The Dorkiest Vampire

Around six that evening, everyone got their coats and jackets and headed out to the Merridick High School football stadium behind the school. Aunt Melanie and my cousins Brianne and Jenna separately, thankfully, as Uncle Joe was already at the school helping set thing up. I got into the back of the car with my grandparents as my parents drove us to the field to watch Ritchie play. We had brought tons of food for our tailgating supper that everyone traditionally did. My dad had brought his collapsible grill for hamburgers and hot dogs while my mom and grandmother had made pie, brought chips, and drinks.

I was a little surprised when, not long after we started setting up, the Vespasien SUV pulled into the spot next to my parents’ van. Apparently, my mother had convinced Mrs. Vespasien that her family should come tailgating with us. I was concerned over whether or not Mick would be able to handle being at the game. I had learned at the pep rally that morning that Mick had an intense fear of crowds. We were all pretty much forced to go to the first one of the year, but after a few minutes, Mick started having a panic attack and one of the teachers had to take him outside. I knew there would probably be twice as many people in the stands at the game and hoped Mick would do better this time.

The Vespasien’s greeted everyone as they piled out of their car. Mrs. Vespasien spent no time in bringing over the potato salad she had brought while Mr. Vespasien went straight over to where my father and grandfather were grilling the meat so they could talk about mainly things like when to flip the burgers and what the odds were for the game that night. Mick nervously hung back, relaxing against his family’s SUV and glancing around as the crowd slowly started to file in. I walked over to him, hoping that I could put him at ease.

“I see your parents dragged you here tonight,” I smiled at him.

“Yeah” Mick said nervously. “I’m not sure about all of this now. I’m not into sports and I really don’t know if I’ll be able to handle the crowd…”

“You can hang out with me,” I assured him. “I’m sure it won’t be so bad.”

“Michael,” Mrs. Vespasien called. “Your medicine…” Mick sighed and walked over to where his mother handed him his pills. I noticed Mr. and Mrs. Vespasien also took some medicine with the bottle the cranraspberry juice Mick always had for lunch.

“What is that stuff?” I asked him as he came over with a bottle of the juice in his hand.

“It’s this special vitamin water my mom swears by,” Mick explained. “From Japan. It costs a bundle, but my mom says it’s good for our health, so she makes us all drink it.”

“Oh,” I said. “You’re always drinking the red one. Does it come in any other flavors?”

“No,” Mick said.

“What’s it taste like?” I asked curiously, wondering if he would offer me a drink.

“It tastes a bit weird. Sort of an acquired thing,” Mick shrugged before taking another sip. “Like a mix of pomegranates, wheat grass, soy… sort of metallic…”

“Okay,” I said, looking over at the grill. “I guess the burgers are about done. You wanna get something to eat?”

Mick nodded and followed me over to where the food had been spread out. Mick and I grabbed our food while Mick piling up two hamburgers and three hotdogs on his plate. His father made a joke about him being a growing boy and Mick turned bright red in embarrassment before fleeing with me into the backseat of his parent’s SUV. Mick set up the television screen hanging from the car ceiling and put on some random cartoons on for us to eat with. While I sipped my soda, he kept slowly taking drinks from his vitamin water.

“Have you ever been to a school football game before?” I asked Mick curiously.

“No,” Mick blushed. “I was never really welcome at school sporting events at my old school…”

“Do you like football?” I asked him.

“I’m not… too much of a sports fan…” Mick admitted.

“Me neither,” I admitted, “but my brother is on the team and it’s really the only thing to do around here on a Friday night. Mainly because everything’s closed because everyone’s at the football game.”

“Well, thanks for inviting us out,” Mick said nervously. “I never really get invited to anything.”

“If you can stomach them, you’re welcome to hang out with me and my family anytime,” I smiled.

We finished up our meal and soon it was time to begin filing in to the stadium to watch the game begin. Mick was sandwiched on one of the metal benches of the stands between his mother and me. At first, he seemed perfectly fine, but as more and more people began to file in, he grew increasingly nervous, rubbing his hands up and down the sides of his legs, wringing his hands, and visibly shaking. By kick-off, Mick seemed completely miserable and his parents were sharing concerned looks back and forth, probably doubting that bringing their phobic son to such a crowded event was such a good idea.

“Hey,” I whispered to him, “you wanna maybe get a snack and walk around for a bit?” Mick looked up at his mother curiously, who nodded, before turning back to me.

“Okay,” he nodded.

After picking up an order of nachos to split from the concession stands, Mick seemed to calm down considerably. The further we moved away from crowds, the better he seemed to be doing and he was completely calm as we took a walk around the empty parking lot. We ended up resting on a decorative wooden fence post that marked the trail between the school gym and the football stadium, listening to the sounds of the crowd cheering and catching a glimpse of the goal line every once and a while. It didn’t matter we couldn’t really see any of the game because neither of us were too interested in it to begin with.

“Thanks for coming with me,” Mick said to me softly. “I’ve just… never been good around crows…”

“It’s okay. I can understand,” I nodded.

“You really don’t have to do this for me,” Mick said. “I know it’s hard enough being friends with the biggest freak in school.”

“Hey, I still think I’m the biggest freak in school. Or in our grade at least,” I shrugged. “Ryan Hanson might be the weirdest kid in school. He does analyze his own boogers before eating them after all.”

“Maybe,” Mick smirked.

“So, have you gotten used to life here in boring old Merridick?” I asked him curiously.

“I guess,” Mick shrugged. “It’s a lot different from everywhere we’ve ever lived before.”

“How do you mean?” I asked curiously.

“Well, for one, there are a lot less people living here than where we’ve normally lived,” Mick replied. “Bigger towns like Baton Rouge and New Orleans… I think I like the whole small town thing better.”

“What about school?” I asked.

“A lot better than I expected,” Mick shrugged. “I don’t get beat up nearly as much and the teachers seem more sympathetic… Most of my teachers… well, they acted like they could care less about it.”

We walked around together and talked about various things from our classes to the types of video games we liked to play before rejoining our parents in time for the game to finish. Merridick won the game and Ritchie went out to celebrate with Sue-Beth and his other friends after receiving congratulations from everyone. We bid farewell to the Vespasiens before heading home with the promise that I would be over to hang out with Mick the following afternoon.