I'm in Love with the High School...Vampire?!

The shrill sound of the alarm clock screamed 6:30. I groaned, sleepily picked it up and threw it out the open window from my second-story window.

"Come on, Hadley. You know you have school." Todd, my 17-year-old, drop out, brother stated. I only replied with a groan, opening my eyes and gently pushing a long, blonde strand of hair from my face. Sighing softly, I rolled over finally facing the morning sun. Yet another day of school. Joy.

I walked into my bathroom, pulling on a pair of ripped, plaid patched, blue jeans and Sex Pistols shirt I wore around the house. After brushing my teeth, I completed my morning routine of getting ready for school. Once dressed in my school clothes, I walked downstairs and greeted my brother with a kiss on the cheek. Todd had to work all day, due to my bum of a dad and his alcohol problem. That's why he dropped out. To keep the house. To keep living. Some days, we really missed our mom. Life took her at an early age, unfortunately for us.

"Heh. Good morning to you too. Have a good day at school." Todd said.

"Bye, Toddy! Have a great day at work too. And, please, don't forget to pick me up today." I reminded him. We shared a car and, often, he forgot to pick me up from school. He just grinned and nodded.

Walking outside, I saw Willow finally picking me up for school. She had a new black convertible and was always proud to pick up whoever she needed to so long as she could drive it. I smiled and hopped it. And we were off to school as usual.

"Oooh, bad boy alert." Willow said as we passed a group of random guys in the hallway.
"Who is he?" I asked, looking at him intently.
"He's new. His name is Talon Grae. Everyone calls him 'Blade' for some reason. He doesn't look to bad, does he?" Willow stated. Willow wasn't normally into the whole "bad boy" look, but everyone had to admit it - he didn't look bad at all.

I glanced at him as we passed by, and just that time, he starred back at me. There was something about him. Something mysterious. His hazelish green eyes held so much anger, yet a hint of arrogance too. He shot me a cocky grin and continued to talk to a group of guys. I just shook my head and continued on my way to class.

"Talon Grae?" Professor Kurkland called as he took roll. "Um, is Mister Grae not here today?" Just in time, he casually walked into class. I glanced at my watch. Five minutes late.

"Nah, don't worry about it, Mister K! I just had to get a quick smoke." he shot another one of those cocky smiles to the class as they began laughing. I just rolled my eyes. "And it's not 'Talon' ; it's 'Blade'." He might look pretty good, but I knew his type...I also knew, from experience, to stay far away.

The professor just rolled his eyes as well and marked his name off the list. "At least you could join us. Now take a seat behind Miss Hedrick." Oh great. Not behind me. I adjusted myself nervously in my seat as he made his way down the aisle to the seat behind me. The moment he sat down I felt a good five or six hard thuds in the back of my chair. I sighed angrily and turned around.

"Do you mind?" I spat.

"Mind what, Doll?" He asked, innocently smiling. I just sighed, shook my head, and turned to face the front.

When I finally thought Talon had stopped with the thuds, I felt a peice of my hair being tugged.

"What?!" I spun around and whispered harshly.

He just looked at me innocently again. "What, what?" He smiled sweetly.

"You know wha-" I was interrupted.

"Miss Hedrick, would you please stop flirting with Talon and pay attention to the lesson." I blushed, nodded, and faced the front.

"It's okay, Love. I know I have that affect on people." Talon stated from behind me. I wanted desperately to make a remark, but I wasn't going to let him win.


"Lunch, finally." I stated to myself as Willow and I went through the line.

"What's up? You usually hate lunch." Willow questioned.

"Well, let's just say...this "Blade" isn't as nice as he looks." I rolled my eyes. "He makes having to sit with Derrick not so bad."

"Whoa. He must be Satan's son or something then." Willow said just as soon as Talon cut us off in line.

"Right you are." he smiled evily at Willow. He brushed by me after grabbing his straw. "And, by the way, I'll be looking forward to tomorrow, Dear. Sitting behind you is going to be great." he winked at me and hurried off to join his friends.

I shook my head in disgust. "SOMEONE has a fan." Willow said, partially disgusted herself.

"Yeah. And of the worst kind. Just my luck." I stated and followed Willow to a table.


The last three hours of school passed by quickly, fortunately, and the next thing I knew, school was letting out for the day. I was making my way to the parking lot when I saw a black convertible pull up and stop in front of me. I raised an eyebrow, trying to peer through the pitch-black tinted windows. A window rolled down. Sure enough - Talon.

"Need a ride?" he asked and peered over his sunshades. I just shook my head. "Oh, come on. I don't bite....too hard." he grinned, showing his teeth for once. I almost swore I saw two fangs. I shook my head to myself. Must have been my imagination.

"No, thank you. My brother is going to pick me up." I said as politely as I could. Todd was late though. Nevertheless, I could walk home.

"It's better than some stranger kidnapping you on your way home." Did he just read my mind? No...No. It had to be coincidence.

"You're practically a stranger." I stated feeling my anger flaring up again.

"True. Why would I hurt you though?"

"I...don't know. I'm not riding with you though, alright?!" I finally made it around his car only to have him pull up beside me. He was persistent. I'd give him that much.

"Come on. He's not going to show. It's almost dark. Do you really want to walk home when you have a perfectly good ride?"

I scoffed. "First off, I'm not asking HOW you know about my brother, and second off...I don't care. I'll walk alone. I trust you as much as those people on the street."

"Well, suit yourself then. I'm sure those guys would be more than happy watch out for you." he grinned and nodded towards a bunch of thugs standing around 200 feet away. I sighed. Soon it would be dark. The last thing I wanted was to walk the streets of California after dark.

"Fine." I said. "I'll take your offer." he more than happily opened the door for me and let me in.

"So, what's your story?" I asked him, breaking the akward silence.

"Not too much to it. It's long, boring. The usual." he stated, lighting a cigarette.

"Come on. You seem to know everything about me. I only know your name. There has to be more to you than a simple name."

"Well, I'm Talon Grae. Apparently the new 'delinquent' at Jefferson High. I'm an only child. My parents are dead. See. I told you. There's not much to know. I'm boring." there was something he was hiding. His pale hazel eyes shone sadly as he starred at the rode. The light coming through my cracked window gave me a clear view of him finally. He looked even better than I though. His soft features gave him almost a childish grin. It was adorable all in the same. His brown, slicked back hair and goatee is what mostly gave him his whole "bad boy" look. But his eyes. So sad. So angry. And I had yet to know why.

He cleared his throat. "Enough of that though. This your place?" He questioned, pointing to my house. I nodded.

"Yeah. I...um...I really appreciate the ride."

"Any time. See ya at school tomorrow." he said, gave me playful grin and zoomed off. I smiled to myself and walked inside.

"Oh, good. You're home! Hadley, I'm so sorry."

"Hey, hey, it's alright Todd. I know you're doing the best you can. Don't worry about it."

"Anyway, was that your boyfriend?" Todd asked, raising a playful eyebrow.

"Actually, no. He's the new kid from school."

"Really, now? Because if the way he was looking at you I could have sworn tha-" I playfully slapped his arm.

"He's ONLY a friend." I grinned and walked up to my room. Maybe the rest of this year at school wouldn't be too bad after all.