Erich the Vampire

Have you ever been stared down for no apparent reason?

If you haven't, I will tell you that it isn't much fun.

Erich, this boy at my school, has been staring my best friend and I down since the second day of school.

Yes, I know his name. And the reason why I know his name is why I can't simply let this go. He is a close friend of my crush, Bradley. One of my friends, Karley, also has a crush on him. Karley floats between our groups.

It started at lunch the second day of school. We were standing with a group of friends, talking and laughing. I looked over at them, to stare at Bradley [no shame in admitting it], and he was staring at Paula, my best friend and I. She felt it also, and looked over. Even when we were looking at him, he just kept staring. It gave us chills. He didn't have any expression on his face, at all. We had to look away.

As we were walking around a little later, Paula jokingly said he was a vampire, like Edward Cullen. [She's obsessed.] We continued to joke about it for a few days.

He continued staring at the week went on. Whenever he saw us, he would give us that vacent stare. We became defiant and stared back. It seemed to have no effect on him.

We didn't discuss it seriously until a few days ago. We were in her van, on the way back from her soccer game, so we had enough time to think of some reasons.

First one: He thought we were lesbians, which many people do. I'll admit, when it first happened, Paula was practically holding me, standing beside our openly lesbian friends. However, this idea had some fatal flaws. He can't be homophobic because Anne, Bradley, and I suspect a few others, are also openly bisexual. We even suspect him of being bisexual.

We continued to talk it over.

We came up with the idea that he and Bradley might have had some past romantic history. He could still be in love with Bradley, and therefore, my crush on him didn't make him happy. But, again, those flaws. That would imply Bradley told him about me. [We've only talked over Facebook, as pathetic as that sounds.] And if it were the case, why bother staring at Paula? In fact, it almost seems like she was the target.

So, we centered on Paula.

Erich and Jake, Paula's ex, are on each other's Facebook. Therefore, Erich sees Jake's over-dramatic, attention-seeking phrases about how life is so hard. [I have no sympathy for him.] He might have blamed Paula for Jake's supposed depression. But, is he really that close to Jake? I didn't even know the two knew each other until Paula told me. They never talk at school. Would he really care that much? Adding to this, a reason why he might stare me down, is because my hate for Jacob is rather obvious. What can I say, I will not tolerate what he did.

Paula's dad finally commented after about half an hour. He said that we were making things way too complicated. He jokingly said maybe Erich just didn't like the sound of our giggle. However, I don't think Erich would be that simple. He seems rather complicated.

I figured out that maybe it was my clothing. Maybe he thought I was a poser. But, I don't quite understand that one either. Sure, I dress leaning towards the 'emo' side, if you must label it, but I don't go over-board. My typical clothing is skinny jeans and a t-shirt. I can hardly see how that could be offensive. The same goes for Paula. She dresses more prep, with hints of her athleticism coming out.

I told my cousin about my situation. She said he's probably just doing it for laughs. Quote, "Emo kids love doing that shit," unquote. She also said that maybe he wanted us to believe he was a vampire, like from Twilight. I commented that he wouldn't know if we read the book or not, but she pointed out that mostly everybody has at least heard enough of the books to piece it together. But, I don't believe he could just choose us randomly. It seems too much of a coincidence, considering how many ties we have to his group.

He's also commented about us on at least one occasion. We were walking down the hall one afternoon, talking about Paula's upcoming trip to the dentist, of all things. She spotted Karley in the crowd of Bradley's group. She didn't stop speaking while she quickly hugged Karley and walked away. It isn't that uncommon with us, because we give and recieve a lot of random hugs down the hall. Paula says she thinks she heard Erich say, "She never stops talking!" I know it doesn't seem that harsh, but speaking about a random person you don't know?

Originally, last year, we had already concluded that Erich was cocky. He gave off a lot of selfish vibes. But, he didn't seem like a bad person. We might have given him some slack, because Karley liked him back then too.

I just don't understand it. And what I don't understand, I must figure out. Also, Bradley is an issue. If Erich is always complaining about us, or saying rude comments, Bradley might start to think of us differently. And if I ever do find a way to talk to him, having Erich hating me randomly won't help.

I don't know. Any ideas, reasons we might not have thought off? I didn't say all of them here, just the most logical. And even those aren't very logical.

I'm curious, has anything like this ever happened to any of you? I would really appriciate it if you told me how you handled it.

Thanks for reading.