Chapter Text
"Never fear! Hotshot Shan is here!" The young boy's voice rang out through the schoolyard.
His dark brown eyes caught mine as he ran by in a rush of excitement, his sandy-blond sidekick in tow.
Or maybe Darren was the sidekick? It was so long ago; I can't even remember.
Anyhow, my story started in a schoolyard in a city far away from everywhere else — except trouble.
Speaking of trouble.... Darren was always at the head of it.
Darren Shan was one of the boys in my class. He wasn't the most popular, but he had his own flock of friends — Alan Morris, Tommy Jones, and his best friend Steve Leonard. The four of them were practically inseparable.
I was never much for chumming around with the boys in my class. It's not that I didn't like them — quite frankly, I got along swimmingly with most of them—I just preferred to stay with a few of the other girls I got along with.
I wasn't interested in sports, and most of the guys played soccer or football during recess, so I stayed back with the girls and watched. We mainly talked about homework and television shows.
Darren’s friend, Steve was a tall and skinny sharp-eyed boy with long, shaggy blond hair and an attitude that could end someone's life. Back then I avoided Steve like the plague. When it came to Darren Shan, he was different.
He wasn’t very tall, and was quiet, unless he was with his pals. The four of them could kick up a stink in class and it would take forever to get them to settle down. Sometimes it was really annoying.
But, other times, I wished to be a part of it. To be with Darren again.
Darren and I had grown up together and were even neighbours — our parents went to the same college and we often celebrated holidays together. It didn’t hurt that we were neighbours, either. Sometimes the Shans invited my family over to celebrate Chinese New Year, too.
There wasn’t a dull moment when my family and there’s linked up. Whether it was for a weekend or an hour; it was always full of laughter and a good time.
I missed those days.
Our friendship changed when Steve Leonard entered the picture.
Darren and I were best friends up until the fifth grade when he befriended Steve and they bonded over their love for the occult.
There was always something about Steve that drew people in (or, in my case, repelled them). He could be dark and brooding and downright vile in the way he spoke, but that solely depended on how you looked at him.
He could be a nice person and have a regular conversation about the weather, or the homework assignment. But if you brought up any topic related to vampires, ghosts, ghouls, any of that horror junk, he latched on and didn't let go.
Suddenly, Claire nudged me in the ribs, pointing toward the black and white checkered soccer-ball that had just plopped down into the dirt in front of my outstretched legs.
"Hey, ‘Liza!" called Darren, waving his right hand high in the air. He placed a hand over his eyes so he could see better beneath the glare of the sun. "Pass that over here, would you!"
"No fair, Shan!" spat one of the older boys, folding his arms tightly across his chest.
Darren must have scored a goal, or maybe he’d swiped the ball away from the angry boy.
Without a second thought I stood up and launched the ball rolling straight forward to the group of boys playing soccer at the bottom of the hill.
"Thanks!" He waved a hand in the air.
I turned my back to them and flashed Claire a sour look. "You couldn't have passed it over yourself?"
She shrugged her left shoulder, tossing a piece of curly blonde hair away from her face. "Does it matter? They were yelling for you." I sat down beside her and continued to watch the rest of the game in silence.
There was a faint pain in my chest, pricking my heart.
Darren rarely called me ‘Liza.
~
Lunch break passed quickly, the bell ringing shortly after.
Later in class Darren and Steve were passing a note over my head, making sure the paper ball missed my scalp with admirable accuracy. I glanced to my left and caught sight of Darren, slouching in his chair, nervously twiddling his thumbs as he awaited Steve's reply to the note he'd passed.
Then I turned my attention to Steve and saw him writing on the same crumpled piece of paper. His thin eyebrows were furrowed in deep concentration, blue eyes scanning over the paper as if he had to choose his words very carefully.
Once Steve was finished, he held back his paper, admiring whatever he'd scrawled across its surface. He gave Darren a knowing glance before gesturing over my head. He followed the vague gesture by tossing the paper up and into the air. But he miscalculated, and the note fell and rolled over the surface of my desk, finally coming to a standstill right on the dirty floor.
Darren's eyes widened and his eyebrows disappeared behind his long bangs when I dipped my head down, bending to retrieve the crumpled note.
Without so much as a second thought I uncrumpled the paper, green eyes scanning over the blue lines of ink scribbled in messy handwriting:
Steve: So, did you go to the theatre last night?
Darren: Yeah, but I chickened out at the last second and took off.
Steve: You —
I couldn't read the word he wrote there, but I'm still pretty sure it said "Pussy".
Steve: Why don't we go back there tonight?
Darren: No way! Something chased me away from there before I could get inside.
Before I could finish reading their conversation, Steve's eyes were glaring into my back. A gruesome smile hung across his gaunt jawline; his teeth resembled fangs for a few seconds before his face appeared in front of me. "Sorry," I said earnestly. "Did you say something?
