• The New Guy

    Prologue:




    My name is Athena Marie, but my friends call me Maria. I’m 17 years old and live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I work at “The Dot”, a café right down the street from my house. I’m a waitress though I’m not very good at it. I never make good tips, but my friends think I’m pretty cool.
    I also take a karate class with Mr. Brad. He is always on my case because I’m constantly late for every practice. I’m in his weapons defense class and I’m always chosen to be his helper. It’s so annoying. He can be… opps I’m sorry back to the subject.
    This is a story about the time we got a new waiter at “The Dot”, but there’s a twist to his story.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    It was Friday and everyone was ready for the weekend. We were ready to close at “The Dot”. I was cleaning off my final table, listening to Kryptonite by Three Doors Down on my iPod, when I realized what time it was.
    “Oh my gosh. Is that the time? Jenn I have to go!” I said running out the door.
    “Wait I have to tell you…” but that was all I heard before I was running to karate practice. When I got there, I was 20 minutes late.
    “Your late again Athena. What’s your excuse this time?” Mr. Brad, my evil teacher, asked as soon I ran threw the door.
    “I told you to call me Maria, and I had to close up at The Dot. It wont happen again.”
    “Of course it wont. Now get your weapon and get ready for class.” I was surprised he didn’t try to kick me out again. I guess he didn’t want to go through that again.


    Practice went by as painful as ever. I could have sworn that in the morning I was going to have at least 10 bruises on my arms and legs. By the time practice was over it was 9 o’clock. I went straight home from there, took a shower, and went to bed.

    The moon was shining through my window though I was sure it was at least 8AM. My clock shined red in the dark telling me it was 1 o’clock in the morning. What am I doing up this early? I thought to myself. God I hate insomnia. Oh well, while I’m up I can do the house work I’ve been putting off.
    I went down stairs to my kitchen and turned the lights on. I put the dishes in the dishwasher and the clothes in the washing machine so they could wash while I was cleaning the living room. I couldn’t help but feel like someone was watching me. After I cleaned the living room, I folded all my clothes and put them away. Then I took the dishes out and put them away.
    After I finished with everything, it was 2:30. Even with insomnia, I was ready to go back to sleep after I finished with all the work. I went to my room and was out in less than 5 minutes, not knowing I was going to have such an adventurous day when I went to work in a few hours.

    My alarm woke me up at 6 o’clock the next morning. Oh yeah, I thought to myself, I have to wake my sister up so she can get ready for her test today. I went to her room and woke her up, again feeling like someone was watching me. By the time she actually got up and ready for class, it was time for me to get ready for work. I got dressed in my waitress outfit, blue jeans and my green “The Dot” t-shirt, and headed to work.
    When I got to work, Jenn was sitting at the back table with a guy I had never seen before. “Who is the new guy?” I asked Jenn as I walked up to them. I couldn’t help to notice that he had bright green eyes and dark brown hair.
    “I’m Damian,” he said, “I just moved here from…”
    “Nobody asked you!” I was really annoyed with this guy and I hadn’t known him for 5 minutes.
    “Maria, be nice.” Jenn said. She turned to look at Damian, “I’m sorry for her rudeness.” She looked back at me and said, “I need you to show Damian how we do things here. He was a waiter back in… Where did you say you moved from?”
    “I moved here from New Orleans, Louisiana.” Damian said.
    Jenn started from where she left off, “He was a waiter back in New Orleans, but could you please do that for me?”
    I could tell she really wanted me to do this. So even though I hated the guy, I said yes and showed him everything he would have to do. “Here, if you wait the table, you clean the table.”
    “OK. What about taking orders. Where do we turn them in to be cooked”
    “You see that silver thing with the hooks on it?” I turned and pointed to it. “You put the orders on there and the cook will tell you when it’s done. OK? You get it now?”
    “Yea I think so, and these are my tables?” He swept his hand over about 3 of the tables in the café.
    “Yes. Now get to work and good luck new kid.”

