Tommy lightly banged his head against the desk before he made a mock crying sound. “Why can’t you just fuck off?” He almost cried out of frustration to Keagan who had just sat down at the joint desk next to him.

“I bet you’re feeling like shit right now. You skipped lunch,” was all Keagan replied.

Tommy did feel like shit. He felt like he couldn’t fucking breathe and he was so so thirsty. And the sound of the pounding. The pounding. Badum. Badum. Badum. So many Badums.

“Let me know when you’re ready to eat,” Keagan spoke softly, sincerely. Completely dropping the earlier sarcasm.

Tommy slammed his hands down on the desk, glared at Keagan, and walked out of the classroom going straight to the bathroom. He leaned against the tiled wall and waited.

Keagan walked in a minute later, “Mrs. Bright wasn’t happy you left. She was assigning partners for the-“

Tommy’s legs collapsed on themselves and he slid down the wall, breathing hard.

“Shit,” Keagan opened his bag quickly and pulled out a blood bag that instantly had Tommy’s attention. He lured the blood-crazed boy into a stall and shut the door. “Alright, fang check,” Keagan lifted Tommy’s lips, “wow look at you. You can probably pierce the bag by yourself now.”

His teeth had just started to sharpen. They were still pretty short though. Keagan handed Tommy the bag and watched as he gnawed at it before messily piercing through it and squirting some blood onto his face

“Tsk. They weren’t kidding when they named em’ baby vampires.”

Tommy wasn’t listening though. He was too busy satisfying the thirst he still knew nothing about.

It only took a minute for Tommy’s hands to start shaking and his breathing to become labored for a different reason.

“You back with me?” Keagan asked, carefully taking the half-eaten blood bag from Tommy’s hand before he could drop it again.

“Why…?” Tommy whispered. “What did you do to me…?”

Keagan sighed and leaned against the stall door.

“You know what vampires are right?”

Tommy dropped his head in his hands and made an agonized sound, “Oh my god.”

“I’m a vampire. Vampires can turn humans by mixing their blood with theirs. When you punched me you must have busted my lip and so when I bit you…”

“Oh, my god…” Tommy was starting to freak out. Was garlic now deathly to him? Would he have to go around biting people now? Was he immortal? How long would he live? Was this guy even telling the truth? Oh my god, what would Toby say..? Questions. Questions. Questions.

“There’s no need to freak out,” Keagan said, “really. Not much has actually changed except you can do a lot of cool shit now like fading and healing really quickly. The only negatives are that you can’t touch silver and your human food will taste bad and not fill you. Don’t worry about finding blood though, I’ll bring you some every day. Garlic and sunlight don’t affect us and as of nine years ago we only live for a hundred years. I think that covers most of the vampire basics,” Keagan recounted each fact on his fingers, feeling like he was forgetting something but shrugged it off.

“Who’s blood have I been drinking…?” Tommy rasped.

Keagan shrugged his shoulders, “dunno. Hospitals send us blood bags from blood donors. It’s illegal for vampires to drink from humans.”

Tommy’s head shot up and he glared at Keagan, “So why the fuck were you drinking from a girl in an alleyway?”

Keagan tensed his face darkening, “That’s none of your business.”

Tommy stood up abruptly, “I think it is! If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be in this mess!”

Keagan’s shoulders slumped and he looked away guiltily, “I’m sorry.”

Tommy huffed and pushed past him, leaving the bathroom and going back to class.

“Thomas James! I wish you’d let me know before you decide to storm out of my class!” Mrs. Bright scolded.

“Sorry, Miss. I wasn’t feeling well.”

“Well, since both you and Keagan left while I was selecting partners, you two will work on the project together.”

Tommy’s eyes widened, “what project?”

“Have you not been listening at all to what I’ve been saying in class? Your final senior projects are due at the end of the year. They’re worth half your grade. Do you hear that Mr. Levi? Due on May 31st!”

Keagan had been standing in the doorway stunned and feeling really bad for Tommy.

He could admit that the boy has been through the ringer one too many times in the last couple of days and all of it seems to point back to Keagan.

So when Tommy whirled around to glare poison-tipped silver daggers that were also on fire and had Keagan’s name etched in them, Keagan looked away feeling a pit form in his stomach. A pit full of immense guilt, self-loathing, and a really strong feeling to sink into the floor and never come back up again.