The alarm clock rattled my eardrums and my hand flopped onto the alarm clock’s off button. The beeping stopped and I rubbed my eyes. Somehow I had no nightmare about Andy, Nazril or the vampiric attacker. I briefly thought the whole incident yesterday was a dream. I would go to school, see Andy, see Marlene and her club; or had that been a dream too? Would I go to school without Marlene even knowing I exist?

I then turned on my phone and saw Nazril’s number in my contacts. The expectation of seeing Andy shattered in my mind. Andy was dead. He was not a good friend but he didn’t deserve to die. I fought back the tears, my father couldn’t know about this. I walked to the closet and picked up my folded up school uniform. I took them to the bathroom and put on deodorant. I then dressed in my suit. The blue tie ran down my chest and ended just above my belly button. The jacket I put over it was dark blue, like the tie.

You may have noticed I like blue. I honor the flag.

When I was dressed I walked down the stairs to see my father already ate his breakfast. He always left early. I wish I could talk to him more, or to mom for that matter.

I missed mom, and no she’s not dead. She left my father years ago due to an argument about money. As an only son of six years of age I never got a say in the matter. My parents kept their fights away from me as much as possible. When I entered the room they always stopped fighting. That didn’t mean I was oblivious. Their divorce didn’t come as a surprise.

I still saw my mother every now and then, but my father was considered as my official caretaker. His name was Jacob Julians and he was the minister of defense. Most people knew this about him. Even Nazril knew who I was. My father was dressed in a black business suit, he had a pistol strapped to his hip, he always had.

Good job, dad. Well done on keeping your son out of the spotlight!

I had my own online encyclopedia page, not as detailed as other famous people, and also without a picture of my face, but people could search pictures elsewhere. There is one awkward picture where I was at a congress party with my father. He drank champagne while I was too young to drink and just stood there. My father did his absolute best from the picture becoming a viral meme. He succeeded for the most part. He wants me to have a normal life.

“Good morning, Hans!” My father greeted me, “You look more tired than usual.”

I awkwardly smiled at him. “Slept kinda badly.” I didn’t lie.

“Heh, happens to the best of us. Have a nice day at school, and try to not fall asleep – Oh, have some coffee to wake you up.” He said. He then walked outside and stepped into the armored van. It had a metallic gray color and the windows had iron bars in front of them. He always had a bunch of security around him.

He needed it too. A lot of people wanted him dead: Religious fanatics, left and right wing militant groups, Russian spies and I could go on. My father was a hated man.

I sat at the table, alone. I ate bread with hagelslag on it. It’s a traditional Dutch thing, none of the other European countries had it before the unification except for the places at the borders of Belgium and Germany. The small chocolate sprinkles were delicious. I thought it quite fortunate that many other countries got to taste the sweet goodness that is hagelslag.

I finished my bread and scooped the sprinkles on the plate in my mouth. I cleaned up the table and put on my backpack. I had no Andy to bring me to school now, I had to take my bicycle, which was doable.

I rode to school. I had already done this before I met Andy, but now that he was gone I felt an emptiness. He had died and I froze when that vampire grabbed him, and that shriek…

That shriek he let out when the vampire penetrated his chest and crushed his heart kept repeating in my head. You’d think these types of things come during nightmares, but for me they were daydreams. Daydreams were supposed to be about a magnificent fantasy. I should be daydreaming about seeing my mother without a supervisor being present, about kissing Marlene late at night, not the murder of a friend.

That reminded me, Nazril had told me to ask Marlene out today. ‘Tomorrow isn’t promised’ He had said. That rang true for Andy.

My mind always drifted to many different places when it was left alone. I tried to guide it towards making a plan of action for asking Marlene out.

How was I going to do this? Nazril just said I should ask her to drink coffee some time, or watch a movie. I figured that a movie would be useless, I was always fully silent while watching. If she was too, we’d never get to know each other. Going to a coffee shop or restaurant on the other hand would be beautiful. I’d sit in front of her, staring. I’d talk to her, I would…

“But about what?” I said to myself out loud.

My mind wandered off to other things, and before I knew it I arrived at school. I put my bike in the mostly empty parking lot. There were multiple students already there, but not as much as the large crowd that would arrive around ten minutes later. I hated the crowds, not because I have a phobia of crowds, but because of the noise they made. It quickly got overwhelming.

