Fade Away

1.
I reluctantly lifted my head from my pillow, pawing at my eyes, to help them adjust to the light. I stood up, stretching, before trudging over to my drawers, immediately regretting the decision of getting out of my lovely warm bed, even though I had school today. I lifted out a pair of black skinny jeans and my black and grey Pierce the Veil t-shirt, before getting changed and stumbling downstairs and making myself breakfast. I swiftly ate the cereal and hot chocolate and scurried into the bathroom in record time, after realizing that I only had 20 minutes to get to school. I quickly washed my face and straightened my light brown hair, before applying hairspray to keep it in place, before brushing my teeth, and applying make up; which consisted of a thick layer of black eyeliner, a small amount of mascara and a small amount of concealer. I returned to my room, after spraying some perfume and deodorant.
I slipped on a pair of socks and my black converse, before shrugging on my black leather jacket over my shoulders, lifting my bag and walking out the door, silently thanking hell that I hadn't woken my mum in my rush, or I would have been in deep shit.
I stuck my earphones in my ears, playing Black Veil Brides' album We Stitch These Wounds. School is only a 5 minutes walk from where I live, so I take advantage of the short distance, mostly because I don't have a car, but I like to think in the fresh air.
My name is Maddie, well; Madeline, but I prefer Maddie.
I am human. That may same strange to hear, but...it's rare anyone can say that, truthfully, where I am from. That would be because most of the population in Pennsylvania, America, are not human. They're vampires. Not the 'Twilight' vegetarian vampires bullshit. Actual human blood thirsty vampires. Although, not all of the vampires act like that. I was originally from Ireland, but was invited (more like threatened) to move here for some reason that is still unknown to me.
I go to a high school, where there are only a small majority of students who are humans, less than a quarter. The rest of the school is populated by either dominant or fertile vampires. Fertiles can be either male or female. They lack in strength; they're weaker than humans, but their dom mate's strength would easily make up for it. If a human were ever to harm or disrespect a fertile, mate-less or not, any dom(s) nearby would make that human pay.
Doms are all males. They are each assigned to a fertile (or in a very rare occasion, a human) as their single counter-part, or mate. Vampires only have one mate during their entire life, so they make it their goal in life to protect their mate. The mates are revealed in the vampires' last year of high school.
Unfortunately, today is the Counter-Part ceremony day. Thankfully, this is my last year of it. I don't understand why humans are forced to go to the stupid ceremony; we're not even included in it, yet we are still forced to attend.
I pushed open the door, stepping into the hallway, and making my way to my locker. I placed my binder in and my jacket, before closing the door, revealing 2 of my best friends. 'Heya's.' I smiled at Ricky and Alyssa. Alyssa is a (female) fertile and Ricky is a dom. Alyssa has long, brown, curly hair and is (incredibly) short (to me anyway). Ricky has long black hair and is quite short too, only 5'7, an inch shorter than me.
'Hi.' Alyssa grinned.
'Where's everyone else?’ I asked them.
'Chris is, of course, trying to get with Megan Massacre-' 'Still?!' I cut Ricky off. I smiled sheepishly. 'Sorry.' He shook his head before continuing 'Ghost is with Kylie in the canteen, Balz is with Jared trying to annoy the cheerleaders, Ryan is annoying Allie, to make her...ya know...' I scrunched my nose up, but nodded.
'Ange is in the art room, finishing homework and Brandon is... late.' Ricky counted them up, making sure not to miss anyone out.
'That's it. Oh! And Lance is...' Alyssa trailed off nervously.
I frowned. Lance is my (human) boyfriend of a year and a half.
'What's wrong? Did something happen?' I started to worry.
They exchanged a nervous glance, before Ricky stepped forward, placing his hand on my shoulder.
'Lance...he doesn't...' he sighed. 'He's cheating on you. With Alannah.' Alyssa rushed. 'I'm sorry.' she whispered, pulling me into a hug.
I frowned, trying to process the information that my friends had just gave me.
'So...is he...now?' they nodded sympathetically. I nodded, opening my mouth to talk, but the bell sounded.
'Time for the Counter Ceremony.' Ricky groaned. The guys, Alyssa and I are all seniors, so they'll be finding out their 'mate' today.
'Come on.' Alyssa said glumly, dragging me by my arm towards the hall. I sat down beside my 'boyfriend', where humans are to sit, while the guys (Chris, Angelo, Balz, Ricky, Ryan, Ghost and Brandon) and Alyssa, after hugging me, sat down in their assigned seats.
The principle stood up to the podium and began the same speech that he uses every year. I sighed, while shrugging off Lance's arm as he tried to hug me. He frowned and gave me a look as if to say 'later'.
‘We’ll beat him up for you, if you want.’ Chris’ voice rang in my head. Chris, Balz and Ghost all have the same “gift” of telepathy; they can talk to me without speaking and I can reply, as they can also read minds.
