Criminal

Chapter 6: School

The room lightened from the sun's morning rays poking out from the shades. The night flashed by in a second. This must be what people meant by dreamless sleep. It was strange since I had memorable dreams each night. This must be a side-effect of being a vampire, which was a walking corpse. Nick walked past me, but turned back as he saw me. "You spent the night on the couch?"

"It was late when I came back with Darren. I stayed on the couch, and I figured you won't mind." I sat up, rubbing my eyes.

"There's a guest room upstairs. I want you to be comfortable here." He turned to the door and back at me. "I'm getting ready for work, and you have school."

I stood, forgetting about school until now. "Should I eat breakfast?" My clothes stuck to my body. "I need a shower and to change." I headed toward the stairs.

"You don't need food," he called out to me. "Knock on Darren's door. He'd lend you clothes."

Asking a guy for clothes was almost insulting, but we dressed the same. Plus, who else here had clothes that'd fit me? I knocked on his door, and he peeped open the door. "Can I borrow some clothes?"

Wordlessly, he handed me sweat pants and a coat.

"I'll bring them back." I took the stuff.

"Keep it." He said as he closed the door. He's aloof today, but it's fine.

I rinsed quickly in the shower and put on his clothes. I combed my hair, and I brushed my teeth with a spare toothbrush. Drinking blood meant I need to keep my mouth as clean as possible.

Walking downstairs, Nick was ready to drive me to school before he went to work. On the way to school, he started a conversation. "How are you feeling?"

This time with him was good for me, so I'd be honest. "It seems surreal that Fay's gone."

"It does for me too, but we'll figure out what happened and you'll be fine. How was your time with Darren?"

"Okay. I learned a lot from him, but he seems depressed. Do you think we can make him feel better?"

"He's been upset about being a vampire, but won't undo it. Cecil and I have been trying to cheer him up, but it's impossible. Try not to worry about him so much because he's incapable of changing."

His approach to him seemed cold. Darren was his son that went through a lot. I've only recently known true loss, and now he's spoiling me. Maybe, one day, he would think I should get over having my mom murdered. "He said he doesn't go to school."

"He's been too sick for that, but since he's cured, he could go. I'll look into that." He seemed hopeful about school helping Darren.

School could help or make things worse. He'd have something to do instead of sitting in his room. When he stopped to drop me off, we said goodbye. "I'll return to Fay's house after school."

"Alright. Keep what happened a secret. I don't want people knowing about vampires. Nobody knows Fay died, and we'll keep it that way, so you'll live independently."

"Understood." In a pointless attempted to stay out of school, I thought of an excuse. "I worry people will suspect I've changed, and I'm still upset about my mom."

He smiled, knowing I was partially lying. "She would want you to move on and finish school."

"I know, but I'm still upset."

"You'll get better in time. It's rough, but it's done. You must accept it and go forward."

He's right, so I nodded and headed into school. The lights inside bothered me, but less than natural sunlight, so I tolerated it. Classes went along with nothing interesting. I had the class with the attractive teacher with dark brown hair and dressed in a white long-sleeved polo shirt and black pants. He was younger than the rest, and he had a hobby in boxing that showed in his physique. The girls would flirt with him, but I wasn't stupid enough for that. He's too old for them, and they had no chance and risked getting in trouble.

Sitting in the back of class surrounded by students, I kept thinking about being a vampire. I wondered if there were other vampires or werewolves in this school. It's tempting to tell someone, but that would draw unwanted attention. People would want the upgraded senses and immortality without being responsible for them. The hypersensitive hearing wasn't always present, so I tuned into it to check if someone wasn't breathing or had no pulse. Everybody sounded alive except for me.

Before going to lunch, I did something stupid I regretted. I came into the nurse's office where she sat at her desk. She grinned, which narrowed her blue eyes. "Anything wrong, Shelly?" her voice sounded cheery but concerned with her blonde hair in a ponytail.

She was always too nice, which made this tempting, even though it's wrong. "I don't feel too good."

"I'll see if you have a fever." She took the thermometer and pushed the button against my forehead. She nearly dropped it when it beeped off my temperature. My temperature was equal to the room. She lifted the thermometer to check again, but I stopped her.

"I don't feel good because I'm dead." She backed away in confusion and fear. I wanted to tease her, but not scare her. Of course, that's the only reaction someone could have to a living dead body.

She banged my nose with the broom. Blood dripped to my mouth, and I instinctively licked it. She handed me several tissues. "Sorry, but what's wrong with you?" She put her hand over my neck to check my pulse, but there wasn't one. She put that hand over her mouth to block her gasp.

I ran out, wiping my already healed nose. Enough fooling around, I thought to myself. That woman didn't need to know about vampires. It's still lunchtime, but I wasn't hungry or had any urge for blood.

I never interacted much with anyone at school. People bore me with their mundane interests. If I got close to anyone, then they'd discover my dad's cheating and look down on me. Between school and helping my mom, I was busy enough.

The food smells brought back memories of when I was younger, when my parents were together, but I didn't want those memories. I stopped thinking about anything to not develop blood cravings. The crowded cafeteria noise echoed off the walls. Good thing I could make my senses duller than normal. I glanced at all the round, white tables, and sat somewhere at random next to a girl with long, brown hair eating her lunch. She kept eyeing me as I sat there doing nothing. "You're a vampire, right?"

"How'd you know?" I blurted from the shock of someone knowing about this.

She shrugged, dressed in a tan jacket and jeans. "It's like a vibe they have. I only know because my sister works with them."

I saw the resemblance between her and Gretchen with their long, straight brown hair. "Does she work at the restaurant that serves blood at night?"

She nodded. "She's Gretchen. You must've seen her. I'm Kari, by the way."

It was nice Gretchen had a younger sister. I wondered about growing up with a sibling. Technically, Darren counted, but we missed too much time together for it to feel real. "Gretchen said she's a werewolf. Are you one too?"

"No, she didn't become one until after she graduated from school. Maybe when I graduate, I'll get a wolf's soul too, but I probably won't."

"So, being a werewolf has nothing to do with family or genes?" It's interesting to learn about these things, and I needed allies to navigate this new world.

"No, like vampires, it's random."

"I've only become a vampire over a day ago. Maybe I can talk to you about it."

"I'm available anytime. How could you not know what you're getting into?"

Most people would decide before becoming one, but I wasn't so lucky. "I guess some witch did it to me without my knowledge."

She tilted her head. "Seems like a weird thing for someone to do." She narrowed her eyes, curious about the whole truth.

Kari might help me find the witch, but we just met, and I didn't trust her. She may tell people about me, but it wouldn't matter. Soon enough, the whole school would discover what I'd become.