Expelled?!

Celine tapped her foot on the floor as she sat in a cold faculty room. She was caught alone in a room with a dead girl, and now she was waiting for the university's judgement.

She did not try to protest since disobeying would look like she was guilty. All she had to do now was to wait until she could explain what happened.

The door squeaked open, and the professor who caught her with the dead girl walked inside. He was on the shorter side, with his hair looking like a wig about to fall off.

"Celine Dacker, was it?" he said as he buried his eyes on the paper while making his way over to his desk. Celine sat opposite him, keeping her back straight and as innocent as possible.

"Yes. That's my name," she replied. However, the professor just looked at her with doubt.

"Right," he said, almost rolling his eyes. "Can you tell me why you killed the girl?"

Celine was speechless. The man's assumption was already that she was guilty. Was this discrimination against the non-rich?

"I didn't do it!" she pleaded.

The man's eyes didn't believe her one bit. In his mind, he already wanted this case to be done and over. He kept looking at his Rolex watch; Celine didn't know if he as bored or just bragging.

"Tell me, then. You were the only one with the dead body. The forensics told us it died very recently, so you killed her just before I walked into the room."

"No!" Celine almost stood up from her seat. "I wasn't alone. There was somebody there with me."

The vampire. The guy that almost killed her. He was the key to proving her innocence. However, how could anyone believe that story?

"Okay, who was there with you?"

Celine stayed quiet. She didn't know if telling the truth would help her case. If she said that she saw a vampire, she would seem like a crazy person.

"It was this guy with sharp canine teeth. I think he was a cannibal. He had blood dripping down his mouth when I saw him, her blood!"

The professor just narrowed his eyes at her. He already doubted Celine's half-truth story; how would he believe the real truth?

"What did he look like?" he said as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, seemingly interested in how Celine would try and get out of this situation.

Celine started to describe him, with eerily accurate descriptions from her memory, "white hair, sharp chin, fit, tall…."

She described him the best she could, but all she could think about was his cold arms wrapped around her waist as he sucked blood from her neck. It was intimate yet unfamiliar, cold yet steamy, and an unwanted permanent memory.

"Ah!" she exclaimed. She remembered the two puncture marks on her neck. A critical piece of evidence that there was someone else besides her in that room.

"Look. He almost killed me too," she said as she showed her neck.

She felt the two puncture marks on her neck, and it filled her with relief. It was evidence, tangible evidence to prove her innocence.

She couldn't bear to lose this chance at a new path to a better life. She promised her mother and her father that she wouldn't come back without a diploma in her hands.

If she was expelled…she could already see the comforting smile of her mother, which she knew was hiding disappointment.

She looked at the professor's face to see the change in his expression. However, there was none. He slightly shook his head and looked at Celine in the eyes.

"I'm sorry, Celine. But you are expelled from the University of Babylon."

The words felt like cannon-sized bullets piercing through her already fragile heart. Her face squirmed, trying its hardest not to turn into a crying mess in front of a stranger.

"B..but…the marks! There…there was someone there! He's a vampire! He sucked my blood and the dead girl!" Her voice cracked. She knew that she looked like a crazy person.

The professor shook his head. Even a hardened teacher like him will feel something when he hears a girl crying for help. However, vampires? How desperate a girl must be to blame a mythical creature.

The marks on her neck were small, with a diameter of a pencil's lead--almost looking like it was just a mole. It wasn't even bleeding anymore. What, did the 'vampire' injury regenerate that fast, he thought. She must have done it to herself.

"I'm sorry. I don't recognize the man you were describing. And I didn't see anyone come out of that room. You were the only one there, sweetie."

It was at this point that a single tear fell out of her eyes. Try as she might, the traumatic experience of almost dying from a vampire already pushed her to the edge.

Celine grabbed her armchair as hard as she could, but the professor's words made her weak.

"I'm Mr. Jackson, the friendly neighborhood teacher who keeps it cool with my students. I know each and every one of my students; there's no vampire around here," he said with a lighthearted tone, bragging about his reputation with the students.

Celine kept sniffing as she wiped the tears from her face. Her previous straight back was now slumped into a solemn acceptance.

There was no use to arguing. What could a girl from the country do against the people who literally control the word with their wealth?

She just wasn't destined to enroll here. She already knew that. She wasn't a princess from a rich country, she wasn't a descendant from a corporation, and she wasn't lucky enough to NOT meet a vampire.

Maybe her friends were right. Maybe she should have enrolled to a normal college and lived a normal life. At least then, she wouldn't have been accused of murder.

"*sniff* Okay. I'll pack up my things," she said as she got up from her seat. She didn't look at him, only at the ground.

"You don't have to do that. We have to hand you over to the police."

As if Celine's heart couldn't be more stomped around, Mr. Jackson, the friendly neighborhood teacher, finds a way to blend it into dust.

"You'll be taken into custody, don't resist, and then you'll be transferred into jail. You mustn't tell anyone that you're from the Babylon academy. Just say you're from some second-rate university like Harvord hahahaha. Next, you'll…."

Celine didn't listen to Mr. Jackson's rant as she was too busy seeing her life spiral into the abyss. She thought that expulsion was the worst thing that could happen to her. Oh, how wrong she was.

If she were condemned to murder, then she would spend her life rotting in federal prison. Goodbye dream of buying a house, goodbye early retirement, and hello rationed food three times a day.

How would she take care of her mother? How could she face her father's grave after this? He always told her she would be the brightest star in the world, and now she would be dulling her days confined into four walls.

This would be the end of her life. There was no turning back from a criminal record, if she even lived even long enough to survive from prison.

'NO! Celine, you have to think of something! You can't let this happen!' Celine stood still and balled her trembling fist.

"…and that's it. Don't worry; you'll make fast friends in prison. I believe in you!" Mr. Jackson didn't see the irony in his last sentence.

"No."

"Huh? You can definitely make friends in prison; what're you saying?"

"NO!" Celine stood up abruptly. "I didn't kill that girl. I won't be expelled from this university. And I won't be going to prison!" Celine slowly walked towards Mr. Jackson with eyes of conviction.

Mr. Jackson leaned away from Celine, slightly taken aback by her sudden courage. "Hahaha. You're not the judge of that. You can't suddenly say things, and it'll magically come true."

Celine glared at him and slammed her hands on the table. SLAM. Mr. Jackson flinched away from her and fixed his tie to seem as if he wasn't scared.

"You won't be taking me to prison or else…," Celine said as she wracked up her brain for anything she could use against the school.

Mr. Jackson gulped and said, "or else…?"

"I'll tell everyone. I'll tell everyone that this elitist, privileged university discriminated against the poor. You judged me without a fair trial!" Celine kept her eyes staring at him. She wanted him to know she was serious.

That was the one weakness of the school that she found out. A prestigious university like this would not want its reputation to be tarnished. So, she threatened them with precisely that.

Society already had a negative perception of the ultra-rich, so she knew that the public would be on her side if she came out with a story.

Mr. Jackson seemed afraid at first. But then, he started to chuckle. "Really? You'll even tell them about the vampire?" He even made air quotes at the word vampire to show how ridiculous it sounded.

Celine nodded her head. "Yeah! I'll expose the vampires! I'll seek justice for the dead girl—who the VAMPIRE killed, not me!"

Mr. Jackson didn't know what to say. Celine seemed like she was telling the truth, but the evidence was stacked against her. He can't let her off. So, he said,

"I'm sorry, but—"

Before Mr. Jackson could complete his sentence, the door burst open, and an expensive-looking woman with very short black hair walked in.

"You won't be going to prison." she said, strutting in.