Dark Realms (27 page)

“Vampire,” somebody snickered from the back
of the bus.

The “vampire” smirked and then stopped when
he arrived at my seat. “Can I sit here?”

“Uh, sure,” I said, staring up at him in
surprise. When he sat down, I noticed right away that he smelled
like vanilla, which was kind of odd, especially for a guy. I didn’t
mind, however, as it kind of reminded me of vanilla-bean ice cream
or my mother’s homemade sugar cookies.

He removed his sunglasses. “Hi, I’m
Tyler.”

“I’m Kendra,” I said turning my face towards
him.

“Nice to meet you.”

My breath caught in my throat as our eyes
locked. His were the most amazing shade of green I’d ever seen.
They were so deep and hypnotic, I couldn’t look away. In fact, I
found it physically impossible to do anything but to try and stay
afloat in those deep emerald pools. Just when I thought I was
losing my mind, he turned his head and broke the spell.

“So, what grade are you in?” he asked,
staring towards the front of the bus.

“Eleventh. I mean twelfth,” I answered in a
breathless whisper, still confused at what had just happened.

“Me, too,” he said, smiling faintly.

I cleared my throat. “You’re new to
Bayport?”

“Yeah, my mother and I just moved here.”

“Oh.”

Okay, so I was no expert at conversations,
especially with boys. Most guys avoided me like the plague anyway,
unless they were trying to get closer to my “superstar” of a
sister.

We didn’t say anything to each other for the
rest of the bus ride. When it finally rolled into the parking lot
at school and the door opened, he stood up and moved back, allowing
me to get out. He then followed me off of the bus and stayed next
to me as we entered the school. When we got to the office, he
stopped abruptly, and for some reason, so did I.

“Well,” he said, replacing his sunglasses.
“Maybe I’ll see you in class?”

“Uh, sure,” I said, still surprised that a
cute guy like him was actually being nice to me.

“Good,” he said, giving me a lazy smile that
made my stomach flutter.

Chapter Two

My first class was “Homeroom” and I quickly
sat down towards the back of the room.

“Hey, Kendra,” said Amy, who I was
semi-friends with. She sat down next to me and took off her
eyeglasses, then proceeded to clean them with a small cloth.

“So, how was your summer?” I asked, relieved
that I had at least one friend in Homeroom.

She plopped her glasses back on and smiled.
“It was great! I went to band camp for a couple of weeks and
learned some new songs.”

Amy plays the clarinet, and that’s all she
talks about. I went over to her house one day last year after
school, and she played “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” for me over and
over. Now I can’t even sit through the “The Wizard of Oz” without
wanting to throw the remote control at the television.

“Brenda!” squealed Amy, waving her hand in
the air.

I also smiled at Brenda, who squeezed into
the desk in front of me. Like me, she indulged in a little too much
ice cream and pizza.

“Hi, guys,” smiled Brenda, flashing a set of
shiny new braces.

“Oh, wow,” said Amy. “When did you get
those?”

Brenda blushed. “During the summer. I have
to wear them for a couple of years.”

I nodded, smiling sheepishly. “I had my
braces taken off last month. It was the highlight of the
summer.”

“Oh, I forgot that you even wore braces,”
said Amy, pushing her dark hair behind her ears.

“That’s because nobody notices Kendra,”
snickered Mark Davis, who was sitting a couple desks away, “unless
she’s standing next to her hot sister with the perfect teeth.”

It was true, for some reason Kala hadn’t
needed braces but my teeth had overlapped in the front so bad, I
had to have them.

Some of the other kids laughed as he
continued to mock me. I wanted to curl up into a ball and roll
away. Instead, I looked down at my hands and wished that I could
vaporize into thin air. I seriously hated Mark and all of his jock
friends who picked on me whenever they were bored and wanted to
look cool.

“Check out the new weirdo,” said Mark with
an ugly smirk. He turned his body back towards the front of the
class and folded his arms across his chest. “He looks like
something out of a cheap horror movie.”

