Chapter Four: Welcome to bloodyville sorry I meant to say Caston
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">When the plane landed my saviour swung his backpack across his shoulder and walked away. when he reached the evacuation door of the plane he turned to me and winked at me with a side smile. As I took my bag out of the hand luggage compartment it struck me that I didn't get the name of my saviour. Moving to the crowd I saw him hugging a girl with short black hair, I couldn't stop myself form thinking if she was his girlfriend. But then why the hell did I care.</span>
I looked around trying to find Riley, and there she was. Her black curly hair draped loosely at her back. Her brown eyes searched for me through the crowd. I waved my hands in the air as a sign which she quickly got. She smiled widely raising her... above her head the sign read 'best friend welcome to Canada' I dragged my suitcase towards her, choking her in a tight hug which she reciprocated
"Welcome to Canada. How do you feel" she screamed out placing the sign on the ground
"I feel so excited" I looked around trying to find any trace of my saviour but
"Who are you looking for?" Riley asked turning around searching for anyone
"I am just looking for my saviour"
"What! You have a saviour?" She fired more questions "how? When?" As we walked towards a taxi waiting for us outside I explained everything to her
"Did you get hurt" she finally asked
"No" I assured her knowing how Riley could be overly worried
"Was he handsome" she asked with a wily smile, fixating her eyes on my face
"I wasn't paying any attention to his looks" damn it I lied, forced by nature to blink my right eye twice, her gaze was unmoved waiting for the real truth
"Okay, he was super handsome and his eyes were just beautiful"
"Dave better watch out" Riley remarked, and I smiled even though I knew I wasn't capable of leaving Dave because of someone else no matter how handsome he was.
We drove straight to Caston, we joined a crowd, they were probably freshmen like us. In front of the crowd was Miss Rochelle Magnus the Dean of Caston. I read about her from the Internet. She was 37 and have been the for Dean for 10. She never got married it was written that she said she doesn't like commitments. But I must admit I expected to find a sad looking Dean but she looked pretty cheerful I saw her chatting and smiling with the stunning man that stood behind her. We waited till she felt we were complete enough then our tour began. Ms. Magnus introduced herself. The man behind her also introduced himself as Devon Clarke. We were shown around the campus, when the tour was over the Dean and her assistant left as everyone spread out.
"Well that was long and and boring" Riley reacted this way to any form of knowledge this made me wonder how she planned to study I was about to respond but I noticed a girl in a red dress making her way towards us
"Hello guys" she smiled awkwardly
"Hi" Riley spoke very nicely but I was indifferent
"I'm Jessica, need help getting to your dorm"
"Don't worry we..." My arm was pinched by Riley
"We would love to" Riley quickly assured
"Follow me" Jessica instructed us leading the way. I held Riley hand whispering to her in a hushed tone
"I don't think it is wise to follow a stranger"
"There's no problem Nikki, I mean what's the worst that could happen" Riley joked.
She led us through a path close to the woods "how far is it" Riley asked already tired of walking
"Not so far, in fact we have arrived" I stared around and we couldn't be at our dorm, we were just somewhere close to the woods. I began to panic. I stared back at Jessica, her face had a very weird smile
"What!" I screamed "This isn't our..." Before I could even complete voicing out my thought I felt strong hands grab me. I could see Riley's face covered with a black cloth, muffling her screams. I wiggled trying to get away from my captors, the last thing I saw before my face was covered with brown bag was Jessica sickish smile.
I felt strong hands leading me somewhere. Sounds of Riley continuous struggles died down probably she figured there was no escaping our captors but still it scared me
"Riley are you okay?" I asked wanting to clear my worries. After seconds she responded
"I'm fine" her response calmed my frantic state
"What do you want with us" the black cloth were taken away and I could see Jessica standing beside a long haired blondie and she also wore a red dress, behind me was another chocolate skinned girl and she also wore a red dress. Riley stood by my left just staring at her new environment. Two girls I saw during the tour were also there
"Do you wish to join the angelic sisterhood" the blondie beside Jessica asked with a perky voice
"The what" I shot back at her angrily
"I said do you wish to join the red angels" her voice was hot and sassy and it infuriated me
"So you dragged us all the way here just to ask this silly question. Couldn't you have asked like any normal person would"
"I'm giving you a honour of a lifetime, so do you want it or not" she glared at me trying to gain control of the situation
"Then maybe I don't" I held Riley's hand so we would leave but her body was unyielding
"What are you doing Veronika" Riley whispered "they are offering us a chance to be part of a sorority and you just want to walk away" I wasn't psyched out about the whole sorority crap but Riley always dreamed of being part of a sisterhood
"Please Veronika, I want to be part of this" she gave the look "Please do it for me" Riley convinced me
"I'll join" one of the girl on my right screamed "then I'll join too" the other girl smiled casually then Riley said she would join interlocking her hand in mine waiting for me to yield
"Okay then I'll join" Jessica and the Blondie smiled in a weird way that made me wish I never agreed to be part of the red angels
"Bring the eternal blood of our fallen sisters" the Blondie said and immediately the girl behind us with a sigh walked into a room and returned with a silver goblet.
