The Vampire Joy by Alisa Freund (fox in socks read aloud .txt) 📕

piped in, “I want to go.” Juliet was another one of Joy’s friends. She was tall with brunette hair. She was kind of plain but that’s why Joy liked her.
“I do too” Joey said flashing a smile. Joey was a friend of Billy’s and both of them were battling on the top ten list. Currently Joey stood at 3 and Billy stood at 4. “you know us three’s have to stick together.” He added giving Joy a wink. Why does he have to antagonize Billy like that? She asked herself.
“I’ll talk to David. I’m sure he won’t have a problem if I’m with a group.” She said doubting that he would agree. She could already hear his response Are you crazy? Do you have a death wish?
She was snapped out of her thoughts by Joey saying, “why do you always call him David? Why not dad?”
She opened her mouth to explain but before she had a chance she felt a hand on her shoulder. “because she is adopted.” She turned around and Mr. F was standing beside her desk. “do you have something to share with the class?”
Joy hated when teachers said that it’s so cliché and besides if I had something to share with the class I wouldn’t have been whispering she thought but said “yes, as a matter of fact I do.” She said then address the class, “hey everybody! Mr. F just invited us to his birthday party! It’s BYOB and its tonight! The address is-“ he cupped his hand over Joy's mouth.
He leaned down and whisper “touché” in her ear. His breath has warm up against her neck and smelled of cinnamon and chocolate. Before she realized it she was blushing but she looked at him for affirmation that she had not made herself look like a desperate little girl. He didn’t notice and walked back to the front of the class grabbing a stack of papers off of his desk. “Well Joy,” He said coolly, “if you like jokes so much you’ll enjoy the grade I gave you on your report.” The entire class sighed and groaned as he went around and dispersed their respective papers.
D+? D+? there must be some mistake with a grade like this David would never let me go to the ball. “I object!” Joy shouted as she stood on her chair.
Mr. F smirked at her, “you aren’t on trial but I'll humor you any ways. On what grounds do you object on?”
“Moral indecency.” She said. Everyone including Mr. F gave her a puzzling look.
“I’ll allow it.” He said looking amused “continue.”
“Every book you have had us read this semester have been produce by alcoholics. Ernest Hemmingway, Edgar Allen Poe and now this inebriated dribble by Fitzgerald? Why can’t we read books by authors that have moral fiber like John Steinbeck or J.D. Salinger?”
“If I remember correctly you wrote that this book is not worthy of your time. That basically told me that you hadn’t read it.” He said almost dismissively.
“I read it! If you had read my entire report you see that I had. The book was about prohibition, he wrote it purely to gain support to abolish prohibition. The entire book was ridiculous.” She said, she could feel the blood rushing to her head and for a breif moment she felt as if she might faint.
Mr. F just paused for a moment and said, “Joy, could you come up here for a moment?”
She stepped down from her chair and walked slowly to the front of the class with every step the word shit echoed in her head. She stood right in front of him. He motioned for her to come closer. So she did and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and brought her in close to his side. Half of the class jumped up and the other half voiced their objections but he didn’t seem to notice or care. He lifted a paper off of his desk with his free hand and put it in front of her face. It was the grades for the report. And next to her name there was a… “B+?” she asked him more confused than she had ever felt.
“I knew you would be able to argue your point.” He said smiling down at her. The smile felt warm and before she could stop, she was smiling back up at him.
The rest of the day went on normally for a Friday. Everyone was anxious for the weekend so the hours went by slowly until the final bell rang and it was a mad dash for the door way. everybody rushed out whoop like animals finally let out of their cages. everyone was anxious about their up coming weekend, except for Joy who knew that the end of school work stopped for everyone else but she would only get four hours of sleep then it was here vampire studies.


“No!” David yelled at her slamming his hand down on the table. “Try it again. When and why was the council formed?”
Joy racked her brain she could remember it was during the reign of Julius Caesar, something to do with the war with the roman armies. And in a surge she remembered it all. “48 b.c.” she said “When Caesar turned his son in law Pompey into a vamp to ensure vampire ruling but Pompey was beheaded by the Egyptians so the council was formed to monitor the remaining vampires and ensure they don’t hold positions of too much power. The council as their first official ruling told Caesar that the successor he chosen had to be mortal. That’s why his successor was his grand nephew Octavian. And once Caesar was stabbed in the heart that was the last vampire ruler.” David smiled at her and gave her a kiss on the forehead.
