Final Draft Chapters

EDIT BY NEBELPH: This thread is dedicated to Rapid_Reader's Final drafts so that we may never forget her; wether she likes it or not. Thanks to PB for her help setting this up.


Prologue:

Long ago, when Lucifer ruled the Heavens, three daughters were born. Past, Present and Future were the only daughters of Lucifer and were someday to rule in his place.

Past, Present and Future lived in peace until they began to wonder about the land in which they lived in. The girls wondered away from home and came across many creatures of both light and dark.

The girls discovered that, as of magical decent, they had become extremely powerful vampires. The sisters soon found out more about their powers. All three girls were beautiful; with high cheekbones and full lips. Their hair shone like stars, twinkling slightly.

But they also had other new abilities; they could run faster than cheetahs. Their bodies were enormously powerful; they could jump over houses, crush statues.

They also had individual talents. Past could see what was happening long ago. Present could see what was happening elsewhere. And Future could see things that hadn’t happened yet. As each girl’s power grew, they learned how to show each other what they saw.

One day they happened across one creature of dark and asked of it if they could somehow keep their powers safely hidden for as long as they would wish it. The creature told them of a Ritual of Amazan they would seal the magic into humans; three girls who would pass the magic down through the ages. Each Daughter of Magic would give birth to two boys and one girl but it was the girl whom would have the magic.

Past, Present and Future agreed, but the dark creature kept hidden from them the knowledge that once the sisters gave up their magic to the Ritual of Amazan, there was almost no way their magic could be restored. The only way to do so would be to rejoin the sisters with a Daughter of Magic and brake the Ritual of Amazan for that daughter. Doing so would give only one sister power once again. All three daughters would be needed to restore power to all three sisters and if any daughter should ever be lost, a sister's power would be gone forever.


The girls soon made plans to perform the ritual. After days of retrieving the necessary ingredients, the girls successfully did the ritual, and in the place of the ingredients sat three healthy babies.

Each sister fought over what to do with the children and Past, Present and Future all went their own separate ways.

Over many millennia, the power of Past, Present and Future has passed down from mother to daughter. Many families grew jealous and preformed their own ritual to grant their daughters and sons powers, but none were as powerful as the three Daughters of Magic. As time passed, the rituals were lost and those who had not performed them grew envious, and with the rituals no longer available, they made it their mission in life to track down and kill vampires. The group came to be known as the Brotherhood of Ian, as Ian was their leader. The Brotherhood succeeded in killing two of the three Daughters of Magic, but still one remained.

As Past, Present and Future fought to save their daughters, they were captured and taken prisoner at different ends of the world. Only one Daughter of Magic has survived, and it is said that she gave birth to two sons and a daughter...

Chapter 1:

The streets of Hartford, Connecticut are always busy. But I guess that’s what you get when you jam 3,274,000 people (as of 2000) into a state this small. For example, as of 2000, Maine had only 1,244,000 people, but they are at least three times bigger then Connecticut. The world makes no sense sometimes.

As I walked through the streets with my best friend Holly, I let my mind wander while she chatted on happily about her boyfriend, Jason. I liked Jason enough, but my mind was full of stories that needed to be written down.

I love to write. I love to let out all my thoughts and feelings through a small wooden stick with lead inside. Who knew that such a simple combo of paper and pencil could open up new worlds?

At that moment, I was writing a romance piece that takes place in Greece. In my story, Claudia is a young woman who works in the newspaper world. Her lover, John, lives in Greece and has recently invented a-

Ring

What was that? I pulled myself back to the present and found Holly looking at me. She had finally stopped talking.

Ring

"Are you going to answer that?" she asked, looking at me in a way that clearly showed who she thought was crazy.

I realized that the noise was my cell phone, and I pressed the green button before it could ring again. "Hello?" I said. I hadn't looked at the caller I.D.

"Ellen.” It was Mitch, one of my two brothers. We were triplets, born at exactly the same time. Mitch and my other brother, Nate, both had the same blond hair as me and the same aqua-green eyes.

"Mitch," I greeted him.

"Father wants you to come home."

"What? Why? I have another hour before-"

"Now," he said in a very final tone.

