Part Two of Heart Beat:Chapter One

(VPOV: Vampire Point of View
LPOV: Leah Point of View)

Chapter 1
Dreams


I was still finishing up my summer assignment in the kitchen when my mum arrived from work. She looked beautiful even in her ridiculous waitress uniform. The bright yellow outfit didn’t suit her complexion at all. The short skirt was puffed up and full of frills and the T-shirt had a smiling clown printed on it that could scare the toughest man on earth. The uniform wouldn’t have been complete if my thirty four year-old mother wasn’t forced to wear a yellow ribbon in her hair.
Her hair was the same sandy blonde colour as mine, but hers was longer. It flowed down to her waist in big, glossy curls. The only difference being that I have very pale skin but she was tanned from working long hours at the Pizza Palace, a tiny restaurant in front of the beach. I fidgeted with a strand of my short wavy hair. She was a kind woman and a great mother, my role-model, who had no idea how absolutely beautiful she was.
“Hey mum, bad day at work? You look ridiculous!” I smiled at her lovingly.
“Yeah, Andrew still can’t find a replacement for Susie so I’m going to be working long hours for another couple of months!”
Andrew was the old man who owned the Pizza Palace and my mum had been begging him to change her roster for ages.
“Susie’s the one that’s going to have a baby, right?
“Yeah. At least I’ll be getting some extra money.” That was so like my mum, always thinking of the glass half-full rather than half-empty. “Did you talk to Brady today?”
“Yeah, he came over for a bit but had to go drive his sister to the mall.”
My mum had to work a lot when I was young because my dad died in a car accident. Because of this, I had spent most of my childhood hanging out with my close friend, Brady. His parents had gone to school with my mum and took care of me while she was at work. This stopped three years ago, when I was thirteen. I considered myself old enough not to need a babysitter but I still hang out with Brady.
I only have a couple of pictures of my Dad. Everyone says that I have his lips but I think that I resemble my mum much more. I could hear the chicken sizzling in the oil. My mum was trying a new recipe and it smelled wonderful.
“Lee, the food’s ready, can you help me set the table?”
“Sure” I was starving so I set the table carelessly.
My mum placed the food on the plates and we sat down to start eating.
“Is Chloe at Neil’s again?” Chloe was my thirteen year old sister but she was barely ever at home, instead she preferred to hang out with our neighbours’ son, Neil.
“Yeah. I swear, she practically lives there. She’s having dinner with his family.” I told her with my mouth full.
“You’re starting school tomorrow, right?” She asked me.
My mum sometimes forgot about these things. I didn’t mind, I knew that my mum had a lot on her mind.
“Yeah” I answered bluntly. I could not have sounded less enthusiastic if she’d asked me if we were going to dance with roaches. “Did you hear anything about a family moving here?” I asked her, trying to avert the conversation into a slightly less depressing one.
“Yeah, I saw them moving in; they’re a family of five, weird looking bunch...” She sounded as if she wanted to say more.
“What, mum?” I was getting curious.
She stopped eating and fidgeted with a piece of chicken on her plate. She didn’t look at me as she spoke.
“Well, I had a really bad feeling about them. They just don't seem like the kind of people who would leave their home to come and live in a place live this. Not to mention the rumours going about them and the five murders that happened last week. All unsolved. It's just not possible that it's a coincidence that they happened in the same time span and we're talking about Youngsville! Nothing ever happens he-"
God was she right. Youngsville was just about the most boring place you could live in.
"Mum! You have to stop watching so much TV! Especially CIA and horror movies! They make you so paranoid. Next you'll be mumbling things about space invasions!"
My mum was a huge fan of horror movies and her favourite one was a story about the neighbours turning into sadistic murderers and start killing all their neighbours.
“This has nothing to do with that, I’m serious. Will you do me a favour?”
“Anything” I told her with my mouth full. I hoped it was one I could keep.
“Just stay away from that family, I may be paranoid but there is something going on with that family and I don’t want you involved.
“Ok, mum no problem” I could keep that promise. I doubted that the new family would be hanging out with me.
We continued to eat in silence but my mum looked happy to have that off her chest.
I had my own circle of friends at school and I wasn’t looking for more. We were a group of seven but I got on best with Tamsin. We hadn’t been hanging out lately; she had a new boyfriend and spent most of her time with Ethan. Kim and Ashley were almost the same in everything; they were both fashion divas, amazingly pretty and boy-crazy. Colin was mostly quiet but he usually knew things before everyone else.. He had brown hair and matching eyes that drew you in and made it impossible to hate him. Last, but not least Brady. He was a sweet guy with short, blonde, curly hair that loved to help people. He did a lot of volunteer work at the animal shelter and he even managed to convince us to go with him a couple of times.
