Eternally Blue (Sunset Cliffs Vampire #1) (Paranormal Teen Romance) (7 page)

I followed him along, now we were really getting looked at from other students. I figured as much. He attracts attention. He slowed in front of a door, and after looking at my schedule I was sad to see we were there already. “See you in English class”. He winked and walked way before I could even say thanks. I looked back at my schedule for English class, which was last period. I walked in and handed my schedule to the teacher who had apparently gotten warning I was coming because she greeted me with a textbook, syllabus and seat assignment. I walked by Stacey and another girl from our lunch table and Stacey grinned “You ditched us at lunch for Noah? I didn't think he had our lunch”.

“
I, um, I just wanted to get some su-“ I was suddenly pushed forward almost onto Stacey’s lap but caught myself on her desk.

“
Oww! Holding up the line!” I turned to see a guy grinning at me.

“
Leave her alone Sean, Blue are you ok?” Stacey gave the boy an evil glare before turning to make sure I was ok.

“
Yeah I’m fine,” I turned to him, “I’m sorry about that”.

“
The pleasure is mine Blue” He said with a slight bow.

“
Ugh, Sean, you are such a creep”, Stacey called from behind me.

He shot her a mock, nasty look then turned back to me, “So now we’ve been introduced, sorry about your luck getting stuck staying with Stacey; I didn’t think she hung out with girls whose name doesn’t end in ‘Y’. You can stay at my house whenever you get tired of her”.

Stacey laughed and I shifted my weight to my other foot, suddenly uncomfortable, this guy is cute, but are him and Stacey joking or do they really hate each other. Luckily I didn't have time to say the wrong thing either by being nice to him or mean to him because the bell rang and I turned to find my seat.

That period and the next passed by pretty quickly, I knew the material being covered and anyways I didn't think my teachers would call on me the first day so I had plenty of time to stress about last period and seeing Noah again. Lindsey kept looking at me smiling in 5
^th
period but we had assigned seats and mine was all the way in the back since I’m new and everyone else’s seats had already been assigned. When the bell rang I quickly gathered my books I had accumulated to hurry off to last period to see Noah but Lindsey caught up with me before I made it to the door.

“
Where is your last class again?” She asked, while looking through my stack of books to find my schedule, “I want to meet you there afterwards since I’m giving you a ride home”.

“
Oh, um” I shifted my books to get her the slip of paper.

“
Oh great, that’s right down the hall from mine, come on, I’ll show you where to go”.

After she waved me off at the door of my class, Noah materialized and promptly took all of my books. He frowned and said “I see Stacey forgot to get you a book bag when she was so busy picking out your bathing suit”.

“
Huh? But how did you know that?” That last part trailed off because he was already gone, standing at the teacher’s desk showing her my schedule and nodding in my direction since his hands were full. I was walking toward them as she pointed my seat out to him. I attempted to follow him but she stopped me, “Blue it’s nice to have you, I see you’ve already made some friends” she smiled nicely at me before continuing, “Here are your materials, if you have trouble, feel free to email me or stay after class”.

I nodded and mumbled a distracted thank you before turning quickly to try to catch Noah before the bell rang. No such luck though, he had already put my books down and was having a conversation from his seat with another student as I made my way to my seat. I sighed and sat down, trying to put my books under my seat as quietly as possible as the teacher started class. Between the new shift in my sleep schedule, with staying awake all day and such, and the new long school day, I was pretty tired.

I was feeling pretty sorry for myself as I was putting the last of my books under my desk, when I saw a piece of paper sticking out of the top of the English book sitting on my desk. I furrowed my brows as I pulled it out thinking it must have been notes from a previous student, left in there by accident, so I was surprised to see it had my name on it.

Blue,

Do you need a ride home? - Noah

I blinked in surprise and as I looked up Noah caught my eye and held my gaze until I managed a shy smile and shook my head. His face fell slightly which he seemed to catch and correct quickly, then turned around to face the teacher again. My insides were screaming and there was a temper tantrum going on in my stomach but my head was being more reasonable. I promised Lindsey and Sue that Lindsey would drive me home and I didn't want to cause any more trouble. Noah would have to wait. Besides, he probably was just being nice, surely he knew Stacey had practice and was just being a good neighbor. I forced him out of my head, with the exception of sneaking occasional glances at him, but he didn’t turn around again.

After class I took my time gathering my books since I knew Lindsey had to meet me outside of class and was surprised that Noah appeared by my desk and scooped up my books. Smiling he said “at least until we get you a book bag”. Oh man, my heart was beating so fast. He is so perfect. I just laughed at his remark and let him follow me into the hall with my books. Lindsey was waiting and looked really excited.

“
Oh my gosh!” she was squealing but trying to keep her voice down “Sean and Jake just invited us to the beach with them, I already told Stacey where you’d be and she OK’ed it with her mom if you want to come. Say you’ll come!” She was practically dancing now, then when she slowed enough to see that Noah was standing there with me leaned against a locker, so casually sexy in spite of his heavy load of books he was carrying, ok well that last part was my thought, but she fumbled then smiled, eyes lifted in semi shock. “Oh! Noah, hi! Um… did you want to come with us to the beach?” Noah and I looked at each other and I gave him a begging look.

“
Sure – on one condition, I’ll take her home to get her suit since your house is the other way and I’ll assume you need to get yours too. Don't want to keep the boys waiting.” He winked, and her I both sighed in relief.

“
Assumption correct”, she turned to me, “is that ok with you?”

