My Guardian Vampire

We eventually got to the school, pulling into the student parking lot. My brother, in his normal way, immediately departed to seek out his own friends in the parking lot.

I walked in alone, though without hesitation. A group of jocks sat on the floor by the entrance as they did every day, trying to trip people up as they walked past. It was a cliché thing to do, but I just rolled my eyes, and kicked one of them as I walked past. Whoever I kicked swore at me, but I didn’t care-- it was almost like a routine by this point. I walked to my friend's table, but it was full, so I sat on the windowsill lining one of the walls of the cafeteria, waiting for Casey to come in and join me like she usually did. Neither Brittany nor Katy went to the same school as I, so Grace, Casey, Jenn (my other friend), and I would group together during the school week.

I waited and waited, but Casey never came. Grace had come in, silent and dreamy, so she wasn’t much to talk to. That wasn’t unusual-- we usually saved talking until we were in classes. But Casey not being here was... strange, as she almost always texted me if she was going to be absent. I went into my first class, History, sitting in the back in the hopes I catch some discreet sleep. Since I had no real friends in this class besides Casey, I figured I wouldn't be disturbed.

I yawned, leaning my head against the window sleepily. I looked out the window, the kids still talking since class hadn't officially started, the teacher messing around on the computer. I then saw something again: a pair of eyes staring at me from the parking lot, behind one of the cars, illuminated by a pair of headlights of one of the late-arrivers. My eyes widened as the firm knowledge that this was the same person in the forest coursed through me. They were as quickly gone as they were there, and I almost tipped my desk over in surprise as I recognized who's eyes they were.

It was him!

People stared at me as I verbally gasped, sending me questioning looks, but I ignored them. I closed my eyes, shuddering.

How the hell had Gerard's brother found me here?
It had to be a dream.

After school ended, I had yearbook until 4:00. Once I got out, no one was there to pick me up-- what a surprise.

It had rained slightly during the day. Though it had stopped, the clouds still threatened above. I called home, figuring someone had forgotten to pick me up again.

"Why should I bother to pick you up?!'" My mom screamed the rhetorical question at me. "If you think I'm going to go all the way to the school to pick you up, you're a stupider shit than I thought. This isn't my job, you useless bitch-" she ranted, cut off as I hung up my phone, sighing out deeply. The words dug deeper than I'd like to admit, but I wasn't going to go and cry about it now; it didn't get me any closer to home. It was a good 6 or 7 miles at the least, most of it highway, and the sun was going to be setting soon. And walking on that highway, by that forest...

Yeah. I didn't think that was going to happen.

I began to walk away from the school, towards the cemetery. For some reason the people in the town thought the best place to put a school was next to an old cemetery, probably to remind the kids where some of them would be heading once they stepped through those school doors.

Well, maybe it wasn't that bad, but still. Not exactly a pleasant sight.

I sat on the rock wall that separated the graveyard from the school grounds, thinking. I figured Katy was probably working, and I knew that it would be too rude to ask one of my friends' parents for a ride, seeing as they’ve all driven me home before. Relying on them all the time made me feel exactly as my mom described-- a total useless bitch. I didn't have enough money of my own for a car so... Shit out of luck, I guess.

I decided I'd tough it out, walking on the back roads, even though it would mean an extra mile or so. Anything to avoid walking that highway.

I figured I might as well wait to start my journey until the sun went down; though I could barely see it from the cemetery, the sun going down behind the school with the far surrounding tree line always looked beautiful. It turned out to be not the best sunset, but it was still worth it. The clouds filtered the colors, making it looks like a child's messy finger painting. I closed my eyes, feeling the chill already begin to descend and filter through me as the sun went out of my vision. I took in my last rip of warmth, not wanting to lose it.

I sighed as it became dark out, shuddering slightly as I stood up. My sweatshirt was warm, but not warm enough.

I heard a car pull up behind me, and I forced myself not to look at the car in case it was my mom. I didn't want to get my hopes up, not like so many times before. There was a moment of silence, and I figured it was some random person pulling up to the school; my mother would have been screaming at me already.

"I vant to suck jour bvlood!" Someone said with a bad accent, extremely close behind me. I whipped around, and then stared wide eyed, smiling.

