Erin, Jessica, and I sat at a table in the cafeteria. Food sat in front of the three of me, but I pushed my tray forward instead of trying the food, fazed by the toxic smell of cafeteria pizza and Mac and cheese.

"I almost forgot he had fangs," Jessica said.

   Erin sighed and scooped his mac and cheese into his mouth fluidly. "Yep, unfortunately, they don't serve blood in high school. But that wouldn't be a bad idea."

   Suddenly, Jeremy hollered from the opposite end of the cafeteria. "What the bloody fuck, Jessica? I thought you hated to tweedle dee and tweedle dumb." Jeremy wandered over and slammed his hand on the table next to Erin like the jerk he was.

"Don't you dare treat Erin like that?" Jessica roared at Jeremy. Jeremy rolled his eyes and stole a cheesy noodle off Erin's plate, slurping it down quickly as he licked his fingertips.

"Oh, now you're sticking up for the little twerp."

   Jessica rolled her eyes. "No. He's my cousin, you dick."

   All eyes are on my table at the moment. My eyes strained around the room, trying to escape, and landed on Blake, casually watching as she shoveled mac and cheese into her mouth. Her eyes met mine for a second, and then she winked at me with a pleasured grin on her lips.

"You okay?" She mouthed, concerned. I shrugged, unsure what to do, as I gestured to Jeremy and caught his attention.

"Are you seriously flirting with strawberry lips right now, blue boy?" Son of a bitch. I was in trouble. Jeremy chuckled in disbelief as his eyes shifted to Blake. "You, Blake, are something else."

"Shut up, Jeremy," Erin snapped suddenly out of annoyance.

   Jeremy chuckled again. "What will you do about it, dog boy?" he snarled back. My pulse suddenly thumped, feeling dizzy as my hunger grew. Suddenly, Ms. Drake stood behind Jeremy.

"Knock it off, Jeremy, or you're off the team," she scolded.

   Jeremy turned to face her, a scowl on his face. "Of course, you're going to defend him. That's nice. Just because his daddy is the—"

"Jeremy!" she roared again at him. He reluctantly backed down, with his hands rocketing to the sky.

"Fine. I'll back off. You're welcome." Jeremy backed up a few feet, and moments later, he returned to his table.

"What a dick," Jessica growled.

   Erin sided with her. "Wuff." I seconded it silently. This vampire shit sucked.

∆∆∆

"Hey, dad," I said as I entered the foyer and slipped my backpack onto the floor. My father stood at the base of the steps, screwing the knob at the end of the staircase back in place.

"Hey, Adam," He waved at me. "How was school?"

"It was—" I paused, feeling my fangs growing into place under my lip, feeling the brackets crack as my fangs pushed from my gums. "It was okay, I guess," I muttered, my voice muffled as hunger scraped at the pit of my stomach. As my appetite grew, I raced past him up the staircase and ran into my bedroom, slamming the door behind me as I hopped on my bed. I grabbed my laptop off the dresser next to me and searched for the first thing that came to mind. "How to prevent vampirism."

   My fingers slid against the keypad to find something more credible than, "Vampires are a myth. They don't exist or seek help. You're delusional." Was it a delusion? Was I still high again?  Was I going crazy? Was this real? I flipped my laptop closed and sighed, with no luck. I failed miserably. The internet is unreliable these days, anyway.

   I pressed my fingers to my sharp fangs, feeling around the gums for an opened wound. I found nothing. Are these fangs magical or something? Geez. The only reasonable explanation is these fangs retracted somehow. It seems painful, but I promise you, it's not.

   Suddenly there was a knock on my window, and my eyes shifted. Erin stood in front of my window, watching me. "Were you checking your fangs?" Erin asked. When I ignored his question, he walked across my bedroom and plopped down on my bed with a full backpack. "You look hungry. It would help if you had some blood."

"I-I don't need blood, Erin." I stuttered; hunger pains stuck in my chest and abdomen again. "Besides, does it look like I keep blood bags on me?" Erin chuckled at my retort. I doubled over on the bed, my face pressing into the mattress. Is this how girls feel when they are on their period?

"You'll get used to it. My dad has his way of feeding the pack. It's not always the freshest, but—"

"Erin!" I muttered through the bedsheets. Then I lifted my head to look at him. "That's not helping, okay?"

"Got it," He clicked his tongue, pointing finger guns at me. Then, Erin reached into his backpack and pulled out a mason jar full of fresh blood. My stomach gurgled as my hunger pains reinforced, and I lunged forward. He reached back inside and yanked out a pair of pliers. "Before I give you anything, I must remove your braces." He dipped forward, trying to pull my brackets from my teeth, and I jerked back.

"Trust me. You'll feel so much better without it," Erin said. I watched him as his eyes met mine, pleading for me. Then I opened wide, and he ripped the top brackets from my teeth and worked on the bottom.

"Better?" He asked, holding up the two wires attached to my straight teeth a second ago. I only had a month more before the orthodontist would remove them, anyway. I felt relieved, feeling my fangs pushed further from my gums.

"It's an improvement," I admitted with a shrug. Erin handed me the mason jar full of blood. I twisted off the lid and took a big gulp of blood, satisfying my hunger. I licked my teeth clean, swallowing the excess blood on my teeth.

"So, what do I do about my dad? He'll kill me when he finds out I'm a vampire."

   Erin chuckled. "Eh, you'll be fine. Quit being dramatic."

"I'm dramatic, Erin? Are you fucking kidding me? I have fangs. I'm drinking animal blood from a mason jar. My best friend snuck into my room, and oh, did I mention I'm not even alive, and you're a fucking werewolf prince?"

"It's called undead, Adam." Erin snapped. "And you need to accept it because you will be undead for the rest of your miserable life."

"What. Are you my dad now?" I growled. Suddenly, there was a knock at my door.

"Adam, dad wants to talk to you downstairs," Hannah yelled. There was a faint giggle as my sister wandered away from the door. I pushed my lips together in pure panic.

"Son of a bitch."

"I'll talk to him," Erin said, slipping off the side of my mattress. I fell past him before he could slide out the doorway, and our eyes met Jeremy in the door.

"Hey, dog boy," Jeremy ruffled Erin's hair and wandered further down the hallway to my sister's room.

"He knows, doesn't he?"

"Oh yeah," Erin said. "I'll have to explain it later." Erin and I raced downstairs to the living room, where my father watched me with a concerned glance.

"Hey, dad," I said.

"Hey, kiddo.

"Where is my dad?" Erin asked. Daniel, my best friend's dad, wandered from the other room into the foyer, watching us as he guzzled a pint-size glass of wine.

"Hey, buddy," Mr. Sanchez said with a big grin. "Harrison and I talked, and he said you boys want to go to Oregon for spring break."

"I think it would be some fun." My father added, watching me roll my eyes. Of course, Erin said something to his dad. What are best friends for?

"Uh, yeah, sure," I said. Erin draped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me in.

I huffed. "Alright, alright. As long as I get some free time from Hanna and her boy toy."

"Don't be such a Debby downer, Adam. We're going to have fun."

Hanna screamed, "Shut up, Adam." Erin and I snickered and clapped our hands.

"Besides, I know you're a sucker for my dad's bbq tri-tip," Erin stared at me with his annoying, smug grin. Of course, he would pull a vampire "pun-intended" joke. That's fine. Rub it all in, Erin. I licked my fangs protruding from my gums as a friendly reminder to my best friend—I bite now.

I mean, I enjoyed being around him. I wasn't sure I was ready for the responsibilities of vampirism, but I guess I had to suck it up—I would be like this for the rest of my life.