17.10 Wednesday

My cell phone crowed. Actually, that was my cell’s alarm. I held out my hand to turn it off. I was getting used to the thought of getting up a while later. Such an interesting dream I had had! About a conversation with a vampire…

I sighted and opened my eyes while sitting up. “Ah!” – I almost shouted with shock. The guy who had been in my dream was now sitting on my armchair! He smiled a mischievous smile as he saw my face.

“I frightened you?” – he asked ironically.

“You surprised me.” – I corrected. “I thought it was a dream.”

He laughed resonantly. “Actually, for someone whose life is so ordinary, meeting a vampire really could seem to be a dream.”

I frowned. How could he know so much about me? “Can you read thoughts?”

He laughed again. “No, not exactly. I can read memories. Not thoughts, but pictures and sounds you’ve seen and heard. I can also read sensory impressions and smells, though less sharply. It works by physical contact only, of course, not from a distance.”

I nodded. It explained everything.“And why are you here?”

He shrugged. “I did warn you I was going to watch you, didn’t I?”

“And you’ve been watching me like this for all night?” – I felt anger slowly cumulating inside of me. How dared he spy on me like that?

“It was pretty interesting.” – he chuckled. “I’ve never seen someone who trashes around so much. I thought you’d get concussion as you’d hit your head against a wall.”

I threw a pillow at him but he caught it nimbly. I got up and started to piece together clothes to wear. Suddenly something came into my head. “I don’t even know your name, in general.”

The boy giggled again. “Edward.”

I turned around shocked.

“Yup.” – he grinned at my expression. “My father was a fan of this book. It’s the only one which described us properly.”

I smiled. I wasn’t surprised he knew what was on my mind. “Great. Edward the vampire. Isabel the girl. And my blood sings to you. What a strange chance.”

“But it won’t be like in the book here. I’m going to kill you.”

I shrugged still smiling wide. “In that case, I’ll be waiting.”

I went to the bathroom to prepare myself for school. When I get back to my room, Edward wasn’t there. I went out quickly locking the apartment. I got to the bus stop at the very last moment – the bus was already arriving. I sat at my usual place and turn on my mp3 player. I was looking through  a window so I didn’t notice someone who sat beside me. Only familiar voice ‘woke me up’. “ I haven’t taken a bus recently. It’s way too slow…” – the voice stated with disappointment.

I turned around impetuously, straining my muscle by the way. Reclined conveniently Edward was sitting next to me. He chuckled as he saw my reaction. “How often are you going to surprise me like that?” – I asked with reproach massaging my nape.

“It’s funny.” – he didn’t excuse himself, he just stated the fact.
I sighted with resignation. “Are you gonna go with me to my classes?”

He reconsidered for a while. “No, I’m going hunting now. I’ll have to do it more often, I don’t want to attack you too early after all…” – he smiled sinisterly. “However, after your lessons I’ll drive for you and inquire about everything.”

“You’ll drive for me?” – I was surprised.

“I have to learn some things about you… The fact that I can see your memories doesn’t mean I know you well.”

“I have an appointment for today…”

“With WhiteIsa, I know. You wanted to search for a jacket. You’ll go with me.”

“And what am I gonna tell Isa? That the vampire invited me for a psychological session with a tea?”

He laughed silently and got lost in his thoughts. “Tell them you’re going on a date. I will gladly see how they will react to the news. Especially considering that dating your only boyfriend wasn’t serious.”

“They will be shocked.” – I growled.

He looked at me carefully. “If you want your life to be more interesting you should leave all your standards and feminism alone.” – he stated.

I didn’t speak to him till the end of our journey and when I got off the bus he simply disappeared. During my lessons I was on pins and needles. The school had never seemed so boring to me. I couldn’t wait for my appointment with Edward. I wondered why there was so much emotion inside of me and I came to conclusion that it was because of his vampire nature. The boy attracted like a real predator should.

There was also my best friend’s problem left. I had to inform her delicately that I would go shopping with a boy instead of her. I didn’t want whole grade to know about it, did I? I managed to drew her away from Kate and Moniq for a while.

“I can’t go shopping with you today. Sorry.” – I did my best to make a pained face.

“It’s OK, I should meet Kris anyway.” Kris was her mysterious adorer, with whom she had been writing SMSs for some time. They had made appointments few times but each time something had happened and they couldn’t have met. It had been Isa’s fault after all. “Do you mind telling me why?”

Tell them you’re going on a date. – I heard a memory of Edward’s voice in my head. “I’m going on a date.” – I said with no delicacy.

Isa’s jaw dropped.

“With whom?” – smiling Kate appeared behind me. She had to be looking for us and heard everything accidentally. Great…

“You don’t know him.”