By the time I had finished my food, I was excited to be meeting my friends tomorrow. I climbed the stairs and took a long bath and washed my hair. The steam was relaxing and when I got out I was really sleepy. Tomorrow I had to be at school earlier than usual because Ash and Kim were trying out for cheerleading squad again. They make it every year but they always fret and I always end up going to show them some support, even if it means waking up an hour earlier than usual. They always end up being co-captains so I don't know why they panic so much.
I looked in the mirror whilst I brushed my teeth. My hair was almost the same as my mothers, shorter and straighter. My lips were a dark red and my brown eyes and pale skin almost made me look like a blonde snow white, just not as beautiful. I wasn’t amazingly pretty, like Ash or Kim but I was me and that was enough.
“Are you ready? You’ve been in here for ages!” Chloe was standing in the doorway, looking at me accusingly.
“Just finishing up.” I said, spitting a bit of watery toothpaste as I did.
“Excited for school tomorrow?” She asked me as she walked into the bathroom and sat on the toilet seat.
“A bit. Mum’s gone ahead and started making conclusions about that new family everyone’s been talking about.”
She scoffed. “Trust me, it’s not just mum who’s suspicious; it’s the whole friggin town that’s gone crazy.”
I finished washing my teeth and let Chloe get ready for bed. I wore my favourite rose flannel PJs, climbed into my cosy bed and instantly fell into a dreamless sleep.

When I woke up my mum and Chloe had already left and I was running late so I wore a pair of jeans and an orange top and hurried to the bathroom. I combed my hair and put it into a high pony-tail, leaving my fringe down and brushed my teeth. I hurried downstairs and grabbed a cereal bar to eat on the way. I got into my car and drove to school
When I saw the familiar school sign, I parked and hurried to the gym. I used the side door in vain hope that no one would notice me but the try-out hadn't even started. A lot of people had turned up to show their support. Cheer-leading was a big thing at my school. It was still quarter to seven and most people were so sleepy they could barely walk. I, unfortunately, was one of them. There were about twenty girls trying out and the results would be listed tomorrow. I looked over at the judges' table. This year it was the principle, the gym teacher and a dance teacher from after-school activities. The microphone was in front of Ms. Anita, the principle. When she started talking the chattering died down and she called the first name.
"Kim Bell." she said.
They were going in alphabetical order so Ashley would be one of the last.
Kim performed and everyone clapped. Even though cheer-leading wasn't my kind of thing I was impressed. I fought hard not to fall asleep until Ash's name was called.
"Ashley Osment." She called out in her snotty voice. Ms. Anita was such a sight! She could scare young children away and the fact that her nose was as crooked as a corkscrew didn't help.
* * *
I found myself in the cafeteria in no time, surrounded by my friends. I wasn't a morning person and I hated Mondays so I was still half asleep. Everyone was chatting non-stop and catching up on whatever had happened during the summer. As I waited for everyone to take a seat in the caff, I stared absent-mindedly at the door, seeing it open and close with familiar faces streaming through it.
"...I think I totally aced the try-outs!" Ash was saying.
"You know, it wouldn't have killed you to come watch us." Kim added jokingly.
The guys looked around guiltily but we all knew that nothing could tear them out of bed an hour earlier than necessary. Tamsin, I was sure, was probably up revising. You wouldn't guess that she was such a book worm by looking at her.

"It's about time to go in. I think we should go pick up out time tables."
There was always such a queue to pick up timetables, the earlier the better. We walked over to the secretary and, just as I had hoped, there was no queue so she handed them to us in a second. The bell rang so we didn't have time to compare schedules. I had double Gym, which meant two whole hours of sports. At least the new school year wasn't starting off so bad... depends on what sport we were playing. I usually managed to evade any sport that involved running around too much because I usually fell down a lot. I hurried to the changing rooms and wore the gym uniform; a short white pleated tennis skirt with a red waistband, a tight sleeveless top with red and white high socks, red and white being the school's colour, at the edges.
