Capítulo 2: Porcelain Girl
"Hey Darren, I saved you a seat."
Sal Runewood was Darren's best friend in school. She was only just below his height, with a simple freckled face and hazel eyes that would tend to shift color with whatever she was wearing. The best thing about her was that she wasn't a friend of his because he was royalty. In fact, she had had no idea he even was a prince until she switched buses in sophomore year and heard the bus driver welcome him to the seated crowd as Prince Darren.
He murmured a quick "thanks" and sat next to her, letting out a weary yawn from a lack of sleep. The night before wasn't exactly great, as he was up for quite a while thinking over the year to come; what would happen? Anything chronically embarrassing? Sad?
As he stole a glance at Sal, attempting to read her expression for anything similar, he couldn't help but feel his face grow slightly warmer. Lately he had began to think of her differently, and he wasn't quite sure what to make of it.
But of course, it was nothing...right?
He promptly brushed it off and stared out the window at the monuments of the colony passing by. He smiled as the bus drifted further and further away from the castle, which made Sal grin as well. She knew what he went through at his house.
"So, I'm assuming not much happened this summer once again?" she asked, as if she felt prompted to say it.
Darren scrunched up his face in thinking. "Not really...except for foreign affairs trips, pointless parties and blood rituals, you know, the usual…"
Sal smiled. "Well, it must be good to be back after another bland summer with the fam," she commented. Darren felt his eyes sparkle with unconcealed delight at just the sight of a pure human soul. He couldn't help but laugh genuinely in response.
"Yeah, definitely--"
Sal cut him off. "Wait, who's that?"
The bus had stopped once again, but in an unfamiliar place. The sky was a desolate and misty dark grey now, with almost no rays of sunlight visible. Scraggly and rough-textured tree limbs made dark and bustling cracks in the atmosphere, bare of leaves. It seemed like they were still in Adelaide, as a matter of fact. A pale girl with shockingly red lips and cream locks of hair suddenly climbed onto the bus. Her skin almost seemed to be glistening and glowing in the few light there was. Through her heavily contrasting aesthetic, she retained an incredible amount of beauty. She suddenly glanced in Darren's direction. He could feel his heartbeat seem to pause. Why was she so beautiful? His vision blurred, everything fading into red as her gaze locked with his--
"You," she murmured.
And her eyes. Her eyes were the purest blue diamonds he had ever seen. Darren blinked rapidly, gaze darting around. "Uhhh--me? What?"
The girl simply turned away, her hair billowing in the air, and daintily threaded through the aisle, presumably taking a seat in the very back of the bus. He felt a sharp nudge in his right arm.
"You think she's new? She doesn't look like a freshman though…" Sal murmured. She seemed just as baffled as he was. He nodded and took his attention to his phone, still hypnotized from what had went on.
"Woah," Sal muttered next to him, "look at that boy! You think they're brother and sister?"
Darren looked up again. Sure enough, there was another student trudging down the bus aisle. He wore a distressed leather jacket and had flaming red hair that reached to the sky like grass on a field. His eyes were an eerily bright silver, and they seemed to possess an almost metallic gleam. Unlike the girl, he didn't utter a word. But oddly enough, he seemed to shoot a glance in Darren's direction as well. -Well, they do live in Adelaide...and I'm the prince...-
"Hopefully we'll see them around. I'm intrigued," Sal murmured. Turning his head around to look at Sal, Darren couldn't help but shiver with disgust.
"They smell like blood...did you notice?" he prompted. Sal looked at him suddenly, her cute eyes adorably startled, and he felt his temperature rise on its own accord. He averted his gaze.
Sal hummed with thinking. "No…? How would I notice that?" she asked, cocking her head to the side with puzzlement. Darren immediately shook his head and turned to put his phone in his pocket.
"...Guess I'm used to it, that's all."
~:~
It was too bad that Sal had claimed the window seat for herself, as Darren found gazing out onto the scenery through the glass was far more entertaining than just staring blankly at a screen. It was especially fun when there were new students to pick up, meaning new places to visit. As of now, however, watching the outside would just result in a lot of awkward staring in Sal's direction due to the seating arrangements she had chosen. Because of this, he limited his sightseeing time just enough to catch a glance of the new stops. At least it wouldn't be weird of him to do that.
In past years, he had witnessed so many communities through the bus windows, humans and other creatures alike. Everything seemed much better than the kingdom he was from.
At least other creatures had emotion.
He looked around at the surrounding crowd. The amount of familiar faces exceeded the new ones by far, of course. Looking with more detail, he caught a glimpse of the girl from earlier. They had instantly made eye contact, almost as if she was waiting from him to look at her. His heart jumped. Truthfully, she seemed so much scarier now. Her eyes were blank, and the sight of her emotionless porcelain face shook him to the core. Tearing his gaze away, he swung back into his seat, staring up at the ceiling to distract himself. -Who is that girl...and more importantly...why is she so strange? She's probably not human...or a vampire...-
Shivering, he looked over at Sal once more. Her familiar presence healed him of the trauma that other girl had caused.
"Hey," he whispered.
Sal looked up from her phone, pursing her lips. "Hmm?"
Darren looked elsewhere once again, suddenly feeling timid. "Uh...you know that new girl? The pale one? She creeps me out. She's been staring at me…" he murmured, really not sure of what kind of response he expected to garner from Sal.
Sal shrugged and gave a amused smile, stifling a laugh. "More than Maevey-pie?" she joked, elbowing him in the arm. He rolled his eyes and smiled, stealing a glance at her phone to embarrass her. "Who're you texting?" he teased, raising an eyebrow. Before he could read anything however, Sal had snatched it away from his view.
"A friend," she replied, backing into the window and bringing the phone up close to her face as if she was trying to hide something. He snickered, a smirk tugging at his lips as he took his phone out again to surf the web.
-Sure.-
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