I'm running like there's a pack of wolves after me. The lunch bell rang like 10 minutes ago, but since I had to help Coach Mayfield put the softball equipment away, I'm the last one to get to the cafeteria. And trust me, if you go to Planet Nine Elementary, you do not want to be the last one in line at the cafeteria. Ever!
So I run in, and I see that the table I usually sit at is already full. Rats! I glance quickly around. All the tables are full. No space anywhere...except at the one table the stragglers always get relegated to.
Deadeye Danny's table.
I look over at him and he's staring right at me with those coal black eyes of his. Eyes that look like they belong on a shark. Cold and dead. Empty eyes!
I sit down and try real hard not to stare at the bottle of thick red liquid in front of him. There's a straw propped up in it, and a tiny drop dribbles slowly down the back of it. Suddenly my peanut butter and banana sandwich doesn't seem that appetizing anymore. I glance down at the lumps of banana peeking out from in between the peanut butter.
"If it bothers you I can always drink it later," Danny says in that slow, Southern drawl of his.
"What?" I look up at him. He's smiling at me, and up close his eyes don't look that cold and dead.
He gestures at the bottle. "The pig's blood," he says.
Pig's blood! Oh geez! "Oh...no...that's all right," I stammer. "I mean you must be hungry, right?"
His eyes drop to my neck and my heartbeat goes into full overdrive. "I am," he agrees, "but I don't want to make you uncomfortable." He look up at me and smiles again. "I don't normally have company for lunch. It's kind of nice."
I'm puzzled. Deadeye Danny doesn't sound like the vampires I see on the Sci-Fi channel. I mean he sounds like them, what with the way they talk, like they're royalty or something. You know, "Good eveeeening. I am Count Chocula," or whatever. But he doesn't sound like them in that he doesn't sound evil. In fact, he sounds kind of okay.
"No problem here," I say, trying real hard not to stare at the bottle. "Drink away." Oh geez! Did I just say that? "I mean, don't stop on account of me."
In response, Danny raises his bottle to me. I'm not sure what he wants me to do, until I realize he's looking at my chocolate milk. I quickly grab the carton and tap it against his bottle.
Danny grins at me, his long incisors jutting over his bottom lip. "Bottom's up," he says, and slurps his blood like it's going out of style. Before I can raise my chocolate milk to my lips, he's drained his bottle and gets to his feet. "Got to get to math class," he says. "See you."
I nod.
He turns away then turns back to me. That smile flashes again. "Know something Beaker? You're okay...for a human." Then in the next second he's walking out the door.
Wow! For someone who doesn't have a heart, the guy's all heart. Who knew?
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