Diary of a Vampeen (15 page)

“Listen. Nothing happened with me and
Kellan. We didn’t even hug. He’s an old family friend. He and my
mom like to reminisce about Spain since they were there together
this summer, his family and my parents.” Ok, so I was going to have
to exaggerate a bit to defuse the situation. “I did go to sleep
last night though and nothing happened between me and Kellan,” I
calmly explained.

My efforts worked. Mike cheered up and
Mel loosened her expression.

“So what were you two talking about
all that time on the beach?” Mel probed with new
enthusiasm.

“About life. He told me
about living in Seattle; I asked him a lot of questions.” I was
still attempting to remain truthful, as much as deemed possible
anyways. What Mike said before was at the front of my mind though.
Had Kellan really stayed the night with me? Did he lay in bed with
me the whole night? I quickly pushed the thought away.
He’s not into me like that. Why am I allowing
myself to go there?

“I’m going to trust you this time,”
Mike stated. I didn’t know whether to be relieved or irritated.
This only went to show that we both carried trust
issues.

“I’m really sorry,” I said.

Mike crossed the distance between us
and pulled me to him for a kiss. After the intimacy I’d shared with
Kellan last night though, I didn’t feel right being in Mike’s
arms.

Mel interrupted the moment. “Ugh! Can
we skip the Dawson’s Creek and be on our way before we’re late?!”
Mike gave Mel an intense angry look. Mel just scoffed sarcastically
and stated, “Oh get over it Mike! There will be other times for you
to smother your girlfriend. Hopefully you will choose times when
I’m not around though.”

“I’ll see if my mom will drive us,” I
interjected hoping to distract them. I walked away from Mike’s
embrace to gather my stuff.

“Lexi. You. Me. Dinner, tonight. No
boys allowed,” she ordered sticking her tongue out at Mike with the
end jab.

“Sounds good,” I confirmed. I pulled
my cell out of my bag and flipped it open. “Thirty-eight missed
calls! What the hell were you two doing… speed dialing me all
night?!”

Mel shrugged while Mike tensed up
again, glaring up the stairs at my room.

“Well?”

“Oh give it a rest Lex.
You
really
don’t
want to get me started on this again.”

“Yea, yea.”

Chapter 9

My mother drove us to school. Mike
walked me to every class, obviously still upset over last night
while Mel had me retell the entire conversation on the beach with
Kellan; this was extremely difficult considering I couldn’t mention
anything related to our secret heritage. At least she got it out of
her system early, which meant dinner would be drill
free.

I was disappointed when I got to
Spanish and Kellan wasn’t there, however he was in his desk in
English. The moment I sat down a note was on my desk.

Hey

H
i

How are you today?

I’m ok. Haven’t gone into shock yet if
that’s what you mean. You?

Not really, but good to know. I’m
good. I had fun yesterday.

You mean yesterday and this morning? Mel and
Mike said they saw you leaving. What did you do all night? My dad
didn’t say anything to you?

After you fell asleep I talked with
your parents for a while. Your dad went to bed and your mom and I
talked about stuff. Around three you sounded like you were having a
nightmare so I stayed in your room until your dad left for
work.

Oh…. why did you stay?

We gave you a lot to think about last
night. I wanted to make sure you were ok.

Wow… thanks

So dinner with Mel tonight?

Yea. How do you know about these things?

I overheard her talking
earlier.

Oh. Yea. I don’t know where we’re going yet.
It’s no boys allowed…

Have fun.

I will thanks.

The remainder of English flew by. My
mom had agreed to pick me and Mel up after school so we could go to
dinner.

“So where do you want to eat?” I asked
as we climbed into my mother’s heated leather back
seats.

“I was thinking Mexican. I could do
some chips and salsa with a virgin margarita.”

“Chicken enchiladas here we
come.”

My mother decided to meet my dad for
dinner at Outback Steakhouse after dropping us off down the road at
Tejano Restaurante. Living in Spain helped me communicate at the
restaurant perfectly.

“Buenos dias senoritas,” the hostess
greeted.

“Buenos dias. Necessita un mesa para
dos, por favor,” I responded, asking for a table for two. She
smiled and led us to a booth by a window. This was a quaint
restaurant; nothing large or overwhelming in size, but definitely
not a hole-in-the-wall joint. It was charming with its adobo flared
design. The focal point on the wall opposite the windows was a
large framed Mexican flag surrounded by memorabilia and old sepia
toned photos.

Our waiter, Jorge, introduced himself
and promptly returned with the two sweet teas we ordered, a
southern delicacy I loved. We requested a bowl of queso blanco, the
best dip ever, and two virgin margaritas before starting to eat the
chips and salsa set at our table. Mel, of course, was the first to
speak between bites.

“So what’s up with you and Mike? I
can’t keep up anymore.”

“I honestly don’t know. One minute
we’re ok and the next we’re balancing on a tight rope. If I’m
honest, I just can’t make a solid decision as to whether or not we
should really be together right now.” This was all the more true
after talking with Kellan and my parents last night. I would have a
secret that I couldn’t reveal to him, something that impacted my
life greatly, and that automatically put us at a disadvantage
without the trust issues.

“If you’re not one-hundred percent
sure about it Lex, then you really shouldn’t be with him. Every
relationship hits a rough spot, but you haven’t totally committed
yourself to the relationship at any point over the last month. It’s
pretty obvious to me that your hearts not in it, so why are you
sticking around?”

“I guess I feel obligated in a way. He
was the first guy to acknowledge that I was beautiful in any way,
or even acknowledge me period. I think I feel, to a certain degree,
that I need to return the favor. He’s done everything he can to
embrace me, and I’m trying to do the same for him.”

