The elevator doors open to reveal a busy hallway, filled with kids. I can already tell there type from a distance. They're also made up of social groups, but with their own kind. Vampires are the mean girls/jerks. Werewolves are the jocks. Fairies are the happy-go-lucky girls. Witches are the nerds, and Zombies are ironically the normal people. Nothing standing out, but not unpopular. Not many outcasts, but there are a few kids who walk alone. Great, in a school full of different kids, I'm still going to be odd. Me and Chastity go and get our schedules. We have five of seven classes together, including lunch. Thank goodness, I won't sit alone and draw attention.
First class is Geometry. I have it with Chastity. Next is Study Hall, which I have alone. Then is English, Biology, and Art. Me and Chastity have all three together. Next is band. I play saxophone and Chastity plays flute. Finally its History, but with no Chastity.
I look at the clock. 7:56. Class starts at eight, so we should go look for it. We find it and take seats next to each other in the class. After a few minutes, people begin filling the seats around us. To my left is Chastity. To my right is a boy, I can tell he's a vampire by glancing at his hands. About two minutes before the bell rings, he turns to me.
"Hey, I'm Randi." he outstretches a hand to me. I hesitantly take it. As soon as we touch, thoughts rush to my head.
God, she's beautiful, I hope I didn't come on too strong.
I take my hand back. What the hell was that? "I, I'm Skyler" I reply.
"I haven't seen you before, are you new?" he asks. He has brown hair and blue eyes. An average jock look. I want to say he's friendly but I didn't know such a thing existed among vampires.
"Um, yeah, kinda..." I reply. "Well, welcome to our school!" he says.
"Uh, thank you, Randi." I say. I'm so freaking awkward...
His eyes brighten, which is alarming because they are already glowing. "No problem." he responds with a smile. What the heck? Was I reading his thoughts when we shook hands?
Ring
The bell rings, blaring in my thoughts. A teacher walks in. A tall woman with a bright blue dress walks to the front. She has curly orange hair coated in hairspray. She is pretty but wears far too much make-up.
"Good Morning class!" she squeaks. Ugh, that voice is gonna be hard to wake up to every morning. Judging by the overwhelming 'Ugh' heard behind me, I'd say this class is thinking the same thing.
"Now, this year we are focusing on..." I tune her out. I was excellent at math at my old school and took Geometry as a Freshman. I already know how to do the lesson plan she has on the board, so I fix my eyes on the front and zone out.
Seriously, what happened when I touched Randi's hand. It's as if a thought was forced into my head. I feel if I experienced it again, I wouldn't be able to push the thought away, whether I want to see it or not. I shudder at the thought of being forced into someone's demented mind, but as far as I could tell, Randi seemed, okay. A bit broad, but seemingly no bad intentions.
The bell rings and the teacher dismisses us, thanking everyone for the cooperation. I roll my eyes. I doubt anyone was awake in there besides the witches. As I enter the hallway, I say goodbye to Chastity. Here goes my first class alone. As I walk through the busy hallway, I feel eyes on me. A lot of eyes. Are me and Chastity the only new kids this year? I walk a little faster, stealing glances at people already staring.
When I wasn't paying attention, I bump into a guy. Our skin touches, and I get the thoughts again.
Hey, what the heck?
A towering handsome guy looks down at me. Our arms are still touching.
"S-sorry..." I look away, my face burning with embarrassment and unwanted attention.
Oh, it's the new hot girl. Score! Our arms separate and the thoughts stop. Um, what?
"No need to apologize, my fault entirely." he says. He bends down and picks up my bag and a few notebooks I dropped. He hands them to me.
"Thanks." I reply. I look up at him. He has dirty blonde hair and a tan. His eyes glow bright blue. Werewolf.
"Not a problem at all, my name's Spencer." he smiles.
"I'm Skyler, sorry, I have to go to class." I scoot by him. "Nice meeting you!" I shout. Smooth...
I rush to study hall and take a seat in the far deserted corner of the class. I really don't want anymore attention. I break out a book and try to hide in it. I just want to disappear. I hardly notice when a girl walks up to my desk. She looks like she's a junior. She has long brown hair and light brown eyes. She has a few freckles that complement her face. She points to my bag and asks the people in the class "Who's stuff is this?" That was rude, ignore me and call me out. Why was this girl picking on me. I don't even know her.
"Um, it's my stuff..." I state, slightly annoyed. She jumps at the sound of my voice.
