It was Saturday evening. I was dressed in my Cure T-shirt and black boxers, watching Dracula in slow motion. I paused the part where Bela leans into a sleeping Helen Chandler and recalled the time Alexander kissed me on his black leather couch. I stared longingly at the screen and grabbed some more tissues.

The doorbell shocked me out of my self-pitying trance. "You get it!" I shouted, and suddenly remembered my family had gone to the movies.

I peered through the peephole but saw nothing. Then I looked again and discovered tiny Becky standing on the doorstep.

"What do you want?" I asked, opening the door. "Get dressed!"

"I thought maybe you came here to apologize."

"I'm sorry, but you must believe me! You have to come to the Mansion--now!"

"Go home!"

"Raven, immediately!

"What's going on?"

"Please, Raven, hurry!"

I ran upstairs and threw on a black T-shirt and black jeans.

"Hurry!"

I ran back downstairs. She grabbed my arm and pulled me out the door.

I bombarded her with questions as we got into her father's pickup, but she refused to tell me anything.

I imagined the Mansion covered with graffiti, its windows shattered, Trevor and his soccer snobs having it out on the hill with a bloody Alexander. And then another horrible image, but a silent one. A FOR SALE sign in the yard and not even the dark curtains hanging in Alexander's attic window.

Becky didn't park at the Mansion, but a block away.

"What gives?" I asked. "Why don't you park closer?"

But as we jumped out, I saw several cars parked along the curb leading up to the Mansion, unusual for the desolate street.

In the distance I spotted two women dressed in black like they were going to a funeral. But they were swiftly walking, holding lighted torches. My heart sank. "We'll never make it!" I shouted.

Worse still was seeing a man, also dressed in black and carrying a lighted torch. I freaked. Everything stopped inside of me. It was just like the ending of Frankenstein--where the townspeople gather to burn the castle and cast out poor Franky from his home. Only this was a smaller mob. I couldn't believe it had come to this. I could already smell the smoke.

"No, no!" I shouted, but the man had already turned the corner toward the gate.

My darkest imagination could not have prepared me for what I laid my eyes upon: A small crowd of Dullsvillians had gathered on the Mansion grounds. Conservative townspeople dressed in vampire black? Everyone was so dark I thought I must be wearing sunglasses, but a glowing Becky convinced me I was seeing a perfect picture. There were lively people hanging outside the front of the usually lonely Mansion--and they were all having a blast!

I didn't understand any of it. The gathering was more like a party, but it made no sense. Was it just another sick joke? And then I saw the banner on the open gate that made everything wonderfully clear: WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

"Better late than never," Becky said.

Red streamers also hung from the gate, and lawn torches lit the hill.

"Hey, girl, don't ignore us!" someone called as Becky and I entered the grounds.

I turned around. It was Ruby! She was dressed in a skin-tight black-vinyl dress, and thigh-high black-vinyl go-go boots.

"I've gotten a date out of this outfit already, Raven. You'll never believe it--it was from the butler!" She grimaced like a smitten giggly school girl and fluffed her dyed black hair as she checked herself out in her compact. "He's older, but he's kinda cute!" By the looks of Ruby, she had been pulled straight off a Paris fashion runway. Even her white poodle was wearing a studded black leash and a black doggie sweater.

"Recognize me?" It was Janice in a black mini and combat boots. "Think it's my color?" she said, revealing her black nail polish.

"Any shade of black will do!" I said.

"I tried to tell you not to come to the Snow Ball," Becky began quickly as we walked up the driveway. "But Trevor blackmailed me. You're always there for me when I need you and I wasn't there for you. Will you ever forgive me?"

"I was so caught up, I didn't listen to your warnings. And you're here for me now." I took her hand. "I'm just glad you're not under Trevor's spell anymore."

As Becky and I continued to walk up the hill of party goers, we ran into Jack Patterson wearing a black turtleneck and jeans.

"I've been waiting all these years for the right moment to pay you back," he confessed. "I've outfitted the party. There's nothing black left in the store!"

Now, after all these years, it was my turn to give him a grateful kiss on the cheek. "This is so unbelievable!"

"It wasn't my idea for the partiers to wear black," Jack said, pointing to a guy in Doc Martens, a black T-shirt, and slicked-back hair.

