Take my life, I'll hand it to you - Jalex - (8&9/?)
Title: Take my life, I’ll hand it to you.
Author: Me, CherylMcMinorrr
Pairing: Jalex (Eventually, once the story kicks off, anyway)
Chapter: 8 & 9/?
Rating: (atm,) PG.
Summary: based on the House of Night series, by P.C and Kristin Cast (at this current moment I‘m not sure how strongly or loosely based on the plot of that it‘ll be).
Disclaimer:Contains some quotes/lines/ideas belonging to the authors of the original House of Night series. No copyright infringement intended. I don’t own the members of All Time Low or any other band members mentioned. Title is from ‘Poison’ by All Time Low. This hasn’t happened, duh.
A/N: I know I’ve spelled ‘vampire’ as ‘vampyre’ as that’s how it’s spelt in the series this is based on and it didn’t feel right changing it because I love the House of Night books too much.
Master list
“So, Alex… I- we, were just wondering: Why do you have a filled out mark?” I strangely wasn’t annoyed by Josh asking this, I knew the whole table had probably been thinking it ever since they found out I was in fact the kid with their mark filled out, it was only a matter of time until they stopped side stepping the subject. “I don’t actually know.” I told the whole table. “It just happened while I was passed out.” I emphasised with my hands, actually curious about this myself now. They all seemed to understand though and I didn‘t think they‘d press the subject too much. It didn’t seem a bad to tell them about my vision, but something told me not yet, I had to get to know them better. At the moment I could be anyone to them; a weird psychopath kid or a compulsive liar or something. “I wonder why?” questioned Jonathan in his slight Texas twang. He seemed like a nice enough guy from what I’d seen, I don’t think he asked the question to pressure me. “I have no idea I sighed.” Just as the Hags walked by us. They scoffed and Josh flipped them the finger behind their back’s. It caused us all to laugh, until Jack and William headed out behind them. I hoped for Josh’s sake, actually all our sakes that they didn’t tell them.
“You know who they remind me of?” Josh muttered to me and I shook my head. “You seem like the kind of guy to have seen Mean Girls, Alex.” What did he mean by that? No way was I admitting that to a table of new friends who’d judge me. “See, they remind me of the plastics.” I stared at him for a minute, with what was hopefully an incredulous look on my face. “Just me who thinks that then?” Rian, Jonathan and I nodded in unison. Brendon and Ryan seemed to be in their own world, oblivious to our conversation. “Do they do that a lot?” I nodded my head towards them. “Yeah. It’s totally weird and when they’re both sat there quietly it’s like they’re talking to each other telepathically or something.” Josh said and Rian nodded in agreement. I contemplated this for a minute, but could it really be true when they’re not actually twins? Maybe they were supposed to have been twins and it was some kind of weird vampyre power they had? What did I know? I was new to the whole being a fledgling vampyre thing.
“Tell me more about the Dark Daughters and Sons…” I enquired, wanting to keep and conversation going, but wanting to keep it off of me, also. “Well…” Jonathan started. “They’re like the school cheerleaders mixed with the jocks and football players. At least that’s how Hayley and crew run the organisation. They expect everyone else in the school to conform to their ridiculous ideas about what it takes to be a vampyre and they hate humans. I mean, despise them. They hold special private rituals, that you have to be invited to, to attend and what else?” Rian quickly jumped in. “And there’s a rumour that Hayley. who’s obviously their leader, is favoured by Pete seeing as she’s his High Priestess in training. Oh and Jack, although he’s not one of them, seems to be another of Pete’s favourites, he thinks he’s “gifted by Nyx” or something. Basically it gives them a reason to go around with their heads up their own asses and acting as arrogant as they like.” I let out a disapproving breath, I really hated people like that.
