Vampire Days

Chapter 49: Troublemaker

"We're fucked," Austin whispered, clinging tighter on my uniform. 

"Shh, shh. You'll be fine. I got this."

"You old men are so mean to Jade and her boyfriend. Can't you just respect her love life? Don't you have any respect for love itself?" a girl's voice said but I let go of Austin when I felt the cold muzzle of a gun on my temple. Someone shouted. Another hand yanked my shoulder and there were more shouts of alarm, from fear of whatever violence may ensue.

"Hey, hey, that. . .we talked about this!" one of the school guards came running with an old professor who just came in from the faculty entrance. "Put your gun down!"

I raised my hands and stepped away from Austin  who joined a group of students where the girl who spoke stood. The bodyguard reluctantly lowered his gun but he's staring at me as if I was somebody dangerous. To the witnesses, I was just a simple university student, maybe a little annoying for provoking two bodyguards, but I was unarmed and I looked weaker than most guys. I could never get rid of this appearance even if I wanted to; like I was starving and haven't slept for days. To some of these onlookers, Austin and I were the victims, which was the truth of course.

"My friends I was telling you about," I heard Austin's soft whisper but I could also hear his heart hammering hard inside his chest. I looked at the girl holding his hand with her arm around his shoulder and the girl nodded at me, so I shrugged, smiling apologetically.

"Quit bullying a wimp, you baldie!" the girl shouted again. We were attracting a lot of attention which wasn't always good. But I started it and we expected it to escalate this far.

"Is this okay? You guys pointing a gun at me?" I asked.

"We're supposed to keep you away from Ms. Ramirez. You were warned."

"Have mercy, Uncle. What would Jesus do, man?" I asked, looking one guard straight to the eye. I glanced at Austin to reassure him that it was fine. What I did was just another way to talk to him and at least now I know who his friends are.

"What's going on?" Totoro's gentle voice asked so I looked up at him. Suddenly I felt like I was in trouble again.

"Good morning, Prof. Dalton," I said and heard similar greetings until he spoke again.

"What is with this commotion? It's giving me indigestion so early in the morning."

"This troublemaker here made a scene to jeopardize our job," the bodyguard tightened his grip on my shoulder and I gritted my teeth to level my self-control. He will die if I retaliate, as simple as that.

"There's no need to let this matter escalate. We better talk about this  in the faculty room, Professor," the old professor suggested and he smiled at the man holding me. "Keep your hand off our student, okay? This isn't a place for barbarism."

The bodyguard let me go in a manner that was normally offensive but I let that slide. One thing was for sure, the man has a serious grip because my shoulder felt like it was crushed and dislocated.

"You hurt him!"

"I'm fine, Austin."

Austin glared at the bodyguard but he brushed him aside. That's when the murmur from the crowd registered to me.

"Why would anyone bring bodyguards inside the campus anyway? Can't have enough of showing off?"

"If one student is the problem, she should've just transferred. What a pretentious bitch."

"It's that guy's fault. How crazy was that anyway?"

"Annoying. These freshmen really think they're so hot, always making a scene and causing problems for everybody."