“
Yeah, yeah, go!” Me and Noah both flashed our dazzling smiles at her, which seemed to strike her because she stood there looking at us strange for a second then turned and practically skipped off leaving me and Noah standing there awkwardly. “Well,” he cleared his throat “I guess I’ll be taking you home after all”.

“
Give me some of these”. I rolled my eyes and reached for my books but he was too fast and ducked way leaving me to follow him down the hall, until he stopped at another locker, his I assumed since he was opening the lock, and he started putting them in. I started to protest but he said “You won’t be needed these tonight”.

I didn't have anything good to say to that so I shrugged content to watch him. We were both quiet on the ride to my house and I began wondering if he really was just doing Stacey a favor by being nice to me. I looked myself over and started to smooth my hair and caught him silently looking at me perplexed and I blushed in embarrassment. “What?”

“
What yourself?” He reached over and put his hand on mine, which made my whole body tense, and turned his eyes back to the road. “What’s wrong?”

I swear my heart stopped for a moment at his warm touch and soft voice. “Nothing” I sighed, and I genuinely meant it. He looked at me again and frowned, hand still on mine. He squeezed it slightly, “Do tell” he murmured. The only thing my mind was thinking was that he was holding my hand and all I managed to squeak out was “I’m just excited to go to a beach is all”.

He glanced over again and nodded, thoughtfully. He let it go though and lightened the mood. “Yeah I’m excited too, I haven’t been in too long, do you surf?” Me? Surf? I hadn’t thought about it. I suppose I sort of surfed when back at home, willing myself to be light as a feather under the moonlight and using my body as a board to glide over the waves. “It’s not a tough question” he laughed, “I don't surf but those dizzy kids do is why I asked”.

“
Who are the dizzies and why do you call them kids? Sean and Lindsey are our age” I said indignantly.

He laughed, “The dizzies is what I’ve heard Stacey’s group of friends at school referred to as, I guess it rubbed off on me”. He smiled as he pulled in my driveway, “Go change, I will meet you back here in 10”.

I fumbled in my pocket for the lone key to the house and pulled out my cell phone and saw it was lit up with a new message. Lindsey: on my way to the beach, I’m so excited!

I smiled as I turned my key in the lock, genuinely happy for her. What I saw in the living room wiped the smile off my face. “Annie! What are you doing here?” I was breathless as I slammed the door quickly shut. He was draped over the couch, one leg hanging over the armrest. He looked me up and down lazily “Hey sis, your lookin’ tan”.

I walked over to him until I was standing over him “answer me” I hissed. “You know you’re not allowed to come here, how did you even find me? What if someone else was home?” I was horrified at the thought of Lindsey being right behind me as I entered.

“
Aww sis, don't be like that” he drawled. “You know I’m too quick for any ol’ human”, he spat the last word out then added “They showed your picture all over the place, it wasn’t that hard for me to find you and I wasn’t even looking. You’ll be lucky if some rogue vamp doesn’t come for you. By the way, you smell good enough to eat”.

My eyes flashed and I backed up a step “You are going to be in some kind of trouble, I’m telling mom. Why can’t you give me this time? Just because you chose not to do this, doesn’t mean you can ruin my time.” Now I didn’t even care that I was pleading. His eyes softened, “Your fiancé asked me to check up on you. He wants you to stop this little charade so you can go home and plan your wedding”.

I winced “Annie, I highly doubt that Nikolai would put you up to this, it’s not his style, but just in case; I’m not going back early on account of him and you can report that to whomever you like, but you won’t will you since you’re not supposed to even be here”. He looked like he was about to argue that fact but there was a knock on the door before he could get the first word out, both our eyes got large and like that, he was gone.

Chapter 4

My heart was beating wildly as I looked out the window, Noah was already here, oh no. I ran to let him in flustered. “I’m so sorry! I lost track of time, let me get my swimsuit.” I ran up the stairs to get my things and I couldn’t help but think how close of a call that was. Why didn't my brother hear him coming? He must have been really distracted.

After changing I gave myself a last look over and forced him out of my thoughts before flouncing downstairs. Noah wasn’t waiting for me at the bottom, and when I looked around for him, I found him in the living room with a weird look on his face. “What?” I asked, alarmed. He spun to face me and his eyes lit up with his appreciation as they took me in but when they met mine, they began to flicker with restrained joy. I blushed as I came to a stop in front of him.

I snapped myself back to reality when I realized I was still staring at him stupidly and flashed my best I’m such a ditz smile as I turned to the door in an attempt to cover my awkwardness but he gently grabbed my arm, stopping me and looking slightly amused like I was I was something he couldn’t figure out asked “Don't you want to bring a shirt? Or shoes? Or a purse?” I frowned as I looked down at myself wearing only a bathing suit, and then took a look at him. He had on a shirt over his trunks, and flip flops. Ok so I need to accessorize. I rolled my eyes, “I’ll be right back” I was about to trudge back up the stairs but he stopped me with “I have your clean shirt in my car anyways, just thought you might get chilly tonight,” he shrugged.

I grinned at him gratefully and locked up the house before we left. We didn't say much on the way, he was humming along to music and I was looking out the window fighting back tears of anger as I thought of Annie going through the trouble and against the will of the elders just to tell me Nikolai wanted me to stop playing games. GAMES! Why on earth would Nikolai think I want to marry him right now and everyone else for that matter since I’m apparently being calling his fiancé already? I shouldn’t be in this situation until I am at least 20. Is this being rushed just because we are ‘supposed’ to be together because of our nearness in age and similarities in our family background? Whatever happened to choice? He seemed to adore me but in the ‘I’m going to be an elder someday and you’re going to be my prized wife’ kind of way. He was always going on about the laws of the elders and hunting, and humans being a lesser species.