Thicker Than Water (The Briar Creek Vampires Book #2) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (4 page)

Lexi realized that this was the second time
that she had gotten something from the refreshment table just to
avoid talking to one of the Lawrence’s.

As she piled slices of ham and cheddar onto a
wheat roll, Lexi felt a tap on the back of her shoulder. Mrs.
Lawrence leaned in to whisper in Lexi’s ear. “I remember meeting
you, doll. I don’t appreciate you acting like we haven’t already
been acquainted, when really we have. Remember what I told you last
time, Lexi. Now that you’re back in Briar Creek for good, you’re
going to pay for hiding all of these years. Watch your
back.”

****

Chapter 5

Two Weeks Later

“Mary-Kate’s back in town,” Violet said as she
sipped her morning coffee. “She got in this morning. Maybe you can
go visit her before school starts tomorrow.”

“I’ve heard that cheerleading camp is really
exhausting. She probably wants a break herself before school
starts,” Lexi said. She didn’t mention that she really didn’t want
to go to the Lawrence’s house because she didn’t want to have
another confrontation with Mrs. Lawrence. The woman really freaked
her out. After what she said to Lexi at her birthday party, she had
given her death stares when it came time for her to open her gifts.
When she opened the scarf that the Lawrence’s had gotten Lexi for
her birthday, Mrs. Lawrence made a choking motion and had given her
a sinister smile.

“Mary-Kate didn’t go to cheerleading camp,”
Violet replied, shaking her head. “I don’t know what gave you that
idea.”

“Mayor Lawrence, actually. He told me that
Mary-Kate wasn’t able to make it to my party because she was at
cheerleading camp.”

“Oh, well, he’s probably just embarrassed,”
Violet shrugged. “Mary-Kate actually ran away with her boyfriend
the night of your accident. Apparently, Mary-Kate called Greg late
that night to let him know that she had left town. He demanded that
she return immediately, but she didn’t come back until
today.”

“I wasn’t aware that Mary-Kate had a
boyfriend,” Lexi said.

“Me either,” Violet replied, taking a gulp of
coffee. “She must move on very quickly. Here, her boyfriend only
just died, and now she’s already with someone else. I don’t know
who it is, but I assure you, Austin is rolling over in his
grave.”

A light bulb went off in Lexi’s head. She was
going to have to find Austin’s gravestone. She and her mom had made
it in time for the viewing, but Violet had insisted on a private
burial. She hadn’t even wanted Lexi and her mom there. Lexi hadn’t
thought much of it at the time, but she wondered if it was because
Austin’s gravestone would give clues as to how he really
died.

“Anyway, I’ve already spoken to Greg, and
here’s the plan. Mary-Kate is going to be giving you rides to and
from school everyday starting tomorrow so that I don’t need to go
through the hassle of driving you. The mayor is so generous that he
has even offered to cover the cost of gas,” Violet said.

“Why can’t I just take the bus?” Lexi
asked.

Violet laughed. “The bus doesn’t come out here!
The only options are for you to walk to school or get a ride. To be
frank, I don’t really like the idea of you walking to school.
Austin was walking home from school when he was attacked by a wild
animal.”

Lexi counted to ten. It really angered her that
Violet was already making plans with Greg about her transportation
to and from school without letting her know first. What if she
didn’t want to ride with Mary-Kate every day? That obviously didn’t
matter to Violet.

*

Lexi took her bat
pendant off and put it on top of her dresser. She had been wearing
it since she had found it in her hand at the hospital. Even though
she hadn’t asked anyone how it had gotten in her hand, she assumed
that it must have fallen off or
that it had gotten tangled during the accident and the nurse
had put it in her hand later on.

As Lexi
climbed into bed, she heard a loud
clank against her window. Moments later, she heard another one.
Glancing out the window, she saw a swarm of bats hovering around
her window.

Sighing, she lay on the
bed and pulled her satin comforter over her. Lexi listened to the
bats as they continued to clank against her window.

