Unraveling Sarah Cresley by Marisa Maichel (best classic novels .TXT) 📖

floor.

"Please, call me Mordecai. It's good to see you again."

"You too, Mordecai." He finished with the buttons and they finally made eye contact. It was awkward for a moment.

"Um, Sarah," I began. "Do you want to hear that band I told you about?"

"Sure. It was nice seeing you again, Mordecai."

"You too, Sarah." His eyes trailed her up and down when she turned around. I growled at him below human hearing in warning. He quickly averted his eyes. I led Sarah up to my bedroom, where I shut the door and put on a Kings of Leon CD in my stereo system. Sarah bit her lip and sat on the bed. The scent of blood filled my nose. Her scent was absolutely intoxicating. I felt my incisors grow. I held my breath, causing my teeth to detract, and sat beside her. Her perfume was gardenias and rose. She always smelled like gardenias, no matter what cologne she wore.

"That was awkward," she said.

"It was," I agreed. "I'm sorry you had to endure that." She cracked a small smile. She looked around, studying my room. I followed her gaze. Goth and band posters decorated the walls. I had a new stereo system and a CD player, DVDs in a DVD rack, a television with a built-in VCR and DVD player, my closet overflowing with black clothes, bookshelves covering one wall, and a large desk in one corner. I thanked the gods that I kept my room fairly clean.

"So now what?" Sarah asked.

"Honestly, I don't know. I've never brought anyone up here except Ariella," I admitted.

"Forgive me for asking, but did you and Ariella ever...." She trailed off.

"Oh, no," I said. "We're strictly friends. Nothing like that has ever crossed my mind when it comes to her."

"What about other girls?" she asked.

"No one really comes to mind," I said, stomach twisting as I fibbed. Nobody except Sarah. She was the only one I would ever think about that way. If I even had a chance. I'm not going to let you go that easily. My hand instinctively reached for hers. She pulled back.

"I'm sorry," I said. "Would you tell me more about Scarlett?" Her teeth crushed her lip between them.

"Okay, I feel like you have a right to know."

"You don't have to feel obligated," I cut in.

"I don't feel obligated, I want to," she said sharply. Then her cheeks turned scarlet. "Sorry." She paused for a moment. "How long have you known?"

"Known what?" I asked, confused.

"That you liked me." I looked at her in surprise, amazed at how observant she is.

"I've known since freshman year. When I first saw you."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Honestly, I was too nervous. Look at me, and look at you. What chance do I have with you?" My honesty came out suddenly, and I was shocked at myself. She was silent for a moment.

"I liked you, too." Her cheeks turned even redder at her confession. Hope and love bloomed in my chest. "So you had a pretty good chance." She paused for effect. "I was too nervous to approach you."

"Because of the way I look?" I asked, intrigued.

"Partly. You do look strange. Why are your eyes the color of daffodils and the tips of your hair white?"

"I...I can't tell you," I said as a fresh stab went though my heart. Because I'm related to royalty...no, I am royalty, and because I'm a vampire. A look of hurt crossed Sarah's face.

"Why not?"

"In all honesty, I should probably wear blue contacts. My own fault, I guess." My father had actually suggested that I try wearing contacts, but I turned them down. Hair dye was out of the question, because the chemicals in certain hair dyes react strangely with my DNA. Yes, I'm aware that's weird. It can cause epilectic fits, allergic reactions, and fainting in worst-case scenarios. The real reason why I look the way I do is because I have royal blood. It all goes back to my lineage. I gazed at Sarah.

"I truly wish I could tell you, Sarah," I said. "But if I did, it could have dangerous repercussions." Not a total lie. She was confused, I could plainly see that. I wished I could explain it better to her.

"What kind of repercussions?" she pressed. I sighed.

"Like if I...if I told you I was supernatural, would you believe me?"

"I don't know," she admitted.

"I'm probably making a mistake by telling you this," I said.

"Then why...?"

"Because I feel that you have a right to know," I said, unintentionally throwing her words back at her. "And because...I love you." My confession surprised her. "Sarah, I've always loved you. I'm sorry if I'm scaring you, but it's the truth." Tears started to prick her eyes.

"My mom wants to sweep it under the rug," she said. I knew what she was talking about.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not right now." She leaned into me and started crying softly. I held her tightly, daring to press my lips against her silky brown hair. She needed me. All her friends turned on her, and her parents were not supporting her. And I did find her. Who better to support her than me? Besides, I was desperate for her attention. I needed to do something for her.

"How can I help?" I asked. She stopped crying after a few minutes.

"I'm sorry," she said, wiping her eyes with her jacket sleeve.

"It's not a problem," I said awkwardly.

"I'm so torn," she continued. "I'm so scared, I almost don't want to press charges."

"But if you did that, you would regret it forever, and he might do it again."

"And the school doesn't want to get involved," she said. "Something about crime and lives being changed. And Mike's parents even said that if I didn't want it, I shouldn't have been there." I was suddenly livid.

