Bella Notte (42 page)

I decided that he
must have done a lot of thinking while he was gone.
I
love you too, now get inside
.
I barked out the words. I heard the door close inside and I was
relieved.

Dominic came
straight up; I barely had time to slip into my pajamas. He didn't
knock on the door or anything. He wrapped his arms around me in a way
that was filled with a passion that I had never known before. I
didn't know what to do or if something was wrong. I didn't want to
invade his privacy again, but the thought was looking mighty tempting
as he held on tight.

“
You gonna
explain to me what's up, or keep clinging to me like a lifeboat?”
I was trying to play off my nerves.

“
I think the
lifeboat option sounds nice.” And he squeezed me tighter. “It
was really hard to be away from you.”

His confession
caught me off guard. “You are so strange, but I guess I enjoy
it.” I rubbed his back gently as he held me.

I let him stay like
that until he had worn himself out completely- it took about an hour.
I was desperate to sit down by then, but he was happier.

I sent him to bed
with a light kiss and demanded that he have good dreams. He laughed
at me and went down to his room. I fell into bed and out of
consciousness.

The next day dawned
too bright for my sensitive eyes. I wanted nothing more than to go
back to sleep and switch my body schedule into a story-tale
vampire's. I wasn't as lucky as I had to attend high school. I
secretly cursed the people that decided all mass education should be
taught at the earliest possible hour.
Damn
them to the worst parts of Hell.

I rolled over and
glared at my window. Even with the curtain pulled tightly shut, the
light still managed to squeak in. I was tempted to throw something at
the window, but reason kicked in by then and I realized that,
ultimately, it would bring more light in.

I dragged myself out
of bed- no exaggeration. I wanted to shower but knew I would never
get out of the house on time, and I wasn't allowed to run to school.

I pulled on a plaid
pink and black pleated skirt, a black wife beater, and my trusty
black combat boots. I did my makeup in a dark fashion around my eyes,
but put bubble gum pink lip gloss on- tasted like cotton candy, yum.
I pulled my hair into two braids that hung neatly on either side of
my head. I grabbed my new black backpack and headed downstairs.

I found Dominic in
the kitchen sipping on some coffee. Without uttering one word, he
handed me a travel mug and a note. The front had my grandpa's neat
handwriting addressing it to me.

Emma,

I hope you enjoy your new car. The
keys are in the ignition. It took some time, but we think we got all
the specifics down just right. We love you, darling.

Love,

Grandpa

My car?
I was shocked as I read the note once more. “They got me my
car!” I rushed to the kitchen side door and pulled it open. I
stared back at Dom, “aren't you coming?” My excitement
was pouring out of me.

I turned the garage
light on and there, to my amazement, was a brand-new Jeep wrangler.
It looked like a smaller version of a Hummer- the latest fashion in
Jeeps, sadly to say.

It was covered in
chrome and there were green flames licking the wheel holds and back.
I loved it! No, love wasn't good enough … but I sure as heck
didn't have a better word. It was a hard top- like my last one.

“
Dom, would
you mind helping?” I gestured toward the top; I wanted to feel
the wind in my hair.

It took a few
minutes to figure it out, but soon it was off and I could see the
bumping stereo and black leather interior. I sighed. I crawled in
over the door, who needs handles, right? And I found the keys right
where Grandpa said they'd be- in the ignition, just waiting for me.

A singular silver
bat hung from the key. It made me feel giddy. My grandpa knew me so
well.

I threw my
practically empty pack into the back. I decided they would have to
pry my dead body from this car before I gave it up to be destroyed.
If it got seriously damaged, I'd pay the atrocious amount of money it
would cost to get it fixed. What did it matter when you had that kind
of funds to use?

I gestured for Dom
to get in. He eyed me suspiciously. I think he was afraid I couldn't
be under the radar in this- he was
so
right. He got in anyways.
What
a good sport
.

“
Emma, you
know you have to at least pretend to be human today, right?”
His face contorted with fear and worry.

“
I won't be
any different than I was before the accident happened.” I
smiled my best toothy grin at him.

He sighed.

The Jeep squealed in
delight, wanting to be driven.

I drove fast down
our narrow road out to the highway. I needed to get some of the 'need
for speed' out before I was 'normal people'.

As soon as we pulled
onto the highway I was idling at the speed limit. My foot itched to
tap the pedal a little harder, but I knew what was expected of me.
They
probably gave this to me today to test me.

The drive to school
wasn't nearly fast enough, but I got us there.

I parked in the
student lot and felt a little pang in my heart for my old, gone,
black beauty. I let it go.

We went to the
office together. The check in was a breeze, and since we both had all
the assignments from our classes, we weren't behind.

We walked over to
the building, but instead of walking to class together, I had to hug
Dom good-bye at the bottom of the stairs and climb the steps alone. I
knew that this would be the first hurdle of the day, and I was
determined to get through it.

The hall smelled of
coffee- a sweeter scent than usual. It was chocolate, or hazelnut, I
wasn't quite sure. I could taste the rich flavor as I sipped on my
own cup and strolled down the hall.

