Kids/Teens Book Club discussion

One
18 September 1999
Dear Diary,
I will not soon forget what happened tonight. Probably never. What we did was unforgivable, so we decided to keep it a secret… A secret we will bear forever, a secret that will eat away our soul, a secret that I can’t even tell you. It will keep us awake at night staring at the blackness of the sky that will seem bright and happy compared to what we did. But it’s done, tomorrow is a brand new day… I hope so…
I put away the diary and closed the box. Flashes of the night’s events attacked my brain. Our laughter and screams were mixed into a horrifying note that kept hounding my ears, and flashes of red, yellow and green blinded my eyes. It was as if, I was there again. Every eighteen of the month I get the flashes, even now, after six years, staring at the void of the night, the memory of it still haunts me. I closed my eyes trying to return to reality and then stood up, returned the box in the wardrobe and sat on the bed. I glanced over at the nightstand where the clock rested. It displayed 18 Nov. and 8:21 pm. The sound of the running water in the shower stopped, it made me snap out of my thoughts. I realized then that the bed was a mess, therefore I collected my stuff; put them in the backpack, when suddenly a bright golden necklace fell from one of my books. It was shaped like a ring and I could clearly distinguish the initials of my name engraved on it: L.L. It was the necklace me and my three best friends shared. I looked at it for a second and then wore it. The bathroom door opened and my roommate stepped out of the shower dripping water on the floor.
“Luke, would you mind waiting for me, so we could head downstairs together?” I nodded quickly. I forgot completely about the party. It was a party the school throws every year to celebrate the birthday of the school’s founder: St. Anthony. He was the man who got the idea of opening a school for us people. He was an incredible man.
“Sure man, I didn’t even get dressed yet!”
I rushed to the closet; got a hold of some white pants, black sweatshirt and a blazer. We finished fast enough, before 9:00, and headed downstairs just before the opening of the ceremony. Approaching the ballroom, we were certain the festivities were going to be joyful and grandiose. Red drapes hung from the walls covering the windows, and fell gracefully to the floor where the off-white tiles were polished and shiny as usual. The music was on pretty loud, playing some dull soft music. I shared a grin with Robert, my best friend. Because he and I both knew that after 10:30 at the “after party” music like this won’t be ruling the dance floor. I noticed then, that he was wearing his ring necklace too, with his initials: R.R. I remember perfectly the day we wore it all together. It was summer; we were heading to make some lemonade in my kitchen, when we found on the table a letter from my mother’s friend. In that letter she was informed that one of her closest friends had died, so we decided to stay friends, together forever and we made these necklaces as a symbol of our friendship. And since, we never took them off.
“Look, here they are!” said Rob pointing at two girls in the back of the room. Alexia and Sophia. They were standing in the back with glasses of champagne waiting for us to show up. Alexia was wearing a long red dress that played up her slim body. It was strapless, and from her neck hung a necklace, with a long chain to her tummy, and the golden ring in the bottom with her own initials: A.A. Sophia wore that same necklace but with a shorter chain. The ring was of the same gold and on it I could distinguish the S.S of her name. But on the other hand, Sophia wore a shorter dress than Alexia. Hers was silver with a puffy bottom. They both looked incredibly gorgeous. We rushed down the stairs to meet them and when we got close they instantly knew we were behind, and they turned around. Alexia’s blue eyes showed joy and relief and the spark from hers mixed with the flicker from Sophia’s green eyes. The smile on their faces was drawn with such happiness, that it made me forget the lifeless music playing: I was home. Here with my friends, it was my refuge.
“Hey Soph, wanna get something to eat?” asked Robert.
“Sure thing!” said Sophia already walking away. Robert followed and I was left with Alexia.
She took a sip from her glass, and then looked at me for a second and burst into a cute laughter that made my soul lighten. She then shook her blond hair to free her eyes.
“What?” I asked with a grin.
“Nothing!” she answered, hiding her smile.
