The Vampire Prince goes to High School (Book 1)

Connections

I couldn't tell when I stopped crying. One moment I felt Alexander's hand on my mouth and the next, it was gone. We sat on the floor until my legs were numb and even then, I didn't move. Even if I wanted to, my body wouldn't listen. My head felt so heavy but I knew that I had to get up. 

In a couple of hours, my alarm clock would go off. I needed to get some sleep so I could at least go to school tomorrow. Even in my exhausted state, I knew that I couldn't stay home tomorrow. My parents would worry and ask questions and I didn't know what I would tell them. 

I tried to sit up but I couldn't. It was then that I finally noticed an arm around me. Oh, yeah. He was still here.

"I need to go to bed," I might have mumbled. 

Before I could do anything else, I was suddenly floating. In mere seconds, I was on my bed, tucked in. The Prince settled on the bed beside the bed. His knees were pressed against his chest and his back was towards me. Neither one of us spoke. 

"I shouldn't have pushed you," he said. "I - crossed a line."

At first, I wasn't sure if I misheard but then I realized that he had actually said that. My eyes stung and my throat closed up. Yet, I couldn't bring myself to say anything.

"Who did this to you?" he asked.

I shook my head. How could I answer him? How could he think - ? I couldn't even bring myself to speak. He didn't care. He never cared before so why should this be any different?

"Just go," I mumbled out. 

He didn't move. "Rin," he began.

"Why do you have to do this to me?" I asked. "Why does everything have to be about you? You don't care. So, leave. Haven't you done enough already?"

"I -I do care," he insisted. He turned toward me. "If I didn't care, would I still be here?"

"What about world domination?" I shot back. I pushed myself up to a sitting position. "You think humans are beneath you and they should serve under you."

"That hasn't changed."

I opened my mouth then closed it. "See," I blurted out. "You're still the same -"

"But you're not like them," Alexander interjected. "You're different."

"Because I don't bow down to you?"

He tilted his head. "That's one reason," he admitted. 

I rolled my eyes. This was just another trick. 

"No, listen. It's - refreshing to know that you aren't throwing yourself at me."

"Just stop," I said tiredly. "You're just pretending. It's what you do. Let's not pretend this isn't anything different -"

"What can I do to prove to you that this isn't a joke?"

"Nothing," I answered, "because at the end of the day, you're the Vampire Prince and I am me. We're not friends, your highness." 

The Prince's jaw clenched. "I like you," he forced out.

My cheeks burned. "No, you don't." 

"How can you say that? You don't know-"

I rubbed my eyes. "Let's just stop," I whispered. "We keep going around in circles and-"

Something pressed against my lips. It was too sudden for me to react but heavy enough that I felt it. Suddenly, I was alone in the darkness. The Prince was gone. Unconsciously, I touched my lips.

He had kissed me.

#

Sonia's text came early that day. 

Once the Prince had left, I somehow managed to fall asleep before my alarm clock woke me up. When I checked my phone, there was a message from her.

'How are you holding up?'

My eyes stung again and I quickly replied with, 'not good.'

Almost seconds later, she replied back. 'Have you told your parents?'

'No.'

'ok. I'll see u in school.'

For a while, I stayed in bed. I could barely register anything. I felt drained. My eyelids didn't want to remain open and I had a terrible headache due to lack of sleep. 

"Rin," my mo called from the hallway. "Are you up?"

"Y-yeah," I croaked out.

Moments later, she opened the door. "You are up," she said, surprised. "Come on then. You don't want to be late for school."

"Okay," I answered tiredly.

Somehow, I managed to get out of bed. As usual, I was dropped off at school. Unlike the days before, Sonia met me at the school entrance. She didn't smile at me or anything. She simply fell in step beside me. I reached into my bag and handed her the note I'd received. Sonia read through it quickly before crumbling it in a ball and tossing it in the nearest trash bin.

"He should just die," Sonia said angrily. "I can't believe he just got away with a slap on his wrist."

I shrugged. "He's a vampire," I muttered. "No one wants to punish a vampire."

"They should."

We stopped at my locker but I didn't open it. Was there going to be another note? Shaking her head, Sonia opened my locker for me. There was no note this time. I released the breath I hadn't realized I was holding. I traded out my stuff.

Wordlessly, we headed upstairs. We didn't talk about what had happened before. I didn't know if we were still friends. It felt like we were but after what had happened, things couldn't go back to the way things were.

We stopped in front of the study room. I would have to see the Prince again. My cheeks burned as the memory of last night appeared in my head. No, I couldn't think about that. He probably wasn't going to show up.

"Can you not tell Carlos?" I asked. 

Sonia sighed. "Rin," she began.

"Please? I - I don't know if this is a joke or not but I don't want him to know."

"At least tell your parents," she said. "If you have to move again then so be it. It's for your safety. I'm sure a judge will push the papers through."

"Sonia, please don't tell Carlos."

Again, she sighed. "Alright," she said, "but it's not like he's going to do anything. We can't talked in a while. Apparently, he has new friends that his parents don't know about. They keep asking me but I don't know what to tell them."

I bit my lip. So, he hadn't told anyone about the Purists. If I was associated with a terrorist group, I wouldn't either.

"I don't know," I finally said, "we haven't talked either."

She pursed her lips. "Fine. Let's talk later."

I went inside the room and found the Prince inside. He leaned against the desk holding a piece of paper in one hand. His brow was furrowed.

At a closer look, the paper looked like it had been crumbled up . . . dread filled my belly. How could I be so stupid? As if finally noticing, the Prince looked up at me.

"So, who's M?"