The morning started off quite terrible for the Kennedy siblings. Rylan’s alarm didn’t go off and she assumed that Kyle’s didn’t either. Rylan got up, showered quickly, and threw her curly hair up into a long ponytail. She ran down the hall and changed into her skinny jeans with a graphic tee.

On her way to her brother’s room, she stopped to look in the floor length mirror hanging in the beige hallway. She gave herself an encouraging wink; it was her morning routine.

“Hey there, beautiful.” She was a little cocky and maybe even vain at times, but it helped get her through the day. Many people compared her to her brother, but they were hardly comparable in any aspect. She was sassy, while he was awkward and shy. She only found herself shy when it came to those super attractive studs. She made her way into Kyle’s room. She could tell he was exhausted from the night before. He had been up all night working on a research paper for English. Not like he ever did any actual work anyways; he always used Google. She felt slightly bad to have to wake him, but they had to get moving. She knew the quick and effective way to wake him up: a slap to the face. Kyle instantly jumped up and had a look of pain and panic on his face.

“That’s what you get for not waking up on time.” She was not his caretaker. Okay, that was a lie. Technically, she was, but only because their parents died in a accident about three years ago. Normally, they would get adopted to another family, but their Uncle Zeake persuaded the judge to place the children under his legal care. The only family they had left was their Uncle Zeake. He was the one who found them in the car crash and brought them to safety. He made a vow to their dying mother that he would not abandon the children. He visited them monthly to give them some money and to insure they didn’t need anything for school. In fact, he had been over the previous day to help them with school supplies. Often, young Kyle would beg Zeake to take them home with him. Like a broken record player, Zeake repeated the fact that they couldn’t come home with him and that he would explain it later when they could understand.

Rylan snickered and left the room, while Kyle crawled out of his bed. He tripped over his clothes on the floor, a mixed pile of dirty and clean, and groaned in anger. Grabbing the first outfit he saw, he shoved his books in his backpack and headed downstairs. He noticed that Rylan had set out a blueberry muffin for him.

“That almost makes up for the rude awakening.” He smiled to himself as he headed out the door to school.

They both managed to survive their first set of classes. Rylan slept through the first three and skipped the fourth to head to lunch early. Once the official bell for lunch rang, Kyle jumped out of his seat and accidentally knocked his books off of his desk. He sighed, irritated, and leaned down to pick them up. Finally, he made his way out the door. He started to push his way down the hall so that he wouldn’t miss out on lunch. It was nacho day, everyone’s favorite. He pulled out his phone to check his texts when he ran into someone.

Kyle looked up and saw a cute brunette with dark, brown eyes that seemed to hypnotize him. She had perfectly arched eyebrows to match her shoulder length brown hair, with flawless, tan skin. He blinked a few times and pulled himself out of shock.

“Oh! I am so sorry,” he started, messing with his backpack strap out of nervousness. “I didn’t see yo-”

“It’s okay,” the girl interrupted with a voice like silk, “To be quite honest, I didn’t see you, either.” She giggled softly and looked from the red and white checkered floor to the person who she had just ran into. She saw an extremely attractive guy with messy, brown hair and deep, brown eyes. Not just any attractive guy. It was him. She remembered the pictures Isaac had shown her. She was here on a mission, and it wasn’t to achieve a high school diploma.

“Well, in that case, I’m Kyle.” He smiled at her and ran his hand through his messy bed head. He couldn’t seem to stop smiling and neither could she.

“I’m Ashley. I’m new here.” She blushed as she spoke softly.

According to the court, she was considered a ‘failed experiment’; experiment B246 to be exact. Her parents had sold her for a high reward and she had been given to a group of men called the Nécron. After trying her to a chair, they had sent red goop through a tube in one arm and had drained her blood from the other.

When Ashley woke up, she was lying on a bed in what looked to be an abandoned hotel. She felt a stomach wrenching hunger that made her assume they hadn’t fed her in awhile. Suddenly, the door across the room opened and a naked, blood splattered, young girl was tossed through and the door was latched shut again. Ashley’s heart dropped. She wasn’t sure what to think.