“But you can tell us his name I think.” – Kate became suspicious.

“Edward.”

They both burst on a laugh.

“Who is giving such an old-fashion name to a kid nowadays? It was in fashion in XIX century!” – White snorted. I looked daggers at her.

“Handsome at least?” – Kat tried to patch up the situation.

A pale face with hypnotic red eyes appeared in my mind. The face smiled boisterously. Even our rigorous Polish teacher’s heart had to melt at the sight of this smile.

“Oh, yeah.” – I sighted. Dammit, I hadn’t wanted it to sound like that!

Girls looked at each other significantly. “Good luck then.” – Isa gave me the eye. “And we’re expecting detailed relation tomorrow.” I hoped they would forget about the whole thing till tomorrow.

As we went off the school I started to look for Edward at once. However, I didn’t see him anywhere. Isa and Kate were looking at me strangely.

“He sorta left you stranded…” – White stated sympathetically.

And then we heard a horn. There was a real-killer black Porsche on our school parking lot. The car’s streamline bodywork was glinting with novelty. I fell in love with it from the first sight. Darkened pane fell open automatically and Edward motioned to me from the inside.

I took a look at the girls. Their mouths fell open. I smiled with satisfaction. “So, see ya!” – I said sarcastically and got in the car.

The inside of it looked just as good as the outside. Creamy leather on seats and upholstery were lighting up the inside. The car was equipped with automatic gearbox and a  lot of other cool things which names I didn’t know.

Edward smiled as he saw my face. “You like it, huh? You’ll see how fast this beauty can go right away.”

He pulled away with a screech and in the blink of an eye he was rushing down the street with an ultimate speed. I had my heart in my mouth. What a wonderful feeling! When I peeped at the boy I saw that he was looking at me instead of the road. It disconcerted me a little. He held his hand out to me.

“May I?” – he asked with a smile, though I knew he wouldn’t really mind my answer.

I knew he wanted to see my memories. I gave him my hand. He closed his eyes probably wanting to concentrate on pictures in his head better. He burst out laughing after a while. “It’s more fun than I thought. Their face expressions were priceless.”

Though I was sure he had ended his ‘memory roundup’ he didn’t let go of my hand. He squeezed it tighter instead. His hand was extremely cold. I took a look on his face. He was staring at me in meditation.

“You really think I’m handsome?” – he asked with real curiosity.

I felt I was blushing. I quickly turned my face away but I was sure he noticed. “I think it’s obvious as you’re a vampire.” – I answered.

“Right, you’re ‘a vamp’ after all.” – he chuckled.

I blushed even more. “It’s not quite what I meant.” – I mumbled.

He laughed loudly. We weren’t saying anything for a while.

“Where are we going?” – I asked finally.

“To buy you a jacket.” – he stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. And before I could look back we were stopping in front of the most expensive shop in the town.

“I can’t afford a jacket from this shop.” – I frowned. He should know.

He raised his eyes. “Maybe you can’t , but I can.”

I looked daggers at him. Did he completely lost his mind? He wanted to buy his future meal clothes like they have in Hollywood?

“And what would I tell my parents?” – I snarled. “Mom, a vampire bought me a jacket that cost a thousand. Don’t worry, you don’t need to give it back. He wants my blood as a payment.”

Edward snorted. “You’ll tell her what you always tell when you buy something for money you’ve taken from her.” – I heard reproach in his voice. “You can always lower the price anyway. I don’t think your mom visits this kind of shops so she surely wouldn’t notice.”

I sighted resigned. I had no more arguments left. “Why are you doing this?”

I surprised him with this question. He reconsidered for a while. Finally, he shrugged. “Just a whim.” – he stated and got off the car. He opened the door at my side gentlemanly.

Finally, after over an hour, we left the shop with an elegant coat. It would probably last longer but Edward retreated when he saw I’m getting pissed off. He had been turning his nose up at everything a saleswoman had been showing us. He had found those coats ‘too long, too elegant and not matching my dark eyes’. Finally, we succeed in reaching a compromise. The owner of the shop sighted with relief as we were leaving. The worst  thing was that the vampire persisted in buying me a matching cap and scarf. And shoes. And earrings. And gloves. So we went back to the car with too many additional packages.

“Dammit.” – I swore. “Mom’s gonna kill me.”

The vampire smiled wide. “She better not try.”  He bent over me suddenly. “You’re my pray…” – he whispered in my ear sweetly.

As I arrived home I miraculously managed to convince my mother about ‘the bargain price’ and ‘money kept for a rainy day’. When, after a solid hour of picturesque lies I went back to my room, Edward wasn’t there. I came to a conclusion that he grew wiser and wouldn’t ‘observe’ me that night. I set about doing mu homework with relief.