PART ONE
Chapter 1: School’s out!
The bell rang.
Scott Robinson had been tapping his fingers, gazing out the classroom window, But now he snapped to attention.
Two short, electronic chimes, then a long, louder one.
Then a moment of silence.
Before the room went totally berserk.
Scott leaped up from his desk with a joyful cry.
He slapped the hand of his friend Abs Breen a hard high five.
"We made it!" Meghan Callingwood shouted from the back of the room.
"Hey, we actually made it!"
Happy shouts and laughter rang all around the room.
Chairs scraped nosily across the floor. Someone heaved a backpack into a trash basket.
"I’m out of here!" Mrs. Marshall exclaimed, shaking her head fretfully. The teacher gathered up her books and papers in both arms. Pencils spilled onto the floor. She didn’t bother to pick them up. "Have a good summer, everyone!" she called, escaping out the door. "And remember not to party to hard!"
Of course, the line got a good laugh.
That bell ended our junior year, Scott thought ducking away from an apple someone heaved at the window. We’re seniors now.
He dragged up his backpack from the floor.
He felt like tossing it in the trash, to.
But he slung it over the should of his gray t-shirt instead. Near the door Dayna Palmer and Mira Block had their arms around each other’s shoulders.
They were singing some song about summertime at the absolute top of their lungs.
His friends J Brown and Mickey Myers had pinned Justin Thompson down and were brushing his head with the chalk eraser, turning his hair white. Justin squealed and struggled. Mickey and J began chalking the front of his blue shirt. They’ve been waiting all year to do that. Scott thought snickering.
"Party time at Shadyside High." He muttered to himself.
Scott heard happy shouts from out in the hall.
A deafening crash out there.
Loud laughter.
He scanned the hall for Debra Lake or Skye Conrad, his two love interests.
No Skye, no Debra.
Debra must be at the tennis courts, he thought.
He waved goodbye to Mira and Dayna, who had started their song all over again. Making his way to the back of the room, he bumped into Matty Winger. Matty leaned over the window ledge. Scott saw a red balloon in Matty’s hand. A water balloon? Yes. Matty grinned. raised it to the open second story window, and prepared to drop it on some poor victim down below.
He grinned at Scott.
"Bombs away!"
Skye Conrad slapped the balloon hard.
The water splashed all into Matty’s chubby face.
"Hey!- you!" Matty stopped when he saw it was the beautiful Skye Conrad who had spoiled his trick.
His face turned bright red. "H-hi Sk-y-e." He managed to stutter.
Skye didn’t hear she was to busy as she and Scott congratulated each other.
Skye made almost every guy in Shadyside High stutter or blush because she was so perfect, body, face, personality. And the thing she treated everyone fairly.
Matty mopped at his face with the sleeve of his shirt.
"Hey, Matty, how did you ever survive junior year?" Rich Neville asked walking up beside Scott.
Matty sneered back.
"By copying you, Rich. You’re my hero."
"Know what Matty’s doing this summer?" Jason Grant asked walking over towards them.
"He’s head counselor at a Fat Camp!"
"I am not!" Matty protested heatedly. "It’s not a fat camp! It’s an exercise camp!"
Skye remained silently listening to the conversation
"You going to pump up this summer, Matty?" Jason asked.
He squeezed Matty’s flabby arm.
"You gonna come back looking like Arnold Swarchenager?"
"Ow! Let go!" Matty winced in pain and pulled away. "Give me a break Jason. You know I bleed easily!"
All four of them laughed.
That’s what saves Matty’s life, Scott thought. He has a pretty good sense of humor.
Scott glanced at the clock.
"Hey I’m late. I promised I’d meet Debra at the tennis courts." He waved to Skye and Rich then jogged across the room to the door.
On the way he pulled Dayna Palmer’s brown ponytail loose.
She ignored him and kept chatting with Mira Block. Something told him to look back at his friends. He saw Skye smiling and talking with Rich.