“Any more questions for us?” Before I could even think of anything to ask, I noticed a shot of orange hair and Hayley was stood beside our table. “Hey, Alex, I’m gonna make this quick, I’m practically being forced by Pete to offer you an invite to The Dark Daughters and Sons’ full moon ritual tomorrow, I know it’d be such a shame for you to say no, but maybe you could consider it, yeah?” She was so rude. She strode back off to where Travis and Jack were waiting by the archway before disappearing back through it. “Hag.” Jonathan scoffed. “I think you should go, you could be like the inside man and spy on them!” Rian told me. “Now this is starting to sound like Mean Girls” I mumbled so that only Josh would hear. He laughed as did I. “Yeah… I think I’ll go.” I managed to choke out through laughter. “Stealing my room mate, Franceschi?” I laughed even harder at Rian’s comment. I was really going to like being friends with these people. When we silenced I actually noticed how tired I was, I clearly wasn’t used to the reversed sleep schedule. “Guys, I’m gonna take Alex back to the dorm, he looks like he’s not slept in a week and I have studying to do…” I yawned as though the prove my tiredness and followed Rian in standing up. “See ya tomorrow!” Jonathan said and Josh added a “Yeah, it was great meeting you!” and lastly Ryan and Brendon said in unison “Welcome to Hell High!” and waved. I understood why they’d been nicknamed the twins now.
“So… The group?” I asked Rian when we were back in the room, hoping he’d know that I expected elaborate on them for me. “They’re all really great people… As you’ve seen.” Smiling at the thought of his friends. “So you know about Brendon and Ryan and the whole ‘twins’ thing, you start to get used to it and it stops seeming so weird… They’re a little quiet at first, but they are two of the most loyal friends you could ever have, I promise. Next there’s Josh, well you seem to have already have clicked with him. You already know he transferred from England just before I got here, so there’s not much else really. He likes acting and singing and he‘s one of the most easy going people you could ever meet. Next there’s Jonathan, he’s gay, as you know, I feel a bit sorry for him, it must get lonely, there aren’t that many gay guys here at the school.” This instantly triggered a memory and I thought back to Hayley and Jack’s argument, I bet the rest of the school didn’t know about Jack’s homosexuality. I wonder what he’d do if they found out. I suddenly felt smug, if worse ever came to worse I could always blackmail the guy. “Alex are you listening to me?” “What did you say?” “I was telling you about how Jonathan was placed as Jack’s roommate when he first moved here. The guy was a complete homophobe, so you can imagine what happened when he found out. He told Pete he didn’t want to share with a ’fag’, which of course left Pete livid. He put Jack on disciplinary and everything, which rarely happens here, then he gave Jonathan the option to keep sharing with him or room alone. Obviously he picked the second. He rooms with Josh now, so it‘s not that bad. I think it was when Jack was on disciplinary with Pete that Pete discovered Jack was gifted or whatever shit.” Rian had gone off on a tangent, but I really felt bad for Jonathan, I hated people acting like Jack had and yet I didn‘t get how he could be that way and at the same time be in the closet himself. “Not saying anyone deserves to die or anything, but if anyone deserves to spontaneously catch fire and die or reject the change it’s that entire group of people.” I nodded at this though I was unsure how much I agreed, the thought of rejecting the change scared me, a lot, although Pete said it wasn’t likely to happen to me, that didn’t mean it wouldn’t happen to any of my new friends.
~
I was surprised that I could actually sleep, I thought my mind would be racing with everything I’d learned and all that had gone on today, but to be honest I was out pretty quickly. It seems that becoming a student at the school was pretty tiring business. My sleep was far from dreamless though, it started out with the flying dream, however this time there was something pulling me down, trying to stop me getting as high in the sky as I wanted to be. Also, someone else was flying with me, but they were having no trouble and their face kept changing, but it seemed to be Jack’s face more than anyone else’s, which was really weird. However the weirdest part was how his mark was no longer the sapphire colour of the vampyre’s but a dark-blood red colour. Just before I awoke, I turned and all I could see on the ground was a big orange cat, teeth bared and hissing at me. I jumped awake, seeing Rian already bustling about the room.
I hurried out of bed, showered and changed into black skinny jeans, a grey t-shirt and the black cardigan which was a part of the ‘uniform’, then I pulled out my hair straighteners, which Rian scoffed at, but didn‘t comment on. It felt so weird waking up in the evening. When I was finished sorting out my hair he took me down to get some breakfast and I just grabbed a piece of fruit from one of the refrigerators in the dorm kitchen. While we were mid conversation about music, Jack quickly entered the kitchen, where Rian and I had been sat alone, before he glanced around to check no one was here and then approached us. He was wearing skinny jeans, which I assumed he wore a lot and a tight black t-shirt with some kind of writing on. Seriously, what was it with him and tight clothes? Oh, right, he was gay. But apparently only Hayley and I knew that. I wanted to laugh out loud for the art of eavesdropping, but I thought I’d better not. “Here. I was told to give this to you by Pete. Could you drop him a hint that I‘m not a fucking messenger boy, okay? Thanks Gaskarth.” He said bitterly, before marching out of the kitchen. “I don’t see his problem.” I told Rian, biting into my apple and examining what appeared to be my class schedule. “Most people don’t, I think he’s just misguided.” I scoffed. I really hoped I’d be in the same classes as at least some of Rian’s group. I had vampyre sociology first, that meant my first lesson would be with Pete. After that I had Drama or art. I didn’t like Drama, but I knew I wasn’t any good at art either. Why couldn’t there have been a music option? I chose drama.