“I knew you could do it.” He whispered softly in her ear and it sent shivers down her spine. “I think with a few more lessons you will be ready for the ball. But enough talk of that you have to get ready, the opera will be starting at ten.”
Joy was high off of the praise she had just received and skipped off to her room. She put on the scarlet dress that David had picked out for her and tide her hair into a bun. She decided to put on makeup so she could accompany him as his date instead of looking like his daughter. She returned to the kitchen to see David finishing off his nightly cup of blood. He was wearing an all black suit except for a single red rose that stuck out of his front pocket. The rose matched her dress perfectly and she knew it was all planned. His black hair was gelled back and he looked like he could be a model for gothic attire.
He looked up at her and his jaw dropped but he quickly corrected it and his face went back to being a mask. He held out his arm for her to take and said, “shall we go then?”
They hopped into his black Lamborghini and were on their way to the theater. It was silent for the first half of the trip until David broke the silence, “you never told me what you wanted for your birthday.” He said still staring at the road.
“This car would be nice.” She said off handedly almost joking.
“It’s yours.” He said without even looking at her. “I’ve been meaning to give you a car for awhile know, but up until tonight you haven’t voiced your desire. I’ve been meaning to upgrade anyways. Call it an early birthday present and you can drive me home tonight.”
Joy was giddy she had received not only David’s praises but also his car all in one night. She was on cloud nine and nothing could ruin her high, or so she thought.
They arrived at the theater early as usual and waited in line to go in. they were arm in arm which was exceptable for a girlfriend or, in case anybody she knew saw her, daughter. Everything was going amazingly until someone behind her knocked into her so hard she fell to her knees. She turned her head to see what happened and saw Mr. F standing right beside David both of them were staring each other down.
“I see the blood you stole from me is sustaining you pretty well. Noone’s tried to kill you yet what a pity.” David said coldly to him. Joy’s eyes widened hearing this. What is he talking about? Joy thought to herself but thought it better than to voice her query at the moment.
Mr. F turned away from him and extended his hand down to Joy to help her up. “I apologize for knocking you down Joy I thought you were… someone else.” He said as he helped her up. David’s eyes narrowed at this point. Joy had never seen him this angry so she decided not to say anything. “Where is Constance these days anyways David?” he said smirking at a clearly enraged David.
“You know damn well where she is.” He said through clenched teeth.
“It was your own fault you knew the rules better than anyone else and you thought you could get away with breaking them? Please don’t tell me you have become that naive.” He said then changed the subject abruptly, “so you’re taking your lovely daughter on a date? How precious.” He said cupping her chin in his hand.
“She’s my fiancé so you better get your hands off of her.” He said baring his fangs.
“In that case, how highly inappropriate.” He said removing his hand from her. “Well I’ll see you in a month then try to take care of Joy until that point. You think you can manage that?” he said walking away.
David grabbed Joy’s hand and ushered her inside the theater without a single word. He was silent in the lobby, he was silent during the show, he was even silent on the way back home. But once he opened the door to their house he broke the silence, “What did you think of the phantom?”
“It was sad.” She said looking down at her feet, “but also selfish of the girl. All he did was care for her, but all she wanted was to use him for lessons and be done with him. Everyone is two faced in the opera. Raoul only remembered that he loved her after she got so famous. The phantom only wanted companionship and didn’t care from who and Christine was the worst of them all. I don’t even believed she cared when she heard that the phantom died.”
“Yep.” He said closing his eyes. “I guess everyone has their own reasons.”
“David?” she asked timidly, “about Mr. F? what-“ she started to say but was cut off by a horn honking outside. David’s eyes shot opened and looked outside.
“Why are your friends outside wearing weird clothing?” he asked her puzzled
“Oh shit! I forgot. They wanted me to go to a rave tonight but I understand if you want me to stay home.” She said looking timid.
“Of course you can go I’m sure after the night we just had you could use a break from all of the worries.” He said smiling at her but his smile was uneasy and wasn’t natural.
“Ok!” she said giving him a kiss on the cheek. “can you hold them off while I get ready? I’ll only be a moment.” She said running for her room. She got dressed in a rainbow skirt and rainbow stockings that went above her knee. A turquoise tube top that ended just above her belly button and pulled her hair up in double buns. She grabbed her poi balls and shoved