Chapter 2: School
We stayed up all night because vampires don’t sleep and drank a lot of blood. I met lots of cute vampire boys, most of them older than me. Sethius said that tomorrow we would have to attend our school when we would be five days old in vampire years. We would have to take an opaque drink bottle full of blood so no one would identify what we were drinking. I couldn’t wait to see my friends again. They would probably ask a million questions about why I haven’t been at school for the past five days, why my eyes are as red as my hair, why I am as pale as a ghost, why boys are suddenly crowding me all the time and why I have a hot new ride with hot guys driving it.
THE NEXT DAY:
Sethius gave us our bags and helped Franny and me out of his Mercedes Benz. People gawked as we strutted out of the car park and to the school gates. Pushovers, I thought as I watched people separate to let us through. Now I know how being the head cheerleader feels, I thought as I watched Samantha, the head cheerleader prance through the crowd. It looked like she was coming over to Fran and me. She had a great big smile across her face. I smiled back. I looked over at Fran. She had an even bigger smile. The smile wiped off my face as Sam and Fran sauntered gracefully away together, snickering as they caught a glimpse of my wide eyes and gaping mouth. Feeling crushed, I watched them still shocked as they walked away towards the other cheerleaders. I half-ran to the toilets. I shut the door, locked it and then I collapsed into a heap on the toilet, sobbing, the more I thought about how close Fran and I were before the accident.
Someone knocked on the door of my toilet cubicle.
“Are you okay? You’ve been in there for almost an hour.” A silky smooth voice asked sympathetically.
“No, I am not okay.” I said flatly.
I unlocked the door only to see a girl about my age with dazzling red eyes. I recognised her; she was Darcy, the new girl at this school. She was introduced the day before the accident. We gazed into each other’s eyes for a moment. It felt good to understand someone and to be understood. Tears still dribbling down my face as I introduced myself.
“Hello, I’m Riley.” I said politely.
“I’m Darcy, the new kid.” She replied.
“So how did you become a-”
“I was dying but within half an hour of it, I was saved by Sethius. What about you?”
I gasped. “Sethius? You too? I helped my friend who got into some trouble. While she was dying, I was being traumatised by a vampire. I think her name was Liliana. Sethius took us back to his clone and before I knew it, Fran and I were vampires. And now Fran is marching around the school with her new best friend, Sam the head cheerleader. I used to love Worthington Sacred Heart State High. But now I am just not sure.” I said running out of breath.
The bell rang to go to house group.
“See you later.” I mumbled but when I looked up, she was gone.
As I trudged up the stairs, I wondered if she was real or if I was becoming slightly bonkers. I stood there for a moment watching the mob of humans rush past me. My eyes became blurry. All I could think about was the humans and their blood. I was thirsty. I was thirsty for blood.
“My drink bottle! It’s gone!” I said aloud to no one in particular.
Some people stopped and stared. Some people offered their drink bottle and the rest just pointed to the bubblers. I shook my head. I needed to get to house group in two minutes but I needed to hydrate myself before sitting in a class of innocent and mouth-watering humans. What was I going to do? I couldn’t put myself through the torture of attempting not to sink my fangs into anyone but I equally couldn’t find my drink bottle. Franny brushed past me. This morning Franny took a drink bottle too. Maybe she could lend me some.
“Franny!” I said waving my hands about frantically above the crowd, trying to get her attention. “Franny, please, I’m desperate!” I was getting pushed by the decreasing crowd.
The bell rang to go home. What was my form teacher going to say if I didn’t turn up? I don’t care, I decided.
I gave up. I decided to run away. I wasn’t sure where to but I couldn’t risk the lives of the people I had always been friends with. I took one last look at my school and bolted out into the school car park, out the gates and down my street. Blood gushed through my body. The wind whistled in my ear. I flew through the street of my real home. I could see a dim figure faintly call out my name.
“Riley! I thought you were dead.”
