For the first time since the accident, I could see my reflection clearly. The girl looking back was pale as death. She wore a plaid miniskirt exposing her long, lean, ghost flesh.
I felt like Sally in The Nightmare Before Christmas, minus the stiches. My only visible imperfections were hidden under my shirt and scarf.
"Aurora!" Mom hollered up the stairs. "If you don't leave now you're going to miss the school bus!"
I made my way down and grabbed my backpack off the living room floor. Mom stared at me in horror. "You're not going to school dressed like that?"
"Dressed like what?" I challenged.
Mom looked me over from head to foot. I had on a tight white blouse tied in a knot at my midriff. There were no tights beneath my skirt, just a short pair of white socks and black Mary Janes.
"You look like a...like a..."
"School girl," I offered. I threaded my arms under the straps of my pack and hoisted it on my back.
She grimaced. "I was going to say stripper."
I laughed. "Wow, really? Maybe secret agent isn't my only calling in life."
I headed to the door without looking back.
"Don't forget your coat!" Mom yelled.
"Got my scarf," I answered, tightening it around my neck. "That's all I need."
"Aurora."
"Gotta go."
I was in no hurry to reach my locker, especially when I saw Denise and Erin together. They stuffed textbooks from their backpacks to their lockers. As I neared, they looked my way then leaned together before setting off rapidly down the hall.
An arm looped around mine. The touch was light. I had a good idea whose it was.
I smiled. "Hey, Noel. I was just on my way to see if you guys were in the library."
"Never mind the library," Noel said. "Want to tell me what you were doing this weekend that involved me covering for you?"
"Did my mom call?"
"No. Let's go in here." Noel pulled me inside the nearest ladies' room. She had a bun high on each side of her head. Her long bangs were split down the middle, hanging down her face. Every article of Noel's clothing was black, right down to her top, skirt, nylons, and knee-high combat boots. She wore a stomach cincher over her clothes, tied tight in order to stay in place around her skinny torso.
Noel was studying my apparel as closely as I reviewed hers. "We should really talk about your wardrobe. Are you planning on joining the pep squad?"
I laughed. "Only if I get to cheer for Team Wicked."
A freshman glanced at us and hurried out.
"I think you scared her away," Noel said.
"Sure, I scared her."
"So out with the dirty details already. Did you go vamping without us?"
"Whatever." I set my backpack on the floor. I made a quick scan under the stalls and seeing them foot-free, turned to Noel. "I hooked up is all."
Noel's eyes bugged out. "With a vampire?"
My lip curled back. "No!"
"Let me see your neck."
I rolled my eyes and pulled down my scarf. "See?"
"Wrists."
I turned my arms over and held them in front of Noel. "Satisfied?"
She hoisted herself onto the bathroom counter, crossed her legs, and began swinging them. "So who'd you hook up with?"
"Scott Stevens."
Noel stopped swinging her legs and wrinkled her nose.
"What?"
"Nothing. Interesting choice."
"Why?"
"It's just you're so coffee and he's so...herbal tea. So, you had sex?" Noel began swinging her legs again.
"Um-hmm."
"How was he?"
"Horrible," I said without thinking.
The leg swinging stopped again. Noel stared at me wide-eyed right before bursting into peals of laughter.
I started to smile. "I guess it is kind of funny. What a dope he turned out to be."
Noel laughed harder.
"And that's not the worst of it..." I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and looked away. "He was my first."
Noel instantly stopped laughing. She jumped off the counter. "Oh, fuck," she said right before throwing her arms around me.
I patted her back even though she was the one trying to comfort me.
"It's all right, really. I mean, the first time's supposed to suck, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Noel said, pulling back. "It hurts like hell."
"I guess I didn't get drunk enough."
"You won't need to next time."
"Right, like I'd do that again."
Noel raised her brows. "Famous last words." She walked to the bathroom door. "Think we can make it to the library without being caught?"
"It beats spending second period in the water closet."
"Let's go."
Noel and I walked down the middle of the hallway toward the library.
Noel nudged my shoulder. "You should come out with Whitney, Hope, and me next time. We'll show you who to avoid and who knows how to nibble on a girl just right."
"Eh," I answered without enthusiasm.
That's the problem with vampires. They didn't nibble, they chomped.
A fight broke out inside the cafeteria as I passed at the end of the day.
A month earlier, I would have walked in the opposite direction instead of pushing my way through the double doors to get a closer look.
One quick peek and then I'd catch my school bus.
The expressions on surrounding students morphed from resigned boredom to anticipated glee. We surged forward - the sound like a riptide pulling us in.
Students were already cheering. "Get him, Jason! Harder. Knock that pansy to the ground."
The taller guy, Jason, got the shorter guy into a headlock and pounded his face.
I didn't recognize either student. They were just two more nameless hooligans going about the motions, which at the moment involved swinging fists.
A month earlier, I would have walked in the opposite direction instead of pushing my way closer until I was at the front of the horde encircling the boys.
"Stop!" the shorter boy yelled.
"Don't stop! Hit him, Jason! Harder!" the crowd screamed back. This was followed by an obliging smack against the smaller boy's face.
"Enough!" shorty yelled.
"You sure? You learn your lesson yet?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry. You can stop. Stop already!"
Jason pushed the boy forward and lifted his hands over his head in victory. His victim stumbled and nearly fell face first onto the squeaky cafeteria floor. The crowd began to disperse. I was planted to the ground, unable to move.
Something wasn't right. A warning whispered up my spine.
A look of murder settled deep within the beaten boy's eye sockets. He staggered upright then walked to the nearest table. Shorty didn't look dangerous. He was small and moved slowly. But to see his expression...it was unmistakable.
He grabbed a fold-up chair and lifted it above his head. Jason never saw him coming. The smaller boy approached silently from behind and slammed the chair over Jason's head.
I heard nothing. Sound ceased to exist. Blood sprayed the floor, landing in round droplets. It stained the ground inches from my black Mary Janes. I looked up and saw Fane in the crowd staring at the blood with an expression of enrapture. I should have been disgusted, but when I looked at the blood again I felt something stir inside me.
Jason lay flat on the floor. He wasn't moving.
The collected student population was momentarily gagged. The boy started toward Jason, chair still in hand. He'd kill Jason. He'd kill him and no one would do a thing to stop him. But I could.
I stepped in Shorty's path and yanked the metal seat from his fingers. I threw it aside. Sound returned like the clash of cymbals when the chair clattered to the ground. Something snapped inside me. I grabbed the boy by the hair and kneed him in the gut. He grunted in pain. His agony filled my ears like a sweet melody. I turned and jabbed my elbow into his ribcage. My skirt lifted several inches as I twisted into the punch.
The boy howled. He couldn't manage to fight back. He was too busy shielding himself from my blows.
Suddenly I was falling backward, being yanked from behind. I struggled and slapped at the hands that had latched onto my midriff.
"That's enough, young lady!"
Mr. Burke, my old biology teacher, stood frowning at me.
"All right, all right," I said, dusting myself off. "You're welcome!"
"Let's go," Mr. Burke said. "Principal's office."
The last thing I saw were the whites of Fane's teeth as he grinned. A month earlier I wasn't so much as a blip on that boy's radar. Now he was everywhere, appearing at my worst moments, like Satan, witnessing my fall from grace.