Skye is so hot, Scott thought, trotting through the noisy, crowded hall. Sometimes he found himself gazing at her, thinking all kinds of thoughts about her. But hey, every guy in Shadyside High does, he told himself. Skye Conrad was the richest and one of the best looking girls in the school. Not to mention the fact that she was single. But he couldn’t decide which he like better. He and Debra were good together. They’d been going out since February, nearly five months. And we’re going to have a great senior year, Scott thought.
He unlocked his locker. "Whoa." He had expected to see the usual pile of junk.
But he had cleaned it our on Monday. Nothing left in there but his tennis racket.
Scott had hated tennis but took it up to impress Debra but now found he liked it and it was a good way to meet girls. Scott grabbed the racket and, leaving the door open jogged out of the building and around the back to the courts.
Cars squealed out of the student parking lot.
Horns blared.
Music throbbed room car radios cranked up all the way.
Scott waved to some kids roaring away in a red Mustang convertible. I’ve got two whole weeks to party day and night until my job starts, he thought. A gust of wind caught his dark, gelled into position spikes. Even though the sun was strong, the spring air still carried a chill.
He shifted the backpack on his shoulders, and turned the corner of the building. The tennis courts stood behind a wire fence just beyond the teacher parking lot.
"Hey Deb-?" he started to call her, but stopped when he saw she wasn’t alone.
Who was that guy standing so close to her? Scott squinted into the sunlight. Not Clark Dickson. Not Count Clarkula. That geek Clark almost always wore black. With his slicked-down black hair, his dark slender face and the solemn manner, he reminded everyone of a vampire. Did Clark know that kids called his Count Clarkula? Probably not, Scott thought. But what was he doing there with Debra? Why was he slipping his arms around her? Lowering his head to her throat?
Chapter 2: Visions
"Hey, Debra!"
Scott’s cry made them both jump back. The breeze caught Debra’s long smooth chocolate brown hair, sending it flying up around her face. Running full speed, Scott was breathing hard by the time he reached them. He glanced at Clark, then cast a suspicious glare at Debra. "What’s up?"
Debra pushed back her hair with both hands. "Clark was….helping me." she told Scott. "I had something in my eye."
Scott studied her green eyes, as if trying to find the truth in them. She turned her face away. Debra was small and delicate. Her high cheekbones, her olive white skin and flashing green eyes, many of their friends said she could be a model.
"She’s like a clean-cut Kate Moss." Scott’s step sister Josie once said.
"How’s it going?" Clark asked Scott cheerfully.
He fiddled nervously with the zipper on his black jacket. "Okay." Scott replied his eyes still locked on Debra. He couldn’t read her expression. Guilty? Embarrassed? Did she really have something in her eye? Why did they both look so uncomfortable?
"What are you doing this summer?" Clark asked Scott. "You working at your dad’s place?"
Scott nodded. "Yeah. you know. Helping. Doing grunt work." Clark didn’t reply. He seemed to be waiting for something. Maybe he was waiting for Scott to ask what he was doing this summer. But Scott didn’t ask. He really wanted Clark to leave.
"Well….catch you later." Clark said finally. He nodded to Debra.
"Later." Debra muttered.
Clark turned and crossed the court to the parking lot, walking slowly, leaning into the gusting wind.
Debra spun her racket. "Kind of windy for tennis." She said, still avoiding Scott’s eyes.
"Let’s hit a few anyways." Scott replied. He tossed his jacket and backpack near the fence. "Can you believe we’re out? We’re free?"
"Whatever." He trotted to the other side of the court and bounced a tennis ball over the net to her.
"Volley for serve." Debra can’t be interested in Count Clarkula, Scott told himself. Clark is such a total geek. Why did I ever think something was going on?
Debra’s serve barely cleared through the net. Scott returned the ball over her head. She let it bounce behind her. They volleyed for a while. The swirling wind made the ball take unpredictable hops. Scott was enjoying himself. It felt good to work off some energy. All those weeks of sitting in classes. He felt like running a few laps around the track, slam-dunking a few baskets……….flying!
