Cross Valley High

She can't remember if how many houses she had lived in before, but this house might be her new favorite. It's not just because it's far from the main city and is located in the forest but her new house has a lot of earth tones and has a rustic meets modern design vibe. Her new house shouts coziness and she loves to stay today but it's her first day at Cross Valley High she can't be MIA.

Cross Valley High is one of the famous Campuses in Asheville for its classic building architecture. It is famous for its school garden and the Cultural and Arts Building where you can find thousands of books in the school library. That's why a lot of outsiders came to see Cross Valley High for a tour or sometimes the books.

She walked herself into the campus graciously. She's used to being the center of attraction, and people gossip about her, but this feels like the first time. She's excited to see Ely again, but it sends her a lot and mixed emotions. This time, it's not Ely chasing or following her, it's the opposite. That's why their stares and glances make her more nervous. But that doesn't stop her from her plans. Her first agenda for today is; to make sure that she and Ely will be in the same class. She entered the faculty room and looked for her homeroom teacher.

"You must be," she looked at the paper she was holding.

"Seleena, Seleena Morgan, nice to meet you," Lewana greeted. The teacher sat in her chair, and the moment she landed her eyes on Lewana, she was in awe, like it was her first time seeing a beautiful girl. Might as well, beautiful isn't enough to describe her beauty.

"Miss?"

"Oh, sorry." She shook her head as soon as she came back from her senses. Lewana smiled, she's used to people being awestruck by her beauty. "Seleena, right? I'm so sorry you're just, I wish I was beautiful as you," and she laughed awkwardly. "Your class starts at nine, which is two minutes from now. I can accompany you there if you want?"

"That's very nice of you," she smiled. She thought of hypnotizing her, but she doubts she needs it. "May I know who my classmates are, do you have a list?" she tried if the teacher will do what she just asked, and to her amazement, the teacher handed her the list obediently, she was right, no tricks or magic needed. She immediately examined the list, and she felt relieved when she saw what she was looking for. "Thank you, Miss?"

"Melanie, Melanie Davis." She offered her hands like she was meeting an important person, but Lewana's very hesitant to take them. She doesn't want any physical contact this early with any human around her. Her teacher noticed it, put her hands away, and acted normal like she hadn't been rejected by a student. "So you want me to lead you to your classroom?"

"There's no need for it Miss Davis, I don't want to take more of your time. I bet you're busy. See you at your class. Nice to meet you again Miss Davis."

"You too!" As soon as Lewana has left the office, she felt weird and awkward but she just shrugged it off.

Lewana looked for the science lab, it was so tempting for her to use her powers to scan the whole school so she can find her class with no sweat, but she can't, she promised to never use her powers for unnecessary things. When she went upstairs she saw the sign attached to the wall. "Finally," she uttered.

She slides the door open and she was greeted by students chatting with each other. She examined the whole room but she couldn't find the person she was looking for. But it's okay, she thinks it would be best if she distances herself a bit from him.

"Good morning students!"

"Good morning Mr. Craig." The students replied absently.

Mr. Craig looked at Lewana and turned his head to the whole class, "Have you met your new classmate?" as soon as he said that, everyone turns their head toward Lewana. "Why don't you introduce yourself?" he said coldly.

"I'm..." she was about to say Lewana, a good thing she remembered it isn't her name here in her new city. "I'm Seleena Morgan, nice to meet you all."

"What a sweet and short introduction, okay guys, turn your books on page thirty-five."

The class has started, and Lewana isn't very interested in any class, that's what she thought, maybe she misses this kind of set-up, playing around, fooling humans, fitting in, and disguising herself as one of them. But the very reason why she's here is for her sole mission, finding a way to lift the curse.

As soon as the class ended, Lewana noticed the two young girls who were very hesitant to come near her. She, herself, is also struggling if she'll get involved with their business, but for the sake of "fitting in", she acted cool and approach them first.

"Hi!" she greeted.

"Hi!" The browned girl replied first. She's the same height as her so it's easy for her to look her in the eyes. "I'm Fiona, and this is Shea," she turned to the blonde girl beside her who was also enchanted by Lewana's beauty. Fiona elbowed Shea whose mouth was left wide open.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Shea."

"I wonder if you girls could accompany me to my next class? I got a bit lost earlier while looking for this class so..."

Shea and Fiona smiled widely and said yes together. Lewana has never been awkward with anyone, she can socialize that easily and befriends whomever, perhaps the problem with her social awkwardness around them is that young people in this era have changed so much, and she's stuck being old, but a cool century-aged vampire, she has a long way to learn more about the gen z's.

