Vampire Fetish (Yumikuri)

3. Biology

Honestly the Cullens dating each other and then pretending to be siblings was far from the worst thing Smeyer wrote but it was still fuckin weird 
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Historia found out why her newfound friends had warned her about Biology when she arrived at the classroom. None of them had Biology with her, so she was naturally worried.

She discovered the source of their distress when she entered the room and saw that there was only one free seat, and it was next to a tall and beautiful girl sitting carelessly with a pencil in her mouth.

Historia's heart rate spiked as she walked across the room. Time seemed to slow down. When she put her books down on the desk, Ymir looked up at her. Her mouth opened, probably to make some rude comment, but she froze.

Historia couldn't move either. Ymir's eyes were a stunning amber colour, she noticed. Ymir closed her mouth and looked away out the window, moving her leg so Historia had space to sit down.

The teacher walked in five minutes late. She was an older woman with an unforgivable perm, and she talked in a voice that could cure insomnia. As she explained the lesson, Historia snuck glances at Ymir. The girl in question had clenched fists, and was breathing hard.

"Are you okay?" Historia asked, channelling the kind and caring persona that made all her teachers comment on how she was a joy to have in class. Ymir couldn't be all bad, nobody really was.

Historia touched Ymir's fist, and immediately recoiled. It was cold. And not just cold like she hadn't worn gloves on a cold day, cold like something that had never held heat. Cold like metal in a dark room. Cold like a corpse.

Ymir pulled her fist away and stared at Historia. "Don't touch me," she hissed through her teeth.

"O-okay," Historia said. She turned her attention back to the front of the classroom and tried her hardest not to look at Ymir.

The lesson ended, and Historia couldn't have been more glad to leave the classroom. She made her way straight to her locker, and grabbed her bag.

In the office, she stopped - Ymir stood at the desk, arguing with the secretary. Historia could hear their conversation from where she stood.

"Please? Any class, it doesn't matter, just not Biology."

"I'm sorry, but it's too late in the year to get a course change and you can't drop your subject without parental permission."

Ymir was trying to switch out of Biology. Historia wasn't sure what she'd done to push Ymir so far that she wanted to leave the class, but it didn't do much for her self-esteem.

She already hates you. She barely even knows you and she hates you already.

Historia speedwalked past, not moving her eyes from the door. She heard Ymir stop talking, and felt her staring at her.

On the way back to her truck, she saw the other Fritz kids. The boys sat in the front seats of a flashy Mercedes, while Annie sat in the back, looking at something on her phone.

Historia tore herself away and got into the truck, driving home.

Uri wasn't home when she got back. He was probably working - Uri worked in the local council, and often stayed late. Historia didn't mind. She was fine with time to herself. It was time for her to do homework (yes, she already had homework. On the first day).

Half an hour later, the phone on the wall started ringing. Historia stood up and answered it.

"Hello, Reiss residence, who is it?"

"Who's this?" A gruff voice asked. "'ey wait, is this Historia? Rod's kid?"

"Uh, yeah."

The voice on the other end of the phone laughed. "Welcome to Paradis, kid. Is your uncle in?"

"No," Historia looked out the window to see the driveway empty. "He's out. Who is this?"

"Kenny Ackerman. I'm seeing your uncle."

"Oh, I know. Um, do you want me to tell him you called?"

Kenny laughed. "Don't worry. I'll call back later."

He hung up the phone, and Historia put it back on the wall. She didn't do much more of her homework, instead opting to scroll through Instagram. She saw a new post from one of her friends in Maria - Sibyl had taken a photo from a party.

Wow! Historia had written below. I wish I was there

She looked up from her phone when she heard a car pull up. Looking out the window revealed that it was Uri's car. Her uncle entered the house a few moments after.

"How was your day at school?" He asked.

"It was fine," Historia said, as cheerfully as she could. "I made some friends."

"That's good," Uri said.

"Oh, and Kenny called earlier."

"I'll call him back now," Uri said. "It's probably important."

He walked over to the phone and picked it up. Historia decided that she didn't want to eavesdrop on her uncle's conversation, and took her things to her room upstairs.

Uri came up a few minutes later, having finished his call.

"Was everything okay?" Historia asked.

"He wanted to know if I was coming around to play cards on Saturday," Uri said. "You're welcome to come too, if you want. Levi's kids are about your age."

"Yeah, I know. I was talking to Eren yesterday. He's cool."

"I guess so."

Over dinner, Historia told Uri about her newfound friends. To her surprise, he knew most of their families. Mrs Bott was an active volunteer in the town, who would always show up on your doorstep with a casserole should she hear any trouble has befallen you. The Brauses lived outside of town and hunted deer. The Springers ran the car rental place. The Kirsteins were an old farming family.

"Do you know the Fritz family?" Historia asked. Uri took a slow drink of his cup of tea, and looked off at some point in the distance.

"I know them," he said. "They're... odd."

"Ymir's in my class," Historia said.

"The tall girl? I've heard things about her. It's best you don't get involved."

"What's wrong with the family, anyway?" Historia asked, pressing further. "Why don't people trust them?"

"I think it's mainly the incest thing," Uri said, "though the Fritzes only moved here a few years ago, and you know how small towns can be about outsiders. I've met Dina a couple of times, and she's nice enough."

"Oh." Historia couldn't help but think of Ymir's body language during Biology. How cold she'd been - both emotionally and physically. Like she was made of stone. 

It was an image that stayed with her when she fell asleep that night.