“That’s alright! Then, I won’t tell you what I learned about the prophecy!” She looked at me, with a faint look of pity, but I didn’t fall for it.
“Not fair! Okay then… I was laughing because your shirt isn’t on the right side”
In fact when I glanced at my shirt, I realized how stupid and clumsy I was.
“Good thing the blazer hides the shirt a little!” I said, with a short embarrassed laugh.
“Or not!” she muffled struggling not to laugh.
I turned my back and headed to the restroom to adjust my shirt. I avoided contact with anybody passing to save myself from embarrassment. I could finally see the door clearly saying “RESTROOMS”, just several feet separated me from the door, when out of nowhere came Elizabeth, a tall, slim, brunette who suddenly stood in front of me. I guess it was to make conversation… but I just tried to avoid her passing by, pretending I didn’t notice her… It was working, I thought, I could sense her growing farther and farther, when abruptly she shattered the silence with what I knew was going to be a very long conversation…
“Okay, Luke… so it’s gonna be this way from now on… first you dump me and now you avoid me, I thought you said we were going to stay friends… you lied!”She screamed back at me.
I turned swiftly to face her and I saw her struggling with tears… she was such a drama queen but I couldn’t tell her, it would make her angry and no one wants to see Liza angry!
“It’s not that I just didn’t saw you! You know…the rush, the hurry… I just really need to go to the restroom!” I said apolitically.
“So now peeing is more important than a conversation with me? Do you remember when I was the most important person in your life! ...” I tried to hide the best that I could the laughter that was going to interrupt her speech. I succeeded, no giggle originated from me, sadly she went on about memories and past times when we were dating… and in that moment I realized I couldn’t keep up that way this had to end. Therefore I turned my back and headed straight to the restroom. She stopped mid-sentence and started shouting and screaming like always. People passing hid their smiles, girls peaked from the restrooms and couples interrupted their dances to witness the Liza breakdown. I didn’t care, even though it was harsh, but I needed to adjust my shirt. And in this moment, Liza happened… She became angry… The lights above started a confusing oscillation between on and off, and I turned rapidly to face Liza. Her eyes had turned a honey yellow when the light bulbs exploded in a million pieces, her fangs showed, and the electric wires all around the room started to send sparks that led to a panic. She was going to set the room on fire. But just then Rob appeared from behind the aquarium on the left, his eyes turned a creepy blue, before the aquarium exploded to shreds and the water inside flew to cover and extinguish every spark. Moments passed, while silence enchanted every single soul in the room. And then Karmen entered the room, she was the headmistress of the school and took these outbreaks very seriously. When she walked into the room everyone returned to the party except Rob, Liza and me… Then she spoke in her natural, cold, low, monotone voice:
“Mr. Robert Romanov, Ms. Elizabeth Edgington and Mr. Lucas Lockwood please make yourselves comfortable… in my office!”
That’s when I was sure; we were in a great deal of trouble…

Here comes the second chapter:

Two
We entered her office silently… My visits weren’t that frequent… I wasn’t used to getting into trouble, let alone someone calling me a troublemaker.
“You are troublemakers! What were you thinking walking around playing with fire and shreds of glass? And I suppose, you Mister Lockwood, are, I presume, the spark that lit this fire…” said headmistress Kweller, with fury in her eyes.
“I assure…” I said vainly interrupted by Kweller’s rage. She replied vividly and promptly:
“You don’t have any right to “assure” me, you don’t have any right to talk back to me! You have barely the right to listen to me, so enjoy this privilege I give you and listen” My small, insignificant, unfinished words had this gigantic, major, complete effect on the slightly wrinkled pale vampiric face of Ms. Kweller. She wasn’t sweating nor turning red, it was just in her eyes, the color turning white and stormy and then returning to its grayish color. The change was terrifying, frightening, startling and frankly petrifying; it wasn’t something you usually see every day. No one is used to see his superior lose control and regain it so swiftly. With vampires power surges through the eyes and according to its nature, irises change colors. And with the fading colors, fades power. And right now the whiteness has almost dissipated and total control was regained, I could see it in her eyes. She was an expert.