~
Chapter 9.
Rian showed me the way to the class and I stepped in awkwardly, hoping I’d know someone, anyone in the class. No such luck though. Well, I could see Travis and Cassadee at the back, but I knew better than to try and sit with them, so quickly sat at one of the small two person tables at the front of the room. Then I sat there worrying that I looked too eager right up until Pete practically glided into the room. How could someone who wore skinny jeans look so gracious? I’d never know. He scanned the class, counting heads and then scowled for a moment, until the door opened and in walked Jack, looking surprisingly sheepish. “Sorry Pete. I got held up. I really didn’t mean it.” Pete sighed. “Okay, just, take a seat next to Alex.” Jack looked horrified at the thought, before clambering to the seat mumbling about “Fucking Hayley and her fucking advances making me late.” I turned to look at him as Pete went to his desk. “Why are you friends with her but give the impression you hate her?” I couldn’t help it, it was torturing my mind. He looked taken aback, yet didn’t ask or tell me to keep my nose out. He seemed thoughtful for a moment, like he was choosing an answer carefully. Was he gonna lie to me? “Just, keep your nose out, you might find out something you don’t want to.” He mumbled and glared before looking me straight in the eye. I froze, captivated by that chocolate brown colour. Wait, what? I totally wasn’t captivated by them, I was… eh. Intrigued? They were deep, like he was hiding so much behind them and yet baring his soul in them at the same time. I turned away quickly. “Ooh. Cryptic messages.” I muttered back my voice bustling with sarcasm, before the sound of a heavy book slamming distracted me.
“Good Evening!” Pete greeted the class, then he stepped over and slid me a copy of ‘The Fledgling Handbook 101’ and headed back to the front of the class. He was everything a teacher needs to be really, he wasn’t strict but he didn’t have to be, he had complete control of the class. Everyone’s attention was on him, even if he didn’t make the class as interesting as he did, I think he’d still hold everyone’s attention for the fact everyone was scared his power. We were learning about ancient vampyre warriors known as ‘The Amazons.’ and I don’t think I’ve ever paid attention so much in class. Jack kept muttering under his breath next to me and he kept averting his eyes from the front, looking down at his lap. I could see him from the corner of my eye, but I was paying too much attention to what Pete was saying to become distracted by it. Once an hour was up I wanted to stay longer, like a little child who wants to stay awake to hear the whole of their bedtime story. Jack just snickered at my obvious desire to continue listening to Pete and was one of the first to exit the class room. Pete stopped me on the way out of the room and asked me if I was settling in okay, to which I nodded and glanced around, I was going to be late to next lesson. As if on cue, Pete piped up his “Right, you best get going, you don’t want to be late to drama.” When I left to room Jack and Hayley were talking in quiet voices by the door, having some kind of heated dispute. They both looked up at me as I left, the last the leave the room.
“Hi, Alex!” That sickly sweet voice, prominent in falseness. “Hello, Hayley.” I hoped I sounded as cold as I had done in my head. “I wanted to ask you about The Dark Daughters and Sons’ meeting…” “Oh, yeah, I’m going to that…” I smirked. She couldn’t even do a thing to un-invite me seeing as Pete had suggested it. “You know where the rec-hall is?” She asked me too nicely, her voice dripping with candied venom. “Yeah. Rian will show me.” I informed her, to prevent her attempting to give me the wrong directions. Jack was looking at the ground once again. He’d done nothing but act like a douche-bag to me, aside from the first time we’d met back in the infirmary and yet, I couldn’t help feel sorry for him. He had a secret that for some reason he felt he had to keep from the whole school and the fact he was stuck with Hayley was even worse for him. I bit my lip as a watched him staring at the floor and Hayley emitted a sound that was a lot like a hiss, before she snapped out a quick “Let’s go, Jack!” and pulled him away. What just happened? Did I some how piss her off even more? I couldn’t help but wonder.
