Beginnings (The Trifectus Series - Book One) (21 page)

If I chose James, I would have somebody I truly loved.  Somebody who did treat me well and made me crazy.  Somebody who could act human and I could bring home.  We wouldn’t have to hide and could live anywhere in the world out in the open.  He was somebody more stable in that regard, and I wanted a normal life.  As normal as I could get with the situation I was in.

Love was a scary and tricky thing.  She was merciless and your choices didn’t last forever.  I couldn’t wait too much longer, for the fear of losing my options.  There was a chance they could both find other people, or just simply not want me anymore.  They could feel betrayed and think I was using them this entire time. 

My heart ached as I felt it swell from the anxiety of what was going to soon happen.  If I let Marcus down, he might never talk to me again.  I would lose a great friend: my best friend.  If I let James down, I would lose a part of me.  I would lose the person I truly did love.  Do you take a lot of love with a little friendship, or a lot of friendship with a little love? 

I paced around my room before coming up with a decision.  I knew what I wanted and whom I wanted.  I knew in my heart whom I wanted to make things work with.  I knew whom I wanted to give my heart to. 

I wanted to give it to James and I wanted to give him my all.  I truly liked Marcus, I really did, but I needed more.  I needed a fulfilling life where I could live in the real world.  Not a world in some dark underground camp, but in the French countryside.  I wanted to be with someone who looked the most human.  Somebody I could go on dates with. 

I needed to tell Marcus.  I needed to be honest with him and stop leading him on.  I did love him as a friend and he needed to know the truth from me.  He was such a genuine person, and I didn’t want to lose his friendship.

I got online and saw he was on.  I took a deep breath and started messaging him.

“Marcus, I need to be honest with you.  I like you and think you are a great guy.  You are sweet and funny and have always been nice to me.  I just can’t be with you as more than a friend though.  I still love James, and I want to be with him.  You did nothing wrong, so don’t blame yourself.  It’s just that I can’t see a life underground away from society.  I want a life on the surface.  One where I can go do things and be around people.  I can’t do that living underground.  I’m sorry, I really am.  I really hope we can continue to be friends, but I understand if you hate me.  I have to get ready for dinner, but I’ll talk to you later.  Have a good night,” I typed to him before logging off.

I felt nervous after sending him the message.  What if he hated me?  What if he got depressed and did something stupid?  I closed my computer and went downstairs.  I couldn’t be around the computer anymore after knowing what I did.  I had to get my mind off this, and think about what I was going to do to get James back.  He was my rock, and I needed to lean against him once again.

My mother made lasagna for dinner.  The fragrant air filled my nostrils as I smiled and walked into the kitchen.  She had a huge dinner made for the three of us.  I hadn’t seen her make this much food since last Thanksgiving.

“Why is there so much food?” I asked confusedly.

“We are celebrating something tonight!” she said with excitement.

“What are we celebrating?”

“I got a promotion today,” my father interjected while smiling.

“Really?  A promotion for what?”

“I am heading the werewolf task force.  We want to catch those wolves that are attacking people.  If I catch them and do it sometime soon, I know bigger things will come.  Things will get better for all of us,” he said, smiling.

I could tell my father was excited about this new assignment.  Only my father could get excited from the thought of capturing a pack of werewolves.  He was a little twisted in that way. 

I sat down for dinner and started eating as my parents were talking.  I started to tune them out and think about what to do next.  James didn’t always show up to school, and he didn’t even have a phone.  I didn’t even remember exactly how to get to his house.  Even if I did remember, I had no way to get there.  I had to be patient and hope he would show up to school again.  Being a patient teenager was something that was easier said than done. 

“Juliet?  Juliet!”

“Oh, sorry.  Yeah, dad?”

“Your mother tells me you are going to a friend’s house Friday night.”

“Yeah, that’s right.  She is having a bunch of girls over and I am staying over.  We are going to the track finals the next day.”

“I am going to want the name, address and phone number of the girl’s house.”

“Really, dad?  I am 17 years old.  Do you really need to have all of that information?”

“Yes, I really do need all of that information.  You’re still underage and you’re still my daughter.  If I don’t get that information you aren’t going.”

Why couldn’t my father treat me more like an adult?  He was too overbearing and I couldn’t take it anymore.  I might as well be ten years old because I was treated like I was.

“Fine,” I said.  “I’ll find out everything for you so you can keep tabs on everything I do.  I’ll even give you the GPS coordinates of the bathroom so you can know when I am in there too.  Wouldn’t want you to be out of the loop.”

“Don’t get an attitude.  Just do as I tell you.”

I rolled my eyes and kept eating.  I was going to beg James to bite me when I turned 18 so I could get away from here.  I wanted to be an adult, and I never was going to be one living here.

“May I be excused, sir?” I asked while looking at my father.

“You may,” he said, giving me a strong look right back.

I got up and went upstairs.  I pulled my shirt out of my dresser.  I smelled it and smelled James as if he was standing right next to me.  I got butterflies whenever I smelled his scent, and it made me feel as if his arms were wrapped around me tightly.

I didn’t see James again until Thursday at school.  When I got to school, I walked around the corner to see him at my locker.  I was shocked.  He hadn’t done this since we broke up, and I was so happy to see him standing there.

“Hey,” I said as I walked up to him.

“I need to talk to you,” he said.

“What about?” I asked as my heart dropped.

“I’m leaving school.”

“What?  Why?”

“There is no point anymore.  Why continue to stay here?  It isn’t needed.  I’m not some seventeen-year-old kid.”

“Well, when will I see you?”

“You don’t want to see me anyway.”

