Shadow School

Secrets

My friends and I walked through the doors of the gym with our arms linked together. This was the first mixed dance of the year, the Homecoming dance. All of us were nervous to be finally seeing someone from the "Shadow School." The "Shadow School" as my friends and I called it, were the students who had classes at nighttime on our campus, while we had ours during the daylight hours. Before today, the "Shadow School" had never met with the "Shining School" (that would be the daytime classes) since a hundred years ago, when the private academy had been established.

But I must explain something about the Shadow School. It's name. "Shadow School" recieved it's name not just because it was a school with nighttime classes, it was because of the creatures that attended that school. I say creatures because it'd be rude to call them monsters. Any kind of creature, you can find at the school; unicorns, dwarves, cyclopses, nymphs, werewolves, vampires, ANYTHING. It was the secret of the two schools. The students of the Shining School knew, but could tell no one outside the gates, unless it was someone who had already known about the existence of these creatures. And the only people who knew were the hunters and the other creatures.

Wait, that means I should probably explain Shining School too, correct? Shining School is for half-human, half-creature blood. But don't get the wrong idea. It's impossible for creatures and humans to create offspring together, simply because they are of completely different species. So when half-humans are created, it's usually because their mothers had encounters with a creature while pregnant. The mother is unaffected, but the child is born with the abilities of a creature. I was a were-jaguar. It's surprising, since the only thing that makes me similar to jaguars is my black hair and yellow/gold eyes.

Now, back to the dance. Actually, it wasn't really a dance, considering the fact that NOBODY was dancing. Music blared from speakers positioned beneath the scoreboard, and in front of it was an empty dance floor. The seperate schools sat at tables on opposite sides of the gym, staring at one another.

"Hey, Kitten, let's dance!" Liam, who had followed us in shouted, oblivious to the tension between the two groups. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards the middle of the floor, ignoring my protests of being called by pet names. He pulled a small canteen out of his pocket and handed it to me.

"Maybe this will help you relax," he grinned cheekily as I took the bottle from him. I gulped down half of it's contents, then handed it back to him.

"Fine, let's dance," I muttered grumpily, but brightened when "Party Rock Anthem" came on. I hated the song, but I loved dancing to it. Seconds later, the friends that had entered with me joined Liam and I. The song ended, and I noticed more people joinging us now, from both sides of the room. He winked at me, then left as an attractive fairy girl caught his attention. I rolled my eyes. I'm pretty sure was the reason everyone thinks that bisexuals are slutty. I smiled as Erik, one of my gay friends, walked up to me and started grinding. We stopped when the DJ started throwing glowsticks at us and we scrambled, giggling, to catch as many as we could. One of the glowsticks exploded in my hand, and splattered all over my bare legs and shoes. I laughed it off, then continued dancing with random people, assuming they were people from the Shadow School.

An hour later, I slumped into a chair next to Danielle, my best friend. "Hey Catgirl, you having fun?" she joked, handing me her coke. I glared at her for using my PE teacher's nickname for me, the one that was given to me because I climbed up a tree and got stuck when I was being chased in a game of rugby.

"Actually, a lot more fun than you," I pointed out to her, noticing that she was patting Liam's back as he held his head over a bucket. His brown hair was damp with sweat and stuck to his forehead. Poor guy, he must have eaten too much. Whenever that happens, his vampire half can't take it and gets sick. His usually olive-colored sking was a sickly shade of gray, so I offered to take him back to his dorm room. He nodded, and I supported him as we left the gym.

Halfway to the dorm, he suddenly jerked to a stop. Before I could step aside, he vomited. All over me. I growled at him and felt the hairs rise on the back of my neck.

"You better pay me back for these, they're brand new," I muttered. I heard him whimper a sincere apology once he finished dirtying my shoes, and I instantly regretted being angry with him. I sighed, kicked off my shoes and socks, and helped him back up to his feet. I could have changed form and carried him back, but I was scared that he would get sick on me all over again. I dragged him the rest of the way to his dorm, then saw what a mess he was once we entered his room and I flicked the light switch. Vomit decorated the front of his shirt and his usually sparkling grey eyes were full of tears, signaling that his gag reflex was going to get to work and make him puke his guts up again, if I didn't hurry. I quickly squeezed our hot, sweating bodies into the small bathroom and held his head over the toilet while he vomited again.

"I've never seen you this sick before! What did you eat?!" I exclaimed. I was helping him strip off and get in the shower so he could refresh himself.

"I didn't eat," he paused and bitterness seeped into his weak voice. "I tried drinking someone's blood." My hands froze, still holding his clothes underneath the running water in the sink.

"How did it go?" I asked him. Liam was the only (half) vampire I ever knew of who tried to stay away from blood. As far as I knew, this would have been his first time. I never knew why he waited so long to do it, it didn't seem right for him to be holding back on his vampire half.

Resting his head against the tiled wall beneath the shower, he sighed. "Do you know why I don't drink blood, Cass?" I knew the question was rhetorical, so I stayed silent and waited for him to tell me when he needed me to.

"I absolutely hate it. It sickens me, when I drink it. The thought of drinking it makes me feel like a monster... because... I saw my mother killed by a vampire," he whispered, but I heard him over the sound of running water.

"Then that same vampire turned me into one. He bit me, right in front of my mother as she lay dying on the floor of our home."

"Liam, I never knew, I'm so so sorry,"I told him, turning to look at him. It didn't bother eaither of us that he was standing naked in front of me, so I stripped my clothes and joined him in the shower. He turned to me, and it was the first time I had seen Liam cry. He sniffled, and tears gushed out of his eyes as he grabbed me and pulled me into an embrace. His body shook with sobs, and I watched as my best friend, my Liam, broke down in tears and bawled like a small child. Never before had I seen him destructable, never before had I seen him be so... human.

I soothed him as we stood for a while in the shower, then got out and we went to bed together when he had finished. We dived under his covers and he curled up in a ball against me, both of us still naked, but neither of us caring. He was tight and tense. I knew he wanted to cry again, but was holding back.

"Liam, I won't tell anyone, you can go ahead and cry it all out," I whispered as I stroked his back in slow circles. This time he was quiet, tears only leaking out of the corners of his closed eyes and gasping occasionally. He fell asleep around midnight, and I followed suit minutes later.