My next two lessons flew by in a blur, I had double drama, to which I was late for, because I couldn’t find my way around for the life of me. I shared the class with Josh and Jonathan, Jack was also in our lesson but he kept well away. I could tell that it was going to be a fun lesson to do. The professor was so funny and an amazingly good actor, but like I said, I didn’t care too much for drama. I went to lunch with Josh and Jonathan and the others soon joined us at the table and I told the group about what happened with Hayley and then a question that had been playing on a loop since the end of Vampyre Sociology came back to mind. “How did Pete know I was going to take Drama? I only decided this morning!” Rian laughed at me. “The vamps know everything. Sometimes too much. Especially a High Priest like Pete.” I nodded, but inside I was filled with a flash of intense fear; what if he knew I was keeping my vision from him? The fear was more than that though, it was unsettling that people could know so much about me.
After lunch, English Lit also flew by quickly, I was actually good at English and so was Rian, who was in the class with me, along with Ryan and Brendon. There was just one incident where this kid called Dougie kept coughing and purposely interrupting the professor as she spoke. She gave him such a lecture I started to feel sorry for the poor kid. Spanish went by even more quickly. That left one more class. Equestrian Studies. AKA, Horse Studies. I didn’t know how I was going to feel about that class. I’d never even properly been near a horse before, let alone anything else. I trudged down to the stables alone as it appeared none of Rian’s friends or anyone from my previous class took the lesson. I quietly stood at the back of a small group of kids, glad that neither Jack or Hayley were in sight and soon a vamp appeared from one of the stalls in the stable. He had short spiky hair and a piercing through his lip, really not the kind of person you‘d expect to see as a teacher. His vampyre tattoo wouldn’t have been out of place in a Disney movie, something like Fantasia, with all it’s intricate swirls, curls, small stars and leaf-shapes. “Good evening, class. I’m Professor Flyzick, but you’re best off calling me Matt. Matt, another name that didn’t sound fit for a vampyre. And yet there he was, Matt the vampyre. “This is a horse.” He told us, making me feel quite patronised, just as a horse approached him. He didn’t have to lead it over or anything. “You‘ve all been specially selected for this class because we thought you might possibly have an aptitude for riding.” he told us. I didn’t dare ask him exactly who the ‘we’ were that chose me for this class, but I really thought they‘d chose the wrong person. “Horses aren’t just perfect little pets, they require work and dedication, patience and intelligence. We‘re starting with the work part.”
Basically he was trying to tell us that he wanted to muck out the stables, actually he left us and said he was going to return in ¾ of an hour to check on our work. Mucking out stables didn’t really sound like my idea of a lesson. I wanted to find whoever decided I had a so-called aptitude for this lesson and cut them. But of course violence is never the answer. I got to work shovelling shit into the wheelbarrow. Such a pretty picture, don’t you think? Yeah, I know, I should drop the sarcasm. I was thankful to have been given ‘mucking boots’ to wear while doing this though, I couldn’t imagine standing ankle deep in horse poo in my converse. I was filling the stall with sawdust by the time I heard someone enter the stall behind me. “Well done, Alex.” I jumped a little and turned to face Matt. “Did you mind cleaning out this stall?” “Not really, I didn’t really think about it.” “Good. I’d like you to meet Trace, our finest horse. It was his stall you just cleaned.” A dark horse was being lead back into the stall by Matt. I stroked him tentatively. “Hi, Trace.”
Matt let me stay after lesson to groom the horse I’d apparently be working with in this class. I’d never really been a horse person, but I didn’t want to say no to Matt when he‘d asked. I’d noticed it was practically impossible to say ‘no’ to any of the adult vamps. I was humming a tune under my breath and brushing Trace’s coat when I heard the stall open then whoever had entered gasped and took a step back. I glanced up and my eyes met Jack’s. Not really the person I’d wanted to see while in such a good mood, however his words surprised me. “Shit, sorry, I didn’t think anyone would be here…” I instantly wanted to know what Jack had been creeping around the horse stables for, my face must have shown that I was questioning his prior intentions, because he looked around the place before sighing and quietly saying. “Sometimes I like the chill with the horses, okay? They’re caring creatures and they don’t judge you for what you say…” His eyes were shining with honesty, but at the same time hostility as though daring me to tell another soul. It appeared that Jack had lots of secrets.
