Anna finished brushing her long, raven hair and put on her favorite green shirt. She was going out tonight, but not to hunt. No, this time she was going out for fun. She put on her coat and checked herself in the mirror one last time. Even she had to admit, she looked pretty nice.
After making sure she had enough money on her, Anna sat down on the couch to wait. Luke had agreed to pick her up at 6:00, and it was now, according to Anna's watch, 6:02.
By 6:18, Anna started getting anxious; she was starting to wonder if she'd made a mistake – if she'd gotten the time wrong, or maybe even the date. When the doorbell finally rang, Anna hurried off the couch to answer it.
Even though she knew who'd be on the other side, she looked through the peephole anyway. Just as she'd expected, Luke was standing there. His hands were shoved into his pockets, and he was bouncing on his toes anxiously. Anna quickly grabbed her keys and swung the door open.
"Hi." Luke said as soon as he saw her. "Sorry we're late. I would have called you, but..." he trailed off, looking vaguely apologetic.
"It's ok." Anna told him. Then she added, "I'm sorry I don't have a phone...maybe I really should get one." The two started down the hall towards the elevator.
They waited for the elevator in silence, Anna's mind racing desperately for something to say. She never had been good at making conversation, even when she wasn't woefully out of practice. Fortunately, the elevator came almost immediately for once and quickly sped them to the ground floor. Once outside, Luke only spent a minute looking around.
"Over there." he said, pointing across the parking lot to a car idling in the center of the isle. "Come on – we better hurry."
They strode quickly across the parking lot. As they approached the car, Anna could see that Conner was sitting in the front seat while Zev was lounging in the back. Anna recognized the driver as one of the players from the football game she'd been forced to attend. Luke walked straight up to the passenger's seat where Conner was sitting happily and opened the door.
"Out." he said simply, looking down at the small, fair-haired boy.
"But – I'm already here, see? I've got my seatbelt on and everything." Conner replied, tugging at it in demonstration. Luke, however, was unmoved.
"Out." he repeated, this time with more force. Dejectedly, Conner unbuckled his seatbelt and slid out of the car.
As Conner climbed into the back seat next to Zev, Luke opened the door wider and looked at Anna, who'd simply stood there, watching the scene. Luke smiled at her as he gestured that she should sit.
"What about Conner?" she asked, feeling guilty at the prospect of taking someone else's spot. Out of the corner of her eye, Anna could see Conner sitting up straighter, hopeful that he might get his way after all. But Colin leaned over the passenger seat to talk to her.
"He knows he doesn't get the front seat." he told her. "It's reserved. Ladies first."
"Oh," Anna replied. "Alright then."
This was logic Anna understood perfectly; she'd been raised with this idea. It was only recently she found out not everyone thought this way. So without further ado, she got into the car.
Luke got quickly into the back seat, forcing Conner into the middle. As soon as Luke's door was shut, Colin took off. "We're gonna be late." he mumbled to himself.
Conner, however, had more immediate concerns on his mind. "I was already sitting there...why can't I ever have the front seat?"
"That's not the way it works, and you know it," Colin said over his shoulder, a trace of annoyance in his voice. "Even if there weren't a lady in the car, you still wouldn't get the front seat – Luke would."
"The only time you'll ever get the front seat is when it's just you and Colin!" Zev interjected, grinning rather wolfishly. Conner grumbled a bit but didn't say anything more. Clearly, it was something he already knew.
The rest of the trip was filled with the usual chatter Anna had come to expect from students at school - homework, football, plans for the rest of the weekend. It was nice to hear them talk – and to be part of it. And it made the ride so short, Anna barely noticed when they turned into the parking lot. Anna and Colin each got out of the car quickly, and Anna turned around to watch the three boys in the back tumble out.
"Hurry up, guys! The movie starts in five minutes!" Colin called out over his shoulder, already heading towards the theater. Anna turned and hurried after him, glancing at her watch. Behind her, she could hear the three boys yelling at each other as they ran to catch up.
As they approached the theater, Anna spotted Mia and Carmine waiting by the ticket booth, looking anxious. Mia spotted them first, and waved as they approached.
"We didn't think you guys were going to come! We were getting ready to go inside."
"We already bought our tickets." Carmine said as the five latecomers quickly formed a line and began purchasing tickets of their own.
"What took you so long?" Mia asked. Anna apologized, even though it wasn't her fault.
"We were running a little behind." she told them by way of explanation. Mia just nodded vaguely.
"Come on!" Luke said urgently, ushering everyone through the door Zev was already holding open.
They jogged down the long hall to the theater – the last one, of course – and quickly passed through the now closed wooden doors.
Inside it was already dark, the only light coming from a preview showing loudly on the screen. Slowly, the group made their way towards the seats. Anna didn't need to wait for her eyes to adjust to the darkness – one of the advantages of being a vampire. Instead, what slowed her down was the sheer number of people in the audience.
Anna scanned the crowd, trying to find any place where the seven of them could sit together. But the best she could come up with was a group of four seats in the front corner.
Anna was about to suggest they split up when Luke gently took her hand. She felt butterflies rising up in her stomach, and she was glad that the darkness hid the trace of red she was sure was on her cheeks.
"Up here." Luke whispered to her. Zev and Conner were already making their way up the steps towards the top of the theater. Anna allowed herself to be guided up the stairs to a group of seats that had somehow eluded her three rows from the very back.
