Ch. 12

“Hey Bodoleck. I am so glad that I’m better now. I can’t wait to see all of my friends later. Can I go now, or do I have to wait for something?” asked Rosemary. She was excited to finally being able to get out of the house after so long of staying inside.

“You can go. Just promise me you’ll be home by dinner,” said Bodoleck, but Rosemary was already out the door and running down the street to meet her friends at the end of the block.

“Oh well. I guess it’s okay if she stays out late tonight. I don’t know what she would be doing with all of those humans surrounding her, but she’ll do what she wants to. Technically, I’m not her legal guardian. Veripema is, but she would kill her in a heartbeat,” said Bodoleck, smiling.

Rosemary was having a blast. She never knew how much fun it would be to be a human. There was shopping, movies, just hanging out. Right now, she was eating ice-cream with some girls that she knew from school. Joanne, Laura, Cassie, and Maddie.

“So, Rosemary, we know that you’re a vampire, and we’d like to know. What can you do?” asked Joanne.

“Well, lots of things. We can cast spells, run fast, fly, reincarnate, stay in sun, eat garlic and onions. Just, lots of things,” explained Rosemary to her friends.

“How is that possible?” asked Maddie.

“Hardly any of the myths are true. We don’t mind the sun or garlic. By the way. Who told you that I was a vampire?” Rosemary asked them.

“My neighbor told me, and I told them,” said Laura. She finished the rest of her sundae and set her spoon down.

“Oh. Well, then you don’t know that the person I was fighting was my mothers twin sister, or that I have a half-sister who’s my aunt’s daughter. Or that my real name is Bloodrose,” said Rosemary, glad that she could have a part in the gossip: herself.

“Wow. Really? That’s an interesting name. I guess not for a vampire, but it really is interesting,” said Cassie. The were all done with their ice-cream now, and Rosemary was getting bored. She let her eyes wander to a table at the other end of the outside dining area, where Michael was sitting with his own group of friends.

“Rosemary, I know what you’re looking at. Tell me. Do you like him?” asked Joanne, the more courageous of the four. They were all leaning in closer to the table so they wouldn’t miss a word.

“Uh . . . um . . . I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Rosemary, her pale skin getting a bit redder.

“Oh, come on. Please tell us. We won’t tell a soul,” said Laura.

“Fine. Yes. I like him. But I think it’s called a crush. I don’t know about what you humans call it,” said Rosemary, this time her face was actually a normal human color.

“Okay. If you really don’t want to tell us about it. But if you want to know this, there has been a person spying on you. She was really weird. And she shot an arrow at your window one night. It was freaky,” said Laura.

Rosemary’s face was back to white. Her heart almost stopped altogether. Then she insisted, “Tell me. What does she look like. I have to know. And it isn’t in the gossip kind of way.”

“Okay. Well she was tall and had straight black hair that went down to her shoulders. Her eyes were almost as strange as yours. Red. She was wearing black, and she had something glittering on her left hand. I don’t know. Do you know her?” Laura asked.

It took Rosemary a few seconds to recover, but then she said, “Yes. I have to go home, tell Bodoleck. Thank you for telling me. It was important that I knew. I really should go.”

“Rosemary.”

Rosemary stood and turned around to find Michael standing right behind her. He was smiling as always, and his gang was whispering something at their table.

“Um . . . do you want to go do something with me tonight? Like a date?” Michael asked her.

“Date?”

“Oh. I forgot. You don’t know what it is. I’ll . . . tell you later,” said Michael. It was harder to tell that he was blushing than Rosemary, but you could still tell.

“Sure, I think. Okay,” said Rosemary. Michael grabbed her coat and her hand, pulling her towards the movie theater across the street. Everyone that knew them were giggling. The people who didn’t shrugged and went back to the conversation they were having before.

Meanwhile, Veripema was taking a break from spying and thought she would take a look around the city. She knew her way around Rosemary’s neighborhood thanks to a phonebook, so she decided to look around the bookstore.

She had only been there once before, but the bookstore owner had seen her fight Rosemary, so she needed a disguise. The spell for that was difficult and she wasn’t quite able to perform it to its full strength.

Veripema was able to find a quite area where noone would find her and she started chanting. She wanted to have short curly hair and blue eyes. She also wanted to be slightly overweight and have s turned-up nose.

Once she was done, she started walking. It didn’t take long to find the bookstore. It was the only one in the area, and she went inside to browse around.

“Excuse me. May I help you?” Mr. Monajelli asked Veripema.

“No. I’m just looking to see what you have,” Veripema replied. She immediately went to the back of the store so she wouldn’t cause any trouble. 

As she was looking at a book on World War II, she overheard a customer ask Mr. Monajelli, “Do you remember any faces?”

“Are you kidding? Just because I have a small bookstore, that doesn’t mean that I don’t see more people than there are in this entire city. I couldn’t possibly remember anyone’s face. The only way I would is if they came here often,” she heard Mr. Monajelli reply.

‘That’s interesting. So I don’t have to have a disguise. He only saw me once. I didn’t even have to go through all that trouble of casting that spell. What a waste of energy. I’d better undo the spell before I faint,’ thought Veripema. She quickly left the store unnoticed and came back a few minutes later in her regular form.

“Hello. May I help you?” Mr. Monajelli asked her.

“Um . . . yes. What kind of books do you have on vampires?” asked Veripema.

“Well, we have some interesting books of ancient tales. Is that what you were looking for?” Mr. Monajelli asked her.

“I think so. Before I look at anything, what do you think of the books? I want your honest opinion. Don’t lie to me,” said Veripema. She wanted to get a conversation with him to see what type of person Mr. Monajelli was.

“Well, most people enjoy these books, but I don’t know. I recently met a vampire myself, and she told me interesting things. I think I might give them away for free. I reread some, and the vampire, who will remain anonymous, told me that they can stay in the sun for any period of time, and don’t mind garlic. So these books are fake. It’s what normal people like you or me thought of them. This person is a good friend of mind, so I trust . . . him,” said Mr. Monajelli, not wanting to give away Rosemary’s identity.

“That’s interesting. So I shouldn’t buy these books, and ask you questions on vampires instead?” Veripema asked. This was all part of her plan.

“Well, yes. You should, actually.”

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”