"Hey, girl!" It was Matt. "I was afraid you wouldn't show. We had to send Becky for you. We couldn't properly welcome Alexander to town after all this time without you!" My eyes lit up. "Alexander's been asking about you all night."

I glanced around frantically, speechless. I wanted to throw my arms around everyone. But where was Alexander? "I think you'll find him inside," Matt hinted.

"I can't believe you did this!" The thought of seeing Alexander again thrilled me. I gave Matt a Ruby squeeze-hug. I think he was as startled by my affection as I was.

"You better get up there--before the sun rises," he said.

I paused, remembering one Dullsvillian I hadn't spotted. "He's not going to be lurking in the shadows, right?"

"Who?"

"You know who!"

"Trevor? He wasn't invited."

"Thanks, Matt. Thank you so much!" I said, giving him a thumbs-up.

"You did this, really. It's been good for us to take a walk on the wild side."

Becky grabbed my arm and led me toward the Mansion. A refreshment table was set up by the door. Juices and pop, chips and SnoCaps, Sprees, Good & Plenty, and Dots. Everything that Alexander had that night we watched TV at his house.

"No way!" I exclaimed. I glared at Becky. "I even told you about the SnoCaps?" I realized.

"If I kept that a secret, too, we wouldn't have refreshments," Becky added.

She prepared herself for my fury, but instead I smiled and said, "I'm glad you have such a good memory. Whose idea was this welcome party?" I wondered.

Becky glanced toward the front steps. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed two trendy honeymooners holding hands.

"Oh, there she is," I heard the hipster man say.

It was my parents! My mom was in black bell-bottoms, black platform sandals, and a silky black shirt, with a string of red love beads around her neck. My dad was wearing black-rimmed John Lennon glasses and had squeezed his body into black Levi's and a black silk shirt unbuttoned halfway.

"Are you on drugs?" I wondered aloud, astonished.

"Hi, honey," my mom said. "We had to do something to get you out of bed."

My dad laughed and two young kids in Dracula outfits came whizzing by. One extended his cape with his hands and pretended to fly toward me.

"I've come to suck your blood!" It was Billy Boy.

"You look divine! You're the cutest vampire I've ever seen," I said.

"Really? Then I'm going to wear this to school on Monday."

"Oh, no, you're not," my dad scolded. "One radical in the family is more than I can handle."

My father looked at my mother for help. Billy winked at me and flew off.

Jameson stepped out of the Mansion holding a black jacket.

"Here is your sports coat, Mr. Madison," he said, handing the jacket to my dad. "The boy wouldn't let it go. Something about your daughter's perfume."

I was totally embarrassed, but I melted inside. "It's good to see you, Miss Raven."

I wanted to see Alexander. I wanted to see him right then. I wanted to see his face, his hair, his eyes. I wanted to see if he still looked the same, if he still felt our deep love connection. Or if he thought it was all a lie.

As if he could read my thoughts, Jameson said, "Won't you come in?"

I walked inside, thankful that the reunion-- or the blowout-- would be a private one. It was quiet inside, no music pulsing from the attic, and dark, with only a few candles lighting the way. I checked the living room, the dining room, the kitchen and the hallway. I climbed the grand staircase.

"Alexander?" I whispered. "Alexander?"

My heart was pounding and my mind frenetic. I peeked in the bathrooms, the library, the master bedroom.

I heard voices from the TV room.

Renfield was ratting to the doctor about Count Dracula. It was during this scene that Alexander had kissed me and I had fainted. I sat on the couch and watched impatiently for a minute, expecting him to return. But I grew anxious and wandered back out to the hallway.

"Alexander?"

I looked at the faded red-carpeted staircase leading to the attic. His staircase!

The door at the top of his squeaky stairs was closed. His door. His room. The room he wouldn't let me see. I gently knocked on the door.

No answer. "Alexander?" I knocked again. "It's me, Raven. Alexander?" Behind that door was his world. The world I had never seen. The world that had all the answers to all his mysteries--how he spent his days, how he spent his nights. I twisted the knob, and the door creaked slightly open. It wasn't locked. I wanted more than anything to push it open. To snoop. But then I thought. This is how the trouble began: with my snooping. Haven't I learned anything? So I took a deep breath and acted against my impulse. I shut the door and hurried down the creaky attic stairs and the grand staircase with a new confidence. I paused at the open front door, and feeling a familiar presence once again, I turned around.