    For his first day Damian did a pretty good job. It was about ten minutes till closing time and we only had two people still eating. “Hey Maria, my sister just called, and she needs me to watch her kids. Can you close up for me and show Damian how please?”
    “You say ’please’ to much, but yeah I’ll close.”
    “Thank you and I’ll see you Monday.”
    As she was leaving, so were our last customers of the day. I went to the door to lock it when Damian caught my hand and said “Why are you closing so early?”
    “We always close early on Saturday.” I answered but it came out a little meaner than I wanted it to. “ If there aren’t any people left we lock the door.”
    He let me lock the door but he didn’t look to happy.
    “Now what’s the problem?” I asked him.
    He sat down in the same chair he was sitting in earlier. “It’s just… that ever since I got here, you’ve been avoiding me and not talking o me. I was wondering why? Did I do something wrong?”
    “I just don’t like people coming in here and thinking they are going to run this place.” I answered, sitting down where Jenn was sitting earlier. “I’ve been working here for three years and I still haven’t had a promotion.”
    “Well I’m sorry. I just really need this job. I want to take a karate class but the guy said that I have to pay a $50 deposit before I can start and its due by Tuesday. They think I should work for it.”
    “Wait did you say karate class? Who would your teacher be? And what class would you be in?”
    “Mr. Brad is the teacher and I’m would be in his weapons defense class every Friday.”
    “Oh my gosh. I’m in his class to! On Fridays but I’m probably going to get kicked out soon cause I’m always late cause I have to close up here. But if you would like I could pay your deposit to make up for being so rude to you.”
    He stood up and starting pacing around the café. “You don’t have to do that for me. Mr. Brad seems like he would be a mean teacher anyway. Plus there is no way o could earn $50 in tips by the deadline.”
    I stood up and put my hands on his shoulders so he would stop moving. “Please stop pacing. You are making me nervous. How much did you make in tips tonight?”
    He made me move my hands off his shoulders and answered, “I made $25. I still need half the money.”
    I dug in my pocket and pulled you a lot of dollar bills. “Here I know its not a lot but here’s $20. It’s all I made tonight but use it to pay the deposit. I feel bad for being so rude to you because you’re a really nice guy.
    He couldn’t help but smile and I think he even blushed but he looked away so I couldn’t see his face. “Thanks. I don’t know how I could repay you,” he said as he was walking out the door. “oh yeah, and don’t forget tomorrow starts Spring Break!”

    After he left I couldn’t help but think how much I liked this guy. He was so sweet, but there was something really strange about him I just couldn’t tell what it was. As I walked out the door to head home my sister runs up and almost knocked me to the ground. I ask her, “ my sister, what are you running from?”
    “There was this guy back there! He had red eyes and sharp teeth, like fangs! He scared me cause he tried to bite my neck!” she said in a very rushed tone.
    “How many times do I have to tell you, my sister, there are no such things as vampires. Now come on, lets go home.”
    “But Maria I swear I’m telling you the honest truth! I know what I saw!!”
    “Whatever. Just drop it and don’t bring it back up again alright?!“ God this chick is crazy. I know there is no such things as vampires, but why do I feel like she is telling the truth.
    After I finally convinced her that there was no such thing as vampires, we went home. I cooked dinner for us then went straight to my bathroom and took a shower. I felt so much better when I got out so I laid on my bed reading my new book.
    I finally laid down to go to sleep around 11 o’clock. I had totally forgot that I had to get up and go to work the next day. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out cold.

    I woke up the next morning to talking in the living room. I went down stairs to see who my sister had let in the house. To my surprise it was Damian. “Hi Maria, when I woke up this morning he was knocking on the door. He said that he works with you and he wanted to walk you there this morning, so I let him in.” She got up and started walking toward the kitchen. She stopped right in front of me and whispered “he’s cute” right in my ear.
    I walked over to the couch and sat down beside Damian. “Would you like anything to drink?” I asked him.
    “No thanks,” he said, “ but why don’t you go upstairs and get ready and I’ll wait for you down here.”
    “That’s fine I said. It won’t take me very long.”

    So when I finished getting ready, I went down stairs and he was waiting by the door. We walked out together and I could hear my sister laughing in the back. We walked to work in silence. When we got there he says, “Hey, what are you doing this week during Spring Break?”
    “I don’t know yet,” I answer, “I think I’m going to have a girls day out with my mom one day, but other than that I don’t know.” As I answered I went to get my apron for our shift. “ What about you, Damian?”
    “I really don’t know yet either. You see there’s this girl that I really like but I don’t know if she likes me back. I want to ask her to the movies Friday.” he responded. He started walking around the café, getting all his tables set up for the first customers. Maria looked at him wide eyed think about what he had said. Wow, I wonder if he is talking about me?
    In response, she says, “I bet that girl is lucky to have a guy like you,” she said, staring off into space. “I mean, you’re sweet, funny, kind-heart… Opps I’m sorry.” When she realized what she was saying it was to late. He was standing right in front of her with his hands on her shoulders.
    “Athena, will you go to the movies with me Friday night. Like on a date?”
    “Y-Ye-yes!” He hugged her, staring at her neck the whole time. They finally separated. It was a good thing they were the only people in the café because when she looked up at him, his eyes were bright red and his canine teeth were really sharp. There was this guy back there! He had red eyes and sharp teeth, like fangs! That was what her sister had said just the night before. “You- you’re the vampire my sister was talking about last night,” she said, more shocked than anything.
    “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. I just didn’t know how you would react. You seem to be acting better than my mom did when she found out. I’m so sorry Athena.”