“Are you okay?” she asked, approaching the girl with the bed sheet. As she grew closer to the girl, a pungent smell grew stronger in her nose. A sharp piercing feeling radiated throughout her lip. Her hand swiftly moved to feel her lip; it was wet. Confused, she pulled her hand away and looked at it. The tips of her index and middle finger were glazed with a bright red liquid. Ashley could hear her heart pounding in her ears.

“What?” she whispered to herself. “No- no no!” She screamed and backed away from the girl before her. Everything went black and the only thing she could remember after that was red. Everything was red.

Kyle bent his head back as he laughed, pulling Ashley out of her memory. “Ya’ don’t say? I couldn’t tell by your ‘lost puppy’ look.” Ashley blushed even harder.

“Oh.” She looked down as she started to mess with her hair.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-” Kyle trailed off and awkwardly scratched his neck when he realized he’d embarrassed her.

“No, it’s okay. I just didn’t realize it was so obvious.” She laughed awkwardly and shifted her weight. “Isn’t this lunch time?” she asked him nervously.

“Oh yeah!” Kyle exclaimed. He had forgotten his deep hunger when he got distracted by the new girl. “May I walk you to lunch?” Kyle, acting like a gentleman, swooped his arm out as if to show the way. Ashley smiled and followed his lead.

“So, how could you tell I was so new?” Ashley asked nervously to ensure her cover wasn’t blown. Kyle laughed and his cheeks reddened.

“It’s just that we, uh, we don’t have girls like you around here.” She looked at him funny, slightly confused. “You’re just, uh, never mind. Here’s the lunch room,” Kyle said flustered.

“Girls like me?” Ashley questioned with a raised eyebrow. She wasn’t sure if the poor boy was flirting with her, or if he knew what she was. He thought for a second.

“You’re just, you know, really pretty.” He nervously tried to switch the subject as he his cheeks reddened. “Anyways, here’s lunch line A. Lunch line B is for underclassmen. We should go before they close shop on us.” He led her into a cafeteria that was much like any other. It was a public school where the lunchroom was big and compacted with circular tables to fit the most students possible. There were people moving everywhere; some in the two main lunch lines, others already saving seats for their friends at the tables.

Rylan had already gotten her food and was sitting at the table waiting for Kyle. Usually, he was never this late. She was about to get up and look for him herself when she finally saw him in line. She was surprised to see that he wasn’t alone and, in fact, was talking to a girl. She quickly wiped the look of surprise off her face once she noticed the two were headed her way.

“The school’s nachos are pretty great.” Kyle continued as he sat his tray down. “You just have to eat fast; considering they don’t give us enough time.” He automatically sat across from Rylan, but hadn’t seemed to notice her yet. He was too infatuated with the other girl, who was sitting beside him.

“Also, considering you wasted about- oh- ten minutes already,” Rylan cut in, trying to break Kyle’s attention away from the new girl. “You’re late,“ she said flatly as she pushed her tray away. “And who’s this?” she added, nodding towards Ashley.

“Oh, sorry. I’m Ashley,” she said, quickly introducing herself. She had forgotten that anyone else was there, she had been too focused on Kyle. She couldn’t help but find him handsome, especially when he smiled and his brown eyes seemed to shimmer. Along with his evident dimples that made his smile even more irresistible. Focus Ash . A voice boomed through her thoughts pulling her back to her assignment. She needed to study his behavior and learn everything about him. Rylan watched the new girl and her actions. There seemed to be something off about her and she couldn’t quite tell what it was.

“I’m Rylan, Kyle’s sister,” she responded matter-of-factly. She figured if her brother was going to have a crush on this girl, she might as well be nice to her. “What grade are you in?”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot to ask you that. What grade are you in?” Kyle added, finally pulling his attention away from his nachos and focusing back on the girls.

“I’m a junior. What about you guys?” Ashley replied softly and slid her hair behind her ear as she took a small bite of her food. Kyle, finishing up his bowl, answered for both himself and his sister.

