Chapter 21

Sophia POV

I really shouldn't be missing so much work. I hadn't really had a chance to go back to Benny's because of everything that'd been going on lately, and I was only able to text Porshe that I was having home problems, asking her to tell the older waitress that I'd be back as soon as I could. Their understanding would only go so far, and I was beginning to seriously worry if I'd even have a job to go back to in the immediate future.

"They sure are taking their fucking time." Pete huffed impatiently, scowling as he lit another cigarette. We were all on edge and the proof of that was tangible in all the cigarette buds that were laid on the floor at our feet, at least twice as many as we would usually leave.

"Patience Pete, this transgression won't go unpunished." Henrietta murmured boredly, staring out at the mountains in the distance, the perfect picture of ease if I weren't for the fast pace her legs were shaking at. We couldn't do much more than wait. I would have gone to class if I had known we were going to wait around so much. It was obvious in hindsight, the vamp kids were goody-goodies that thought wearing black made them edgy, they wouldn't dare miss school.

Henrietta, Pete, Firkle, and I were waiting on our own behind the gym. Raven had started attending class again, saying how angry his parents were after they looked through the answering machine and saw the many voicemails left from the school. The only one uncharacteristically missing was Michael, he hadn't given much word except that he'd meet up with us later and had some business to attend to. His absence made me a little uneasy, but I was sure he'd be back soon.

3rd POV

Wendy Testaburger was leaving her class and making her way toward the lockers, sighing as she saw Token was already waiting for her there. It's not that she didn't like Token, he was great! Super attentive with her, very generous with his gifts, and such a gentleman.

But there was something missing.

There just wasn't something there. On paper, he was the perfect boyfriend. There was nothing she could complain about, even if she tried.

Unlike with Stan.

She felt like she was arguing with him half the time; that much was obvious by how he didn't react right away when she broke up with him weeks ago. They were hot and cold, night and day. In a small, teeny, tiny corner at the very back of her mind-

She missed him.

"Your head's in the clouds today." Token smiled with a small laugh. Wendy cringed back, she hadn't even realized she'd already made it to her locker and her boyfriend had started talking to her already.

"I'm sorry, I guess I'm just tired." She sighed with an apologetic smile, opening her locker to move her stuff around.

"Want me to order you something?" He already had his phone out and was scrolling through the food options. "If you want a quick pick me up, Tweek's parents have DashEats."

"That's okay babe, I think I'll feel better after lunch."

"Want to eat lunch together?" He smiled as he put his phone away and Wendy shook her head.

"I already promised Bebe I'd eat with her." That was a lie, of course, but as her best friend Bebe wouldn't rat her out.

"Okay, I'll go sit with the guys then." He smiled, again, and gave her a sweet peck on the lips. Just the right pressure, for just the right amount of time.

It was perfect,

Just like him.

Wendy felt a little nauseous as she smiled and watched him walk to the cafeteria. As soon as he was far away enough, she sighed tiredly and leaned against her locker, the smile slipping off her face. She rubbed her eyes tiredly as she tried not to think about another pair of lips that used to kiss her so differently.

"Hey Wendy?" She looked up a bit startled at the random freshman. He was looking at her nervously and was fidgeting a bit.

"Yeah?"

"There's a goth kid that wants to talk to you. He told me to tell you he'd be waiting under the bleachers in the football field." Wendy stood up straight, her eyes widening.

"Me? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, he even asked for you specifically by name. I wasn't sure who you were, and he said you were a cheerleader." The freshman waved awkwardly and ran toward the lunchroom, ducking his head as he went.

Wendy's eyes were wide.

She slammed her locker door and turned on her heel away from the direction of the lunchroom and toward the football field. She could feel energy thrumming under her skin, adding a nervous pep in her step. Her steps were fluid, one after another, and quick. Very quick. She fluffed her hair and straightened her purple barrette, then smoothed down her hair again after a moment of thought. Once she made it outside, her footsteps crunched in the snow, feeling incredibly loud despite other people loitering around instead of eating lunch inside.

Wendy hesitated as she reached the bleachers, stopping before she stepped under them. She shook her head and narrowed her eyes. She couldn't let herself be seen as so excitable. Shaking her arms out, she tossed her hair back and fixed a stern expression on her face, ready for whatever would be thrown at her.

She took a strong step forward and ducked her head as she walked in through the side of the bleachers. What would she even say? What would he say to her? Why did he want to talk to her, and why now?

She saw someone move under the more shadowy part of the bleachers and she quickened her pace.

"That freshman said you wanted to talk to me." She forced her voice to sound uninterested, standing loosely and even crossing her arms. All she got in return was a lighter being flicked and the smell of cigarettes. Wendy secretly thought he looked roughish when he was smoking, but she'd never admit that out loud. "Well, I'm missing lunch with Token, so you might as well just get it over with and tell me." She tossed her head back, hoping the scent of her berries and crème shampoo would waft off her hair toward him. All he did in response was take a drag from his cigarette and blow the smoke up.

Wendy's imagination started running overtime, just a smidge delusionally.

Was he going to beg her to take him back? How would she respond to him? She knew, without having to do much digging, that she still loved him. She didn't think she could stop loving him even if she tried, and boy had she tried. They always somehow made their way back to each other, no matter what came between them. It's always been that way.

What was she going to tell Token? He was so sweet and didn't deserve her suddenly dumping him to get back with her ex. Maybe she could convince him to give her some time to gently let down Token, a few weeks at the least. She'd have to slowly grow apart from him so as not to hurt his feelings when they inevitably grew cold toward one another. It'd be a mutual painless break, they'd be able to remain friends and there'd be no bad blood between anyone when she, after a respectable amount of time, went public again with-

"We need to talk." The tall, dark-haired boy stepped out from the shade, and she jolted back in surprise.

