Chapter 13

It’s a happy day when somebody tells you that you only have two classes because the other ones have pretty much finished for the week for some reason.

It’s a sad day when you find out that you have those two classes with the school b*****s.

Yep, I had to go to Lycanthrope culture and endure sitting in the same room as Adam. This would be interesting. I went into the classroom and everyone was buzzing about this masquerade thing and I rolled my eyes at them all. Sav was there and so was Paul and they were chattering amongst themselves until they saw me and then they explained why the masquerade thing was so big this year.

“It’s the year of the moon,” Paul stated and then Sav clarified,

“That means that it is the year when either curse may be broken and it only comes once every ten years,” I looked at him blankly,

“Wouldn’t you need a Mavra werewolf for that?” I asked, hoping that he would say no, but knowing that he’d say yes. His face darkened,

“Yeah, legend says that only when a Mavra lycan drives a stake through a Valeska vampire’s heart may the lycan curse be broken.” I nodded slowly. Great, so I only had this year to train and kill a powerful vampire who was also trying to kill me. He didn’t know my last name was Mavra so that was probably a good thing... “Isn’t your last name Mavra?” Damn it! How did he know that?!

“Yeah, it is. So, when am I killing this Valeska vamp?” I asked jokingly, but he didn’t take it as the joke I had wanted him to. He told me whenever I found them. I really hoped I wouldn’t find them soon because being a werewolf was okay, aside from the y’know, killing people if they got in the way bit. And I wasn’t in the slightest ready to kill them. We sat through a lesson of Samson talking and then when the bell went, we all walked hurriedly to the cafeteria for breakfast. Everyone had come together to discuss it and then when I got to the table, Ash was sitting there, waiting for Charlie. I smiled at him and then sat beside him. That was when things got awkward.

“Hey, Avril,” he started, lightly, “I’m thinking about asking Charlie to the masquerade ball... do you think she’ll say yes?” I wanted to tell him to lay off Charlie because she was all Jakes, but I didn’t want to hurt his feelings because he was just such a nice guy and then, saved by the woman herself, Charlie came and sat down at the table.

“Hey, guys!” She exclaimed happily. I greeted her happily and then got up to get my breakfast. Was it a bad idea to leave those two together? I looked around for Chase and then Tikaye appeared behind me,

“Hey,” I jumped right out of my skin when she snuck up on me, “I’m sick of this ball crap and it hasn’t even started yet. Aren’t you?” I was glad to know someone was still sane and not completely in love with the idea of masquerades and dancing. I was beginning to think I was the only one. They just weren’t my thing and apparently, they weren’t Tikaye’s either. I nodded once I regained my composure. If I wasn’t awake, then Tikaye certainly did the trick. I got my toast and then went back to the table and saw Jake who was sliding his finger against his thumb, like he always did when he was stressed. I shot him a worried glance and he shrugged and that was our mental convo. I said, ‘are you okay?’ and he had said, ‘I’m fine. Don’t try and fix something that’s not broken.’ But I knew he wasn’t fine. No matter how many times he said he was. I grimaced and then took my seat and then I asked Ashley what the deal was with me only having two classes and he said it was for ball-preparation. Why the heck would we need another six hours to prepare for such a horrible event that - if I went - would involve lots of falling over and sore toes to whomever I was to dance with? Disastrous. I looked to him and asked him,

“When the hell did we get told about this ball crap anyway?” He chuckled and then responded,

“When you were in detention at dinner yesterday,” Oh, now it all made sense. Finally, Chase came to the table but he had the sadness in his eyes again that always was pushed so far back, but still there at the same time. He exclaimed that he hated balls and that there was honestly no point in them and I definitely agreed with that statement. I glanced around, looking for Tegan, as I usually did and she was there with Emilee, telling her lots of things and laughing and smiling, so my job was done. When she was happy, I was happy. Jake still looked sad and stressed, however and that worried me.

“Jake, a word?” I asked, gesturing him to follow me. He and I went into the courtyard and I asked him, “are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he lied sternly, but I was not convinced.

“Look, I’m not gonna just sit here and watch you mope around, okay? So either you tell her or I will.” He looked at me and then a shadow appeared over his face,

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Wouldn’t I, Jake? I hate seeing you like this and if you don’t ask Charlie to the masquerade then Ashley will and you’ll be even more miserable!” I exclaimed to him, thankful for the rain that was crashing down hard on the bricks to drown out some of my almost yelling. He had to contemplate that. He ran a hand through his brown hair and then sighed in defeat.

