The Immortal Design (3 page)

   “John could you come in here please? I have a few things I’d like to discuss with you.”

   “Shit.” I whispered. I turned around and walked back down the steps and into my dad’s study. Out of all the rooms in our house this was my least favorite. My dad spent most of his time in this room so I avoided it as much as I possibly could, but that wasn’t the only reason I didn’t like the room. My dad’s choice of decorations was weird and creepy in my opinion. The walls were covered in medieval torture devices, like maces, silver spikes, along with wooden ones, whips, spiked chains, and of course our family crest a Dragon. It looked more like a dungeon than a study. Mix all of those ancient decorations with a massive collection of books, all that were mostly about vampires and werewolves or some other made up monster from the past, the room had a dark vibe.

   I stopped in the doorway. “Well, come in and have a seat son.”

   He was sitting at his desk with just the small desk lamp on.  He had a fire going in the fireplace tonight, which made the room seem even more ominous. A book was open, I assumed he had been reading again. As I took the seat across from him at his desk he quickly closed the book and put it in his desk drawer. “You wanted to see me dad?”

“Yes. I hear there is a new foreign exchange student in your school this year.”

  “Yeah, Pete told me about her.”

My father raised his eyebrows and studied me for a moment before he continued. “I don’t want you making friends with her. Stay clear of her. Is that clear?”

   I was not expecting this from my father. He never cared about who I hung out with before, so why he was demanding I did not speak to this girl, this perfect beautiful girl who had done nothing to him, was beyond me. “Why?”

   “Because I said so is why. She’s not from around here, and I don’t want her messing things up for your future. Look I know what it’s like to be a young man and have a new girl in school. Everyone wants to know her, and all the boys want to get to be the one to date her. You my son are better than that. I will not have you stooping to everyone else’s levels of stupidity by chasing after a girl who won’t be around for long. Is that clear?”

   “No. I mean, you are being a bit harsh dad. You don’t even know her and you are demanding that I don’t be friends with her. That’s bullshit.”

   “Watch your mouth Johnathan Stokes.” He literally growled the phrase. I was in for it now. My father’s temper was legendary. No one spoke to him the way I just had.

   “Fine.” I got up and stormed out of his study and up the stairs, when I got to my room I made a point of slamming the door so that he would hear it. This night had turned out to be one of the worst nights of my entire life. First Kelly making a scene in front of everyone at that bonfire and breaking my best friends heart, then sufficiently getting him pissed off at me to the point he had gone and done something crazy by hiking down the mountain in the dark, and now my father telling me I was forbidden to speak to a girl who had me head over heels for her from the minute I had seen her. It was official, my senior year at J. Harker High was going to suck.

4.

My alarm sounded off right at 7:00 a.m. I flicked the switch off and lay there staring up at the ceiling. Last night had been a complete disaster. I checked my cell phone to see if I had missed a call or text from Pete. He hadn’t called. I wasn’t about to let this go. He was being an ass. He knew I had no interest in Kelly and I had thought he knew me better than that. I would never go after a girl he had any interest in. It was our Bro-Code. We made our intentions clear when it came to girls, if he liked someone then I wouldn’t get in the way and vice versa.

   My mood wasn’t improving the more I thought about it. This was not the way I had planned to start my first day of school. I decided to say screw it, and just let him come to me. He just needed time to cool off and come to his senses and if he didn’t I would make him, like I did the last time.

    I got ready for school and went down to the kitchen to grab something to eat before I headed off to the start of my last year of school. My mom was busy making scrambled eggs and toast. I was thankful she had chosen this instead of one of her failed attempts at some weird concoction she had seen on one of her cooking shows. “Looks good mom, thanks” I leaned in and kissed her cheek and ate quickly.

   “You’re welcome sweetie. You looking forward to this year?” She was overly excited this morning.

   “No not really.” I replied as I bit into the last bit of toast.

   She looked at me puzzled “Why not?’

I finished my breakfast before I answered. “It’s nothing. Pete’s mad at me over Kelly again. He’ll get over it.”

