***
That night we all stood around the lake drinking, music blaring. I danced with Sophia, Isaac danced with Anna, she couldn’t stop grinning, her eyes bright. They were so cute together; I hoped they’d get together.
I leaned back, looking up at the stars and the bright moon, enjoying this moment. Maybe, I wasn’t so angry at Sterling any more for turning me into a vampire, he saved me from a horrible human life filled with tears and going to sleep at night starving because I couldn’t afford to eat. Who knew what my new life would bring me here?
We danced and drank late into the night, then headed back to our rooms. I passed out on my bed after my shower, not even bothering to get dressed.
Sunday passed by quickly. I had woken with a hangover, lying in bed naked and confused. Got dressed and headed down to The Hub, drinking two thermoses of blood before spending the day on the couch in the dormitory, studying with Anna and Sophia, trying to work on using my supernatural senses.
I woke up early Monday morning to my alarm. I rolled over turning it off and got dressed in high-waisted bike shorts and a sports bra.
It was still dark outside but an orange glow in the distance told me the sun was going to come up soon, so I slathered sunscreen on, putting my key in the hidden pocked on the inside of my short’s waistband. My hair was up in a high ponytail on top my head, my running shoes on. I pulled my door closed, locking it and headed down the stairs, standing out the front of the dormitories as I stretched.
Jogging off I headed towards The Hub, going the longer way passed gym, through the witches’ garden, the smell of all the flowers and herbs hitting me, and I choked on all the different smells, passing the witches’ dormitory.
I needed to start improving in our Physical Exercise classes, otherwise I was going to start coming last and lose points, or even fail. I was hoping the extra run in the mornings would help.
Racing down the hill and passing The Hub, my breathing steady as I jogged up through the path in the woods, the twinkling lights brightening the path as they sparkled, the staff housing came into view and I saw a figure standing out the front, stretching.
As I got closer Sterling Blackwell came into view wearing grey sweats and white t-shirt, his hair ruffled, staring down at the ground, his biceps flexing as he ran his fingers through his head and my heart skipped a beat, he looked so good.
He looked up and his eyebrows rose as he spotted me. “What’re you doing up out of bed at this time?” He questioned.
I shrugged. “What does it look like I’m doing?” He rolled his eyes. “What are you doing out of bed at this time?” He laughed, falling into step beside me, jogging with me. My eyebrows rose. “What are you doing?”
“You think you’re the only one that goes jogging at this hour?” he asked, raising a brow. My heart skipped a beat. He sped up his pace and I ground my teeth together as I forced myself to quicken my pace, to matching his pace so I didn’t fall behind and look weak. “Grinding your teeth is a terrible habit.” He looked at me with a judging look. I didn’t reply. I pushed myself faster, so he’d have to pick his pace up to keep up with me.
“So, do I have to jog with the rest of the class considering I’m running now?” I asked, smirking up at him.
Sterling laughed, the sound was musical and deep. “Obviously.” He looked down at me, his brown eyes looking almost black in the darkness.
We jogged in silence and I occasionally sneaked a peek at him, only to catch him looking at me out of the corner of his eye. He kept jogging faster, causing me to pick my pace up. Sweat beaded down my face and down the back of my neck, running down my chest, I was panting.
I broke through the path of the woods, running passed the vampire dormitory, and the gym, through the witches’ garden and passed their dormitories.
Sterling ran with me the whole time, we ran passed The Hub and down into the woods, along the bank of the river. The sound of bird’s chirping a happy tune, the sun casting an orange glow on the water as it rose higher, our feet crunching in the grass as we ran in sync.
We ran through the woods, the little twinkling lights shimmering along the path to the staff housing, we ran by the large fence that all the small houses sat behind.
A small smile spread across my face, the endorphins rushing to my head as I ran across the open field with Sterling by my side. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, wondering what people would think if they saw us, he was looking down at me and his almost looked proud, and my heart beamed as bright as the sun, and I couldn’t keep the grin off my face.
