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Everything goes quiet. The voices become only background noise to me.

"As vampires, you must..." The headmistress continues on with her insane speech.

I stare at the wooden floor, completely frozen. I can even hear my own heart pounding loudly in my ears. Thump, thump, thump.

Can they hear it too? Can they hear my heart? No, what am I thinking? It's impossible to hear someone's heartbeat.

Unless you're a vampire.

I glance up at all the students sitting around me. They all seem normal and act like regular students. None of them have red eyes or fangs.

It's can't possible. Vampires only exist in stories.

That's it! This is all some sort of joke. No way can vampires exist in real life. Vampires are fictional characters.

Not real.

I sigh, but I still feel tense. Beads of sweat form on my temples and the back of my neck. My hands are shaking as I hold them in my lap.

Vampires don't exist. They can't. It has to be some sort of prank. Maybe it's a code word.

Yeah, that could be it. It's a sort of strange code word for Seniors. That makes sense.

Then why do I suddenly feel so terrified? Why am I reacting this way?

Like a baby lamb trapped in a room full of lions. I feel trapped. I feel watched.

I shake my head. Imagining pictures is definitely not helping me right now.

Glancing at Zaylee on my left, she looks like any other eighteen year old. Long, ebony hair that is perfect even though it's slightly messy. Big, round gray eyes with green specks. Perfect dark skin and a heart-shaped face. Full, pink lips. The uniform she wore perfectly fit her and is ironed despite the partial bed hair she has.

Moving my attention to my right, I observe Rowan.

With straight and very long dark brown hair, I can tell she actually brushed hers. She has bright, chocolate brown eyes that naturally seem to shine. Her Cupid lips are smaller and her uniform is slightly crinkled, but it is hardly noticeable from a distance.

How? They can't possibly...I need to stop overthinking this. Zaylee and Rowan are not vampires.

"And with that said, the October assembly is closed. Please head to your first class."

Chairs screech across the floor and students make loud noises getting up. They all chat and file together in groups to make their way out of the auditorium.

They can't be vampires. They are just like any other normal students.

"Saige? Are you okay?" I jump at the voice. A hand waving in my face.

"Jeez, you scared me." I clutch my chest. My heart is beating erratically. Zaylee pulls her hand away from my face and back toward her.

I look up to see both Rowan and Zaylee standing in front of me. I blink a few times. Definitely normal students.

"Did you space out during the entire assembly?" Rowan asks.

Zaylee laughs. "You totally did. Classes haven't even begun today and you are off in la la land."

I blink some more, tilting my head. My hair falling to the side. A horrible image of Rowan and Zaylee with red eyes and fangs suddenly pops into my mind.

My stomach begins to churn and my throat starts to burn. I feel the bile taste in my mouth.

I clamp my hand over my mouth, trying to force the bile back down.

"Oh crap!"

"Get her a trash bin!"

In a second, someone presses their hand on my back and a small black trash bin is pushed in my face. Where did this come from? Never mind that! I need to-

I fall to my knees on the cold, tile floor. I bend over the trash bin, my back arches as I begin a horrible process.

"There, there." It sounds like Zaylee patting my back gently. Rowan pulls my hair away from my face.

All my stomach's contents are hurled into that poor trash bin. My throat burns and my jaw aches.

"Ew. Gross." Zaylee gags and looks away. I would too if I could. This is embarrassing and disgusting.

I cough and push the trash bin away from me. Wiping my mouth with my hand, I collapse completely on the floor. Suddenly feeling exhausted.

"Come on. Get up, Saige." Rowan lets go of my hair and pulls on one of my arms.

Zaylee begins to tug on my other arm. With both of them, they gently pull me up to my feet.

I groan. I just want to sleep. A nice nap would be good right about now. My warm, cotton sheets ready for me to snuggle in.

"I'll be fine..." I mumble and try to get out of their grip. As soon as they let go, I stumble a few feet.

Before I can face plant, Rowan and Zaylee catch me again.

"Come on, we'll take you to the Nurse." Rowan looks at me with a slightly worried expression.

I feel numb and the fight in me flees quickly. I allow them carry me through the halls. The hallways are completely empty now. Everyone has gone to their first class.

My first day here and I'm already skipping class. Somebody, get me a plaque!

It only takes about a minute of turns but they finally stop at a oak door. The sign next to it has Nurse in cursive writing.

Zaylee reaches over and knocks twice on the door while still holding onto me. In a few seconds, a young appearing lady pops her head out. She has really curly, short blonde hair.

"May I help you ladies?" She asks, pushing her round-framed glasses back up the bridge of her nose.

Rowan lifts me up higher. How can she have this much strength? I at least weigh a hundred and thirty pounds.

"Yes, our friend here got a bit sick." Rowan glances down at me, expecting me to hurl again.

The nurse observes me for a few seconds before swinging the door open. "Come in and take a seat."

Rowan and Zaylee pull me inside the office. Bright white walls and tile blinds me as we entered. They help me onto one of the chairs.

"What's your name?" The nurse clicks her pen.

I lic my my dry lips, "Saige Morris."

She scribbles it down on her clipboard before clicking the pen again. "Alright. Are you feeling hungry? I can just give you some blood if you'd like. What's your favorite?"

Immediately, I feel like hurling all over again. I shake my head. No, no, no! It can't be true! Blood? Is she crazy? I'm not a vampire! They can't be vampires!

"What's wrong? You look sick again." She walks over toward me and reaches out her hand.

