"You hang around the Frog brothers, right?" you questioned the new kid.
You had spotted him a couple times over the summer on the pier with the local weirdos, and of course, when you saw him in your first period class, you had to find out who this dude was.
"Uh, yeah," he shrugged.
You narrowed your eyes. "What's their deal? They're both kind of creepy, and they don't go to school."
Once again, the blond boy shrugged. "Their parents aren't very accessible, if you know what I mean." He pantomimed smoking a joint. "They probably don't go to school because they don't have to."
"That doesn't explain their both apparent paranoia of the supernatural."
He began to grow fidgety. "Yeah. I guess that's pretty strange, but, uh, I'm sure they have valid reasons."
"Would you happen to know of any of these reasons?" you pressed. "Or are you just as loony as them?"
He gave you a sideways grin. "I do, and maybe I am."
__________
You slid behind a sale rack displayed just outside the store. You looked between the hanging clothes to see he had vanished from sight. You got on your tiptoes to try and get a better view.
"Are you following me?"
The voice startled you, and you whipped around, wide-eyed to face Sam. "Whatever do you me- yeah." You knew there was no hiding it.
"You could've just said 'Hey, Sam. Can I come with you?'" His impression of your voice was incredibly awful, but nonetheless amusing.
You rolled your eyes. "Then I couldn't be discreet, which as you can tell, I need practice in."
"So, why are you following me?"
"I wanted to know about the weird shit the Frog lunatics believe in is real," you admitted. You'd be lying if you didn't want to believe it too. Too much happened in Santa Carla for you to chock it down to logical occurrences. "Like werewolves and vampires and stuff."
Sam scoped the area wildly and grabbed your arm, dragging you to the familiar comic shop. "Edgar? Alan? We gotta talk."
The two somber looking guys came to the counter.
"What is it, Sam?" the one you recognized as Alan asked. He looked you up and down, making you uncomfortable. "This one a blood sucker too?"
"Woah now," you interjected. "I don't suck anything, thank you very much. Let alone blood. And what do you mean too?"
"Sam's brother had an.. incedent not too long ago," Edgar responded cautiously. "So what is the issue?"
"Y/N wants to know about what's going on in Santa Carla."
The brothers turned to you. Alan spoke first. "As a local, you should know that many strange things occur in our lovely town."
You nodded. "Yeah, but is it really... you know, monsters?"
"That's relative," Edgar began. "Anyone can be a monster. What we deal with are creatures straight from Satan himself."
"Sam!" A voice came from the store entrance. There stood a guy, maybe 17, 18, with dark hair and pretty eyes. "I thought I'd find you here. Mom wants you home soon."
"Mike, I'm busy," Sam muttered.
Michael looked bored back at him. "Sammy, tell your friends bye. You gotta go home now."
"That's your brother?" you asked in disbelief.
Sam looked confused. "Yeah."
You looked over at Michael again. "He's hot."
Sam rolled his eyes. "He's got a girlfriend," he informed you, looking a bit irritated.
"Do you?"
"Uh, what?" he replied, now confused.
You smirked. "Just thought maybe both of you Emerson boys worked your way into relationships quickly."
"No," he answered finally. "I don't." He began to turn to follow his brother.
"Good." His red cheeks fueled you still just a little further. "Then no one will be jealous of all the time we're gonna spend when you explain to me about vampires."
Idk about this one. I kinda like it, I kinda don't. I do like the length tho. It's not horribly long and not ridiculously short. M'kay.
~Mariah