True Blood/Southern Vampire Mysteries Fan Fiction ❯ Counting Stars ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

When I wake up that morning for school, I groan. The last day of high school is only 5 days away. Graduation is a week after that. Waking up in the morning, though, is getting harder and harder. I roll over, and glare at the offensive alarm clock, contemplating how much time I have, and if I can afford to hit the snooze button. Deciding that I probably slept as long as I possibly could, I fling my legs over the side of the bed, and slide down the side, landing on the floor. Step 2 of waking up is complete.
I get myself off the floor, and drag myself to the bathroom to do my business. After splashing some water on my face, I look in the mirror, and scrutinize my appearance. I'm not anything extraordinary—I have medium length blonde hair, blue eyes, and nice skin—but that's about it.
I roll my eyes at my hair, and decide that it's definitely a pony tail kind of day. I put on my light makeup, put on a pair of jeans and a blue button up shirt, and head downstairs for my coffee. I'm Penelope Thomspon, and I'm a coffee addict. No shame. I reach for the coffee pot, and poor myself a black cup of coffee, along with a blueberry muffin. I much on the muffin and sip my coffee, until I see the stove clock indicating I only 10 minutes until I need to leave. It's sad that I leave for school before my parents are even awake for work.
I sigh as I push myself away from the table, and grab my books and car keys. The senioritis definitely hit hard—I don't even take my backpack anymore. I hop in my car and make the 15 minute drive to school in relative silence, thinking about the upcoming final exams. I'm not too worried about them. The AP tests were more intimidating than these finals are going to be. I've always been a bookworm, and even somewhat of a loner, opting to hang out with the the geeks. But they're fun. I'd much rather have an all day Star Wars marathon than go to a club.
I pull into my assigned spot, and get out of the car, searching to see if my best friend Tiffany's car is there. When I see it, I jog over, knocking on her window.
"Holy fuck! You scared me!" she says, opening the car door. I can't help but laugh. My best friend is the complete opposite of me. She has dark hair, green eyes, and olive skin, and is definitely one of the more preppy girls at school.
"Sorry," I say, poorly concealing my grin. "I just wanted to see if you were ready to face the masses."
"Sweetie, I'm always ready," she says, taking one last look in her rear view mirror to check her makeup. "I've been thinking. Do you want to go to that new vampire bar in Shreveport?" she asks, looking at me sideways.
"Umm..." I start, not really knowing what to say. "We're not old enough, are we?"
"We're 18. I can only assume they'd let us in," she says conspiratorially. "We can skip that stupid fucking senior prank, and go there tonight."
"I don't know if my parents..."
"You're 18. You can go if you want to," she says, cutting me off. "Besides, we need to blow off some steam. I'll get us some fake ID's."
I sigh, knowing that my friend is right. I do need to blow off some steam. But a vampire bar? That seemed dangerous. And I'd heard the rumors about Fangtasia—they weren't good. I head off towards my first class of the day, and listen to my AP Literature teacher drone on aboutHamlet.
The rest of the day goes smoothly, with most teachers opting to have reviews in their classes for the upcoming finals. I seriously could have stayed home today. By the time the bell rings, I'm already half way to my car. Tiffany comes jogging up to me, tugging my arm.
"What are you gonna wear tonight?" she asks me as I throw my books in the back seat. I turn to her, and lean against the car.
"I honestly don't know what I'm supposed to wear to a vampire bar," I tell her. "You know I don't really have any dresses or anything."
She nods slowly, as if deep in though, when I see her face light up. "I've got the perfect dress for you to wear," she says enthusiastically. "Just follow me over to my place."
I wave as I get in my car, and dial my mom's phone number.
"Hey sweetie," my mom says cheerfully. "How was school?"
"Oh, uh, school was fine. Hey, I think I forgot to tell you, but the senior prank is tonight, and Tif and I were gonna go to that. I'll just be with her the rest of the afternoon," I tell my mom, hoping that she's having a bust enough day at work to not ask any questions.
"Ah, well that sounds fun," she says distractedly. "Oh, honey, I just got an order. I'll call you back?"
"Don't worry about it," I tell her. "I love you."
"Love you too," she says, before the line disconnects.
By the time I'm off the phone, I'm pulling up at Tiffany's house. Her family seriously has too much money. I walk in the front door, and head up the stairs to Tiffany's room. By the time I walk in, she's already got the dress in her hands.
"This, will make you look perfect," she says, thrusting the pale blue dress at me.
"Really? This isn't what I think when I hear 'vampire bar'." I tell her, eyeing the dress. It really is pretty, in a simple sort of way. Before I know it, she's thrusting a pair of white pumps with lace on them at me. "This looks so...virginal," I tell her.
"That's the point," she says, looking at me like I've lost my mind. When she pulls out her dress though, I can't help but gawk. It's about knee length, with an empire waist. The bottom portion is black, but the top portion is red.
"How come you get to look grown up?" I ask, nodding at the dress. She laughs, and sits down beside me.