I looked up and my eyes locked with Tyler’s
– rather, his dark sunglasses. He was standing at the front of the
class and scanning the room for a place to sit. There was a desk
next to mine that was vacant, and for some reason, I really wanted
him in it.

“What? It’s too bright in here?” snorted
Mark. “Nice shades, Dracula.”

Of course, his friends only fueled his
stupidity by laughing.

I glared at Mark, who was still chuckling at
his own lame jokes, and wished I had the guts to tell him off;
although, something in Tyler’s expression told me that he didn’t
need any help from me.

Ignoring everyone else, Tyler removed his
glasses and began walking towards me. Just when I thought he was
going to sit at the desk next to mine, he took the seat behind me
instead.

“Hey,” he said as I turned around.

“Hey,” I answered back, trying not to
blush.

Some of the other girls in the classroom
started checking him out, and soon were staring with glazed
expressions, as if he was some kind of celebrity. I couldn’t blame
them, however. Not only was he cute, but his eyes were beautiful,
magnetic, and more than a little… unnerving.

When the bell rang, the teacher, Mr. Henry,
passed out the school’s handbook and we spent a half hour going
over each boring rule. No fighting, no swearing, no running, no
guns, no tank tops, no pets, no gum, and last, but not least, no
fun. My head was spinning by the time class was over and I was
almost afraid to breathe, in case that was also against school
policy.

“Bring a book to read tomorrow morning if
you don’t have homework,” called Mr. Henry as we all shuffled out
of the classroom.

I stepped into the hallway and started
walking towards first period, which was my math class. I passed my
sister along the way and she smiled at me.

“Is that your sister?”

I turned to find Tyler walking next to me
again and felt more butterflies tickling my stomach. “Uh, yes.”

“You must be twins?”

I nodded. “Yeah, but we don’t look anything
alike.”

He smiled. “That’s okay, being different is
much more interesting.”

I stared at him, wondering if he was from
another planet.

“I don’t know about that. Sometimes I’d
rather be more like her,” I said. “She’s got it made and nobody
gives her any crap.”

He smiled. “She probably doesn’t give anyone
a chance to.”

My eyes narrowed. “Well, I
certainly don’t
let
anyone give me crap, if that’s what you’re getting
at.”

“I never said you did. I was merely
suggesting that confidence goes a long way.”

He had me there. Every time I saw myself
next to my sister, my confidence went out the door.

“So, um, where are you going?” I asked,
nearing my classroom.

“Math,” he answered. “We’re in the same
class. I hope you don’t mind if I walk with you?”

How did he know what class
I had next?

I blushed. “No, of course you can walk with
me.”

“Kendra has an admirer,” snorted Mark behind
us.

Tyler turned to him and
smiled. “What’s wrong, jealous because you don’t have
any
admirers?”

Admirers
?

My jaw dropped. Not only
had he hinted that he was my admirer, but he’d also stood up to
Mark, who was on the wrestling team and had muscles
on
his
muscles.

Mark dropped his books on the ground, and
then shoved Tyler, hard. “Why would I be jealous of a cow and her
hoser boy-toy?”

Tyler removed his sunglasses and stared at
him while several students gathered around anxiously to see what
would happen next.

“Apologize for being an idiot,” said Tyler
evenly.

There were snickers and giggles from the
crowd. Everyone knew Mark would go gangbusters on the new kid. What
came next, however, surprised us all. The expression on Mark’s face
went from smug to friendly, almost to the point of being nerdy.
“I’m sorry for being an idiot,” he answered pleasantly.

“You’ll never bother Kendra again,” said
Tyler.

“I will never bother Kendra again,” answered
Mark, still smiling at me like a guy who’d just met the girl of his
dreams.

“Leave,” said Tyler.

The next thing I knew, Mark turned around
and began walking in the opposite direction.

Chapter Three

Stunned silence surrounded us as we all
watched Mark walk away without hesitation.

This definitely had to be
a dream,
I thought.
No way would this happen in real life.

“Disburse,” mumbled Tyler. Then everyone
suddenly came to life and scattered.