"Where do you come from?" Shea asked.

"You have a British accent, are you from London?" Fiona followed.

So this is the question and answer portion phase, she thought. She let out a sigh and smiled, "I'm from Carlisle, Cumbria, England."

"Why did you move here?"

I moved here because the stupid curse chose this place as Ely's new hometown. I am truly hoping this time I can lift up the curse or maybe kill the devil if that's more convenient. "I just like it here," she answered.

"Is this your first time here? We can tour you around Asheville. Asheville's a nice place to live and start new, you know. Nightlife here is insane, and if you like music like us, we can take you to the best music shows and gigs here in Asheville!" Shea said enthusiastically.

The Cultural and Arts Building is a whole lot different compared to the Main building. There are statues, and paintings to look for. It has a museum vibe in it and Lewana likes it there so much, not because of the decorations or artsy stuff, but because it's peaceful there and she loves serenity. She always thinks that her life is a mess, and chaotic, she once wished for a peaceful life, away from everything but she's not denying the fact that she's not worthy of that kind of life. She has actually forgotten how to live a peaceful life. In fact, she doesn't know what peace is anymore.

They reached the classroom half empty. She roamed her eyes around and at the right corner of the room, she found him. She might forget what peace is, but she'll never forget what love is. With him, she remembers feelings and beliefs she had forgotten. He was her safe haven, her paradise, her home.

Their eyes met, and it's too late to turn her eyes away from him, neither is he. Her face is so familiar that he started to think about where he saw her.

Shea noticed it so she went closer to Lewana, "He's Elijah, the Prince of Arrows of Cross Valley High. Aside from his undeniable archery skills, he's famous for his looks."

Lewana knows that, she knows Elijah with all her heart.

The door opened and a tall tanned man in his forties wearing black-rimmed eyeglasses entered the room. He was holding a thick book and a tumbler. She saw from afar what the book was, it was about Medieval Centuries art.

"Good morning class."

"Good morning Mr. Flores."

"Who can tell me about the arts during the Medieval period? I accept any answers. Anyone?" He fixed his eyeglasses and sat at the edge of the table. Lewana looked around if there was a student who knows a little about the Medieval period, but no one dared to raise their hands, or she thought the gen z's are clueless about their history.

Lewana loves that period, it has lots of issues, intrigues, and scandals and she's quite active during those days. It was the period wherein they turned lots of humans into vampires.

"No one?" Mr. Flores said hinting at a final call. He stood up and was about to begin the discussion when Lewana decided to answer.

"I think it's around the fourth century AD," Mr. Flores stopped and looked at her. He sat down again at the edge of the table and crossed his arms.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Seleena, Seleena Morgan." she replied.

"Okay Miss Morgan, go on." The class suddenly focused on Lewana and patiently waited for her to continue.

She stood up and began to speak, "Before the Renaissance, Roman Empire was divided into Eastern and Western empires which are known today as the Medieval Period. That era has many artistic styles and periods including early Christian and Byzantine, Anglo-Saxon and Viking, uhm...Insular, Carolingian, Ottonian, Romanesque and Gothic."

Mr. Ford seemed very proud and happy, especially when he found out that there is an interesting girl in his class. "Fantastic! Thank you, Miss Morgan, you can now take your seat." He fixed his seat and started the discussion properly. "Medieval art has a wide variety of art and architecture, what developed during this period yielded a diverse range of artistic style and periods just what like Miss Morgan said. Though it was never known to what particular date it has ended, art historians classified medieval art into Early Medieval Art, Romanesque Art, and Gothic Art." The discussion has continued, and Lewana, who again doesn't intend to listen to the class discussion finds it very interesting for she knows the history even with her eyes closed.

The second period has ended and the students were more excited about the lunch break. Lewana let the other students go out first, and so was Mr. Flores.

"You like History?" Mr. Flores asked her.

Yes and no, it happens to be that I am older than you think I am. "Yes. Sometimes it's good to learn about the past." Lewana replied.

"If you have some free time, you can visit the History club. I have many amazing students there just like you, who also like history."

"Sure," she said and went out. She found Fiona and Shea were waiting for her outside. "Thank you for waiting," she said.

"You were very very cool today!" Shea said, praising Lewana as soon as she stepped out of the classroom. "I mean you're beautiful, you're very stylish and you're smart! What else can you do huh?" she added.

I can do many things. "Thank you, that was very flattering," she replied and smiled.

"Ooh, so modest huh, I like it," Fiona said.