“Us vampires” continued Mrs. Kweller “are different than humans, we have morals, we don’t fight each other for fun or pride or for whatever insignificant motive you have. Especially you three, you are Basiliums, you are one of the Binomen! You were raised to set the example not destroy it.”
In this moment it was like someone pushed the mute button, I could only see Mrs. Kweller’s lips part away and meet again in a deafening silence. And I knew it wasn’t a manifestation of my vampire abilities because my specialty was fire and as long as my eyes were concerned, I didn’t identify any conflagration near us. And on top of that, my eyes turning red would create some kind of reaction on the faces around me. But the headmistress’ face was still as angry, Liza’s face had its usual taints of sorrow and Rob’s wasn’t dominated by a look of surprise. So I was pretty sure there wasn’t any indication of vampire ability. It was officially crazy. Am I deaf? Or going crazy? Or just tired? Or… I couldn’t figure out an answer because more questions were piling up in my head as strange words started to materialize in my sight. Everything went blurry and “pocket watch” hid Mrs. Kweller’s features, the letters of “run” mounted the desk, some word starting with “c” hid within the patterns of the wallpaper. And then the voice of Mrs. Kweller resurfaced, the words disappeared, but the fuzziness was still present. And to my horror, Mrs. Kweller’s voice wasn’t that clear either, so I started to concentrate to perceive the real world clearly again. That’s when only some words reached my ears: I… crown… crow… clock… charm… cry… capricious …crazy… clearly… curse, it’s my final decision. That’s when everything brightened up, and normal crowned my entourage. The last sentence I heard was the last to escape the headmistress’ mouth. Even though I didn’t catch it as a whole, I grasped the general plot. She gave us detention, and told us not to consider it as crazy ruling or a curse because it was her final decision. And obviously, no one argued with her. We knew that if we protested the detention time was going to double, or worse. It was known, Mrs. Kweller’s “rulings” were clearly nonnegotiable. When we were out of the office it was nearly 10:40, the “after party” had already begun, and we didn’t want to miss anymore of it. Liza gave us her pouting look and walked ahead of us the “I don’t care about you” way. I felt honestly sorry for her, it was my fault we were in this much trouble. I shouldn’t have walked away when I knew she would lose control. I should have listened to her- without really listening because her speeches were exhausting. When we penetrated the ballroom, the “after party” had indeed begun. There was no more champagne circulating, it was only beer and vodka and shots. The dance floor was no longer illuminated and dazzling but instead darkness flowed between the sparkly dresses and the shimmering jewelry around the dancers’ wrists that moved so gracefully to the modern, rejuvenating beat. And there they were, waiting for us as always: Alexia and Sophia. And when Alexia turned and her face was lit up with her beautiful smile, it’s like the whole room lit up. The creepiness in my stomach, the tiredness in my eyes the worries in my head just vanished. It was her I saw, and myself I gazed at through her perfect eyes. She always boosted my mood, polished it and made me perfect again.
“What happened up there?” asked Sophia.
“Ah! Nothing we just got detention. Next week we would be delivering packages and bringing in the mail with Liza.” said Rob ironically.
“That’s alright, at least you wouldn’t feel lonely with the sad sound of the nocturne breeze, Liza’s speeches would cheer you up. Or burn the forest down. But anyways: fun!” answered Soph trying to get a laugh out of us, and succeeding.
