby lean towards Imogen to whisper something in her ear, something that made her smile widen, before tenderly kissing her lips. She happily responded back.
He looked away, lowering his eyes to the floor.
"Does anyone want a drink?" he asked, raising his voice a little as the song ended and all the students loudly cheered the band.
Everyone raised a hand apart from Edgar who eyed up the refreshments table.
"I don't accept drinks from other people. Could easily be contaminated." He glanced at Alan. "You shouldn't be drinking from other sources, you know."
Alan didn't respond to Edgar's warning, walking over to the table with Bridget who offered to help and asked two students for four colas.
"Wow, Bridget, I'm impressed!"
They both turned, facing Imogen and her friend, Peg. Alan froze, unable to take his eyes of his crush. He knew he probably looked stupid, standing there mouth agape and blatantly checking out her appearance. Her dark red hair was wild, combed back to add more volume and tousled like Bridget's with wisps of her bangs lightly covering her forehead. Her eye shadow was a brilliant mix of pink, purple and blue, flicking out and upwards sharply from the outer corner of her eyes, colourfully contrasting against the hazel of her eyes, which were outlined with jet black eyeliner. Her cheekbones, already high and defined to begin with, looked sharper with the heavy smear of pink blush and her make-up look was finished by glossy pink lipstick. Her dress was almost similar to Bridget's. Same black bodice top and short skirt but it was only layered twice, red, and puffed out a bit more at the hips. There was also a large black bow sticking out on the left where the bodice and skirt met.
She looked incredible.
"Staring much, Frog?" Peg asked, flashing him a disgusted look. Imogen met his eyes once and she smiled, blushing slightly and laughed when he quickly looked away.
"Excuse us," Bridget snapped, taking two plastic cups of cola and nudging at Alan. She gestured back to their friends and started to walk but Imogen moved in front of her.
"You're actually wearing a dress. It's nice to see you looking like a girl for once," she said. She was smiling but there was mockery in her eyes. Peg was biting her lip, fighting back a snicker as she gave Bridget the once over who sighed.
"Breaking news," she muttered. "Do you mind fucking off and not talking to me?"
"There's no need to be rude. I was just complimenting you."
"Like hell. You've never complimented me in your life."
"You look amazing," Alan blurted out to Imogen, immediately clamping his lips shut. Peg burst out into a giggling fit while Imogen, for a second, looked stunned at his comment. But then her features softened and she smiled.
"Thanks, Alan. You look nice too."
"Looks like an actual human being, for sure," Bobby said, walking up to them. He smirked as he slid an arm around Imogen's shoulders and raised an eyebrow up at Alan. "I'm not sure I like how much you're staring at my girl, Frog."
"Bobby, he was being polite," Imogen said and cast a sharp glance at Bridget. "More polite than some."
Bridget's lips turned up in her own smirk. "It's been a while since I last bitch slapped you, hasn't it?"
"You're not gonna do a thing to her," Bobby warned, making a step towards Bridget but Alan quickly moved in between them. He stared down at Alan in surprise before bursting out into laughter. "Knight in shining armour, are you?"
"Nobody is going to do anything," Alan said, holding his gaze on Bobby. "We're keeping away if you're keeping away."
Bobby held his hands up. "I'm just protecting my girl, Frog."
"And I'm just protecting mine – I mean, friend! I'm protecting my friend!"
There was more snickering from Peg and Imogen. Even Bobby had to grin. He snorted once and started to lead Imogen away who whispered in Peg's ear and giggled with her as they looked back at Bridget and Alan. Alan stood there, cheeks burning and mouth agape as he turned to Bridget.
"I didn't mean to say that!" he said. "Sorry, I was just sticking up for you. I mean, you're not my girl, obviously, because you're my friend. My best friend. I honestly –."
"Alan, you're a dweeb sometimes," she said with a grin.