We ran through the woods, around another path lit up with twinkling lights, I took the left path that led to the vampire dormitory, instead of heading right, to wherever that led. Running up along the side of the vampire dormitory I pushed myself harder, sprinting through the woods that led to The Hub, not going the long way around, Sterling ran beside me the whole time.
Entering the field and racing up to The Hub, I half expected Sterling to leave, but he raced on ahead of me, I pushed faster, trying to beat him to the door but his height made him much faster than me. I laughed.
He grabbed the door, pulling it open, turning to me with a big smile that showed off his dimples and straight teeth. I slowed down, expecting him to go inside, after winning the race, but he stood there smiling at me.
My heartrate increased and I looked down at the ground as I tried to stop myself from smiling, brushing passed him, “Thanks,” I breathed, looking up at him between dark lashes, stepping inside the door, turning back to look at him, he was gone with a blur. I gasped, the door swung shut and rolling my eyes as I headed to the cafeteria, shaking my head.
I made three coffees, grabbing a thermos of blood and pouring a little bit in each one, stirring it in, and gulped down the last few mouthfuls, placing the thermos into the returns slot to be, grabbing a cup tray and carrying the coffees back to my dormitory.
I knocked on Sophia’s door, she opened it bleary eyed and her eyebrows rose in shock when she seen me, I handed her a cup and she smiled. “Thanks.” She looked up at me gratefully, I smiled back, waving at her as I left her to her cup of coffee and heading up the two flights of stairs to Anna’s and my floor.
Knocking on Anna’s door. The door opened a few moments later, I handed Anna her coffee and she looked up at me surprised and smiled. “Thanks,” she mumbled.
I walked back to my room, jamming the key into the lock and walking inside, putting the cup on my nightstand and headed for the bathroom to get ready for the day.
After showering, I blow dried my hair, leaving it straight so it brushed the tops of my hips, and put my makeup on for the day. I pulled on a lacy black thong and matching bra, pulling my skirt on over the top, feeling the material against my bare bum, not caring, grabbing a button-down white shirt from the rack and putting it on, tucking it into my skirt, hoisting my shirt higher and pulling my blazer on over the top. I sat down on my bed and pulled some knee-high white socks on and my black pumps, ready to start the day. I shoved some shorts and a polo shirt in my backpack, grabbing my notebook off the desk, putting it in my bag, along with my key. Grabbing my coffee and heading out the door, locking it behind me, I walked down the several flights of stairs and sat on the white couch near the fireplace, between the door and staircase.
I unlocked my notebook and went to the leader board scores. During the term we will be given points: the witches, werewolves and vampires had a tally, whichever faction had the most points at the end of the school year had bragging rights for all of next year, and a trophy. And within the factions whoever got the most points overall got an extra $5000 in their stipend next term, then whoever got the most points in their year got to choose where their year got to go on vacation during the term holidays, and bragging rights. Why did everything centre around bragging rights around here?
I found my name and seen I got an extra thirty points this morning. How did I get more points?
I went to recent activity to see
why and was shocked to find I had been awarded them from Sterling for determination. My jaw slackened and shock ran through my veins, as well as pride. I broke out into a grin. That’s nice, I guess.
The extra points meant I was coming in fourth place for our year, bumping Selene down to fifth place, which made me grin even wider. I still needed one hundred and twenty more points to take first place, but it was only the second week and as long as Julian, Scarlett and Malia didn’t get too many more points today, I may be able to take first place.
Selene came sauntering down the stairs with Silver and Dawn following close behind, she looked pissed. She spotted me and came marching over, crossing her arms as she stared me up and down. “You won’t be ahead of me for very long,” she glared at me. “Lap it up while you can because you’ll soon get used of being below me.” She turned and stormed away, her friends following behind her closely. I shook my head as I watched them leave, wondering how I ever ended up on her shit list.
Anna and Sophia came down the steps, looking down at me smiling. “Why were you up so early?” Anna asked.
