The Double-Tap Accident

Chapter Forty: You'd Be A Very Good Vampire.

Chapter Forty: "You'd Be A Very Good Vampire."

"YOU ARE GOING to visit me before you leave for home, right?" Ms. Green asked me this question one Wednesday afternoon. Today, we were sitting outside on a bench. She had managed to sneak away from the group and pulled me outside to look at the light snowfall.

Like me, she was bundled up in her jacket. Unlike me, she had her head tilted up towards the sky, a relaxed expression on her face as if she was suntanning. In zero-degree weather.

"I will," I promised her, still eyeing her posture as a pleased smile crossed her face. Exams didn't start for a little over a month. Since we were heading into March, that meant I only had a few more weeks with her. I was going to miss her.

No matter how much she tried to rile me up, terribly play me in chess, or distract me from doing the volunteer work I was supposed to be doing, she somehow brought me back each time. I mentally pledged to come back in September if she was still here.

"And bring our handsome man with you."

Our. Her words made me laugh. She asked of him every time she saw me. "I'll try to see if he can come. He's been really busy lately."

We both were but he had a lot more on his plate with playoffs and the upcoming interview next week which took place days before our Spring reading week. Every time I saw him recently, he either had his head in the books or was watching old tapes.

"Oh, he'll find some way to come with you." Ms. Green shot me a wink.

A knock sounded from behind us, and we both turned to where Joe was standing by a window on the third floor of the building. He gave the two of us, moreso Ms. Green, a two-fingered wave with a smile. When he disappeared, I asked her, "You're still entertaining him?"

"He's a good time."

Immediately, I cringed. She let out a full-hearted laugh at the exact reaction she wanted. If she was my age and she heard that she would have had the same response. Ew. We were quiet for a few more moments before she spoke up again.

"You've been worried about me, haven't you?"

Turning to face her, I gazed over the etched lines on her face.  Seeing her more often than I thought only increased the simmering anxiety. I had walked into Sheppard Valley to add something to an application. I didn't think I'd get attached to another person when I got here and stayed partly because she made it worthwhile.

I cleared my throat, my thumbnail pressing against my mouth. "What makes you say that?"

"Don't," She scoffed. "Last week you almost had a heart attack because I forgot a step in that one activity."

"It wasn't a heart attack."

"How would you know?"

"Because I'm 19!" I exclaimed. "What am I doing that would induce a heart attack?"

"I don't know what you kids are up to these days."

"Yes, you do. You have me to tell you. I'm not doing anything that would cause me a heart attack."

"You are taking this way too far," She patted my knee. "I didn't say you had a heart attack. I said almost."

"Close enough," I muttered, crossing my arms.

"Are you like this with your friends or just me?"

"Just you."

"Because you have your own way of showing that you care about me?" I didn't have the chance to respond. I didn't need to when she already knew the answer. She reached over, taking one of my hands with both of her own. "I won't be here one day. The same way your grandfather was here one day and gone the next. You see him in me sometimes and that's okay, my Jaime."