Opal

“Which way should we go?” Jasper asked. We were at the edge of the forest and didn’t know which way to go.
“Um, we should go straight.” I said.
“Okay, straight sounds like a good way to start.” So we headed straight, and just kept walking. We took a left and found a lake, it was more than fifty feet wide, and more than sixty feet long.
“It’s so pretty!” I exclaimed, it was sparkling every color in the rainbow.
“It’s very beautiful.” Jasper said.
“We should sit here for a while.” I said. It was just so pretty. I didn’t want to leave, ever. I just wanted to stay here with Jasper forever. What was I talking about, it sounded like I wanted Jasper in a different way than I actually do. I don’t love Jasper like that. I can’t love Jasper like that. I just can’t.
“Sounds good to me. This place is so pretty, I just want to stay here, and never leave.”
“I was just thinking the same thing.” I was still gawking at the lake when we walked to the edge and sat down.
“This wasn’t on the map.” Jasper murmured. I laughed. I don’t know why that was so funny, it just was. This lake had like laughing gas water or something, because when you looked at it, or were even in its presence, you felt all warm and fuzzy inside. When the sun set, the lake was even more beautiful. Fireflies were everywhere and the water pixies came out and played music for us. They played with the smallest violins in the world, literally. My mind was racing, being there with Jasper made everything seem right, and that the world was okay. After tonight, of sitting next to each other, laughing, the beautiful lake with fireflies all around it, the water pixies playing the violin. I think I love Jasper. And not the friendly kind either. I think I’m in love with him. He is such a beautiful person. He is a very attractive person in my opinion. He’s cute, sweet, funny, saved my life twice in one day, what more could you want? I can’t believe it’s my first day here and I’m already in love with my best friend who is also my roommate. With my other roommate in love with me, but he’s just my best friend, nothing more.
Jasper and I didn’t say anything much, we even fell asleep there. So when we woke up in the morning, we were lucky Jasper had a watch and we had an hour before classes began.
“Well that was fun, and I’m not being sarcastic either, that was really, really fun.” Jasper said when we got back to our dorm.
“Yeah, that was really fun, we should do that again sometime.”
“Definitely.” I smiled at him, and he smiled his really amazing smile back. It was nice knowing that I actually liked him. It explained why I always wanted to spend time with him. I grabbed some clothes and went to go get dressed in a daze. I pulled on a black under shirt and a light blue t-shirt over it, and some jeans. I put on a black choker, and makeup. Blue-green eyeliner with sparkly dark purple eye shadow just above it. I put my gray converse back on and went to put my clothes away, Jasper was waiting for me again. Just like yesterday, I could tell that this was going to be a ritual. When he saw me come in, he smiled, and that made me light up, so I smiled back, and we went to class.
* * *
The days flew by, they were very boring, nothing happened. Jasper and I didn’t go back to the lake yet. A bunch of different guys started to ask me to the dance that was coming nearer and nearer. I still love Jasper, who hasn’t showed any sign of loving me back. Sean is as persistent as ever, complimenting me whenever he can. With the dance two weeks away, everyone is really excited. I’m not too excited about it, but it does seem like it’ll be really fun, the people that are helping decorate it are going crazy. Jasper and I just watch them go to town. They have a lot of fun. Or they seem to at least. I would hate to do that. I would absolutely hate it. I can’t deal with decorating things, I’m not very creative. The teachers are the same, except Ms. Lilly. She really never does enter the room a same way twice. Peyton hasn’t said anything much, though he has made it clear that he still likes me, because he’s hanging out with me, and has tried to sit with me at lunch before, then his friends told him that he shouldn’t sit with me, but get me to sit with him so that he wouldn’t have to sit with Sean, Jasper, Spencer, Bradly, and Kyley. Spencer, Bradly, and Kyley are the new additions to our group. We have them in a lot of our classes and just became friends this past week, we began sitting together at lunch and then we became best friends. Best friends as in Sean, Jasper, and I best friends. We would do anything for each other. I haven’t looked odd lately, I’ve been hunting every morning. Jasper and I get up earlier so that I can go hunting. Jasper likes to come with me. I don’t know why he would though. If I were a human, I would find that a little scary.
