Blair
The vampire with the green eyes is the handsomest one.
Obviously.Duh.
He’s not the tallest one in my new doll set—that one has dark hair and a scar painted across his cheek like he’s a scary fighter or something—but he’s the one I like best. His hair is a soft yellowish color, and his eyes are a funny kind of green that look kind of purple if you tilt him just right.
I like to tilt hima lot.
I am nine years old today, which means I’m officially old enough to stay up later than my little sister Bonnie and pick my own cake. I like strawberry with vanilla buttercream. It’s the best cake in the whole wide world.
Mommy and Daddy gave me this doll set during my birthday party this afternoon. It was a big party—more big than last year—with lots of my mommy and daddy’s friends. And very important people too. At least, that’s what my mommy told me. She said some of Daddy’s important businesspeople came to celebrate with me because I’m such a special girl.
And I like when Daddy’s important people come because they always bring the biggest, most fancy gifts.
I wore a pretty pink dress and white shiny shoes. My mommy said my dress costed a lot of moneys and that she got it at a really fancy store. I think it’s called Channel? I don’t know, but it’s my mommy’s favorite store.
Anyway, my party was huge, and I got to open so many gifts.
My daddy is an important businessman. I don’t know what his business is, but my mommy says it’s very important. My mommy doesn’t have a job, but she’s too busy to have a job. That’s why me and my baby sister Bonnie spend so much time with our nanny Celeste.
My nanny Celeste is the best. She’s—
I hear footsteps near my door.
Oh no! I’m supposed to be asleep!
I dive under my blankets and pretend I’m sleeping.
And I wait and wait and wait there under my blankets until my warm breath starts to make me all itchy and sweaty.
But when Mommy or Daddy or Nanny Celeste doesn’t knock on my door, I push my blankets off my face and let out a big, deep breath.Holy moly, it was getting hot under there.
I turn on my night-light by my bed and sit up again.
And I line my vampire dolls back up so I can look at them all.
Yep. The vampire doll with the green eyes is definitely the most handsome.
He’s my favorite.
I pick him up and hold him in my right hand, and then I pick up the human girl doll with “Blair” embroidered on the dress in pretty pink letters with my left. Blair is my name, and this doll is supposed to be me. My Blair doll’s dress is white but also kind of yellowish. I think my mommy calls the color creamy.
It reminds me of a dress Mommy keeps in her closet in a big box with tissue paper all around it. It’s the dress she wore when she married Daddy.
I press the doll’s faces close together. “You’ve been chosen,” I say in my deepest, most serious voice, making the vampire doll talk.
The Blair doll gasps. I make her gasp. “Chosen?” I make her whisper.
“Yes,” I answer for him. “Your mommy and daddy said you’re a special girl.”
“Why am I special?”
“Because of your blood.”
My mommy told me that I’m getting old enough now to learn more big-girl things, and that was one of the things she told me when she was talking to me about secret stuff I’m not supposed to talk about.
But I have blood inside my body. Every human does. But my blood is good blood. Vampires like my blood a lot. It makes me special.
