CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
BUD LEROY
I don’t feel anything, Lils. What’s happening to me?
Vampire Falls. Season five, episode twenty-two – “Can’t Be Real”
“What do you mean,” I say, “this is the last convention?!”
I thought I’d lowered my voice, but I had not.
I’d done the opposite of lowering. The room pauses and turns my way, murmurs of confusion or upset, but even though I’ve just said the words out loud, I feel nothing.
I’m obviously dead inside because what do I have to live for if this is actually true and my convention and these people and these actors aren’t here waiting for me, once a year, arms wide open?
People in the workshop overhear and fire questions at Charlie, who of course doesn’t have the answers they want. Suddenly, the room swirls into a maelstrom of noise and heat, and I lean over, putting my head in my hands.
“Are you OK?” someone asks, a gentle hand on my back.
I peek through my fingers. It’s Vivian, but I have few options right now.
“I feel sick,” I groan.
“You gonna vom?”
I shake my head, but she hands me a bottle of water. The questions and voices suddenly turn up a notch and I look from my braced-to-puke position. Felix has just walked in. He spots me, tilts his head to the side as he takes in my current status, then gives me a little wave.
“Eliza, I’ve been looking for . . .” he starts, heading towards me.
He slows from his usual jaunty walk and his smile slowly drops from his face as he realises the noise and upset he’s walked in on is directed at him.
“Sorry, what’s this . . .” he starts, but Vivian steps forward and puts her hands up for quiet.
She gets it.
“Is it true, Felix? Is this the last VF convention?”
Felix blinks at her, his mouth opening and closing like he’s considering different words then deciding against them,until finally his eyebrows angle up above his glasses and he deflates. I straighten up and try to focus on him, but I feel dizzy.
“I’m afraid it’s true,” he says, nodding.
The noise in the room starts up again and Felix looks from face to face, unable to answer any questions at the rate they’re being thrown at him. Charlie Chamberlain steps forward.
“What happened, Felix? I mean, I’ve heard some stuff but . . .” he says, shrugging and looking around.
“I’m sorry . . . I’m sorry, truly,” he says, putting both hands up in surrender and sighing.
“Believe me, nobody wants this less than I do. Ultimately, this is a business, andI’ve been forced into this decision because of a number of factors, all to do with money.
I was going to make an announcement tomorrow but . . .”
He doesn’t have it in him to even finish his sentence but looks at us all, chewing the inside of his mouth. Suddenly, he starts nodding and holds his hands out like he has some kind of offering.
“But I’m not totally out of the game: I’m partnering up with Dragon Events to work in a wider range of conventions.”
There’s some nodding and murmuring around the room and Felix swallows a nervous lump as he smiles tightly. People ask him when Dragon Events will announce guests and what the venue will be, until a loud noise cuts through all the interest in the shiny new convention.“BOOOO!”
“Stop it,” hisses Vivian.
“Was that me?” I say.
Vivian nods.
I totally knew it was me, I just couldn’t hold it in.
“Honestly, guys, they’ve got some excellent guests lined up already, including some of the OGs from Vampire Falls, but I’m really excited about some of the fresh blood, pardon the pun.”
Felix pauses, his face hopeful when he gets a few claps from around the room. I put my hands behind my back in case they suddenly clap together of their own accord, and someone mistakenly thinks I’m on board with this change of direction, because I don’t know if I’ve made this clear, but I AM NOT.
“Thanks, guys. I knew you’d be supportive.”
Not me. I’m not supporting Felix’s non-Vampire Falls venture one bit. This is the worst thing that could possibly happen, on top of all the other worst things that have happened.
“Where are you going?” asks Charlie.
“To my room,” I say, shaking my head. “To pack.”
Maybe I’m the only true fan here or maybe this weekend means more to me than everyone else, because nobody else looks as though their entire life has just shattered to pieces.
I turn away, slinging my bag on my shoulder, and slam right into a wall.
Or it feels like a wall before I look up and see Chip Rodrigo standing right in front of me.
“Well?!” he says, but I don’t know if he’s talking to me because he’s pinching the bridge of his nose and tilting his head back.
I look round, and shrug.
“Well, what?” I say, barely able to muster words.
He flinches as he looks down at me briefly, then tilts his head back again.
“You gave me a nosebleed!” he says.
“Well, they gave me a nosebleed as well,” I snap. Doesn’t Chip Rodrigo realise my entire life has fallen apart in less than twenty-four hours? Surely a bloody nose is a hazard of the job? A wave of misery crashes over me and I look up at him, trying to blink away tears. “A nosebleed in my heart!”
“Eliza,” says Vivian, reaching out to me, but I shrug away from her claws.
“That’s it. I can’t, I . . . I’m leaving.”
I rush to the door, vaguely aware of someone calling my name but I have no interest in talking to Charlie or Vivian or anyone who has recently given me a heart nosebleed, which I know sounds ridiculous but now I’ve said it I have to stick with it.
“Eliza, wait, please,” calls Felix, but I don’t stop because he, too, is on my list. “Wait. It’s about the competition.”
The competition? I sigh and turn to look at him.
“What about it?” I say, crossing my arms. “Is it cancelled? Was it a fake competition for a reality show about obsessive freaks? Have I been disqualified for being overly attached and emotional and stubborn and incapable of processing any form of change, Felix? Is that what’s happened?”
Felix’s eyebrows pinch together over his glasses and he wrings his hands together. He steps forward and shakes his head.
“You came second. We’re announcing shortly but I couldn’t let you just leave without knowing you get to have coffee with Damon Van Schwartz. I mean, isn’t that brilliant? Congratulations, that’s every fan’s dream!”
“Yeah,” I say, feeling like a balloon losing the last of its helium. “Brilliant.”