As she got into her PJ’s she flipped open her phone to text her friends. She sent a group text to Jen, Liv, Kate, Emily and Taryn.

Hey Guys! I’m back. I’ll be at school tomorrow. Can’t wait to see you all and catch up! XOXO

She couldn’t wait to get to school, to see her friends and to catch up on what she’d missed since she’d been gone. She was feeling a little hesitant and anxious to see how this episode had blown up, but knew she’d be able to handle it. After all, she did have some new powers.

Chapter Nine

Rachel woke up to her phone buzzing like crazy. She opened it to find a flurry of texts from her friends, all excited to see her, but curious as to what happened and why she disappeared for a few days. Suddenly, she began to feel nervous about going back to school. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all, she thought to herself. Maybe Benji was right? Maybe she should have stayed with him. Then, she began to miss him terribly. She wished she had been a little nicer to him on the ramparts where they last spoke, but there was nothing she could do about it now. She had to forge on; she had to go to school.

As she got out of bed, she saw the sun was beaming through her drawn blinds. Part of her wanted to open her blinds and look out the window, but the other part of her knew she could get singed if she did. She fumbled around the satchel for Hex Lotion and found a few tubes of it in the front pocket. She quickly applied it and waited for it to harden to her skin. She hoped it wasn’t too late to apply it, but she hadn’t been out in the sun yet, so figured it would be fine.

Then, she opened her closet door. She felt refreshed to see all her clothes again, waiting for her just as she’d left them. She thought about what outfit would be best to wear on her first day back at school after she had been missing and turned into a vampire. Nothing jumped out at her.

Then, she saw her Mavi dark skinny jeans and a flannel button down shirt. She figured this would be a subtle choice, which wouldn’t call any additional attention to her. That’s what she wanted to avoid.

As she finished perfecting her outfit, she quickly put her makeup on and ran downstairs for breakfast. Her stomach was grumbling, and she hoped a bowl of cereal would suffice, knowing that what she really needed to do was feed. This was beginning to get trickier and trickier.

She didn’t want to be late for school, so she quickly scarfed down her bowl of Lucky Charms and ran out into the back seat of the car. She didn’t want to jump in the front and take it from Sarah, who was still getting ready. As she got in, she saw her brother, Mark, sitting there on the opposite side, with his headphones on, totally oblivious to the world.

“Rachel?” Mark said, sounding surprised.

“Mark! Hi!” Rachel replied.

“Wait? When? How?” Mark said, stuttering.

Rachel laughed, “I’m back. I’m ok now!” She assumed that’s what he was trying to ask her.

“But, when?” Mark asked, still surprised.

“I came back last night and went right to bed. I don’t think you were home,” Rachel said.

Mark leaned over and gave her a big hug. This was the first time she ever hugged her brother, or at least the first she can remember. She realized her absence must have really affected the family if Mark was happy to see her back.

“I’m so glad you’re back, Rach,” Mark said. “I was really worried about you.”

“Really?” Rachel asked surprised.

“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep. It’s been really hard for me. For all of us, actually,” Mark said.

“I know it has,” Rachel responded. “It’s been hard for me, too. I am just so happy to be back home.”

“Please don’t do that again,” Mark said. “It was scary.”

Rachel never realized how much Mark loved and cared about her. She never thought of him as having feelings or being sensitive, or even realizing that she existed in the world. But this experience proved to her that she really did matter and that Mark did love and care about her. Suddenly she felt better about coming back home and leaving the castle.

As her mom and sister stepped into the car, she sat quietly in the back seat thinking about what was about to happen to her. She was worried sick in anticipation of arriving to school. She hoped she would be received well and that people wouldn’t pay too much attention to her. She couldn’t help but wonder why this was a recurring theme in her life. Why was she always the center of attention at AHS?

“Do you kids have any plans after school today?” her mom asked.

“I have practice,” Mark said. “I’ll be done at five.”

“I’m going out with some friends after school,” Sarah said.

“Where are you going?” her mom asked.

“Not sure yet, the mall?” Sarah replied.

“How are you getting home?” her mom asked.

“Amanda will bring me home,” she said.

“And you Rachel?” her mom asked in a skeptical voice.