I sighed and looked at Holly, who was staring at a pair of three hundred-dollar boots.

"Alright," I finally said. "Just let me get Holly home first." I hung up.

Holly complained a bit about not having any one hundred-dollar shirts she could show off tomorrow, but sheagreed to go home anyway. I quickly called a cab before she could change her mind.

"See you tomorrow!" I called out the window as she raced up the steps to the door. She waved and smiled as she closed the door behind her.

When I got home, I put my coat on the hanger and started up the stairs, getting ready for full on pout mode.

"Ellen," my father called. I started back down after a silent sigh. I entered the living room, or den as is much more fitting.

My father, Richard Sternald, sat in a giant armchair that was the beautiful color of dark cherries, embroided with gold on the table that held his laptop. A roaring fire warmed the entire room and softened the edges of the bookshelves that lined the northern wall. Hundreds of books both large and small filled every inch of space the shelves would provide. Most were classics; A Midsummer Nights Dream by William Shakespeare and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontee among his favorites, but a few were newer-the ones owned by me. Along with writing, I also love to read. I mostly read fictional tales, which are my favorite. Fictional books are stories in which your mind can be transported to other worlds.

"Ellen, please sit down," my father huffed, pointing to a row of much less grand chairs then his. I slowly made my way over to them, and after sitting down in the middle, wound my feet around the chair legs.

"As you are aware, tomorrow is your birthday." I looked up in suprise; I had forgotten that. "Your big sixteenth," he said proudly, adding on a sweet smile.

I put on my own smile and nodded. We never celebrated any birthdays in my family, not since my mother died.

My mother, Amanda Sternald, died after giving birth to my brothers and I. I have absolutely no memories of her, but in the pictures I have seen, she was beautiful. She had long, black hair, violet eyes that pierce your heart, and a smile that lit up a room.

"So I was thinking about going out for dinner. Is there anywhere special would want to go?" Of course, dinner. I guess anything else is too much to ask. We have had dinner every birthday for as long as I can remember. Father thinks we forget, but we don't. As long as my brothers and I agree, my father always takes us out for a "special family dinner."

"No, nowhere special."

He nodded. "Okay, I'll ask your brothers then." He smiled again, but I took it as a dismissal. I saw him pick up his book again as I headed up the stairs and into my room where I found my favorite CD, stuck the headphones on my head, got out the book I was reading earlier and flipped open to the page where I left off.

When I next looked at the clock next to my bed, it said 11:59. Was it that late already? I should probably go to bed. No, I should call Holly and apologize first. Was she awake at this time? Maybe I’d call in the morning...

12:00. My clock beeped and a heartbeat later, intense pain spread across my torso, making me shout out. With sickening slowness, the fiery sensation moved down to my stomach and up my neck to my head. I had to be dying. Nothing could feel like this; nothing but death.

Right on queue, everything went black.

(I should probably add, that Ben pretty much wrote half of this chapter. He always adds stuff into other chapters, but he added a lot into this and so I think he should get credit for that. Thanks Ben!)
Chapter 2:

I woke with a start, opening my eyes into blinding light and reflexively jamming them shut. After a few seconds, I opened them again, slowly this time, and saw that the light was only the sun, coming through a window, set high up into the wall to my right.

As I looked around, I realized that I was in a room that looked like the inside of a hospital. The walls were all white, the color of clouds, giving the effect of the ambient bright light. A few chairs stood around desks that had mounds of papers on them. Some other beds like the one I lay on were arranged around the room. I was the only one there, but it looked well inhabited. There were other windows by the door, but all the blinds were drawn, and no light shone through them.

A hospital? Why am I in a hospital?

The door opened and a pretty woman came in. She had shoulder length brown hair and beautiful blue eyes that shined like sapphire. She had a thin, long body that suited her face. She wore a white hospital gown, the kind that nurses always wear. She didn't notice me at first, but ruffled through a pile of papers before looking at me.

"Oh," she exclaimed when she saw that my eyes were open, "You're awake! We didn't expect you to wake up for a while!" I blinked three times, still dizzy, and my confusion must have been written all over my face, because hers turned from surprise to understanding.

