Mane Squeeze

Chapter 1

1.9.2007-1.12.2007

"Leona!"

I groaned and pulled the blankets over my head. "Call my professors and tell them I died," I mumbled. "I'm really not up for classes today."

But Shads was having none of it. She yanked the blankets off of me and I instantly curled up into a ball to combat the chill of the dorm room. "Damn it, Leona, get your ass outta bed!" The darkly tanned girl stood at the foot of my bed with her hands on her hips. There are some days when I really hate roommates. "You know that Tooms is gonna beat your ass if you miss his class again."

I smirked up at her and wiggled my eyebrows. "A girl can dream, can't she?"

Shads just rolled her baby blue eyes. "Up, girl. Now."

I glanced sleepily at my watch and leapt to my feet, nearly falling on my face as reward for my athletic display. I grabbed my favorite jeans and a white tank top, ignoring Shads chuckling as I headed into the bathroom for a quick shower. I had forty minutes to get ready, plenty since we lived on campus and the Science building was only one down from our dorm. Shads just has a different concept of time than I do. She thinks it's inconsiderate to not arrive somewhere at least ten minutes early. Me? I tend to slide through the door thirty seconds before the professor locks you out. Being there before they close the door in your face is early, in my opinion.

After getting dressed, I fluffed my short, choppy blonde hair with a towel, not bothering with a comb. A quick touch of mascara and charcoal shadow and I was ready to go. Shads just shook her head as I emerged. "Don't you think the fire-engine red bra with the nearly see-through white shirt's a bit over the top, shug?" she asked, her eyebrows raised.

I shrugged. "Nah. Besides, these sacred jeans are way worse." I call them my 'sacred jeans' because they're full of holes in various decent -and indecent- places.

Shads looked skyward as if seeking divine guidance in dealing with me, sighing and tossing me my bag. "Let's go, then. We'll only be there five minutes before he starts if we go now."

I covered my mouth to stifle a sleepy yawn. "Whatever you say, hon."

We made our way across the quad to the Science building, getting a few whistles and catcalls as we went. It didn't bother me, but Shads was an old-fashioned Southern gal who didn't take too kindly to guys being anything but gentlemen. They called us "B-Cubed." Think of the letter B times itself twice, in exponent form. The Brawy Blonde Bombshells. It sounds like a band name to me, but it's really because we're both the same height, blonde, and spend enough time in the gym together that we could take any buff 'n tough musclehead who felt froggy.

We could have been twins if we hadn't been born on opposite sides of the country. She was a Georgia peach and I was born in a little podunk nowhere town in Wyoming. We'd both grown up in New Orleans, and now we were living at Damone University in a relatively suburban area called Damone, Louisiana. The humidity and the bugs and the other various swamp-life had been hard to adjust to at first, but now I knew which spiders I should have a heart attack and run to the hospital for when I was occasionally bitten. I had so many wildlife guides for the area I'd collected as a child, I could name off every species of spider indigenous to the state of Louisiana. Needless to say, I hate arachnids.

We ended up at Tooms' class five minutes early and, sadly, without any ass-kicking detours. We took our usual seats in the third row and Professor Tooms gave me a smile that nearly melted me into a puddle on my chair.

His gorgeous black eyes swept to Shads, but she was unaffected by his gaze. "So nice to see you got Miss Starr out of bed this morning, Miss Daniels."

"Believe you-me, teach, it wasn't easy." she drawled.

I grinned at Shads, knowing she hated it when anyone made use of her full name. She was born Natasha Daniels, but ever since we were little kids, she's always been "Shads" to me. She rolled her eyes at me and got her notebook ready. I doodled around the margins of a blank page while I waited for Tooms to start class. It didn't take long to fill them in and my heart beat frantically against my ribs as I gazed fully at what I'd drawn: bats, fangs, bodies in pieces, men with stake-sized holes in their chests, a pair of sightless eyes that seemed to stare back at me...

Angrily, I tore the sheet from the notebook and crumpled it loudly. I wasn't going to let my "destiny" interfere with the diernal part of my life or my grades. I could fuck up my grades on my own, thanks.

Professor Tooms took his place at the head of the classroom, all smiles and pleasantries as always. "Morning, all. Let's get to it, shall we?" He turned to the chalkboards, writing two little words that told me today was going to be a bad one. "Circulatory System."

He smirked at some of the puzzled looks he received. "That's right, boys and girls. Arteries, veins, and all that good blood-related stuff. Now, if you'll open your texts to page one hundred and forty-two, you'll see a full map of the adult systemic arterial system..."

I took notes, but I zoned out everything he said after that. The first time I come to class in days and we're going over something I already know like the back of my hand. Not by choice, mind you. I had to learn the quickest ways to bleed someone out and where best to strike a killing blow, or I'd have been dead a long time ago. Some of the best arteries to go for to achieve maximum blood loss are the femoral, brachial, radial, and the abdominal aorta.

I looked up and everyone was getting up to leave. I'd managed to lose the rest of the class to thoughts and memories I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Well... maybe my worst.

Tooms caught my eye and waved me over, so I nodded to Shads to go on without me. I took my time in putting up my books before swinging my bag over my shoulder and warily approaching the professor. "What's up, teach?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"I feel like I should be asking you the same thing, Leona. What's going on with you lately? I know you're usually not here, but you get all your work in on time, so I don't give a shit about that." He turned his head and sighed. Looking back at me, his black eyes were very serious. "You're so distant, like your mind keeps dwelling on something awful and it won't let you escape it. Did a frat boy take advantage of you at a party or something? Whatever it is, you can tell me, Leona." He put his hand on my shoulder and gave it a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

His sincerity made me tear up suddenly and I almost spilled my secret to him right there. I was touched more deeply than I wanted to admit, but I fought it and looked away. "I wish it was something as simple as a frat boy, Tooms. Then I could kick his ass and be done with it." I let out an involuntary and humorless bark of laughter. "Believe me when I say that there are some nightmares from which there is no waking."

He looked puzzled for a second and then shook his head as if to clear it. "Leona, you can't always combat your personal demons alone."

I took a step back out of his reach, fighting the urge to break down and let him hold me while my world fell apart. His words had hit a little too close to home. "Mr. Tooms," I began, my voice quaking. "Some of us have no choice but to fight alone. It's battle or lay down and die. I never was much of a quitter. Good day, Mr. Tooms." I turned on my heel and walked toward the door.

He called after me, "Leona!" I glanced over my shoulder at him, tears shimmering unshed in my eyes. His face softened at my expression. "If you ever want to talk about it, or anything, please call me. Any time, day or night." I nodded, sniffling before I mumbled my thanks.

Once I was outside in the air, my tears were gone. Tooms had been so distraught, just from my mood. How would he react if he could see my scars? The ones I tended to conceal the most were five finger-thick circular scars on my stomach just below my ribs. I'd once had a vampire try to tickle my insides by thrusting all five of her fingers into my abdomen. When people saw the scars and asked questions, I said they were purposeful cigarette burns from a very stupid game played whilst very, very drunk. People tended to buy it. Something told me that if Tooms ever saw them, he'd ask questions and he wouldn't accept my lie so readily.

Brooding over many things, I headed back to my dorm to hide. Luckily, Shads had gone on to our next class and wasn't in our room. She'd take good enough notes for me to copy later. And so, with no one but my pillow as a witness, I opened my emotional floodgates and was swept away in the deluge. I cried and sobbed for so long that I actually lost track of time.

I'd told Shads that I wasn't up for classes today.