He sent a hard serve sailing past Debra. Weird, he thought. She usually plays with twice as much energy as me. She’s usually covering the court.
"Do you think we could quit now?" Debra asked. She lowered her arms to her sides with a weary sigh. Scott trotted up to the net. "What you problem today?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "I’m tired, I guess. Probably from all that studying for the finals. I haven’t been feeling so hunky dory."
He tugged her smooth hair playfully. "Yeah sure we can quit. Want to go to the side? Get a coke or a coffee or something?"
Before Debra could answer, Scott hear a high, shrill voice calling his name. He turned to see his stepsister Josie running across the court. "You’re not going to believe this!" She cried breathlessly. She wore a short black skirt of black tights and a black vest over two t-shirts. Her long, plastic earrings jangled against her jet black hair as she ran. She ran straight into the net, and caught him her balance by grabbing Scott’s shoulders. She held onto him, her head bowed as she gasped for air.
"Josie-are you okay?" Debra asked concerned.
Josie nodded. "Me, fine. It’s Skye Conrad who’s messed." She said as she finally let go of Scott’s shoulders and took a step back. Her black eyes gleamed.
"What do you mean?" Debra asked.
"Yeah? Is Skye alright?" Scott asked concerned. Besides being Scott’s biggest secretive crush Skye was one of his best friends.
"She’s gone crackers." Josie said.
"What?" Debra asked shocked.
"Crazy! The girl has gone absolutely crazy!"
"Why do you say that?" Scott asked.
"Because, I just heard a rumor that Skye likes Mickey Myers!"
That was Josie, the biggest rumor spreader in all of Shadyside high.
"What?" Scott and Debra both asked their eyes wide in shock.
As if on queue a cheerful Skye shouted from the other side of the court. "Ello persons!"
She jogged over towards them.
"Is it true?" Josie asked staring at her.
Skye frowned. "What?"
"Have you lost complete sense of sanity?"
"What happened to her? She drink my old chemistry experiment?" Skye asked teasingly to Scott. He grinned and nodded.
"Are you absolutely crackers?"
"As in crazy?" Skye asked.
"Yes! Absolutely nuts!"
"Loco?" Skye asked in Spanish.
"It doesn’t matter what language you speak it in. The question is are you absolutely positively nuts?"
"No." Skye said simply ginning. "I was just abducted by aliens. That’s all."
Josie let out a frustrated groan. "You are so impossible."
"Just as impossible as that rumor about me and Mickey." Skye said.
"So it’s not true?"
"What’s not true?"
"The rumor."
"What rumor?"
"The rumor about Mickey!"
"What about Mickey?"
"Agghhh! You drive me crazy!"
Skye smiled happily. "That’s my job in life Josie. To drive you up the wall."
"Hey, that’s my job." Said Scott teasingly.
"Oh, I’m sorry. Would you care to share it?" She asked jokingly.
"Thought you’d never ask."
"Well, you two can stop at any given moment." Said Debra.
"Why?" Scott asked.
"It’s not nice to tease poor Josie like that."
"Why?" Skye asked.
"Because, she’s your friend."
"Why?" Skye repeated.
"Agghhh. I see what you meant about em’."
Scott saw Trisha Conrad, Skye’s identical twin sister jogging across the courts. "Hey guys!" Trisha called to them.
"Hey-what’s up?" Scott called.
Trisha came jogging towards the court. Just past the fence, she stopped suddenly. Her hands flew up, and her mouth dropped open in an 0 of horror.
Skye collapsed to her knees.
"Trisha-what’s wrong?" Debra shrieked.
Chapter 3:We’ll all die one by one
Trisha sank to the concrete. She stared at them blankly, as if she didn’t recognize them.
They ran over to her. Scott dropped by her side. "Trisha? Trisha?" he repeated her name.
She didn’t move. She didn’t even blink. Finally she shook her head hard, as if shaking away a bad dream. She swept a hand back through her streak, blond hair. Her blue eyes focused on Debra then Josie. "Wow." She murmured. "Wow."
