Эллен Шрайбер - Royal Blood

"How about this to keep you company, since I can't be there with you?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a dark-stained wooden bracelet with a dangling silver heart.

"I love it!" I said, putting it on.

Alexander gave me a long squeeze and a tender good-night kiss.

"When will I see you?" I asked, wrapping my arms around his waist like a giant handcuff.

"Sooner than you think."He gently pried my hands apart, stepped into the shadows, and disappeared.

Alexander was still a mystery. I ached to know everything about him, and his evasiveness only made me want him more.

4

MONSTER HIGH

Most people fear the dark, afraid of the unknown- unsure what curious creatures might be hiding in their bedroom closets or on deserted streets. I embraced the night. It was the daylight I dreaded. I could see the monsters-and they all went to Dullsville High, This year I'd be entering school a little differently than in the past.Not only would I be a junior, but this would be the first time I was returning to Dullsville High with a boyfriend. Plus I had knowledge of a vampire world and had many nocturnal adventures under my studded belt. But one thing hadn't changed: I was late.

The bell had already rung when Becky and I parked her truck. Suntanned students were scampering to class. I still hadn't adjusted to the early-morning school schedule. My stomach was churning and my eyelids hung heavy. Becky eagerly raced ahead of me as I climbed up the school steps like a zombie.

"Hurry", she said, diligently holding her books and class schedule at the front entrance.

It was then I realized I was missing some valuable information.

"Where's my schedule?" I ransacked my Corpse Bride purse, safety-pinned jeans pockets, and my backpack. Becky grew fidgety.

We had requested the same classes, but we had only gotten a few. And I didn't remember which ones.

"I know I have English first bell," I said, straining to remember. But I hadn't checked the schedule since summer break. "I think I might have Spanish second bell and third bell gym."

"Well be late to them all!" Becky's face flushed red. Panic grew in her big brown eyes.

The sound of lockers shutting and classroom doors closing echoed off the hallway walls.

"Go ahead. I don't want us both to get suspended on the first day," I teased.

Relieved, Becky hurried to Mrs. Naper's English class while I proceeded back to the school's main entrance.

I plopped my backpack on the registrar's desk. The administrators were bright and perky, fresh from the glow of the summer sun and a few months sans students.

"Wow, classes haven't even begun and you're already in the principal's office," I heard a man's voice say as he came through the door behind me. "That's a first for you, isn't it?"

I turned around. Principal Reed, like me, was holding a cup of store-bought coffee, I found his joke only halfway amusing, which made our school leader chuckle.

"How was your summer?" he asked, and noticed my blindingly pale skin, "Not much for the outdoors?"

I barely cracked a smile.

"You'd better get to class," he said."Whichever one that is." He shook his head as he entered his office.

The school registrar asked me a few questions and then printed my schedule from her computer.

"I still have those nightmares," the registrar said."Showing up to school without knowing what classes I'm taking or where the classrooms are located. The worst one was showing up for exams I hadn't studied for."

"One person's nightmares are another person's reality," I said. I took my schedule, gulped some coffee, and apathetically headed for class.

Mrs. Naper , a wiry woman with a mind bent on classics-and the tenure to prove it-greeted me with a stern glare and a few verbal admonishments. She was known throughout the Dullsville school system for the " NaperPaper," a college preparatory essay all juniors were required to complete, graded under the strictest of standards. Several things were in my favor, though. There was an empty seat next to Becky, and Trevor Mitchell was nowhere in sight.

"To reiterate," Mrs. Naper began as I took a seat, "your guidance counselor will be in to talk to you next month college applications, scholarships, and grants. To prepare, your first assignment is a classmate interview and essay, followed by a brief presentation. Now that you are juniors you should be contemplating college and possible career paths. This essay will help stimulate you into discovering what you might like to pursue, and at the same time you'll get to know more about your classmates."

The Naper Paper actually sounded like a cinch to do. I knew everything about Becky, and likewise, she knew everything about me. We could complete the essay within the amount of time it took to type three hundred words and click spell check.

" Raven," she continued, "while you were making your way to class, we assigned you a partner."

I turned to Becky. "Thanks for saving me."

My best friend averted her gaze away from me.

"What, you picked someone else?" I pressed.

"Someone else picked me? Then she pointed to a student in the front row. It was Matt.

"Ugh." I sighed. I felt as double-crossed as Charlie Brown when Lucy pulls the football away from him.

The classroom door opened and in walked Trevor Mitchell holding several boxes of chalk.

"Thank you, Trevor," Mrs. Naper said, her cheeks blushing as red as her lipstick as she took the chalk from the handsome jock.

"He's in this class?" I asked Becky. "I should have changed my schedule while I had the chance!"

My nemesis checked me out as he sauntered down the aisle toward me. When he reached my desk, he leaned in. "Hi, partner"he said with a wink.

My heart fell to the cold Masonite floor.

"Say it isn't so!"

I envied my best friend. She was assigned to her boyfriend and I was going to be stuck with Trevor, Forced to ask him questions that I didn't care to know the answers to. And in return, he'd pry into my private life. Why couldn't I be like Becky and have a boyfriend who attended school with me during the day, instead of being homeschooled at night? Though I'd dreamed of dating a vampire, it sure had its dark side. For a moment, I resented the whole nocturnal thing.

And even worse, I was going to have face time with Trevor Mitchell. I should just surrender my grade to Mrs. Naper and accept my F now.

"So remember," Mrs. Naper continued, "Junior-year grades are important. It's time to start thinking about your future. It's important that you take this assignment seriously."

Great.Not only has Trevor tormented me since kindergarten, but now, if I failed this assignment, he could screw up my whole future.

I made a quick escape from Trevor after the bell rang, but I wasn't so lucky at lunch. I was lying in the grass, shaded from the blazing sun by my sunglasses and a maple tree, when I sensed someone next to me.

I could smell the inviting aroma of just-cooked french fries .

"Hey, Becky", I said, undisturbed. "Did you bring me my fries?"

"No, but I brought you something else, Monster Girl", I heard a male's voice say, "Me."

I yanked off my shades. Trevor was stretched out next to me, resting on his elbow.

"Get away," I ordered.

"I figured this was a good position to start off the interview part of the assignment in," he said. "I can guar- i uteethat you get an A. He held a fry in front of my lips, as if about to feed me.

I batted it away and the greasy fry flew out of his land. "I can guarantee that you never see the light of day again."

He leaned into me, his blond locks only inches from my jet-black ones. "I want to explore all sides of you."

I almost gagged at his cheesy pick-up line and wedged my combat boot between us.