‘There’s no need. You’ll get into troub-’
‘No we won’t! He’s a human!’ Balz cut me off.
‘But still! 7 dom vampires against one human - it’s not a fair fight.’ I counter-acted.
‘She’s right, guys.’ Ghost stuck up for me. I smiled gratefully in his direction, and he turned his head, smiling and nodded, before turning his head back to the plump principle.
‘Joshua Balz.’ Balz stood up and walked over to Mr Ferguson, nervously.
‘Eva Henderson.’ Balz smiled. he had had a crush on her for around 2 years now. She walked over to Balz, he kissed her cheek, and they walked off to the side. I zoned out, only listening out for my friends.
‘Christopher Cerulli.’ Chris walked over. It was funny how Chris towered over the small, yet powerful man.
‘Megan Massacre.’ I smirked as Megan groaned, trudging up to a smirking Chris, who has been trying to get with her for at least 2 and a half years.
'Jared Olson.' Jared is Ricky's twin brother. They look identical, but Jared's hair is slightly shorter and he has brown eyes, instead of Ricky's grey-blue ones.
'Cortnei Hunter.' one of the new students walked over to Mr Ferguson and Jared, blushing. She had caramel coloured skin and long-ish dark hair. She was slightly shorter than Jared's 5"7 and a half height. Jared grinned, obviously happy with his new mate, kissed her cheek, and they walked over to join the others.
‘Richard Olson.’ Ricky stood up nervously, before making his way towards the principle.
‘Alyssa Williams.’ Ricky tried to hide the big smile threatening to take over his nervous expression.
Alyssa made her way up beside Ricky, blushing.
He kissed her cheek and they made their way to the side, joining Chris, Megan, Eva and Balz.
The list droned on until the most annoying dom vampire ever in existence was called;
‘Chase Pablo.’
He was an extremely quiet, yet stuck up dom, with no respect (or proper friends).
‘Madeline Clear.’ I frowned. What the fuck? I’m a friggin’ human! Of all the doms and humans to be mated together, it had to be me. And that dickhead.
‘Ms Clear, please make your way to the stage, or one of the teachers will be given permission to punish-’
‘There will be no need for that!’ Chris interrupted the principle, walking out from behind the curtain.
‘She is a dom’s counter-part. If you hurt her, you would be killed by the council.’ Chris looked down at him. He gulped. Chris sped (more like appeared) in front of me, holding out his hand for me to take. I hesitantly took his hand, and we began making our way towards my ‘mate’, who has been glaring at me since my name was called out. I shrank into Chris’ side as we got closer to the arrogant son-of-a-bitch who obviously hated me. Chris put my hand into Chase’s and walked away, glaring at Chase. It was the look that an older brother would give to your boyfriend, as if to say “hurt her and I’ll kill you”.
Chase leaned in and pretended to kiss my cheek, and whispered ‘We both know you’re NOT my ‘mate’.’ I gulped, as he pulled away.
He grabbed my wrist, pulling me back stage, throwing me against the wall, making me hit my head off the window, before sliding downwards towards the floor.
‘You are NOT my ‘mate’! You are a HUMAN! A HUMAN! Why the fuck would I want to be with a human?!’ he ranted. I just sat there looking at the ground.
‘They must have made a mistake!’ he grabbed my jaw, forcing me to look into his eyes.
‘Did you sabota-’ ‘NO!’ I finally said, ripping his hand from my jaw.
‘Do you really think I want to be ‘mated’ to a vampire? Never mind an arrogant, stuck up snob like you!’ I yelled at him, standing now. He glared down at me.
‘Don’t yell at-’ ‘I’ll do what I want to you, “mate”.’ I said, using my fingers to make inverted commas to show my sarcasm.
He opened his mouth to say something, but the principle walked out.
‘Now Mr Pablo, Ms Clear did nothing. It is not impossible for a “human” to have…mixed blood…’ he trailed off.
I frowned at him.
‘What do you mean?’ ‘I mean…your blood is automatically taken as a baby to check for any blood infections and to record your blood type. I had a look at your report…’ he trailed off again. Chase shook his shoulders ‘Hurry up and. Spit. It. Out!’ ‘She has 70% fertile blood.’ the short principle said quickly
‘But I’m human.’
‘No. Your real father was a vampire. He seduced your human mother. She died giving birth and you were given to your mother’s sister.’ Chase growled ‘Why does everything happen to me?! I can’t even get a proper fertile as a mate!’ I could feel tears start to well in my eyes involuntarily. I frowned. Why would I cry because of this?
‘Rejection.’ Mr Ferguson said. ‘When a dom rejects a fertile, they… they fall into a state not unlike depression. You will only be happy when you accept and love each other. And also,…’ he stepped closer. ‘You have to change Madeline before her 18th birthday, which is next month, I believe…’ I nodded. ‘If you do not, you will both be tortured and then killed by the council, for not contributing to the survival of our race. Good day.’ he smiled before walking away.