"Now drink to fully commit to the red angels" the blondie shut another order and guess what she still smiled weirdly. But was that really blood it couldn't really be blood right
"Is that really blood" I couldn't stop myself, I finally voiced out my thoughts, but the closest thing I got to a response was from the girl beside me who screamed eagerly "I'll drink first" she took some steps forward to the girl holding the goblet. She took some few sips, then emerged with a smile just like Jessica's and the blondie's I started to wonder if the smile was contagious. When she was done, she passed it to the other girl. I watched her as she gulped down the strange liquid down her throat and the smile that followed when she was done. She walked to me and passed the goblet over to Riley with a smile, Riley tried her earnest best to conjure up the same delightable smile the girl had but ended up in a terrible disaster. She drank a little and passed the goblet to me, I managed to force a smile as I took the goblet away from her. I gulped the red liquid down my throat and was shocked by the taste, I expected it to be bitter and distasteful but instead it tasted like freshly squeezed strawberries. The delightful taste managed to put a calming smile on my face now I get the reason for the smiles
"Now that we are done drinking the blood of eternity we may begin the exchanging of names ceremony" the Blondie said
"My name is Candice Chorprar" the first girl said ecstatic
"My name is Chloe Kim" said the girl who gave Riley the cup
"I'm Riley Donovan" Riley squirmed waving her hands awkwardly at everyone
"And I'm Veronika McAllister" there was an awkward silence, no one spoke
"Well I am Alexa Richmond the head angel, this is my vice Jessica Donnelly" she pointed Jessica "and she is Eva Marshall" she also pointed at the girl behind us.
We moved to another room where we sat and talked about each other. I learnt that Eva and Chloe parents are divorced, Eva stays with her mom while Chloe stays with her dad and visits her mum on holidays. We finally left with our luggage heading for our dorm. Our dorm wasn't far from the haven (home of the black angels) it was closer to the woods. We chatted along the way about the sorority. I was so pleased to hear Riley hated Alexa and Jessica just as much as I did.
Standing about fifty feet away from our dorm I could see people standing in front of the wooden porch laughing and talking. Riley tugged me along excitedly so we could get there quicker. some steps forward I could see two boys. one boy wore a black coat while the other just wore a sleeveless exposing his slightly big muscles, they spoke to two girls. The slender girl giggled like crazy, a lot about her appearance reminded me of Danielle. The other girl was completely different she wasn't as tall as the other girl mainly because she didn't wear heels, most of her hair was covered with a purple beret. She wore a black fur jacket with a short black skirt. The taller girl waved at us and Riley gladly waved back as if she knew who she was but when I asked Riley she claimed she was just being friendly
"Hi, I'm Natalie" the taller girl said grinning at us "are you two our roommates" she added as she spoke in a beautiful British accent
"I fucking knew they were gonna be girls" the muscular guy said with a crazy laughter as he held the shoulder of the other boy who ignored him as his attention was focused on his phone "yeah we are I'm Riley and she is Veronika"
"I'm Rebecca" the other girl said with a approving nod
"And miladies I'm Charlie" the muscular guy said taking a courteous bow. The other boy kept his phone and looked up, stunning me with his incredulous green eyes, his black hair fell forward but he brushed it back with his left hand without disturbing the impish grin on his face. He walked up to me
"Hi Veronika, I'm Damon" I couldn't believe it. I met my saviour again and this time he told me his name. My whole body went numb as we just stared at each other saying nothing
"Gabe isn't here but he will be back soon. Want to come in" our staring contest was interrupted by Natalie who gestured Riley and I towards the door. We were toured round the house by Natalie and ended the tour in my new room, immediately Natalie left us Riley asked the question that was probably eating her up "Hey Nikki do you know that Damon or what" I smiled
"He is the guy who saved me at the airport"
"Damon is your saviour" Riley screamed