He ducked his head, face red, and grabbed the other two colas as he followed Bridget silently to Edgar. Sam had finally given in to the music and had joined Bernice and Leon to a much faster song, loud and full of distorted sounds from the band's synthesizer. Bridget and Alan leaving Sam's on the table next time while Edgar scanned the hall, eyes narrowed.
"Copped for a bloodsucker, yet?" Bridget asked and passed a cup to Bonnie.
"No, just the familiar faces of our peers and teachers." He eyed her cola. "Is that safe?"
She held it out to him so he could sniff it once even though she was probably sure he had no idea what vampire blood smelt like to begin with.
"Smells like cola," he said and she took a sip with a smirk.
"Tastes like cola too," she added.
"I think we're safe," Bonnie said, grinning up at Edgar. "Hey, I saw Bobby come up to you at the refreshments." She peered past Bridget to look at Alan. "You okay?"
Alan shrugged. "No big deal. He wasn't being much of a dick."
"Remember, we're on a hunt," Edgar said. "Don't be getting knocked unconscious by a school bully."
"I don't think he'll be bothering with me much tonight." He glanced over at Bobby who still had his arms wrapped around Imogen. They had stopped dancing now, grouping up with Peg and a couple of other jocks from Bobby's football team. They were all laughing and chattering happily to one another but Alan couldn't stop taking his eyes of how Imogen snuggled up to Bobby, resting one hand on his chest.
Beside him, Bridget sighed. "Are you going to be drooling over her all night?"
"I'm not drooling."
"You look like a rejected puppy. She's with Bobby, Al. Always has been and always will be."
"Speaking off looking rejected, Charlotte isn't looking too happy either," Edgar said, nodding in her direction.
"Oh, no. I told her I don't go to dances," Alan said. "And now I've come with other people after telling her no. Shit, I didn't think. How pissed off does she look?" He kept his eyes on the floor.
"She looks like she's about to start crying."
"Shit," Alan hissed. He put his cola down. "I should go explain." He glanced at Bridget who held her hands up.
"You're on your own, here. I'm not going anywhere near that crazy bitch."
Alan groaned but started towards Charlotte despite his small sound of reluctance. Like Edgar had said, she looked on the verge on tears. Her chin was shaking. Her eyes looked watery. But she held herself together as Alan came closer, biting at her bottom lip to stop it quivering.
"Hey," he said, with a weak smile.
Charlotte mumbled a reply back, unable to help glimpsing at Bridget.
"I thought you didn't go to dances."
"I don't. But it's Bonnie's birthday today and she kept making a fuss about us all going tonight and I really don't want to be here but she's one of my best friends and…" his voice trailed off as he realised how fast he was talking. He cleared his throat.
"Bonnie wanted this to be her birthday celebration," he said, slowly.
"No, I understand," Charlotte said.
"If it wasn't her birthday, I honestly wouldn't be here. It's not you."
She nodded, giving him a small smile. "It's okay." She nodded to his clothes. "You look very smart."
"Thanks. You look nice too."
Her eyes flickered over to the dance floor and then back to Alan. "Do you want to dance?"
"Um…"
She sighed and looked away. "Forget I asked."
"No, sorry, it's –."
"It isn't your thing," she finished for him.
"Not really," he said. "You can come hang with us if you want. We're just…" He turned back to Bonnie, Edgar and Bridget. "Sort of standing there, doing nothing."
"That sounds… fun."
"Well, there's Sam and…" He looked at Bernice and Leon who were still embraced and kissing now and again. If Sam noticed he didn't seem to react to their public display of affection as he danced near them. "I'm sure Sam wouldn't mind a partner."
"I don't really know him that well," Charlotte said and shrugged, giving an idle wave. "It's cool. Don't worry." She flashed another small smile and turned, going back to a group of girls Alan recognised from his lessons. She never looked back and Alan, with a sigh, trudged back over to Bridget, Bonnie and Edgar.
"That looked unbearably awkward," Bridget said.
"This whole thing is unbearably awkward," Alan muttered.
