What Do You Do When Your Crush Is A Vampire?

I never could understand boys, because by Monday Jacob was already back to treating me terribly. Drake was polite, a surprising little fact that stunned me since it seemed when we first met that we would hate each other. I was amazed at the little flares of anger I felt when I saw Drake with Ashley hanging on his arm again. The vulture stripping her pray of meat. I was impressed by Drake though, usually Ashley's boyfriends would be bringing her flowers and chocolates by now. Drake seemed unfazed by her. I had expected him to cringe away from other girls just so he wouldn't get a lecture from Ashley, instead he talked to everyone normally. He even seemed to not like it when Ashley poured over him. I only saw this once, when they were walking down the hall and he thought no one was looking. An annoyed and slightly frustrated look entered his eyes and his lips turned down the slightest bits at the corners. Other than that little bit I saw before they had walked past me, Drake was very good at hiding it. This carcass had more meat than I expected.
I was telling this to Megan a few days later in music while I popped in a CD so we could begin our ritual. (Drake wasn't coming early anymore. He was used to the school already.)
"He seems totally unfazed!" I said. "It's unnatural!" I shook my head.
"You're right," Megan said. She sat at her desk on the platform. "For a guy to resist her at all is unnatural!"
"This is a new record! They've been going together for how long now?" I counted on my fingers. "Wow! A whole week!" I held up my fingers for show. "She went off the one hand range!"
Megan was in mock surprise. "Oh my God! Someone call Guinness World Records!" She laughed.
Then we started playing Avril music, this time the song was 'Complicated'. One of my personal faves. We stopped the music before everyone else arrived, and decided not to mess with Jacob this morning. I sat at my desk and didn't say anything when he came in. I was too deep into thinking to notice, though, when Drake suddenly sat in the seat next to me. He watched me doodle, and I was completely oblivious to his presence. I doodled a picture of a stick body-labeled 'Drake'- and a vulture overhead- labeled 'Ashley'- swooping in. At the top I put, 'One Week! A New Record!', in bubble letters. I chuckled.
"What's so funny about me getting eaten by vultures named Ashley?" Drake asked.
I jumped in my seat and glared at him. "You shouldn't do that!" I closed the notebook with the doodle with a snap. "And you shouldn't spy over people's shoulders!"
"I've been sitting here; it's not my fault you didn't notice me."
I sighed. "I suppose." Then I turned on him. "But next time, make your presence more known. I don't need to have a heart attack every time you take it upon yourself to grace me with your presence."
Drake laughed. "Yeah, okay."
I smiled. He had a nice laugh. It was full, and deep. It kind of reflected his singing voice, but in a more free and less concentrated form. I liked it.
My jaw dropped in horror. What was I thinking?! First the little bursts of rage I got when he was with Ashley, and now I liked his laugh?! What was wrong with me?! Drake stopped laughing when he saw my horrored expression.
"What?" Drake said. "Is something wrong?"
I closed my mouth, and quickly put on a fake smile. "No, nothing's wrong. What makes you think that?"
He didn't buy it. "What's wrong?"
I shook my head and got rid of the grin. "Nothing, seriously. I was just in a moment of shock for a second. I was having an internal dilemma. No biggy, doesn't matter."
He seemed to not believe me, so I forced myself to calm down. When he saw my now calm expression, he started to believe me. Before we could continue our conversation, he was called over by Jacob.
"I'll see you later, okay?" Drake said, then he walked away.
"I guess," I muttered.
Actually, I doubted it. At that moment Ashley entered the room, just as the bell rang. From the look she gave Drake and the kiss she blew him, something told me that as long as she was around I would be going nowhere even remotely near Drake. She would be too busy hanging all over him. I felt that familiar rise of anger in the pit of my stomach when she blew him another kiss. For a moment, I thought Drake had seen me give her this look as she did this, but another look made me think otherwise. Drake was looking forward, not paying remotely attention to Ashley's blown kisses in the least. Strangely, the corners of his mouth were turned up, like he was smiling.
I blinked. Still smiling. I did an internal shrug, and ignored them. I turned back to the front of the class, where Mr. Bingle was just entering the room. He set some papers on his desk before facing us. There was a smile on his face, the kind he got when he knew he was about to get a break from grading papers.
Oh no. He only got that look when it was summer, spring, or winter break. It was no where near any of those. The only other explanation was the thing I dreaded doing. Please don't let it be so!
"Class," Mr. Bingle said, "today I will be informing you on a project that will be do in two weeks. You will have all of class every day to work on it for the next two weeks." After he said this, three things happened simultaneously.
First- Everyone in the class groaned. Second- Mr. Bingle grinned wider than I've ever seen him. Third- I saw Drake glance at me from the corner of my eye.
Noticing this wasn't enough to suppress the groan in my throat. I groaned with everyone else, because I hate these projects. I had been right about Mr. Bingle's reason for being happy, but that didn't make me happy about it. When you do them, your fellow students evaluate you, too. They all had a grudge against me, so I knew the only honest grade I got was from Mr. Bingle. I was given a one in fifteen by everyone but Megan, who was always my partner, so she didn't get to evaluate. Their grade was worth twenty five percent of the over all grade, so I could never get anything near an A. I couldn't even get a B! Truly sucky.