"You're not Stan!" She blurted out, immediately pursing her lips as he rolled his eyes. She had seen this one before, around school (the goths hung out and smoked all day behind the gym where she had cheer practice, so of course she'd caught a glimpse or two) and she recognized him from the first time Stan started hanging out with the goths.

"Of course I'm not," his patronizing tone wasn't helping her embarrassment. Her cheeks darkened and shame coursed through her at how quickly she folded at even the thought of Stan wanting to get back with her.

"Who even are you?" She hissed angrily, taking out her embarrassment on him. Another eyeroll and another pull from his disgusting smelling cigarette.

"Don't get your panties in a twist, you've just confirmed what I need you for." He flicked his curly hair out of his dead eyes, not unlike those of a dead fish or a dead deer or some other dead animal and scrutinized her.

"What do you want then, what does someone like you want with someone like me?" She crossed her arms even tighter around herself and openly glared at him. A small smirk tilted up the side of his mouth and his dead eyes glinted intelligently.

Sophia POV

"About fucking time." Pete hissed like a feral cat. We were all anxious and on edge and a few middle schoolers walking up to the chain link fence dividing the middle school from the high school like they were so cool understandably starting tipping some of us over the edge.

"We obey our master's time, not yours." The bravest one squeaked out and the other two were quick to nod and voice their agreement.

"And why isn't that sack of cow shit here?" Henrietta bared her teeth at them, and they actually flinched back. Firkle and I shared a look as Henrietta and Pete continued to berate the little vampires who were looking more terrified by the second.

"What does Mike want from us?" I stepped forward and patted my friends on their shoulders, smoothly opening my cigarette box and letting each of them take one.

"He has entrusted a message to us." The same one squeaked. I stepped up to the fence and they flinched back as if I was going to attack them through it.

"Did he write it down?" I reached up the pat my bangs down and two of them looked at one that hadn't spoken yet.

"He wanted us to show you." His voice was quiet and nervous, and he pulled out his phone and tapped the screen a few times.

"Greetings Goth kids!" Mike Makowski had actually recorded a video message for us. "I hope you haven't died from the suspense, per say!"

"He's actually this fucking lame." Pete deadpanned in a disgusted voice.

"Now my little bats, I want you to hand your phone over to the goths and cover your ears, okay?" He wiggled his finger on the screen, I guess assuming we'd be side by side during this. The little vampire kid reached on his tiptoes over the fence to pass me his phone.

"Now, to my goth nemesi," I wasn't sure if that was the correct plural of 'nemesis' but it sounded weird coming out of his mouth anyway. The little vampires obediently turned away and covered their ears. "What I ask of you isn't going to be to your liking, just as I hope." He gave a high-pitched cackle that I think he meant to sound scary. Behind him there was a pull-down screen that he yanked down suddenly, making it fall off and the video suddenly cut. When the footage came back on, the screen was just taped to the wall behind him.

"The Vampire's Ball!" He smacked his hand into the wall behind him. On the wall was a slightly ripped poster advertising a vampire's ball in Denver, Colorado. The paper was black with, obviously, red font and had silhouettes of people in Victorian costumes dancing. "A travelling event held every year where invitations are extended to only the most honored of guests, per say!" He puffed his chest out importantly and crossed his arms. "Yours' truly has been invited to this year's ball in Denver and my request is that you join me! Since goth culture is a subset of vampire culture, I'm sure there won't be an issue."

"It is not!" Pete yelled at the screen angrily.

"I expect you to be ready this Friday evening to make the estimated hour and a half drive to Denver." He pulled out some printed maps and showed the directions to the camera. He was talking faster and more excitedly. "We should have enough time to stop for snacks and restroom breaks on the way, while still reaching our destination at about 5 pm. The venue provides rooms for touch ups and clothing changes, so we don't need to leave already in our formal dress, per say." He straightened up and smirked at the camera. "If you want my help, you know what you need to do. Until then, ta ta Goth kids!" He laughed loudly and even leaned back for effect. The video continued until he stopped laughing, coughing a bit at the end, and he walked toward the camera to turn it off. "That was so good." Was the last thing we heard him say, quite self-satisfied to himself.

"That asshole." Pete kicked over some snow and flipped his bangs out of his eyes.

"I don't want to go to some gay ball." Firkle looked away.

"It's going to be disgusting." Henrietta angrily blew out some smoke. "Probably just a gymnasium full of virgins who don't know what personal hygiene is." She rolled her eyes and grabbed the phone out of my hands. "Oi, vamps, scram." She tossed the phone over the fence and turned to walk back to her seat. The kids shouted indignantly as they picked up the phone and hissed at her. She turned around with furious eyes. "Go the fuck away!" You could almost hear them whimper as they scampered off. "And where the fuck have you been?" Henrietta's voice was irritated and I looked over to see that Michael had finally joined us.

"What crawled up your ass and died?" He sneered at her.

"We should probably fill in Michael on what they said." I interrupted before they could really get into it. We all took our seats behind the gym and Firkle scooted over to lay his head on my lap. I ran my fingers through the younger boy's hair as Pete and Henrietta ranted about how stupid and cringe Mike Makowski is.

"Hey guys, what'd I miss?" Raven walked around the building toward us and Henrietta and Pete both groaned exasperatedly.

"I'm not going to repeat everything again!"