Angel academy

Explanation

"Holy schnitzels" were the last words I muttered before my brain went into overdrive and shut down. In other words, I fainted.
Not my greatest moment, I'll admit.

Suddenly I was shocked back into consciousness as a huge bucket of freezing water was splashed on me.
Unfortunately as I jolted up into a sitting position, I whacked into the bucket which made Xander lose his grip and the bucket spilt the rest of the water onto all my clothes.
It all happened in slow motion, almost like a movie.

"Dang it Xander!" I stood to my feet and tried drying my clothes, but there was too much water, it had already sunk through Caleb's jumpers and the clothes I was wearing underneath.
I hear Caleb try to hold in a laugh and I turned and glared at him.

"Sorry! I'll grab you a towel, you can get changed in my room" I followed Caleb and he laid out a fresh towel and clothes for me. I was surprised to find the clothes were female clothing that fit me perfectly. As I folded my wet clothes, I looked around Caleb's room, I wouldn't call it snooping, it was just a quick glance. His room had almost no decorations or any personal touches, it would be hard to imagine someone living here. My eyes came to rest on the only photo in the room. I walked closer to inspect and saw a photo of Caleb smiling with his arm slung over the shoulder of a beautiful girl. They were both looking at each other as they smiled and I could tell they weren't aware of whoever took the photo. It was such a beautiful moment captured.

I quickly turned away, feeling like I was intruding, a pang of what felt like jealousy stabbed through me, leaving me confused. Why should I be jealous? I refused to dwell on it, quickly walking back to the boys.

"Thanks" I muttered. Caleb just nodded.
"Ari, we have a lot to cover. It's because of Byron that you're here, the whole angel academy being a random selection of the finest girls is bull crap. Each one of you girls have a vampire father" I held my hands up, signaling my brother to stop,
"This is ridiculous Xander, even if it was true, why would mum never tell us? doesn't it seem odd!? It would make us half vampire or something and you know how much I love my garlic on pizza, I may not tan well but I love the sun. I sleep half the day but what teen doesn't!? I walk into church occasionally, I don't sparkle in the sun, I'm no Edward Cullen-"
"Aria, just shut up and hear me out. You can ask questions at the end. Look, mum didn't know about dad, vampires aren't allowed to make it common knowledge that they are blood suckers. Because it's hard to get a female vampire pregnant-"
"Whoa! Skip the vampire sex education please! I can't unhear it!" Xander rolled his eyes.

"Basically vampires will get humans pregnant to carry on their line. Byron happens to be a Harrington, which in the vampire world is a big deal. If anything happened to the king, he would be next in line. So obviously being of the royal blood line, he has greater power than most, where most vampires only get one power, two if lucky, Byron can have an unlimited amount. And that is where Angel academy comes in. When a vampire mates with a human, the powers can only be passed down to females, hence being an all girl academy, here they plan on sifting through all of you and when it comes to the final four of you, they begin helping you unlock your power. That's when competition gets deadly. They fight you against one another and there is no 'loser ends up in the whore house' it is life or death battle. As you know, the winner is taken to the king where you are given a whole year to provide an heir for him, but if you fail to do so, well the next Angel academy victor replaces you."

Xander pauses, giving me a moment to comprehend what he is saying. It makes no sense to me. I don't have any powers and our dad isn't a vampire. It just doesn't add up. I glance at Caleb and he nods giving me an encouraging smile.

"Why doesn't he just have babies with a human or a vampire? Why doesn't he just meet a girl the normal way!? Why us?"
"The king is not allowed to produce with a human, it's seen as below him. And as I said, female vampires are hard to knock up" I nod,
"Why did you tell me not to drink anything?"
"They lace a bit of blood in all the liquid to build up your taste for it. Drinking blood also encourages your vampire genes to awaken and become more dominant" I sigh.

"Look, this is obviously a lot to take in, I'll be staying here for a week so we can go over everything and hopefully Caleb and I can come up with a plan to get you out of here"
"One last question, who did this to you" I gesture to all the cuts and bruises on his body. I catch his quick glance at Caleb before he answers me, "it's not important okay, we need to focus on more important things, you better go now" Xander wraps me up in a tight embrace, "pizza" a tear falls from my eyes, "pizza."

Caleb and I walk in silence until we get to the gate, "it was you, wasn't it?" Caleb turns to me raising an eyebrow, "don't play stupid, I know it was you who hurt Xander" I accuse,
"Oh" is all he says, guilt all over his face, he turns to start walking away, I quickly yank his arm so he faces me again, "what do you want me to say Aria? Sorry? Sorry for doing my job, all I saw was a guy creeping around the boarders trying to get in, it's my job to protect you girls. I stopped when I found out that he is your.. when I found out he was harmless" Caleb looks away and though I'm still angry at him, I forgive him, I can't be angry at him because he couldn't have known.

When we reach my room I do something that surprises me, I hug Caleb, it surprises me because I hate being so physically close to people, but it doesn't make me cringe. "Can you stay for a while?" I know that shocked Caleb but he nods.
We talk for hours about stupid stuff, about piano and our pets. About everything except what Xander just revealed to me, which I'm thankful for.

Caleb stands, "are you going to tell me what you locked in your drawer?" I shake my head, he sighs, "well I better go" he reaches out his hands to help lift me from the ground, he pulls me close, "don't let them change you Aria" he whispers as he tucks a lose strand of hair behind my ear. He's so close now that I think he may kiss me. And I honestly can't tell if I want him to or not. His hand settles on my hip and my eyes shut without my permission. His hand begins sliding up to my collarbone, lightly tracing it. "You're so different" he whispers, as he say it, without me noticing, he unhooks my necklace and quickly pulls out my necklace that has my key.

"Hey!" I shout as he makes a run or my desk, with an out of this world speed, he unlocks the drawer and pulls out the letter. In defeat I slump onto my bed, watching his face as he reads the note. A mix of emotions cross his face before finally looking angry, "when did you get this Aria!?" He sounds so annoyed, I shrug. "Aria" he warns. I shrug again. Still annoyed at what he did to get the key.

"It's late Caleb, you should leave." he stands there for moment more before walking to the door, before he closes it he turns to look at me, "this conversation isn't finished" and he walks out with the letter still in his hand.
Turning off the lights and changing into my pajamas, I flop onto my bed and it isn't long before I am lost in the world of my dreams.