Chapter Text
The first time it happened was a late Saturday morning in early February. The snow was melting on the streets, and she and Victor had been out, laughing and talking while bundled in coats and scarves.
She had been trying not to stare too hard at how he looked with a red beanie, and black knitted scarf, but the slightly covered sun just barely reflected the redness on the tip of his nose, and his brown eyes looked like warm hot chocolate. And funnily enough, she felt the same funny trickling feel in her stomach, like she had just drank hot chocolate when he would look at her.
They had been headed toward the park, when suddenly they were spotted by a group of boys. Now, this happened fairly often, and usually they would just throw an insult at Victor, then get bored and leave when he wouldn’t react. This time though, it wasn’t just any group.
This time it was Rays.
Even through the scarves, the two childhood best friends immediately recognized one another.
Ray paused what he was doing. She watched, almost as if in slow motion, as his eyes darted over her, then at the person next to her, then at their intertwined hands.
She could see his eyes narrow, then she could practically feel his gaze burning into where they were holding hands. Still, she didn’t let go.
She wasn’t sure what might have happened, but just then, the other boys registered their presence. And then, the familiar string of insults spewed across to them.
“Hey Vampire. Got your next Victim?”
“Need to get out of the sun?”
“You get out of your coffin okay?”
She gripped his hand tighter, but Victor just gave her a placating look.
“It’s okay.” He said softly.
“Their words don’t hurt me.”
She looked up at those brown eyes, feeling like he meant it. But then, she looked across the courtyard again and could see another familiar pair of caramel eyes staring her down.
And even though she didn’t know why then as she took Victors arm and dragged him away, she had a bad feeling.
———————————————————————
The second time it happened, was in school the next week. She and Victor were quietly sitting in the back of the classroom, working on there science project. But for some reason, Ray came over to their desk that day.
“Hey.” He said, tapping against the table. Nova had looked up from where she was delicately writing on the poster, and Victor looked up from his detailed diagram. Both of their eyebrows had furrowed at the sight of Ray. He never talked to them. In fact, he wasn’t even in this class.
“What are you doing here?” Nova asked, looking around.
“You have this class next period.” She said. He shrugged, giving her a small smile.
“Figured I’d stop by and say hi. After all, your dad is gonna have me coming around more.” he said, with a sidelong glance at Victor. To victors credit, he stayed as non chalant as ever. In fact, he hardly glanced up.
“Whos your friend Nova?” Ray said, clearly annoyed and attempting to pull Victor into the conversation.
Under his breath, Nova could hear Victor sigh, before looking up at him.
“Victor.” he said. Ray raised an eyebrow.
“Victor what?” he asked. Victor narrowed his eyes, and gave him a look.
“Why do you care?” he asked. Ray gave him another look.
“Why do you?” he asked harshly. Nova felt like she was watching water being thrown into a pan of oil. She decided to intervene quickly.
“Hes not from here Ray.” she said to him, even though she knew his friends had likely told him that already.
“You don’t know him.” she said, looking him in the eyes.
And she could see that Ray caught the double meaning. She was telling him to stop asking questions, and he wouldn't recognize his family name.
But. She was also saying that he doesn't know him. He doesn't know him like she does, and she trusted him.
Maybe Ray got the message, because he left after that. He went to his own class just as the bell rang, and she let out a slow sigh of relief, the tension leaving her shoulders.
Victor saw this, and he reached over, twisting a piece of her hair, and running a comforting hand across her shoulder. He was asking a silent, “are you okay?”. She just smiled at him, and nodded. They went back to working, and soon his quiet jokes and small smile made her forget the whole interaction.
If only she knew that Ray wouldn't stop there
—---------------------------------------------------------------
The third time was the worst. It was a short day in late april, and the warm summer sun made everyone itch to leave school. Nova had already started wearing shorts and skirts to school, and her mind was full of summer ideas. She wanted to go home, and she wanted a summer of laughter and Victor. She had never really had a summer with friends and… she was excited.
They were sitting in their usual spot for lunch, under the bleachers, spread under the hot sun.
Because of the hot weather, Victor had ditched the motorcycle jackets and hoodies, and traded them for lightweight black t-shirts. Still, he had the same pair of glasses, and dark wash jeans.
They were lazily sitting around, discussing their final exams, when something happened.
A group of boys appeared, holding a bag. Sensing that this was about to go bad very quickly, Nova stood up, wiping her palms against her shorts.
“Is there something i can do for you?” she asked sweetly, glancing back at Victor whos jaw was tense.
The boy at the front of the group, James, had a shit-eating grin on his face.
“Oh nothing.” he said.