Class hadn't started
yet, and Mr. Fitzgerald seemed to be in a good enough mood when I
marched into the class. I set my stuff in the very front and middle-
the seat I had been confined to the first day Acacia was in this
class. Our faithful teacher was in the back of the room, sitting on a
stool, drinking his cup of Joe, and reading the morning's paper. It
was such an odd contrast to the boringness of his lectures and the
state in which he kept the room.

I walked to the back
of the room to talk to him before people began to trickle in.

“
Good morning,
Mr. Fitzgerald,” I said with my sweetest tone.

“
Ah, Miss
Hutchinson, it is good to have you back in class. I assume you have
your work done and caught up?” His brow arched at me.

“
Yes, of
course, sir. I was told to give you this form, but I already know
that my parents were here and told all my teachers everything.”
I looked timidly down at the floor.

“
Yes, terrible
thing to happen. So glad you are recovered and ready to come back to
us.” His voice reverberated discomfort.

“
Thank you.
Let me get my assignments for you.” I skipped to my desk, very
slowly and human like.

“
Just put them
on my desk.” And with that he went back to his paper, to enjoy
his last five minutes, before there would be a steady flow of
students.

I put the pile of
papers on his desk and smiled to myself because I was more than
caught up; I was actually done with the entire semester's readings,
and it was all memorized. I could quote anything from any of the
classic books that Mr. Fitzgerald had decided we would read. I was
excited because I was certain to make valedictorian, not that it
really mattered anymore since I would be in Italy next year, going to
my new vampire school. I laughed to myself and sat back down at my
seat.

Just as I said, five
minutes later students began to come in the room. I was the center of
all the looks. Some came up and said they were glad I was okay and
back at school. Others nodded in my direction and I took that as
their well wishes.

When Kelly bounced
into the room- her walk had a little too much cheerleader in it for
my taste, but to each her own- she rushed to my small desk, nearly
taking the thing down.

“
Oh. My. God.
I. Am. So. Glad. You. Are. Back.” She shrieked at me.

I smiled.

“
Emma, I was
so worried. I mean we were starting to get past all the weirdness,
and become friends, and then your car gets crushed by the stupid old
bridge, and it falls off the freakin' thing! I was like holy crap
when I found out. You have to sit with me at lunch. I missed you so
much.” She hugged me and then sat down right next me and
smiled.

When the person that
usually sat there came in, he looked confused- I think his name was
Brandon- but he shrugged and went to sit in the multiple seats, which
were
very
vacant, in the back.

English wasn't as
bad as I thought it would be as I actively participated in
discussions and even prompted a few as well. Mr. Fitzgerald was
clearly enthralled to have someone so interested in what he had to
say.

When I got to
Science, I thought I would die. I was completely alone in the back of
the room. I couldn't even rely on Kelly to help fill the endless
space because we had lab partners- Mike was mine.

I handed in all my
assignments and got instant praise from Mrs. Roberts. She told me
that we'd figure something out about labs. I told her I could do them
on my own. I knew my expression was sad, and I think she understood-
she didn't let on either way.

I went back to my
little part of Siberia, and pulled out my nearly empty notebook. I
took notes on everything she said verbatim. It was the only thing I
could think of to do. I didn't really need notes anymore, since I
could easily remember everything that was said.

I spent the quick
break finding Dominic, and feeling quite sorry for myself.

Em?

I looked at him and
raised an eyebrow.

I
thought
we were supposed to be normal humans?

I didn't understand
why he was talking to me like this and not actually speaking.

I know. But I
could feel something is wrong ... what is it?
His brows pulled together.

It is a hard
adjustment for me. I am alone in a lot of my classes now …
minus Kelly. But she can't fix the fact that everything has changed
now.
My bottom lip jetted out and I was on the verge of tears.

Dom held me in his
arms.
Don't
worry, you'll adjust. It
will
get
better. I promise. I'll even change my schedule if you want.

No. So much has
changed as is, I hate drawing attention to us. I'll survive.
I
exhaled the breath I had been holding and the bell rang.

I slumped off to Gym
and felt a hundred times worse. Not only was I alone, but now I had
to do physical activities on top of it all.
What
is wrong with the world?

It wasn't as bad as
I thought it would be and I actually felt better after running laps
and doing normal human things. I was now a fitness queen amongst my
fellow classmates. Coach Williams- a big goon of a man- was whole
heartedly impressed with my improvements. I could see him thinking
about injuring the entire class on a bridge to see if it made them
all athletic stars, just like it had apparently made me. I blushed at
the knowledge that maybe I hadn't reined in my new abilities so well.
But I didn't care too much, what was he going to say that wouldn't
make him sound too much like an idiot … I could see it; “No,
you don't understand, when she came back she could do all the things
I told the class to do.” And Principal Taylor would say; “And
they aren't supposed to be able to do it?” A confused
expression would be on both faces. I laughed audibly and went to my
math class, where I could sit next to Dom and feel better.