midnight house chapter one

Chapter One:
“We need to find you and Edward,” I said to Lily as we walked down the hall to our geometry class.
“What?” Lily asked, obviously confused.
“I said, ‘we need to find you an Edward’,” I repeated.
“I heard what you said.  I meant what on Earth are you talking about.”
“I’m talking about Edward from the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer.  Edward is the really hot vampire.  He and Bella fall madly in love with each other.  It’s so romantic.”  I stopped walking.  “So like I said, we need to find you an Edward.”
“Why do we need to find me and Edward?  Not that I’m complaining but if we find me and Edward then you’re left alone.”
“I already know who I want to be my Edward.  That’s why I wanted to help you find yours.”
“So who’s your Edward?” Lily asked.
“Alexander.”
Lily started laughing.
“Stop laughing! It’s not funny! I’m being completely serious!”  The bell rang so we were late for class.  Not that I cared much.
“Great now you made me late for class!” Lily said as we continued walking to our class.
“Sure blame it all on me,” I replied sarcastically.
“I just did,” she teased.
“Ha ha.  Anyway I doubt Monotone will care.  We’re late for her class most of the time.  It’s not our fault her class is on the other side of the building.”
“It probably doesn’t help that we aren’t in a complete hurry to get there.”
“True.”
“It’s kind of mean to call her Monotone.”
“It’s kind of stupid too.  We really need to give her a better nickname.”
“Yeah it is kind of childish.”
“I wouldn’t call her monotone if she talked with emotion.”
We stopped walking when we reached our class.  There was a man standing in the doorway staring at us with his arms folded.  Nice, a substitute.
“Are you ladies in this class?” he asked in a stern voice.
“Yes,” I answered.
“Then why are you late?”
“Um…well we ---,” Lilly started to say.
“Our locker got stuck,” I stated simply, interrupting Lily.
He looked at me for a minute trying to evaluate whether or not I was telling the truth.
“Okay,” he said.  “Just try not to let it happen again.”
“We won’t,” Lily said.
“How long will you be our substitute for?” I asked
“It depends on when your teacher feels well enough to come back to school.”
“Did she have her baby yet?”
“No, not yet.”
“Oh.”
“Okay so if you’ll come in and sit down I can check you off the list.”
“Okay,” Lily said.
“What are your names?” he asked.
“Scarlet Rose,” I said.
“Lily,” Lily told him.
He checked our names off the attendance list while we took our seats.
As soon as we sat down he started introducing himself to the class.  I started doodling little vampires in my notebook.  I was in the middle of drawing hair on my vampire when Lily threw a note on my desk.

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day…are you going to tell Alex that you like him?
No.
Why not?
Because.
Tell me!
Just because.
Please tell me!
I don’t think he’ll like me, alright.
You never know.
No I don’t but I’m not taking a chance of being let down.  Now please let it drop.
Alright.

I didn’t want to tell her that I planned on taping a single red rose to his locker.  I’m not putting a note on it that says it’s from me and I’m definitely not telling him that it’s from a “secret admirer” because that’s corny.  Just a single red rose.  Maybe he’ll know it’s from me because I plan on giving one to Lily and I’m carrying one myself.  I’m having my mom pick them up on her way home for me.  It took a little begging and pleading and three weeks of laundry duty but she finally agreed to do it for me.
The bell rang, signaling the end of class.  We were walking to the door when Caleb, the rude jock in our class, pushed us out of his way, making me drop my books.
“Watch where you’re going, freaks,” he sneered.
“I would have, but I was blinded by your ugliness,” I snapped back.
“Oh so you can say something besides ‘praise Satan.’  I’m shocked.”
“”I’m surprised you can form a full sentence without help from anyone.”
“Okay, break it up,” the substitute said as he walked over to us.
I opened my mouth to say one last thing to Caleb but Lily interrupted me.
“Scarlet Rose, don’t say anything.  He’s not worth getting in trouble for.”
I didn’t say anything but I gave him a nasty look as we walked out the door.  We walked to our locker in silence.
“Are you okay?” Lily asked.
“I’m fine,” I mumbled.
“Scarlet Rose, tell me what’s wrong.”
“I just hate how people assume that if you’re gothic, you worship Satan.”
“Yeah I hate that too.”
“I also hate how there are only eight gothic people in this school, and we’re broken up into groups.  I mean, shouldn’t we all stick together against the people that hate us?
“You’re right,” said a voice behind me.
I would know that voice anywhere.  “Alexander,” I said as I turned around to face him.
“Scarlet Rose,” he said back.
Oh god he’s sexy.  I really wish that I could kiss him right now.  Too bad I can’t.
“So what am I right about?” I asked, trying not to start giggling like I do when I’m nervous.
“That we should all stick together against the people that hate us.”
“Really?” Lily asked.
“Yeah.  There are already so few of us in the school that it makes no sense that we should hate each other too,” Alexander said.
“True,” Lily agreed.
Alexander looked over my shoulder and I turned around to see what he was looking at.  Christopher and Paul were walking over to us.
“Hey Chris, hey Paul,” I said.
“Hey,” they replied back.
“Well I have to get back to my friends.  See you later,” Alexander said.
“Yeah see you,” I said, hoping he didn’t hear the disappointment in my voice.
“So what are we going to do today?” Christopher asked.
“We could go over my house.  We haven’t been over there in a while,” Lily said.  “Well actually I was there this morning.  I meant you guys haven’t been over in a while,” she giggled.
“That’s fine with me,” Paul said.
“It’s cool with me too,” Christopher said.
“I’ll pass,” I said.
“Why?” Paul asked me.
“Laundry day.”
“So?”
“My mom promised to pick up some roses for me if I took over laundry duty for three weeks,” I explained.
“Tough break.  You really must want those roses,” Christopher said.
“Yeah I do,” I said.  “Anyway, I should get going.  I wouldn’t want to keep the laundry waiting.”