Carmine went home later that night. She'd been a little nervous spending her first night at home – would her parents notice anything was different about her? Her common sense told her probably not, but the idea was still in the back of her mind. And what about sleeping? She'd been fine at Anna's, but she'd had company there. What if she fell asleep out of boredom? Would she still have those dreams? Would he be there? But Carmine shouldn't have worried.
Anna and Mia had assured Carmine that she really wouldn't need to sleep, but part of her thought they were exaggerating just a little. She thought for sure she'd need some sleep – a couple hours, maybe. By she didn't. She felt so alive, she could hardly believe it. She felt so energetic – and no more tired than she would have been at noon. They told her that feeling would wear off in a week or so, but Carmine didn't care. If it meant a whole week without worrying, she was more than ok with that.
She stayed up the whole night, just taking note of the changes she felt. The room was dark, and her parents had been asleep for hours. Carmine lay on her bed, staring around her room. She saw the dresser along the far wall, with all the junk she'd collected since she was a kid sitting on top of it. She really needed to clean that dresser – maybe she would do it one of these sleepless nights. But for now, she was content to stare at the clutter – a snow globe from a vacation she took to New York, a weird little ballerina figurine, her last year's biology book.
Carmine stared at the snow globe. It was amazing – she could make out every detail as clearly as if she were holding it in her hand in the middle of the day. She could see the reflection of the moon off the glass, the shapes of the buildings under the dome. She could even see where the flakes of snow had settled in uneven lumps across the bottom. She must have stared at that stupid thing for over an hour, not quite able to believe how clearly she saw every detail. Had her friends really been able to see this well since she'd known them?
It was true Mia told her that her senses would improve after the transformation, but she never thought it'd be this dramatic. She hated to admit it, but she could see why Anna and Mia had been so worried about her every time they had to face some sort of demon. She felt so powerful now, so revitalized, that she couldn't help but think how weak and feeble she had been. How could they have actually let her come along with them?
And improved sight wasn't Carmine's only new ability. Her hearing had improved dramatically, and her endurance was much higher. She listened carefully, trying to see if her parents or sister were awake. She didn't hear anything coming from her parent's room, but she did hear a faint snoring coming from Claire's room at the other end of the hall. Now that everyone was asleep, Carmine seriously considered going outside for a run. She hadn't been in almost two weeks now, and she really missed it. She felt so lazy when she thought back to how much she'd skipped. Coach Danby was going to be mad when Carmine finally showed up! May as well get some practice in before that. Maybe if she was halfway decent, she could avoid the lecture.
She felt kind of weird sneaking out, but she knew she'd have to start doing it sooner or later – might as well start now, while she had a halfway decent excuse for what she was doing. She looked out the window, trying to decide if that was the best way to go out. But there was a screen on her window that she'd have to hide somewhere, and she would have to go straight past her parents' room to get out the back gate. She wasn't sure she wanted to risk them seeing her outside. Today, she might be able to say she just needed air, or that she couldn't sleep. But she wouldn't be able to use those excuses every time she went out. The only other option was to go out the front door.
Carmine cautiously opened her bedroom door, half expecting someone to be in the hall waiting to catch her. But all the lights were off, and everyone was still soundly asleep. She snuck down the hall, not making a sound. Carmine had known for years how to walk around the house without waking anyone up. She knew where all the creaky floorboards were, and where to step so as not to be heard. But even still, she always ended up making some kind of sound as she went. But not this time.
She was able to walk past her sister's room to the end of the hall, turn the corner, and lean up against the front door, all while keeping completely silent. She thought she was quiet before, but she knew it was nothing like this – her friends must have thought she was such a clumsy oaf! She just hoped the boys weren't as quiet as Anna and Mia were; at least that wouldn't have made her stand out quite so much.
Carmine checked her pocket one last time to make sure her keys were there before slowly opening the door. She slipped outside, closing the door silently behind her. She glanced around one last time, making absolutely sure that no one had seen her. When she was satisfied, she walked casually down to the sidewalk before taking off at a run.
Carmine had been a runner since she was a kid and had always enjoyed it. After all, that's why she joined the track team in the first place. She knew from all her research that vampires were supposed to be much faster than humans, and her friends had confirmed that for Carmine. But now, it was time for her to test it out herself.
Carmine was amazed at how fast she really was. She'd always been a pretty good runner, but her former times had been nothing compared to this. She sprinted down to the end of her block with ease. She rounded the corner, going on her normal weekend route. She did the entire five miles at an almost full-out sprint. She made it back to her block, feeling only slightly winded. She decided to do the route again.
Carmine ended up running her five-mile route a total of three times. She wasn't exhausted, but she was a little tired. Besides, it probably wasn't a good idea to spend the whole night running around outside.
She walked casually back up the driveway, like she'd been doing nothing out of the ordinary. If someone did happen to look out the window and see her, she wanted to give the impression that she wasn't doing anything wrong – definitely not sneaking out. That way, any spying neighbors would be less likely to tell her parents.
She pressed her ear against the door but didn't hear a thing. She concentrated and thought she could hear her sister still snoring. Who would have thought she'd ever be able to hear something like that from outside?
