My Soul to Keep

CHAPTER 15



"Connor! Wake up," my father's voice cut through my dreams. "You promised to help me clean the garage today. Let's get it done."

I moaned, rolled over, and planted my face firmly into my pillow. "I'm still sleeping!"

"No you're not. Get up. Don't make me send your sister in here to wake you up."

I bolted out of bed. Having ice water dumped on me would be preferable. "Come on, let's get this done," I said and walked past my dad. I slept in my jeans and T-shirt, so I ran to brush my teeth and met him in the garage.

He was staring at my shiny red scooter with a peculiar look on his face. "Where the hell did this come from?"

"It was a gift. From a girl."

He spun with a goofy smile on his face. Then he tried to look all parental and failed miserably. "Which girl?"

"Claire. Mom met her yesterday."

"Connor, I just don't…"

"It's cool, Dad. I tried to give it back and I tried to say no. She bought it and her parents told her no way in hell was she keeping it. She has tons of money."

"It's still not right, Connor. You don't take that kind of gift from someone. Especially a girlfriend…"

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"But your mother…" Dad looked really confused. She must have told him about meeting Claire. I felt sick.

"We're just friends, Dad. I promise."

"Friends with whom?" I spun and saw Jessie standing outside the open garage door. She tilted her head to the side and looked like she'd caught most, if not all, of the conversation.

"Hi, Jessie! I thought you weren't coming until noon?"

"Check your watch. It's five after. Who were you talking about?"

"Just Claire. She gave me a scooter. Dad assumed we were going out. Dad, this is Jessie. Jessie, my dad."

"Hi, Mr. Sullivan," she said and stepped into the garage. I reached out to take her hand, but somehow she knew it and stepped around me. My father gave me a look over her head. It spoke volumes.

I sighed and stood next to Jessie while she shook my dad's hand. "Nice to meet you too, Jessie. Go ahead, Connor. I'll finish the garage. Thanks for your help."

"My pleasure," I said and winked, thanking him for letting me go. "Want to go upstairs, Jessie?"

"Sure," she said. "Right after I meet your mom. Don't you have a sister, too?"

I groaned and opened the screen door leading into the laundry room. Mom kept it pretty clean, so I didn't have to worry about Jessie tripping over anything. We found Mom in the kitchen making sandwiches. I had a very bad feeling. I prayed to God, mom wouldn't bring up Claire. Please, please, please, please, God, no.

"Mom, this is my um…friend, Jessie." I panicked. I froze. I choked. I felt about a foot tall, but I didn't know what else to call her. Our second date and I screwed it up in the first few moments. It had to be a new record.

"Ex-girlfriend he means," Jessie said with a light chuckle. I felt about six inches shorter.

"Oh, Connor didn't say he had a girlfriend. Or ex."

I thought about fainting. Maybe that would get me out of it. Caelyn chose that moment to walk into the room.

"Hi, Jessica," she said almost reverently. I did a double-take. Maybe pod-people had replaced my sister last night. Stranger things have happened. Way stranger.

"You two know each other?" My voice cracked.

"Caelyn?" Jessie must have recognized her voice. I'm glad she did, because I didn't.

"Yes, it's me. What are you doing here?"

"I came to see Connor."

"Why?"

"I was just asking myself that very same question," Jessie replied and turned to me. "Is there someplace we can talk?"

My heart sank and I nodded. I realized she couldn't see me and I choked out a humble, "Sure." I gently touched her arm and she held out her hand. Instead of taking her upstairs I led her past my evilly smiling sister and out the back door to the patio. I wasn't looking forward to this particular conversation.

As soon as we reached the wrought iron table, I slid one of the chairs out for her. She heard the scraping noise and reached behind her to guide herself into the chair. I sat down in the one next to her.

"Jessie, I can–"

"Do you like her? Connor, don't lie to me. Just tell me the truth…I mean she is a senior and all."

I opened my mouth to say no, but something stopped me. She deserved the truth. "I think she's pretty. I won't lie, but there's something about her that scares the crap out of me. She's not someone I want to date." I watched Jessie's face as I started my conversation. She frowned when I called Clarisse pretty, but by the time I finished, she gave me a little smile.

