As Anna left the classroom, she was feeling pretty good. A 95% on her French test! True, she had learned French when she was younger. But that had been almost three hundred years ago, and her teacher often complained that Anna’s French was almost unintelligibly old-fashioned. But it seemed she was finally learning some more modern phrases.
She held that paper, smiling proudly to herself as she walked down the hall towards her next class. She was about twenty feet away from the door when she heard a familiar laugh. She stopped cold, a knot forming in the pit of her stomach. But, it had been years since she’d heard that laugh – surely she was mistaken. Slowly, with a feeling of dread building up inside her, she turned to face the sound.
The hallway was filled with students shuffling back and forth, but Anna was able to spot him easily. He looked just as he always had – thick, blond hair and ice-blue eyes. She could even see the dimple that appeared on his left cheek whenever he smiled. He was tall, handsome, and athletic-looking, and Anna recognized him instantly. His name was Fredrick.
At the sight of him, she froze. Fortunately for Anna, Fredrick didn’t see her. He just walked right on by, joking and laughing with a group of guys on the football team. Anna followed him with her eyes until he rounded the corner and was out of sight. She continued staring after him, as if she could still see him. It wasn’t until some kid ran straight into her that Anna finally started moving again.
It had been a long time since Anna had seen Fredrick, but she knew him well – how could she ever forget him? In 1724, when Anna was just seventeen, Fredrick had been twenty-three. He had lived in the same town as Anna – grown up with her. Even all those years ago, Fredrick had been the most popular person in town, and he’d known it. He was smart, funny, and charming – able to light up a room just by walking into it. It seemed like little had changed, even in three hundred years. Then, as now, he was constantly surrounded by admirers. And, as the son of the mayor, Fredrick was the most eligible bachelor around. That is, until the day it was announced that he was getting engaged – to Anna.
Anna had also come from an old and fairly well-established family. And, as the only daughter in a family with six children, she had been the natural choice for him to marry.
Anna thought back to the engagement. It had been the talk of the town when it was announced. Fredrick Evans and Anna Ellington. Not that anyone had been all that surprised; they came from two of the most prominent families in town. Before the engagement, Anna hadn’t really known Fredrick. She’d known of him, of course, but she had never really said much more to him than the occasional hello. Her parents had arranged the marriage along with his. It wasn’t until after the engagement had been announced that Anna had begun to spend any real time with him.
She remembered how nervous she was the first time she met him. He was so popular, so handsome, that she worried she might do something foolish or somehow look stupid in front of him; the first time he’d visited her home, she’d barely said two words to him she was so shy! But Fredrick, suave as ever, had more than made up for her lack in the conversation. He’d joked with her and told her stories until she felt completely at ease with him.
Even now, Anna couldn’t help but smile when she remembered how they would laugh together. She remembered when he and his parents would come over to visit. Anna would go out on the porch with Fredrick for hours; she, perched on the bleached-white railing, and he, standing beside her, his hand lightly touching hers. When the rain would fall, she would stand there safely under the eaves with him, hand in hand, and watch as the water ran off the leaves and gathered in grassy pools below them. On these days, the rain would make the plants look so green, she almost felt as if she were in a tropical forest instead of staring at a small garden in an old New England town. It was during these moments that Anna truly fell in love with Fredrick. They seemed to have so much in common – she felt that there had been a real connection between the two of them. Fredrick was so easy to talk to, the hours would pass by in what seemed like mere minutes, and she was always sorry to see him go. With a wave of nostalgia, Anna realized that she had never been happier in her life than on those days when she was with Fredrick.
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Over the next few days, Anna did her best to put Fredrick out of her mind. After all, what happened between the two of them had been over long ago; he probably didn’t even remember her after all these years. For the most part, Anna was successful in suppressing any and all thoughts of the man she was supposed to have married. After seeing him in the hallway, Anna had spent the next two days scouring the faces in each and every one of her classes until she was absolutely sure that Fredrick wasn’t in any of them. Only then did Anna allow her mind to focus on other tasks.
Now, there was only one time during the day that had Anna looking around frantically for Fredrick – lunchtime. There were two lunch periods at the school. That meant that Anna had a 50% chance to have the same lunch as Fredrick – pretty good odds, as far as she was concerned. So, each time she entered the cafeteria, she scanned the crowd – checking the tables, the lunch line, even the groups sitting on the floor – expecting at any moment to see him. So far, she had yet to spot him. It was starting to look like he might, just might, have the later period for lunch. Anna really hoped this was the case. And once she knew for certain, she hoped she could finally relax.
