To say that Rain held Asher's gaze in return would've been the second overstatement of the day, for her trepid blue eyes trembled ever so slightly. Not once did they make the bolder move out of the way, however; the girl looked on in anticipation of what the half-vampire would say at the conclusion of his intensive analysis.
The boy's attention instead shifted back to the lesson, and his unsatisfied response seemed all the more dismissive and insincere with the absence of eye contact. This was only the first class, but Rain felt like she had just failed some kind of test. Before any vampire could sink his teeth in her, the biting realization that hardly anyone wanted to be her friend sank into her mind and sucked her of any sanguinity. Solitude and predation. That was all she’d experience here.
But suddenly the half-vampire who was eyeing Rain a second ago seemed less like a predator, fleeing the room, apologizing to her and the teacher, shoving a girl with identical red hair into the hallway. She sat confused through the rest of class, still not knowing what Asher was thinking. His unexpected leave, however, freed the blue-eyed girl from the negative thoughts that she’d piled on like bricks to a psychological prison.
“Dissociative fugue,” the teacher concluded facetiously at Asher and Ann’s exit. “...Or a family emergency. That too.”
~~~
Rain hurried out of the room with matching haste, but only when the bell dismissed her. There were just two classes left in her day, right? She’d get through this. Or would she? Math was next, but after staring into Asher’s cold, calculating eyes, the flustered girl seemed done with the class before it even started.
Doubting herself wasn’t helping, though. Soon, Rain was as lost in the halls as she was in her thoughts. This didn’t look like the math wing... Rather, it was a relatively empty passage. Where exactly was she?
“Heyyyyyyy,” came a suggestive male voice from behind. “You lost? Maybe I can...”
Rain turned to see a smirking teenage vampire, staring at her provocatively. She swallowed and drew back slightly, but with each pause in his sentence the boy advanced more, closing her in, until she was pressed to the lockers with him towering over her.
“...help you find where you’re looking for. Just like your sweet-smelling blood helped me find you.”
The girl—all of her trembling now—shrank further against the wall and shortened her breath, as the vampire’s grew heavier with lust.
“P-please let me go,” Rain pleaded helplessly to the student, whose fangs were already dripping like stalactites.
~~~
“Certainly, Aster. It’s no bother,” replied a smiling Ms. Heavengates. “In addition to ways we can improve the school for our students, the council here raises funds for all kinds of projects and activities. Past events have included blood drives, food trucks, parties, trips, ice cream socials, and my personal favorite... the moonlit cruise. Quite a bit of responsibility. Elections happen early in the year—actually, two weeks from now, to be exact. If you’re planning to run, do what you can to spread the word, of course, but my advice is to make friends with as many fellow students—human and vampire alike—as you can. That way, they’d know and trust you to represent them well!”