Dead But Breathing

Monday rolled around before Alex could realise. He spent the rest of the weekend sulking in his room listening to music and sleeping, and trying to forget about school all together. Now it was Monday morning, and Alex was stood infront of his floor length mirror in his bedroom, studying his appearance. He had chosen an outfit of black skinny jeans, grey v-kneck and black hoodie. He had washed and straightened his caramel hair the best he could, and hairsprayed it so his fringe would stay in place. Alex was used to being the new kid in school, but he had never been this nervous before. Now he was in an entirely new country surrounded by people he didn’t know. More importantly, now he was a vampire who wanted nothing else but to rip out the throats of everyone in that school.

Alex quickly shook his head and emptied his mind of those thoughts. No, nothing like that would happen, he had control.

That’s what he liked to tell himself, repeating those words in his head, trying desperately to convince himself that they were true. Honestly, he had absolutely no idea if he would have any self-control, and he had no idea if he would come home from school that day without having killed anyone. A knock Alex’s door shook him from his thoughts, and Matt entered the room before Alex had had a chance to invite him in.

“So you’re still one hundred per cent sure you want to do this?” Matt asked a concerned look on his face.

“Yes” Alex gulped, trying to swallow his nerves and failing. He noticed his hands were shaking and quickly shoved them in his pockets. Matt noticed the movement and raised his eyebrow.

“Whatever, we need to leave now” Matt exited the room and Alex followed as they left the apartment and rode the lift down to the ground floor. They walked around to the back of the apartment complex and Matt led him over to a black land rover parked by the side of the building. He unlocked it and gestured for Alex to get in.

“You didn’t tell me you had a car” Alex muttered, pulling himself into the front seat and putting on his seat belt.

“Well we haven’t needed one so far” Matt replied, pulling on his own seatbelt and starting the engine, “But this school is on the other side of town and we’ll be late if we walk”

They pulled out onto the road and headed towards the school. Alex stayed silent for the entire journey, playing with his fingers to distract himself from the never he could feel bubbling at the pit of his stomach. He felt like he was either going to throw up or wet himself, and neither would be a good way to start the day. They finally pulled into the parking lot in front of the high school, and Alex had a chance to take in the massive building and the hundreds of teenagers milling around outside. He definitely regretted his decision to start school now.

“Alex” Matt snapped, and Alex whipped his head around, startled by Matt’s sudden speech, “Take this” Matt reached behind him and brought back a blue sports bottle and handed it to Alex, who took it and stuffed it into his bag.
“That should be enough blood to last you the day, so make it last ok?” Alex nodded, turning around and noticing Jack and a few other people, some of whom he vaguely recognised from Matt’s party, make his way towards the car. Alex took a deep breath before leaving the car, shutting the door behind him. Matt followed quickly afterwards, greeting Jack and the other boys and leaving Ale stood awkwardly by himself.

“Hey Alex” Alex looked up and noticed Jack making his way towards him and smiled,

“Hey Jack” He replied, earning a grin from Jack.

“Hey, I need to introduce you to everyone!” Jack exclaimed, grabbing Alex’s arm and tugging him towards the group of people Matt was stood with.

“This is Rian, Zack, Cassadee, Evan, Danny, and Kara!” Alex smiled at them and earned a chorus of ‘heys’ in return.

“Could you show me to the main reception? I need to get my schedule and stuff I think” Alex said quietly, pulling his hoodie sleeves down over his hands as a nervous habit and taking another deep breath in whilst trying his best to block out his sense of smell completely.

“Sure! Guys, I’m taking Alex to the office but I’ll see you lot at lunch okay?” Jack shouted to the others.

“Sure thing, have fun” One of the boys, Rian, Alex thinks it was, shouts back, before turning to walk away with the others. Jack began walking towards once of the many entrances to the school and Alex quickly followed, while Jack talked at about a hundred miles an hour about who to avoid, who’s a slut, who’s an asshole and who’s actually a decent person.

“Basically, im the only awesome person in this dump of a school” Jack laughed at his own joke before continuing, “Nah, there are loads of awesome people here, but I guess I’m just the most awesome.”

Alex had to laugh at this. He hadn’t realised before how immature and hyperactive Jack really was, but now he realised, it was just another thing that made Alex like Jack so much, he was just a really likeable person, unlike Alex. They finally reached the reception and Jack knocked on the door and the pushed it open without waiting for a reply. Inside were two desks, the front one with a middle aged woman sat behind it, and the back one a rather large man with balding grey hair and beard sat behind.

“Barakat, what have I said about walking in without being invited” The woman tutted, before looking over at Alex.

“Yeah, whatever, this is Alex” Jack grinned, putting his hand on Alex’s back and pushing him forwards.
“Ohh, yes, I have your schedule right here” The woman smiled and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Alex. “Your locker is number 439, right next to Jacks” She smiled again before looking back at her computer.

“Thank you” Alex said quickly before Jack was pushing him out of the room and snatching the schedule from Alex’s hands.

“Ahhh, we have basically every class together apart from French and History” Jack frowned, “Why the fuck didyou take history dude, its literally the most boring subject ever”

Alex shrugged, “I find it interesting”

“Whatever, let me show you to your locker!” Jack grinned again, grabbing Alex’s arm and tugging him away back down the corridor. Alex was glad that all the students were in their classes right now.

“Here it is” Jack announced, stopping in front of locker 439, “The locks are stiff as fuck but you get used to it”

“Thanks Jack” Alex blurted out, and Jack raised an eyebrow.

“For what?” He smiled slightly.

“For helping me, for being a friend” Alex shrugged, and Jack grinned, pulling Alex in and hugging him tightly. Alex held his breath and shut his eyes as his face was stuffed against Jack’s kneck, trying his hardest not to feel the blood pumping veins underneath jack’s skin. Jack pulled them apart again and look at Alex, who still had his eyes shut.

“Hey man, are you okay?” Jack asked, his voice laced with concern. Alex opened his eyes and nodded, straightening his hoodie.

“Yeah, sorry im um.. really good” He forced a smile, and Jack returned it, even though he didn’t look the slightest bit convinced.

“Well anyway, we should get to class. Maths first, oh the fucking joys” Jack sighed, pulling his backpack onto his shoulder and grabbing Alex, pulling him towards an classroom door nearby. Alex guessed he should probably get used to being pulled around by Jack.