Logan slinked into the hall. It had been easy to control the teachers, handing them an invisible ticket that they dumbly accepted and wished him a good night, as if he had always been one of their own. He adjusted his tie and tugged at the end of his sleeves. As soon as he walked in, he caught sight of one of the Frog brothers, the younger one with the darker hair sauntering away with red cheeks from a girl in a pink, puffy sleeved dress. She shuffled back to her group of friends, only looking back once after a few minutes when Alan was back with his older brother and another girl. He kept his eyes on this girl, an unfamiliar one. Not one he had seen on a hunt with them or at the comic store where this pathetic little gang of hunters usually gathered. He watched carefully as she finally turned to look back at Alan and noticed she gave a sigh, quickly giving herself the once over before gazing at Alan again. Her eyes kept flickering elsewhere. Dance floor… back to Alan… dance floor… Then she looked at the other girl the Frog brothers stood with. Brown, tousled hair… fierce look… permanent frown on her mouth. That must be… it was another B… Bridget. That was her name. Bridget. As soon as this blonde haired girl gazed at Bridget her soft features hardened, especially when Alan leaned into Bridget to say something and she laughed. His hand gently touched her upper arm and Logan glanced back at the other girl. Tears glistened in her eyes and spun back to her friends.
Logan grinned. When she moved over to the refreshments table, he casually walked over. He nodded to one student and asked for a cola while Charlotte glumly stared at the choice of drinks. He moved closer and when she glanced up at him he flashed his most charming smile.
"It seems wrong that you don't look happy at a Valentine's Day dance," he said.
Charlotte peered over her shoulder. Straight to Alan and Bridget.
"My Valentine isn't exactly working out."
Logan followed her gaze. "Giving his attention to the wrong dame?"
"Something like that." She sighed and Logan set his drink down.
"How about a dance?" he asked, offering his arm. When she stared up at him in surprise he smiled and gave a short bow which earned a laugh in response.
"I don't think I've seen you before," she said.
"I'm a senior," he replied. "And I just moved here."
"I can tell by your accent," she said and accepted his hand. She bit her lip to stop herself from grinning too much as Logan led on her onto the dance floor as another slow song began. He gripped her waist as she reached up to rest her hand on his shoulder and she stared up at this strange boy. He was very handsome. Very tall and thin as he towered over her with dark hair. Darker than Alan's. He was pale with a boyish face and a bright smile.
"Brooklyn," he said, guiding her smoothly across the dance floor. "My name is Logan."
"Charlotte," she answered with a smile.
"There we go! A smile on your face," he said and she laughed. "A guy who gives you a frown like the one you had on ain't worth your time."
"I know," she said, sighing. "Can't help attraction sometimes. That girl he's with, Bridget, used to be my best friend."
"She betrayed you."
Charlotte nodded. "She keeps saying there's nothing between them, and maybe she really believes that, but he acts differently around her. He always has. It used to be like dragging teeth out getting Alan to have a conversation with me but straight away he talked to Bridget. And now eight months later they're almost inseparable."
She looked their way again. Alan was leaned past Bridget to whisper something to Edgar now but she noticed how his hand still rested on her upper arm again as he moved forward to his brother.
"He's always touching her like that," she added. "He doesn't do that with any other girl. Not even Bonnie who's known him for years. I don't get it. Why her? I'm the only girl who has ever showed an interest in him. And all he ever does is ignore it."
She suddenly snorted, shaking her head and looking up at Logan. "I'm sorry. I've just met you and I'm rambling on about some guy."
He smiled. "You're entitled to rant, doll," he said, making his voice sound gentle. "Sounds like he doesn't appreciate the way you feel."
He took his hand off her waist to gingerly touch her chin and he locked eyes with her, chuckling when her gaze was held and there was a slight daze to them.
"You seem way out of his league, anyway," he whispered and she smiled at him. "I think the kid needs telling."
Thank you for reading! If you would like to leave a review, please feel free! :) Next chapter will be up and posted next Saturday.