The coach split us into four groups and reminded up the rules of handball, football, rounders and basketball. Today we were going to play different games and alternate the teams which would be playing. Team Red was starting by playing handball against Team Green. I was in Team Green so I offered to be defender. There wasn't a single person in my class that I didn't know. It's like when you go to a school and you always have the same people in your year with the only exceptions that every year there would be a couple of new students who had moved there. It's pretty much like that only in my school no one ever moves away or comes to live here. With a population of a hundred and three, Youngsville didn’t have a big school. I saw a girl called Sandy run up to try and score but I stole the ball and passed it to Zach, who only ever seemed content during this class. This seemed to be a good tactic so every time I managed to get hold of the ball I'd pass it to the person closest to the goal, which was usually Zach. All of a sudden I saw the ball fall from one of the girls' hands and slide on the floor. The weird thing was that no one tried to grab it. I looked at my classmates' faces. Some were just looking with gaping mouths and others were just staring at the door in absolute awe. It took me a second to realise what they were gazing at. The new kids had finally made an appearance; flowing like majestic creatures. They didn't walk... they danced over to the wooden floor.
Everyone started to return back to the fast-paced game. I couldn't concentrate on defending anymore; I just followed them with my eyes. Somehow they barely seemed... human. The new students were a boy and a girl. She had chocolate copper hair that flowed to
her shoulders and a cool look about her. He had the same hair that made it impossible for them not to be related. They didn't even look like high-school students, they looked more like gods. I saw them walk into the changing room with their bag of clothes.
The game continued but there was only thirty seconds left, my team was up by one gaol and I hated to miss the end but my laces were undone. I walked over to one of the benches and sat down.

VPOV
“Do you think they suspected something?” Gretchen asked.
“I’m not sure but I think we should walk slower next time.” He said.
“We shouldn’t have waited so long to some back to this hell hole. We’re out of practice.”
“Nah! Just go change.” He told her as he ruffled her hair.
“Oh my god! Look what you did!” She screamed at him as she stared in horror at her perfectly done hair.
He rolled his eyes at his sister; she was such a drama queen.
______________________________________________________
LPOV
The new students came out of the changing room and I couldn't help but notice how pale they looked. This time they seemed to walk slower, less flowing. I guess it had been my imagination before, maybe my mum's words were getting to me. I scoffed at that. My team was going to play basketball. The petite girl was on my team so I tried to pass her the ball but she'd just pass it to someone else even if she could score. What was up with that? All the guys were practically drooling over her. Both of the students seemed to want to be in the sidelines of the game and be ignored.
The lesson passed quickly and I had an hour of Biology next. I didn't feel like a whole period of Biology and none of my friends had that class with me so I offered to stay and put away all the balls. When I was done I walked to the call on my own but I arrived late so all the tables were taken, and partners were already assigned.
I turned to see the familiar faces of friends. They were all smiling except for Zach. He was nineteen, held back for two years for rough behaviour. He had a long scar on his left cheek and there were rumours that it was from a huge bar fight. He skipped school more than he attended and he had been expelled from over four different schools so he had to move to Youngsville and live with his aunt to find one that would actually accept him. The teachers hadn’t bothered with his homework in years and if he got expelled from this school no one else would take him. He caused trouble and fights and everyone was intimidated by him.
I spotted the only free table at the back corner of the class and hurried to sit down.
A couple of seconds later the teacher walked in and a new face followed behind him. It was the same new guy that had gym with me. I realised two things at once, he must have this class with me and the only free seat was the one next to me (the teacher would definitely not partner him with Zach, he couldn’t risk it), which, automatically made him my lab partner. He handed the teacher a small note and the teacher gave him the book we were using this year and pointed to the seat next to me. He walked so gracefully he looked like he was floating again and I was sure that I wasn’t imagining it. My mum had been right; they did look weird, in a too-beautiful-to-be-real kind of way. He sat down next to me and now that he was sitting so close I could actually see how really perfect he was.
He had smooth, pale skin that reminded me of porcelain; His emerald eyes sparkled unnaturally as if they were made of green diamonds. He had the same perfect coloured hair as his sister, gelled in casual disarray. His pale complexion perfected his high-cheek bones and angular face. He was the most handsome person I had ever seen.
I turned my head in the direction of the teacher in time to hear her discussing the topics we would be having this year. When she finished she handed us a paper each and I skimmed through it quickly. We were going on a camping trip in two months.
“…don’t forget to get your permission slips signed” she continued, unaware of my total lapse in attention.
When Ms.Case finished handing out the permission slips everyone started chatting excitedly, only half of the class would show up, the rest would skive but they were happy to be able to miss a whole day of school, even if it was weeks away.
