Endlessly

~4~ The Middle of Starting Over?

Maya's POV

    I finished explaining the new situation to Katy. Everything about her being a vampire, how she can't go feeding on anyone in this building, and most importantly, how she can't tell anyone that she is a vampire. "Do you get it? Do I need to explain this again?"

    "No, you don't need to explain it again, but why should I say yes to helping you just so you can get this girl?" She sits down on her couch in the living room.

    "Because I'm the only one in this apartment who knows how to kill you, and I'm the only one who can guarantee you won't get killed. You may be immortal but you can still end up living a short life. Now. As for the background. You're my mother, or at least when she is around. The reason your last name is Hunter and not Hart is because Hunter is your maiden name and Hart is the name of my 'deadbeat' dad who walked out on us." I sit on the armchair. "You know that spare room? That's mine now. So, get used to it, mom." I spit the last word out harshly so she gets it. I look out the window and see the sun. Shit. "I gotta go." I run to the spare room and grab the comforter and a roll of duct tape and do my best to secure it over the window. Then I hop on the bed and drift off to sleep.

Riley's POV

    School sucks. I got all my homework done so far because I'm a good student. However, school. Still. Sucks. I've got no friends. Well. I have this one friend named Zay, who moved here from Texas, but things between us are rocky because he likes me and I don't reciprocate those feelings. I still can't help but think about Maya. Who knew she lived above me all this time? It's the last class of the day, art. It isn't my favorite class, and despite the fact that I only ever paint purple cats in class, I can actually draw. It's not the greatest, like, it doesn't look amazingly realistic. But it suffices. During class we are assigned to do a quick painting of a bench, but I don't paint anything other than purple cats. I finish my masterpiece. It's a purple cat on a bench made of purple cats. Mr. Waters comes up behind me.

    "Riley." He sighs. "Another one? Why do you only paint purple cats? I've seen your sketchbook before. You're pretty decent at drawing. Why don't you paint anything else?"

    "Because. My art is my art and I want it to be mine as much as possible. So. What's our sketchbook assignment?" I reach down to my bag and pull out my sketchbook, opening to a fresh page.

    "Alright class. Listen up. Tonight's sketchbook assignment is to draw something you find beautiful. Whether you use color or not is up to you. Now carry on until the bell rings." He walks back to his desk and continues grading papers about art history.

    After a few minutes of sketching the bell rings and we all file out for the day. I head home but instead of going to my apartment, I go to Maya's, curious if she's home. I want to know more about her.