My Neighbour is a Vampire: Nadya's Story

Have you ever looked back on your life and wished you could change something, one particular moment that you could erase and rewrite? And then you’d wonder what would happen next, how would it transform your life?

If I had to pick one day, just one day, out of my miserable short life, I would pick the tenth of March 2004. Always. There are about a million things I could have done that would certainly made a number of huge differences. Number 1: I’d still be alive today...

Okay, I’m sorry. That was a bit too melodramatic, but hey, we need a little drama in our lives or we’ll all be drowning in boredom.

So let’s start with the worst day of my life, 10/3/04 aka my sixteenth birthday. It began with electric blue nail polish. Since it was my special day, I decided to wear it to school, thinking I could get away with. But Principal Hussein doesn’t let anyone get away with it (unless you’re one his nerdy pets that always fetch the coffee for him along with a list of fresh tattles to tell). Me; I’m a special case. Hussein’s got a whole section of the detention log dedicated to me for all sorts of things. Thinking about it now, it was stupid of me thinking I could pull it off. His hawk-like eyes always have me on the radar.

I got called into his office before we had our first subject. It’s an all time record actually, to get into trouble before I even opened a textbook. He rambled on about breaking the rules and made me remove the nail polish while he sipped his coffee and did whatever principals do. My pride was wounded so I did what was natural – fight back. I decided to start a little rebellion against these stupid uniform regulations in the canteen.

I made this killer speech while standing on a table (I admit, I may have gotten carried away and insulted a few teachers and a certain principal but I’d like to think of it as constructive criticism) and just like in the movies I shouted “Who’s with me?” at the end. But it didn’t turn out like I hoped. I got no reaction from the hundreds of the students staring at me. None whatsoever. I shot a pleading glance at my friends and boyfriend but they all pointedly looked away.

I spent the rest of lunch in Hussein’s office and to add insult to injury my shy boyfriend, Salem, quietly told me he didn’t want to see me anymore and ignored the daggers I stared at him during maths. As punishment, I spent an hour after school scraping gum from underneath the tables. I never realised how hard it was to prise wads of rock hard gum from the underside of the tables and vowed never to stick my gum down there again. When I was finally done I received a call from my driver hurriedly telling me that he couldn’t take me home until 6.30 in the evening.

Brilliant I thought, just plain, stinking brilliant.

I was so mad at that point that I nearly threw my phone at the wall. I had no boyfriend, I was hungry, my fingers smelt gross and no matter how much I tried, the smell of dried gum wouldn’t wash off; I’m stuck here for next few hours and it was my birthday – did I forget to mention that?

At this point you’re probably feeling sorry for me but believe me, there is more to come. Since I was determined not to stay till 6.30, I shouldered my bag and grudging began the long walk home. Apparently I didn’t know the route home as well as I thought. I had gone the wrong way three times and at the rate I was going, I wouldn’t reach home till it was dark. Well I didn’t – thanks to a kind, old dear who offered me ride home.

 An hour and a half after I set off, I finally made it home. I threw myself at the leather couch and let the weariness sink into my skin, feeling as miserable as possible for myself.

Bzzzzz

The door bell buzzed but I was far too exhausted to answer it. I decided to let whoever it was go away. Closing my eyes, images of Salem flashed before me.