"You know why you are here, don't you?"

Why am I here? Where is here? Did I do something wrong? Where did that awful pain go?

"No," I tried to say, but the words caught. I cleared my throat and tried again, with more success, though my voice was still not quite right.

She looked at me kindly, turning her head to the side a little, as if she were trying measure me up, decide how to say something. "You're a vampire, sweetie. Don't you know that on your sixteenth birthday you turn into a vampire if you are a descendent of the Anilia?"

"Anilia?" I asked.

She nodded gently and her face said all too clearly that she had just realized how little I knew. "Yes, the families of Anilia performed the Ritual of Drezar. It made their sons and daughters into vampires."

My eyes widened as everything she said began to sink in. I am a vampire? But before I could even begin to seriously consider the idea, the logical side of my brain kicked in. No, no I'm not. Vampires are objects of myths, of legends. How can I be a vampire?

"So you're saying that my mother was one of these Anilia? And my father?" I challenged mockingly. I didn't believe her. How could I? She was playing some cruel joke on me and I was going to prove her wrong-catch her out and ruin the punch line. I knew I couldn't be a vampire, it just wasn't possible. Besides, I couldn't imagine father doing a ritual.

She shook her head, slightly amused by my stubborn attempt to cling to my humanity, but there was no mocking in her smile, only understanding. "No, your ancestors. Your great-great-great-great-grandparents."

"Oh," I replied sarcastically, acting like that made sense...it didn't.

She smiled wider and nodded. "You'll learn everything that you need to know about being a vampire while you are here."

So she wasn't giving up, but so far, she had led the conversation, allowing her to stick to the subject where she had her facts straight. I decided it was time to change track.

"Where is here?" I tested her.

"The Hemasoph Academy." She was smiling proudly now. From the look on her face, she clearly thought I was starting to believe her.

Right, Hemasoph. What kind of name is that? I could barely keep my eyebrow from rising. I was about to ask what 'Hemasoph" meant, when another woman entered the room. She wore a crisp business suit and had a small string of pearls around her skinny neck. She, too, was beautiful.

"Hello," she announced without looking at me. "You must be Ellen Sternald. My name is Ms. Windmeyer. I am one of the vice principals here at Hemasoph Academy." So the nurse wasn't lying, or, more likely, that logical part of my inserted, more than one person was in on this joke! "I trust you'll enjoy your time with us, but enjoy it within the boundaries given." She gave me a stern look, and I could see that her eyes were silver.

She then proceeded to give me a fairly large handbook which I opened to find a large list of rules.

"Memorize and follow these rules and you and I will be the best of friends. Nancy will show you to your new room and you can meet your roommates. I'm sure you'll love it here at Hemasoph Academy." And with that, she left.

I still refused to believe I was a vampire and it would take a lot more than two psychos to change my mind.

Nancy turned to me and beckoned me to follow. "Come with me. You should get some sleep and I'll show you where you have a nice soft bed waiting. The first change always takes it out of everyone and the recovery room is really no place to regain your strength, but I think in your case a tour of the Academy first would be a good idea." I got up off the small bed I was on and staggered a bit whilst Nancy watched me (probably wondering if I was going to collapse). She looked on the point of taking my hand and leading me, but I took a deep breath to clear my head, and the spinning stopped. She turned and walked into a hallway while I followed her, curious as to how far this was going to go.

We saw no students, and at first, I wondered smugly where they all were. However ,when Nancy pointed out the cafeteria to me, I could see that hundreds of teens were in there.

Nancy showed me everything. The library, classrooms, gym, bathrooms, offices. She told me what some of my classes would be. I would have Vampire Geology, Vampire Genealogy, Vampire 101 and Trigonometry. Why did I have to take Trig you might ask: because it turns out that even vampires need to know math. And that’s what all the people there really were-vampires.

She told me a few of my other classes, but I wasn't listening. It had all just sunk in. This was no joke.

I am a vampire.

Chapter 3:

Nancy walked me back to the dorms, and I noticed that no one was there.

"When does everyone finish dinner?" I asked. I was still recovering from the awful fact that I was now a vampire.

