No Strings Attached? // Roman Godfrey

Another morning, another day.

The sun shone through the light curtains of your bedroom. You still weren't getting used to sleeping in a strange bed, but you managed.

You got up to open the curtains and the window, letting some fresh air in. You then walked up to your closet and searched for some clothes to wear. It wasn't going to be a really hot day, but also not chilly. So you picked a pair of jeans with the trousers rolled up to above your ankles and you paired them with a dark green top with sleeves stopping just under the elbow.

You threw your hair in a braid, grabbed your sneakers and went off to the kitchen for breakfast.

"Good morning!" Destiny cheered. "Ready for school."

You sighed and buried your face in your arms. "Not at all."

Destiny chuckled and handed you a cup of tea, while you pulled the cereal box to you and filled your bowl. You added some milk and started eating.

By the time you were almost done brushing your teeth, you heard a knock on the door and heard Destiny answering it.

You slung your backpack over one shoulder and walked into the living room to greet Peter.

"Hiya." You said, trying to sound excited. But you failed.

Peter got up and chuckled. "Alright, let's get this over with, hm?"

You both said goodbye to Destiny and you followed Peter to his car. Someone was already sitting in the passengers seat, so you opened the backdoor and got in.

"Hi." The blonde girl smiled as she turned to you and held out her hand. "I'm Letha."

You shook her hand. "Eva. Are you a friend of Peter?"

"Girlfriend." She chuckled. "It's nice meeting you, he hasn't stopped talking about you since you came here!"

You gave her a smile. "Ahw Peter didn't say anything about having a girlfriend!"

Peter got in and threw you and Letha a look. "Shut up, you two."

You and Letha started chuckling and Letha wanted to know all about you. You saw that Peter got a little irritated, but you actually liked it that Letha talked a lot. It kept your mind off of things.

"So do you have a nickname for Peter?" Letha asked curiously, when she discovered the nickname Peter had for you.

You quickly looked into the rearview mirror and saw Peter quietly shaking his head. Meaning that Letha didn't know about this.

"Ah no, I don't." You quickly said. "But we can make one for him!"

"Alright." Peter stated as he stopped the car. "We're here."

Letha got out of the car and practically skipped over to Peter to give him a kiss.

You smiled as you got out as well and followed Letha and Peter to the hallway of the school.

It was quite a small school and everyone seemed to know each other, so you felt really out of place. Even though Peter and Letha tried to make you feel okay.

They walke up to a quite tall girl that was standing by a locker, probably her own.
You were used to 'not so normal' people, but you had never seen someone like her.

She looked up from the floor as you got next to Letha and gave you a careful wave.

You smiled and waved back. "I'm Eva. Peter's cousin. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Shelley." She replied, and it looked like it took quite some effort to say it.

"She used to talk through a computer thingy." Peter said, pointing at the thing hanging around her neck. "But she's learning to talk without it. So talk with her all you want, okay?"

Shelley made some noises, but smiled at Peter.

"So, what have we got here?" A guy said, joining the group and immediately looking at you.

"Roman, this is my cousin Eva." Peter said to him, then looking at you. "Eva, this is Roman."

You looked him in the eyes and immediately had the feeling that you couldn't breath. So you just kept staring at him.

"What the fuck is she doing?" Roman said, waving his hand in front of your face.

Letha carefully tapped your arm and you took your eyes off of Roman.

"Are you okay?" Letha then asked.

You nodded, quickly looking at Peter. "I'm fine."

"What was that?" Roman asked you, as he got closer to you.

You weren't scared of him at all, so you didn't back off. "Nothing. Now give me some fucking space."

"Now I know what they mean with rude gypsy scum" He scoffed, but was quiet enough to not let anyone but you hear it.

"Fuck off." You mumbled. You saw that Peter and Letha were barely noticing anything, because they were kind of busy with each other. And Shelley, apparently, was already off to her class.

You turned around and walked away from Roman, looking for your first class.

---

"You had a good first day?" Letha asked you as the two of you and Peter walked out of the last class.

You nodded. "Yeah, was alright."

Roman and Shelley came walking into your direction. Roman held his arm out for Letha and she hooked her arm with his. "Come on, cous. We have a dinner with the family."

Letha quickly gave Peter a kiss and waved at you before walking off with Roman and Shelley.

"Why the fuck are you friends with an upir?!" You said as soon as you and Peter both were in the car.

Peter looked at you and frowned. "How the fuck do you know about them?"

You rolled your eyes and scoffed. "I'm a Rumancek too, remember. That my mom didn't want anything to do with all of it, doesn't mean other gypsies haven't told me the stories."

"He's a friend of mine." Peter replied. "And he's really not that bad once you get to know him."

"So you want me to act normal towards him, hm?" You stated.

Peter nodded. "That'd be nice, yeah. He's my best friend, Letha's cousin and Shelley's brother. So he's going to be around us a lot, whether you like it or not."

You sighed. "Yeah okay, I'm sorry. I'll be nice."

Peter petted your head. "Good girl."

As soon as Peter had dropped you off, you stormed into Destiny's apartment. "Do you know about Roman?"

"Uh yeah." She replied, a little surprised.

"Fuck!" You cursed. "I can't take this."

"What's going on, Eva?" Destiny asked concerned as she rushed up to you.

You sighed. "Peter wants me to be nice to Roman. But I can't."

Destiny pulled me into a quick hug. "Why not? He's an okay guy."

"You can't tell Peter what I'm about to tell you." You said, looking at Destiny wih a serious look. "Not him, not Lynda, no one."

"Okay, okay. What is it?" Destiny said, a little freaked out.

"An upir killed our mom, and I'm going to find out who it was." You said. "And kill them."