No! Don't touch me!

I push her hand away and look at her in horror. I gulp and instantly feel horrible.

"Er...um..." The nurse stares at me shocked.

Even Zaylee and Rowan look unsettled from my sudden action. I can't believe it. It's not true!

But it is. You know it is.

I look down at my lap. My hands clench together in tight fists.

"No, I'm sorry. Can I just have stomach medicine or something? It's just the first day nerves." I mumble out. Please believe me.

The nurse hesitantly nods at me, she looks a little confused. "Sure. I'll have to go get a bottle from the back."

The nurse walks toward the back of the room. "Oh, and girls, you can go back to your class. She'll be fine."

I can even hear the uncertainty in her voice. She probably thinks there's something mentally wrong with me.

Zaylee and Rowan don't respond to the nurse as she walked away. They both look down at me with unsure expressions.

I gulp and fiddle with my fingers. "Guys, I'll be okay. Really. You'll miss your entire first class."

"But Saige, you might need a ride home or something." Rowan steps forward.

I instinctively flinch away and I see the hurt in her eyes. I nervously laugh.

"No, I'll be fine. I'll...come find you guys at lunch or something." I try to smile at her but I don't have the energy.

They both glance at each other, unsure of what to do. "Please?" I beg.

"Come on," Zaylee sighs before tugging on Rowan's wrist and glancing back at me. "Feel better." She pulls Rowan out the door.

"See you at lunch," Rowan mumbles before closing the nurse's door.

I sigh and put my cool hands on my hot face. I just can't believe it.

I mean, who would?

Vampires aren't supposed to exist. They are fictional characters! So why did I have this empty feeling in my stomach?

I feel I'm starting to doubt the myth. They might be real. And I might be attending a school full of them.

This is messed up. I'm so screwed. What if they find out I'm human? What if they already know? Wouldn't they try and eat me or something?

Ugh. Everything I know is a lie.

"Excuse me?" A timid voice calls.

I look up, my hands falling back into my lap. A girl stands at the door, it is slightly ajar behind her.

She is a little short, her light caramel hair staying flat on her shoulders. She blinks her wide, blue eyes a few times.

"Do you know where the nurse is?" She speaks so quietly, I barely hear her.

All my nerves are just flushed down the toilet. She stands before me, looking so innocent. I feel a sense of safety around her.

I stand up a little too quickly and stumble a bit. I blush with embarrassment. I glance down at her. She is at least two inches shorter than me

"She left to go get me some pills," I say, scratching the back of my neck.

The girl looks a little nervous. "Oh."

My eyes widen. "I'm sure she'll be back any second now. You can just wait for her with me."

She observes me for a second before timidly nodding her head. Wow, she's really shy.

"Um, I'm Saige." I extend my hand toward her. "What's your name?"

She bites her lip and looks down at my hand. She slowly extends her hand and hesitantly shakes my mine.

"Hadlee." She smiles a bit at our hands. She seems a little surprised and pleased.

"Damn. I wish I had a cool name." I laugh. The tension starting to die down a bit.

Hadlee blushes a little at my comment. She must not get compliments a lot.

"It's not that cool." She mumbles, sitting down.

I sit down next to her. She relaxes a bit. I am about to tell her how wrong she is when the door swings open.

"Alright, Saige, I got the pills—" The nurse looks up from the bottle she is holding. "Oh, Hadlee. I wasn't expecting you back so soon."

Hadlee nods a bit, she starts to look unsettled again.

"Let me give these to Saige real quick then I'll get yours, Hadlee." The nurse smiles at Hadlee.

Hadlee nods again and looked at her lap. The nurse fills a cup of water and then walks over toward me, handing me two pills.

"Here you go, if you feel sick again, just drop by." The nurse winks at me

I mumble a thank you and grasp the cup. Putting the pills in my mouth, I take a big gulp of water.

Sighing, I sit the cup down and get up. I quickly glance at Hadlee. For some reason, I feel a bit worried. Maybe it's just her first-day nerves too.

Wrong.

I open the door and step out into the empty hallway. I close the door with a sigh. I have this gut feeling that my inner voice is right about vampires truly existing.

Even though this school may be filled with vampires, none of them seem to want to snack on me yet. That's a good sigh, right?

Unless they really don't know I'm a human. But that goes against all the fictional knowledge I know.

Up until this point, most of it's been wrong anyway. If the students and teachers are vampires, and they don't know I'm human, then I'll just play it cool.

Pretend I'm one of them. Yeah. That way, I won't become a blood donation to a hungry vampire.

I shake my head at my unusual thoughts and start walking down a random corridor. I can't believe this. So far, everyone's been nice to me.

But something is off about Hadlee. Even though I just met her, I feel safe around her. And I have a feeling that she visits the nurse regularly. If she's a vampire, they should be immune to sickness right? Perhaps it's a vampire sickness? That doesn't really sound right though.

I shouldn't pry into other people's business. I need to focus on surviving school. Literally.

I turn a corner, hoping it was the right direction to my first class. Even though I figured I already missed most of it.

A streak of blonde comes into my view. I look up, losing all my thoughts. Blinking, I see a tall figure walking further down the hallway.

Hey, haven't I seen that person before? Oh! The gas station! I have to return the necklace!

Jogging, which is really difficult with a heavy backpack, I try to catch up.

"Wait!"

The blonde guy stops and starts to turn around.

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★ @within_days

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★ : @within_days