I shrugged my shoulders. “I went for a run,” I told her, truthfully but leaving out the part about Sterling running with me. Sophia sat down on the chair that ran up along the wall, next to the fireplace, Anna sat down next to me.
“Oh,” Sophia said surprised, her eyebrows raised. “Did you have a good run?” I nodded my head, sipping on my drink.
Anna was looking through her notebook, confused. “Why did you get points from Professor Blackwell for determination?” she asked, looking back up at me with raised eyebrows.
I looked at her innocently. “Oh, that, yeah he seen me going for a run, and asked what I was doing so I told him.” I shrugged like it was not a big deal, even though my heart was racing. The bell rang and I jumped up before they could say anything more. “We better get to class.”
Arriving at our Enhanced Senses classroom, sitting down in our usual seats towards the back of the class. Professor Bradshaw entered the class, pulling out the ant and the xylophone. “Okay so those of you who still haven’t been able to use your enhanced senses to hear the ant on the xylophone need to work on that because we cannot spend all year on the same thing,” he said. “Now the rest of you need to work on listening to what the ant does and type it out on your notebooks and email me what you come up with. If it’s walking, write out its footsteps and the pattern, if it chirps write it down, if its antenna rubs together write it down.” He looked around the room, then sat down.
I opened the notebook in my notebook, focusing on hearing the ant. I could hear breathing, a steady heartbeat. I pushed further forward until I heard the ping ping of the ant walking along the xylophone, concentrating harder on it, listening for any other noises. It made a clicking noise, I wrote it down, and it’s walking.
It was quiet, except for the occasional clicking noise and the sounds of it walking across the xylophone, its antenna rubbed together nowhere near as often, but I wrote down when they did.
The class ended, and I saved my work, attached it in an email to Professor Bradshaw, signing my name at the bottom and pressing send.
Heading off for Control 101, across the hall, the current class were walking off to their next, and I slipped passed, sitting in my usual chair at the back, waiting as the rest of the class took their seats. Professor Winters stood in front of the class; hands folded. “After what happened over the weekend, we need to work twice as hard,” he growled, causing me to blush as guilt knotted in my stomach as I chewed my lip.
He pulled the jar out and uncapped it, the sweet smell filling the room causing my fangs to pop out, he sat it on the desk. “Anyone who moves loses one hundred and fifty points.”
I bit my lip, my fangs sinking into my lip, blooded pooling out of it as I tried not to move, blood spilled from my lip to my chin, before sliding down and dropping on my white shirt. I didn’t move to wipe it away as Professor Winters looked at me with his eyes narrowed like he was waiting for me to move. I ignored his stare, trying to focus on anything but the sweet smell filling the room.
Half-way through the class a young boy with curly hair sneezed. “Jared Gordon loses one hundred and fifty points for moving,” Professor Winters growled, my eyes widened. I gulped, fear travelling down my spine, making me want to shiver but I pushed the feeling back.
When the bell rang, I sighed with relief, a girl in the front row started gathering her things. “I didn’t dismiss you,” Winters growled. “Destiny Simmons loses one hundred and fifty points for moving.”
My eyes swivelled around the room, everyone sat perfectly still, too afraid to move or speak. Professor Winters, slowly gathered his things together, moving so slowly as he capped the blood, my fangs instantly retracting away as he put it away.
He walked slowly to the door, turning back to us as he opened the door. “Class dismissed.”
The class sighed in unison, moving to pack their things away quickly as the doors slammed shut as he walked off, probably to torture other people. The whole class was complete and utter torture. Professor Winters was quickly becoming my most hated teacher.
“If I ever find out who attacked that guy, they’ll wish they’d never did,” Selene told Dawn and Silver, sashaying past.
Sophia, Anna and I walked to the cafeteria in silence, grabbing a thermos from the buffet table, placing it on our own trays, stepping down the line in silence. I grabbed two slices of pizza, a piece of garlic bread, walking to sit at our usual table, feeling too shocked to even think. Anna sat down opposite me, Sophia sat down next to me and sighed. “I can’t believe Professor Winters did that,” Sophia whispered, her eyes wide, and she shuddered. “That was the worst class.”
