FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL

Chapter 17

Alyssa

"That's him," Cassie said as we made our way to our usual lunch table. The cafeteria was buzzing with chatter and it was crowded with people. The line was so long that it reached the doors, and all over the room, you could literally smell the fried chicken the school was serving.

But that was not the reason for Cassie's narrowed eyes and stiff posture. She was looking across the room at a boy who looked to be our age. His dark brown hair was falling over his forehead into his eyes so it was hard to tell what color they were. The table he was sitting at had no other people sitting there. He was sitting alone, looking outside at the many green trees that bordered the school.

It was a whole year after I had found out the truth about Cassie. Before that day, I had never even thought vampires existed in real life. But I had found out they did: along-with other creatures like werewolves and warlocks, and I had made up my mind that I wanted to be one of them. Cassie had gladly helped me out. It had been painful, but I was now one of them: a vampire.

My parents had been shocked of course. They were scared that their little girl had gotten herself turned into...something else so she could help save people. They had been angry at me too, saying I had mo idea what I was doing, but once they had met Cassie's parents, and Cassie had explained to me how her parents had already been mad at her for Turning someone she just met at school, my parents had slowly wrapped themselves around the fact that I would always be this way: putting myself before others, doing everything I could to help people, and taking risks and being stubborn. That was me, and it was how I was going to be for the rest of my life. And they told me they were proud of me.

Then, Cassie had taken me to The Ancient Court so the vampire council could judge me. It had been a time-consuming process, but now I was getting trained to fight and protect the people I loved.

Cassie and I had recently been told that a werewolf boy had joined Crescent Hills Middle School and that we were supposed to keep an eye on him. Werewolves were generally seen as well...bad. They were our sworn enemies though no one really knew where the rivalry between vampires and werewolves actually began. But it was safe to say that now, Cassie felt like throttling him.

However, some werewolves were possibly our friends. We could work with them in peace. But that meant there had to be something common between us. We had to have something that connected us.

"Are you sure that's him?" I asked Cassie as soon as we plopped our trays onto the table across from his. His back was to us so he couldn't possibly have seen us. Cassie nodded vigorously, her red curls bouncing around her shoulders.

"Yeah," she said. "I'm sure. We just need to figure out why he'd come in the middle of the year like this."

"Maybe he had a hard time at his old school?" I suggested, desperately hoping that was the reason and not one that involved him killing our classmates.

"Maybe," replied Cassie. "Though I'd still have a hard time believing that."

"Are you sure today's his first day here?" I asked Cassie.

"Yeah, we would have sensed him sooner if it wasn't." She had a point. Over the past year, we had only sensed two werewolves in the school and so far they hadn't bothered us so we hadn't provoked them either.

"So, how did the meeting go last night?" The Vampire Council had called yet another meeting of all adult vampires last night. Cassie and I had not been allowed to go but Cassie's mom had gone.

"My mom said it was okay. No recent killings at least. But the demonic activity is growing, and they are all thinking of ways to stop it."

"What are they planning to do about the demons though?" I asked her, lowering my voice.

"They wouldn't tell me anything important, she sighed. "Just that we need to keep our eyes open from now on because of this new werewolf. Apparently no one knows whether he's on our side or not."

At that moment, we were interrupted by the arrival of Ashley Brenton, a girl we had known for about a month now. At the start of seventh grade, the three of us had been paired up for a writing assignment. She, however did not know that we were vampires, and we intended to keep it that way.

"Hey guys," she smiled, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder and plopping down into the empty chair next to me. "Did you see the new kid?"

"Oh, you mean him?" I whispered, indicating the werewolf sitting at the table right across ours.

"Yes!," Ashley squealed. "Let's go talk to him!"

"Ashley," Cassie cautioned. "I don't think that's a good idea." Of course it wasn't a good idea. He was a werewolf and Cassie and I were vampires. As soon as we made eye contact with him, bad things could happen.

"Why not?" Ashley chirped. "He's new, and he's sitting alone. Let's tell him he can sit with us!"

"Uh, I have to go," Cassie suddenly said, getting up. "Alyssa, remember how we were supposed to help in the library during lunch today?"

I sighed, sweet relief washing over me. "Oh, yeah!" I replied. "I almost forgot about that!" This had got to be one of our worst cover stories yet. In the past when we had to get to our lockers to get the substitute for blood, we always had to make sure Ashley would not follow us so Cassie was the one who came up with all the stories.

"That's a shame!" Ashley gushed. "I'll go and talk to him then! We could both use the company!"

I smiled. Ashley never doubted any of our cover stories, and we loved her for that.

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A/N

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