She unlocked the door, slipped over the threshold, and shut it quickly behind her. It creaked just a little, but there was nothing she could do about that. She made a mental note to get some grease for it.
Two minutes later and Carmine was back in her bed. She looked at the clock on her dresser. When did she leave? She wished she'd looked before she left her room. Still, Carmine could estimate. It was two-thirty now, so she had only been gone ten, maybe fifteen minutes. It was by far the fastest she had ever run. And she wasn't even that tired! She knew she could have run even longer. Carmine found herself grinning in the dark: she was going to be so good at track now!
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Carmine had been reading peacefully in her bed when her alarm went off. It was so loud, she almost screamed. She jumped up, hurrying over to shut it off. She always kept it on the other side of the room so she couldn't abuse the snooze button, but she knew she was going to have to rethink that. It was so ear-splitting – how could she have ever slept through all that noise? Just listening to it for those few seconds was already giving her a headache.
She brushed her teeth, making sure there were no fangs there to surprise her family. Ever since she saw them in the mirror at Anna's, she'd been worried that they'd just show up unexpectedly. She'd gotten pretty good at hiding them, but it was kind of a subtle feeling, and there had been more than one time this weekend where she'd slipped and hadn't noticed. Of course, Mia thought it was hilarious. It got to the point where all Mia had to do was run her tongue over her own teeth and Carmine would be frantically checking hers.
She got dressed, checked her teeth one last time in the mirror, and made her way towards the kitchen. Her ears were still ringing, and Carmine wondered if there was a volume control on that stupid clock. If not, she may have to start using her phone. Her mom was already in the kitchen when Carmine came in, backpack slung over her shoulder.
"Good morning, honey." she said when she saw Carmine.
"Morning, mom."
"You're up early today."
Carmine looked at the microwave clock, setting her backpack in one of the barstools at the counter. "I'm on time." she told her mom. She'd timed it perfectly, after all.
"I guess you are." her mom said, following her gaze. "Usually your sister's up before you. Must be her turn to run late."
Claire's first class didn't start until ten, but she was always up early anyway. Carmine never could understand that; one of the things she was looking forward to most about college was the fact that she'd be able to sleep in. Or it had been. She wasn't sure that'd really matter to her so much anymore.
"I'll see you tonight." Carmine told her mom, grabbing the car keys off the counter.
"Where are you going?"
"School?" Carmine said slowly. What kind of question was that?
"But you haven't eaten breakfast yet." her mom told her. As if she didn't know.
"I'm not really hungry." Carmine told her. She was going to have to phase out this whole breakfast thing, and the sooner the better.
"You're not? Are you just nervous? Do you have a test today?"
Carmine considered lying, but decided against it. There was going to be plenty of that in her future already.
"No, I just don't really feel like anything." she admitted. "Can't I skip it? Just this once?"
"Of course not. You can't go to school without eating breakfast. At least make some toast. You still have a few minutes before you have to go anyway."
"Fine." Carmine mumbled. She got out the bread and jammed it into the toaster. She wasn't hungry, but she figured it was better to just make something instead of sitting there arguing with her mom.
A part of her worried whether or not vampires even could eat. She wanted to call Anna, see if anything would happen if she ate the toast. Panic started to wash over her. Would she get sick? Or would something worse happen?
But Carmine calmed down a bit when she remembered that Anna and Mia both ate lunch at school – especially before anyone knew what they were. And Mia still ate dinner with her parents. Besides, if it was going to be a problem, they would have mentioned it, right? So she should be fine.
The toast popped up, and Carmine buttered it and took it to the table. It smelled ok, but it wasn't exactly as appetizing as it usually was. She bit into it, and was glad her mom wasn't at the table to see her face.
The toast was bland, maybe a little dry. She grabbed some jelly and slathered it on the bread, hoping it would give it more taste. It did have a stronger taste, but it didn't make Carmine like it any better. She considered throwing it in the trash, but decided against it. With her luck, her mom would find it for sure. And that would lead to a talk about whether or not she was eating enough. Carmine would rather just suffer through breakfast.
She choked down the toast as fast as she could, trying to get it over with as soon as possible. It wasn't just the lack of taste that bothered Carmine – she was disappointed in the toast itself. Carmine had always liked toast; it was one of her favorite breakfast foods. Now, it tasted so bland, so unappealing, that she could barely stand the thought of choking down another bite.
Breakfast finally over, Carmine set her plate in the dishwasher, grabbed her backpack, and headed out of the kitchen. She made a mental note to ask her mom if she could start leaving a little early and grabbing a bagel from the cafeteria. That way her mom could still think she was eating a normal amount, and Carmine wouldn't have to worry about actually eating. But that was going to be a fight for another day. She snatched the keys off the counter and headed outside.
Carmine may have been disappointed with her breakfast, but she didn't have time to worry about that now; she had to get to school. And driving took up all of her concentration. She was a lot better at driving than she had been, but she still wasn't the professional Anna thought she was. Not that Anna was a good judge of things like that – she was like three hundred years old and she still hadn't bothered to get a license.
Still, Carmine made it to school without any accidents, and that was as much as she could expect, having only gotten her license two weeks ago. She pulled into the parking lot, ready to start her first day of school in her new life. She just really hoped it'd make her year easier than it had been so far.
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