I watched in awe as Tyler put his sunglasses
back on. “Uh, how did you do that?”

He smiled. “Let’s just say, when I talk,
people listen.”

“Are
you some kind of vampire or something?” I blurted out, the
hair on the back of my neck standing straight up.

Tyler chuckled and shook his head. “No, I
wouldn’t be walking around during the day, now would I?”

“I don’t know. That popular movie with the
vampires and werewolves competing for the girl, all of those guys
did just fine in the daylight.”

He smiled. “That’s fiction, Kendra. I can
assure you that if I was a real vampire, I’d disintegrate as soon
as my skin was exposed to the sun.”

He was so matter-of-fact that I was afraid
to ask him any more questions. Either he was completely bonkers, or
I was. Or, it really was just one big, fat, crazy-assed dream.

Sighing to myself, I muddled these things
through my mind as we walked into our math class and sat across
from each other.

“My name is Ms. Byrd,” said the teacher
after calling the attendance. “I take this class very seriously, so
there will be no talking when I’m talking, no passing notes around,
and absolutely no cell phones allowed. If you have one, and I see
it out of your pocket or purse, I will keep it until the end of the
day.”

This really irritated some of the other
students who normally couldn’t keep their hands off of their
phones. It did nothing for me, however, as I didn’t have a cell
phone; my mom wouldn’t even allow them in the house, which really
sucked being a senior in high school.

“Also, no sunglasses,” remarked Ms. Byrd,
staring directly at Tyler.

He slipped them off, and I held my breath.
When his eyes were exposed, the teacher paused for a moment,
clearly unprepared for such an intense unveiling.

I smiled. It was really starting to amuse me
– everyone’s reaction to Tyler’s piercing green eyes. It also took
any unwanted attention off of me.

“Um, well then,” she said, clearing her
throat after regaining her composure. “Everyone, open your math
books to page five.”

During class, I noticed the teacher staring
at Tyler curiously when she didn’t think anyone was paying much
attention. I also sensed, without a doubt, that he was very much
aware of her interest.

When class was over, Tyler sprang out of his
seat and took off without a second glance.

Sighing, I grabbed my stuff and followed the
other students out the door, wondering if Tyler was actually going
back to his home planet. The idea of him being an alien wasn’t too
far off the grid, especially with that mind control thing of
his.

“Hey,” said Tyler when I stepped out of the
classroom.

I was surprised and slightly giddy to find
him waiting for me in the hallway. His sunglasses were back and the
warm vanilla scent engulfed me once again.

“Hey,” I answered, biting my lip to keep
from smiling like a dope.

Just then, Ms. Byrd stepped out of the
classroom and looked like she was about to approach us, which for
some reason, didn’t seem to sit very well with him.

“Well,” he said with a hint of irritation.
“See you in English class.”

“Uh, okay,” I said, as he took off,
obviously trying to avoid Ms. Byrd.

I glanced at the teacher
and wondered why she’d freaked him out so much. She gave me a
polite smile and then stepped back into the
classroom without saying a word.

And how did he know we shared an English
class at the end of the day?

I began to wonder if he’d somehow gotten
ahold of my schedule.

“Is that your boyfriend?” asked Amy
breathlessly. She’d been in the classroom, too, and had stared at
Tyler for most of the hour.

I shook my head. “No, I just met him
today.”

“He’s a little different, but… so cute,”
gushed Amy with a dreamy expression on her face as she walked
away.

My next period was a health class and I had
to sit at a table with three other students. I’d heard that we’d be
starting a cooking series, and although I’d been really excited
about it during the summer, when I saw who I was grouped with, my
enthusiasm quickly died.

“Hi, Kendra,” smiled Hailey Bates. She was
also one of the most popular students in the eleventh grade as well
as being one of the nastiest girls you could ever meet. Her cruelty
to the other students was legendary.

“Hi,” I said, praying she’d leave me
alone.

When the other two students turned out to be
two of her friends and basically just as evil, I wanted to shrivel
up and float away. The class which had sounded so promising was
quickly taking a nosedive.