"Rob?!" I said, hugging him. Then I smacked him. "You scared me half to death!" He smiled his large, infectious smile, and I couldn't help to return it as my stomach flipped. He was always charming and pleasant, and I'd be lying to myself if I didn't admit the small crush I always had on him. Me being in high school and him a slightly older friend, it seemed impossible for me to act on, or dream of--a wish in the back of my head, never to be observed.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, looking up at him solemnly. He didn't go to this school at all, I was sure that he didn't live anywhere around here either. Whatever he was here for, I knew he would be leaving soon, and it was just getting colder.

He was still smiling down at me as I thought this, a definite frown on my face now.

"There's another concert here in a few days, so we decided to hang here for a while. Why, do you not want me to be around or something?" he said, poking me. I laughed, jumping slightly. I then realized that was likely why Gerard and the rest were here--but I immediately shook my head of all thoughts pertaining to him.

"Of course I want you to leave," I said, folding my arms and turning slightly away. He pouted. "You're way too tall. You always make me feel like a midget." I stuck my tongue out at him, and he just laughed at me.

"If your tongue stays out there it will freeze," he said. Just at his mentioning of freezing, I shivered again. A look of amusement took over his face, and he couldn’t contain his smile. "Cold?" he asked, and I looked away from him.

"Noooo...." I said, not looking at his face.

"Nobody likes a liar," he said laughing, hugging me. He still towered over me, even though he was leaning. I pouted.

"You're still too tall," I said, mocking sadness. Truthfully, my heart was pumping, it wanting to escape from my chest and see this for itself. I'd hugged Rob once or twice before, but it had only been at the concerts, and most of the time I had asked him for one.

Rob, though I've seen him many times, never felt actually real to me. His personality was so bouncy and alive, he always seemed as if he wasn't real, or maybe just too real for this world.

I started to hear the sound of a motorcycle down the road, and as it came closer to the two of us it was hard to hear what Rob was saying.

"What?" I asked, looking at the motorcycle now quickly approaching us. The motorcycle was a dark blue with light blue streaks on its sides from what I could see, the rider having a helmet matching the bike. Rob had his arm around my shoulder, and my heart was doing overtime from the fact that he hadn't let go after our hug.

I suddenly felt Rob kiss the top of my head, and I froze altogether, my heart now not beating at all for that moment.

"Are you warmer now I said?" Rob whispered into my ear. My heart began beating again, as I looked up at him. He looked at me, my heart was now one single beat at that moment. He leaned down, closing in for a kiss that I had been waiting for seemingly ever for.

'This has to be a dream...'

We then both heard a loud high-pitched screech as rubber burned, the motorcycle roaring. We both snapped our heads towards the road, where the motorcycle was momentarily on one of its wheels, threatening to flip, but it came back down as it stopped at the corner of the road, the cyclist quickly dismounting his bike. Rob and I stared at the person, not moving at all. The person walked up to us, and very angrily. The person’s fists were clenched, and they took each step as though they meant to break the sidewalk.

They stormed up to us, Rob and I just staring at this person. They took their helmet off, and my eyes went wide with both surprise and confusion as I saw Gerard's hair fall around his face. Rob, however, narrowed his eyes at Gerard, hugging me a little tighter as if I would run away. Gerard let the helmet fall to the concrete, not caring that the custom helmet would get scratched.

"What do you want?" Rob said, rolling his eyes as if it was nothing, but standing up tall now. If this weren’t so intense, I would laugh at the absurdity of all of this. I instead pushed gently on his chest, wishing he'd let me go, feeling extremely awkward.

"What are you doing?!" he asked, and I was not sure if he was talking to Rob or me. Though Rob was both taller and larger than Gerard, Gerard still looked viscous. Rob finally let me go, turning instead to face Gerard.

"Hi Gerard," I said weakly, unsure of what the hell I should be doing in this situation. Gerard looked at me, seething.

"You stay out of this," he said, turning his glare back to Rob.

'Excuse me?!'

Rob was suddenly down on the ground, his cheek red and beginning to swell. I didn’t even see Gerard move.

He was quickly next to Rob, bending down.

"She is mine," I heard him hiss, and I stared at him in horror.