Ugh. I swipe my nose with my sleeve before remembering how gross that must look to my sister. All these nasty slimy bodily functions I forgot about when I became a vampire. I mean, imagine spending nearly a year bathroom free and then suddenly having to remember to go every few hours…or else.
“It’s just allergies. The pollen here is ridiculous.”
“Rayne…” Sunny narrows her eyes and gives me a hard look. “I’m your identical twin. And neither one of us has ever suffered an allergy in our entire lives. It’s part of the whole fairy gig. Remember how much money Mom saves on health insurance?”
“Fine,” I retort, giving up the pretense. She’s probably already figured it out anyway. “Jareth’s dating someone else. Someone really tacky,” I add, as if his having a cool girlfriend would be any better. But still! I want to assume he has some sort of taste in women—after all, he did pick me, right?
“And how do you know this, Miss Vampire Free, That’s Me?” Sunny asks pointedly.
I sigh. “I went to Club Fang to go dancing,” I confess. “How was I supposed to know that Jareth would be there? And with a tacky, nasty girlfriend, too.” I scowl, thinking back at her vinyl pants and bat earrings.
“Well, for one thing it is his favorite hangout…”
Yeah, yeah. “Look,” I say, deciding to come clean. “I tried to stay home. But I had to see him again. At least one more time. Then I was going to leave him forever, I swear.” I could feel the beads of sweat dripping down my forehead. God, it sucks to be a human. There are way too many ways to be caught lying.
Sunny purses her lips. “O-kay,” she says slowly. “So you saw him. Are you ready to leave him forever now?”
I lean down, banging my head against the table mournfully. “No,” I admit. “And I can’t imagine I ever will be. I mean, one look and I was completely smitten all over again. Except for the fact that he was super-rude this time around.”
“Um, if I remember right, he was super-rude the first time around as well,” my sister reminds me.
“Yeah, but that was only because I was a member of Slayer Inc.,” I protest. “The same organization that killed his family. This time he started hating on me for no reason whatsoever.”
My sister raises an eyebrow.
“Okay, maybe there was a tiny reason. I tripped and stepped on his toes. But accidental toe-stepping shouldn’t warrant full-on hate, should it? I mean, maybe mild dislike and annoyance. But you should have seen him. It was as if I’d burned up his favorite Batman shirt.” I look up. “And did I mention he has a girlfriend? A tacky, nasty, disgusting girlfriend?”
“Hmm. Yes. Several times, in fact.”
“I know, I know. But I can’t help it. I mean, how would you like it if you went and found Magnus and he had a girlfriend in tow?” I sigh. “But, of course, you wouldn’t go and do that. You’re smarter than me and appreciate the second chance you’ve been given. You’d never go off and try to find Magnus after vowing to live a vampire-free…” I trail off, suddenly seeing my sister for the first time. “Hang on a second. Is that my corset?”
Sunny’s face turns bright red. “Um, maybe? Yeah?”
“Since when do you wear corsets?”
“Um…” She bites her lower lip. “Since Easy A was on HBO? Emma Stone rocked them so well, I thought I’d—”
“Sunshine McDonald. You went to see Magnus tonight!”
“No!” she cries, her eyes wide. “I just—”
“Just dressed up as me and attended my vampire-certification class,” I conclude. “And here you had the nerve to go all Judge Judy on me for going to Club Fang.”
Sunny stares down at her bowl of cereal.
“I knew it!” I cry, actually feeling kind of better knowing the truth. That I’m not the only weak McDonald twin after all. “He didn’t have a surprise girlfriend, by any chance, did he? Like a really tacky, nasty, disgusting, hideous one?”
My sister shakes her head emphatically. As if her future boyfriend would never dream of cheating on his future love. “No,” she says. “In fact, he was very sweet. Of course he thought I was you, I guess.”
“Well, duh. You did wear my clothes.”
“Which didn’t impress him in the slightest, let me tell you,” Sunny points out. She pauses, then adds, “Not to mention—how the heck do you scratch your bellybutton when you’re wearing this thing?”
“You don’t. You suffer for fashion,” I reply curtly. “But let’s not change the subject here, Sunny my girl. What happened at class? Did you let him bite you?” I study her neck closely, searching for marks or bruises. After all I sacrificed for her…
But my sister shakes her head. “No. No biting,” she assures me. “Not even a practice one.”
“You sound disappointed.”
“No…well, not really.” Sunny sighs. “Rayne, I’ve been thinking…”
I lean forward. “Yes?”
“Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate all you did to get us back here and give us a second chance. And it’s not like I suddenly want to become a vampire or anything. But, at the same time, do we really have to go all cold turkey on the entire otherworld? I mean, look at us. Night number one and we’ve both epically failed to stay vampire free. What does that say about our chances for the future?”