BLAIR

The hallway was replenished with students' babbles and murmurs. For mundanes, it was not boisterous, moreover, it was ordinary.

Blair plugged her black earphones in, her long auburn hair covered the earphones' cord. At least, it could help her from obstreperous voice. Even just a little.

Clutching her books, she walked through the hallway to her class. She felt quite relief since the students didn't suspect her.

Born as a vampire was not a great idea. Mundanes and vampires lived in the same world, and vampires needed blood. They went hunting blood at night time, and most of the mundanes always scorned at government, commanding them to perish all the bloodsuckers. However, pureblood and half-blood vampires were difficult to slaughter, especially purebloods. You needed an extra attempt to slaughter them.

Something hit Blair as she wobbled to the left. Eyeing up, she saw a bunch of guys laughing and also staring back at her. Blair gnashed her teeth and frowned at them.

"Sorry, it was an accident." A dark haired guy sneered as he turned around and stalked off with his friends.

Snorting, Blair swore at the guy mentally. Paranoid started to collide her. What if he purposely did that? But Blair's incognito was perfect. In her mundane form, her long auburn hair was drooped until her waist. She was quite tall for females around her age, with a beige knitted jumper hugged her torso and long washed jeans emphasised her slim legs. Her amber irises almost drowned her pupils out.

"Blair!" a high pitch voice roared from behind, making some of the students turn to the ebon haired girl.

Gemma was her name. She was Chinese, but she spoke English well. If Blair was a taciturn girl, Gemma was entirely the opposite of her. Most people were puzzled since Blair was terribly taciturn she couldn't even say a simple hi to her best friend, but Gemma was too determined to be friends with Blair. Well, Blair wasn't a shy girl, she was just too indolent to speak.

Blair turned back, massaging her ear as she plugged her silent earphones off. A small smile played on her lips as Gemma ran and embraced her friend's shoulder.

"You know what, my cream puffs finally succeed. You have to eat!" Gemma grinned. "I hope they taste good."

Blair's heart skipped a beat as she widened her eyes a bit. Swallowing the lump in her throat hard, she mumbled, "Mhm."

She felt kind of uneasy refusing her invitation this time. Usually, when it came to lunchtime, she would go to the toilet and locked herself in a chamber and drink a pack of blood. Gemma often invited her to eat together, but she always said that she wanted to finish her assignments or sometimes she'd say she got a stomachache. It was obviously a lie but oddly, Gemma seemed to believe her excuses.

Gemma smiled ear to ear as she tightened her embrace a bit and walked in the class.

The class was more boisterous than the hallway and it made Blair's head spin. Thought of gagging the noisy pupils' mouths with chalks or their shoes crept in Blair's mind. She shook her thought away, if she did that, maybe she'd receive a detention.

Landing her bum on her seat, she set her cobalt blue rucksack on the desk and plugged in her earphones again. This time she decided to play a piece of music in a low volume. Clicking on Erik Satie's Gymnopedie, she kept her phone in her rucksack and fidgeted her fingers on the desk.

The bell rang and Blair plugged off her earphones at the same time. A few minutes later, Ms. Todd—their homeroom teacher—walked in and placed her stuffs on her desk. When she just opened her mouth, a yawn escaped Blair's mouth. Gemma peeked at her friend as she stifled her laugh. Her shoulders were shuddering.

She was fortunate enough Ms. Todd didn't give attention to her yawn. That woman started to call the roll as the pupils replied when their names were mentioned.

"Blair Thompson." Ms. Todd spoke with a soft voice as Blair replied her lazily.

A folded paper was darted on Blair's desk. She opened it and her eyes scanned at the neat handwriting.

'you gotta join me lunchtime later. i brought my cream puffs and i present them just for you ;) *emphasising just for you*

-gemma'

Blair raised her eyebrows and folded the paper back. She glanced at Gemma who was glancing back at her secretly. When their gazes locked, Gemma raised a thumb up at her. Releasing a sigh, Blair finally nodded in agreement.

***

"Yay, lunchtime!" Gemma whistled in happiness, her hand carried medium-sized lunchboxes.

Blair wore a tight face, her jaw clenched as she swallowed her saliva. She wouldn't want to spit the puffs out in front of Gemma or that girl would distance herself from Blair, and inform everyone that Blair was a vampire.

Yes, half-blood and pureblood vampires couldn't eat mundane foods. Blood was their only food and also drink.

Blair swore at herself mentally, she regretted she accepted Gemma's invitation. She really was digging herself a grave.

Gemma pushed the door that led them into the school rooftop.

Spring wind blustered them, slapping their hair in the air and covering some parts of their faces. The rooftop was always desolate, which made Gemma love to chill out at there.

"Come here, B!" Gemma waved her hand at Blair, motioning her to sit beside her.

Blair bit her upper lip and pressed her fingernails against the creases of her palms. She walked towards Gemma and sat beside her.

While Gemma was busy with her lunchboxes, Blair was trying not to act suspicious. Taking a deep breath, she exhaled it and convinced herself that everything was alright.

"Here!" Gemma's delighted expression made her heart pounded faster. Blair accepted the lunchbox with shaking hands and prayed her friend didn't notice her trembling hand.

Gnashing her teeth, Blair opened the lunchbox cover, revealing four big cream puffs. A faint aroma of the custard filling entered her smelling sense as she almost spewed out everything in her abdomen.

"Blair? Are you alright?" Gemma said abruptly, her expression held anxiety.

Blair glimpsed at her and back at the cream puffs. Wearing a neutral expression, she gave Gemma a small smile and thanked her.

"Are you all right?" asked Gemma. "You look pale. Are you ill?"

"I'm fine, Gemma," she said as she grabbed one cream puff and shove it inside her mouth. The moment when she chewed it, she had an urge to regurgitate it. She tried to wipe away her suffocated and tortured expression and praised that puff tasted great.

Gemma cheered in pleasure. For her, Blair's compliment was so friendly she felt she was floating in the air. Different with Blair who was dying inside and was eager to spew the puff right at this second.