Moon Blood (COMPLETE)

Chapter Seven: A Pang of Jealousy

A whole day in bed, and at long last, Neil felt human enough to go back to school. He looked at himself in the mirror; his school tie was crooked, there were heavy bags under his eyes and his skin was practically yellow. He shook his head, he had to return today.

"You sure you don't want another day off?"

His mum's words were tempting, and she was always lenient about letting him take the occasional day off if he wanted. "No, mum. I've missed enough school."

He was desperate to get back to some semblance of normality. Thoughts of a few nights ago were still picking at him, and Lilly had warned him to not say a word of his true nature, especially to his parents. "I'll see you tonight."

*****

"Lowell! Back from the dead, are you?" James was waving from the bus stop. "You haven't been online for two days."

"Uh." He didn't really know how to answer. Usually his phone was glued to his hand, but he'd barely noticed it, which was - in his mind - more than understandable.

"You really must have been dying if you didn't even check your phone."

"I had a bad fever." Neil almost bit his tongue; he really hated to lie, especially to his friends. Perhaps luckily for him, no one expected him to lie because he hardly ever did it.

"Hopefully you won't collapse on the bus ride this time!" James slapped Neil on the back and looked down the road. "Hey! David!"

"Back in time for the history test Lowell? What did you do to the real Neil, huh?"

It was a normal school day, but Neil felt anything but. He could still taste that chunk of meat on the inside of his cheeks, or the memory of it, at least. It caused him to shudder in a deep pleasure, and his stomach dropped. The sky was clear but grey, and already the classroom was far too hot. Neil was still fatigued and was struggling to keep his eyes open, barely listening to James and David. He looked around the room, the grey room, at the grey people. Ever since he had transformed and smelled those colours, seeing the world with his olfactory, nothing looked vibrant anymore. It was numbing. And boring.

"Morning, class." The familiar voice of Mr. Hedge rang out, and pulled Neil from the foggy haze of his mind.

He almost screamed out loud as he saw who was following the teacher.

Ruby was wearing her long hair up, and wearing the school colours as she stood neat as a pin beside Mr. Hedge. Warm eyes with hidden depths scanned the room, not lingering very long on anyone in particular, even Neil.

"Everyone, this is Ruby Smith. It's her first day - obviously - and she transferred from London. Must be a change of pace!" Mr. Hedge was always trying to make his students laugh, but it usually ended up leaving them cringing. Ruby at least, grinned at his attempt.

"I like the countryside. Smaller schools and smaller roads. Way more comforting than skyscrapers."

Neil tried not to groan, and watched her pick her way over to the only free seat next to a girl called Laura Bottomly. Ruby paid him no attention, but Neil noticed David watching her with more than just a cursory glance. The bell rang for the first lesson of the day and Neil gathered his things and trudged down the grey hallway. Ruby paid him no notice.

Irritatingly, she looked quite good in the skirt and shirt combination as her ponytail bounced behind her. She seemed to be getting on quite well with Laura, and from what Neil could hear, they were talking about London.

"Ugh, I am not looking forward to this civil war test. Lowell, did you even study at all?" James grabbed Neil's shoulders from behind and nearly knocked the wind from him.

"No," he said flatly. Ruby didn't notice him, but something inside of him kept noticing her as they ambled down the corridor. Not quite a scent, but a sense of wanting to be by her. Really, really close to her. He wanted to taste her. What was he thinking? He shook the thoughts away.

The day went by at a glacial pace. Neil kept watching Ruby from the corner of his eye. He checked his watch and, painfully, only twenty minutes had passed. The air was muggy, and he could taste the damp clothes on everyone. It was making him gag. Perhaps at lunchtime he could corner her, if lunchtime would ever come, that is. When the bell went after psychology, Neil's head was almost on the desk. He shoved his pencil case in his bag and darted down the corridor after Ruby, who had spent no time getting herself settled in. Already a group of friends surrounded her and she had graciously accepted into the most popular group of girls in their class. Neil scowled as he watched the back of them disappear into the dinner hall arm in arm, bitterness on his tongue. He recognised the silly jealousy budding in his chest, specifically that it was her and not him whom everyone saw as the leader.

Not once had Neil ever had these feelings. Ever since primary school, he was happy to hang around the sidelines, and so were James and David. They had all been lucky to find each other in the tidal wave of playground politics, where hierarchy meant everything. Even in the final year of 6th form school before university beckoned, friendship groups still meant everything.

That struggle of the "new kid" that always seemed to afflict a transfer student - especially a transfer after the school term had already started - it had not affected Ruby.

Lunchtime was a write-off: because he'd been off sick and not stuck to his phone, David and James were eager to catch him up to what they had been up to the past few days.

Neil just wanted to forget his last few days. The pain was still fresh in his mind, and it made him wince just to think about it. With that awful transformation however, had come something that was definitely worth the trade: the olfactory. His sense of smell whilst transformed was almost beyond explicable: colours, auras, even emotions he could sense. The whole world changed through the filter of the olfactory, and he wanted to experience it again.