The Vampire Princess Saga Box Set (2 page)

CHAPTER 4

I went to school
carrying my books for my first day of classes. I walked through the school yard. I realized everybody was staring at me. They knew I was a new student. At first, I didn’t feel like making new friends; I just wanted to be alone.

As soon as I walked into the classroom, I was introduced by my teacher to everyone. I wasn’t used to being surrounded by so many people.

When the class was dismissed
, I went to the bathroom. Heading to its door, I saw a classmate. I could see her reflection in the mirror; her fingers were knotting her hair, in an attempt to make them more dazzling.

I
looked at my left when I noticed she saw me standing through the mirror. She turned and started a conversation.

“
Hi, my name is Mirta”, she said.

“
Hi… Mirta”, I answered, and shrugged my shoulders.

“
Did you like your new school?” she asked, while staring at me, from head to toe.

“
… It‘s so cool…”, I responded with what came in my mind..

“
We’ll be friends, right?” she asked, and seemed happy.

“
Yes… of course…” I replied, statically.

“
Fine!” she growled, and embraced me so tight as if she would never let me go. “I like you! You seem truthful”, she said, staring right into my black eyes.

“
I’m truthful”, I said, with a smile.

“
I also am truthful, I hate falsehood”, she affirmed.

We
left school together and Mirta talked all the time. We chatted about school and people, and also about the teachers, who of them were cool or not; what was allowed there and who we could trust.

I arrived home, after school. My mother was lying on the sofa in the living room as she was reading a book.

“
How was school today?” she asked me.

“
Cool! There are a few students there.”

I
told her, with a lack of enthusiasm. I had attended better schools.

“
Right”, my mother agreed.

“
I met a girl, her name is Mirta, and she wants to be my friend”, I said, looking at her face.

“
I want to know her.”

“
Yes, mother, I’ll bring her here”, I said.

It wasn
’t a surprise to me my mother wishing to meet her. She always cared about my friendships.

She always wanted to check out what kind of people I was hanging around with.

I took a shower and wore comfortable clothes. I stayed in my room, in the afternoon, writing in my journal about my first day of class.

I looked so lost, so lonely
. It was a habit I always wrote down, on a sheet of paper, all my sorrows. It was safe to do that ‘cos I knew all those words would never go out of there, unless anyone could read that.

I quoted my friend
Mirta in my story; I could feel that our friendship would be special and eternal…

CHAPTER 5

I
got late at school. Everybody was looking at me with reproach. I sat on my chair without looking around as I blushed at this moment.

At
break, Mirta and I went to the bathroom.

“
What happened? Are you upset?” she asked, realizing that my face was blush.

I had my back leaned against the wall.

“
Sometimes I feel like I’m in the wrong place”, I confessed, pouring out my heart.

“
Do you feel like that just because a teacher reprimanded you?” she asked.

“
No… I mean… that’s it, too”, I answered and frowned as I was confused.

“
Don’t think about that. We have the right to make mistakes and you did it unintentionally.”

“
Having met you it was the best thing that happened to me in this school”, I confessed, excitedly.

In fact,
she was the second best thing, because the best thing was to come. I just didn’t know yet.

CHAPTER 6

In the next day, I arrived at the classroom before everyone as I was alone.

Then I
lost myself in my textbooks.

I heard the sound of footsteps
coming closer. I glanced towards the door to find out who was
coming.

I thought it would certainly be a teacher.

When I
raised my head, I saw a guy who was standing up and looking for a spot to sit on.

I
got shocked by being there with him. I buried myself in the textbooks again and this way I could not be noticed by him.

A few segunds after he
sat on the last chair, in the corner of the classroom, keeping himself away from me.

I couldn
’t see him any longer, I could only hear his touchy movements as he was tapping his pen against the desk, many and many times, and he seemed to be tired of something.

I begged myself
asking for someone to arrive there and break that bad atmosphere.

I felt
a little intimidated by him. He seemed to watch me, and I had a strange feeling, as if he was there to protect me.

I
rubbed my neck on my right side as I was feeling so nervous; I was almost nauseous. I realized he was paying attention to me.

I
put down my hand and turned a blank page of my notebook, and started to write. That was a logical way, as I was trying to ignore him.

Mirta
finally arrived at school. She was smartly dressed, as usual, her hair was loose and her make-up enhanced her beautiful face.

“
Gee! Did you arrive at school so early, huh?” Mirta asked as she was placing her backpack on her desk.

I j
ust greeted her with a modest smile. I wanted to avoid speaking and this way the stranger boy couldn’t hear my voice.

“
We have a new classmate.”

Mirta
leaned down to whisper it in my ear, while noticing that the young guy was sitting in the back of the classroom.

I was
speechless as I couldn’t speak anything spontaneously without thinking that there was a stranger in the classroom.

“Why are you so quiet today?” Mirta asked.

“
I think I need to go to the bathroom”, I muttered and then I rose from my chair and left the classroom.

When
Mirta realized she was alone with that guy in the classroom, she approached him.

“Welcome!” Mirta stretched out her hand, trying to shake his.

He
remained the same way, humorless and quiet. He didn’t greet her.

“Sorry”, she murmured and her cheeks blushed as red as the color of her lipstick. Then she returned to her place and sat down on her chair. She was pissed off because of his indifference.

I stayed in the bathroom for a long time and washed my face two times, trying to relieve my nervousness.