"OhMyGosh, I'm so sorry! I don't even know how I didn't see you. I think I'm just too tired..." She sits in the desk next to mine. "Hey, you're that new girl, right?" she asks.
"I guess, I was expecting everyone to be new, but I'm strongly mistaken." I shrug. She laughs. "Yeah, about three years back I came here. that's when a lot of us were brought here. I guess that's when they started blood testing. We don't get new kids that often anymore, so it's a big deal. You're Skyler, right? I'm Abby." she says outstretching a hand. Here we go again. I take it and the thoughts rush in.
She's really pretty, I wonder who's she has met so far. Hopefully not Damien. I wonder what type she is...
Our hands unlock. "Nice to meet you!" she shouts. I notice the twinkle in her eye. A witch. Better to be friends than enemies.
"Who's Damien?" I accidentally slip out. Shit. She didn't mention him. Well, at least not out loud. I can't help it. The thoughts and persons voice sound the same, except I hear a slight echo after a thought. Its hard to catch if you're not paying attention.
She looks bewildered at me. Oh crap. She knows she didn't say it out loud. She opens her mouth...
Ring
Literally saved by the bell. A teacher goes to the front. He looks to be in his 50's and has no interest in being here.
"This is Study Hall. My rules are simple. No food, drink, or gum. No talking, no phones, no electronics except to listen to music. If you need to use the restroom, sign out. You can do anything else, pass notes, draw pictures, sleep, yada yada yada. But break any of my rules and you have a detention." He goes back to his desk.
Geez, he sound like a joyful man. Abby immediately gets out a paper and pen, and starts to write something. Oh no. She's writing a note to ask how I knew about Damien. I get up and sign out for the bathroom. Once in the hallway, I breath a sigh of relief. I have no idea where the bathroom is, so I wonder aimlessly around the halls.
I really want to know who Damien is. I'm just alarmed by the fact that he's so bad, a stranger hopes I didn't have the unfortunate luck to run into him. As I wonder the halls looking for a bathroom, I take a turn down a hallway with a sign that reads 'Cafeteria'. There's bound to be a restroom in there. Once I reach the end of the hallway, I notice how empty this large room is. I realize it's not lunch yet, but I don't even see as much as a maintenance worker.
I spot a bathroom and head in. I look in the mirror. I look surprisingly nice considering the fact that I am scared to death. Scarred of people, scarred they will know the truth about me, scarred I will know the truth about myself.
I finish up and leave the bathroom, knowing if I wait any longer that the teacher will get suspicious. Just as I'm about to go down the hallway that leads out of the lunch room, I am abruptly forced against the wall. I let out a small shriek as my attacker pins my hands above my head with one hand, and covers my mouth with the other.
As our skin meets, I get a thought in my head. Got her, too easy. She is hot. Lucky me.
I look up to see a tall handsome boy with black curly hair. His eyes are extremely dark, and his skin is pale. I can tell he's a vampire. He looks at me and smiles. I stare at him with fear in my eyes. I was told to never be alone with a vampire, yet here I am.
"Hello Beautiful." he says scanning my body. "I heard we had a new girl, but I wanted to meet you myself. You're sexier than I thought." he says with lust in his voice. I start to struggle.
How cute, the thoughts pop in my head. She's trying to get away. Oh I love it when they struggle.
I immediately stop, determined not to let him be satisfied by my struggling.
"I'm Damien," Oh, so this is Damien. I understand Abby's concern now. "What's your name honey?" he lifts his hand from my mouth. I'm too shocked to respond. I'm too shocked to even scream.
Aw, she's scared, The thoughts ring out. "Skyler." I respond firmly. I will not be seen as weak. He let's go of my wrists, but is close enough to grab me if I run.
"Well, Skyler, maybe you could help me out. I'm a bit confused. You see, you don't smell or wear perfume, so you're not a zombie. You're not a peppy little Fae. Not a vampire or werewolf because you don't have the strength to fight back. If you were a witch you would have cast a spell by now, so, you're leaving me with mixed signals." he says.
Damien then lowers his lips close to my ear. "So, you're either holding out on me, or you're a human." he whispers. His breath against my ear makes me shudder.
"You know," Damien starts again. "Humans do have the best blood. Supernatural beings are okay, but humans are by far the sweetest." He then carefully brushes my hair back behind my ear, exposing my neck.
"Care if I have a taste?" he leans in and kisses cheek, then my jaw, and slowly makes his way down to my neck. I try my best to swallow my fear and push him off. I know of he makes me angry, I can do some serious damage. But first, I need to get over my fear.