Anyways, so it’s been a week since I’ve been at Opal, and I love all my friends. It’s two weeks until the dance. Kyley and I are going shopping for dresses tonight and the guys are coming with us to help, and we’re going to help them pick out suits. I know that sounds weird that we’re going shopping for formal dresses with guys, but it’s really not that weird when you’re friends with them like we are. And besides, you can’t let them go shopping by themselves, they’ll come back with a zebra pattern suit, and we don’t want them to embarrass themselves, so we’re going with them and they are coming with us. Another way to look at is that, we need a guy’s opinion, because that’s who we’re trying to impress, and the guy’s need a girl’s opinion because that’s who they’re trying to impress. So it all works out great. So now we’re headed to the village to find some stores.
“I’m so excited!” Said Kyley. I would be too if I were her. She’s going with the guy of her dreams, Spencer.
“I know you are. You’ve told me like a bazillion times.” I replied, looking into her chocolate brown eyes. It looks so pretty with her bronze hair.
“I just never thought that Spencer would ever like me.”
“I knew he did, and I told you that, but you never believed me. Now he asked you to the dance.”
“I know! And it’s all thanks to you!”
“I know it is.” Actually, I have no idea how the hell I’m in all this.
“I’m really happy that he’s helping me pick out my dress. I want him to like it.”
“Whatever you pick, he’ll love.”
“You really think so?”
“Of course I really think so, would I ever lie to you?” Don’t answer that please. The only person that knows I’m a vampire is still Jasper.
Just then, the guys walked in and sat down on the floor.
“Are we going to leave yet?” Bradly asked.
“As soon as everyone gets here. And everyone is here, so lets go.” I said. Oh, and something you should know, Bradly’s gay.
“Yay, I am so excited! Come on, I want to get out of here!” Bradly exclaimed.
“I know, me too!” Kyley shouted. Great, we have a room full of spastic excited people. This is never a good thing. This shall be interesting, let’s watch.
“Alright guys, come on, someone’s going to get too excited and break an arm.” I said.
“Okay!” Kyley shouted. And we went to go find somewhere to shop. We found something that was as close to a mall as we were going to get. It was a wizard mall, so it was a little different. We went inside, and found a suit store first, since it would take a little less time to find the guys a suit than it would be to find Kyley and Me a dress. Especially Kyley. She takes forever in the bathroom, me, I take about five minutes and I’m out.
“What do you think?” Bradly had come out with a suit that was gray with black pinstripes. I liked it, a lot. It went with his blue eyes and blonde hair.
“I really like it Bradly.” I said.
“Me too. It totally looks amazing.” Kyley chirped.
“I think you’ve found it.” Said Spencer.
“I like it too Brad.” Sean chimed in.
“I agree with Spencer, it looks good.” Jasper said.
“Oh yay! I like it too!” Bradly exclaimed.
Next was Spencer, who came out with a navy blue suit and bow-tie. It looked really good, it went with his black hair and blue eyes.
“Is it okay?” He asked.
“It’s perfect!” Kyley said in a singsong voice.
“It does look really good.” I said.
“Yep, what Rain said.” Jasper glanced at me and smiled, he was sitting right next to me. I smiled back.
“I agree with everyone.” Sean said.
“Me too.” Bradly chimed.
Next was Jasper who was looking extremely uncomfortable and that he was happy to get this over with. He came out with the classic black suit and tie.
“It’s amazing!” Kyley shouted before he even got the chance to ask.
“I agree.” I said, giving him an encouraging smile.
“Me too.” Sean said.
“Me three.” Bradly chirped.
“Uh, me four.” Spencer said, sounding as uncomfortable as Jasper looked.