"Shhh" I quickly tried to silence her before anyone heard and for some reason I didn't want anyone to find out "Someone is going to hear you"
"When you said he was handsome you forgot the part where he is super handsome" Riley continued to tease poking me with her finger I had to think of a way to get rid of her
"Don't you have some settling in to do" I attempted to change the conversation "and shouldn't you be reuniting with Dave" she countered back but was right, I totally forgot I came here to get closer to Dave
"I'll go meet him when I'm done" she shook her head and walked out of the room and I got to work
Damon POV
what coincidence we are both going to the same college it even more strange we are in the same dorm these thoughts swarmed my mind that I didn't hear Natalie approaching till she called out my name I turned back forcing a shabby smile on my face
"What were you thinking about"
"Nothing" I replied leaning back on the wooden pillar behind me
"Do you know her" she finally asked
"Yeah, we met at the airport today" I didn't want to go into the full details "Why do you ask" I feigned ignorant of the fact that she liked me
"Nothing" she smiled at me. Charlie approached us from inside the house shaking his head to whatever rhythm only he could hear
"Dude, are you ready for the private tour you asked for" he asked, smiling like crazy
"Great" I and Charlie left Natalie and began my tour to replace the one I ditched
"Let's begin by checking out the closest dorm to ours"
"You are the tour guide so whatever you say" I joked while Charlie laughed maniacally. We walked a few miles to get to the dorm. Charlie knocked on the door and we instantly heard a voice say come in. Charlie twisted the doorknob leading us to a room filled with laughter, as they all spread across the floor. They all paused their laughter and just stared at us
"Hey Charlie" said a guy who rested his back on a cushion while a girl rested on his arm
"Hey Dave" Charlie stretched his hand out for a fist bump which the apparent Dave reciprocated
"This is Damon" they all had a smile pasted on their face. Charlie continued his introduction
"Damon that is Dave" Charlie pointed "That's his girlfriend Sophie, that's Noah, Nathan, Derek..."
"And I'm kara" a petite girl sitting on the couch chimed in on Charlie. She winked at me accompanied with a puckish smile. There I could see Caitlin rolling her eyes
"Okay. Moving on that is..." "Caitlin, I know" I interrupted Charlie with a smile
"You know each other" Dave asked not taking his eyes off the monopoly board
"Yeah we grew up together" as I spoke Caitlin gave me a look that made me chuckle silently
"Caiths you never mentioned your handsome looking friend" Kara flattered me with the same impish smile she had
"Yeah I guess I should just have mentioned I had a super handsome friend" Caitlin retorted sarcastically then sipped from the tinted bottle she held in her hands
"Do you play" Dave looked at me sizing me up
"Yeah, but I'll pass"
"I wasn't asking you to join, I only asked if you could play" he had a serious look on that instantly conveyed to me that he was an asshole, but well two could play that game and I was good at it
"Come sit" kara tapped a spot beside her on the floor but I went to sit in between Caitlin and Derek on the couch.
Veronika POV
Finally I decorated my room in a welcoming way that reminded me of my room back in California. Pictures of me, my mom and dad before he became insufferable were placed on the shelf. I was done arranging my room now I had one important thing to do, I had to meet Dave. I had a surefire feeling that Dave would be popular so I asked around and voilà I found out his dorm was blue wood the closest to red wood.
After strolling around I found Dave's dorm. I could hear laughter coming from it from where I stood. I tapped at the door repeatedly but I got no response I guess they couldn't hear over their loud noise so I pushed the door open to find Charlie, Damon and some unfamiliar faces and there was Dave he sat lazily on the floor kissing a girl beside him
"Hey Veronika, how did you know we would be here" Charlie's words murdered the laughter in the room. All eyes were on me including Dave's and the girl beside him. Dave stuttered "Veronika" his voice sent down the last defense I had holding back the tears welling up in my eyes. I instinctively left the room in a bid to save myself from any further embarrassment.
