Snow Dyed Red

Chapter One

Chapter One

“What are you?” my new classmate asks. The entire class sits in a circle, on white tiled floors. I shuffle around trying to get in the position where the least amount of skin was touch it. Who knows when the janitors last cleaned it?

The guy looks me up and down, as if that will tell him something. It won’t. I look generic as they come. “I’m half Irish. Can’t you tell by my crimson red hair,” I decide to tell him anyway.

“Idiot, you know what I mean.” He rolls his eyes at me. You would think people would mature past the age of five when they get to high school.

“He’s right Giselle. It’s the first day of school. We should try to get along and be open with each other,” The teacher says. It seems she hasn’t progressed beyond a preschool teacher. Not everyone gets along and this kid has no problem being rude to me why should I care about being rude to him.

The class stares at me expectantly. Who is this girl? Fine I’ll tell them what they want. “I’m a human in the flesh.”

The class momentarily goes silent. The boy at the opposite end stares at me. His presence is the most noticeable of all in the class. A combination of lust and hunger fill his eyes. He gets up and walks towards me, each step confirming his status as the most powerful being in the entire school. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s true. “It’s not your flesh I want.” He kneels down in front of me and tilts my head to the side. I resist of course but it’s no use. I just have to wait it out until the class is over.

“I want it,” another girl says as drool drips out her mouth. She whips it away, but continues to stare at me as if I the apple pie her mother said she couldn’t have until after dinner. She starts to move towards me to but is stopped by an unseen force, the primitive, raw power that comes from being a vampire, the strongest race to exist.

At the first sound of the bells I bolt out of class. That’s It I’ve confirmed it, high school is hell.

I check my schedule one more time before looking into the nearly empty room where my next class is. At the front of the room stands a witch, her purple had lopsided to the pointer where it could fall of her head. Her black cat hops of the window sill and lands gracefully beside her. Its eyes trained on the door as if to scare any who enter, not that it scares me.

I sit down in a desk somewhere in the middle, and the moment I do the only other person in the room slides into the desk beside me.

“Ryan,” He says as he puts his hand in front of me.

“Giselle,” I shake it and give him my name in return.

 “So how did you manage to get into this prestigious school?” He asks me.

This might be the only chance I get to converse with someone like me. “I’m too smart for them to turn me down.”

He hits my back and starts to laugh, “Same, I’m too rich.”

“Are we the only two humans here?” I ask already knowing the answer.

“Unfortunately yes, I’m surprised there are this many. What top school would let humans in anyway?” He rolls his eyes. I’m going to like this guy. We share a moment before the bell rings again signaling it’s time for class to start.

The black cat gets up from the desk and pushes the door close. The witch, without looking up from her ancient book, starts to addresses the two of us. “Class, as you very well know this is one of the few schools that accommodate people of all races. We have the pleasure of teaching pure blood vampires, royal mermaids, arch angles,” She pauses to glance up at us, “and two humans. This class is dedicated to teaching you how to deal with your nonexistent powers in the real world.” She flips the page of her book and for the five minutes doesn’t talk. “Unfortunately, as humans are so rare these days, we don’t have a human teacher, and I won’t be able to teach you much.”

Ryan interrupts her, “Weren’t you human once? Until witches come into their power they’re still human.”

She smiles at him, “I haven’t been human since I was three. Now then, take these and read them. We’re having a test on Friday,” She tosses us a pamphlet labeled how to survive as a human. I flip it open but there’s nothing in it I don’t already know.

“I’m Mrs. Len,” She says right as I’m about to start talking with Ryan again.

“Good to know,” He response as if it’s the most natural thing to do.

I wait for something else to happen; anything but since it doesn’t I raise my hand, “Mrs. Len, since surviving as a human these days means being able to coexist with other races, don’t you think it would be more beneficial to visit other race classes currently going on, instead of doing nothing here?” Ryan gives me a thumbs up. His smile is so big it could jump of his face. Mrs. Len just waves us of, as if to say it’s fine, and that’s exactly how Ryan and I take it.

“I think she wanted to teach a witch class,” Ryan says the moment we get out the door.

“You think,” I say sarcastically. “But you know I did a little research on this school before coming here, they just hired a Witch from the high coven. There was no way she could have gotten that class.” He tries to hold in his laughter again as we walk side by side in the empty hallways. “What class do you want to go to first?” I ask him.

“You chose. You’re the one who got us this precious opportunity,” Ryan tries to keep a straight face but I’ve quickly come to notice that he can’t.

“I don’t care as long as it’s not vampire. I already have one who thinks I belong to him.”

Ryan rests his arm over my shoulder and pulls me in closer so we’re walking within inches of each other, “Don’t worry. I don’t have a death wish, and I’m glad to see you don’t either.”

We pass by door after door, each one getting a swift no. Shall we visit the werewolves? No. What about the sirens? No. I found the Banshee’s. Those people are crazy. Most classes we didn’t even have to ask about before passing by.

“What about this class?” I ask Ryan. He almost passes it by and I have to tug on his shirt to stop him.

“What are they?” He glances in the window. The class looks to be laid back. Everyone’s sitting down yet not one is doing it in the conventional way. Several people lie across the window sill while others sit on top of the desk instead of in it. One girl at the front of the room chooses to lean against it instead.

“Nymph’s.”

“I know them. They’re like hippies. They care about nature.”

I stop to look at him. Did you really just say that? “Not exactly, they’re more mystical, and they have magical powers.”

Ryan nods his head like he understands perfectly, “Rainbow magic.”

“Idiot,” I respond immediately.