"Dinner? No, that wasn't dinner you saw, it was breakfast. And those weren't the students you will go to school with. All the boys and girls in your class are in Africa, visiting an Elder vampire there who is giving a speech about the Changes."

I had many questions about what she had just said, and I wanted to ask one question at a time, but when I opened my mouth, everything spilled out.

"Breakfast? Who has breakfast at this hour?" While we were walking, I could see that it was dark out. "What is an Elder vampire? What are the Changes?"

We reached a door that read "Fourth Class Girl Dorms." She stopped and smiled down at me.

"You should go visit your teachers tomorrow. I'm sure they would love to talk to you, and they can answer many of your questions. But now, I'm sure you're tired, and you need rest. There is a list of your schedule and a map on your bed. You are in room C2. There are clothes in the small dresser next to your bed, and a bathroom through the door next to the window. I'm sorry I can't be more help. I bid you good night." She didn't look strict or mad, just tired.

"Night." She smiled thankfully and I opened the door in front of me as she walked back the way we had come.

The main room was amazing. Not at all what I thought a vampire dorm would look like. The walls were light blue and two of the walls were draped in different colored fabrics. There were white swade couches with large pillows thrown around. Five large television sets were mounted around the room and two of them were still on. Blankets and games were also all over the floor. There were three doors on the far walls, and when I walked over, I saw that "A", "B" and "C" were printed on the wood. I remembered that I was in room C2, so I headed through the door marked "C." I walked into a large hall with doors on both sides. In a closer examination, I saw that each door had a "C" and a number. I quickly found C2 and headed in.

The room was dark, but my hand found a switch near the door. As the lights flickered on, they cast the room in a soft glow. This room was also very large. The walls were white, but elegant. There were four large beds with small dressers next to each. Two bookcases held what I could only guess were schoolbooks. There was an enormous window on the northern wall, and I would see a large lawn where teens who looked to be about eighteen were doing homework, chatting or chasing each other around. Next to the window, there was a second door, which I took to be the bathroom.
I found the bed that had a few papers on it, and picked them up. The first was a schedule:

7:00pm - breakfast in the dining hall
7:30pm - Vampire 101 with professor Locks
8:30pm - Genealogy with professor Patil
9:30pm - break
10:30pm - Trigonometry with professor Warner
11:30pm - lunch in the dining hall
12:00am - Vampire Geology with professor Lily
1:00am - Written Language, Drama or Law
2:00am - Self Defense with professor Porta
5:00am - dinner in the dining hall

Great. Trig before lunch, just what I wanted.

I looked around in the dresser and found about five black sweaters and skirts. I also found some of my pj's from home. I looked over at my bed, and saw my cell phone hidden beneath the papers.

"Oh my gosh," I exclaimed aloud. Father. He must be worried sick! I jumped onto the bed, about to call father, when a phone rang on a table across the room. It wasn't a cell phone, so I decided to answer it.

"Hello?" I asked the receiver.

"Ellen." I recognized the voice as Nancy's.

"Um...yeah. Hi."

"I realized that I forgot to tell you; we already called your father. He knows everything. He also understands. And he doesn't think you're crazy," she added. "I'm sure you also noticed the pajamas we brought for you."

"Yeah. Thanks."

"No problem, sweetie. You get some rest now. Good night."

"Night," I said. Then we both hung up.
* * *
The next night a quick knock woke me. After yawning a few times and a mumbled, "Just a sec," I opened the door to find a student of about seventeen standing in the hall.

"Oh! Sorry! I thought you would be awake!" she said, looking flustered.

"No, it's alright. Hi," I mumbled awkwardly.

She smiled. "I'm Lucy. I'm in third class. Er, Nancy asked me to come and answer some of your questions."

"Okay," I opened the door wider and moved aside. "Come on in." She quickly walked through and I shut the door behind her. When my eyes found her again, she was seated on the bed opposite mine.

"So, tell me about vampires. What kind of changes do we go through? What makes us different from humans? Why doesn't everyone change into vampires? Where are we? What does Hemasoph mean?"

