Not Another Vampire Story - 14
14. Man in Uniform
PG13. Tween, humor, middle school, angst, vampires, serial, teen, fiction, summer. #ReadFree
Suggested Music: J-Pop on YouTube
After a grueling lab project with Matt, Sylvia arrives at home…
Matt took his science experiments seriously. Sylvia, not so much. It was supposed to be an easy grade.
Make the light bulb light up.
Sylvia steadied on her stool as it tipped away from the high lab table, and carefully tried to lean forward again. On the other side of the table was Matt, also intent on the wired contraption between them.
"It's not on," Sylvia said needlessly, for the third time that hour. She looked around at the other teams of students in the classroom. Half a dozen penlight bulbs were glowing, smiles on assorted faces. A few others had blinking bulbs, a few nothing.
Like them.
Matt fingered the board and metal pieces that acted as the switch for the assembly, looking to each end of the wire that was connected to the 1.5 volt battery and bulb socket. A shorter piece of wire ran from the other side of the battery to the socket.
But nothing was happening.
Mr. McSimm was circling the classroom like a slow moving tug boat. "If your light is not lit," he said drawlingly, "check your connections. If that's not the problem, check to make sure the bulb is not cross-threaded in the socket."
"It should work," Matt said, leaning over the assembly again. "There's no break in the circuit. The path is completed. The light should be on."
Sylvia sighed, then reached over and unscrewed the bulb, looking around at Holly and Jamie closely hovering over their table, the bulb in their switch glowing.
Hovering way too closely, she thought.
She stuck the bulb out to Matt. "Go trade with Holly and see if we've got a dud bulb."
Matt looked to the other couple's table with misgivings. "What if they don't want to trade?"
"We're not trading; just borrowing."
Matt cleared his throat. "If it's just a matter of a bad bulb, I think we should ask for another one."
She lifted an eyebrow, still holding the bulb out to him. "Then ask for another one, Matt. Let's just light this thing and be done with it."
"Who was that guy who picked you up from school the other day?"
She lowered the bulb. "My sister's boyfriend."
"Oh." He grinned, taking the bulb from her, his hand pausing over her fingertips as he did. "Hey, uh, Sylvi, you want to go to the first dance with me?"
She flinched her hand away from his in disdain, as if the very thought sent am electric shock through her—
—which should have lit the bulb, but it didn't.
A crushed look came to his eyes as she recoiled.
"I don't know yet if I'm going," she stammered.
"That's why I'm asking you now," he said slowly, looking down at the bulb, twisting it. "You can think about it, if you need to."
"No." It came out a little rushed.
"You can get back to me later, Sylvi. I don't need an answer right away." His eyes were on the bulb, his tone low.
"No." Hadn't he heard her?
"I'll let you think about it," he said, then hopped off his stool to find Mr. McSimm.
Good grief. No, she thought, watching him make his way to the teacher's desk. No, no.
She glanced to Holly, who was smiling like a happy box of chocolates with Jamie. Why was Holly allowed to be so happy when Sylvia was stuck with someone like Matt, and especially now, with the great doorbell experiment to do next week?
She groaned as Matt returned to their table with another bulb. She didn't need more time to think about her answer.
It was still No.
Fruits Basket turned out to be not half bad. The first volume of the manga series introduced the characters, and Sylvia found her favorite would be Kyo, which didn't surprise Holly, who was already in the Kyo-camp. There were those of their friends that were die-hard Yuki fans, but Holly and Sylvia were firmly entrenched in the orange-haired character's fan-girl base.
"I don't like Shigure, with all his 'High school girls, high school girls' stuff," Holly said as they walked home from school the next day.
Sylvia nodded. They'd decided to walk the way home until the weather got bad. The bus ride was noisier than they'd expected this year with an exceptionally smelly bunch of sixth graders, and neither wanted to spend the extra time on it when they could be out in the gorgeous sunshine.