   “I see. Well you can’t help who you fall in love with. He’ll come around and see that you would not do that to him. Things will get better. I bet you two are talking by the end of the day.” She seemed positive about this. I decided she was right.

   “Ok, well I better go before I end up being late.”

   “Ok. Have a good first day!”

   That was one of the things I really loved about my mom. She had a way of making me feel better no matter what was going on. I grabbed my school bag and left for school. Most days I would pick Pete up but I decided he was too mad to take my offer of driving him to school, so I drove past his house without a second look.

   My only thoughts on my drive to school were of her. Willa, the girl who I desperately wanted to get to know. The girl my father has forbidden me from talking to let a lone dating her.

   I arrived at school right on time and I went to my locker to put my school bag and books in. I only took the necessities with me. Normally I would be hanging out with Pete before class but I hadn’t seen him in the hallway. I could only imagine he was still mad about last night and wasn’t ready to talk to me yet. He was really getting under my skin with his childish crap.

   The bell rang and I headed to my first class of the day, English Literature. I took my usual seat in the back of the class. Pete was in this class with me, so I would be seeing him soon. I wished last night hadn’t gone the way it did. I wanted to get to know Willa. I wanted know what her class schedule would be: I was curious if we had any classes together.

   The last bell rang and class was about to start, and Pete hadn’t come in yet. The teacher began the morning with the typical introduction, you know, the whole Hi I’m Mrs. or Mr. such and such… then followed by what we would be covering in the class for the year. Turns out we were going to be reading a book I knew very well. It was my Great, Great, Great, Grandfather’s book Dracula. “I picked this book in particular for a few reasons. One, it is known to be one of the classics and the plot of the story is a beautiful story of love, and death of course. Second I thought it would be a fun read for you all, I know what it is like to be in your last year of school and you are not looking forward to reading something like Catcher in the Rye, or a tale of Two Cities, which don’t get me wrong both are wonderful stories, but they can be a bit dull. The third reason is that we are graciously presented in the class with an ancestor of Bram Stoker himself, and I hoped he could possibly give us some insight as to what the author was thinking while he wrote this particular story.” Mrs. Hammond looked directly at me and smiled sheepishly. I wasn’t sure if she was waiting for me to respond to her speech or was just having a moment. I decided to duck down in my seat and hope it passed quickly.

    I loved the book and I had read it many times, so this class was going to be a breeze. First period ended quickly, and I was set to head to my next class as the bell rang, when it hit me, Pete was a no show. Now, I started to get worried. I headed to my locker to get my cell phone. The kids in the hall were busy laughing and chatting between classes, unlucky for me I wasn’t listening to what they were talking about. I learned later I should have been paying more attention.

   I got to my locker and took out my phone, checked my messages, and the missed calls, still nothing from Pete. I decided to make a run to his locker to see if I could catch him there before last bell rang.

   Pete and I shared lockers every year. It just made it easier for us, since some of the classes we had were up stairs and others were down stairs. My locker was on the main floor while Pete’s locker was on the second floor. He wasn’t at his locker. I took the chance and opened it to see if he had even bothered to show up for school. There was nothing in it. Pete never made it to school. My heart started to race. I was panicking, where the hell was Pete? He couldn’t be pissed at me enough to skip the first day of school. It was unlike him to do this. Typically if we were fighting, he would at least send a snide reply text to let me know he was pissed at me. The warning bell rang, and I was out of time. I had to race to make it to my next class. My father wouldn’t appreciate it if I turned up at home after the first day of school with a detention for tardiness.

   I ran down the hall to my next class, and ran right into Stephanie Eckles. We collided and she fell to the ground. “Oh crap! I am so sorry Stephanie. Are you alright?”

  “No, you asshole, that hurt!” Stephanie was busy gathering her books, I felt terrible for knocking her down. I quickly helped pick up her books and got her to her feet. She yanked her arm away from and glared at me. If looks could kill I would have died in a heartbeat. “I really am sorry Stephanie. But I gotta run I don’t want to be late” I said as took off in a sprint down the hall, I just barely made the last bell.