Author: Me, CherylMcMinorrr
Pairing: Jalex (Eventually, once the story kicks off, anyway)
Chapter: 8 & 9/?
Rating: (atm,) PG.
Summary: based on the House of Night series, by P.C and Kristin Cast (at this current moment I‘m not sure how strongly or loosely based on the plot of that it‘ll be).
Disclaimer:Contains some quotes/lines/ideas belonging to the authors of the original House of Night series. No copyright infringement intended. I don’t own the members of All Time Low or any other band members mentioned. Title is from ‘Poison’ by All Time Low. This hasn’t happened, duh.
A/N: I know I’ve spelled ‘vampire’ as ‘vampyre’ as that’s how it’s spelt in the series this is based on and it didn’t feel right changing it because I love the House of Night books too much.
Master list
“So, Alex… I- we, were just wondering: Why do you have a filled out mark?” I strangely wasn’t annoyed by Josh asking this, I knew the whole table had probably been thinking it ever since they found out I was in fact the kid with their mark filled out, it was only a matter of time until they stopped side stepping the subject. “I don’t actually know.” I told the whole table. “It just happened while I was passed out.” I emphasised with my hands, actually curious about this myself now. They all seemed to understand though and I didn‘t think they‘d press the subject too much. It didn’t seem a bad to tell them about my vision, but something told me not yet, I had to get to know them better. At the moment I could be anyone to them; a weird psychopath kid or a compulsive liar or something. “I wonder why?” questioned Jonathan in his slight Texas twang. He seemed like a nice enough guy from what I’d seen, I don’t think he asked the question to pressure me. “I have no idea I sighed.” Just as the Hags walked by us. They scoffed and Josh flipped them the finger behind their back’s. It caused us all to laugh, until Jack and William headed out behind them. I hoped for Josh’s sake, actually all our sakes that they didn’t tell them.
“You know who they remind me of?” Josh muttered to me and I shook my head. “You seem like the kind of guy to have seen Mean Girls, Alex.” What did he mean by that? No way was I admitting that to a table of new friends who’d judge me. “See, they remind me of the plastics.” I stared at him for a minute, with what was hopefully an incredulous look on my face. “Just me who thinks that then?” Rian, Jonathan and I nodded in unison. Brendon and Ryan seemed to be in their own world, oblivious to our conversation. “Do they do that a lot?” I nodded my head towards them. “Yeah. It’s totally weird and when they’re both sat there quietly it’s like they’re talking to each other telepathically or something.” Josh said and Rian nodded in agreement. I contemplated this for a minute, but could it really be true when they’re not actually twins? Maybe they were supposed to have been twins and it was some kind of weird vampyre power they had? What did I know? I was new to the whole being a fledgling vampyre thing.
“Tell me more about the Dark Daughters and Sons…” I enquired, wanting to keep and conversation going, but wanting to keep it off of me, also. “Well…” Jonathan started. “They’re like the school cheerleaders mixed with the jocks and football players. At least that’s how Hayley and crew run the organisation. They expect everyone else in the school to conform to their ridiculous ideas about what it takes to be a vampyre and they hate humans. I mean, despise them. They hold special private rituals, that you have to be invited to, to attend and what else?” Rian quickly jumped in. “And there’s a rumour that Hayley. who’s obviously their leader, is favoured by Pete seeing as she’s his High Priestess in training. Oh and Jack, although he’s not one of them, seems to be another of Pete’s favourites, he thinks he’s “gifted by Nyx” or something. Basically it gives them a reason to go around with their heads up their own asses and acting as arrogant as they like.” I let out a disapproving breath, I really hated people like that.
“Any more questions for us?” Before I could even think of anything to ask, I noticed a shot of orange hair and Hayley was stood beside our table. “Hey, Alex, I’m gonna make this quick, I’m practically being forced by Pete to offer you an invite to The Dark Daughters and Sons’ full moon ritual tomorrow, I know it’d be such a shame for you to say no, but maybe you could consider it, yeah?” She was so rude. She strode back off to where Travis and Jack were waiting by the archway before disappearing back through it. “Hag.” Jonathan scoffed. “I think you should go, you could be like the inside man and spy on them!” Rian told me. “Now this is starting to sound like Mean Girls” I mumbled so that only Josh would hear. He laughed as did I. “Yeah… I think I’ll go.” I managed to choke out through laughter. “Stealing my room mate, Franceschi?” I laughed even harder at Rian’s comment. I was really going to like being friends with these people. When we silenced I actually noticed how tired I was, I clearly wasn’t used to the reversed sleep schedule. “Guys, I’m gonna take Alex back to the dorm, he looks like he’s not slept in a week and I have studying to do…” I yawned as though the prove my tiredness and followed Rian in standing up. “See ya tomorrow!” Jonathan said and Josh added a “Yeah, it was great meeting you!” and lastly Ryan and Brendon said in unison “Welcome to Hell High!” and waved. I understood why they’d been nicknamed the twins now.