Sean was last. He came out with a black suit and gray pinstripes. Everyone said how good he looked and all that. Then we moved on to the dress store. Where Kyley ad I found dresses. Kyley went first. She went out with a deep purple halter-v neck that was scrunchy at the waist. She looked amazing in it. Then, it was my turn. I came out with a lime green, spaghetti strap dress that flowed down to my knees. Everyone stared at me so I asked,
“What?”
“You.” Sean exclaimed. I felt uncomfortable.
“What about me?”
“You look amazing! Not even just amazing, there isn’t a word for it!” Kyley said, well, more like screamed.
“Uh, thanks.” Jasper looked like he couldn’t look away, which I was happy for. Maybe it would be like that on the day of the dance and we would dance and live happily ever after. That would be nice, but very impossible. I went back in the dressing room and got dressed in regular clothes. We went to the checkout counter and Kyley and I bought our dresses.
“Well, that was fun.” Kyley said.
“Yeah, it was fun.” I agreed. Jasper was walking on the other side of me. Spencer was walking next to Kyley, and Sean and Bradly were walking ahead of us. Jasper was looking ahead like he saw something.
“Are you okay?” I asked Jas. He looked at me, a little startled.
“Oh, yeah, I’m fine, just thought I saw something.”
“Oh, what do you think it was?”
“I don’t know, but don’t worry about it, it was probably nothing.” But just as he finished his sentence, there was a blood curdling woman’s scream, but we couldn’t see anyone, it was pitch black. Whoever it was screamed again, and it sounded like she was running toward us. Next thing I knew I was on the ground with some one on top of me, it was a girl about my age.
“He’s coming for you, he’s coming for you right now, run!” She kept muttering to me.
“I can’t run if you’re on top of me!” I screamed. Just then she got pulled off of me by Jasper, who was helping me up.
“You heard her, run!” Jasper yelled, an outline of a really big man was coming toward us. I grabbed Jasper’s hand and ran for it, him trailing along behind me, without a choice really, I had his hand. I didn’t want to be alone, and Jasper was the closest one to me. He didn’t object though.
I started to run towards the woods.
“Where should we go?” I yelled while we were still running.
“The lake?” Jasper sounded unsure, so I made the decision easier for him and veered left, headed toward the lake. When we got there, the lake was the same as it was the last time we were there, but something had changed, I just couldn’t tell what it was.
“It’s bigger.” Jasper murmured. So that’s what it was, it was bigger. The lake grew. I was still holding Jasper’s hand but he didn’t seem to notice, so I didn’t let go of it. There was a rustling of trees and branches being stepped on, leaves moving, behind us. I stepped closer to Jasper and hugged him, what if this was it? He wrapped his arms around me tightly, and we waited for whatever was coming after me. But it didn’t come, what did come, was the rest of the gang. Spencer and Kyley stumbled in first, holding hands and looking scared as hell. Next was Sean and Bradly, and they too, looked scared as hell.
“Holy shit!” Sean exclaimed. “Do you know what the hell that was?”
“No.” I whispered, still clutching to Jasper.
“The fucking Grim Reaper!” Sean made a horrified face and began trembling. I went to go give him a hug, reluctantly letting go of Jasper.
“It’s going to be okay Sean.” I gave him a hug and he wrapped his arms around me, it was weird feeling Sean when I was so used to Jasper.
“We should probably get going.” Jasper said, sounding calm as ever. He must not get scared easily. I mean, I’m a vampire, and I get scare as hell.
“You’re very right.” I said, helping Sean off the ground. As we were walking, Kyley started ranting about what she had seen with the Grim Reaper.
