Vampire University (Book One in the Vampire University Series) (4 page)

Taylor turned and saw that Hannah was pointing at Eric, about ten yards behind her. Their eyes met immediately and he waved enthusiastically at her. Taylor quickly turned back to look at Hannah.

“He’s coming over here, isn’t he?” asked Taylor.

“Yup.”

“How’s my hair?”

“Your hair? Fine. Still brunette.”

“Funny. I was worried about that,” Taylor said, pushing a few strands behind her ears.

“What are you worried about?” Eric asked, as he approached the two.

“We were worried,” Hannah said, stepping in front of Taylor, “that you would
not
be in our tour group.”

Hannah said this in a tone that suggested the opposite.

Eric responded as if he had not noticed her apparent disdain.

“Aw, that’s sweet. Worry no more, ladies.”

Eric’s obliviousness amused Taylor as much as it seemed to irritate Hannah. Taylor liked Hannah for being friendly, outgoing, and easy to talk to, but Taylor was worried about this apparently antagonistic attitude towards male attention and what it might mean for future relationships. She hoped that Hannah wasn’t this way with all boys.

Taylor wanted to ask where Joseph was, not because she wanted to see him, but for precisely the opposite reason. Joseph appeared from Harris Hall’s lobby entrance and walked straight towards them before she had time to ask, however. He did not make eye contact with Taylor and she made no attempt to do
so either
. Meanwhile, Hannah was glaring at both of them.

“Good morning,” Joseph said to no one in particular.

No one answered.

Joseph came to stand right next to Eric and nobody spoke for a moment. It was clear that the two were related when they stood side by side, but only when you compared faces. Their demeanor, dress, expressions, and even body language were all practically opposite of each other. Eric was casually dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, used his hands expressively, and smiled. Joseph wore a thick crimson sweater and dark long pants, had his hands shoved in his pockets, and did not, so far as Taylor could tell, know how to smile.

Eric looked like he was about to break the silence when Addison broke it for them.

“Alright boys and girls, pack ‘em up, and move ‘em out,” Addison yelled.

“This should be fun,” Eric said
cheerfully and turned towards Addison,
leaving Hannah and Taylor to stand with Joseph.

“Yeah, c’mon Taylor!” Hannah said, grabbing Taylor’s hand and leading her eagerly away from Joseph towards the crowd.

Taylor was grateful to be pulled away without having to speak to him. After a few minutes Taylor looked back to where they were standing and Joseph was still where they left him, staring directly at her. Taylor felt a shiver crawl down her spine. She leaned towards Hannah.

“Does that guy Joseph creep you out?” Taylor whispered.

Hannah answered without hesitation.

“Yeah, totally. I’m steering clear.”

“Yeah, me too, I think," said Taylor.

As they joined the rest of the group, Addison yelled behind them towards Joseph, “You too, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Brooding!”

Joseph looked up, scowled, and turned to walk back towards the dorms.

-4-

“Well then,” Addison announced to the group, “everyone else who doesn’t have more important brooding to attend to, follow me.”

The group shuffled in silence behind Addison along the city street that led towards the main part of campus. It was the end of August and midday temperatures promised to be warm, but the early morning air was crisp and cool.

As soon as the dorms disappeared from view, Eric rejoined Taylor and Hannah, grinning with his familiar confidence. Hannah pretended not to notice him.

“Miss me?” he asked and looked eagerly at Taylor.

“Terribly,” Taylor responded, jokingly.

“Yes,
terribly
,” Hannah parroted, less jokingly.

Addison could be heard in the background giving a terse description of their first stop.

“This is the administrative building,” she said. “You do your administrative stuff here. Any questions?”

Eric shot his hand up. Addison looked at Eric’s hand and then turned away.

“Great. Next stop, the fine arts building,” Addison announced and started walking.

Eric was not deterred, however, and hurried after her shouting for attention.

“Excuse me! Excuse me! I have a question!”

Addison turned sharply and stared at him.

“Yes?” she said, impatient.

“If it’s called VanCamp University, where are the vans for the camping?” he blurted out.

Addison looked at him for a second, rolled her eyes, and then turned around to keep walking. Taylor hurriedly covered her mouth to stifle a giggle.

As they approached the fine arts building, Taylor couldn’t help comparing it to her high school, a modest two story brick building that could have fit inside any of the buildings they had already seen with room to spare.

Addison stopped in front of the building and turned to face the group.

“This,” she indicated with a half-hearted wave behind her, “
is the Lenape Center for Fine Arts
. I trust you can figure out what it is for.”

Eric’s hand shot up again. Addison looked directly at him, narrowed her eyes, and said, “No questions.”

Eric didn’t seem to mind, though. He just kept on grinning. Hannah, on the other hand, looked completely embarrassed to be in his vicinity.

“C’mon,” Hannah whispered to Taylor. “We should keep some distance from him. We don’t want Addison associating him with us.”

Taylor wasn’t worried about Addison blaming her for Eric’s behavior, but she wasn’t really attached to him either. She shrugged and followed Hannah’s lead to the other edge of the small crowd.

As soon as they started moving again, however, he was right back at their side.

The group came up to what Addison pointed out was the library. Taylor recognized this building from the brochure. It was decidedly more visually impressive than their dormitory, with stately columns and ornate stone details. Addison didn’t ask for questions at this stop, but Eric wasn’t paying attention regardless. Instead, he turned his attention to Taylor.

“What are you doing later?” he whispered to her.

Addison immediately picked up on this, however, and before Taylor could respond, Addison interrupted them.

“If you would like to turn this into couples hour, the dorms are back that way.”

