Chapter 5: Jay
“So… It’s true? All of it? Witches? Vampires? Werewolves?” I asked, still trying to wrap my head around it. Sage nodded and took a bottle out of her bag, again, filled with blood. I looked down at the bottle she originally tried to give me at lunch, the one currently in my hand, and realized I emptied it completely.
Sage followed me to the bathroom when I ran from the cafeteria to make sure I wasn’t going to snap. After she heard me bang into the bathroom stall she ran in, hoping I didn’t just rip someone’s neck open. She calmed me down and handed me the bottle I denied earlier. I drank it down greedily, savoring the sweet and tangy taste I didn’t realize I was desperately craving.
I sWitched bottles with her and took a big gulp. I looked at the mirror, relieved to see the reflection changing back to normal. My eyes were still dark, but as I drank more blood the black gave way to my normal blue-green. “Where did you get this blood from?”
Sage smiled. “It’s mine.” I grimaced and was about to drop the bottle on the bathroom floor before she laughed. “I’m joking! I’m joking! My parents have it stocked up in case a lone Vampire or something happens to travel by and they need blood. It’s just some random blood the hospital had to throw out. It’s fine.”
I grimaced. “That was a bad joke.” I shivered slightly and shook my head. “We should probably get out of the bathroom. Sooner or later there will be guys coming in and we don’t want to explain why you’re in here.” Sage nodded. I looked out the door to make sure nobody was coming. “It’s clear.” Sage came out after me and we walked down the hall, the opposite way of the cafeteria.
We walked in silence for a bit while I thought about what happened. I took a drink out of the bottle and looked over at her. “How do you know about this stuff? And how did you know about me?” Sage looked away, and I could tell she was thinking, though I didn’t know what about.
Eventually, Sage looked back at me. “I knew you were a Vampire because my mom told me. My mom and your mom are old friends. They grew up together.”
Confusion washed over me. “Wait, your mom knows? How? Does she-” my question was cut short by the bell, signaling the end of lunch. Students started leaving the classrooms and the crowd pulled us back. We moved to the edge of the hall and waited until the halls were less crowded.
“Let’s get out of here.” Sage suggested.
“You mean ditch the rest of the school day?” I asked, appalled she’d even suggest that.
“Yeah. We really need to talk more. You probably have a lot of questions and I have a lot of explaining to do.” She replied.
I shook my head. “No way. We have after school to talk about this. We don’t have to talk about this right now.”
Sage crossed her arms. “Jay, the sooner we talk about it, the better.” Sage’s voice sounded annoyed, but her eyes seemed… Almost worried. Like she was scared of what she wanted to tell me.
“I’m staying. I have baseball practice at 3. If I ditch school I can’t show up at practice.”
Sage sighed. “Fine. But I’m going to pick you up after practice and we’re going to talk.”
“Fine.” I mumbled. I drank the last of the blood and handed her the bottle. She went to hand me a third one and I took it. “Thanks.” I took another drink. “How long have these been in your bag? I’m not going to get sick am I?”
“They’ve been in here since you made the promise. I knew sooner or later you would crack, and I needed to be prepared so you wouldn’t attack someone. I refreshed the blood every few days, so it’s not bad.” She explained. “I’m surprised. You lasted longer than I thought you would.”
I bit my lip and we walked back to class, 10 minutes after lunch ended. We sat in our seats and got back to our normal lives.