“There is no way in the universe I am letting you spend the night at Lucy’s house tonight, Cassidy,” my mom was saying as I tried to down my breakfast in time not to be late for school. I was dressed in my cheerleading uniform, as I was every Friday during football season, and the bacon and eggs she’d lovingly made me now seemed a little less infused with that particular emotion.
“But Mom,” I began, “how else am I going to tell her and Em what happened? I’ve been back for three days, and they still don’t know anything.”
“I understand that, dear,” she said, sipping her coffee, “but you’d have to be crazy to think I’d actually let you be out of my sight for that long so soon after what happened the last time you slept outside of this home.”
I knew what she was saying, but the teenager in me was indignant. “You said there wouldn’t be any punishment.”
“This isn’t punishment, Cassidy. This is self-perseveration. On my account.”
“You don’t need to worry about me,” I said quietly. “I’m fine. What else could possibly happen to me?”
“Let’s not tempt fate,” my dad said, coming in and grabbing his lunch off the counter. He always got breakfast from a local drive-through on his way to work and took his lunch to make up for the money he spent in the morning. “Honey, we know you want to talk to your friends, but you need to stay here tonight. Maybe they can come over here.”
“Tomorrow is Lucy’s mom’s birthday,” I said dryly.
“Invite them over after school. I’ll order pizza, and you can tell them before the game.”
My mother’s recommendation seemed like a fair compromise. “Fine,” I said, as my dad kissed me on the head and wished me a good day. “You, too,” I called after him. I needed to remember how much I appreciated my parents. I thought about Brandon and decided not to take them for granted.
“Hurry up and finish. Lucy will be here in a few minutes,” Mom said as she crossed to the sink to rinse her coffee mug.
I’d ridden to school with my dad the morning before, and it reminded me of what it used to be like. I missed riding to school with my dad in the mornings, and Lucy cut it close more often than not on missing the first period tardy bell. I took a few more bites and then carried my plate to the trashcan and scraped it off, handing it over to my mom who was ready to rinse it. “Thanks, Mom,” I said, and then, I leaned over and kissed her cheek, something I don’t think I’d done in at least a few weeks, if not months.
“I love you, Cass,” she said as I stepped back.
“Love you, too.” I didn’t say that nearly enough. I headed to the living room and grabbed my jacket and backpack, picking up my phone off the table by the door where I’d left it. I noticed I had a text from Brandon just as Lucy pulled in and read it really quickly before I bounded out the door. “Have a great day, Mustang!” was all it said, but it was enough to know he was thinking about me, and I’m sure I had a big goofy grin on my face as I slid into Lucy’s car.
“Hey, what’s up with you?” she asked, barely letting me close the door before she took off.
“Oh, nothing. Just a text from Brandon,” I replied, buckling up.
“Hmmm.” It was more like a question than a statement. “You two sure seem awfully tight now.”
I shrugged. “I guess so. Hey, my mom said that I can’t spend the night with you, but you and Em can come over after school if you want.”
“Well, that stinks,” she said, stopping at a stop sign before briefly glancing around and going. “I mean, not coming over, but that you can’t spend the night.”
“Yeah, well, once I tell you everything, I guess you’ll understand why.”
“If that’s what it takes to finally hear everything that happened, I guess I’m in,” she replied, turning onto the street where the school was located. “But Cass, will you at least tell me one thing?”
“What is it?” I asked, turning to face her, wondering what her one thing might be.
Lucy blew out a breath noisily through her mouth. “I saw you in the hallway yesterday, after choir, and you seemed to be moving pretty quickly. Not the same sort of speed I can imagine your sister might move when she doesn’t care who’s watching, but fast.”
“You did?” I asked, not sure what I might say to explain that right now, right before school started.
“Yeah. So… this illness of yours, the mystery that kept you away for extra days. Is that… did you…”
“Lucy?” I asked as she pulled in to her assigned spot.
She shifted into park and turned to look at me. “Did you… Transform?”
I stared into her light blue eyes for a long moment, not wanting to tell her anything without Em here but not wanting to lie either. I finally decided to tell her the simple answer. “Sort of,” I said, pursing my lips to one side of my mouth as she stared at me. “I didn’t have a choice.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Does that mean you saw a Vampire?”
I nodded.
“Gibbon?”
“No, Giovani and Zabrina.”
“What?” she exclaimed. “You went to Philly?”
I knew the bell was about to ring. “I’ll tell you everything after school, I promise,” I said, pulling the door open. She grabbed my arm.
“Okay, I guess… that’s only fair since Emma’s not here. But man, what was it like to see a real Vampire in real life? I can’t even imagine.”
I gave her a half-smile and pushed the door the rest of the way open, biting my tongue before the first response that came to mind could pass through my could-be pointy teeth: “You’re looking at one.”