“So… The group?” I asked Rian when we were back in the room, hoping he’d know that I expected elaborate on them for me. “They’re all really great people… As you’ve seen.” Smiling at the thought of his friends. “So you know about Brendon and Ryan and the whole ‘twins’ thing, you start to get used to it and it stops seeming so weird… They’re a little quiet at first, but they are two of the most loyal friends you could ever have, I promise. Next there’s Josh, well you seem to have already have clicked with him. You already know he transferred from England just before I got here, so there’s not much else really. He likes acting and singing and he‘s one of the most easy going people you could ever meet. Next there’s Jonathan, he’s gay, as you know, I feel a bit sorry for him, it must get lonely, there aren’t that many gay guys here at the school.” This instantly triggered a memory and I thought back to Hayley and Jack’s argument, I bet the rest of the school didn’t know about Jack’s homosexuality. I wonder what he’d do if they found out. I suddenly felt smug, if worse ever came to worse I could always blackmail the guy. “Alex are you listening to me?” “What did you say?” “I was telling you about how Jonathan was placed as Jack’s roommate when he first moved here. The guy was a complete homophobe, so you can imagine what happened when he found out. He told Pete he didn’t want to share with a ’fag’, which of course left Pete livid. He put Jack on disciplinary and everything, which rarely happens here, then he gave Jonathan the option to keep sharing with him or room alone. Obviously he picked the second. He rooms with Josh now, so it‘s not that bad. I think it was when Jack was on disciplinary with Pete that Pete discovered Jack was gifted or whatever shit.” Rian had gone off on a tangent, but I really felt bad for Jonathan, I hated people acting like Jack had and yet I didn‘t get how he could be that way and at the same time be in the closet himself. “Not saying anyone deserves to die or anything, but if anyone deserves to spontaneously catch fire and die or reject the change it’s that entire group of people.” I nodded at this though I was unsure how much I agreed, the thought of rejecting the change scared me, a lot, although Pete said it wasn’t likely to happen to me, that didn’t mean it wouldn’t happen to any of my new friends.
~
I was surprised that I could actually sleep, I thought my mind would be racing with everything I’d learned and all that had gone on today, but to be honest I was out pretty quickly. It seems that becoming a student at the school was pretty tiring business. My sleep was far from dreamless though, it started out with the flying dream, however this time there was something pulling me down, trying to stop me getting as high in the sky as I wanted to be. Also, someone else was flying with me, but they were having no trouble and their face kept changing, but it seemed to be Jack’s face more than anyone else’s, which was really weird. However the weirdest part was how his mark was no longer the sapphire colour of the vampyre’s but a dark-blood red colour. Just before I awoke, I turned and all I could see on the ground was a big orange cat, teeth bared and hissing at me. I jumped awake, seeing Rian already bustling about the room.
I hurried out of bed, showered and changed into black skinny jeans, a grey t-shirt and the black cardigan which was a part of the ‘uniform’, then I pulled out my hair straighteners, which Rian scoffed at, but didn‘t comment on. It felt so weird waking up in the evening. When I was finished sorting out my hair he took me down to get some breakfast and I just grabbed a piece of fruit from one of the refrigerators in the dorm kitchen. While we were mid conversation about music, Jack quickly entered the kitchen, where Rian and I had been sat alone, before he glanced around to check no one was here and then approached us. He was wearing skinny jeans, which I assumed he wore a lot and a tight black t-shirt with some kind of writing on. Seriously, what was it with him and tight clothes? Oh, right, he was gay. But apparently only Hayley and I knew that. I wanted to laugh out loud for the art of eavesdropping, but I thought I’d better not. “Here. I was told to give this to you by Pete. Could you drop him a hint that I‘m not a fucking messenger boy, okay? Thanks Gaskarth.” He said bitterly, before marching out of the kitchen. “I don’t see his problem.” I told Rian, biting into my apple and examining what appeared to be my class schedule. “Most people don’t, I think he’s just misguided.” I scoffed. I really hoped I’d be in the same classes as at least some of Rian’s group. I had vampyre sociology first, that meant my first lesson would be with Pete. After that I had Drama or art. I didn’t like Drama, but I knew I wasn’t any good at art either. Why couldn’t there have been a music option? I chose drama.
