Eleventh Grade Burns(71)



“I am never going back to Bathory High.”





28





THE EMPTINESS


VLAD STARED UP AT HIS BEDROOM CEILING, memorizing the small, crooked crack in the plaster just over his bed, where he laid. He was trying very hard not to think about what happened at school, and failing miserably. It was over. His promise to his dad that he wouldn’t reveal his secret had been broken. Everyone at school knew what he was. And soon, Elysia would descend on him for breaking the law in a major way. It was so screwed up that all Vlad could do was lie on his bed, stare at the ceiling, and wait for his world to crumble into tiny little pieces.

There was a soft knock on the door. When Vlad didn’t answer, Otis opened the door anyway and stepped inside, closing it quietly behind him. He stood there, watching Vlad without speaking for several minutes. When Vlad refused to break the silence first, Otis said, “Vladimir, it’s been two days. Nelly says you’ve hardly eaten and barely left your room. She’s worried about you.”

Vlad stared straight ahead, drawing a line with his eyes along the crack in the ceiling. Otis wasn’t telling him anything that he hadn’t already known.

After a pause, Otis ran a frustrated hand through his hair and sighed. “Come back to school, Vlad. Please.”

Vlad swallowed hard, a small tear escaping his eye. It rolled down the side of his head and settled on his earlobe. Wetting his dry, cracked lips, he opened his parched mouth and said, “There’s nothing left for me there”

Otis watched him for a moment, then opened the door again. He hesitated in the doorway for a moment, frustration ebbing from him. At last, he turned back to Vlad. “I’m there.”

Without another word, Otis stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind him.

Vlad lay still for a while, but finally sat up, forcing his attention away from his flawed ceiling. He was hungry. And he couldn’t help but wonder if anything good was on TV





29





AGAINST HIS WILL


WELL YOU CAN’T STAY HOME FOREVER!” Nelly’s voice had risen in both tone and pitch to the point that Vlad was almost certain she was on the cusp of shouting—some thing Nelly never did. He was still staring at her with a confounded expression on his face when she pushed his backpack into his arms and pointed at the front door. “March, Mister. Straight to school. And don’t let me catch you skipping. You are done running from your problems and missing out on your education.”

Vlad blinked. She sounded serious. Was she being serious? It had been three days since everyone at Bathory High had learned his secret. She couldn’t possibly expect him to go back to the stares and giggles, back to being the walking freak show.

Nelly stomped over to the front door and opened it. “Go on.”

He blinked again. Oh crap, she really was serious! “Nelly, I—”

Then she did something that no words could defend against. She gave him that look. That mom look. The one that said if Vlad didn’t get his butt out the front door and fast, she was going to bury him in the backyard and plant daisies over his remains.

With a heavy sigh, he slid the strap of his backpack over one shoulder and stepped out onto the porch. Nelly promptly shut the door hard behind him. Not quite slamming it, but threatening to. Then she locked it. He was going to school, whether he liked it or not.

He watched the door for a moment in disbelief, contemplating what she might do if he snuck in the back door, and then turned and moved down the steps. He’d just stepped onto the walk when he spied a familiar figure standing outside the gate. Joss was wearing a sheepish grin. His arm was still in a cast. “Hey, Vlad.”

“Hey ... Joss.”

“Henry’s got a dentist appointment. I thought we’d walk to school together.”

Vlad parted his lips and made a sound that sounded like, “Ooookay.”

They crossed the street together and made their way down the sidewalk, toward the school. Vlad had opted for the longer route to school for two reasons: 1) He really wanted to delay going back to school, and 2) He was curious like crazy why Joss was acting completely normal. After several long, silent steps, Vlad cleared his throat and said, “So, what’s this about, anyway?”

“What do you mean?”

“What do I ...” Vlad ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “A week and a half ago, you were trying to drive a stake through my chest, and now we’re walking to school together as though nothing ever happened.”

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