"Woah, that’s a lot of questions. And most of them will be answered in your classes. For the record, we are in Providence, Rhode Island. And Hemasoph are two Greek roots put together. Hema means blood, and soph means wisdom; so blood wisdom."

"I guess that makes sense," I said. Then I remembered what Nancy said last night. "Someone said something about Elders. Elder vampires. What did they mean?"

"As you can guess, vampires don't always get along. The Order of Lunar was created to keep us in check. Think of it as the vampire government. There are seven elder vampires; one for each continent. Ours is Madaline Livingston. All the other vampires in fourth class are visiting the elder vampire for Africa."

"What’s fourth class?"

"All of you students who are still in their first year here. Everyone your age is in fourth class. Then you just go backward; your second year here is third class, third year is second class, and your last year is first class."

"That makes sense...I think."

She laughed. "It will make more sense after some breakfast."

"Food! What do vampire's eat?"

"Vampires eat like everyone else does. After you leave the school, when you're twenty, you have a very small amount of bloodlust. Nothing to worry about. You'll just need a little blood once every month. The day you turn twenty, you will have an awful bloodlust, and then exactly one month later, it will happen again. Every other day, you'll be fine. Just as long as you get blood that one day of the month, it won't bother you. I'm not that good at explaining; you'll learn about it in Vampire 101," she smiled again. "Do you want breakfast now? Fourth class is returning today, and everyone's always abnormally hungry after long trips."

I nodded and followed her down the hall and into the large room with the TV's. She turned to the right and and opened a door the lead to a kitchen. When she opened a refrigerator, I could see it was well stocked.

"We're suppost to eat in the dining hall with everyone else in your class, but since your class is gone at the moment, Nancy said we could eat here. This is all for snacks normally."

Lucy brought us both a sandwich and I thought of more questions.

"What is it with the time difference here?"

"Well, think of it this way; When it's dark out, thats the day. When it's light out, thats the night. Also, noon is midnight here. The day changes at noon, not midnight. And you can tell what day it is by which day you woke up in. For example, if you woke up on a Monday night that went into Tuseday morning, then that would all be considered Monday," she explained.

"What is the fourth class like?"

"Well, in the fourth class this year, there are a bunch of groups. Mostly it's little groups of friends. But there's these three groups that are a pretty good size for them all to get along. There's a group who is only made up of the extremely wealthy, a group of the really smart, and a group for the most close and fun, in my opinion. But the thing is, you wouldn't expect these groups to be nice, would you? Well they are. All of them. And they love new students."


I ate my sandwich, and pondered the ordeal before me.

(Sorry this took so long guyes! But with the edits for the chapters and school and such, it was all over the place. But I've already started writting chapter 5 and we should be editting that soon! Many, many thanks to Ben!)
Chapter 4:

They came in through the large oak doors, one at a time. I was standing next to Ms. Windmeyer, ready to meet the rest of fourth class. They chatted quietly and somehow all fit into the large room. I noticed that three groups detached themselves from each other and the crowd. I could guess who they were.

One group was wearing expensive clothing and I could tell they were very wealthy. They walked with their heads held high as their large, beautiful eyes found me.

Another group was squished together. They were the loudest group; occasionally letting out giggles that echoed. Their warm eyes also found me.

The last group was unlike the others; they were quiet and standing with their hands behind them. Then, as their sharp eyes circled the room, they locked on me.

I couldn't look away from any of them. Not because I was suddenly terrified, but because they were all so beautiful. Every single one of them was stunning; it made me stick out like a white rose among red roses. I don’t belong and I never will.

Thankfully, Ms. Windmeyer stepped from my side to address the students. "Welcome back fourth class. I hope your time in Africa was enjoyable, but you're back at Hemasoph academy now; there are rules that must be followed, expectations that must be met. I trust that you all will settle back into the natural order of things quickly, or suffer the consequences." Then she seemed to remember me. "We also have a new student; miss Ellen Sternald. Teach her the rules and help her out. I'm sure you all remember your first week here."

All three groups were still staring at me. As I looked down at me feet, I could tell they were whispering about me behind their perfect hands. I wished I could make it all stop.

