She felt increasingly desperate as she reached the end of the crowd and saw no sign of him. She flooded with panic as worst-case scenarios crossed her mind: had he changed his mind? Would he not show, leave her stranded? Would she be left all alone in the world?
The thought set her heart pounding. She quickly tried to push it out of her mind.
Stay positive, she told herself, again and again. Maybe he’s just late.
She circled through the crowd again, and came to the huge bonfire. Dozens of kids stood around it, staring at the flames. Most of these were the kids without dates, not dancing on the floor. A lot of them had long sticks, roasting marshmallows. The huge pile of wood burned higher and higher into the night, crackling and popping as it did.
As Scarlet scanned the faces, she suddenly recognized a familiar face: Maria.
Maria noticed Scarlet at the same time. She looked at her, then rolled her eyes and turned and walked away.
It hurt Scarlet, and made her want to try one more time to talk sense to her former friend. Maybe now she’d be ready to listen. She hated leaving things like this.
Scarlet hurried over to her and grabbed her arm as she was walked away.
“Maria, wait!”
Maria turned, and stared back coldly.
“What do you want?” she spat. “Where’s your boyfriend? Did he dump you already?”
Scarlet was taken aback by her nastiness. She hardly knew how to respond.
“You don’t have to be mean,” Scarlet said. “Like I said, I didn’t do anything.”
Maris stared back, seething, and Scarlet could see she had not forgiven her.
“And like I said, we’re over,” Maria said.
Maria turned and stormed off into the crowd. Not far away were Jasmin and Becca; they stared back at Scarlet as if she were their enemy now, too. As Maria reached them, the whole group turned their backs as one, and disappeared into the crowd.
Just as Scarlet was feeling worse than ever, she felt a tapping on her shoulder.
Her heart swelled, as she hoped and prayed it was Sage, here to rescue her from all this.
But she was crushed to see it wasn’t him. It was Blake. He stood there, smiling nervously back at her. His eyes looked bloodshot, and she could smell vodka on his breath.
“I saw you standing here alone,” he said. “Does that mean you don’t have a date?”
Scarlet hardly knew how to respond. She really did not want to get into it with him now. She was over him.
“I… um… yes… I do.”
Blake raised his eyebrows in surprise, and then she saw a small smile at the corner of his lips, as if he didn’t believe her.
“Well, where is he?” he asked.
She scanned the crowd, searching again for Sage, willing him to appear.
But again, she saw no sign of him. Her heart fell. She couldn’t understand it. What could possibly have happened? She felt even worse than ever, as if the universe were rubbing it in.
“I don’t know,” she finally answered, truthfully.
“Doesn’t sound like a good date to me,” Blake said. “I don’t have a date either,” he added. “Vivian actually asked me. Can you believe it? That was bold.”
“What did you say?” Scarlet asked.
“I said no,” he said, a serious look in his eyes. “Because I wanted to go with you. And I was hoping maybe you’d show.”
He said it with such sincerity, that for a moment, Scarlet felt herself looking into his eyes, remembering why she liked him in the first place.
She quickly looked away.
“Look, Scarlet, I know I’ve been a jerk,” he said. “I’m really sorry. I was thinking about everything you said. About not standing up for you, in front of Vivian. And you’re right. I should have. I’m sorry. It was stupid. Anyway, the thing is, I know how I feel now. I guess I was just confused, ya know? But anyway, I really want to be with you. I really want you to be my girlfriend. You don’t have to give me an answer now. But just think about it, okay? I promise, I’ll change.”
Scarlet stood there, not knowing what to say. He seemed so sincere, his words at least took the edge off of her anger and upset towards him.
“Thank you for saying all that,” she said. “I appreciate it.”
“I’m going to get a drink,” he said. “I’ll come back in a little bit. If your friend still isn’t here, maybe we can dance?”
She doubted very much she’d be standing here when he got back. If Sage didn’t show, she was leaving. But she appreciated it anyway.
Blake disappeared back into the crowd, and she sighed and turned the other way, deciding to get away from Blake and patrol the other side of the field. Maybe Sage was waiting in the far corners, lurking in the shadows.
As she made it halfway, suddenly she heard a voice.
“Well, if it isn’t miss congeniality.”
Scarlet’s heart sank. She stopped and slowly turned, and there, behind her, stood Vivian, flanked by all of her friends. They stared down at her with mean smiles, and she could tell by their glossy eyes that they were all drunk. She could also see immediately how mad Vivian was at being here without a date. Clearly, that must have embarrassed her, and she was looking to take it on someone. She had finally found her target.
“So you think you can just throw beer on me at a party and get away with it?” Vivian asked.
“I never threw beer on you,” Scarlet responded.
“No, but your little friend did,” she answered. “On your behalf.”
“I can’t control what my friends do.”
“But you wanted her to, didn’t you? And she did it for you.”
Scarlet was in no mood for this. She really didn’t want a confrontation. Not now. Not here.
She turned and began to walk away.
Suddenly, she felt a hand digging into her shoulder, nails digging into her skin. She was yanked around as Vivian spun her around.
“Don’t you ever turn your back on me!” Vivian snapped.
Vivian reached back to smack Scarlet hard across the face, and as she did, something suddenly overtook Scarlet. It was like her senses went into overdrive, by themselves. She saw Vivian’s hand coming at her in slow-motion, and everything slowed down around her. She reached out, her reflexes a thousand times faster than she ever thought possible, and easily caught Vivian’s wrist.
Scarlet stood there, holding it. She squeezed and squeezed, and felt superhuman strength rush through her.
Vivian dropped to her knees, crying out in pain.
“Let go of me!” she screamed.
Suddenly, one of Vivian’s friends charged Scarlet, and as she did, Scarlet leaned back and kicked her in the solo plexus. The kick was so powerful, it sent her flying back like a torpedo, into all her other friends, sending them all crashing to the ground.
That caused a big stir in the crowd, and several people turned and looked their way, causing a commotion. Scarlet stood there, rage coursing through her, as she stared down at Vivian.
Vivian looked up at her, wide-eyed, eyes filled with fear, shaking.
As Scarlet stared down at her, something else overwhelmed her. She felt blood rushing up through her face, felt it beginning to transform, felt her two incisor teeth lengthening. She felt a tingling on her lips.
She snarled down at Vivian, and it was an unnerving, animal-like noise that startled even her.
Vivian’s eyes opened twice as wide.
“What are you?” Vivian asked.
Scarlet was overcome by an insatiable desire to feed. Every pore in her body screamed out for blood – for Vivian’s blood. Her body was positively quaking. She was dying to kneel down and sink her teeth into Vivian’s throat. She saw herself drinking and drinking, filling up on her blood. It was a craving so strong, she didn’t know if she could stop it.
“Scarlet!” came a harsh voice from behind.
There was something in that voice, something just strong enough, to make Scarlet turn.