Nightingale Academy

I slipped the pink dress over my head and allowed the thin straps to hold it in place on my shoulders. I smoothed the material gingerly and looked up to see my reflection in the mirror. I blushed at my vain thoughts immediately and looked back down to my feet. I slipped on a pair of pink ballet flats and sighed. Two hours ago I was ready to yell into Amaranth's ear and let him know exactly how I feel about him and his sister buying me things, but now I wasn't so sure. I looked back in the mirror and bit my bottom lip.

The dress hit three inches above my knees and sprawled evenly around my thighs. The waist hugged my mid-section lightly and the heart-shaped neckline revealed a modest portion of my chest. I fisted some of my short blonde hair and sighed. He was amazing. He could dress me even better than his sister can.

After putting on my attire, I called my parents like promised. It was one of my rare weekends at school and I told Bill and Felicia that I had some extracurricular work to do with Azure this particular weekend. I didn't know that this supposed extracurricular work was actually watching my roommate change her outfit 20 times within a half hour time span for five hours straight. After speaking with my mum and apologising for not coming home this Saturday, I hung up with a final promise to come home next weekend.

Without any further delay, I ventured out of my room in search for Amaranth. Not sure where he is during his weekends, I mentally made a list of possible areas he could be. On top of that list was his room.

I crossed the hallway and passed the staircase, towards the boy's side of the dormitory. I stopped in front of the door marked with a golden 7. I lightly rapped my knuckles a few times on the door assuming that even if he was in his room, if he couldn't hear me I could get away without scolding him. The door swung open with ease and my fist caught itself in mid-air. I hadn't expected him to be in his room or hear me knocking, but I should have known better. After all, he had superhuman hearing. Now I was caught by him with heated cheeks and virtually no plan.

A giggle made me look up and into his room. Behind Amaranth was the body of a girl on his bed. Her long dark brown hair spilled over her shoulders and covered her face from my view. I paled in despair and held my breath. Was I not the only girl he brought into his room?

“See? I told you she would look adorable in it.” The girl shook her hair out of her face and I let out the breath I held in: It was just Azure. I hadn't noticed the jealousy and fear building up in my gut until I felt the relief in discovering that it was not another girl which he shared his bed with, just his twin sister.

I looked up at Amaranth and he avoided my gaze, a rouge blush tinted his cheeks and I blushed at his embarrassment. This was the first time I saw him blush and I was starting to think that his species were unable to form those kinds of bodily functions.

Azure cleared her throat and got off the bed. “I guess I'll be making my leave,” she says as she nears the door where we're still standing at. “Don't let her get ahold of any sharp objects,” she whispers quite loudly into Amaranth's ear and winks at me before leaving us alone.

Amaranth sighs and places a hand on my back, between my shoulders. He bids me in and closes the door behind himself. “I guess you're pretty angry...”

He stares down at me innocently and I almost loose my initial reasoning. I grumble underneath my breath and his eyes show me he knows that he wont be getting away with his innocent face this time. I close the space between us and tiptoe higher to meet his gaze. “You cannot,” -I leer into his eyes with an angry and unwavering frown- “buy me such things, Amaranth.”

He stares back at me, probably realising how ugly I look when the angry lines become most prominent on my face. I continue to stare at him in silence until I feel his hands cup my elbows. He pushes me away from him and I falter, fearing his rejection. I feel bile rise up and my head shake under the pressure of two boulders squeezing the sides of my head. Could he really find me so unattractive when I'm mad that he would go so far to overlook any positive aspects of my being?

“But you look so cute in it!”

I look down at the floor between our feet and scoff. I was very close to shedding tears and this whole time he was just going to compliment me anyway. What's with all the suspense then? This only made me even angrier with him. I fisted my right hand and hit the arm he held my elbow with. He removed his hold on that elbow but continued to hold his grip on the other. I punched him again in his stomach but he didn't even flinch. This is sad; I use all my strength, but he is unmoved.

I sighed, giving up. I look up at him with my forceful glare and he reaches his hand to my face. He wipes the stubborn tears from under my eye and pulls me into a hug. I rest my forehead on his ribcage and listen for a heartbeat; None.

I lose my breathing pattern and my heart skips several beats while he holds me to himself. No heartbeat....What creature has no heartbeat? He was very much alive though. He showed emotions and today he even blushed. What was this?

“You can't be crying because of the dress, Lilly. What's really wrong?” He pats my head and twirls the shorts wisps of hair between his fingers.

I chuckle into his chest and shake my head. “It's nothing now.” I felt foolish, barging into his bedroom in order to reprimand him and instead end up crying over a misinterpreted action.