“I’m a junior, as well; and Rylan- she’s a senior.” He put his empty lunch tray under Rylan’s and looked back at Ashley. He noticed how much food was left on her plate and wondered if she was going to eat it.

“Yeah, and I’m entirely ready to get out this hell hole,” Rylan added with a laugh. She decided she better eat something before lunch ended. She grabbed a chip from her tray and ate it. With a look of disgust, she got up and threw the food away. Kyle immediately gaped at Rylan with a look of horror.

“How could you! Those nachos are sacred!” he practically screamed at her. Rylan laughed and shook her head.

“You, my brother, need to get out more.” Rylan grabbed her backpack from off the floor and slung one strap over her shoulder. “Alright, well you two have fun.” Rylan started to walk away, but turned back around. “Oh, and nice to meet you, Ashley.” She didn’t want to come off as rude and decided playing a friendly card was the best option.

“You too.” Ashley responded as she watched Rylan leave. She shifted her attention back to Kyle. She noticed his eyes were glued on her nachos. “You want them? Have at it.” Ashley laughed and pushed the tray towards Kyle. Kyle smiled like a kid in a candy store and dug into her nachos without further protest. Hearing the bell ringing to signal that lunch was over, the two dumped their red trays and headed down the hallway.

“So what class do you have next?” Kyle asked, trying to be a friendly tour guide.

“Oh, um, hang on.” Situating her backpack to be more comfortable, she pulled her schedule out of her pant’s pocket and looked for the period that was printed after lunch. “This says that I have English 11 next and that it’s in room B10.” She looked up slightly confused. “Where is room B10?” She was starting to get flustered and could feel her fangs start to poke out again. She internally sighed and cursed at herself, managing to pull them in again. Kyle smiled a little and ran his hand through his hair.

“Well, lucky for you, I have English 11 as well. I’ll walk you there. Oh and the ‘B’ means that it’s in the basement.” Ashley was slightly surprised, but proceeded to follow him down the long, compacted hallway. The walls were once painted white, but had since faded to grey. The floor tiles were once a vibrant red and white checkered pattern, but now were dull and scratched. The rows and rows of lockers lining the walls didn’t seem to help the appearance any. In fact, Ashley was sure they made it worse. Kyle stopped walking and pointed to a classroom door.

“This is English 11 with Mr. Carter.” He shifted the weight of his backpack and held the door open for her. It was fifth period, so the school day was almost over. Out of his six classes, Kyle enjoyed this class the most. It was mainly because he was pretty sure their English teacher was on drugs. Not that he could really judge. He used to be into that kind of thing not too long ago. One could say it was his way of coping. Rylan helped him get out of it, though. She had been a great sister to him and was always so strong. Kyle could never understand how she made it this long with a straight face everyday. He knew she broke down some nights though. He could hear her in her bedroom crying. He knew to never mention it; Rylan didn’t like talking about their parents. Or the night of the accident. Kyle could be seen as blessed or cursed, by the fact that he didn’t remember anything of that night. One minute they were driving down the road all singing along to Rylan and Kyle’s favorite song “I’m a Believer” by Smash Mouth when he heard a loud bang and everything went black. The next thing he knew, they were back at home with their Uncle Zeake and mom and dad were nowhere to be found.

Ashley could tell Kyle was deep in thought and knew better than to interrupt. She decided to try to focus on the lecture when she was overwhelmed with the scent of fresh blood. Realizing just how hungry she was, she was painfully aware that she hadn’t had her normal meal for a day, and now she was starved. This explained her unexpected fang appearances. She looked at Kyle and had to stop breathing for a moment. She could smell the deliciously sweet scent of his warm blood as she blinked. She had to get out of there, otherwise she was liable to end up hurting him and Isaac wouldn’t like that. Kyle finally broke out of his thoughts and looked over at Ashley; she looked uncomfortable.

“Don’t like English?” he whispered.

Ashley shook her head. “I feel really sick.” She half-lied and proceeded to walk out of the class without telling the teacher why. As soon as she reached the hallway, everything went black.