The canteen was filled with a pool of students, she actually doesn't need to eat but for the sake of fitting in, she has to. Lewana looked at today's meal; burger, potato wedges, Brussel sprouts, and melon, and those were the foods she usually doesn't eat, but maybe potato wedges will do. She looked at the tray full of disgust. Too much for fitting in she thought. They found a seat near the windows, and unexpectedly, Elijah and his friends were seated near their table. She found herself looking at him again and admitted that she really missed him. She misses his soft lips, his warm hands, and his gazes. When Elijah caught her looking at him, she immediately turned her eyes from him.

"You like him don't you?" Fiona asked. Lewana just shook her head. "Why, you can tell us. I mean, every girl here in Cross Valley has a crush on him, like who doesn't?" she added.

"You like him too?" Lewana asked.

"Whaaaat? Phhft" Fiona laughed. "Count us out. We support the guy, I mean he's very cool out there at the shooting range with his bow and arrow, but beyond that, nah-uh."

"Why?"

"It's just, he's too perfect, waaaaay perfect. And he looked like a heartbreaker."

Does he look like a player? Maybe. If they only knew he has loved only one girl.

"But you guys might work out," Shea butted in. "He's handsome, you're gorgeous. He's a varsity, you're smart, and both of you were cool," she added.

She took one more glance at him and to her surprise, he was looking at her too. She wished she could stop time and be with him freely, without any time or year limit, or be truly in love with each other without the curse's influence just like the first time they fell in love. She was thinking of literally stopping the time, and without any hesitations, she did. She just stares at him in that blank time and space, her tears fall down slowly, she wanted to go to him, but she can't freeze time for too long, she just uttered the words I missed you so much in the wind and time went back to normal.

"Oh, Seleena, are you crying?" Fiona asked.

She wiped her tears and smiled, "I had just bit my tongue."

They were going to play Dodge Ball for their Physical Education class. If there's one class that she worries about so much, it was P.E. She doesn't want to display her physical strength accidentally because it would be a big problem for her. So, to avoid the display of her powers, she told her P.E. instructor that she got stomach cramps. It was a brilliant idea because the teacher believed her and let her rest and sit on the bench. If she thought she did the right thing, she's wrong. Elijah has been wondering the entire time since the moment they exchanged glances during History class. His eyes followed Lewana. When Lewana has settled down at the benches, he really thought that it was like a deja vu, like he saw her on the benches before. And that came to his mind, she was that girl from his previous match.

"Bro, let's team up!" Elijah's friend wrapped his arms around him but he disjuncts it.

"Later," he replied and tapped his back.

Lewana sensed Elijah coming but she acted like she didn't know it.

"You're not a fan of Dodge ball?" Elijah asked her.

"Huh?"

"Why are you just sitting here at the benches? Do you prefer History over Sports?"

What a weird move to introduce yourself, Ely. "Uhm no. It's just, it's the time of the month you know. Girl stuff." she answered.

"If you don't mind, can I ask you something? Have you, have you been into Memorial Stadium?" he fired a question again.

Lewana was a bit confused if what was Elijah talking about. Is he asking me out straight away?

"Because I think I saw you there, you really looked familiar. Have we met before?" God knows how much she wanted to say yes, and tell him that they'd met hundreds of years ago and fallen in love. Elijah was waiting for her answer but Lewana can not utter any words at the moment. "I guess not. I'm sorry for disturbing you. Forget about what I said, and oh please don't think of anything, you know. This is not me hitting on with the new...with the new girl," he said. He doesn't want to go and left awkwardness in the air so he introduced himself properly instead. "Elijah by the way, we're almost in the same class."

She was about to say her real name again, luckily she didn't. "Seleena."

"Seleena, nice name."

She swears, that it's so hard to control herself from him and it's one of the reasons she hates the curse, she hated the first stage, she hates controlling herself from him and avoiding him.

Elijah went back to the court and played with his friends. She's happy and contented seeing Elijah happy. She doesn't want anything from this world but to give Elijah everything. She even gave up everything for him, and she can do it again and again.

Some students were already tired of playing and decided to rest for a while and took a water break. One of them checked his phone and was shocked at what he has read. "Have you heard about this?" he asked his other friend.

"What?" he took the phone and read it for himself. "A John Doe was found this morning near the outer banks of Asheville. Police say they found a weird bite mark on its shoulder but has no signs of blood." the guy continued reading and Lewana was listening, she knew from there that something isn't right. She took her phone and searched the online news at Asheville and saw the article. She saw the picture and zoomed in on the bite mark, and she knew it wasn't just any human being's doing.

Vampire, a fledgling.