He grabbed the note and crumbled it in his trembling fist. Forcing a ragged smile to his lips, he hissed at me. "Can we talk to you after school?"
"Sure," I gulped. "No problem."
I was dead meat.
~
I sat through the remainder of our classes practically trembling, waiting for the horrid moment of confrontation when the last school bell finally rang.
Steve thrashed me against the wall, shoving his right palm into my shoulder with such force that I winced in pain.
We were behind one of the corner walls, where no one could see us. Steve stood with his back to the schoolyard and Darren was staking out for teachers.
Steve stared down at me with a glint of malice in his eye.
"Steve!" Darren snapped after he’d shoved me into the wall. He grabbed his best friend by the collar of his dress shirt, hauling him off of me. "Don't hurt her!" He positioned himself between me and Steve, offering himself as a shield.
"Why shouldn't I?!" Steve shot back, now turning his bad mood onto Darren. He poked the slightly shorter boy in the chest. "She read our note without permission!"
I held my hands up in mock surrender. "Hey, you guys were tossing it over my head. What else did you expect me to do?"
"Gee, I don't know, maybe we thought you were smart enough to mind your goddamn business?!" Steve snarled.
"Steve!" Darren thumped him on the shoulder.
Steve grumbled under his breath, but ceased his harassment for the time being. He jammed his hands into the pockets of his ripped jeans.
"Did you read the whole thing?" Darren asked me, his head twisting around for a brief second to survey the area. He was making sure no teachers or students were in earshot.
"No," I said, clutching my brown book-bag so tightly to my chest, I thought the buttons were about to stab through my palms.
"Good," grunted Steve. He grabbed my black necktie, pulling my face closer so our noses were mere inches apart. "And don't you dare think about telling anyone about any of this, got it?"
"Relax, Steve," Darren patted his shoulder. "Eliza's not some sort of tattletale, she'll keep her mouth shut." He turned to me and I nodded quickly.
"She'd better,” Steve growled. He was glaring daggers at me from over Darren’s shoulder.
Back then I highly doubted Steve would have tried to hurt me if I had bothered to tell anyone about Darren's little adventure, but if I knew anything about Steve Leonard, it was never to trust him. Ever.
Thankfully he decided to let me off the hook with some choice swearing. He said a few words of goodbye to Darren before rushing off in the direction of his house.
I huffed, literally throwing my bag over my left shoulder. "You've really got a knack for picking great friends, don't you, Darren." I brushed a piece of loose ginger hair from off the back of my neck.
My eyes met his as he turned around and his mouth set into a thin line as I glared at him, waiting for a justification.
"Steve's not all bad," he said, standing up on his bicycle pedals as we worked our way up hill together. "Once you get to know him, you'll see."
"What makes you think I want to get to know Steve Leopard?" I shuddered at Steve's obnoxiously fitting nickname.
Darren's dark eyebrows dipped at the corners, faint lines creasing his skin as his creased his forehead. "You know our — well, my — secret now. So, I think it's safe to say that you, Steve and me could... well maybe we could become better friends."
"In your dreams, Shan."
I helped him push his bike up the rest of the way, taking the handlebar that was closest to me while he pedalled. He made sure to keep both palms pressed against the cool metal. His right hand was sitting over top of my left, but neither of us said a single word about it.
Darren and I hadn't exactly been the best of friends outside of the classroom in a few years, so I couldn't shove the feeling of nostalgia welling up inside the pit of my stomach. A sort of happiness that I wasn't used to feeling was beginning to rise. I welcomed it in the form of re-connection, but didn’t say a word.
He paused for a second before his dark eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. "So... do you want to go back to the theatre with me?"
My mouth twisted up, eyes narrowing into slits of suspicion. "Excuse me? I thought you were too chicken to go back there even with Steve, why would you even consider going with me?"
He got a little nervous. I felt his left hand twitching slightly next to mine on the handlebars just before I released my grip. We reached our houses after passing over the hill. "Well, I just...." He fell into silence, his mouth twitching at the corners as he struggled to get the words out.
"Come on, Darren," I coaxed, twisting the strap of my bag. "Spit it out."
"I just miss hanging out together, you know, like we did when we were kids?"
I bit back a smile. "We still are kids!"
He gave a dramatic gesture toward the setting sun in the distance. "Then what are we waiting for? The world is ours, and it should be illegal to waste such a precious opportunity."
“Precious” was definitely not the word I would have used.
I paused for a second, thinking over my answer. "You won't tell Steve? You know he'll just get mad." I stamped my feet, a rush of excitement sweeping through me like a sudden burst of childish wonder.
Darren held out his pinkie. "I won't tell if you won't, promise?"
I smiled before locking my pinkie with his. "Pinkie swear—cross my heart and hope to die."
I didn't know back then that the promise we’d made under that late autumn sky would have sentenced us both to death.