After Anna had finished what was now her daily scan for Fredrick, she opened the brown paper bag containing the sandwich she’d brought and joined her friends in eating lunch. As Anna carefully unwrapped the plastic enveloping her peanut butter and jelly, she heard Carmine exclaim in frustration.
“I hate math!”
Anna looked at her friend in surprise. Carmine had a sandwich in one hand, a juice drink in the other, and her math book spread out in front of her.
“Do you have that test today?” Joanna asked sympathetically. Joanna was a year ahead in math, but she’d heard about the test that Carmine’s teacher was giving; apparently, it had already brought more than a few students to tears.
“Yes.” Carmine said, her anger turning into a pout. She stuck her lower lip out slightly and slumped her shoulders as she continued. “I’ve studied all this week, and I still don’t get it. It’s taken up all my time for the past four days.”
“I’m sorry,” Joanna told her with feeling. “What’s it on?”
“Quadratic equations.” Carmine said, glaring at her book. “I was supposed to go out this week, but I haven’t had time because of my stupid math class.”
“Where were you supposed to go?” Sharon asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion. Anna had heard nothing but despair over the test in Carmine’s voice, but Sharon had apparently picked up on something else as well.
Carmine looked quickly at Sharon and shut her mouth tightly, as if she’d said something she wasn’t supposed to. Sharon gave her a look that clearly said she already knew what Carmine’s foiled plans had been. Carmine, however, wasn’t offering up any information.
“Oh…” she said, stalling for time. “I was just…going out. You know…”
She tried to sound casual, but Sharon was having none of it. “I’ve known you for a long time.” she told Carmine with thinly veiled annoyance. “And only one thing gets you that upset. You had plans to go do something with all those fairy tales of yours, didn’t you? Were you going to go hunt for your vampire?”
Carmine flushed a little at Sharon’s accusation, and Joanna gasped. Anna exchanged meaningful glances with Mia, but the two remained silent.
“Carmine!” Joanna exclaimed, clearly aghast. “You can’t do that! Do you know how dangerous it is?”
Carmine looked defensive and opened her mouth to reply. But Joanna held up her hand to prevent Carmine saying anything as she continued on.
“People are actually getting hurt. What if something happens to you?”
Carmine looked down sullenly at her math book.
“It’s a good thing you have that math test. You shouldn’t go out alone these days. Now come on, I’ll help you study.”
Carmine stole a glance at Joanna, glad that the scolding was over, and even more excited that she would get some much-needed help before her test.
Anna absentmindedly got out the little notebook she used to keep track of her homework assignments and began thumbing through it. She pretended to go over her list of upcoming projects in order to avoid having to talk to either of her currently unoccupied friends. With her eyes reading the week’s assignments for the 6th time, Anna went over Carmine’s statements again in her mind. Had Carmine really been planning on going out to hunt for vampires?
Anna had spent the last few days being so preoccupied with seeing Fredrick again that she’d completely forgotten about Carmine’s idea. Mentally, Anna kicked herself – how could she have been so stupid?
If she had to be completely honest with herself though, the answer was easy; Anna hadn’t thought that Carmine was really serious. Anna had figured when it came down to it, Carmine would be too scared to go out alone at night – especially in areas where there was likely to be an attack. Who wouldn’t be scared of the possibility of not only seeing someone get hurt, but of maybe even being that person? Clearly, she had underestimated her friend’s conviction.
Anna sat for the rest of the period in silence, lost in her own thoughts. She was amazed at how complicated her life was suddenly becoming, and she wondered if all humans had these kinds of unexpected intrusions into their lives. Aside from keeping up with homework assignments and tests, Anna now had two major areas of concern in her life. She knew she should be most worried about Carmine. After all, if her friend found out she was a vampire, it would quite literally ruin her life.
Still, try as she might, she just couldn’t help but dwell on Fredrick. She seemed to have such a hard time concentrating on anything else – the possibility of seeing him again was just too great, and the thought never seemed to completely leave her mind. But, as difficult as it was, Anna knew she would have to stop worrying about Fredrick for the time being and focus on the more immediate concern – the potential problem that Carmine was creating.
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