~
Chapter 9.
Rian showed me the way to the class and I stepped in awkwardly, hoping I’d know someone, anyone in the class. No such luck though. Well, I could see Travis and Cassadee at the back, but I knew better than to try and sit with them, so quickly sat at one of the small two person tables at the front of the room. Then I sat there worrying that I looked too eager right up until Pete practically glided into the room. How could someone who wore skinny jeans look so gracious? I’d never know. He scanned the class, counting heads and then scowled for a moment, until the door opened and in walked Jack, looking surprisingly sheepish. “Sorry Pete. I got held up. I really didn’t mean it.” Pete sighed. “Okay, just, take a seat next to Alex.” Jack looked horrified at the thought, before clambering to the seat mumbling about “Fucking Hayley and her fucking advances making me late.” I turned to look at him as Pete went to his desk. “Why are you friends with her but give the impression you hate her?” I couldn’t help it, it was torturing my mind. He looked taken aback, yet didn’t ask or tell me to keep my nose out. He seemed thoughtful for a moment, like he was choosing an answer carefully. Was he gonna lie to me? “Just, keep your nose out, you might find out something you don’t want to.” He mumbled and glared before looking me straight in the eye. I froze, captivated by that chocolate brown colour. Wait, what? I totally wasn’t captivated by them, I was… eh. Intrigued? They were deep, like he was hiding so much behind them and yet baring his soul in them at the same time. I turned away quickly. “Ooh. Cryptic messages.” I muttered back my voice bustling with sarcasm, before the sound of a heavy book slamming distracted me.
“Good Evening!” Pete greeted the class, then he stepped over and slid me a copy of ‘The Fledgling Handbook 101’ and headed back to the front of the class. He was everything a teacher needs to be really, he wasn’t strict but he didn’t have to be, he had complete control of the class. Everyone’s attention was on him, even if he didn’t make the class as interesting as he did, I think he’d still hold everyone’s attention for the fact everyone was scared his power. We were learning about ancient vampyre warriors known as ‘The Amazons.’ and I don’t think I’ve ever paid attention so much in class. Jack kept muttering under his breath next to me and he kept averting his eyes from the front, looking down at his lap. I could see him from the corner of my eye, but I was paying too much attention to what Pete was saying to become distracted by it. Once an hour was up I wanted to stay longer, like a little child who wants to stay awake to hear the whole of their bedtime story. Jack just snickered at my obvious desire to continue listening to Pete and was one of the first to exit the class room. Pete stopped me on the way out of the room and asked me if I was settling in okay, to which I nodded and glanced around, I was going to be late to next lesson. As if on cue, Pete piped up his “Right, you best get going, you don’t want to be late to drama.” When I left to room Jack and Hayley were talking in quiet voices by the door, having some kind of heated dispute. They both looked up at me as I left, the last the leave the room.
“Hi, Alex!” That sickly sweet voice, prominent in falseness. “Hello, Hayley.” I hoped I sounded as cold as I had done in my head. “I wanted to ask you about The Dark Daughters and Sons’ meeting…” “Oh, yeah, I’m going to that…” I smirked. She couldn’t even do a thing to un-invite me seeing as Pete had suggested it. “You know where the rec-hall is?” She asked me too nicely, her voice dripping with candied venom. “Yeah. Rian will show me.” I informed her, to prevent her attempting to give me the wrong directions. Jack was looking at the ground once again. He’d done nothing but act like a douche-bag to me, aside from the first time we’d met back in the infirmary and yet, I couldn’t help feel sorry for him. He had a secret that for some reason he felt he had to keep from the whole school and the fact he was stuck with Hayley was even worse for him. I bit my lip as a watched him staring at the floor and Hayley emitted a sound that was a lot like a hiss, before she snapped out a quick “Let’s go, Jack!” and pulled him away. What just happened? Did I some how piss her off even more? I couldn’t help but wonder.