"Yeah, and he gets kind of weird later on, anyway."
Holly looked at her sharply. "You read ahead."
"No, I just read it on a blog somewhere." Sylvia returned her friend's look of disappointment. "Hey, I had to have something to do while you were out killing time with Jamie."
Holly smiled at the thought of Jamie. "It was just an ice cream, Red."
Sylvia looked down a secondary street as they passed it. Terry lived down it, and she thought of what they'd talked about in the car when he'd picked her up.
"I'll bet you he still smokes," she said, nodding. "Yup. I'll bet he sneaks cigarettes when Julia's not around."
Holly followed her gaze, both of them slowing. "You think?"
Sylvia halted, and they looked down the street for a moment. The Mustang was parked at the side of the street in front of his building. "I'll bet if we went up the back way, at the alley that runs behind the apartment house, I'll bet we'd see him sneak out and have a smoke."
Holly lifted an eyebrow. The alley was shaded by mature trees, and the afternoon was hot, particularly since she was wearing her dark red sweater—one of Jamie's favorites on her—and a brief respite from the late afternoon heat sounded delicious.
"Let's go see."
Sylvia nodded, and they headed down the street.
The neighborhood was a quiet one, but there were still a few students milling around, on their way home from school, so two more didn't stand out. Sylvia and Holly made their way to within three houses of Terry's apartment house, and turned down the alley that ran between the set. Another alley ran parallel to the street, passing by the back of the apartment building, and they were certain they'd have a clear view of the building's fire exits.
"You can't just stop cold-turkey, even with a patch," Holly was saying as they dodged garbage cans and broken bikes it the alley. A cat sidled along a stack of wooden crates out of their way.
"It would be hard to do. I hope he's not lying to Julia," Sylvia said.
"Maybe Julia's lying to you. Maybe they both are lying to you, Red."
Sylvia made a face as they slowed. "Thanks a lot, Holly."
They paused at the back of the building in the alley, easily finding Terry's apartment on the second floor. The sliding glass door's blinds were open and they could see two figures inside at the kitchen-dining area.
They immediately hid behind the vining moonflower foliage that had overtaken the chain link fence at the neighboring garage.
"Julia's there," Sylvia said as she recognized her sister standing at the sliding glass door. She saw Terry close by, apparently speaking to Julia. "He's not going to try to smoke with her there."
Holly sighed. "You're right."
They watched for a few moments, but Julia and Terry weren't putting on much of an exhibit for any voyeurs. Just talk, some nodding.
Sylvia stepped back behind the garage, her view still on the apartment. "I'd still bet he sneaks one now and then."
"Scoping out the vampire?"
"Agh!" Sylvia and Holly shrieked in unison.
Jamie's voice behind them sent them both into a start that knocked over a garbage can. Two glass bottles rolled out from it and scared off a cat sauntering by, which skedaddled away.
"Shit, Jamie!" Holly hissed, swiping at him.
He grinned, letting her hit him.
"What are you doing here?" she said, pulling him behind the garage with them.
"What are you doing here?" He edged to the side of the garage. "Hey, is that where he lives? Sylvia's sister's vampire?"
Sylvia gave Holly a pinch that made her yelp. "What did you tell him?"
"Julia is dating some guy who looks like—" Jamie began.
But Holly cut him off. "I just said Terry had some features that, you know, resembled the hot vampires you see in all those slick vampire flicks, but without the sparkles. That's all."
Sylvia scowled at them, then peeked around the garage. Terry was sliding the glass door shut. Probably checking out the commotion in the alley, she thought. She looked back to Holly and Jamie.
"What are you doing here?" she asked him.
"I was trying to catch up with Holly, but you guys turned down the alley." He smiled at Holly. "Mind I walk you home?"
Sylvia rolled her eyes at the pleased look crossing Holly's face. "I'll catch you later," she said to her. "Bye, Jamie."
"Bye, Red," Holly said.
Jamie nodded. "See, ya."
