The Vampire’s Servant
Chapter 31

When I got off the bus, I was met by Harmony and Valor. They were waiting nearby with Cam and Gray, but waited until they saw me to approach the bus. Harmony hugged me and, when she let go, Valor picked me up into a big hug. "Love you, too, Valley. I'm excited about school." I smiled.

"Love you, Echo." He said as he put me down.

"That's always the way until the work starts, then you'll hate it like everyone else." Val laughed.

Harmony giggled and slipped her arm through mine. "I love you, Echo."

"I love you, Harmony. Are you feeling better?" I asked.

"A little. Are you really okay with the vampires?"

"Victor keeps me safe. He would never hurt me, or let anyone else hurt me. Are you really okay with the werewolves?" I replied.

She blushed. "Val and I stay at the pack house in our own rooms. Cam lives with his parents and Gray lives in another part of the pack house. He moved back there when he was eighteen, I guess. So we see him a lot."

We started walking toward the school. I worried about hunters, but figured I'd ask Gray about them later. I needed to be sure my sister and brother were safe.

They all walked me to my locker, so I'd know where to find it. Then they took me to my first classroom. I was a little nervous about going in.

"Before I forget, we're telling people you're our cousin. That way we can explain why you look like us without the attention of an unmentioned sister. That will also explain how you know Cam and Gray. We checked in all of your classes with their friends and ours. There will be someone to look out for you in all of your classes. This one is really easy, so don't be scared. Make sure you talk to your teacher when you get in." Val said. "We need to head out. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine. Don't worry." I smiled.

They started to head off, but Gray stayed back. He waited for them to be a fair distance away before getting closer. It made me nervous.

"Trent told me about the hunters last night. Are you alright? Did they hurt you?" He asked.

"No. I hid. Victor and Rosalynn killed them. Marius had his people clean it up." I told him.

He sighed with relief. "I'm glad you're okay. I worried about you. Trent sent some good warriors to guard your home. Can I hug you?"

I was startled by the question. It was unlike him to ask. I liked it. Maybe I could learn to be comfortable with him if he asked for things like this. I nodded.

As he stepped closer, I found I didn't have the same feeling of needing him away from me that I had before. I supposed that it was because he asked to get close instead of just doing it. It would make being his friend easier.

His arms slipped around my shoulders and he held me to him tightly. It was unlike when Victor hugged me. Victor wasn't as warm as Gray. Gray was thicker and his arms felt heavy and solid around me. It was comforting in a different way than Victor's hugs were.

I slid my arms around his waist and hugged him back. It made him squeeze a little tighter and his head dipped down as he breathed deeply. His breath tickled my ear and sent tingles throughout my body. I felt a soft moan leave my chest.

It startled me so much, I pushed myself out of his grasp and rushed into the classroom.

I walked over to the teacher to introduce myself. I needed to focus on what I was doing, not on the strange feeling I'd experienced when Gray was hugging me. "Hello, I'm Echo Nightshade." I said to the teacher.

He turned and smiled at me. He was tall and had dark hair and blue eyes. His smile was kind and I ended up smiling back.

"I'm Mr. Taylor. You're in my Creative Writing class, too. I want you to go find a seat. We'll go over the morning announcements and do attendance." He explained.

I nodded and looked around the room. There were only a couple empty seats. One was in the back, next to a group of girls who were looking at me in a way that made me uncomfortable. The other was in the front next to a familiar blond boy. Sitting in the seat up front, I heard a scoff from the back. I didn't care. I had a friend in class and I needed something to keep my mind off the strange feelings the hug with Gray created.

"Hi, Sean." I said softly.

He startled and looked up from the notebook he was writing in. Quickly, he glanced around the room. Sean shook his head and chuckled.

"You really don't care what people think, do you?" He asked.

"Nope. What are you doing?"

"Just going over last night's math homework again and double checking my work. I usually use this time to make sure I'm ready for my next class. Oh, Echo, these are some of my friends." He pointed to the two people sitting next to him.

I waved and they waved back. There was another boy who was dressed in black with the side of his head shaved. He nodded to me. Behind him was a girl with blue hair and sparkly framed glasses. She had her eyebrow pierced and piercings all up one of her ears. They seemed like an eclectic mix of people.

"That's Terry and Elise. She goes by Elle."

"Echo's a cool name. Like the nymph from Greek mythology." Elle smiled.

"Or the NATO phonetic alphabet letter 'E." Terry muttered.

"I don't know what that is." I said.

"It's the names for the letters used by the military when they're spelling things out. Like Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo.... And so on." He replied.

"That's cool." I wondered if Victor knew about this.

"I guess." Terry shrugged.

We sat and listened to the announcements. Mr. Taylor went over the information about state testing that was going to happen at the end of the month and the prom. I wondered if Harmony had remembered to grab her dress from the house before she left. She bought the dress in hopes of Cam asking her to the prom and absolutely loved it. If she got it, then I would see if she wanted me to help her get ready. I would love that.

"What are you chewing your lip over, Echo?" Sean asked.

"I was just wondering if Harmony had her dress for the prom or if she would need help getting ready." I answered.

"Harmony? Harmony Gale?" Elle asked.

"Yes, she's my cousin." I replied.

"Why did you sit here instead of with her friends?" She pressed pointing at the girls in the back of the room.

"I don't know her friends." I told her. "I know Sean."

"Echo doesn't care about being popular. She decided I would be her friend." Sean chuckled.