“I can’t believe he deducted Jared for sneezing,” I growled, anger consuming me now that the shock was wearing off.
Anna nodded. “I know, it’s just a normal bodily function.”
Sophia looked at me. “I can’t believe you just sat there with blood dripping from your lip as you tried not to move.”
Looking down I seen drops of blood speckled across the top of my white shirt. I couldn’t help but laugh, Anna and Sophia joined in. My eyes found Sterling from across the room as he watched me laughing, his eyebrows rose a fraction. I turned away from him, smiling.
We ate in silence after that, I sculled my thermos and grabbed another one, sipping at it slowly, walking back to the vampire dormitory in silence after I had told Sophia and Anna I’d catch up with them before class, my mood sour after that horrible lesson.
“What happened to you?” Sterling asked, appearing beside me, my heart hit my throat and I jumped a little in surprise, he chuckled.
“Oh my goodness!” I exclaimed, lightly pushing him. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!” My hand fell on my chest as I gulped down air. “Fuck!”
Sterling threw his head back and laughed. “I heard you’re heart having slight palpitations, it was quite amusing.” He looked down at me. “You didn’t answer my question.”
I told him what happened in class and he lifted his eyebrows, watching me with amusement. “You’re hopeless,” he joked.
I glared up at him, elbowing him playfully. “Hey!” Looking up at him, I raised my eyebrows. “Did you just come out here to make fun of me?”
Sterling shook his head, a smile dancing around the corner of his lips. “No, that was just a bonus.”
My mouth dropped open and I glared up at him, he gave me a small smile, then sped off in a blur and I groaned, heading into the dormitory up to my room and quickly changed my shirt and headed to my next class just as the bell rang.
Sitting in my Compulsion class up the back with Anna and Sophia, Melissa stood in the front of the classroom wearing a red dress and black stilettos and a smile lit up her face, I couldn’t help but glare at her. Jealousy coursing through my veins over her date with Sterling, even though I was fully aware I shouldn’t be.
“Come get your insects,” she told us, looking
around the room at the class.
Standing up and walking to the front of the classroom, I grabbed the praying mantis again, taking it back to my desk. “Now, for those of you who have still not managed to get your insect to walk in three circles, that’s what you’ll be working on. For those of you that have, we will now be compelling it our insects to jump.”
Bringing my face to the jar, staring at the praying mantis, trying to imagine it jumping, making myself believe it could jump. It did nothing, I continued, picturing how it’s legs would bend and it would spring up, leaping into the air, its arms raising up as it came back down, landing on its bug feet. It didn’t move, I kept pushing my thoughts towards it, willing it to do what I wanted, but it just stared up at me.
By the time the bell rang I hadn’t gotten anywhere with it, and that frustrated me. It didn’t really occur to me how much I wanted to succeed in this crazy place, but I did and failing made me angry. I really wanted to do well and pass my classes, I expected things to be hard but not this hard.
Walking into the gym and into the girls changing rooms, dressing in my shorts and polo, slipping my feet into my runners and out of the girls’ bathroom and the gym, dumping my backpack on the grass as I leaned against the building, Sophia and Anna walked up to me, already dressing in their gym clothes, the rest of the class filing onto the grass one-by-one. Sterling Blackwell came striding into the centre of the clearing in his usual white button-down shirt and black pants.
“Fifty laps!” he called out. I peeled myself off the wall with a sigh, he looked at me and his lips twitched at the corner, I rolled my eyes dramatically for his benefit, jogging out into the field, running the same course we had for a week now.
My muscles were feeling a little sore after my morning run with Sterling, but I pushed through it, willing my legs to keep moving. The laps passed by slowly, I wasn’t falling behind but I hadn’t gotten faster either, it was probably too early to tell if the morning run actually did anything for me, but I was going to keep doing them, and it wouldn’t be too bad if Sterling was running with me either.
Silverwood Academy Book 1 Page 7