Chapter 2

At school, Austin wasn't a popular kid. He didn't fit in with his classmates or students. He was different from everyone else, and that made him the outsider among his peers. Everyone knew there was something wrong with him, even the teachers, so no one really paid any attention to him. But it also meant he had no friends at all. He spent most of his lunchtime in silence. 

That suited Austin just fine, to suck blood whenever he felt hunger or boredom. It gave him time to think… and plan revenge against the people who were being mean to him for no reason. And then he would come out of hiding at the end of the day and get them back by drinking their blood and making them suffer for a week. That's what he told himself anyway. But he was lonely. 

So many people wanted to be friends with him because of his looks. But none of them seemed able to understand why Austin had chosen solitude as his life path. None of them could see past his eyes. Not even the teachers did. They tried their hardest to make him feel welcome at their school, but every time they approached, Austin backed up into a corner and refused to talk to them. So, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't break through his barriers. Eventually, they gave up trying,  and let Austin have his space. 

Austin got a piece of paper from his benchmate, which read "Meet me on the roof at lunch break." When he looked at his benchmate for an explanation, the boy shook his head and pointed behind him. 

Curious, Austin turned and saw Hailey standing next to him with her arms crossed over her chest. She had dark circles under her brown eyes and mouthed, 'Rooftop'. 

Austin wondered why she needed to talk to him in private, but remembered last night and remained silent. His curiosity was soon forgotten after the classes started and students streamed into the classroom. 

Hailey was the opposite of Austin in every way. She was loud and hyperactive and always moving. She  never sat still in class for long. Austin found himself constantly distracted by her constant energy. 

The bell rang signalling lunchtime and Hailey bolted out of her seat after giving a stare at Austin. 

Hailey's pov;

At the rooftop I stood in, staring up at the vast sky, the wind whipping my hair around. The air was thick and humid but I didn't bother to care about it as a cool breeze blew through my clothes, cooling my skin and soothing my tense muscles. It was just me and my thoughts right now. 

The door of the rooftop opened slowly as I heard the sound of footsteps behind me. Turning, I saw Austin walking towards me with an expressionless face, his hazel eyes locked on me like a hawk. 

The boy I never noticed in my class before. The one that always kept to himself, the one who had no friends, and yet he had somehow managed to gain popularity among everyone without even doing anything. Not because people liked him, but simply because he had good looks. I mean, really good looks. Taller than the rest of us and well built, with long curly brown hair, piercing hazel eyes and a defined jawline. But why am I saying that? I'm just stating facts...right? Anyway he was handsome, that much is for sure. And smart, he always came first in every lesson and had the highest GPA. 

When he was about to speak, I interrupted  him. "Don't you have anything to say?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow as I waited for him to answer. He looked confused at first before answering. 

"Why did you call me up here?"  

"To talk." I answered bluntly. I walked to him and placed a hand on his shoulder as he backed away from me slightly. I moved closer and looked at his eyes, trying to see if I could read them, but they were blank and void of any emotion and noticed his eye colour was lighter than last night. Is that possible? Last night, it was darker but how come it is lighter Today? 

"What are you doing?" 

I was shocked again when I saw his nose, because I couldn't spot the scar. I lifted his hair a bit from his forehead so that I could see the scar on his forehead more clearly but there was nothing there. "There's nothing there either."  

"What?" he said quietly. 

I backed away from him and asked, "What are you?" 

This time his facial expression changed, turning into something I've seen before. His eyes narrowed, his mouth formed a thin line and his hands clenched tightly, as if ready to attack at any moment. I took a step back, feeling scared. 

Before he could reply, I heard  someone shouting my name. I turned around and saw Riley on the ground, looking up at me. "What are you doing over there?" She yelled. 

I turned my head to look back at Austin, who wasn't there anymore. 

I turned back to Riley and said, "Nothing".  

"Then get down here! We're going to the cafeteria!" she called out again. 

"Go on. I'll follow you shortly."  I told her.  Where did this guy disappear off to? I shrugged the thought away as I made my way back down the stairs of the building and came to the cafeteria where my friends are.   

As I entered the cafeteria everyone's heads snapped toward me, causing the whole room to  turn silent. I smiled nervously before sitting next to Riley. She gave me a weird glance then whispered, "You okay? Did something happen?"  

I nodded. "Why is everyone looking at me like that?" I whispered back.  

"You don't know what happened? Someone shared the picture of you and your boyfriend being all lovey dovey at the library. It's everywhere, by the way."  

I sighed and said, "Ex-boyfriend." 

She raised an eyebrow and asked, "Oh? So you two broke up?" 

I shook my head. "We never dated."  

She shrugged and leaned back against her chair. "So when did you guys break up?" 

"Yesterday." 

She gasped and sat straight up, leaning forward with concern etched across her features. "Are you okay?" 

"I'm fine." I assured her. 

"I'll be surprised if you are upset about it though... What about the photo then?" 

"He must be the one who shared it to get back at me. That creep.. I'll find him-"I started to stand up only to stop and sit back down after feeling the pain in my neck.  "Damn... My neck hurts."  

Riley grabbed my arm and asked, "Hey, what happened to your neck?" 

My head felt light and fuzzy as the blood rushed to my ears and everything became very faint. I closed my eyes. I felt myself falling onto something cold and hard before I blacked out. 

I woke up on a bed covered in a warm white blanket. I rubbed my temples to try to wake myself up as I slowly realised I was not in my own dorm room, but the infirmary. Slowly  sitting up and taking my surroundings into account, I finally remembered that I had fainted at the cafeteria. Looking at the clock, I saw that I had blacked out for an hour. Shaking my head, I got out of the bed and pulled on some shoes. 

"You're awake."  I jumped at the sudden voice behind me and quickly spun around.  My heart raced in my chest, my body suddenly tensing at the sight of a tall boy standing in front of me. 

"Austin."  I muttered, feeling my stomach churn at the sight of him. 

"How do you feel?" He asked, ignoring my remark and moving closer to check over me. 

"Good I guess." 

He examined the small wound I received in my neck. "It doesn't need a patch anymore." He announced after placing his finger on the bruise of my neck. 

I stood up from the bed and looked for the mirror. After finding it I took a few glances at my reflection. "Huh!" I said while looking at the bruised area. "Where did that bite mark go?" I asked Austin. Since there wasn't any response from him, I turned around and found him nowhere to be seen. 

I frowned and turned around to face the mirror once again. How did it disappear so fast? My confusion grew as I examined the mirror.  Was it a trick of the light? No, there was definitely something wrong with the mirror..  I walked out of the infirmary and into the hallway, still confused and worried. I walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Nothing. No bruises. 

Riley walked in asking, "I was looking for you in the infirmary but here you are. What are you doing here? You know there's a bathroom in the infirmary too right?"

 I nodded and said, "Yeah, I know." I turned to her and said, "Hey Riley! Do me a favour. Have a look at my neck and tell me what you see ."  

"Sure," she responded and walked towards me. "Well what happened?" 

"Can you see the mark? There's a bruise, right? See what it looks like? What do you think?" 

Riley squinted her eyes trying to examine my neck and said "Well yeah. I see you hurt your neck while waxing and I think it's fading. Your skin isn't swollen though and there's absolutely no sign of bruising." 

"You should get your eyes checked out." and I made my way out of the bathroom.