A Taste of Blood

“What do you want?” Avery asked as he rudely increased the volume on the TV as if he was trying to drown me out. My brother narrowed his black outlined eyes. “This room is occupied as you can see.”
I moaned. “What the heck is wrong with the TV in your room? Can you answer that question for me? I don’t have one in my room.”
My parents said that getting a TV for me was “not in the budget” and that I should “get a job” if I wanted one that badly. It really pissed me off because Avery was a legal adult and had a job so he could get his own place. He wasn’t going to college, he was in a band and claimed that he was going to become “famous” so he did not need to go to college.
I looked at the TV where some weird Goth rocker in this disturbing outfit was singing a song. I think. A guy in a dress with what I am sure was a bass was head banging like crazy, messy lipstick covering his grin. Pretty gay.
“My TV is small. Plus Devin is here. She’s staying for dinner.” The mention of her name caused him to smile which was rare for him.
As if on cue, Devin, Avery’s red haired perfect girlfriend walked into the room. She was the exact opposite of Avery, but I guess the phrase that “opposites attract” was true because they got along just fine. It still confused me, though.
“Great,” I mumbled sarcastically as I eyed Devin. She was dresses in a short floral dress that showed a lot of cleavage. Her high heels made her eye level with me.
Avery turned to look at me. “Why don’t you leave. Now.”
“Make me.” His eyes formed slits.
“Fine then we’ll make out.” He turned to face Devin, who was now sitting next to him on the couch, her face inches away from Avery’s.
“I’m out,” I immediately said as I speed walked out of the room. I did not need to see that. The thought of it made me feel quite sick. Sick because I was not in the mood to watch them eat each other.
I decided to go hunting for food in the refrigerator. I was hungry. On the way to the kitchen I passed my mom. She was carrying a white basket filled with laundry. I guessed that it was my brother’s because mostly everything that I could see that was in there was black or a dark color.
“Mom, how come Devin’s staying for dinner again?” I whined. Devin had been coming over quite a while these days. It’s not that I didn’t like her, it’s just that we never really talked.
“Because Avery invited her to stay. You can have Hayley over if you’d like. I can give her dad a call,” she responded calmly.
I stopped dead in my tracks. “No. That’s not necessary…I mean…I think she’s busy.” Mom still didn’t know about the letter. Actually, I had plenty of other friends. I wondered why she only asked about Hayley. I concluded that it was nothing. Whatever.
I decided to ask her why. “Mom,” I started, “You know I have other friends, right?”
“I know sweetie. Out of all your friends I think that she is the…nicest and most pleasant to be around.”
Boy, was she wrong. “Seriously,” I mumbled under my breath.
“Oh, and do not eat anything. Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes. Okay?” She walked down the hall and went down the stairs into our basement, where our washer was located.
“Fine,” I mumbled as I took a u turn and headed to my room that was upstairs.
I swear that the second that I stepped into my room mom was calling up to me for dinner. I silently cursed, spun around, and stomped down the stairs, my heels making dents in the carpeted steps.
The steps led to the dining room, where everyone was sitting. The smell of lasagna filled my nostrils which made me nearly gag. It was Avery’s favorite but I absolutely hated it. Thanks to my parents who did not care a bit about me I had to eat this crap. Or not.
I dramatically put the back of my hand to my head as if I were sick. Before I even took a seat, I said, “I’m not feeling well. I think I’m going to go to bed for the night.”
“You look fine to me,” Avery replied as he entered the room, his fingers intertwined with Devin’s. he shot me a nasty look.
“Doesn’t mean that I feel fine,” I used my best “sick” voice and managed to fake a good yawn.
Mom looked concerned. “Go get some rest. I’ll be up to check on you after dinner.”
“No,” I replied, “it’s fine. You don’t have to check on me. Plus, if you do, you may wake me up.”
“Okay Ronnie. Have a nice sleep. I hope you feel better tomorrow.”
Without a reply, I moved slowly upstairs as to not ruin the illusion. When I made it to my room I took a breath and let it out slowly.
There was something that was still bothering me. It was the fact that Hayley was ignoring my existence and did not care about me anymore. There were so many things that I wanted to tell her, although I was not sure if I would if we were friends. Some things she just did not need to know no matter how much I wanted to tell her.
I decided to try her one more time despite the fact, hoping she would come around. I dialed her number. With no response I threw my phone on the floor, nearly breaking it.
I gave up and decided to call Ashley. She was my friend—my oh so awesome friend with a British accent. I dialed my number, preparing what I was going to say in my mind before she answered.
The call went through and a sweet voice answered. “’Ello?”
“Hey Ash!” It was nice to hear her voice.
“Ronnie! Is that you?” she questioned. Something was up.
“The one and the only.” I tried to be cheerful although I was in a really bad mood.
“Oh…well, I think that it would be nice if we…er…did not talk anymore.”
My heart skipped a beat. Ashley wanted to stop being friends with me? Why?
“Is this some kind of joke?” I spat.
“No, love. It seems that there has been this rumor…Clara told me that Laney told me that…well…stuff having to do with Hayley and how you treated her badly and you called her this and that and all sorts of rubbish…You know. I can’t really be your…uh friend anymore. Sorry. I don’t want to be treated the same way.”
The line went dead. Rumors? What rumors? I wanted to know what Hayley was spreading about me. I was one hundred percent sure that I had not done anything. Everything was so confusing.
I wanted to set that jerk face Hayley Gein straight and I wanted her to be sorry for ever messing with me. I wanted her to be begging on her knees for me, pleading for mercy.
A small smile slowly crept onto my lips. I wanted revenge. Sweet revenge.