“Fine.”

My work here was done. I was going to make Jake a lot happier but then that could confuse Charlie... I couldn’t dwell. I had some more research to do.

I walked to the library and then went straight back to the history section. It occurred to me that I should really know what the Valeskas looked like before I set out to kill one of them and so I went to the computer. After being distracted by many things like bejewelled 2 online and Plants vs. Zombies, I finally got to what I was supposed to be doing; using Google to find my potential murder victim... Perhaps that was the wrong word choice.  Eventually, I found out what the most recent Valeska looked like. She had dark hair and shiny, russet skin. Her eyes were so dark that they were almost black, but they did have a little red tint. It was a definite contrast to the traditional vampire being pale and dead-looking. Her name was Rayne and she was the one I had to kill. By the end of about three hours, I had finished my research and had to trudge off to stupid vampire tactics with Chelsea-B***h. This should be fun, I thought to myself, slightly bitterly. When I got into vampire tactics, Chelsea-B***h was at the door handing out flyers but she didn’t give me one because she didn’t think I was going - that and she probably didn’t want me ruining her dream of a fairytale. She was probably right. I wouldn’t go, but I couldn’t let her know that because that is weakness and b*****s like her could prey on that forever and that was not something I wanted to give her the satisfaction of. I took my seat beside Tikaye who also didn’t get a flyer. We were stuck with the having to read over everyone’s shoulders. I hated it when people did it to me, so I waited until they had finished. I have the patience of a Saint... Yeah, right. It read:

~Ladies and Gentlemen!~

Put your best foot forward and join in a dance or two! Who is it behind the mask? You’ll have no clue! Dances and masks, fun for hours on end and who knows? Maybe you’ll meet someone, just around the bend!

I put the stupid rhyming flyer down and rolled my eyes. It all seemed so teen- American-movie. It just was too superficial. Tikaye looked at me and then the flyer with a question in her eyes and then I gave her a look that said, ‘does it look like I would go to something like that?’ and then she nodded in agreement. Chelsea-B***h came up to me, just as everybody was settling,

“Hey, Chase is helping me out on the dance committee! We’re gonna be spending a lot of time together, y’know?” She told me,

“And I care about this why?” I prompted. It wasn’t like I was Chase’s girlfriend or anything so, it honestly didn’t bother me. It’d be great to have someone on the inside to ruin her night as much as we possibly could - not for everyone else, just for her.

“You looove him!” She taunted. Real mature. I looked at her with a look that said, ‘how old are you?’ I didn’t bother denying anything because she would just say some childish retort like, ‘denial is the first step’ and to be honest, I really couldn’t be bothered dealing with it. I just wanted to get through this pathetic class and go to my bed, but that wasn’t permitted. We had to ‘study,’ instead. When she noticed that I wasn’t affected by her comments, she gave up and then went to suck up to the teacher, who was buying everything she had to say and from what I overheard, Chase was only helping against his will because he’d punched Adam Jamerson and instead of punishing him with detention, he was in for a much worse fate... Organising, dances and Chelsea-B***h’s company. That was like a triple threat. I felt really sorry for him. Chelsea was annoying Tikaye and then Tikaye just called her a b***h. She had some self control alright. Unfortunately for her, though, the teacher heard it and she had to suffer the same fate as Chase. Maybe I should join it... It would purge Chelsea-B***h out of it, I was sure, but then, I had no idea how to organise a dance. Grimacing and arguing in protest, Tikaye stood up in outrage but the teacher disregarded her and continued the lesson and it was so boring. It was always boring in Vampire Tactics. Luckily it was lunch afterwards and I got to see my friends and congratulate Chase on punching Adam. Finally, we got to go lunch and then on my way down the massive amount of stairs, I thought about the Valeska vampire - Rayne Valeska - and how I needed to kill her. As I was contemplating this, I walked into Anton and he smiled and in the spur of the moment, I just went right out and said it,

“I think I need your help, Anton.” I had hoped I would never have to ask for help from someone from this wretched school, but Anton was a skilled strategist and I couldn’t defeat a Valeska without a strategy. Yes, I just admitted that and I don’t admit stuff like that ever. Nobody can know about this. Anton just smiled at me and led me to the teacher’s longue and there was - wait for it - an elevator. That was so not fair. We had to walk up and down all of those stairs while the teachers got their fancy elevators. Well, I felt undervalued to be completely honest because nobody appreciated the work we students had to go through everyday climbing up and down all of those stairs while the teachers just had to press a couple of buttons to get somewhere!