In the next two hours, the new guy didn’t even look at me once; it was like he was trying to ignore me. Maybe he saw me staring and thought that I’m a psychopath. I saw him tense every time that I moved. I tried not to stare at him but I couldn’t help it sometimes, his eyes seemed to draw me in and sap every ounce of strength that I had. It was unnatural.
The bell rang for lunch and he got up so quickly that he was the first to leave class. My mum’s words rang in my ear; she was definitely right about something, there was something off about them. When I walked outside I bumped into Brady.
“Hey! Lee-Lee” Brady said.
Lee-Lee was the annoying pet name that he insisted to call me ever since we met all those years ago.
“Hey, I just had Bio and you will never guess who my lab partner is!”
“Who?”
“One of the new kids. There are two of them, a guy and a girl but I don’t know their names.”
“Actually, there’s an older one as well.” He informed me.
When we entered the caff I spotted my friends on a table at the front of the caff and I knew that we would end up sitting on the same table for the rest of the year.
“Leah! Did you hear about the new family moving here? I heard they’re really rich” Tamsin said.
“Yeah, my mum mentioned something…”I answered her, not wanting to go into the details of what she actually had told me “and I had gym with two of them and Biology with the guy.”
I still didn’t know their names.
“I met them a couple of times, my dad was helping them with their arrangements. They’re a good looking bunch but they don’t talk much, kind of’ keep to themselves.” Ethan continued, a little smug that he had met them before everyone else. “There are three of them, all adopted, a brother and sister and another guy, the parents are really young”
It was then that I realised that everyone was talking about the mysterious Askey family moving to the small town of Youngsville as they had been all day. I didn’t understand what the fuss was about; it was probably because they were wealthy and it was unusual for anyone to move here, let alone a family with the option to move wherever they wanted and instead they moved to this small, rainy town in the middle of nowhere. Youngsville wasn’t a big, successful town; everyone had second-hand cars and small houses. The whole room was full of suspense, everyone was waiting for the door to open and the new kids to arrive. It was just like giving a baby a shiny new coin.
The cafeteria doors opened and silence followed, I could barely hear anyone breathe. I might have actually heard someone gasp. They walked into the cafeteria slowly and gracefully. The girl with chocolate copper hair and another guy, that I hadn’t seen before were the first to come in. They were holding hands making their way to the back of the already crowded cafeteria.
“The girl’s Gretchen, she’s kind of weird and the blonde guy’s Zane, he’s a year older.”
I was shocked by their unnatural beauty once again. That was when I saw him. He followed the others, flowing behind the other two.
“That’s Forrest” He said.
I stared at him and it took me a while to get my mind to start functioning enough to close my mouth. I was embarrassed at my own reaction because even though I had already met two of them, seeing them all together highlighted how profoundly perfect they seemed.
“O-M-G, did you see them? I wonder who Forrest’s type is.” Ashley wondered aloud, ready to pounce. She was probably already having images of Forrest and her being crowned cutest couple of the year.
“I saw Forrest in the corridor but he didn’t even look at me and when I tried to introduce myself, he all but growled at me!” Kim said, clearly hurt by this fact because she was the most boy-crazy (also one of the prettiest) from my small circle of friends.
Kim was obviously giving up on Forrest and was now looking in a mirror and viewing her perfect, straight dark hair that almost came down to her waist. She had olive skin and dark eyes. Tamsin and Ethan were holding hands and chatting, non-stop about something funny that happened in the class before. They were a cute couple and things were looking good for them, with all the single-second detailed description of every single date. Tamsin wasn’t paying attention to Forrest at all; she had everything she wanted in Ethan. Ethan was average-looking with black hair, pale skin and dark eyes but Tamsin didn’t rely on looks, she was like me in that aspect. Ashley, Colin and Brady were waiting for the conversation to continue. Kim finished arranging her hair and continued.
“Well, if he doesn’t like anyone of us he’s probably gay” Kim concluded.
That comment almost made me laugh and I had to try really hard not to giggle, so Kim to try and find a flaw in any guy that doesn’t look at her twice. I tried to focus on not laughing by playing with a loose blonde curl that was sticking out. I couldn’t help that the corners of my mouth twisted upwards. Lunch-time finished and I noticed that the Askeys had been sitting at the same table at the back corner of the cafeteria and were the first to leave.
“We’re going to be late for class” I reminded them.
I had double English, Religion and then French. Tamsin only had English and French with me today but I had Ash with me for Religion. Brady and Kim hurried to get to their chemistry class..
Tamsin and I walked to our English lesson in building three.