As they approached the row with the empty seats, Luke whispered to Anna, "There's a group of seats here sort of close to the middle. But watch out – there's like nine seats with people in them."
Anna smiled quietly to herself. She'd been about to point out that there were only eight people seated, but thought better of it. Luke was obviously trying to be helpful, guiding her in a darkness he had no way of knowing she could easily see through. And it had been such a long time since Anna had been the benefactor of such chivalry. How could she point out to him that she could see better than he could possibly imagine?
Instead, she whispered a thank you and followed him nimbly up the aisle. As they inched past the people already seated at the edge of the row, Anna glanced back over her shoulder to see Mia subtly guiding Carmine up the last of the steps and pointing out the seats that Luke had spotted. Once seated, with Luke on her right and Carmine on her left, Anna settled down to watch the first action movie she'd ever seen.
***
"That was awesome!" Conner said through a mouthful of hamburger. Zev rolled his eyes. But to Anna's surprise, instead of making fun of him, Zev actually did agree with Conner.
"Of course it was." he said. "After all, I picked it!"
After the movie, the seven of them had decided to grab something to eat. There was an all-night diner about a block from the theater, so they simply walked over.
It turned out, the movie had been quite an icebreaker. From the moment it had let out a little over an hour ago, the group had been talking almost nonstop. When conversation about the movie started to run dry, they'd simply switched to other topics. The usual things came up – school, various teachers, and of course, football. Anna remembered seeing Colin play; he'd been very good, and she told him so.
"Thank you." he told her, obviously pleased despite trying his best not to look it.
"You're going to give him a big head." Luke warned jokingly.
"You just say that 'cause you're jealous!" Colin shot back, the look of pride turning to one of slight annoyance.
"I'm not jealous! I could play better than you if I wanted."
"Then why don't you?" Carmine cut in.
Luke looked over at her, surprised. He looked as if he couldn't tell whether she was teasing him or asking a genuine question. He thought about it, not responding right away. So she asked again.
"Why don't you play?"
"I know it's weird to say, but I'm not really into football." Luke confessed, shrugging. "I like track better."
"That's Luke for you." Zev said. "Not much of a team-player, are you? A regular lone-wolf."
Zev's comment sent the other boys into fits of laughter, leaving the girls glancing sideways at each other, trying to figure out what the in-joke was. As the laughter died down, Colin turned back to the girls.
"In all seriousness, though, we do have a good team. I mean, some of the guys are no-talent, wastes of space, but there's a couple of guys on the team that are amazing. We could go all the way this year."
"All the way where?" Anna asked, and the boys started laughing all over again. Even Mia and Carmine joined in this time.
"That's a good question!" Zev snickered. "If you think you can go to any championship games with people like Boyd on your team, you're more of an optimist than I thought!"
As the laughter continued, Anna saw with relief that her ignorance had been taken as a joke. She was glad that for once, no one seemed to notice her blunder.
"We can make it. Just bench Boyd and we'll be fine." Colin said with confidence.
"Well, good luck getting anyone to watch you." Luke told him. "Even if you guys did end up actually going somewhere, no one's going to watch. Nobody wants to be out at night anymore – not even to see the amazing Colin Boehm play!"
And with that simple statement, the whole mood seemed to shift for Anna. No longer was she talking and laughing with friends. Instead, she was in the midst of yet another conversation about the strange and growing attacks on people in her town. Anna glanced at Mia and Carmine, noticing that they looked almost as uncomfortable as she felt.
"Speaking of those attacks, have any of you noticed that most of the victims are kids?" Colin asked.
"It does seem like they're mostly our age." Luke replied, thinking.
"Not the girl at the movie theater last week." Carmine said quietly. Anna's stomach lurched at the horrible reminder of the girl laying like a broken toy beneath Fredrick's feet.
"Yeah, I heard about that." Colin said. And if possible, he became even more serious. "She was in pretty bad shape, wasn't she? I heard she was taken away in an ambulance and everything."
There was silence for a minute, and Anna knew Mia and Carmine were busy staring at the table almost as hard as she was. Realizing the change in mood, Zev spoke up.
"This is a depressing topic – let's talk about something more fun. Like the fact that Colin'll never go to state championships if Zack Boyd tackles another member of his own team again!"
"That was just pathetic." Colin said, disgust obvious in his voice.
"He really did that?" Mia asked, her curiosity overcoming the discomfort she'd felt just moments before.
"Of course he did." Luke chimed in. "I told you he was the most pathetic thing to ever happen to football."
"At least his mom thinks he's great." Colin said, rolling his eyes.
Even Anna had to laugh at the thought of Zack Boyd making such a huge mistake. And she could just picture Mrs. Boyd there, cheering on her son, oblivious to his shortcomings.
"Are you kidding?" Luke replied. "She's the only one who does! He'll literally never be too terrible for her to stop admiring."
As the boys continued recounting all of Zach Boyd's numerous mistakes both on and off the field, Anna could feel the mood lift. She even allowed herself to relax just a little bit. But one glance over at Mia sent Anna's heart plummeting once again.
The two exchanged guilty glances, knowing that they'd put off acting for far too long. The pressure might be off them now, but this was by no means over. Inwardly, Anna sighed, wishing that she could have just one night out without having Fredrick and Jacqueline ruining it for her.