Then a guy just bumped into me from behind. I turned around and found Gregory Knight, a classmate of mine. He wasn’t always that clumsy, but everyone was entitled to a little bit of lumbering and clumsiness, it was a party after all. Something fell from his pocket at the impact. I bent down to grab it for him. It was a small notebook with a crow on the cover. When I touched it, it sort of gave me the creeps. Crows are cryptic animals, but not to that point. I then remembered: it was one of the words that got to my ear during Mrs. Kweller’s speech. Why the hell would she use the word crow in her speech? It was something I couldn’t quite get my head around. But I knew in that instant that I was over thinking it. Or was I? It didn’t matter because I let the subject down. A crow on a notebook wasn’t going to cause a fight or anything. So I handed the notebook back to Gregory who continued his awkward walk toward the dance floor where he stepped on a couple of toes and bumped into a bunch of couples. This encounter wasn’t any mysterious to any of my friends. The moment Gregory disappeared into the crowd, they were back to business.
“About the prophecy” started Lexi (Alexia) “I found out in my grandmother’s journal a couple of interesting stuff. What we did six years ago triggered a curse. The curse doesn’t have a specific effect. That’s why it is called the capricious curse. It can create harm to us, to people around us, or even charm objects or a little bit of each. To undo the curse it’s a whole recipe. And I quote:
If blood was spilled, blood must reign…
If darkness reigned, dark is feared…
If death was feared, death shall come…
Come it will, to those who wait…
Don’t wait ,run, break the curse…
To free yourselves from fear and p(-w)ain.
And don’t even ask me about the last word: p(-w)ain, I think my grandma spelled it wrong. It must be pain clearly. And to crown my interesting speech, I share with you the last piece of information: the curse doesn’t start to manifest instantly until and I quote again” she said with a grin “until three eights coincide”. Her last comment ended Lexi’s words and silence took place. This time I was the silence breaker:
“Come on guys, we aren’t going to stand around and wait for eights to come by. We are at a party, at a freakishly awesome party and we are standing and talking about serious stuff. We came here to talk about this serious stuff, I agree, but I didn’t come just to talk about the serious…” And then, I was cut off by a screaming sound over at the dance floor. My vision turned blurry again. But this time just for a couple of seconds. When my sight was restored, I could hardly make out the figures on the dance floor shouting at the top of their lungs. But I could easily hear and understand the conversation. Two men were talking. From their voices I could say they were our age and pretty drunk. The fuzziness in my eyes came back. I was just staring at a faded dance floor but I could still perceive the conversation:
“You better back off” said one of them in an angry tone.
“You’re joking right?” said the other with ice in his voice.
“I don’t care what you drink, or do” said the first guy who spoke earlier “but when you get drunk and pathetic and clumsy you just stay away from other people. Or you get in trouble.” At this instant, the crowd made a “Wow” sound. I figured when the first guy finished his sentence he lunged for the other guy but from what I heard aside from shattering glass, people were holding them off each other.
“He he! Look around and see who’s pathetic now!”
“You are! …Who do you think you are running around drunk and writing down some dirty notes about us here? I wonder what you write on your useless papers”
It must have been a friend of mine and a chaperone. Chaperones always lurch around drunker than students with papers and notebooks in their hands.
“It’s not useless” replied the chaperone.
“You checked out my girlfriend and whispered something in a weird language. Are you some kind of witch? I bet you are with your logos on your papers”. That’s when my vision came back. Just in time for the action! The guy with the girlfriend managed to free himself and jumped on the chaperone. He gave him a couple of good punches. His papers just flew on his side, they were all getting ripped during the fight from a notebook. That’s when papers flying above the scene started to get red and bloody. The clock above showed 8:88 it must have been malfunctioning. And then Lexi’s words rung in my ears: until three eights coincide. I didn’t have the time to process anything, I ran toward the scene to join the guys who were trying to dismiss the fight. And then I witnessed the most horrifying moment ever. The young guy was standing above a bloody, dead body. The chaperone was dead. Actually it wasn’t a chaperone, it was Gregory Knight. And he was dead. And the papers that made all that fuss were still landing on the ground with their logos: crows. From the crow notebook. What were all the words during the fuzziness about? Crows. In this moment crows was my least favorite word and then a sentence flashed back into my memory: A crow on a notebook wasn’t going to cause a fight or anything. No it wasn’t. It just caused death.