“We’re not...” Taylor began to protest, but Addison interrupted her.

“I’m sorry. It must have sounded like I asked a question. Let me
rephrase. If you two are here
just to disrupt, then you are welcome to leave.”

Eric walked right up to Addison. He hadn’t stopped smiling and Taylor noted how indifferent he was towards authority. Even if Addison was just a resident advisor, Taylor had always been accustomed to simply deferring to those in charge.

“Hey, I have a question,” he said, standing inches from her face.

Addison did not acknowledge him. She turned her back as if she hadn’t heard him.

“I’m serious. It’s a real question,” he insisted.

Addison took a step away from him.

“Last one, I promise,” he persisted.

Addison pivoted sharply on her heel to face Eric again.

“WHAT?” she asked.

“Hey, yeah, the administrative building... Is that where we can leave feedback on our RAs? Because there’s this RA in the girl’s dorm and man, let me tell you, is she in the wrong line of work. Is that where I’d go to file a complaint?”

“No,” she said flatly.

“Oh? Then tell me, where would one go to get an RA fired?”

“Resident Affairs in the Redmund building,” she responded immediately and then paused as if she wasn’t sure why she just said that. “I mean, you go back to Harris Hall and mind your own business. I’m sure the ladies here don’t need your help.”

“Of course not,” he replied with a wry expression. “You’re doing a great job already.”

Addison continued to glare back at him and did not respond. Eric returned to Taylor and Hannah with a self-satisfied grin.

Hannah wasn’t having it, however.

“Wait a second. You are not going to piss her off and then immediately come to be seen associating with us. We do not want your problems,” Hannah said, placing her hands on her hips and inching closer to Eric’s face.

“Oh I wouldn’t worry about her,” he replied.

Hannah furrowed her brow.

“Right,” Taylor chimed in, hoping to loosen the mood. “It’s not like she has any control over our grades.”

“No, we just have to live with her, that’s all.” said Hannah.

“There there, Hannah, I’ll take care of you,” Eric said and teasingly poked at her side.

Hannah froze at his touch and Taylor almost tripped over her. When Taylor regained her balance, Hannah was standing a few inches from Eric, her arms folded across her chest. Eric leaned back a little and scratched his head sheepishly.

“Hey, sorry. No touching. Got it.”

Still not saying a word, Hannah walked off ahead leaving Taylor and Eric standing there. Taylor started forward to catch up to her, but Eric stopped her with his hand on her shoulder. Her body tensed.

“Okay, no touching here either. Got it,” he said, releasing his hand. “Look, I’m not sure what I said to your friend, but I’m not trying to make waves here.”

“Oh Hannah, she’s not… I mean, we just met yesterday,” said Taylor.

In the background, she could hear Addison explaining meal plans and diner cards. So far, Taylor had not seen Addison explaining anything to anyone and this sudden attention to her duties after Eric’s thinly-veiled threat amused Taylor.

“I see,” he said. “You wanna ditch this tour then and go check out campus ourselves?”

Taylor paused for a moment and Eric looked at her eagerly. Off to the side, Hannah was chattering away with someone she had probably just met.

“I can’t leave my roommate. We came together,” said Taylor.

“Well then, what are you doing afterwards?”

“I dunno. Hannah has been kind of leading me around this whole time. I don’t even know what’s scheduled this afternoon.”

“Just another tour," he said. "We’re free for the afternoon."

“Okay. After lunch, we can go check out campus.”

“Sweet."

Taylor tried to hide her smile as they continued on the tour. Addison continued to tersely explain the details of campus life, but Taylor wasn’t listening anymore. Instead she looked forward to the afternoon.

The last stop on the tour was the largest building on campus and what appeared to be the newest as well, the Redmund Student Life Center. After introducing herself to everyone on the tour, Hannah was back at Taylor’s side. Eric, meanwhile, had been floating through the crowd looking for opportunities to make a nuisance of himself and irritate Addison at every stop. Joseph, whom Taylor hadn’t even noticed had rejoined the tour until now, stood aloof from the crowd and occupied himself by making strained faces at Eric’s antics.

“Okay kids,” Addison said, looking directly at Eric. “Tour’s over. Lunch is inside.”

The pace of the group had begun to lag, but the announcement of food reinvigorated them and they walked more quickly as they followed her inside the Redmund building. Taylor had never seen a building this spacious on the inside. With three-story vaulted ceilings, walls lined with shops full of university-themed gifts, and every side dotted with coffee shops and concessionaires, it looked more like an upscale boutique shopping mall than a school building.

Addison led them to a corner of the building and directed them inside a small room set up with folding tables and chairs. In the corner, pizza boxes were stacked on a table next to several bottles of store-brand soda.

“Oh good,” said Eric. “I haven’t had pizza in
forever
.”

“Yeah, it’s been
hours
,” said Taylor.

Eric flashed Taylor a grin while Hannah scowled. Addison ignored them both.

“The rest of the afternoon’s yours,” Addison announced and then promptly exited the room.

“Want me to grab you some?” Hannah asked Taylor.

“Yeah sure,” she replied and went to go sit at one of the tables.

Eric immediately pulled up a seat across from her.

“Not hungry?” Taylor asked.

“Not for pizza, no,” he answered.

Taylor was about to complain about the pizza herself when Joseph sat down beside her without a word. The brother’s eyes met for a moment and everyone was quiet.

Hannah broke the silence when she sat down on the other side of Taylor and slid a paper plate with a flaccid slice of lukewarm pizza in front of her. Hannah grabbed her own slice and started munching away.