vamp tricks / chapter five

IF THERE WAS one person in the world that Nabila hated more than her father, it was Kai Parker. She thought to herself, what kind of person ruins someone's first kiss? That was a question that she was too embarrassed to ask.

All her mind could really think about were the events of last night, were she swore she had never been so humiliated in her entire life. She had been hiding in her 'room' since then, avoiding Kai and unable to sleep.

She heard the sound of footsteps approaching and immediately locked the door using her mind. It wasn't the first time he had come to bother her with excuses, as last night he had knocked on her door about ten times.

"Really?" Kai's muffled voiced called out. "Ok, now you're just being petty. Open the door."

Nabila rolled her eyes at his irrelevant comment, deciding to ignore him until he eventually left again, only she could still hear him breathing through the door.

"I'm not leaving until you open the door, child." He persisted, and she knew he was being serious. She finally unlocked the door the way she had locked it.

"I said open—" He paused for a brief second, opening the door. "Oh."

"What do you want, Kai?" She asked annoyingly, her eyes scanning an old book that had probably been sitting on that shelves for years.

He cleared his throat before speaking, while both his hands were firm on his hips. "Breakfast is ready."

"Not hungry."

"Don't care, you're coming downstairs now." He demanded, but not in an irritated voice. Nabila knew for a fact that he was making a joke out of everything, and that he could care less about what happened last night.

"No." Was all she said, unconsciously throwing him the book she held in her hands.

"Ouch?" He dramatically rubbed the area where he was hit. "Are you done taking it out on me? Because I have some more news."

"Kai, I really don't care about what anything you have to say. So can you-"

"You have school." He casually added, picking up the book and scanning it with his eyes. "Wow, good book. The ending though, very disappointing."

Nabila had stopped paying attention after she heard the word school. "What?"

"Oh well, the main character died trying to save the-"

"Not that you dumb-" She paused, smiling sarcastically. "School?"

"Oh that. Yes, school." He grinned, walking away and leaving her confused.

"Wait-" She yelled out, but he was gone. She knew that was part of his plan to get her out of the room, which worked. "Great."

"I'm not going to school, Kai." She crossed her arms as she walked behind him.

"Cute." He chuckled. "You think you have a choice."

"Kai-"

He quickly turned around, catching Nabila off guard. "I'm your guardian, for now, so yes. You do what I say. And I say you're going to school, like a normal teenage girl, okay?"

"Okay mom." She rolled her eyes, agreeing with him knowing she wasn't going to anyways, and instead going straight to the warm plate of pancakes that sat on the kitchen counter.

"Besides, you're ready." He assured her, passing her the syrup and the butter. "Not hungry, huh?"

"Shut up." She said as she filled her mouth with more of the sweet stuff.

"Okay, okay." He gestured his lips closed with his hands. "Also, I kind of-"

The doorbell ringing cut off Kai, but something told Nabila she knew exactly what it was.

"You didn't." She said, trying to suppress the fresh smell of blood coming through her nose.

"Considering this me doing you a favor." He told the girl as he handed her a backpack with what seemed to be filled with school supplies. "Now go be a good.." He paused, mid sentence. "normal teenager, and open the door for our guest."

"No." She responded sharply, guarding the door like a little kid on a school morning.

Kai sighed, gently pushing her out of the way with the power of his hand. "Stop being a baby."

"Kai n-" She grunted with her teeth, immediately stopping when the door opened to reveal a brunette girl, the same girl from the night before.

"Oh!" She spoke out, from the looks of her face she was just as surprised as Nabila. "It's you."

"I mean-" She paused, realizing how bad that sounded. "I-"

"It's okay." Nabila chuckled lightly, turning back at Kai and giving him a nasty look before heading outside.

"3 pm sharp, honey!" Kai waved as the door closed on him.

"I hate you." She muttered.

꒰ 🥋🩸 ꒱

"So," Sam broke the awkwardness of what was the car ride to school. "I'm guessing your brother didn't tell you I was picking you up."

"He's not my brother." She answered, her head still wandering outside the car. "And no, he didn't. I guess we were both surprised."

"Yea." The girl chuckled. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine." Nabila turned and gave her a quick smile before returning her attention to the tall palm trees that they passed every five seconds.

Sam cleared her throat, trying to make it less awkward. "Hey, about yesterday-" She began.

"You're good." Nabila cut in.

"I have a feeling you don't like me very much, do you?" She quickly turned her head in the girl's direction, her hands still on the wheel.

"I- Watch out!" Nabila yelled out, pointing at the guy a few feet away.

"Holy-" The guy slowly stood up, his bike not looking as fine as he did. "My bike!"

"Miguel?" Nabila locked eyes with the boy, as Sam got out the car to help. "Nabila?"

"Oh my god, Miguel!" Sam yelled, quickly checking up on him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, Sam I'm good." The boy replied, his eyes still looking at Nabila, whose nose smelled blood.

"I'm so sorry! I- I should've had my eyes on the road."

"It's okay Sam. I'm fine, really." Miguel assured her, but Nabila had a feeling he wasn't.

"Hey, are you hurt by any chance?" She asked, slowly approaching him.

"Uh, I'm not sure." He said, pulling up the bottom hem of his pants, revealing a small cut that wasn't short of blood. "Ooh, will you look at that."

Sam gasped, the look of guilt rushing through her face. "Miguel, I'm so sorry."

"It's just a little scratch." He shook his head, instead too focused on the girl who looked like she'd seen a ghost.

"Nabila?" He softly touched her back. "Are you okay?"

She turned around a few short seconds later, pretending like the blood didn't bother her whatsoever.

"Yeah, blood just makes me a little squeamish." She told them, which technically wasn't a lie. "I'll see you guys later?"

"Wait-" Miguel tried to get her attention but the girl had already left. Sam couldn't help but notice the way he stared at her as she walked away.

"Ahem." She cleared her throat. "About that bike.."

"Yeah." He chucked, turning his attention back to Sam.

꒰ 🥋🩸 ꒱

Nabila tried not making a fuss about today as much as she possible could, but given the situation she was in, she was afraid there wasn't much of a choice when she saw the first words that read on her schedule.

1st period : Physical Education

"Uh no, there must be some sort of mistake here, Mrs.?-"

"Adams." The lady in the front desk clarified, her face unsurprised at yet another teenager complaining about their schedule. "And like I've told you child, I can't do anything about it."

"It's only first period, please?" She insisted, because there was no way she was going to stink the entire day over some sweaty games.

"No." The woman rolled her eyes. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have other students to take care of."

"Please look again, Mrs. Adams." Nabila asked again, only this time she held eye contact with the woman. "I'm sure you can make an exception for me."

The woman took a few seconds to snap back to reality, breaking the eye contact and looking back at the girl's schedule she held in her hands. "Oh yes, I can swap your Physical Education with Art. How's that?"

"Uh, yes!" The girl smiled, surprised her little compelling worked. "That's perfect, thank you."

She thought to herself, how bad could having Art as the first class of the day be. It would be a piece of cake. After all, Art was in her blood.