“We just have a message from Ray.” he said with a wink. Then, out of the bag he pulled a rolled up canvas.
Nova and Victor looked at it in confusion for a few minutes, and then a slow realization came over her face.
“James.” she said, looking at it in fear.
“What is that?” she asked. He smirked, throwing it over to Victor.
“I think you know,” he said. Then, he and his posse left, their heads held high.
She huffed, starting to ramble.
“I don't know who they think they are, coming over here like that. And ray using them to “Send a message?” coward. Dont worry, the second i see him ill-”
“Nova?” a quiet voice cut through her tangent. She immediately turned around, looking at Victor. He had never sounded like that before. So sad. So… broken.
He was holding the unrolled canvas, staring at it in utter shock. She could see his eyes filling with tears.
Slowly, she came around to look over his shoulder, at what it was, placing a gentle hand on his arm. When she got a look at it, she brought her other hand up to her mouth in horror.
It was Victors. It was the painting that he had made as his final project for art class. His teacher had called it “Sensational”. The prompt was to draw an emotion, and he had chosen,
“Belonging.”
He had titled the piece “My sunshine,” and used watercolors to make a painting of a swing set, the sun shining down on it. Their swing set. It had gotten full marks, and Nova and him had taken a picture in front of it with a polaroid camera.
But now? It was ruined. Water had been dumped down the front of it, ruining the picture, and across the top, in bold red letters, oil paints spelled out the word “Bloodsucker”
Victor just stared at it. Like he couldn't believe it. Like it was the most devastating thing he had ever seen. Nova remembered the countless hours he spent making it look perfect, she remembered the first time she had shyly showed it to her. She even remembered the proud smile on his face when she smiled and called it “amazing”
Now? He just buried his head in her shoulder, and she reached up, running a hand through his dark hair soothingly.
“Oh Victor.” she said quietly.
They sank to the floor, and she pulled him closer as he sobbed softly into the side of her neck.
And that day, her resolve broke. When the sweetest, most thoughtful boy she had ever met, broke and sobbed into her shoulder, she decided. She was done with all of this, and she needed to stop it immediately,
And she knew who she had to talk to.
—-----------------------------------------------------
She found Ray later that day, just after her last class. Victor had gone home early, and she had watched him walk out to the black SUV with red eyes, his ruined painting tucked under his arm. And she felt a rage then, one that was different than anything she had ever felt.
She walked up to ray outside that school, where he was loitering around with his friends, and punched him square in the face.
The whole courtyard went silent. Ray reared back, clearly caught off guard, spitting blood.
“What the hell Nova!” he exclaimed, wiping the blood from his chin.
“You know what, you sick bastard.” she sneered back, getting closer.
“Whos the bloodsucker now?”
He looked at her then. And the look on his face? Pure, utter, disbelief.
“THAT is what this is about?” he asked in shock. She punched him again, this time in the stomach.
“OF COURSE THATS WHAT ITS ABOUT.” she exclaimed. Everyone was backing away now, like this was something they didnt want to be involved in. rightfully so.
Hell hath no fury, like a woman scorned.
Nova looked at him, purer fire in her gaze.
‘You keep sending people to harass my friend, you encourage your little posse to bully him, and then you destroy one of his prized possessions. What did you think i was going to do, laugh and come back to you?” she asked in disbelief. He scoffed.
“Nova this is ridiculous. That Vampire is not worth all this. And before you were his friend, you were mine. Compared to me, you hardly even know him!” he exclaimed.
And then, Nova blew up.
“That's not true Ray! You haven't been my friend for years!” she exclaimed. He stumbled back, shocked.
“You were never there! You went off to school, and you never came back. You. weren't. There. You found your people, and suddenly it was like I didn't exist. And I didn't expect things to be exactly the same, but I expected SOMETHING. Any sign that you were still my friend, any sign that you still cared. But I got NOTHING. You have no idea what that feels like.”
Then, she ran a hand through her hair, a hysterical laugh bubbling up in her throat.
“And then suddenly, I got here. And you still didn't talk to me. You didn't care about me, when you thought I was alone. You only cared when I got another friend, and you realized what you lost. And now, you are trying to ruin his life, because you got a little jealous? That's sick!” she yelled. And then, Ray stepped forward, fury in his eyes.
“You don't know him like you think you do,” he said.
And before she could say anything, he cut her off.
“You may know his favorite color, but what about other things? Why he moved here? Who he is? What happened to him?” He asked, stepping closer.
“Why he became friends with YOU?”
Nova stepped back, a concerned confusion entering her mind.
“What are you talking about?” She asked. But he only smiled in response, turning away.
“Go home Nova. You and your dad have a lot to talk about.”