There were no bats in
New Jersey, so she couldn’t really compare them, but it seemed like
the bats in Briar Creek were just…well, dumb. She knew that bats
couldn’t see and that they sought their prey through their
incredible sense of smell. If there was nothing for them to smell
in her room, though, why did they constantly bang into the windows?
It made no sense, and it was really beginning to interfere with her
sleep schedule – and grate on her nerves.

She wasn’t sure what it
was, but something made her feel really uneasy about the bats that
constantly hovered outside her window.

*

Lexi’s alarm clock began jangling on the
nightstand at seven o’clock on Monday morning. Groaning, she forced
herself to get out of bed. She changed into the outfit that she had
laid out the night before: a pair of dark wash skinny jeans, a
yellow v-neck t-shirt, and a pair of sparkly silver ballet
flats.

As she brushed her teeth in the bathroom, Lexi
heard Violet call her from downstairs. “Lexi! Mary-Kate is
here!”

When Lexi went downstairs, Mary-Kate was
standing by the front door text messaging. She shoved her cell
phone in her tote bag when she saw Lexi. “Hey! I’m so glad that
you’re feeling better,” Mary-Kate said, beaming.

“Thanks,” Lexi replied. She glanced into the
dining room. Tommy was sitting at the kitchen table, spooning
oatmeal into his mouth. His skin looked a shade paler and his eyes
looked droopier than usual. Tommy had emphysema, but Lexi never
thought that he looked sick until now.

“I can’t believe that Gabe just bailed on you
like that,” Mary-Kate said. “I should warn you that everyone in
town is talking about it. It’s practically a hit-and-run, so you’re
definitely the flavor of the week.”

“Great,” Lexi muttered. Dealing with questions
about Gabe leaving was the last thing that she wanted to do today.
She’d barely had time to recuperate since she had gotten out of the
hospital, and more importantly, she wouldn’t know how to respond.
She wasn’t even sure what to think about Gabe leaving, herself.
“Umm, I just wanted to say thanks, Mary-Kate. If it weren’t for
you, I wouldn’t have lived. I really appreciate you saving
me.”

“Hey, don’t worry about,” Mary-Kate replied,
waving a hand. “It’s what friends are for. Are you ready to go to
school?”

Lexi nodded and grabbed the black backpack that
Violet had packed for her the night before. She wondered if
Mary-Kate would notice that it had once belonged to
Austin.

When they got to school, Mary-Kate showed Lexi
where the main office was. Before she could go to any of her
classes, she had to get her schedule. She hadn’t bothered to ask
Violet why one hadn’t been sent to her before now, but she assumed
it was because she was a new student.

“What’s your name?” the middle-aged secretary
at the front desk asked, pulling a piece of paper out of the filing
cabinet.

“Alexandria Hunter,” Lexi replied. It felt
weird to say her full name. No one ever actually used it. After her
dad had left, Lexi had insisted that her mom didn’t call her
Alexandria anymore because her father had often called her Princess
Alexandria during their teddy bear tea parties. When she was
little, the name had made her miss her dad way too much, and now
she was just used to being called Lexi.

The woman glanced at Lexi over edge of her
horn-rimmed glasses. “As in Lexi Hunter, Violet Graham’s niece who
just got into a horrible car accident?”

Lexi nodded. No one was joking when they said
Briar Creek was a small town. It seemed like everyone always knew
who she was around here, which was a major difference from the New
Jersey town she had lived in where she didn’t even know most of her
neighbors’ names. She preferred living in a town where everyone
didn’t know everyone else’s business, but there wasn’t much that
she could do to change that. She was stuck in Briar Creek – at
least until she turned eighteen. Lexi tried to not think about the
fact that it meant that she would be living here for about another
year.

“Well, that’s such a shame. I cannot believe
the way Gabe Marshall just fled on you like that,” the woman
replied. “He always seemed like such a nice boy to me, but he was
also very quiet here at Briar Creek High School. It’s always the
quiet ones, I guess.”