“Wanna go shopping tomorrow? Everyone’s meeting at the Shack afterwards to celebrate Kim and Ash making the cheerleading squad, you coming?”
“Yeah! What time?” I asked enthusiastically. No one had any doubt that they hadn’t made the team.
“I have to pick Ash up at four and we’re meeting the guys at seven-thirty, so I’ll pick you up at about four-thirty”
“Sounds great”
Mr. Allen walked into the class and we didn’t talk again after that.
The rest of the school day passed in a blur and the weird Askey family was almost forgotten. The final bell for school rang and everyone rushed out and as usual it was raining. I got into my second-hand black Ka and went to pick up Chloe and Neil from school. Neil’s mum had to work over-time and asked me to pick them up. Neil was a year older than Chloe, but he was still in her year. He was a sweet kid so I didn’t mind except that I had to wait outside for fifteen minutes for them and was soaking by the time we got back into the car.
“Hey Leah, thanks for picking me up” he told me, probably feeling guilty for making me wait “so sorry you got wet, didn’t realise it was raining”
“It’s ok, don’t worry about it” I told him honestly as I ruffled his hair.
“How was school Chloe?” I asked her, turning to the backseat, where she was sitting playing with a piece of her perfectly straight sandy hair.
“Boring.” She said.
I parked in front of his house and he invited us in. My mum would still be at her full-time job as a waitress at the Pizza Palace so I took this as an opportunity to dry off. I followed him into a small kitchen and he handed me a towel.
“Anyways it’s getting late, I should get home” I told him after a while but I knew Chloe would want to stay longer so I didn’t push her.
“’Kay, see ya later” Chloe told me as I hurried out of the messy kitchen, and through the front door eager to be in my own cosy little house. It was only two houses away so I ran.
1373, Pine Street, Youngsville, Washington, my home of 16 years. The semi–detached, two bed roomed house also has a bathroom, kitchen, living room and a decent front yard. Behind the house there is a garden shed packed with stuff we don’t use and with my mum working all the time don’t have time to deal with. On the right side of the shed there is my personal space, an old, two-seater, wooden swing surrounded by a soft carpet of grass. I go there to read and think. My dad had built it for me himself a few months before I was born.
My mum still wasn’t home yet so I went to my tiny room and did some homework. I sat down on my medium-sized bed, across from the door, and placed my maths text book on my bed-side table. My room was the same as it always has been. The walls were painted purple and the bed was covered with matching linen. There was a small desk, for homework, in the corner and a closet against the wall. My sister’s bed barely fit in the room but it was more my room than hers, seeing as she was barely ever home.
My mum arrived home at seven and cooked a light dinner of pasta. I told her all about going out with my friends the following day.
I showered quickly, wore a thin jacket and grabbed my book and a red blanket and went to my mum’s bedroom. I didn’t bother to knock and when I entered the room my mum was already tucked in bed, watching TV.
“I’m going to go read out back.”
“Don’t stay up too late.”
I walked up to her and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
“I won’t” I promised.
I hurried out of her room and out of the back door. I unfolded my blanket and sat down on it. I faced upwards, towards the sky; the stars sparkled like little diamonds. The sight was beautiful. I reached for my book and started reading the first page. I wasn’t sure what the book was about but it was one of the books that the English teacher was making the class read and I wanted to get it over with.
It was eleven when I went into my bedroom. I dumped the blanket and book on the floor, took off my jacket and stumbled into my bed. I could just make out Chloe’s limp figure on her bed. When I got in my own bed I fell asleep instantly.
That night I had the first of many weird dreams to come - dreams would be an understatement, they were more like nightmares.
I was walking in a forest – wandering, I had no idea were I was going, and suddenly I realised that I was being followed but when I turned around to see who it was, I slipped and fell into complete, never-ending darkness that threatened to devour me, my body was numb, there was no feeling, there was just darkness…
I woke up with a start and I realised that I was panting. I fumbled to switch on my lampshade and, my eyes shifted involuntarily to my window, I gasped, staring at me through my window, were a pair of the brightest green eyes, belonging to a small animal. I managed to switch on my lampshade but when I looked at my window again, the pair of eyes were gone. I knocked over my maths textbook and it landed with a loud thump, I expected my mum to come through my door any second. I looked over to Chloe’s bed but her breathing was still deep and even. I looked at my window again and decided that I had imagined it; maybe I was still in shock from my nightmare. I was still gasping for air when I looked at my alarm clock. It was four in the morning and the sky was still pitch-black. When I calmed down I drifted into a dreamless sleep.
.