"Those bastards! How dare they?" I tried to think of ways I could get revenge. "Sarah, they should not have said that. It's not true. It is never the victim's fault. No matter what she did or how she looks. Even some women don't understand that." Luckily, my father and I had this discussion when I was younger and starting to understand serious crimes.

Sarah leaned slightly to the left. We looked into each other's eyes. I leaned in, and she pulled away. I leaned back like she was on fire.

"Sorry," I said.

"It's not that I don't like you, it's just that I have a lot on my mind," she said.

"I understand." We sat in silence for another minute.

"Well, I have to go," she said. "Maybe we can catch a movie or something next time."

"Sure," I said, my hope renewed. She said goodbye then. I watched her out the window as she walked to her car. She had a nice ass. There were a few things I knew for certain. Sarah was in danger. Mike Nales was the biggest jerk to walk this planet, and his parents were no better. I could not trust Scarlett's clique, not even Mia Alexander. And I was definitely, unequivocally in love with Sarah Harper Cresley.

~~~~~~~~

She was at school the next day. People gossiped about her. Some avoided her completely. I hated them. She didn't deserve that. Not my Sarah. I overheard some girls talking about it.

"She's not a slut or anything," one of them said. "She's very smart and knows what she wants. She didn't want what Mike Nales gave her."

"That's not what Scarlett said," said a fish-faced brunette. Then they saw me. I walked by them and they started gossiping about me.

"He likes Sarah," the first girl said.

"Does he?" asked Brunette. While they discussed that, I headed into the gym and quickly changed. Mrs. Kleeworth ordered us to partner up. I wound up with Clarissa Brawn, another loner. Clarissa is tall, with midnight black hair and grey eyes. She's fairly ordinary in most ways, except for the fact that she wore all black and pushed the limits of the dress code.

Unfortunately, there was an odd number of people in Gym today. So, Evan Byrd joined us. I could see the questions and confusion behind his eyes. I tried to ignore that as Kleeworth told us to each grab a racket and a tennis ball. We were to hit the balls back and forth, and it was me and Evan against Clarissa.

"So, how's Sarah?" Evan said.

"Why do you ask?" I replied.

"I..." He fiddled with his racket. "I don't really have a reason." He was lying.

"Tell me," I ordered.

"I...I was worried about you." And the truth comes out!

"It's Sarah you should be worried about," I snapped at him. He ducked his head.

"I'm sorry." The rest of class was done in silence. Occasionally, it would be me and Clarissa against Evan, and both of them against me. I daresay I fared very well for someone with little experience with tennis.

I noticed in the locker room that Evan could not keep his eyes off of me. I caught him staring at my ass on more than one occasion. It made me uncomfortable and a bit more irritated than I already was. He mumbled a quick "sorry" and averted his eyes. I knew he wasn't sorry.

During my free period, I went to the library as usual. I was a bit surprised to see Sarah there, although I knew that she liked books as well. I returned the three mysteries I'd finished and searched the science fiction section. I glanced over at Sarah and realized she was reading a novel that had been turned into a movie by Hayao Miyazaki. I had not realized she liked those. I picked out a random book and sat across from her.

"Hello, Reese," she said without looking up.

"Hello, Sarah," I said. "How are you?"

"I've been better," she said, looking at me, then the book. "Oh, you're reading I Am Number Four! How far along are you?"

"I just picked it up," I said. "What are you reading?"

"Howl's Moving Castle. It's really good." Now I was curious.

"Have you always liked books like that?"

"Not until recently. I started reading books like these, and even manga, a few weeks ago. The first one I read was One Piece." And then we fell into a discussion about our favorite manga and anime. Hers was Bleach and Fairy Tail, mine is HunterxHunter and One Punch Man. She asked me if I thought aliens were real, and I said yes. If vampires were real, and I replied with who knows? What else is out there?

She was undecided on the subject, but said she would take my word for it. When the subject of vampires came up, I quickly changed the topic. We discussed our mutual dislike of the terms "bae" and "yolo", but we acknowledged that there was nothing we could do about them. I was surprised to discover how deep she could get when she talked about all of this with me.

"What about your parents?" I asked.

"My dad passed away a year ago. Stomach cancer. And, well, you've met my mom. Plus there's my sister Sabine, who I don't think I've mentioned before."

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said, kicking myself for not noticing either her father's death or her sister's existence.

"I was really close to him," she continued. "I was kind of a daddy's girl." I nodded, understanding. I wished I could relate to her more. Of course, I'm close with my father as well, considering that he's the only parent I've ever known. I wished I knew the reasons for my mother's leaving, and decided to bother my father about it later. Sarah sipped the thermos of coffee she'd snuck in front of her.

"Would you like to go on a real date with me?" I inquired. She blinked, surprised, and I started beating myself up. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"Sure," she said, breaking my self-depracating thoughts. I smiled at her. My heart felt like it would burst out of my chest with happiness. Sarah...with me. Me of all people.

"Would you like to go with me to a pep rally?" she asked.

"I would," I replied. I'd been to