Josie Griffin Is Not a Vampire by Heather Swain

T-shirt and I lost it.
    There was a part of my brain that knew I was about to make the wrong choice, but that part got pushed out of the way by the other part that wanted to kick this a-hole in the balls. I knocked his hand away and shouted, “I am not your babe! Now get out of my way!”
    “Oooh,” one of the guys behind me said. “A live one. She’d be fun on her back, Drey.”
    With his chest out and arms bent, Drey towered over me. He shoved his face down in mine. “Why you gotta be so unfriendly?” A drop of his spit landed on my cheek. I could see the fury in his eyes and even though I was pissed, I was also scared. All I had to do was make it to my car and get the door open, but I had no idea how I’d get past him. Before I could figure out what to do, I heard another voice.
    “Hey,” she said. “Back off, Drey!” Everyone, including me, turned to see a tiny girl storming up the sidewalk, red hair flying like a wild fire.
    “Tarren!” I yelled, stepping around the giant jerkface in my path.
    She stopped in her tracks. “Josie?”
    “It’s me!” I ran to her side.
    She put her hands on her hips and looked up at Drey. “Why are you always harassing my friends, huh?”
    “Tare, baby. You don’t gotta get so mad. I didn’t know she was a friend of yours,” Drey said.
    “And what if she wasn’t?” Tarren demanded. “Why would you be bothering her anyway? Poor girl, just walking down the street and you act like a pam dig.”
    I see a couple of the guys try not to laugh at Tarren’s mistake.
    “Aw, come on now,” Drey said. “Don’t get all psycho on me. I was just having a little fun, you know. Wasn’t gonna hurt her or nothing. Right, girlie?” he asked me.
    “You scared me half to death,” I told him from behind Tarren.
    “Drey?” Tarren said, her voice a low warning.
    “What?” he asked, Mr. Innocent refusing to admit he was wrong.
    “Apologize!”
    “I ain’t apologizing for nothing!” He shook his head, but I could tell he was half thinking about it anyway.
    “Come on, man,” one of Drey’s posse said. “You know how Tarren gets when she’s mad. Junk’s going to start flying around and pretty soon you’ll be lifting your leg to pee on that tree.” The other guys laughed, but it was a nervous kind of chuckle that had them all shifting from foot to foot, watching the showdown between tiny Tarren and the big galoot.
    I was fascinated. What would she do? Would I get to see her in action? Could she zap him like she claimed at therapy? I didn’t believe her then, but after what happened at Johann’s house, I thought anything might be possible.
    “I don’t want you mad at me, baby,” Drey saidbefore Tarren had to pull out some badass faerie moves. “I thought we was blood.”
    She softened a little, relaxing her hands and smiling. “Sure, sure,” she told him. “We’re blood. But my blood can’t be macking on my friends. And Josie here…” She pulled me to her side. “She’s my girl.”
    Even though I was still pissed off at Drey, I took a deep breath and tried to regroup, thinking maybe I could salvage the situation if I was calm. Then, even though it sort of killed me, I stuck out my hand and I said, “Hey, Drey. I didn’t know you were a friend of Tarren’s. How about if we call a truce?”
    “Yeah, well,” he mumbled. “Why you walking around in this hood by yourself anyway? Don’t you know it’s dangerous?” But then he held out his fist for a knuckle bump, which I gave him, awkward as it was.
    Tarren turned to me and said, “What are you doing in this dump? I thought you lived in Rod Bripple.” She stopped and thought about this then tried again. “Dod Bripple? No wait, don’t tell me, I can get it.” She stopped, took a breath then said, “Broad Ripple!”
    I nodded, relieved that a) no one laughed at her and b) she found the word before I had to correct her. “Community service.” I pointed toward HAG.
    “Right. Come on.” She turned