With her lecture over, Ms. Windmeyer, Nancy and another teacher began rounding everyone up ready to lead each gender in different directions. Aiming to keep a low profile, I tried to head to the back, but in the throng of people, I was suddenly pushed and almost crashed into a large group of closely packed girls and boys who were just parting. This was the talker group.

One of the girls snickered at the surprised look on my face, but everyone else was dead serious.

"Uh...I...uh," I stammered.

A girl with blond hair smiled. "Hi, I'm Evey. You're Ellen, right?"

All I could do was nod.

"This is Ashleen, Patricia, Ash, Jessica, Ben, Marilyn, Sage, Emily, Luna and Airyn." She pointed to each person as she talked, and they gave me a quick smile.

"H-h-hi."

“Head to your dormatories, ladies and gentlemen! You all need sleep so you will be ready for classes on Monday! There’s no time for talk! You can do that tomorrow,” Ms. Windmeyer called out to the room, ushering students to their dorms.

Evey seemed to realize that she was getting nowhere with me whilst Ms. Windmeyer was watching, so she gave me another kind smile. “See you around then,” and with that, the boys broke off and moved to the other side of the room with the last of the male stragglers whilst Evey and the others followed the procession of girls that was now leaving through a pair of double doors near the front of the room. Our group was heading to the girl’s dorms, so I could only guess the boys were going to theirs.

I arrived at my room and quickly closed the door behind me before rushing straight to my bed, not even wondering who my roommates were, just hoping to avoid acting like an idiot again

"We wondered when you were gonna show up."

I spun around and faced three girls from the wealthy group spread out on their beds. They giggled.

Two of the girls had dark brown hair that was shiny and flat. Of those two, one had blue eyes; the other girl had brown. The last girl had red hair that was short and orange eyes that could capture you. They were dressed in baggy pants and an oversized top- PJ's. As they giggled, I noticed that all three girls had perfect teeth as well as perfect facial features. The girl with brown hair and eyes came up to me and the other girls flanked her

"Hello, I'm Jacquelyn. Sush twin!" she hushed the other brown haired girl who had started laughing. “She's Jaclyn," she pointed to the girl who laughed and rolled her eyes.

The red hair girl took a step forward. "And I'm Steph." She smiled.

“Hi,” I muttered. It must have seemed rude of me to come into the room and totally ignore them.

They seemed to be expecting more from me, but I couldn’t think of anything to say so Jaclyn tried some questions. “So tell us about yourself. We came here a year ago, and we don’t get to leave much. Just on trips like the one we were just on, and then a few other more fun ones. They don’t try to keep us locked up, but we don’t get much freedom either, not since Ms. Windmeyer came to work here. She’s very uptight, as I’m sure you’ve already seen, but the other teachers have been here a really long time, and they give us a bit more free rein.”

Steph nodded along with Jacquelyn and I yawned. I normally wouldn’t have let myself yawn in front of friends, but they might as well get used to it if we were going to be roommates. Plus, I was really tired, It had been a very long day and I was looking forward to going to a soundless sleep. The girls didn’t seem to notice anything, but asked me what my house was like. I answered as normally as I could since I was almost half-asleep. They listened with eager ears as I described father and my brothers. Jaclyn seemed to have a dreamy expression on her face, and I wondered at first if it was from sleep. But after I stopped talking, she became as alert as ever, and I guessed her expression was from something other than drowsiness. I finally got the girls to turn out the lights after a few more descriptions of my school and friends. They continued talking in whispers, but I only concentrated on sleep.
* * *
I thought it would be hard to get used to night being day, day being night, but I knew it was the norm for vampires, so I tried my best. It actually came quite easily with everyone else around me already used to it. By the time 4th class had arrived, I was already thinking of it as evening, when in fact the sun was just beginning to rise.

The next morning, I woke to hear whispers circulating the room. After opening my eyes fully, I saw that the room was now crowded with a dozen girls.

Steph smiled when she saw I was awake, and walked over. "Morning! I thought we should introduce you to all of our friends to help you get around school and stuff."

"You already know Jaclyn, Jacquelyn and I, but this is Tiffiny, Mara-Kate, Shelley, Billie, Anju, Amilia, Batgirl, Adrienne and Alana," the brown hair blue eyes girl said.