"Trisha-are you okay?" Josie cried. "Should I go get some help?"
Trisha shook her head again. "No." She cleared her throat. "No. I’m fine." Scott helped her to her feet. She stood unsteadily, holding onto his arm. "I just had the most horrifying flash." She told them.
Skye rolled her eyes. "Not another one of you stupid psychic visions!"
Biting her bottom lip, Trisha swung her leather backpack around and began searching through it. Scott noticed the label on the backpack-Prada. The backpack must have cost at least three hundred dollars, he realized. Trisha and Skye carried and wore a lot of designer labels. They could afford them. Their father built the Division Street Mall in Shadyside. And he built malls and office complexes all across the country. The Conrads had to be the wealthiest family in all of Shadyside. Scott had known Trisha and Skye since the fourth grade, and he liked them both. Sure, they both drove eighty thousand dollar Mercedes convertibles. And sure, they dressed more stylishly than the other girls. And Trisha went to the Bahamas every Christmas and Europe every summer. But they were both warm and friendly, and never acted superior or snooty because of their money. If only Trisha didn’t believe she could see the future…..
"That was so horrible!" Trisha exclaimed. The color returned to her face. She swallowed hard.
"What did you see?" Josie demanded.
"Yeah Tris, did Godzilla step on Shadyside High?" Scott teased.
"It-it’s not funny." Trisha stammered, lowering her gaze to the pavement.
"Well, what did you see?" Skye asked impatiently.
"I just had a flash that the entire senior class is doomed." Trisha told them, her voice just above a whisper. Her eyes clouded over, as if she were seeing it all over again.
"We’re all doomed?" Scott asked.
"All of us." Trisha murmured. "The most awful picture flashed in my mind. I saw all of us-the whole class-lying in big brown coffins. All green and rotting." She shook her head. "We all died. One by one."
Debra slid her arm around Trisha’s trembling shoulders. "You don’t really believe that’s going to come true-do you?"
Trisha stared straight ahead and didn’t reply.
"Do you?" Debra repeated.
"I do believe it." Trisha murmured softly. "I do believe that our class is cursed. That terrible things are going to happen. That…..that we’re not all going to survive our senior year."
"Whoa Trisha, calm down." Skye said. "Just because you saw a freaky picture-"
Scott tried to make a joke to snap Trisha out of it but Skye came up with one first.
"You know what? I have visions too." They all looked at her. "That I’m gonna spend a lot of money this summer. "Yeah. And you know what you should do this summer Trish? Start your own Psychic Hotline."
She frowned. "Ha. Ha." She said dryly.
He decided to change the subject. "I can’t wait for your guys’s party." He said.
"Yeah. That’s going to be excellent!" Debra agreed.
Skye and Trisha’s parents were going to Japan. So Skye had decided to throw the first major party of the summer. The Conrads’ luxurious mansion, high on the cliffs overlooking the Coonoonookock River, had to be the most amazing place for a go-crazy, get wild party.
"Our first party as seniors!" Josh declared.
"And senior year is going to be a major party year!" Agreed Josie.
"Oh for sure," Debra replied sarcastically. "College applications, college essays, SATs……….Hel-l-l-lo! We’re going to have a lot of time for partying. Like about 5 minutes."
"Well, then we’ve got to have an awesome summer!" Scott insisted. "And Skye and Trisha’s party-"
"I guess I should tell you guys the bad news." Skye interrupted.
Scott gaped at her. "Huh? What? Bad news?"
"We had to cancel the party."
"B-b-but-but-why?"
Her words came out in a choked whisper. "Because we don’t want anyone to die."
Chapter 4: Yummy
"What are you talking about?" Scott demanded.