“Um, I don’t really have any plans after school today,” Rachel said.

“Well, then, I’ll pick you up at 3:30 outside of school. If you don’t disappear again.” Her mom said in a snarky tone.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rachel asked defensively.

Sarah turned around and mouthed don’t worry.

“You know darn well what that means, young lady. You better watch out,” her mom said.

She slunk down in her seat and rolled her eyes at her mom, although she didn’t see. She kept quiet for the remainder of the ride to school and looked out the window in anticipation of her first day back.

As the car pulled down the long driveway into AHS her heart began racing. She saw her friends’ cars pulling into the lot as well as other students who she didn’t know so well. She suddenly felt overwhelmed by the amount of people and wanted to run and hide. She didn’t want to get out of the car as it pulled up to the front door, but she figured getting out would be better than staying in with her mother. It was a lose-lose situation, and she had better odds of a good day if she got out.

She got out of the car and walked slowly to the front door, her sister and brother already inside and out of sight. She could feel the stares of the other kids burning a hole through her, and she could hear their whispers. As she got towards the front door she saw a large poster that read MISSING, with a picture of her and her name. She couldn’t believe her disappearance had caused such a stir.

She immediately tore the poster down, folded it up and threw it into the trashcan right inside the front door. She didn’t want to make it too obvious, but she wanted it gone. She didn’t want any more reminders of what had happened.

As she entered the building, which still smelled of stale cafeteria food, the bright fluorescent lights hit her face. Her eyes squinted and her skin began to feel hot. She couldn’t figure out what was going on, but she suddenly began to feel different than she had before walking through the hallways. Then, a hunger pang hit her out of left field and she could feel her mouth watering as she longed for an animal to feed on.

She stood at her locker and suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder, and jumped.

“Hi Rachel! OMG! I can’t believe you’re back. I missed you so much,” Emily said, giving her a big hug.

“Oh hey!” Rachel said, snapping out of her trance. “Yeah!”

“Are you ok? You look a little out of it?” Emily asked.

Rachel pushed her hair back out of her face and looked in the mirror of her locker. “Oh yeah, I’m fine,” she said. “I was just in a daze, I guess!”

“Clearly!” Emily said. “So, what happened? Everyone’s been talking about this?”

Trying to avoid the questions, Rachel said, “Oh, yeah, it really wasn’t that big a deal! People get so worked up in this town!”

“Um?” Emily said, “It was actually a huge news story. People died, you know? We thought you did, too.”

“Me? Die? C’mon!” Rachel said with a laugh. “Don’t be so dramatic!”

Emily stared at Rachel as though she was a bit crazy and then said, “Well, OK, guess you’re ok! But can you tell me what happened at the castle? Rumors are flying around school about it.”

“Luckily, I left before it got ugly there, so I don’t really know what happened,” Rachel said, avoiding the question.

“Oh?” Emily asked. “Well, then where did you go the past few days?”

Rachel knew this question was bound to come up sooner or later, so she figured she better come up with a story quickly.

“Well, it’s really a long story and we should really get to class,” Rachel said, unable to think of what to say.

The bell rang and Emily and Rachel walked down the hall together towards their first period class. She couldn’t believe all the cold stares she was getting, like she was the walking dead. She had no idea what these kids heard, but apparently, they all were staring at her as if she were a ghost.

“That’s the girl that was missing.”

“Oh my god, there she is!”

“That’s her!”

She could hear all the whispers as she walked down the hall. As she passed, people suddenly got quiet and still. She was getting more and more self-conscious. Did she look different? Could they tell she had changed? Did they know she was a vampire? She put her hands to her face to make sure everything felt right, and it did, so she continued walking to Mr. Allen’s classroom.

As she entered the classroom, she saw her teacher, Mr. Allen sitting at his desk in the front of the room, looking puzzled and surprised to see her. She hoped he wouldn’t say anything as she closed her eyes and tried to pretend she wasn’t there.

“Ms. Wood it’s nice to see you back safely,” Mr. Allen said loudly in front of the class.

“Thank you,” Rachel said, as she walked to her desk and sat down, slinking low in her chair.

“We heard you got yourself into a pretty serious situation. Is that right?” Mr. Allen asked.