"This time, I thought we'd do something different." Mr. Bingle pulled out a hat with several paper slips. "You will draw partners from this hat. Everyone's name is on a slip, and whoever you get you're stuck with!"
Why, oh why did Mr. Bingle have to suddenly get creative about the projects? Mr. Bingle started to explain what the projects were, but I already knew. It was always the same thing. You research a group, band, or composer, give an oral report on them, play a song by them, and show two visuals about the band. It could be a poster, doll, etcetera. This always got so old, so fast. Especially since it was always the same project.
"I'll let the girls draw first," Mr. Bingle said.
He walked over and held out the hat to Ashley. She drew, an excited expression on her face. All the guys in the room watched eagerly, hoping to be picked. Half the girls in the room did too, wanting to be with a popular girl. Megan and I looked on, we could care less. I noticed, through a peripheral peek, that Drake seemed not to care either. Ashley drew a slip, opened it, and read the name out loud after she read it. Her previous enthusiasm was completely gone.
"Oleander Stravinski," Ashley said. Her face was extremely glum. Obviously she had wanted to pick Drake. I heard a whoop come from somewhere on the other side of the room. Probably from Oleander.
Mr. Bingle wrote down the partner assignment, then moved on in the line. When it came to Megan, I crossed my fingers. My name hadn't been drawn yet, and I really hoped she would. She drew a slip, and a look of horror crossed her face. I was sitting directly behind her, and I peeked over her shoulder. My heart sunk. I read the black, bold lettering with disgust.
Jacob Kingon
Jacob. Jacob! She had chosen Jacob?! I was just as horrorstruck as her.
"Damn," I whispered.
Megan turned to me, a pleading look on her face. I was instantly glum. She could tell there was nothing I could do to save her. She turned back reluctantly, and ripped the slip in half.
"Jacob Kingon," Megan said, a disgusted look on her face, accenting each word with a rip of the slip.
I could hear Jacob's gasp, but I ignored him. I reached down and put a comforting hand on Megan's shoulder.
"Chrysalis, why don't you go next?" Mr. Bingle said. "You seem eager to draw, you were reading over her shoulder."
I shot him a nasty glare as the hat was passed to me. I took a deep breath, and reached in. I pulled out a slip that was on the bottom, and opened it carefully. I stared at the black, bold lettering like what was on Megan's slip.
Drake Nighton
Damn again. I sighed. Did the universe pull these pranks on me for a reason, or just to tick me off?
I kept my expression polite. "Carcass boy," I called to the other side of the room. "Hope you like getting Cs, cause you're stuck with me."
I heard the gasp, but it wasn't Drake. It was Jacob. Jacob knew who Carcass Boy was.
"Drake Nighton," I told Mr. Bingle.
There was a flood of gasps then. Ashley was fuming, you could almost see the steam rising off her. A look to Drake didn't show anything, he kept his expression blank, uncaring. Jacob was sitting with his mouth open. He clapped Drake's shoulder in what I suppose was meant to be a sympathetic gesture. Drake, just like him, was unfazed.
Mr. Bingle had me pass on the hat, and wrote down my partner's name in his book. I dazed out for the rest of class, knowing that Ashley's vulture senses were tingling; this time about me. I gathered my things when class ended, and stood so I could be quickly out of there. I didn't talk to Drake, Ashley was being overprotective of her prey now. Megan didn't bring it up, she didn't like our partner situation. She didn't think I did either, but I was surprised at the almost glee I was feeling. What was wrong with me?
On the bus ride home, Drake talked for once.
"So......" He started off.
I turned from the window. "Yes?"
"How do you want to do it? The project?"
I shrugged. "What group do you want to do?"
"What about you?" He asked, ignoring my question.
I thought about it. Then I remembered this group my Dad had liked when he was younger. We were allowed to groups from the 80's and 90's.
I smiled. "How about KISS?"
Drake grinned. "You like KISS?"
"A little, my dad liked them when he was younger." That was an understatement. I knew a ton about KISS. I could name all their members ever, and I could name quite a few of their songs and albums. Plus a lot of other stuff.
"How much is a little?"
I gave him an impish grin. "A lot."
"Good. The oral report's in the bag then. What about visuals?"
I remembered my dad's collection at home. "Taken care of."
"We're practically done then."
I nodded. "We won't even have to go to each other's house or anything."
"Yeah, but we should still have each other's numbers. Just in case."
"Okay." I thrilled inside for some reason at the thought of having his number, and him mine. I gave him my home number, and he gave me his. When he got off the bus, I noticed he pulled a hat out of his bag and put it on to cover his face to block the sun. He shoved his hands into his jean pockets, and at that moment I realized that he had never worn short sleeves, not even on hot days. Or shorts. That was interesting.
"This certainly is an interesting turn of events," I muttered as I watched him walk up to his front door and enter the dark mansion.