Damon POV
Wow what just happened? Why did she get like that? How did she know that arrogant jerk? I pondered on this thoughts ceaselessly. The other girl Sophie muttered in a indecisive tone "was she his Veronika"
"Did Dave mention her" kara asked Sophie the response she got was delayed "he mentioned he had a girlfriend in highschool but I don't know if she is the one"
"Judging by how he ran after her like a bad romance flick, I would bet she is the one" Noah's comment got a glare from Sophie but I could understand everything more clearly now.
"It isn't romantic because Dave no longer loves her, he loves me" Sophie forced smile only whispered she felt threatened by Veronika's arrival.
"Ugh. So dramatic" Caitlin walked towards what I guess would be her room. You see this right here could be the perfect beginning of a love story or a terrible horror story but either ways I'm gonna stick around to the end.
Veronika POV
I panicked. I hastened my steps I had to escape him, but each effort I made proved futile. Obviously he was faster than me I didn't stand a chance of escaping him. I felt a warm streak of tears rolling down my cheek I retaliated by brushing it away with the back of my palm.
"Veronika wait, I only want to talk" I disregarded Dave yelling from behind me not in the mood of hearing any of his pathetic excuse. In a twinkle of an eye I felt a strong hand grab my arm, he had caught up to me. I recoiled back. "Veronika please listen" Dave stared me down with those warm hazel eyes of his. "You have to hear me out first"
"When did it start" I managed to chime in the question that has been parading my thoughts, I watched his jaw drop open as he tried to suppress the shock on his face "it started a long time ago" he shamefully admitted
"How long" I pressed on my body quivering in pure anger. "It began early this year" I heaved loudly expelling all the pent up air I held inside of me.
"So it started few months after coming to Caston. Wow Dave it must have been so hard for you to live without me" I sarcastically quoted a text he sent me on February where he went on and on saying it was so hard for him living here without me.
"We hardly spoke for three months I thought you would have picked up a sign" Dave tried to lay defense for his actions "so you are saying it is my fault" I shot back
"No" he paused taking in some breathes "it just that we haven't seen each other in a while I thought you knew it was over."
"Well thanks for making it pretty obvious now" I broke free from his grasp. I desperately hoped that my eyes won't fail me again and let go of the tears I tried so hard to contain.
I ventured a little into the woods just wanting to be all by myself for a while, replaying it all over in my mind till it became dark and night began to creep in. I tried to navigate my way back to my dorm using my cellphone torchlight which finally abandoned me feet's away from my destination. Walking ahead with full moon as my only source of light and which was doing a terrible job at it. I stumbled upon a black figure sending it to the ground, I heard a soft wail come out of my fallen victim
"I'm sorry I wasn't exactly seeing it is dark" I stretched out a hand to pull him up but he just ignored me, leaving my hand hanging out like a wavering tree branch
"Don't worry I have gotten quite used to being stumbled upon by you" his words struck me like lightning. Was he implying we knew each other. In a split second his phone torch shined, permitting me to stare at him trying my earnest to recognise his face, but if it was any consolation he did look familiar. Those soft blue eyes accompanied with circle shaped goggles. Even the messy hair wasn't enough to jog my memory so I dared to ask "do I know you" I was shocked by the quick sort of angry response he had waiting for me
"What! Like are you seriously kidding me. You bully a guy throughout highschool and you still don't know his name, such twisted mind you got there" he scoffed at the open air, I could see white air escaping his lips.
"Um maybe you have me mistaken with someone because I never bully. Ever. It's like my number one principle" I defended my self well aware of the truth that I don't bully.
"Oh yeah, tell that to my scarred ankle" he retorted sarcastically drawing up his sleeves revealing a scar just above his ankle
"So you're saying I did this to you" I was sure I could never hurt someone and just forget about it but then again I do have momentarily lapses in the past which I can't remember "you know what" he lifted his hands up in a sign of exasperation "I'm not gonna stand here with you playing this sick game" he turned his back on me heading for my dorm once again I dared to ask the first question that popped in my mind
"Why are you going towards my dorm" he turned back and shot me a obviously look "because duh that's where I leave from now on, my name is Gabe you may have heard about me, maybe that would jog back your memory" and he was gone, gone into my dorm. Well I gotta admit this wasn't how I expected my first day at college to be like.