So Marshall was Gabe’s last name.“I’m sure that
Gabe had a very good reason for taking off,” Lexi replied. She
wasn’t sure why, but she was starting to feel defensive over him.
It was frustrating for her to keep hearing about Gabe leaving her,
even though she was becoming more and more convinced that he had
tried to crash the car. Lexi just couldn’t figure out why he had
done it. Maybe he had really wanted to run away, but why had he
acted like he was taking her along for the ride if it really wasn’t
what he was planning?

The secretary shrugged, seeming unsure of what
else to say. She handed Lexi her schedule. “Your homeroom and first
period class is gym with Mr. Lindstrom. It’s right around the
corner,” she said, pointing down the hallway.

“Thanks.” Lexi followed the secretary’s
instructions and walked down the hall to the gymnasium. Gym was
definitely her least favorite class. It was going to suck to have
to start her day out with a workout. She hated the idea of having
to shower at school. The idea of having to use flip-flops while
showering had always freaked her out so much that she had decided
years ago that she didn’t want to dorm when it came time for her to
go to college.

As she stepped into the gym, Lexi nearly bumped
into a tall guy with short, brown hair and an olive skin
complexion. On closer look, she realized that she knew him. It was
Craig, the guy who she had met at the Briar Creek College library
when she went to search for her dad. Craig had given her his
number, but she had tossed it in the garbage. Even though Lexi
thought Craig was really cute, she felt guilty about going out with
anyone who wasn’t Gabe.

Lexi realized that Craig had lied to her,
though. He had said that he was a college student, not a high
school student. Then again, how could she really be mad? That would
make her a hypocrite. She had told him the same exact
lie.

“Hey, Craig,” Lexi said excitedly, tapping him
on the shoulder. She was glad that there would be a familiar face
in at least one of her classes. She always got picked last in her
gym classes in New Jersey. People usually didn’t want to be her
partner, either, since she never bothered to try as hard at sports
as the other students. Craig turned around and looked at her. Lexi
smiled at him, taking note of his black gym shorts and red Nike
t-shirt. “I caught you! I didn’t know you were a student here. It’s
okay, though, because I am too. I’m sorry I didn’t call you yet, by
the way. I’ve had a lot going on lately.”

Craig’s shoulders stiffened and he nervously
reached for the whistle that he was wearing around his neck. The
group of boys he had been standing with looked at her
oddly.

“I’m not a student here, Lexi. I’m a teacher,”
Craig said quietly. “I didn’t realize you were still in high school
when we met. If you had, I would never have given you my
number.”

“Oh.” Lexi felt her face drop. She couldn’t
believe that Craig was her teacher. For a second, she had been
thinking about giving him a chance. Now, that could never happen.
Maybe it was for the best, though, Lexi thought. She felt as if she
were practically throwing herself at any guy who seemed even the
slightest bit interested in her, all just to help herself get over
Gabe.

“You’re not dressed yet. The girls’ locker room
is downstairs.”

“Umm, this is my first day,” Lexi replied. “I
didn’t know I had gym class, so I didn’t bring clothes.”

“Okay. Well, you can sit this one out on the
bleachers, but make sure you bring your gym clothes
tomorrow.”

Lexi headed for the bleachers.

“Hey, Lexi?”

She turned around

“I hope this doesn’t make anything awkward
between us,” Craig said, giving her a small smile.

The silence that lingered in the air told Lexi
that it would.

*

Plopping down into her desk chair in Mrs.
Quinn’s English Lit class, Lexi decided that she was going to
scream if one more person asked her a question about the car
accident and Gabe. So far since this morning, seven people had
asked and that wasn’t including the secretary. She didn’t even know
these people, but that hadn’t stopped them from being nosy about
what had happened.

If this was any indication of what living in
Briar Creek was going to be like, she didn’t want to live here
anymore. Of course, she knew that already. Lexi was still hoping
that her dad, who had been M.I.A. since she was a kid, would get
the voicemail that she had left him and call her back soon. It had
been months since she’d left the message, though, and he hadn’t
called her back yet so she didn’t see it happening.