"Sweetie, those vampires love nothing more than innocence," she says, giving me herduhlook again. "Now, let me do your hair tonight."
A whopping four hours later, Tiffany and I are finally ready to go to the bar. It's only about 7:30, so we wait in her room.
"You got the fake ID's, right?" I ask her for what feels like the millionth time.
"Yes, I did. Stop worrying about everything. I'm sure we'll be fine," she says rolling her eyes at me. "What are you gonna do if you meet somebody?"
"What do you mean,meet somebody?" I ask.
"Like, as in, sex," she says. "There are some real hotties there."
"I, uh, don't think I'm going to be looking for that," I say, frowning.
We leave at 7:45, and start the hour long drive to Shreveport. I love my best friend, but I find her taste in music absolutely horrendous. We usually end up just driving with no music when we are together. I can't seem to understand the allure with Katy Perry, like she can't understand why Nirvana was a legend.
When we pull up to the bar, we see that we beat the line. We walk up to the woman at the front door, who looks us up and down.
"Well, aren't you two sweet?" she says, taking in our appearance.
"Not really," I say, earning a smile from the female vampire.
"ID please," she says, dropping fang. "I lost the ability to tell human age a long time ago."
When we hand her our fake ID's, she just grins fangily at us, winking. "Go on in. Good luck getting out."
We walk into the bar, and I'm immediately floored by the amount of red and black. I stick out like a sore fucking thumb. The music is already pumping, and the dance floor is already packed with bodies.
"Why did you let me wear this," I yell to Tiffany over the music.
"I though it would be funny," she says with a smirk. "They'll be all over you tonight. You need to relax. I did this to get you laid."
Hearing that, I leave her on the dance floor, and head to the bar. I order myself a shot of tequila, and toss it back, charging that drink and all subsequent drinks to Tiffany's credit card.
Sitting at the bar, I get a good look at the rest of the club. I see two thrones on the stage, one of them being occupied by I can only assume the owner of the bar. He's very handsome. Yet, any man who has a throne is probably way too high maintenance.
"Who is that?" I ask the bartender.
"That's Eric Northman," he says, looking at me oddly. "He owns this place."
I sit at the bar for a little while longer, when a young man sits down next to me. He looks to be no older than maybe 25. He orders himself an AB- True Blood, and tips the bartender generously. I sneak a glance over at him, and realize that he is very good looking. He's got on a black button up shirt, black jeans, and black boots. I can see a blue tattoo peeking through the loose buttons at the top of his shirt.
The man in question looks at me briefly, and smiles, but doesn't say anything. I get up from my seat, and head towards the ladies room, needing to go after all the tequila shots. I walk in, and hear someone moaning, and the distinct sound of fangs clicking down. I run out of the bathroom, and find the man still sitting on the stool.
"I don't know who to go to with this, but there's a vampire feeding on someone in the ladies room," I say as quietly as possible.
His eyebrow shoots into his hairline before he speeds off the stool and towards the bathroom. I shake my head, not knowing if I could ever get used to vampires, and their speeding around.
I decide that I'm not mad at Tiffany anymore, and make my way onto the dance floor to find her. Instead, I'm caught around the waist by the man sitting beside me at the bar.
"Thank you for telling me," he says, extending his hand. "I'm Godric."
"It's no problem," I tell him. "I'm Penelope."
"Would you like to dance, Penelope?" he asks. When he says my name, I can't help the feeling I get in my center, wishing he was saying my name in a much different context. "You know, it was a dangerous move coming here, looking the way you do."
"Why is that?" I ask him, blushing.
"You look delectable. In a room full of vampires, the number one rule should be to wear your hair down," he whispers in my ear.
"Well, then it's a good thing I'm dancing with you, and not the big bad wolf, isn't it?" I tell him, stunned at my own behavior.
He throws his head back and laughs, guiding us around the dance floor.
"What's so funny?" I ask him.
"Some might say that Iamthe big bad wolf," he says, still laughing. "Thank you for the dance, Penelope."
After he walks away, I find Tiffany sitting in a booth with a guy. I decide to head over to her, and tell her I'm ready to go home. I'll most likely just catch a cab. I don't really feel like dying tonight because of her drunk driving.
"Hey, Tif, I'm gonna head on home, okay?" I tell her, hugging her tight.
"Alright, hun, be safe," she says before going back to her date.
I walk out of the club, and begin towards the parking lot, looking up the number for the taxi service on my phone. I don't, however, notice the very angry vampire stalking towards me, until I literally run into her.
"Sorry," I say quickly, going back to my phone.
"You're the little cunt that told Godric about me feeding," she says, as she starts to circle me.
"Hey, they sign says no feeding on premises," I tell her. I'm pretty sure it's the tequila that made me say the next part however. "It's not my fault you can't read the fucking sign."
The next think I know, I've been tackled to the ground by an angry vampire, the last thing I remember hearing being the click of her fangs.