“Dude, he’s fucking ugly! He had greenish Frankenstein skin and he didn’t have a face, like, no nose, no mouth, no eyes, no nothin’! It was creepy! He reminded me of that god, Hades. The god of the fucking underworld! I am going to have serious nightmares. You’re lucky you’re in a room with a bunch of strong guys. I’m in a room with a bunch of fucking wimpy girls.” It went on like that for a while. But what I couldn’t get out of my mind that the Reaper was coming after me. Why me? That makes no sense, I didn’t do anything, I wasn’t about to die, or so I had thought that I wasn’t going to. And then the lake was bigger. I don’t understand how it could’ve grown, the water isn’t like water at all. It’s more of silky silver liquid substance. Then that girl, who was she? Why had she been out there? Why did she warn me? I had never seen her before. She had scared the hell out of me. She had fallen on top of me, and reminded me of a mummy. When she had fallen on top of me, I got a good look at her face, and it had been smeared with blood, and was a minty shade of green. But if she was a zombie, she would’ve wanted to eat me, not protect me by telling me that Grim Reaper was coming and that I should run. I was staying close to Jasper and finally we were inside, and going to our dorms. I didn’t want to sleep by myself, I couldn’t help it if I had nightmares, and I was sure I would about that girl falling on top of me and ripping my guts out. I most of the time know when I’m going to have nightmares and what they are going to be about. So I tried to sleep by myself at first, to no prevail. I had a nightmare about that girl, blood everywhere, and my guts. I really don’t want to explain it. When I woke up, I must’ve been restless or screamed or something because Jasper was sitting on the edge of my bed, reaching to turn the light on.
“Are you okay?” He asked worriedly.
“Um, no, not really.” I was about to ask him if I could sleep with him tonight, but he beat me to it.
“Maybe you should sleep with me the rest of the night.” He was staring at me caringly.
“Yeah, good idea.” I said, I didn’t want to sound too anxious.
“Alright, come on.” He said, getting up and turning the light off. I got up too and crawled into bed with him. That night, I think I got the best sleep ever, curled up next to him under the covers. He had put his arms around me, and when I woke up, they were still there. He woke up about the same time I had gotten out of the bed. I grabbed some clothes and went to the bathroom to go put them on. We still had time to go hunting, I’m not messy when I do, so I put some regular clothes on. A neon blue v-neck, black skinny jeans, and of course, my converse. Deep purple eye shadow, and black eyeliner. I opened the door to the bathroom and Jasper was there, waiting for me.
“You ready to go kill some animals?” He smiled at me.
“As ready as you are.” I smiled back.
“Oh, I’m ready.” We stood there for a second, staring at each other. When he looked away, I walked in front of him and threw my pajamas on my bed and walked out the door, listening to his footsteps trailing behind me. When we were finally in the woods, and all I could hear were the crunching of our footsteps on the dry leaves and branches that had fallen from the trees above, I stopped and stood there, waiting for my hearing adjust. I heard the pulsing of an animal nearby, and ran towards the sound. Jasper stayed where he was, like he usually does, and I drank. I don’t really want to explain that, like I have said before. After I was done, I went back to Jasper, and he was still there. Like he always is.
“You done?” He asked.
“Yep. Let’s go and get some breakfast for the human.” I replied.
“Oh, how generous of you not to make me your meal.”
“You know I love you.” I said, not realizing what I had just said, and when I did realize it, I just tried to play it cool.
“Or at least I like to think that.” He looked serious now. He was also staring at me without blinking, which was creeping me out a little bit.
“You do, do you?” I tried to lighten the mood.
“Yes.” He was moving closer to me now. His hand was outstretched as though he was going to touch my face, which he ended up doing. He put his hand on the back of my neck and leaned down, since he was taller than I was, and kissed me. I kissed him back as though I had never been kissed before, which was sort of true, I at least hadn’t been kissed like this before. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him closer to me. A little too early, he pulled away.
“We better get to breakfast.” He said, smiling at me. It wasn’t like his usual smile, it was more of a goofy smile, like he was a dork or something.
“Yeah,” I glanced at my watch. We had twenty minutes. “Let’s go.” We walked back holding hands.
* * *