"That's cute. Can I be your friend too?" Elle asked.

"Sure. Terry can, too. If he wants."

"Whatever." Terry shrugged.

I was pretty sure that was him saying yes. Elle grinned broadly. It was nice to meet people who were friendly. School was already going better than I'd hoped. "Harmony's really nice, I'm glad you are too." Elle winked. "So, I saw you hugging Gray Padua. Is he your boyfriend?"

Sean's grip on his pencil got tighter. Terry watched me out of the corner of his eye. I almost laughed at the idea of dating Gray.

"No. Gray is just a friend." I snorted.

That seemed to make Sean relax. I wondered why he was upset. Was Gray mean to him? I hoped not. I would have to tell Gray to be nice to Sean.

The bell rang and Sean started packing his things into his backpack. Elle and Terry said goodbye and headed out. I put my bag on my shoulder. "Echo." Sean said.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for being my friend. Maybe we can hang out this weekend. See a movie or something." He suggested with a blush.

"I have plans with Val and Gray this weekend. Are you okay with next weekend?" I asked.

He went from crestfallen to happy. I liked it when my friends were happy.

"That sounds great! Let me get you my number." Sean said excitedly.

We exchanged numbers and went out to the hall. Harmony and Gray were waiting for me there. I waved to Sean and headed off with them.

"Who was that, Echo?" Gray asked.

"Sean. We ride the bus together. He's one of my new friends." I smiled.

"He's in my science class. He's really smart." Harmony told me.

I pulled out my class list and we started walking to each of the classrooms. While we did that, Harmony talked about her friends and what living on the pack lands was like. She suggested a sleepover soon. I figured I could talk to Victor about staying over this weekend. I would spend Saturday with Val and Gray, then ride home with them to stay over Saturday night.

The next class I had was science. We planned to meet up again in the cafeteria for lunch. There was a morning break after second period and lunch was after fourth period. The last half of the day would all be classes.

My classes were interesting. I was seated near someone I knew in all of them. Sean was in my history class too. Val and Harmony were nice to him and I appreciated it. Some of their friends, who were also in the class weren't as nice to him, but were nice to me.

I could tell they were being nice to me because I was related to Val and Harmony. Some of the girls glared at me until they heard I was Val's cousin. Then they were nicer.

We went to lunch together and I heard whispers as I walked with Harmony while she grabbed her food from the lunch line. We sat at a big table that had a few people there. I saw Elle and waved her over.

She seemed shy as she sat with us. Harmony complimented her hair and Elle blushed. I really liked the blue color of her hair, too. Terry came and sat with us and so did Sean.

They probably always sat with Elle and used her to find their table. Both of them seemed surprised as they looked around and realized where they were sitting.

I opened my lunch bag and pulled out my food. It was a lot more than everyone else seemed to pack, but I was still recovering from not eating much while I was living at home. Some of Val and Harmony's friends seemed uncomfortable with my friends. Gray smiled at my friends and talked to them a lot. He seemed to really be interested in getting to know them. I was relieved at that.

"I didn't realize we were doing charity work today." One girl scoffed.

I raised an eyebrow at her. She had wavy, brownish blonde hair and brown eyes. Her face was a little rat-like. Harmony went from being friendly to having an angry look on her face.

"If you don't like it, Melissa, don't sit here." Harmony said.

"If you don't think you're going to lose popularity for hanging out with geeks, then by all means, keep doing it." Melissa glared.

I stared at the rude girl and looked back at Harmony. She laughed.

"I'm popular because people like me. You're popular because you hang on to the right people. I'm not worried. Make your decision. I'm tired of having my lunch held up because you can't mind your manners." Harmony said dismissively.

She had the same look on her face that mom would get when she was dismissing me. I wondered if I got that look too. That was disturbing.

Melissa glowered, but sat down and started eating her lunch, pointedly looking away from my friends. They didn't seem bothered.

Sean talked to me more about the stuff we'd gone over in history class. Terry put in a couple bits of information we weren't taught. Elle rolled her eyes at him.

I watched how everyone interacted. Melissa kept batting her eyelashes at Val, but he was very curt with her. When she finished the little salad she'd brought, Melissa left. I was taking a little longer than everyone else. Eventually, it was just me, Val, Harmony, Gray, and Cam at the table.

"Um... I had a question." I murmured.

Everyone turned their attention to me. It was a little embarrassing. Like when I had to ask about werewolves.

"What is it, Echo? I'll tell you anything you need to know." Gray smiled.

"What's a geek?" I asked.

They looked at each other the same way Victor, Rosalynn, and Marius had looked at each other when I asked the other night about werewolves. This was something I should have known and they were shocked I didn't. It made me feel even worse. "A geek is someone who likes something that isn't mainstream or they like a mainstream thing a lot more than everyone else." Gray explained.

"Is being a geek bad?" I asked.

"No, Echo. Some people are just obsessed with it and there are social status things tied with it. A lot of popular people feel like you should only be friends with popular people. Geeks aren't considered popular." Harmony said. "So.... Melissa is a popularity geek then?" I questioned, trying to understand.

Gray and Val snickered. Cam looked like he wanted to laugh, but managed to hold back. Harmony grinned.

"I never thought of it that way, but yeah. Melissa is a popularity geek. We should get moving or you're going to be late for your next class." Harmony giggled.

I packed up my things and we headed out to the hall so I could drop off my lunch bag in my locker and grab my backpack. I'd get this all figured out soon. Then I wouldn't embarrass myself anymore.