“No, tell me.” He places his hands on my shoulders and I feel him start to push me away again. I desperately cling onto his mid-section in an attempt to hold him still. He must have become frustrated with me again and doesn't want to deal with a petty human any longer. A look of realisation crosses his face and, to my relief, he rewraps his arm around me again. “I'm not letting you go, Lilly, and I wont ever intentionally push you away.”

I hug his torso and bury my face deep under his ribcage. I ignored any thought that I could be possibly hurting him by this hold and held him until he picked me up off the floor so he could place me on the bed. As he lies down next to me, he kisses my forehead and cradles my cheek in his large hand. Meeting his eyes, I realise that he is staring lustfully at my neck. I became conscious of my pulsating veins, specifically the artery beneath the thin skin of my neck. Amaranth shakes out of his reverie and plunges his face into the crook of my neck. My first thought is Vampire, but this new species I've discovered is still unknown to me. I may think Vampire right now, but by tomorrow I may believe he and my friends are fairies. Well, it's a possibility.

Amaranth sighs into my neck and I know that he had just inhaled my scent. I stiffen slightly under his body weight but wrap my arms around his neck. I slide my fingers across the back of his neck and feel the tense muscles struck with an inability to move, a pain afflicted by me. Amaranth lusts for my blood and by refusing himself what he wants, he's causing himself pain; I'm causing him pain.

But overpowering my knowledge that by being so close, Amaranth is hurting himself, I feel my selfish need to have him near, so I hold his face to the crook of my neck and allow him to breathe my scent in.

“I don't want to upset you, Lilly,” he says with his voice muffled against my neck. “If by purchasing you things without your consent I am upsetting you, I promise I will no longer buy you things without your permission.”

I smile and lightly draw patterns on the back of his neck. He relaxes under my touch and tightens his hold on my waist. “Thank you.”

He lifts his head to gaze at me and his eyes tell me everything as he leans his face closer. His forehead rests against mine and I know that he knows I know his secret.

.:.

Amaranth didn't speak to me during the rest of the weekend. He distanced himself from me and I spent my first night without Amaranth in a predicament. Without Amaranth, I wasn't sure what to do. It was the weekend and little homework had been assigned. I finished The Book Thief a week ago and I had no other nocturnal companion to spend time with this late in the night (though I was confident that those like Amaranth were also capable of functioning with little sleep).

His familiar and somewhat comforting icy gaze on me was no longer present either. Once or twice I felt him looking over me while I read a book or wrote out my Imperialism Essay for class late at night, but he only stuck around for a few short minutes before wandering off. Azure herself had turned suspicious of me.

When I went back to our room to pick out the new day's outfit and my toiletries bag, she watched me deliberately, not even stopping me from grabbing a pair of comfortable sweat pants and old t-shirt that she forbade me to wear. I gave her my usually hello and good-by, choosing to be ignorant. I thought, perhaps if I play innocent, they would as well and we could go back to our usual selves.

I turned the shower knob farther to the left, seeking refuge in the steaming hot water. I let the searing jets of water burn my already scathing back and sighed. That's right. I will pretend to be ignorant and that I don't know a single thing about them being inhuman. To do so, I will have to put away my research and my own suspicions for now. It is best to gain my friendship with them back to our regular level. I hate to admit it, but their inadvertent actions the past two days alone hurt me more than anyone else's intentional actions had these past 15 years. I wipe the water on my cheek off and sniffle, not completely sure if they were tears or merely the shower water.

I step out from underneath the shower head and cut the water off. I use my towel to pat my skin dry before towel drying my hair. I slide on a fresh pair of comfortable shorts and a tank top. Over the tank top I slide a sweater over my head and place my shampoo and conditioner back into my toiletries bag. I step out of the shower cubicle and take out my toothbrush and toothpaste. I roughly scrub my teeth like I usually do and ignore the blood on my gums. I spit the paste out and rinse. Blood doesn't bother me and old habits die hard. My gums always bleed after brushing.

My breath catches in my throat suddenly and I stare at my pink tinted brush. I rinse the blood and paste off and remind myself to never brush so vigourously again. I trusted my peers to not eat me, but now that I know what they possibly could be and what it is they secretly crave, I wasn't going to take any chances.

I rinse a second time and push my toothbrush and paste into my bag. I pull out my tooth floss and gently floss between my teeth as I get out of the bathroom. My face collides into a body and I unconsciously curse. The collision caused the tooth floss wand to stab my tongue and cut through my gums. The rust and metallic taste of blood fills my mouth immediately and I cough it up as it starts to slide down farther into my mouth. This is just disgusting.