"Do you think I'm pretty?"

"No. I don't think you're pretty." Her smile disappeared. I smiled and finished. "I think you are probably the most beautiful girl I've ever seen." Her smile not only came back but came back with a vengeance.

"Do you think I'm someone you can see yourself dating? Even with my grotesque deformity?"

As soon as my mouth opened, Clarisse's warning about humans came rushing back to me. If I were a brave person, I would have told her no. "Oh, hell yes. I think you're just my type," I said and smiled.

She leaned forward and tilted her head. I thought she might be listening for something, but I saw her lips come together. Very slowly I leaned forward and…

"Connor! Lunch is ready!" Caelyn slammed the door closed and giggled.

Jessie started to pull back, startled. I carpe the diem and leaned forward quickly. Grabbing her shoulder I stopped her from sliding back more. I quickly found her lips with mine and kissed her. My first kiss might have been with Clarisse, but my first true kiss was with Jessie. They were as different as night and day. The kiss with Clarisse had been hot, I won't lie. It melted in my mouth like candy. The kiss with Jessie, however, was soft. It was her smile while we did it that made it all the more sweet.

"Wow," she said as we pulled apart.

I wanted to seem intelligent, so I kept my mouth shut.

* * *

I shoved my books in my locker and thought about Jessie. It didn't surprise me. I thought about her all night after she left. I think I smiled all the way to school, too. Clarisse had been very quiet. I chalked it up as her knowing and not approving.

Homeroom started in five minutes. Jessie still hadn't shown up. My locker sat by the front entrance so I figured I'd wait. Four minutes passed before I saw her dad drop her off. She exited the car and nearly ran for the front door. I smiled and opened it for her before she got there.

"Bout time you showed up," I said and smiled at her. Even behind her dark sunglasses I could tell she wasn't happy. "What's wrong?"

"My dad. He's thinking about selling the house and moving back to Philly."

"Why? You just got here…"

"I know. Something about my step mother. He wouldn't go into details. We're supposed to talk about it some more tonight. I hope I can talk him out of it. I like it here."

"I like you here, too." She smiled and slipped her arm through mine as we walked through the halls to class. We took our seats, stood for the pledge, and listened to announcements before heading to algebra.

Class started exactly like it had every day since school began, with a sense of dread. I hated few things on earth the way I hated algebra. At least we'd moved on from polynomials. When my turn came to head to the chalkboard I realized I wasn't as afraid anymore. I could still see the numbers glowing on the board. I could still see the answer floating there in front of me. It became a matter of copying down what was in my head to the board. I turned and went to go sit down when I noticed everybody staring at me with their mouths wide open.

"Is that right?" I looked to Mr. Johnson to see if I'd screwed up in anyway, but his mouth looked like he was going to try to shove a twelve inch meatball marinara sub into it at any second. He nodded and continued darting his eyes between me and the board behind me.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"You were supposed to be solving for Y in the equation next to you. The problem you did was an example of solving for higher quadratic equations I pulled out of a book to show you all what truly advanced algebra would entail. How did you do that?"

I turned and looked behind me. Sure enough, Right next to the string of numbers I'd written down sat the problem I was supposed to have solved. Oops.

“I don't know, Mr. Johnson. I must have just gotten lucky." I slithered across the classroom and into my chair. Everybody followed my every movement. If I could have hid behind my algebra book, I would have.

The room started to get hot. I started to sweat. I could feel my eyes start to burn and my breath came in ragged gasps. I was going to go into a full panic mode in about three seconds. I looked everywhere but up.

"Mr. Sullivan, would you try to do another one?" I heard Mr. Johnson's voice, but I couldn't look at him. I just couldn't. "Mr. Sullivan?"

I lifted my gaze from the carvings into the Formica covered desk in front of me and everyone gasped.

"What's with his eyes?"

"Oh, my god"

"Ha! He smoked a fat doobie!"

Everybody started standing and walking toward me. I knew instantly, my eyes were glowing red. I needed to get out of there, fast. I faked an uprising of stomach juices, covered my mouth, and ran. I didn't stop until I had my back against the bathroom stall door.

