The night of the new semester party. A bright, full moon shone on Jess Francis. 

There was this…creature in her backyard.

Blood stained Jess’s new dress.

What the fuck is that…thing? 

Jess took a deep breath and grabbed a shovel. She ran towards the creature in front of her, ready to strike.

—-

Mallory Mendoza was the new girl at Kennedy High. Being new always came with one thing.

No friends.

So Mallory strolled the hallways of the school, pretending to know where she’s going. In actuality her class was in the other direction and started about an hour later.

The brick red (color of the Kennedy High Grizzlies) lockers all looked the same, until one particular one caught her eye. In one of the lockers was a poster of pretty boy Bobby Connors from her favorite TV show on right now, High School of the Strange. Bobby played the annoying vampire senior John Denton, but he was cute! With his dark mop of hair and bright blue eyes, paired against an androgynous face and a pouty mouth, he was quite the Teen Beat magazine type. 

But her favorite thing was-as fans on the internet called it-”shipping” him with his telekinetic best friend Andrew Kent. Andrew was a dolt-ish, sweet jock type, but that made him the perfect contrast against whiny and aggressive John. And their chemistry and tension, with their little touches, the way they look into each other’s eyes after saving each other from the monster of the week, was just ugh perfect.

To say the least, Mallory Mendoza was a fan of High School of the Strange. So to her surprise, the picture of Bobby Connors belonged to a tall, handsome boy. His hair was brownish-blond and, like Bobby, had piercing blue eyes. His hair was cut in that typical annoying trendy boy band style of the time, floppy with a middle part, but it looked good on him. He bit his bottom lip as he fumbled for some school supplies, or a textbook. Then he started playing with his cross necklace.

“Hey!” she said. “I’m guessing you’re a fan of High School of the Strange?” 

The boy turned back, eyes wide, smiling. “Yeah!” And then he looked down. “But this picture’s from my…my sister. She really likes that character, John.” He said. 

The boy stook out his hand. “Name’s Todd Johnston. What’s yours?”

“Mallory. Mallory Mendoza. I’m new here.”

“Figured. I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

Todd managed to grab a textbook from his locker when a blonde, pretty girl about their age grabbed his hand. “Todd!” she laughed and tilted her head. “It’s almost time for class.”

“Oh.” said Todd. “See you later.”

Mallory nodded her head. “Bye.”

Mallory’s heart stopped for a bit. It was hard enough making new friends as the new girl, but she was this close to making one. How frustrating!

Unbeknownst to Mallory, there was a short lurking figure behind her that was watching from afar. The figure only made himself appear to her until now, when he walked into Mallory’s line of sight. 

“Hey.” said a long-haired guy, maybe slightly taller than Mallory. He wasn’t all that menacing, with an androgynous baby face and a skinny, short build. “I saw you were talking to Todd Johnston.” He took a glance at her backpack. Mallory had miscellaneous buttons of her favorite movies, bands, and TV shows on there. “You look way too cool to be talking to him, that guy’s an asshole.”

He was kinda cute in that androgynous way, thought Mallory. His hair was dark and straight and long, which framed his face well. Although he looked like he used the computer too much. 

“Oh, really? He seemed nice. Sorry to hear that.” replied Mallory.

“Yeah, it’s cool. Let’s just try not to talk to him from now on. He’s a part of this asshole group which bullies me and my friends, for being ‘weird’ or whatever. Think stuffing-into-lockers type of shit, honest.” 

“You haven’t even introduced yourself to me yet,” she laughed.

“Well it’s Ziggy Kramer. How about you?” 

“Mallory Mendoza.”

“Well, Mallory. Nice name. Y’know, that name means ‘darkness’ in French or some shit like that. Feel free to sit with me if you’d like.”

“Nice.”

Alright. One friend was made for Mallory. Sadly, the boy who liked High School of the Strange seemed like a jerk. Oh well. Maybe she can get him to turn around..?