“Yea Lex, but it’s just
like you said. It’s
for
him
, not for you, and you will never be
happy until you’re doing this for yourself. You have to want this,
not just settle for it.”

“Yea. I know you’re right. It’s just…
How can I hurt him after all he’s done for me?”

“You need to take him off this
invisible pedestal. All he’s done is give you a few compliments and
minor affection to boost your self-esteem. That doesn’t
automatically qualify him to be the king of your heart,” she stated
as Jorge set down our queso and margaritas.

“¿Qué
 le senoritas les 
gusta
 
comer
?” he asked.

“Mi
 
amiga
 
que
 
como dos
 
tacos de
 
pollo
 
con crema
 
agria
,
 
y
me
 
gustaría
 
una
 
enchilada de
 
pollo
 
con
 
salsa
 
roja, por
favor
.”

“Buenas opciones. Volveré con sus
pedidos en un poco,” he stated collecting our menus before walking
away.

“I don’t know what I’d do without your
Spanish,” Mel commented.

“You could manage. This is your second
year of Spanish, remember?”

“High school Spanish doesn’t really
count. It’s nothing like living in Spain for a couple
years.”

“Yea.”

“So what’s going on with you and
Bancroft now? No guy stays the night without ulterior motives,
regardless of whether or not he knows your parents
personally.”

“Nothing happened. I wasn’t lying
there. Honestly, I still feel this intense pull towards him, and,
after he opened up to me last night, that feeling has only
intensified. We have this invisible bond that surpasses what me and
Mike could ever fathom having; I just don’t know quite what to do
with it yet. I know Kellan’s presence has played a role in my
teeter-tottering with Mike, but I don’t know where Kellan stands
with me. Now that I say that though, it’s obvious that I’m just
using Mike as a safety net because I don’t want to be alone. Oh my
gosh, Mel. I’m horrible! This whole time I didn’t want to hurt
Mike, yet now I see I’m doing something far worse. I’m using him
and abusing our friendship.” I couldn’t believe I’d been so
selfish. Beyond that, I couldn’t believe I’d been so blind to my
own selfish behavior. Regardless of where Kellan stood, I knew I
had to let Mike go. With my transformation coming up, it was for
the best that I figured it out now anyways.

“Don’t beat yourself up Lex. Nobody’s
perfect. I’m glad you figured it out, and now you just have to make
it right by telling Mike the truth. You’ll probably feel a huge
burden lift off of you when you do it too.”

“Yea.” I was trying to suppress the
impending depression I felt blooming, but struggled.

“So… your birthday. What did you
decide?” Mel prompted clearly trying to yank me from the edge of
misery.

“Ugh,” I groaned. “You can plan a
party. But it can’t be this weekend; it needs to be two weekends
after.”

“Yay!” she shouted victoriously. “Not
that I want to jinx this, but what made you change your
mind?”

“Apart from your continuous nagging?”
She rolled her eyes and I continued. “Sixteen is a big year for a
girl and I have a feeling I’m going to be a whole new woman. What
better way to introduce the new me than with a party,
right?”

“Definitely!” She began her rant at
that moment, random chatter over party locations, themes and guest
lists. I knew she would distract herself for a while not needing
even a word from me; she tended to answer her own questions in this
mode. It gave me time to think though, to reflect on the truth
within my words that my best friend didn’t even
recognize.

Just then it dawned on me, the perfect
excuse. Sixteen was a huge year for a girl and a surprise birthday
vacation wouldn’t be unusual for a family with financial assets
like my parents. I could say we’re going to Tahiti or Hawaii – some
kind of tropical island get-away with the sun and sand to escape
the cold here. I would still have to discuss it with my parents
before I used it, but it’s the best idea I had.

“Lexi. Lex!” Mel
interrupted.

I snapped my head up towards her as
the waiter set down our meals. He asked if we needed anything more
before excusing himself.

“What is up with you Lex? You are
constantly lost in your world of thought lately. That’s like you
sometimes, but it’s been happening a lot lately. I know you’ve had
a lot going on with the guys, but talk to me. Is there more that I
don’t know about?”

What do I tell her? What
can I tell her? ‘Well, Mel, you see, on my sixteenth birthday I’m
going to become a vampeen. That’s a cross between a human and
vampire…’
As much as I wanted to dish my
fate, I couldn’t. I wasn’t allowed. There is a secure vow of
silence with this thing. Even if I could divulge she probably
wouldn’t believe it fully. Even I didn’t believe it and I had proof
with Kellan and my mom.

Acknowledging my silence, Mel stated,
“If you don’t want to talk about it, I’m cool with that. No
pressure.”

“It’s not that,” I sighed. “I
just…”

“Is it about Mike, Kellan, your
parents, school…? Is it me? Did I do something?” she asked in a
panic.

“Calm down Mel, you didn’t
do anything wrong. I
definitely
would have told you that. It’s just well, I can’t
really talk about it right now.” I decided to stick to the truth. I
didn’t want to lie to her unless I had to. I probably would after
because there was no other way to explain a dramatic weight loss
complete with a new gorgeous body and smooth skin in such a short
time. Until that time though, I wanted to stay true to her and the
value of our friendship with pure honesty as often as warranted in
our discussions, which was surprisingly more difficult with Kellan
around.

“If it’s boy trouble, I can totally
help. I do have experience in that field you know,” she reminded as
she took a bite out of her food.

“I know. You’ve already helped me with
that since we arrived.” I began picking at my enchilada a
bit.