He shook his head. There had to be a way to protect her, to keep her safe without pushing her away.
First step: Get out of the closet.
He could almost hear Meredith smiling. “ That was nice. Between my dad and your aunt, we hardly get any time alone together.”
The door flung open, revealing a rather perturbed-looking Principal Snelgrove. “I certainly hope it was, Ms. Brookstone. Because it may be your last.”
Vlad gulped and snapped his mouth shut, covering his fangs. He and Meredith exchanged startled glances. Meredith looked shocked and embarrassed. Vlad was both of those, but also immensely relieved.
Principal Snelgrove barked two words that made them both jump. “Office! NOW!”
Principal Snelgrove had turned purple by the time they reached his office, and as he paced back and forth behind his desk, his shade of purple deepened. Vlad sank down in his seat, amazed that a person could look so much like an eggplant. Meredith sat in the chair to his right, staring straight ahead, wide-eyed. He doubted she’d ever had the misfortune of ending up in the Chair of Doom-Vlad’s nickname for any chair in the principal’s office that didn’t belong to the principal. He wanted to squeeze her hand, to reassure her in some small way, but he was almost certain that Snelgrove’s skull would split open if he touched Meredith at all.
The purple color lessened as Snelgrove drew a deep breath before speaking. “I would expect this type of behavior from Mr. Tod here. But you, Ms. Brookstone, are one of our best students. And to pull a stunt like this… I must say, I’m very disappointed. You should be careful of the kind of company you keep, Ms. Brookstone. It may lead you down a road that it would be unwise to follow.”
Vlad resisted rolling his eyes, but it wasn’t easy.
Snelgrove clasped his hands behind his back and twitched his nose-all the rat was missing were whiskers. “I should suspend you both.”
Vlad stiffened in his seat. That was the last thing he needed. But he wouldn’t have to fret about it for long, because Nelly was going to murder him. If anyone could prove that the Pravus could be killed, it was an angry guardian who found out he’d been suspended for making out in a broom closet at school instead of learning about the joys of worm dissection. He sank down in his seat and silently hoped for a miracle.
“Detention. Both of you. That much is obvious and warranted. Thank your lucky stars I’m such a kind and forgiving individual.” Snelgrove slanted his little mouse eyes. “I’ll be calling your parents, Ms. Brookstone, absolutely. And Mr. Tod, you can bet your bottom dollar that your guardian and I will discuss this situation at length.”
Vlad wasn’t aware that he had a bottom dollar, or even a top dollar for that matter, but he did know that he’d like to be cremated, if at all possible, once Nelly heard from Snelgrove. It seemed like a nice blending of human and vampire funerary traditions.
Snelgrove seemed to be waiting for them to speak, but neither did. Vlad mused that he’d like Henry to give his eulogy.
“Ms. Brookstone, you’ll have detention this Tuesday and Thursday for two hours after school. Mr. Tod, your detention will begin today after school, and continue on Wednesday.” Snelgrove snorted before waving them away. “And I do not want to see a repeat of this type of behavior in the future. Am I clear?”
Meredith mumbled, “Yes, sir.”
Vlad simply held the door open for her in silence. He wasn’t about to give ol’ rat face the satisfaction of a reply.
Plus, he couldn’t exactly focus on there actually being a future anyway, what with his imminent demise on the horizon.
The remainder of the school day passed by in a haze of homework assignments, headaches, and an assortment of mind-numbing quizzes-all of which seemed to be pop quizzes which were pretty much like the regular quizzes except that when they were given, they made your eyeballs pop out of your head and explode. By the time the final bell had rung, Vlad had mentally prepared his last will and testament. He decided to bequeath Henry his video games. And, if she survived her own set of parental wrath, he’d leave Meredith his favorite hoodie and every last one of his books.
Speaking of Meredith…
Vlad looked up and down the hall but didn’t see her anywhere. Maybe her parents had picked her up early. Or maybe she was avoiding him, for fear of more detention-inducing kisses. Or not. Vlad highly doubted he was that irresistible.
He dropped his physical science book inside his locker and sighed before grabbing his backpack and slipping his homework inside. When he closed the door, he nodded to Henry, who’d been high-fiving him since he’d heard about his and Meredith’s closet adventures. Vlad’s hand was practically slapped raw, and he blushed every time Henry did it. Whoever had invented the Neanderthal celebration of the high five needed to be dragged out into the street and slapped to death by someone with elephantitis of the hand.
Okay. That might be a bit extreme. But Vlad wasn’t exactly feeling celebratory at the moment.
He slunk down the hall through the thinning crowd to the library, opened the double doors, and went inside. He stopped the passing librarian and said, “Excuse me. I’m not sure I’m in the right place. I’m here for detention.”
The librarian, Mrs. Moppet, smiled warmly and pointed to a table near the computer section. “Right over there. It looks like you’ll have company today.”
“ Thank you.” Vlad moved to the table and stopped in his tracks before dropping his backpack on the table. He sighed, low and loud, resisting the urge to swear really loudly at the predicament he was in. Not the thing with Meredith or how Nelly was going to kill him when he got home. Oh no. What had Vlad’s stomach in knots was… his company.
Eddie Poe threw him a glance, and Vlad would have guessed that Eddie was just as displeased about sharing a detention if it wasn’t for the eager glint in Eddie’s eyes.
The two sat in stony silence until Mrs. Moppet joined them a few minutes later. “Well, boys, it looks like it’s just the three of us today. Principal Snelgrove had an afternoon appointment that couldn’t be missed.”
Vlad imagined that that appointment included a stop at the cheese store, but he kept his humor to himself, allowing only a small smirk to crack his features.
Mrs. Moppet said, “I trust you boys can keep it down to a dull roar over here while I finish cataloging some new books? You can do homework or study, if you’d like. I’m not really sure what the principal had in mind.”
As she walked away, Vlad and Eddie exchanged bewildered glances. Eddie looked just as surprised as Vlad felt. Present company excluded, this looked to be the most pleasant detention ever experienced by mankind. Further proof that librarians should run the world-or at least be in charge of detention at Bathory High.
Vlad pulled his new leather notebook from his backpack and began a new journal entry-nothing even remotely vampiric, on the chance Eddie caught a glimpse. Instead, he wrote about him and Meredith, and just how much he’d enjoyed their stolen moment. He left out his urge to bite her and made a mental note to write that in later, in private.
The entire time, he could feel Eddie’s eyes on him.
Vlad shot Eddie a look of irritation. “Don’t you have something better to do than stare at me?”
To his immense surprise, the corners of Eddie’s mouth rose in a smirk. “I was just thinking… it’s pretty amazing how well you blend in with humans.”
Vlad’s stomach sank. His fingers fumbled over the pen he was holding and it tumbled to the ground, but he didn’t bend over to retrieve it. He held Eddie’s gaze in fearful surprise. Maybe it was stupid, but he had really thought Eddie would have let go of that whole Vlad-is-a-monster thing by now.