"I had another vision." Trisha murmured. "A few days ago. I-I"
Trisha’s expression turned so grim Scott had to laugh. He cut it short when he saw Skye signaling with her eyes to him for him to stop. But how can Trisha tale theses weird visions seriously? He wondered. She’s smart. And she has a good sense of humor about everything else. She can’t really believe that these pictures show her the future-can she? And what about Skye? She’s usually pulling jokes and pranks with me all the time and doesn’t believe this hocus pocus stuff. She’s so calm and laid back. Why did she cancel the party? Is she really afraid? Is it something in the family genes that does it? Skye and Trisha were trembling. Trisha wrapped her arms tightly around herself hugging her lime green silk sweater. They do believe, Scott saw. Okay, okay, he thought. Stop laughing them. You have to take some things seriously. You can’t just stand back and laugh at everything, laugh your way through life.
That’s what his dad and stepmom were always saying. "You have to believe in something Scott. Something other then having a good time." Maybe they were right. But so far, he hadn’t discovered what that something was. Maybe it was Debra, or Skye. He took both of them seriously. And as he watched Debra comfort Trisha he realized, he took their relationship seriously. Which lead him back to the same question as earlier. Did she really have something in her eye?
"A whole scene flashed into my head." Trisha started explaining. "I saw something bad happen at the party. A girl sprawled on the floor. I think….I think she was dead."
"Who was it?" Josie asked.
"I couldn’t see her face." Trisha explained. "But people were crying and screaming."
"Kids in our class?"
Trisha nodded slowly. "I was screaming. You were screaming, we were all screaming our friggin’ heads off to the moon." Skye shuddered. Josie hugged her until she stopped shaking. "It was so real." Trisha murmured. "That’s why we decided to cancel the party."
"It won’t come true." Debra said softly. "It was just a picture, Trisha. Some kind of ugly fantasy. You were worried about finals, about the end of the school year. So fears just popped up into your head."
Skye snickered. "Can you tell her old man is a shrink?" She asked Scott.
All of them laughed.
"Sorry. I can’t help it." Debra sighed. "Dinner table talk I guess."
"You’ve got to have this party." Scott insisted. "Really guys, everyone is counting on it. We’ll all kill ourselves if you don’t have it!"
Trisha narrowed her eyes at him.
"You really think we should?" Skye asked what her sister’s eyes said.
"Of course." Scott told her. "Nothing bad is going to happen. I promise."
*Later*
After he dropped Debra at her house, Scott didn’t feel like going home. So he drove to Mickey Myers’s rambling stone house in the North Hills section of town near the high school.
Mickey’s mom did wire sculpture, and the wide sloping front lawn was cluttered with tall birds and reptiles and other creations she had made.
Scott found Mickey in the den with Matty and Scott’s friends J Brown, Abs Breen and Rich Neville all playing play station and eating handfuls of microwaved pop corn in from huge bowl. Matty kept tossing kernels in the air, trying to catch them in his mouth. Most of them bounced off his chin and fell to the floor where Mickey’s white and light brown cocker spaniel snapped them up just as quickly as Matty could drop them.
"Well I just saved the world from the a near end." He said sitting down.
"Cool, you finally had sex with Debra?" J asked not looking at him.
"No. I just saved you ungrateful losers from missing out of the best party of the summer." He corrected.
"What do ya mean? Trisha’s party is gonna be the biggest one of the summer." Said Rich.
"Don’t you mean Skye’s party Rich?" Abs asked. At the mentioning of Skye Conrad’s name Rich blushed.
"Oooouu. Looks like Ritchie’s got a crush on Skye." Said Matty.
"And like you don’t Winger!" Rich retorted back angrily.
"Whoa chill guys. My mom doesn’t want blood on the carpet. She just vacuumed." Said Mickey jokingly. He ran his hand through his sand blond hair.
"So how did your date with Debra go?" Matty asked. "That’s none of your business. And besides that, it wasn’t a date." Scott said.
"Okay what happened anyways?" Rich asked.
"He just wants to know if Skye talked about him." Said Mickey.
"Actually Mickey, you’ll get a kick out of this. She talked about you." Scott said.
"What?" Mickey asked surprised. "Skye Conrad talked about me?" He asked.
