The Vampire Prince returns to High School (Book 2)

Flying Solo

"When are you meeting him?" Dad asked.

"Later today," I answered. "He had some stuff to do this morning."

"Well, I think it's nice that you're finally going out with friends," Mom supplied. "I was starting to wonder at what point you be tired of staying in your room all the time."

I let that one go. She did have a point. At this point, I was more worried about the fact that my dad would say I needed to say home. In retrospect, I should have seen this coming. It was super last minute and I was meeting a guy. 

"I want to meet this Alex," Dad suddenly said.

I took a deep breath trying to calm down. This was not happening. Where was this coming from? He hadn't asked to meet Carlos when I first told them about him and Sonia. 

"Dad, he's just a guy friend," I quickly said. "No, he's not even that yet. He's a classmate and we're just going to hang out."

"Then why are you worried about what to wear?" Mom asked. "If he's a classmate, he should already know how you dress like."

Internally, I screamed. Man, they wanted me to admit this 'Alex' was a potential boyfriend. Why did I have to ask Mom for advice? Quick, Rin, think of something.

"Well," I began, "it's because . . . I want to get new clothes which is why I said I have no clothes?"

Neither of them looked convinced. Great. Why was it that whenever I wanted to do something, I had to fight tooth and nail for it? 

"I'll be home early," I promised them. 

"I'm fine with it," Mom announced. She turned to Dad. "What do you think?"

Dad stood up and my stomach sank. "I'll take you," he said to our surprise. "He'll meet you outside and I can see what he looks like. I don't like the idea of letting you hang out with strangers. Once we eat lunch, I'll take you to the mall. Get dressed."

Wordlessly, I headed upstairs. I was back to square one. At least I still had three hours until my date. From now on, I think it would be better if I just snuck out at night. Alexander could make that happen. Heck. I just might stick to dates on my roof if this was how it was going to be all the time. I could just imagine how they were going to react if I ever told them I had a boyfriend.

From the moment I walked back into my room and when lunch was ready, I had managed to find a decent pair of shorts and a casual top in my closet. During that time, I even managed to send a message to Alexander informing him of what had happened, but he didn't reply. It seemed like I was flying solo.

Lunch was awkward. Instead of his usual weekend clothes (jeans and a t-shirt), Dad was well dressed like we were going out to a fancier place than the mall. Mom and I were more focused on our leftovers. I couldn't keep anything down. My stomach was in knots. It had nothing to do with going out in public with Alexander. I was more worried about my dad meeting 'Alex'. 

"I could take the shuttle," I told Dad as a last-ditch effort. "I know you wanted to work in the garden."

Dad waved away my words. "No. I already said I'll take you and I will."

I couldn't sit still on the way to the mall. Mom even decided to join us. She chatted away about an upcoming baby shower for a friend at work. As we got closer and closer, I was ready to throw up. Forget butterflies, this was a hurricane. 

We arrived at the mall all too soon. There were so many cars and people. This was a bad idea. I regret everything. What if I told him 'Alex' ditched me? No, that would reflect badly on Alexander. 

Dad pulled up to the curb. "Ask him to come out," he said.

I looked down at my phone. No messages. "He's not here yet," I squeaked out. "We were just going to end up meeting later."

Mom placed a hand on Dad's arm. "It's fine," she said. "Go have some fun sweetheart. We'll meet your friend when we come to pick you up."

I looked at Dad. He stared at me through the review mirror. He was ready to say something but my phone rang. I might have had a minor heart attack. Without looking at the screen, I quickly answered it.

"Hello?"

"I'm here."

"Here? Who- ?" I looked down at my screen. It was Alexander. "Oh. Y-yeah. I'm here too. Meet me at Entrance B."

"See you soon," he said and ended the call.

I stared at my phone for the longest time. Was I saved? 

"Well?" Dad prompted. 

"He-he's on his way," I stammered out. 

As we waited, I chewed on my thumbnail. Even if they didn't know it, they were going to meet my boyfriend. At this point, I was glad that I hadn't eaten anything for lunch. I didn't think I would be able to keep anything down. Just when I thought I was going to pass out, there he was. 

Alexander walked through the crowd like he owned the place. Everyone turned to look at him. They hurried out of his way. I covered my face. Why couldn't I get buried right now? Moments later, Alexander stopped beside the car. Stunned silence followed.

Mom was the first to speak. "You must be Alex," she said. "My name is Emily and this is my husband, John."

"Nice to meet you, ma'am, sir," Alexander responded. "I'm Alex." His eyes flickered towards me then back to my parents. 

"Rin hasn't told us much about you," Mom began. 

Please, someone, kill me. 

Alexander cleared his throat. "We just met actually. We don't know much about each other." He jabbed his finger back at the mall. "A couple of friends and I wanted to hang out and we invited Rin."

"So, it isn't just you two?" Mom asked. She sounded disappointed.

"No, ma'am," he answered. "We're just all getting here at different times."

"Alright," Mom sighed. To me, she said, "have fun, sweetie. Call us when you're ready to leave."

I didn't look at my dad. Alexander opened the door for me and I jumped out. My phone buzzed. It was a message from my dad. It read, 'If he tries anything, you tell me.'

Before closing the door, I gave my dad a thumbs up. I waved goodbye as my dad pulled away from the curb. I didn't move from that spot until they were out of sight. 

"Well, I think that turned out alright."

I turned to Alexander. "This was a bad idea."

"Look at it this way, the cat isn't out of the bag just yet." He held out his arm at me. "Come on. Our date is waiting."

I sighed. "Yeah. Okay."