Read Page 14

The next day the usually early-bird Becky was late. I had showered, eaten, dressed, redressed, and was sitting on the front steps, my hoodie tied around my waist, writing Alexander love notes. I was ready to call the school day off when she finally drove up my driveway.

I got into her pickup, and she barely said hello.Advertisement

"Where were you?" I asked. "Did you oversleep? Or get halfway to school and realize you didn't pick me up?"

Becky didn't answer but continued to drive toward school.

After a polite conversation with her responses being "uh-huhs," "sures," and head nods, I'd had enough.

"So what's up with the silent treatment?" I finally asked.

"Nothing," she said as she turned the truck onto the road that led to school.

"Aren't you feeling well?"

"I'm feeling fine."

"Then why are you mad?"

"I'm not mad," she said, and turned up the radio. I turned the radio off. "Okay. Let me have it. What's up?"

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Becky pulled into an empty spot next to the senior parking lot and turned off the engine.

"It just seems odd," she began softly. "You left Hatsy's as soon as our order arrived. Then shortly afterward Jagger and Luna left too. I heard you hung out with Luna at the park. And it was like you were best buds last night outside the Mansion."

"She's not my best bud."

"I know you have way much more in common with her," she continued. "The gothic clothes. The dark music. She probably loves vampires, too."

"Is that what this is about?"

If there was anything worse than the jealousy between sweethearts, it was the threat of a new best friend.

"You've found someone more like you," she said as she got out of the truck.

"I don't want someone more like me," I said as we walked toward school. "I want someone just like you."

In all the years Becky and I'd been friends, she never judged the clothes I wore or the music I listened to. Becky never asked me to be anything but myself.

"You want to know the truth?" I asked.

"Of course."

"You are right, I owe you that." Becky and I went into the side entrance and snuck underneath the staircase. "All right, here goes."

Becky looked anxious, as if I were going to hit her with "Yes, I've found a new best friend. Good riddance." "This is top secret stuff," I began.

"Go on."

"All right." I took a deep breath. "Here goes. Luna and Jagger are vampires," I began in a whisper, "and they are trying to turn Trevor into one. We left Hatsy's because Alexander and I were trying to remove their coffins from Henry's treehouse, forcing them back to Romania." I sighed, feeling a sense of relief at finally being able to share my darkest secrets with my best friend.

Becky studied me. Then she burst out laughing. "You expect me to believe that?"

"Well-- "

"I guess it was better than saying Luna and Jagger are friends of Alexander's from Romania," she said, "and you felt obligated to help out."

"Yeah," I lied. "Sweet, but anticlimactic."

The two of us laughed.

"I'm sorry. I just got a little jealous," she said.

"I'm sorry I made you feel that way. We'll always be best friends."

"Forever," she confirmed.

"For eternity," I added with a smile.

I was shoving my notebooks in my locker, which was filled with pictures of Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, and HIM, and stickers of black roses, spiders, and coffins, when I noticed Trevor passing out red flyers to the soccer snobs and cheerleaders. He was also taking pictures of them with his camera phone.

I wasn't aware Trevor had returned to school. I stepped back into a doorway so Trevor wouldn't spot me.

The bell rang and the crowds began to disperse.

A red flyer fell out of the goalie's notebook as he stepped into a biology classroom. Curious, I grabbed it. In black letters the flyer read:

Graveyard Gala

Covenant Ceremony

~Dare to dance among the dead~

Date: This Saturday

Time: Sunset

Attire: Nightmarish costume

Be there or be dead

I'd spent a whole lifetime partying alone at Dullsville's cemetery. Now all of Dullsville High was going to be at my hideout. And I wasn't even invited?

"Sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, Monster Girl?" I heard Trevor say from behind me. "What's this?" I asked, shoving the flyer in his face.

"Jagger's hosting a party. It'll be the blowout of the year! I'm coming as the Grim Reaper. You're lucky. If you were invited, you could just come as yourself."

I gave Trevor a snarled look.

"Who is going to have a covenant ceremony?"

"Luna and I will be king and queen of the covenant. Like a medieval prom, in ominous costumes. It's a sexy Romanian ceremony I'm sure you've never heard of. When I accept the honor, Luna's going to kiss me in front of the whole school. It's going to be a total freakfest. But since you're not on the guest list," he continued, "you'll have to read about it in the school newspaper."

He grabbed the flyer out of my hand as a cheerleader and a soccer snob stepped in front of me.

Just then Trevor aimed his cell phone at them and a flash illuminated the hallway, momentarily blinding me.

When my eyes finally adjusted, Trevor and his cohorts disappeared into the crowd of students.

I stood in the hallway, motionless, surrounded by the sounds of closing lockers and classroom doors.

This had been Jagger's plan all along! The only way he could lure someone as conservative as Trevor to the sacred ground of a cemetery was the promise of a monster-size party and a never-ending lip-lock. The already pompous soccer snob would be sealing the deal with the gorgeous "new hottie" in front of the whole school. Trevor just didn't realize the deal would last an eternity.

"Raven," I heard Becky call from behind.

Becky and Matt pushed through the crowd of students and caught up to me. "Did you hear about the Graveyard Gala?" she asked. "Seems like you would be the one handing out invites, not Trevor."

"I know. And to top it off, I'm not even invited. Not like I've ever been on the A-list before, but this is at a cemetery. My dream party!"

"I thought you would freak out!"

"Since you told Trevor to hit the road, the three of us are probably the only ones not invited."

Then I spotted a red flyer poking out of Matt's algebra textbook.

"You were on the guest list?" I asked, horrified.

"The whole soccer team is invited," Matt said.

"But you're not going, are you?" I asked.

"I have to," Matt confessed. "I don't want to be the only one in the locker room who wimped out."

"And you?" I said, turning to my best friend.

"Matt needs a date," she said apologetically.

I felt betrayed. Everyone at Dullsville High was going but me. Even Becky. More important, though, I was worried about Becky--I didn't want my best friend on sacred ground with vampires.

"Well, Becky, you can't go," I said, sounding like her parent. "Cemeteries make you nervous."

"I'll be there to protect her from any wayward ghosts," Matt said, putting his arm around my smiling friend.

Then I remembered the cemetery's caretaker and his dog. "Old Jim will be there with his Great Dane, Luke," I warned Becky. "There won't be trouble," Matt said. "Trevor has assured everyone that on Saturday nights Old Jim has a barstool with his name on it at Lefty's Tavern."

"Promise me you'll come," Becky pleaded. "I'd feel better if you were there, too."

"You thought I wouldn't be there? And miss the chance to crash a party?" I said, opening a classroom door. "Only in my nightmares!" pqdm.com