My next two lessons flew by in a blur, I had double drama, to which I was late for, because I couldn’t find my way around for the life of me. I shared the class with Josh and Jonathan, Jack was also in our lesson but he kept well away. I could tell that it was going to be a fun lesson to do. The professor was so funny and an amazingly good actor, but like I said, I didn’t care too much for drama. I went to lunch with Josh and Jonathan and the others soon joined us at the table and I told the group about what happened with Hayley and then a question that had been playing on a loop since the end of Vampyre Sociology came back to mind. “How did Pete know I was going to take Drama? I only decided this morning!” Rian laughed at me. “The vamps know everything. Sometimes too much. Especially a High Priest like Pete.” I nodded, but inside I was filled with a flash of intense fear; what if he knew I was keeping my vision from him? The fear was more than that though, it was unsettling that people could know so much about me.
After lunch, English Lit also flew by quickly, I was actually good at English and so was Rian, who was in the class with me, along with Ryan and Brendon. There was just one incident where this kid called Dougie kept coughing and purposely interrupting the professor as she spoke. She gave him such a lecture I started to feel sorry for the poor kid. Spanish went by even more quickly. That left one more class. Equestrian Studies. AKA, Horse Studies. I didn’t know how I was going to feel about that class. I’d never even properly been near a horse before, let alone anything else. I trudged down to the stables alone as it appeared none of Rian’s friends or anyone from my previous class took the lesson. I quietly stood at the back of a small group of kids, glad that neither Jack or Hayley were in sight and soon a vamp appeared from one of the stalls in the stable. He had short spiky hair and a piercing through his lip, really not the kind of person you‘d expect to see as a teacher. His vampyre tattoo wouldn’t have been out of place in a Disney movie, something like Fantasia, with all it’s intricate swirls, curls, small stars and leaf-shapes. “Good evening, class. I’m Professor Flyzick, but you’re best off calling me Matt. Matt, another name that didn’t sound fit for a vampyre. And yet there he was, Matt the vampyre. “This is a horse.” He told us, making me feel quite patronised, just as a horse approached him. He didn’t have to lead it over or anything. “You‘ve all been specially selected for this class because we thought you might possibly have an aptitude for riding.” he told us. I didn’t dare ask him exactly who the ‘we’ were that chose me for this class, but I really thought they‘d chose the wrong person. “Horses aren’t just perfect little pets, they require work and dedication, patience and intelligence. We‘re starting with the work part.”
Basically he was trying to tell us that he wanted to muck out the stables, actually he left us and said he was going to return in ¾ of an hour to check on our work. Mucking out stables didn’t really sound like my idea of a lesson. I wanted to find whoever decided I had a so-called aptitude for this lesson and cut them. But of course violence is never the answer. I got to work shovelling shit into the wheelbarrow. Such a pretty picture, don’t you think? Yeah, I know, I should drop the sarcasm. I was thankful to have been given ‘mucking boots’ to wear while doing this though, I couldn’t imagine standing ankle deep in horse poo in my converse. I was filling the stall with sawdust by the time I heard someone enter the stall behind me. “Well done, Alex.” I jumped a little and turned to face Matt. “Did you mind cleaning out this stall?” “Not really, I didn’t really think about it.” “Good. I’d like you to meet Trace, our finest horse. It was his stall you just cleaned.” A dark horse was being lead back into the stall by Matt. I stroked him tentatively. “Hi, Trace.”
Matt let me stay after lesson to groom the horse I’d apparently be working with in this class. I’d never really been a horse person, but I didn’t want to say no to Matt when he‘d asked. I’d noticed it was practically impossible to say ‘no’ to any of the adult vamps. I was humming a tune under my breath and brushing Trace’s coat when I heard the stall open then whoever had entered gasped and took a step back. I glanced up and my eyes met Jack’s. Not really the person I’d wanted to see while in such a good mood, however his words surprised me. “Shit, sorry, I didn’t think anyone would be here…” I instantly wanted to know what Jack had been creeping around the horse stables for, my face must have shown that I was questioning his prior intentions, because he looked around the place before sighing and quietly saying. “Sometimes I like the chill with the horses, okay? They’re caring creatures and they don’t judge you for what you say…” His eyes were shining with honesty, but at the same time hostility as though daring me to tell another soul. It appeared that Jack had lots of secrets.