   Well, so far my first day of school was looking like it was going to be a rough one. First Pete doesn’t show up and next I almost off a fellow student on accident. The same student that my love interest was sharing a home with. If I had more time I would have asked Stephanie about Willa. Stephanie and I weren’t exactly friends but we didn’t hate each other either.

   I sat in the back of the class, and tuned out the teacher’s familiar speech. This time it was World History. My thoughts of Pete and what could be keeping him from showing up to school on the first day started to eat away at me, until she walked in. Willa Alucard, the girl of my dreams. All heads turned as she made her way to the front of the class. People were staring and whispering as she walked past them. The guys all looked dumbstruck, myself included.

   She wore a long sleeve V-Neck black shirt, with a long flowing skirt that brushed the ground as she walked. Her hair was tied up in a loose bun and fashioned with blue sparkling butterfly clips. Willa handed the teacher her papers. He too looked as though he was love struck. Willa’s beauty was beyond compare. When she turned to find a seat I noticed that she wore a large cross pendant around her neck. She took the empty seat in the first row, and after a minute of staring at her, the teacher restarted his lecture. I was lost, I hadn’t heard a single word the teacher had said. I sat in the back and watched her every move. The way she moved was graceful, and she pulled it off without any effort. I don’t know what they teach the girls in Romania, but I knew one thing for sure; the girls here could definitely take a page out of their book and learn to move like her. It would up their chances of landing a guy.

   “John. Hello, Earth to John. Hey are you listening to me at all?” Jack Billings shook me hard. I snapped out of my trance, and looked up at him bewildered. Willa smiled at me as she walked past with the rest of the class.

  “What” I asked. The class was filling out into the hall.

  “Dude the bell rang. You gonna just sit here all day in La La land or are you going to next period?” Jack was laughing at me. I had been so wrapped up in watching Willa I hadn’t heard the bell ring dismissing class. Crap, that girl has me hooked. I couldn’t help myself. When she was around, I couldn’t concentrate on anything else. “Shit. Ya. I’m coming… Hey Jack have you seen Pete yet?” Jack was an ok guy. We were in all the same sports and I considered him a friend. We didn’t hang out like Pete and I but, he was always there if I needed a friend to talk to when Pete was pissed at me.

   “No. I haven’t. I guess after that scene last night at the bonfire with you and him and Kelly, he decided not to show. It’s sort of a stupid reason to miss the first day of school, but you know how Pete gets when it comes to Kelly.”

   “Ya, Unfortunately I do. I can’t believe that skank did that.”

   “Seriously John? You of all people know what she is capable of, and I have a feeling that after last night and the way you told her off in front of the entire senior class, she’s just going to come up with something worse than that to try to get to you. If I were you I’d watch my back” Jack said as we walked down the hall to the third period class.

   “Ya, thanks for the tip. If you see Pete tell him I’m looking for him”

   “Will do.” Jack replied as he turned left and headed down the stairs.

   Great, one more thing to add to my list of worry. Kelly VonHolten was turning out to be a crazed psycho. Jack was probably right about her. Kelly didn’t like it when she didn’t get what she wanted. She would stop at nothing to get what she wants.

    Kelly had proven that her freshmen year. She wanted to be Cheer captain, but freshmen were never picked for the position, so one day at practice, an unfortunate accident happened to the newly designated captain of the squad. During a difficult stunt at their first practice, Kelly supposedly lost her grip on the girl causing her to fall from atop the pyramid. The girl ended up breaking both of her legs. Some of the other girls on the squad whispered that they had seen Kelly purposely let go of her, then laughed while the girl lay on the ground screaming and crying in pain. Once the ambulance left the field with the injured cheer captain, Kelly turned her attention to the rest of the squad and appointed herself as the new head Cheer leader, and if anyone had a problem with it, they were welcome to fight her for it. No one, stepped forward. Everyone knew she was a bully and would cause harm to anyone who got in her way.