CHAPTER 16
To Jenny’s credit—and to Clayton’s—they were both totally with me on the Get Even plan.
“What about Tamara and Stacy and the other cheer-heads?” Jenny asked. “Are they vamps, too?”
I shook my head. “No way. I see Stacy in first period all the time. And all those cheerleader car washes earlier this year?” Tamara and Stacy both love nothing better than to put on a tiny bikini, stand on a corner, and lure college boys to a parking lot to get their car washed. Clearly the sun wasn’t among their personal problems.
“They’re Renfields,” Clayton said, and both Jenny and I stared at him blankly. He sighed, exasperated, then explained. “Helpers,” he said. “They help the vamps. Like Renfield in the Bram Stoker novel.”
“Wasn’t Renfield completely whacked?” I asked.
“And you think Tamara’s not?”
We all got a nice chuckle out of that. But whether Tamara was nuts or not, I got the point. She wasn’t a vamp; she was an assistant. I figured Stacy was as well. And the rest of the cheer-heads, too. (Although why they’d want to date vampires is beyond me! I mean, Chris is obnoxious on the best of days, and Ennis is ten times as bad. What Stacy and Melissa saw in them . . . I just didn’t get it!)
“The sun thing,” Jenny said, looking as if her thoughts were a million miles away. “That explains the gloves and greasepaint.”
Now it was Clayton’s turn to stare, completely clueless.
“Don’t you remember? We even did an article in the paper. About how our football team was setting a fashion trend because some of the players wore gloves and had that black goop all over the faces and not just under their eyes. And Stephen was at the top of the list.”
“Makes sense,” Clayton said. “Before the time change, they’d have to deal with day games.”
“And the uniform and black goop kept the sun away,” I said.
Jenny rolled her eyes. “And they were acting like they did it because they were cool.”
“I need you to corner the girls,” I said to Jenny. “They must know the jocks are vamps. Figure out what else they know. And figure out why the girls aren’t fanged out.”
“Me?” Jenny squeaked.
“Well, duh. I can hardly do it. I’ll turn into a crispy critter if I try to go to school. Because I’m not wearing greasepaint or a football uniform. That’s for sure!”
“Oh.” She frowned. “Right.” The frown got even deeper. “But, Beth, you’ve got to go to school. Your parents will kill you if your GPA drops, and you know you’ll get dinged if you miss days!”
She had a point. Not only would my parents kill me (again?), but my chances of getting into Tisch (assuming they accept the undead or assuming I’m fixable) would nose-dive. Not to mention that Clayton would slide into the valedictorian slot, and that was something I simply could not let happen. Even if he was cute.
Trouble was, I didn’t really see an alternative. “How can I go to school? School is during the day!”
“Yeah, but it’s inside. You should be fine during the day so long as you’re inside.”
“Should be? This is my life—well, death—that we’re talking about. I don’t want to be a human French fry!”
“You were in the dirt, right?” Jenny said. “That’s like being inside. And when your finger went outside, it got burned. Only it. You said so yourself.”
I nodded. “True.” Now we were getting somewhere. If I were inside, I’d be okay. “Actually,” I said to Clayton, “Chris and Ennis were both in the caf on Monday. And they were on the field last night. And they both wear the gloves and greasepaint during games.”
“So they’re probably vamps, too!” Jenny finished. “I bet that’s why Elise broke up with Chris!”
I squinted at her. “You think she knows he’s a vampire?”
She considered the question. “Okay. Probably not. It was only a theory.”
I tapped my foot. “Can we focus our theories on relevant subjects and avoid things like, oh, other people’s love lives?”
“I was trying to be relevant,” Jenny said indignantly. “The fact that Chris and Ennis were in the caf must mean that you’re okay walking around inside the school, too. I mean, so long as you avoid windows.”
“Did you read the Waterloo Watch?” Clayton asked. “The Watcher said they’ve got some kind of neurological disorder.” He snorted. “Yeah, Ennis is so not right in the head.” He chuckled.
“You read the Watch?” Jenny asked.
“Sure. It’s a hoot.”
She and I exchanged satisfied glances. “But I think Jenny’s got a point.”
“If Chris and Ennis are vamps then you can definitely go to school during the day, too.”
“At least after lunch,” Jenny said. “Maybe that’s why they miss all their morning classes. They’re hanging upside down with their bat buddies or something.”
“Jenny . . .” I said, a warning note in my voice. I really didn’t want to think about sleeping upside down in some cave. Yuck!
“Sorry,” she said.
“At any rate,” Clayton said, “I think we’re right. So long as you’re not in direct sunlight, you’re okay.”
“Yeah, but what am I supposed to do?” I asked. “Go to school every morning before the sun’s up? The school isn’t even unlocked then!”
Clayton got up and opened the fridge, then stared at the contents.
“Um, hello?” Normally, that wouldn’t bother me, but considering my only source of food was in plastic pouches in my bathroom, I wasn’t feeling the warm glow of hospitality.
“Sorry,” he said. “Can I snag a soda?”
“You got a solution to my problem?”
He hooked his thumbs in his belt loops and leaned against the freezer side of the fridge. All in all a very James Dean-ish sort of look. “Yup.”
“Oh.” That was surprising. Good, but surprising. “Well, what?”
“Ms. Shelby,” he said, referring to the journalism teacher. “Tell her you want to come in early and work on the layout for the Christmas wrap-up issue.” We do a big issue right before Christmas break, sort of summarizing all the stuff that’s happened so far in the year. I do spend a lot of time on it, so it really was a good excuse.
“But you’d have to be there before dawn,” Jenny said. “No way is Ms. Shelby getting to school that early. I’ve got her for homeroom, and she’s practically comatose in the morning.”
“She’d give me a key,” I said.
“She’s not allowed to do that!” Jenny protested.
Jenny was right, but I was still pretty sure Ms. Shelby would do it anyway. I’m pretty much the teacher’s pet. And the principal and a ton of other teachers love me, too. “She will,” I said simply. “At least, I’m pretty sure she will.”
“We’ll tell her I’m working with you on it,” Clayton said. “Between the two of us, she’ll agree.”
I looked at him, surprised—because who really wants to get to school that early—then nodded. “Yeah. That’ll work.”
“Okay,” Jenny said. “What about me?”
I had the perfect answer to that. But with Clayton there, I couldn’t say. I shot a quick look in his direction, then said, “I’ve got something in mind for you. Don’t worry.” I tried to telegraph that I expected the Watcher to help me out here, but as smart as Jenny can be at times, I don’t think she got it.
Clayton looked at his watch. “I guess I should go,” he said, then looked at me. “I’ll meet you after dark tomorrow and we can plan more. I’ll get the key from Ms. Shelby during class. So Thursday you can come back to school. In the meantime, just hang in your room. Tell your mom you’re sick or something.”
I made a face. “I almost forgot. I’ve been ordered to attend his majesty tomorrow after school.”
“Stephen?” Jenny asked.
“Apparently the creep thinks I’m his little minion.”
“Call me on your cell when you’re done with Stephen,” he said. “We’ll meet up then and I’ll give you the key.”
I gaped. “First of all, I lost my cell phone. And second of all, you actually expect me to really meet with that creep?”
“Come on, Beth,” he said. “Haven’t you heard the saying? You keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”
Which is good advice, unless they happen to bite you. I learned that one the hard way.