My first class was biology. I walked into the class, Mrs. Regis was already there.

“Good morning, Hans.” She said with a smile.

I raised my hand and smiled back. “Good morning.”

I seated myself in the back of the class. I liked this spot, the teacher was less likely to interact with me and it gave me some time to do things I should not be doing in school, like doodling. I grabbed my notebook and made a drawing of a revolver. I love guns, especially rifles. I could draw them pretty well too. Clothing and guns were drawn with exquisite detail, though I struggled with making expressive faces. I tried, but they usually looked like a variant of poker face. I scribbled the engravings on the revolver.

“Hey,” A soft voice said next to me, “Nice drawing…”

I looked over and saw Vanessa. She looked a lot better than she had yesterday. Her silver hair was pulled back in a small bun and she wore no makeup, I thought she looked better that way. Her cheeks were red like a tomato.

“Oh hey, Vanessa. Are you doing better?” I asked, my eyes drifting back to the paper. She looked over from her chair. She nodded at me and gave me a weird smile. She looked creepy, but I ignored it.

“Yes, I have calmed down. After a good night’s sleep I felt way better.” She said with a soft monotone voice, “I am kinda used to those things happening, it sucks but I have people around me who can deal with me.”

“Deal with you? Don’t think you’re a block on anyone’s leg.” I said, still looking at the paper.

She gently started swaying her upper body from left to right. She held onto the sides of her chair. She inhaled and exhaled quickly, like she was doing breath exercises. I looked at her and saw people coming in behind her. Marlene was among them and she waved at us. I waved back and smiled.

Vanessa grabbed my hand out of nowhere and a shiver went through my body. “Hans, I don’t know why, but out of all others I seem to understand you the most. And you seem to understand my ways too, or well, at least some of them… Uhm – I’d love to get to know you better.”

I grimaced and looked at her forehead. “That’s why I joined the club. We can all get to know each other.” I said hesitantly. Her touch made me uncomfortable.

She hit me with an expression I didn’t quite recognize, “F-forget what I said,” she said with a high pitched voice. “I’ll be on my way now.” She stood up and let go of my hand. She went to sit next to Marlene, where she normally sat.

A couple seconds after she left I felt alone. The class was about to start and I remained seated on my own. Nobody sat next to me. I could’ve really used some company, class would be boring without anyone next to me.

Did I say something wrong to Vanessa?

I closed up my notebook when the teacher started speaking and I paid attention to the lecture.

After a long day of school I was very excited to finally ask Marlene out. I went to the biology classroom after class was over. Damien was already there.

“Hey Hans, ‘sup?”

I sat next to him. His hair was slicked back and he fidgeted with that same cube he held the day before. I came close to him and whispered to him. “Hey, can you keep a little secret?”

“What is on your mind?”

“I-I want to ask Marlene out.”

Damien spluttered, “You? Nah. I’m talking from what I heard in stories, but sex with Marlene is rough.

I smirked. “Luckily I like rough.”

“All I will say is good luck, man. When it comes to romantic relationships Marlene isn’t an easy one. The ones she has been in before ended on bad notes.”

She entered, speaking of the devil. I stood up and strutted towards her faster than usual. I gazed at her clothes. She wore a black band T-shirt over a black and white long sleeve shirt with stripes. The T-shirt was tucked into the elastic band of her skirt around her slender waist. She tended to drop the school uniform after class ended.

I now stood in front of her. I’m not very tall, but Marlene’s short stature made me feel like a giant. She looked up at me and smiled from ear to ear. “Hey Hans.” There was a slight tremble in her voice, I didn’t think much of it and cut to the chase.

“Hey Marlene. I wanted to ask if I... uhm…” I fell silent for a couple seconds. I acted creepy, I just destroyed my chances. Damien was right; I had no chance with Marlene. Those chances were reserved for prettier guys than me. Marlene cocked her head sideways as I disassociated for a few moments.

Then Nazril’s voice sounded in my head.

Tomorrow isn’t promised, kid. I’d ask her out soon before she has a new guy.

As friends, but if you ask something like that and she says yes, she is probably smart enough to see you do it out of romantic interest. If she says no, then that is fine.

I regained my composure and looked at her forehead. “I was wondering if you would want to spend some time together with me. Eating somewhere, you know?” a bead of sweat dripped down my forehead.