"Get off me!" I shout, pushing him away as much as I can. He looks at me, surprised, as if no one has ever stood up to him before. I'd believe it.
"Why should I, you're just an ignorant human. You have no defenses. It just only proves humans are only good for food." he says, getting closer and closer to me. That's right, keep the insults coming. Just a few more remarks and I could make a flame.
"I said, get off." I demand, trying to get myself annoyed and angry.
He chuckles, "Try and stop me, Sweetheart." Ugh, this isn't working. He's just not jerk enough. I'm never going to get mad at this guy. Sure he is annoying, but he's not so bad to make me pissed. My thoughts then think back to study hall. When I was embarrassed, Abby didn't seem to even notice I was there. Is it possible I turned invisible? Its my best bet.
Damien interrupts my thoughts. "That's what I thought." he says, closing his eyes, kissing me again on the cheek. Heat rushes to my face. I try to think of my awkwardness throughout the day. It's not that hard to recall my embarrassing moments. As I begin to feel more and more self conscious, Damien stops and whispers traditional seductive things, then opens his eyes and frantically searches my face.
"Skyler?" I focused on my feeling of embarrassment and silently slid to the floor. I curl up in a ball and concentrate on the stupid moments of mine throughout the day. Thank goodness for my awkwardness.
"What the fuck? Skyler, where are you, how the hell... come out right now! Or else you're in for it later!" he screams. Crap. My embarrassment is gone and is replaced by fear. I look up at him, still hugging my knees. He looks at me, shocked. He runs over to me and kneels down. He grabs my arm. The thoughts are back.
What the hell is going on here? I know she wasn't there a minute ago.
He pulls me up so I'm standing again. "Skyler, how the fuck did you do that?" he says in a harsh whisper. Is he mad at me?
"I-I don't know, I just..." I am cut off. "Skyler." He pulls me close so we are face to face. Our noses are just a centimeter apart. "What the hell are you?" I now know the tone of his voice. It's not anger. It's urgency. Why does he need to know what I am?
Could she possibly be... He let's go of me, and the thoughts stop.
"Skyler, you tell me right now, or you'll be sorry..." he pulls back a hand, prepared to hit me. I just stare at his fist, petrified with fear. He then lets loose and punches me four times. He hits hard. I can feel blood filling my mouth. Just as he is about to do it a fifth time, a voice calls out.
"What the hell is going on, Damien?" a male shouts. It sounds familiar.
I turn to see Randi walking down the hallway. Our eyes meet and he looks shocked, then pissed. Damien looks his way then back to me. He gives me a smile and lean in close to my ear. "See you later, Skyler." he whispers, then throws me hard against the wall. My head knocks back and hits the cement with force. I fall to the floor and look around. Damien is gone. I see Randi rush up to me. He kneels down.
"Are you okay, Skyler? Randi asks. He touches my face.
Oh no, I hope she's okay. What did she do to deserve this? Nothing I bet. Damien is just a dick. I'm gonna kill him later...
"You have bruises." he says, his voice full of concern. I turn and spit out the blood that filled my mouth. Randi looks at the blood and his muscles tighten. He looks stressed.
Shit, blood, I have to get out of here.
"I am taking you to the nurse." Randi says. He lowers his hand from my face and pulls me to my feet. He takes me down a few hallways to a little room next to the office. The nurse takes one look at me and nearly screams. She quickly presses what looks like a panic button that is underneath the desk. Randi instinctively raises his hands in surrender.
"No, wait, I didn't do it!" he shouts. Just then three agents rush in from the door and apprehend Randi. The nurse rushes to me and tries to get me out of the room.
"Wait..." I say. "He is helping me, if it weren't for him I would still be getting beat up..."
The agents look at me for a moment, then let go of Randi. One of them steps forward. "You'll have to come with us for questioning." he says looking at Randi. Then he turns to me. "Let the nurse fix you up, then we will question you." He turns and leaves the room. Randi follows him, then the two other agents follow Randi.
"Come on honey." the nurse says. She leads me to a cot and asks how I got my injury's. I explain I was punched, then thrown against the wall, hurting my head. She takes me too a room and scans my brain.
"Alright, no signs of a concussion, so its best to get some rest." I go and lie on the cot. I think about what just happened.
Why did Damien need those answers? He has a tone of urgency in his voice. Like he needed to know right then. But why? What could worry him so much when I only disappeared? I fade away into sleep, my mind buzzing with unanswered questions.