By the time Sylvia got home, Julia was there. Sylvia felt a little guilty for hiding in the alley, but tried to dismiss the idea. Besides, Julia didn't smell like smoke, so maybe Terry had more fortitude than she and Holly thought. Maybe he really had kicked the habit.
"Dad called," Julia said as Sylvia returned to the kitchen after dumping her book bag in her room. She looked to her younger sister expectantly. "He wants to see you this weekend."
Sylvia shook her head, looking through the refrigerator for a can of soda. Their mom's green movement had changed a few things. Most notably was the lack of bottled water. Their tap water was fine to drink, she'd told her and Julia. Just a few summers ago it had been 'Don't drink the water'. Whichever way the trendy wind is blowing, Julia had termed it on more than one occasion.
"What? He doesn't want to see you?"
"We've come to an understanding." Julia was leaning on the counter, looking through a stack of mail that had arrived that day. "I'll visit when his step-daughter-girlfriend isn't there, and when I feel like it."
"Why doesn't that work for me?" Sylvia grabbed a soda and found a glass. Julia never drank from a can while she was in the house. Maybe it was a high school thing. Or maybe it was just a Julia thing.
"It will next summer," Julia said, preoccupied with the mail. She held up an overlarge white envelope with dark green edging and print. "Ooh, look. More ornamentals."
Sylvia poured her soda and looked at the Arbor Day Foundation's annual hit-up for donations. "Great. Another pair of redbud bushes to clip around. We've already got two Flowering Dogwoods and a Washington Hawthorn." She recalled planting them with Julia two summers ago. She glanced to the calendar depicting endangered shrubs from around the world. "And another calendar."
Julia was nodding, examining the envelope. "This time it's a Rainforest Rescue calendar and Flowering Crabapples. With continued membership."
"What happens next year?" Sylvia was back to their original conversation.
Julia tossed the charity envelope on the counter and looked at the next large envelope. "Going into high school will make Dad see you as only a few years younger than his little girlie-friend. It won't be the same. Trust me."
Sylvia nodded, sipping her soda from her glass.
Julia opened the envelope, despite the fact that it was addressed to their mom. She withdrew a few pieces of cardstock, and then two photos. She looked at them each for a moment, smiling, pursing her coral lips before showing the photos to her sister.
"Check this out, Sylvi."
Sylvia settled at the counter, her attention going to the photos Julia held. Kristi was arrayed in all her Saint Procopius seventh grade glory, replete with knotted plaid ascot and stark white blouse and hunter green vest. Her smile was as flirty as the thirteen-year-old dared in her school uniform, her double-shades of blonde hair swept to one shoulder in a side part.
Sylvia unconsciously pushed her own strawberry blonde hair over her ear in absence of a hair-tie. This was what thirteen looked like at a private school, she thought. It was moments like this that made her want to eat a whole bag of caramels and down an entire two liter of cream soda.
"Kristi," Julia said when Sylvia made no comment.
"Good thing she's in Saint Procopius. The boys at my school wouldn't know what to do with her." Sylvia frowned, looking to the next photo.
The young man in it was vaguely familiar, looking back at her with gunmetal gray eyes in a direct gaze, his short brown hair neatly trimmed, the stiff collar of his gray uniform lined in cobalt piping and buttoned high at his throat. Not a tattoo in sight.
"Lane?" Sylvia finally asked.
Julia smiled, and Sylvia half expected the photo to smile back at her sister.
"Holy shit," Sylvia breathed, her eyes going over the photo in detail.
"Hmm, in a good way, huh?" Julia said, leaning closer to see it.
"That's a school picture?" No one in my eighth grade would look that good after a whole week of polishing, Sylvia thought. Not even Jamie. Must be a high school thing. A military high school thing.
Julia raised an eyebrow. "Man in uniform. Pretty sharp, if you ask me, Sylvi."
Thanks to Sakurapu for sharing her story!
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