"Skye Conrad? The beautiful babe talked about him?" Abs asked shocked.
"Yeah but it was only about that rumor bout’ her and Mickey goin’ steady." Scott said shrugging his shoulders.
"Ha! I should be lucky enough to even go out with her." Mickey said.
"Aw. Poor Mickey, he’s in love." Said Scott jokingly.
"Naw. She’s just a nice chick." Mickey said before popping a pop corn in his mouth.
"Nice to know you feel that way Mickey." Came Skye’s voice from the door way. Scott looked over to see Skye wearing a khaki colored pair of cargo capris and a white tank top with the number 05 on it. Only thing different was the fact her hair was tied up in a pony tail and sky blue. She had high cheek bones, olive white skin and sparkling blue eyes which suited her even better with blue hair.
"S-Skye! What are you doing here?" Mickey managed to stammer.
Scott looked over to Mickey. Obviously he like her. "I figured I owed you and the guys a visit since my sister’s over at Jennifer Fear’s house."
"How did you know where I live?" Mickey asked.
"J showed me once." She replied sitting down beside J.
Hey Skye, what in hell’s name did you do to your hair? It’s blue!" Said Matty.
"No shit Sherlock! And look! Your brain’s the size of a pea." She said. They laughed.
"So why are you here?" Rich asked.
"I got bored back home." She replied shrugging her shoulders.
"So why not go hang out with the girls?" Matty suggested.
"Why not hang out with the guys?" She suggested. "Hey Scott. Thanks for convincing me and Trisha to still have the party." Skye said.
"No problem." Scott sighed. He shut his eyes and pictured Clark hanging over Debra again. Lowering his face to hers.
"Think fast!" Skye tossed a pillow at him. Scott let it bounce off his chest. "What’s your problem today Scott?" She asked as the others started another round of racing.
"Yeah. You were in a great mood when school." Agreed Abs.
"You ever see Debra hanging around Clark?" He asked.
Skye narrowed her blue eyes. "You mean Count Clarkula? With Deb?"
Scott squeezed the pillow tightly between his hands. "I….I’m not sure what’s going on." he confessed.
Matty opened his mouth to make a joke. But Skye cut him short with a sharp glare. Mickey dropped his controller on the ground. ‘What’s wrong?"
"Well……" Scott hesitated. "When I met up with Debra at the tennis court, Clark was there. He had his hand on her shoulders. And it looked like-"
"He was drinking her blood!" Abs interrupted.
Skye made blood slurping sounds with her lips. "Yummmmy. Count Clarkula is so thirsty!" The others laughed.
"Shut up." Scott muttered. "That Count Clarkula stuff his so stupid."
"You’re totally dumb." Mickey said giving Matty a playful shove.
Matty stumbled into the coffee table. "That’s a compliment coming from you beach hair."
He giggled as if he made his own joke. "Debra was just acting weird." Scott continued ignoring them both. "She’s…..tired all the time. No energy. And she looks so pale."
"See Clark is a Vampire!" Matty declared.
"Shut your hole Matty. Debra’s just overworked. That’s all." Said Skye picking up Mickey’s controller.
"How would you know Skye?" Mickey challenged.
"I still say he’s a vampire." Said Matty.
Mickey turned to Scott, his expression turned solemn. He brushed back his sandy hair and took a step forward to Scott. "I guess you found out the truth about Clark-huh, Scott?"
He took another step towards the couch. The light faded from his eyes. "Who else did you find out about Scott? Mickey demanded. "Who else did you learn the truth about?"
"Excuse me?" Scott cried. "That in hell’s name are you talking about?"
"Do you believe in vampires Scott?" Mickey asked in a low murmur. "Do you?
Scott sat up and pulled himself to the edge of the couch. "Well…" Mickey moved quickly. Scott didn’t have time to escape. Mickey grabbed his shoulders. And swung his face down at Scott’s neck. "Hey-!" Scott tried to protest. Too late. As Mickey’s teeth sank into Scott’s throat, Scott let out a scream of horror.