I felt it sliding down to the bridge of my nose and quickly wiped it away.

Marlene was silent for a few moments, processing what I had said. She frowned, then looked somber, and at last smiled. “Of course!” She replied with enthusiasm. “I’d love to. What place did you have in mind?”

How did I even manage that? She accepted and I couldn’t believe it. My heart thumped louder in my chest. One question remained: What do I do now?

I looked over Marlene’s head and saw Vanessa still standing in the hallway together with Miranda, who had put blush on her chubby cheeks. Vanessa’s eyes were peering right into my soul. Her hands were balled into white knuckled fists, which she bumped together repeatedly.

“Hey, Vanessa!” I said, “You sure missed something yesterday. Want to see the poster we made?”

“Sure.” She replied softly, still bumping her fists together. She walked past me and sat on the chair. She crossed her legs and grabbed onto her seating with weirdly vascular hands.

I turned back to Marlene. “When can you do something? I was thinking if we go eat on a terrace, it would fit the beautiful weather.”

Marlene put her finger to her lower lip. “Uhm, Friday would be fine, but text me the time and place later. We shouldn’t discuss this here with the rest.”

I flushed, “Yeah, we need to tell Vanessa about the poster.” I sat next to Marlene and saw Vanessa seated in front of me. She peered at me, she had a hint of anger in her face which made me feel uneasy.

What was her problem? Why was she staring angrily at me? I tried to cheer her up by telling her about the poster. “Vanessa, you missed when we made the poster yesterday. We’re going to be printing it tod-”

“I know.” She cut me off.

I will never understand girls. They could switch moods quicker than I could tie my shoes. It might just be that time of the month for Vanessa.

She looked around the room for a moment in a peculiar way. “Where’s Gina?” She asked.

“Therapy.” Miranda clarified. The dyed stroke in her hair painted white now.

Marlene showed the picture on her laptop. It showed the shit eating grin of the southern faith healer. She gave a soft giggle. “Oh my gosh, you went after Chancé!” Vanessa squealed in excitement. “That is genius.”

“You want us to add anything?” Marlene asked, her blue eyes bright and twinkling. She grabbed onto Vanessa’s forearm and gave her a reassuring glance.

“Pride flags, any good critique on Chancé needs something gay.”

“Can we still photoshop him into a gayporn scene?” Damien pleaded.

“No!” We all yelled at him.

We chattered for about an hour about Chancé and other things. Marlene’s touch seemed to have calmed Vanessa down. She mouthed what seemed like “sorry” to her friend. Her grumpiness left her body and made way for cheeriness.

Damien talked about how he planned on switching his fidget cube for a tangle.

Vanessa said her recovery from the heavy meltdown yesterday and how watching a sappy rom com calmed her down.

Miranda said her room was fully organized and she felt good about it.

Marlene told about her older brother, who owned a business in Thailand.

I talked about my father.

People feared my father, the group’s eyes widened when I mentioned him. You don’t get to be the minister of defense by being a loving father.

He was, at the few precious moments he was home.

“My father has a day off tomorrow.”

“Your dad is a real hard case, huh?” Damien said.

“I guess you could say that. He works a lot, and is almost never home. He doesn’t like talking about his job, or what he did in the past. He is a loving father, believe it or not. I know some of you here probably hate him.”

“Hate is a strong word,” Marlene said. “But I wouldn’t be on his side.”

Yet you’re planning on dating me, I thought.

“Jacob Julians, the prick. I wish I could take you away from that mad man.” Vanessa snarled. “You’re too kind to be his son.”

“Ehh,” I sputtered. I didn’t know how to respond to that. I continued on to mention the attempt on Joseph Bridger’s life, where my father was present. Everyone had seen the footage of Bridger’s throat being slit.

“I fainted when it was on TV,” Vanessa said. “Nuh-uh, can’t stand blood.”

Well, she is not a vampire. I thought.

Then Damien started talking about something insignificant. My eyes drifted off to Marlene, we held eye contact for a short yet sweet moment. She smiled at me, then shot a somber look at Vanessa. There was something going on between those two… It was better as a man to not interfere in women’s business.

At the end of the hour we left. I heard the two talking.

“I’m sorry, Silvy.”

Vanessa wiped a tear from her cheek. “Don’t be, I want you to be happy.”

I left before the girls noticed me listening to them in the hallway.