The
lad’s semblance was stuck to my thoughts. He was tall and skinny, and his face and hands were as pale as snow, contrasting with his dark clothes and his black hair.

He had dark rings around his eyes.

When I got back to normal, I came back to the classroom, which was already crowded.

I didn
’t have the guts to look towards him, straight to the corner of the classroom.

I h
ad my eyes stuck at the floor; I just couldn’t see anyone around me. I had always been shy.

I
barely sat down on my chair and Mirta came to talk to me.

“
He is not polite!” she said, carefully. “I welcomed him and he did nothing.”

“
He?… Who?” I asked, not knowing exactly to whom she was referring.

“
Our new classmate”, she said as she was putting her hands around her waist.

“
Did you talk to him?” I asked, wondering, because I wouldn’t have the balls to do that.

“
Yes, I did… I like to make new friends”, she answered.

Once more I
grew mute.

***

When the
class was over, I was the first one to leave the classroom. I didn’t even know why I was in a hurry, ‘cos as soon as I get home, there will be nothing interesting to do.

On
my way home, Mirta was walking by my side. Though, we were surprised. I paralyzed when I heard a hesitant masculine voice trying to communicate with me.

“
Hey, wait!”

I
gently turned back and realized to whom that voice belonged. I stared at him, confused. Then I got stupefied when I saw him.

I didn
’t wait for his reaction.

He
was the oddest boy in the classroom.

“
I think you lost this”, he said, stretching his hand to me, to show me a brooch.

That
was the brooch which my grandmother gave me when I was a child. I had always carried it with me, among my stuff.

I
held that object in my hands, perplexed, avoiding facing the boy.

He
walked away as fast as a lightning, and my chances to thank him went away, too.

“
He talked to you!” Mirta exclaimed, surprised.

“
How does he know that this brooch belongs to me?” I asked and my eyes ran on the brooch as I was astonished.

“
He must have seen it falling down”, Mirta answered, shrugging.

“
I can’t believe it! That never happened before. I have always left it inside my purse.”

I couldn
’t believe what had happened.

***

At home, I noticed my mother wasn’t there. Her car wasn’t at the garage.

“
She must have gone shopping for groceries”, I whispered, while placing my things on the couch.

In my room, I was lying on my bed and staring at the brooch in my hands.

I brought
it after school and it was safe among my fingers. I feared on losing it again.

I
started thinking about the strange boy; he had touched that object; there were traces of his presence in my brooch.

I thought
if he wasn’t an honest person, he wouldn’t probably have given the jewel back to me.

He
was concern on restituting me that jewel, without getting something in return, nor even waiting for my gratitude.

I rose from
my bed, disturbed, feeling really bad for not having the chance to thank him.

Those two
words stuck in my throat all day long …, whole night…, bothering my sleep.

“
Thank you
…!”

***

The next day, I went to school hoping to find the boy and thank him.

And
I wanted that agony could go away from me. Maybe that was the worst sensation, even worse than having missed that brooch.

I wasn’t very lucky; I didn’t have the chance to get closer to him.

Everything looked
so tough, even knowing he was so near me. Every time I tried an approximation, I was blocked by my fear of thinking I was doing the wrong thing, behaving like an idiot.

I was
sweating cold and it reflected my agitation.

***

Before coming back home, I decided to go to the school’s library and look for an interesting book.

R
eading had always been present in my life, I was grateful to my mother, who had always encouraged me on having that habit.

She
always used to say: “Those who read speak and write well.”

The library
had various sections and loads of books on its shelves.

I walked very slowly, looking around, trying to find an interesting book with no need of removing it from its bookshelf.

I
walked to the end of an aisle as I was hearing the sound of my own footsteps. I stood still when I saw something totally unexpected.

He was standing in front of me, his back to me; he seemed distracted as he was leafing through a book.

I
couldn’t move forward, but I could only say something.

“THANK YOU!”

I just said what was crossing my mind.

He
slowly turned back while his hands were holding the book.

He stared into my eyes, motionless and silent
.

For
the first time in my life, I had seen him gazing at me. That was a piercing look and, at the same time, his gaze was fugacious.

I
chilled and a prickle of fear touched my spine at the nape of my neck.

“
Are you talking to me?” he asked as he seemed not humorously.

“
… I… uh…” I stammered. “I tried to tell you this yesterday, but… You went away so quickly… I  had no time to thank you.”

I d
idn’t know how I had managed to say that.

“
That was nothing”, he said and his voice sounded mysterious and affable.

He
fled and replaced the book on the bookshelf. He was gone and said nothing; he did not even look at me again. He acted as if I didn’t exist.

I
watched him withdrawing in slow motion.

Then I had
a brilliant idea of checking the book he held for a few minutes.

I
got intrigued when I read its title aloud.

“PLANET NEPTUNE”

I decided to borrow that book and read it in my house, since I had all the time to do that. Even if I hadn’t, I would find a way.

I
was interested on his life.

Then
I kept walking ahead and treaded on something. I bent over and picked up a school ID.

He
had lost his school ID. I looked at it and saw his name; it was a beautiful name.

“EROS”

CHAPTER 7

At the schoolyard, I saw my friend Mirta from a distance while she was standing still and planted like a tree, waiting for me.

“
Mirta!” I exclaimed, going to meet her.

“
I know his name”, I said, while approaching her.