There he stood, like a Knight of the Night, looking straight at me with those dark, deep, lovely, calming, lonely, adoring, intelligent, dreamy, soulful eyes.

"I never meant to hurt you," I blurted out. "I'm not what Trevor said. I've always liked you, for who you are!"

Alexander didn't speak.

"I was so stupid. You're the most interesting thing that's ever happened in Dullsville. You must think I'm so childish."

He still didn't speak a word.

"Say something. Say I was totally third grade. Say you hate me."

"I know we are more similar than different."

"You do?" I asked, surprised.

"My grandma told me."

"She speaks to you?" I said, feeling a sudden chill.

"No, she's dead, silly! I saw the flowers."

He reached his hand for mine. "There's something I want to show you," he said mysteriously.

"Your room?" I asked, grabbing his hand. "Yes, and something in my room. It's finally ready."

"It?" My imagination ran wild. What did Alexander do up in his room? Was "it" alive or dead?

He led me up the grand staircase and the creaky attic stairs. His stairs.

"It's time you knew my secrets," he said, opening the door. "Or at least most of them."

It was dark except for the moonlight that shone through the tiny attic window. A beat-up, comfy chair and a twin-sized mattress rested on the floor. A strewn black comforter exposed maroon sheets. A bed like any other teenager's. Not a coffin. And then I noticed the paintings. Big Ben with bats flying over the clock face, a castle on a hill, the Eiffel Tower upside down. There was a dark painting of an older couple in gothic outfits with a huge red heart around them. There was Dullsville's cemetery, his grandma smiling above her gravestone. A picture drawn from his attic window with trick-or- treaters everywhere. "Those are from my dark period," he joked.

"They're spectacular," I said, stepping closer.

Paint was everywhere, even splattered on the floor.

"You're totally awesome!"

"I wasn't sure you'd like them."

"They're unbelievable!"

I noticed a canvas covered with a sheet on an easel in the corner.

"Don't worry, it won't bite."

I paused before it, wondering what lay beneath the sheet. And for once my imagination failed me. I took a corner of the sheet and slowly peeled it back, just like when I had uncovered the mirror in Alexander's basement. I was stunned. I was staring at myself, dressed for the Snow Ball, a red rose corsage pinned to my dress. But I carried a pumpkin basket over my arm and held a Snickers in one hand while on the other I wore a spider ring. Stars twinkled overhead and snow fell lightly around me. I grinned wonderfully through glistening fake vampire teeth.

"It looks just like me! I never imagined you were an artist! I mean I knew you did those drawings in the basement and then the paint on the side of the road...I had no idea."

"That was you?" he asked, reflecting.

"Why were you standing in the middle of the road?"

"I was going to the cemetery to paint this picture of my grandmother's monument."

"Don't most painters use little tubes?"

"I mix my own."

"I had no idea. You're an artist. Now it all makes sense. "

"I'm glad you like it," he said with relief. "We better get back to the party before we give them something to really gossip about."

"I guess you're right. You know how rumors spread in this town."

"Isn't it weird?" he asked, handing me a soda, back on the lawn after we'd mingled among the darkened Dullsvillians. "We're not the outcasts tonight."

"Let's enjoy it now. It'll all be back to normal tomorrow."

The party goers were smiling and having fun. But then I noticed a figure in the distance slowly running up the driveway.

"Trevor!" I said, with a gasp. "What's he doing here?"

"He's a monster!" he yelled, approaching the party. "His whole family."

"Not this again!" I said.

All eyes were on Trevor.

"Alexander, go back inside," I urged. But he didn't move.

"He hangs out in the cemetery for freakin' sake!" Trevor said, pointing to my Gothic Mate. "There were no bats in this town before he came!" he shouted.

"And there weren't losers in this town before you came!" I said.

"Raven, calm down," my father admonished sternly.

"Enough of this!" Matt said, bursting forth, with Jack Patterson right behind him.