“Yes I do, don’t be stupid.  I wan—“

“Juliet, stop.  You said it yourself and I agree with you.  We can’t work out.  It never would’ve.”

“Yes we can work out.”

“No, we can’t.  I will always love you.  Never forget me,” he said as he walked away.

I watched as he left me.  I couldn’t even get myself to cry.  There were so many emotions running through my veins that wouldn’t allow any tears to flow.  My face turned red as I held back everything that made me human. 

“Hey girl, you still coming tomorrow night?”

I took a deep breath and turned around with a smile to see Ariel standing there.

“Yeah, I am definitely coming,” I said with a smile.

I was trying to hold my emotions back.  I wanted to stay strong and not break down in front of her.  I didn’t want to ruin their good time tomorrow by having to talk about what was going on with James and me.  I wanted to have a good girls’ night, and I wouldn’t have one if I were a crying mess.

“Great!  We are going to meet at my house after school.  Just come with your stuff when you can and we will get the party started!”

“Can’t wait,” I said while trying to give her a real smile.

Ariel walked away giving high fives to people as they walked by.  I wished I could be that happy.  I wished I wasn’t broken.

I gathered my things and dragged my feet to history.  I walked in just as the bell rang, signaling class to commence.

“Glad you could join us today,” Mr. Quigley said.  “Take your seat.”

I shuffled myself to my desk and sat down.  This was the last place in the entire world I wanted to be.  Now I had to listen to this rude man speak for the next hour.

“Okay, class, who here knows about The Great Vampiric Battle of 1874?”

Great, more vampire talk.  Why did this have to happen to me?  A guy rejects you and then somebody tells you everything about him and won’t stop bringing him up.  It was something that nobody, especially not a hormonal teenage girl, wanted to hear about.

Some people in the class raised their hands as Mr. Quigley looked around the room.

“Okay,” he said.  “Not many of you know about it but that’s okay.  That’s why I’m here.”

“The Great Vampiric Battle of 1874 was a battle that took place here in our country.  A small town in Montana found out that there was a small group of vampires living on the outskirts of town.  Enraged and scared by this, they banded together to form a small militia.  They wanted to go confront the vampires and demand they leave and never come back.  They went with guns, knives and any other weapons they could find.  They marched in the middle of the night with their lanterns and torches and showed up at the house of the vampires.  One man pounded on the door and the family came out.  They said they knew what they were and told them to leave or they would kill them.  The vampires didn’t take this lightly because their family had been there for years, longer than most of the people standing there.  They didn’t feel they should have to leave and they had never been a problem to anybody there.  The villagers relentlessly demanded they leave or they would attack.  One man in the crowd, a drunken man, threw a rock and hit one of the younger vampires in the head, and so the battle began.  The vampires were fast and cunning.  They knew their strength and speed, and used it to their advantage.  They went left and right, slashing people in their way.  There were screams and shrieks as people were struck down everywhere.  Finally, the villagers managed to strike down some of the vampires long enough to tie them up so they couldn’t move.  Finally, with the vampire numbers going down, the rest of the villagers were able to catch all of them and tie them up.  The villagers looked around to see bloodshed everywhere.  People were gashed and mutilated, and the remaining villagers took no mercy on the vampires.  A man pushed everyone aside and started chopping off their heads with an axe.  That night, 34 villagers lost their lives and a family of five vampires was killed.  This battle was one of the biggest between humans and vampires there has ever been.  Both sides have never forgotten the injustice that was committed that day,” Mr. Quigley said.

I looked around the class to see everybody so infatuated with the story just told.  Their mouths were open and some of the guys were looking at each other smiling as if they heavily enjoyed what was just told to them.  Typical testosterone-filled teenage boys.

“Why didn’t the vampires leave?” asked Gunther.

“Well, reports from the time say that the vampires felt entitled to staying there.  They felt since they had been there so long and didn’t ever harm anybody they should be left alone and stay there,” Mr. Quigley said.

“That’s stupid.  They should have just left peacefully,” shouted Gunther.

I wanted to just yell that they should’ve stayed.  They weren’t harming anybody.  I couldn’t imagine anyone doing this to James and his family.  I had been around them a couple times and never once felt threatened.  They were so nice and didn’t want to hurt anybody.  If anything they just wanted to help people, but humans didn’t care.  They saw them because of what they are, and not who they are. 

As the bell rang, it sounded like angels singing in the distance.  I couldn’t wait to get away from the close-mindedness that clouded this classroom.  People only wanted to think what they were told, and that was obvious. 

The rest of the day went on miserably.  I eagerly waited for it to be over so I could just go home.  I was one day away from a very much needed girls’ night, and I was counting down the hours.  I needed to get a second opinion on what to do about James and if they knew ways to get a guy back.  My ideas obviously weren’t working well enough.

When I got home later that day, I put my bag down and let out a sigh.  The day was finally over and I could relax.  Nobody was home, thankfully, and I went upstairs and went on the computer.

I hadn’t been on Bubble Power Pets in so long, and I needed to relieve some of the stress I was holding in.  I got on and started going crazy attacking anything in my path.  I could feel the stress draining out of my body every minute as I was playing.  While I was playing, a screen popped up with a chat message inside.

“So, you don’t like me anymore?”

It was Marcus.  I hadn’t even seen he was online.  I left him the other day when I told him I couldn’t be with him, and had forgotten about coming back.  I felt a sort of nervousness in my gut as I was thinking about the argument that was about to ensue.

“It isn’t that.  I just don’t see it going anywhere.  We are two very different people, and I can’t live my life underground.  I need more out of life, a lot more.”

“I’m sad to hear that.  It just seemed like you liked me when we were together.”