"Batgirl isn't my real name, but that’s what everyone calls me," a girl near the door clarified.

I tried to hide a yawn, but the girls saw. “You should go have some breakfast. I know it’s really weird coming to this new place with all these new people, but food always helps.”

“I’ll take you if you want,” a girl I thought was Mara-Kate added.

“No, that’s alright. I might as well start learning my way around the place now.” I walked out before they could say anything, but before I had completely closed the door, I heard the unmistakable whispers coming from each girl.

Down in the dining hall, I saw the last group that I hadn't met yet – the smart-looking ones. I tried to avoid them and move to an empty table, but they saw me and followed.

So much for my time alone.

"Hi," everyone said at the same time. They smiled and looked at each other with lively eyes. Apparently it was exciting to talk to the new girl. Well they were going to be very disappointed after talking to me.

They each took turns saying their name to me. Tegan, Elizabeth, Emilee, Dotti, Jade, Moya, Winnie, Camber, Alina, Samantha, Nicole and Sasha. They asked the same questions as my roommates did; all about my family life and friends. We talked for a bit while I ate my breakfast, but then I faked the excuse that I had to get myself ready for the day, and escaped to the dorm room where, thankfully, there were no girls any more.

I sat by the window and tried to figure out my new life. Even if it was overwhelming now, I might fit in better than I originally thought I would. All the girls here seemed so nice and welcoming, but why were they all so interested in me? Was I like a game to them? Whoever gets the new girl into the group first wins? It made no logical sense that I would be interesting at all to any of them. They had a lot more to say then I did. They were vampires. I was one too, but they all knew so much that I didn’t.

My cell phone lay on the table next to my bed. It was on top of the rules, schedule and map that I should have been studying. I stumbled my way over to my bed, and lay down while grabbing the phone and pressing the power button.

It flicked on in seconds, showing a picture of Holly and I. I stared at the picture a few seconds, and then the screen changed to say that I had one voice message waiting. I listened, and heard that it was from Holly.

“Hello? Ellen? It’s Holly. I called your house earlier, but your dad said you were out. Out with who? Was it John? Anyway, please call and tell me where you are so we can meet up and go to a movie or something later! Bye!” I flipped the phone shut and when I opened it again it showed the picture of Holly and I again.

We had taken it on one trip to the beach. She had family there and had invited me to go with her for the weekend. Her brother had also taken a friend, and they were roaming the hotel, so we had hiked to the beach and had a great time in the semi-warm water. I had taken many pictures of us together, but this one stood out for some reason, and therefore qualified for the wallpaper. I stared at the tiny screen for a while, but then my screensaver came on, showing my dad and brothers. I felt something wet slide down my cheek, and realized that it was a tear. I quickly wiped it away and turned my phone off.

I walked down the hall and into the kitchen to grab a snack. No one was in there, but in the main room, there were a lot of stares and some of the girls from the three groups waved at me. I got a sandwich and headed back out, determined to socialize – and do it right this time.

“Hi,” said one of the girls from the wealthy group. “Billie,” she added.

“Hi Billie.”

Another girl walked over from the close group. “Hi! I hoped you would be here! We didn’t really get a chance to talk earlier.” She thought for a second, and then added, “I’m Luna.” She ignored Billie, except for a little nod in her direction, which Billie then returned.

Just then another girl, from the smart group this time, arrived, having come over after a slightly shocked look at the other two girls talking to me. “I’m Jade. It’s nice to meet you!” she introduced herself. More nods.

“Hi Luna. Hi Jade,” I shyly muttered. So much for doing better.

They all gave me warm smiles in return and then invited me to watch a movie with them. They kept me busy with more questions about where I came from, what I liked to do and what my old friends were like. I answered them truthfully and as well as I could. For some reason they sometimes seemed very interested in what I had to say, then other times they seemed to be trying to remember what I was saying as if for later use. When the movie was long over and the girls’ seemingly endless string of questions came to a halt, they let me go to my room where I curled up and fell asleep, waking only once when my roommates entered.