Chapter 01

Eliana's POV 

“Strawberry is still the superior flavor of like, anything, especially ice cream,” one of the two best friends that I have, Kat, says as she bites into her ice cream on a cone. She was obviously daring Lucas, who is sitting opposite of her right now, to speak against it.

And the latter did not let her down, contradicting her claim as soon as possible. “You misspelled mint chocolate, because it obviously is the top tier flavor of all. And is that a cone?” he retorted before taking a spoonful of his dessert from a cup.

Kat made a face, annoying the man more and expressing her distaste towards his choice of flavor. “Eliana, what do you think though?” she said afterwards, involving me in the silly conversation that they were having.

“I think that you guys should just keep eating so we could finish and go to our next class. Fighting about flavors, really, and for the nth time? What are you, five year olds?” I answered, almost losing my thin string of patience. “And stop calling me Eliana,” I added as I remembered what she called me earlier.

“Wow, okay, Eli’s feisty today,” Kat said in a joking way, to which Lucas agreed.

These two, really. Always fighting about the silliest things. They always have different opinions on everything. May it be food, clothes, movies, and even pets. It may be because of their very different personalities, but as time went by, I noticed that sometimes they do it just to spite each other. Like literal kids, honestly.

“Let’s just pack our things up before Eli transform into something,” says Lucas in a joking way, as always.

When we finished cleaning our mess and successfully stuffed our things inside our bags, we headed towards our classroom. The three of us are majoring in Psychology, all in the same block. That was how we met during our Freshman year and luckily, our university has this system wherein the same block would be together in every courses until our last year. This is such an advantage for me, so I won’t have to make new friends and start again every semester.

We continued walking down the hallways, students of different programs still scattered around the corners. It may be time for classes for us, but these people may be having their free cut or were simply dismissed and just hanging around the area. As we were nearing the Psychology rooms, fewer people were present, indicating that classes are really about to start. First semester of our junior year. Just almost two years shy from graduating. What could go wrong in such a short but crucial time?

*

I have never been big on lunches. I mean, as long as I am putting something in my stomach, I am good. What I am only concerned of is my intake of the human blood, of course, but they would never know that. So, I let Kat pull Lucas and I into this newly opened food chain that she have been blabbering about two weeks before going back to school. The outside is a simple color of cream and brown, surrounded with various plants hanging on the side of the walls down to the ground, and a sign that indicate the place’s name, “LA NATURE”.

Its interior justified its name, for there were more plants located inside. Starting from the counter and to the tables, different plants are placed, but smaller ones. The kinds that are bigger in size were placed in an area dedicated for showcasing solely the plants that the food chain owns. Although I am not that into these things, the vibe is admittedly calming and peaceful. It was like fresh air was brought inside the store, with all of the greens surrounding the place. The ambience is perfect for those who wants to study, even cram, in a place where everything is just pleasing to the eyes.

As we sat down to order, I could not help but notice that the prices of the food are not so expensive, although not so cheap either. Just the right price that would attract the attention of college students, especially that it is located near the university. There were even free drinks if one orders a certain promo.

“I’d get the grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup, and fruit tea for drinks,” Kat stated.

“You order that everywhere,” Lucas was quick to say.

“Say that to me when you are not going to get onion rings and cherry coke,” Kat then shot back.

“We all order the same food everywhere, now you can stop fighting,” I intervened before this little lunch turns into a brawl of these two. Just in time for one of the staffs to collect our order. There were not too many people present today so after a few minutes, our food arrived and we started eating.

And as always, Kat could not just keep eating. She always have to have something to say. But mostly these are rumors or gossips that I do not know where she get it from.

”Have you heard about the news that there would be a transferee in our block this year? I was actually looking for them earlier, but I found no new face,” she started, sounding a little disappointed.

“And where did you get that from, Kat? From the hallways, or from one of the Broadcasting rooms? Or maybe even from the restroom this time?” I asked almost immediately.

“No, actually, this time she is telling some facts. The source is pretty reliable, too. The organization’s President of our program,” Lucas defended Kat’s claim, not failing to shock me in the process.

For one, wow, they did agree on something. And two, a transferee, really? During junior year? The person must have a pretty solid reason to transfer at this time of college year level. But oh well, not my business. It is not like I am going to get closer to someone new, anyway.

“I wonder what the reason was that made them decide to transfer. Transferring to another university and taking the program like ours was not easy and will never be easy because there are lots of things to be considered before making a firm decision,” Kat stated before taking a big bite on her grilled cheese sandwich. Lucas, on the other hand, was surprisingly nodding his head as a sign that he is agreeing with what Kat was saying, all the while nudging his plate towards me to offer a piece of his onion rings. Seriously, though, what is with the air today? But thinking about it, this is not a bad start for a first day.

After eating, we all agreed to go our separate ways for now because the two had some errands to attend to. I do not feel like being alone in my dorm room right now, so I thought of going to the library to do some advanced reading. It was only 4:00 in the afternoon anyway, and the main library closes at 6:00. I could just take an early dinner afterwards, then hopefully get a nice sleep to get ready for tomorrow. These days I am trying to stay as busy as I can, so I would not have time to think about things that are not necessary, and not good for my peace. I need my peace of mind intact and well taken care of, so I do my best to always protect it, even from myself. Only two years before graduating and my life would be back to square one. Back to where I started. All the way back to the place that I tried so hard to run from. But today, I am still here, physically and mentally. And I am going to seize every minute of the day so I would not have any regrets in the end.

I put my attention back to the book that I was reading. I did not even notice that my mind is fleeting again. So much for not thinking about unnecessary things. And look at that, what are the odds that of all the hundreds of books here in the room, my hand would have pulled something about vampires?

As I look around, of all the people present in this room right now, I wondered how many of them could find out who I really am if they tried hard enough? How many of them are very observant to the point that one slip of my tongue or one careless move would make it obvious? I cannot help it. But every time my eyes wander, wherever I am, this is what I see and what I think of. Just how many people are curious enough about vampires that they read about it, watch shows about it, and could determine that I belong to that kind just by one look at me?

There was a tap on my shoulder. “Miss, I will be closing the library soon. Better collect your things and go home”. Oh, it was the librarian. I gave her a nod and started putting the books that I borrowed back on the shelves, hiding the one about vampires in my chest in the process.

*

It was 10 minutes after 6:00 when I went out of the main library, thinking about how I wasted two hours to entertain unwanted thoughts. It was 4:00 in the afternoon when I entered there, went out until closing, but did not read a single word out of all the books that I borrowed. This is one of the things that I dislike about myself. When I want to focus, I could focus really hard. But the moment I start drifting away from reality, thinking about life back in the place where I came from, I cannot stop. Two years have passed and I am still chained to the past, the past that would soon be my future anyway, if I do not stop being weak and a slave to my thoughts.

As I got near my dorm room, I started to feel the fatigue from all the thinking that I did earlier. Inside, I did my routine before letting my body fall against the bed, ready for a deep slumber. I scolded myself for ending my first day this way, and swore that tomorrow will be much better.