"Look here! I've been attacked!" Trevor exclaimed, pointing to a scratch on his neck. "By a bat! I'm going to have to get freakin' rabies shots!"

"Let it go, Trevor," Matt said, exhausted.

"It happened on the way here. I'd called your house and your mom said you were partying at freak Mansion. What's up with that? You were supposed to be hanging out with me!"

"You've done this to yourself," Matt answered. "I'm through driving you around town so you can spread your stupid rumors. You've played me long enough, Trev."

"But I was right! They are vampires!" Trevor shouted. "And I was right when I didn't invite you," Matt said.

"You guys are crazy. Partying with freaks!" Trevor argued, glaring at us all.

"Okay, Trevor, that's enough," my father said, stepping toward him.

"I didn't have anything to do with this," Alexander said, confused.

"I think we know that," I confirmed.

"But--" Trevor began, his angry eyes thirsting for blood.

"I'd rather not have to call your father," my dad finally said, putting his hand on Trevor's shoulder.

Trevor was fuming, but he was running out of steam. There was no one here who'd fall for his jokes, take his side, think he was wonderful for scoring a winning goal. No giggling girls who wanted to date a soccer snob or hang with him anymore because he was popular. There was nothing left for him to do but leave.

"You just wait--my dad owns this town!" he said, as he stormed off. It was the only thing he could say.

"Don't forget to use some ice on that," my mom advised as if she were Florence Nightingale.

"He needs a tranquilizer gun, not ice, Mom."

We all watched as Trevor reached the gate and was finally gone.

"Well, we had planned on a singing telegram, but they must have gotten the instructions wrong," my dad joked. The crowd laughed with relief.

Alexander and I hung onto each other for comfort. The children began running around, pretending to be vampires. Later, after Alexander had said good-bye to his neighbors, Becky found me cleaning up the refreshment table.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Are you going to apologize for the rest of your life?"

I gave her a Ruby squeeze-hug. "See you tomorrow," Becky said with tired eyes.

"I thought your parents already left."

"They keep farm hours, you know. Early to bed and early to rise."

"Then who are we riding with?" I asked, confused.

"Matt."

"Matt!"

She smiled an I-have-a-crush smile. "He's not as snobby as he seems."

"I know. Who would have thought?"

"He's never ridden on a tractor before," Becky said. "Do you think he says that to every girl?"

"No, Becky, I think he really means it!"

"C'mon, Becky," Matt called, just like he used to call Trevor.

"I'll catch up in a minute," I said. I was helping Jameson with the last of the party trash when Alexander descended the stairs, wearing a cape, slicked-back hair, and fake vampire teeth.

"My dream vampire," I said.

He pulled me close in the hallway.

"You tried to save me tonight," he said. "I will be eternally grateful."

"Eternally," I said with a grin.

"Hopefully someday I'll return the favor."

I giggled as he nibbled on my neck. "I don't want to go," I whined. "But Becky is waiting. See you tomorrow?" I asked. "Same bat time? Same bat channel?"

He walked me to the door and playfully bit me on the neck with his vampire teeth.

I laughed and tried to pull the fake teeth out of his mouth.

"Ouch," he exclaimed.

"You're not supposed to Superglue them on!"

"Raven, you don't still believe in vampires, do you?" he asked.

"I think you've cured me of that," I answered. "But I'm going to keep the black lipstick."

He gave me a long, heavenly good-night kiss.

As I turned to leave, I noticed Ruby's monogrammed compact on the doorstep and picked it up. I opened it to smooth out my lipstick. I saw the Mansion's open door reflected in its glass.

"Sweet dreams," I heard Alexander say. But he didn't appear in the mirror.

I turned around. Alexander was clearly standing in the doorway.

But when I checked the mirror again, he was gone!

When I turned around once again, I found the serpent door knob staring me in the face. I rapped on it desperately.

"Alexander! Alexander!"

I backed away from the door in disbelief. I slowly retreated and stared up at the attic window. The light came on.

"Alexander!" I called.

He peered out from behind the ruffled curtains, my Gothic Guy, my Gothic Mate, my Gothic Prince, my Knight of the Night. Looking down at me, longingly. He touched the window with the palm of his hand. I stood motionless. As I began to reach toward him, he withdrew from the curtain and the light vanished.

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