I Like Your Fangs

Chapter 19

Fuck all of them. I'm finished. I'm going to pack my things tonight and grab the next Greyhound out of here. After an hour spent in Principal Ryden's office, and hiding out in the library the entire day, I barrel through the school's front doors on the signal of the dismissal bell. Students flock outside and I zip my jacket higher. Up ahead, I spot Jenna, dressed in all freakishly black with her flaming tresses whipping in the wind. When in the hell did she go goth?

Leah appears on the other side of Jenna's  Jeep and slides in on the passenger side. I have been replaced, nice.

"Rachel!"

I'm done with people. Don't answer. Just keep walking.

"Rachel!"

Stick in your earphones, yep, blast some shitty boy-band music. We have quite a selection, how about some angsty teenage songs?

A hand suddenly rips out my two ear buds and I squeal as Tim comes out of nowhere.

"Tim please not now," I dodge around him.

"You owe me an explanation," he hisses, glancing around himself as people pass by.

"What the hell is with everyone and saying that to me?" I panic, "I don't owe anyone shit."

Tim grips me by my bicep and reels me in, "I know you're running from something.  I'm not dumb. Let me help."

"That's another thing! Stop trying to help! Why do you feel the need to keep showing up!" My voice is escalating, and people are starting to take notice.

"Because I love you, you incredibly  stubborn, self-centered, asshole!"

I pause, watching Tim's gaze fall to the sidewalk, and I suddenly decompress. Reaching out, I lightly rest a palm on his smooth cheek, grazing the light stubble on his jaw with my thumb.

"You love me?"

Tim exhales, as if disappointed in himself.

"I wish I didn't, but you're everywhere. And, you never let me protect you. Even when we were together."

"I never had to be protected."

"I know you do now," Tim looks back up.

I sigh, "You wouldn't be able to, not what I'm against."

"You've never even let me try. You pushed me away before, I won't let you do it again."

Tim grasps my hand in his now, "Something changed, and I thought it was because you were afraid of what we would become. But I need to know what happened to you."

I meet his gaze, which smolders and reaches out to me, begging for an answer. And I feel it, deep within, that hint of something more that only Tim could ever coax out of me.

"Okay, let's go somewhere."

Tim grins, and leads to me his car. We get in, and as I click my seatbelt into place, I get a glimpse of Lukas, just as he speeds away on his motorcycle. I pack away those thoughts far into the back of my mind, and focus on Tim who now drives us back to his house. We go up to his room, dropping our bags and books along the way, my load significantly lighter already.

I take a seat on Tim's bed and wait as he kicks of his sneakers and finally sits beside me.

"Want anything?"

I give a tight smile and he shakes his head immediately, "Right, sorry, forgot."

"By the way, what does that mean now?"

I smooth out the creases in my sweater, "Well, it means that now, I'm going to have to start drinking blood as my main source of nutrition. I can still eat human food, but it won't be the same."