Catrina Billowson

In third period, Harvey was waiting for me at the door. As I walked past him, he put his arm around my waist and walked me to my seat. He held me too tightly for me to squirm away.

“Good morning,” he told me, smiling his large perfect smile.

A smile that’s only perfect because of the vampire trait he acquired.

“Morning,” I said back to him.

His face fell for a second. “Why do you smell like dog?”

“What?” I said, kind of surprised.

“You smell like dog,” he said again.

“Um,” I smelled my hair. “No I don’t.”

“Yeah, you do. You smell like wet dog.”

“Well I don’t know why, I don’t have a... dog...” I said coming to a realization. Koby was a dog. A Werewolf, actually. But...

Oh duh. I’m part Werewolf!

“I know you don’t,” he said, thinking to himself and looking at me like I was a complete mystery.

The bell rang, so we sat down. I went through the whole period trying to keep Harvey from guessing why I smelled like wet dog. Which I didn’t smell on me. It was getting hard to control my thirst for my classmates as well, the fire flaring in my throat. Fear crept up on me and I couldn’t breathe, and Harvey held my hand tight under the desk until I was calm again, his shoulder against mine for support.

“You’re having withdrawals from lack of blood. You need some or you’ll die,” he whispered into my ear.

“I’m not going to kill anyone for their blood so I can live,” I whispered quietly back to him as the teacher droned on, preoccupied by her own voice.

“It’s survival of the fittest. And we’re the top of the food chain. That’s how these things work.”

“I. Don’t. Care,” I hissed harshly through my fangs.

I started shaking, and I became cold. I needed blood, but I wasn’t gonna kill anyone. That’s definitely a no-go. I’m not that kind of person.

My fingers crinkled the list of things in my pocket as I bit my lip to keep from losing control, and Harvey cocked his head toward the sound as blood filled my mouth.

“What’s that?” He said, trying to get the note.

“Nothing!” I shouted, a drop of blood leaking onto my chin as I pulled away.

The whole class turned around to look at me.

“Sorry,” I laughed nervously, and most of them turned back around. My teacher gave me a weird glance, and I waved it away.

“As I was saying...” Miss Cole said, and went on with her lecture.

“What is it? Let me see!” he whispered.

“No.”

“Okay then,” he said, backing off, anger resonating in his irises. “Your stuff. Whatever.”

The rest of third period was slow and ended not a moment too soon. In fourth period, Mrs. Callaway announced once again that our projects were due the next day. Koby and I hadn’t even started, even though I’m more aware than ever now about lichens. We could do that overnight because of that, couldn’t we?

Fifth period I was in Mr. Gratinzki’s room for biology and the fire in my throat finally receded. As long as I didn’t brood on the fact I was thirsty, I was okay for a while. Which worked. Because we dissected frogs. Which was disgusting.

Sixth period I had Gym, which was thankfully inside. We had to do the mile, and I aced it with flying colors. In turn, Ms. Gorgons expressed her shock and offered me a spot on the track team.

I wasn’t interested.

After school, I waited at the front doors by my bike for at least half an hour. Koby never showed.

So I sighed, swallowed my sadness, and started to unhook my bike.

“What are you doing?” I heard a voice come from behind me.

Koby was standing there, smirking. He looked a little tired.

“Waiting for you,” I smirked, glancing him over. “You look tired.”

“It’s a long distance from here to my house,” he told me. “Come on.”

“We’re walking?”

“Yup,” he nodded. “Don’t worry, the Vampire and Werewolf in you will take care of the fatigue you’d originally feel as a human.”

“Okay...” I said hesitantly, and we started walking, my bike alongside me.

A few minutes later, he started to talk.

“Okay, so remember when I said I had something to admit and things to explain?”

“Mmhm...”

“Okay, well here’s the admitting part:” He stopped in his tracks, and looked at me seriously. “Somehow… I know it was you that saved me.”