I waited for a moment to make sure nobody followed me and then walked over to the sink. I looked at myself in the mirror and sure enough, my eyes looked like someone surgically implanted LED lights inside them. I splashed some water on my face and closed them, trying to calm myself. I really needed to learn yoga. Or meditation. Or something that would help me calm down quickly.

The door flung open and I looked in the mirror. My usual baby blues were back and I turned to see Mr. Johnson entering the bathroom. "Connor? Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry, I just got really light headed and felt like I was going to yak."

He walked over, grasped my shoulders, and looked me square in the eyes. "I could have sworn…" He shook his head and took a step back. "Why don't you go lie down in the nurse's office?"

"Jessie–"

"I'll make sure she gets to her next class. When you feel better, come back and see me. I want to talk to you about your sudden…algebraic genius."

I sighed. Maybe I needed to start dumbing down my abilities. "It must have been a fluke, sir. I've always sucked at algebra."

"Maybe, we'll see. Go. Have the nurse call me. I want to make sure you get there okay."

"Yes, Mr. Johnson. Sorry, sir."

"Don't be sorry. Just get better."

I nodded and left the bathroom. The hallways were eerily quiet. I could hear muffled teachers and students through the closed doors. My ears could pick out every heartbeat and conversation with ease if I concentrated. That's when I heard two sets of footsteps trying very hard to be silent, creeping up behind me.

I spun and caught an arm that had been swinging for my head. I wasn't fast enough to stop the other person from sweeping my legs out from underneath me. I landed on my back with a vampire on my chest. Wearing a skirt. It was very hard to concentrate on her face.

"Jenny? What are you doing?" I tried to pretend I didn't see her inch and a half long glistening fangs, ridged forehead, and black eyes.

"Give it up, Connor. We saw your eyes. You're as human as Beth and I. What are you? What did you wish for?" She drizzled spittle on my face as she snarled her questions.

"What are you talking about? What do you mean you're not human?" I tried to act innocent. She didn't buy it.

"If you're not human, you're food!" She bared her fangs and dove for my neck.

I really, really, really didn't want to end up as a mid-class snack. I flung her off of me with all my strength. I probably shouldn't have done that. She almost went through the concrete block wall at the end of the hall. I spun on my knees and waited for teachers to come rushing out of the classroom. They didn't.

Beth did take me down from behind though. How are the teachers not hearing this? Her fangs pierced the back of my neck. I frantically tried to get my arms underneath me to flip her away like I had done to Jenny. I slipped my right one first. Beth started moaning when my blood hit her tongue. I slipped my left underneath me, starting to get angry. She tightened her grip around my chest right as I pushed.

I threw myself up into a standing position with Beth still on my back. Jenny regained her feet and headed for us like a freight train. I’d had enough. I could feel my power gathering just under the surface. I held my arms straight out to the side and let it go. Beth screamed as it exploded out. She landed behind me and Jenny toppled to the ground mid run and slid on the linoleum, skidding to a stop at my feet. The blade that hadn't been in my hand two seconds ago pointed at the back of her neck. My other blade pointed at Beth.

"You will stop this, now!"

The bathroom door opened and Mr. Johnson walked out. He turned in our direction and I concentrated with all my might that he couldn't see us. It must have worked because he walked right around us and back into his class. I started breathing again.

"Can I get up?"

I looked down at Jenny and pointed my sword away from her.

She got to her knees and took one look at me and bowed back down to the ground. "We are so sorry, master. If we had known what you were we would never have attacked you! I swear it!"

Master? Me? Huh?

"Get back to class. Don't let it happen again," I said like I knew what the hell I was talking about. Jenny ran over to Beth, helped her up, and they scrambled back to class. I spun and caught sight of my wings. They knew. Ruh Roh, Raggy.

"Are you nuts?"

I turned and saw Clarisse standing in the corner. "How long have you been there?"

"I came around the corner just in time to see you go all demon ass and almost vanquish two vampirettes. Very impressive. Now turn back before someone sees you. I told you to be careful."

"Tell that to my eyes. They started glowing in algebra."