Wesley leans against my locker, his hands folded over his chest. "Would you like to accompany me to lacrosse practice?"

I furrow my eyebrows at him. "You play lacrosse? With these twigs?" I squeeze his arm.

He laughs. "God, no. Jesus, woman, I'm talking about admiring the view." He wiggles his eyebrows.

"Really, Wesley? Remember what happened last time I was admiring a certain Tall Lacrosse Sex God?"

"Come on," he says. "You can't leave me alone. Sweaty shirtless boys playing sport. Who the hell am I going to rank best ass to worst ass with?"

"Are you seriously dragging me along to look at boy's asses?"

"Are you seriously telling me that Brett in grey sweatpants doesn't sound extremely appealing to you?"

I raise my eyebrows. "Sooo...where is this lacrosse field you speak of?"

Lacrosse practice does not disappoint at all. My eyes fall onto a shirtless Brett dashing across the field and shoot the ball straight into the goal. "He's like a majestic gazelle," Wesley says beside me in awe.

"God, I love lacrosse," I mutter.

I drop down onto a bench next to Wesley and slide my bag off my shoulder. "Do we have any homework for tomorrow?" I ask, catching sight of the books in my bag.

Wesley throws his hands up in the air. "We are literally in paradise and you want to ruin it by talking about homework?"

I laugh. "I'm sure the lacrosse team's asses aren't going anywhere," I say. "You can take your eyes off the field for one second."

He blinks slowly, keeping his eyes on the field. "Whatever," he says. "Lenore, I'm totally going to hell for this."

"Make that two of us," I mutter.

He laughs and his eyes glaze over my face. As soon as his eyes meet mine, his smile falls. "Lenore, your face," he says.

"Uh, what?" I furrow my eyebrows at him.

He looks worryingly at me. "You have these...veins under your eyes. Are you okay? You look a little pale."

I turn away and shut my eyes. "Yeah, uh, I just need to go. My aunt just texted."

I grab my bag and hurry down the stairs, taking them two at a time.

"I didn't hear a phone ring," Wesley yells after me.

Oh my god. Damn this school uniform for not being practical enough to run properly in. I scurry across the grass, my feet catching on every stick and rock in my way as I try to get away as soon as possible. No one can see me like this.

Those veins that I saw in the mirror the other day were not normal. I looked like a fucking heroin addict or something. No, not even a heroin addict. I looked like a fucking monster.

I find my way to the girl's bathroom near the bleachers and haul the door open. I swear to god if there's someone else here...

I stop in front of the mirror and peer at my reflection.

My hand goes subconsciously to my cheek, where the veins are writhing across my face. They seem to be branching down from my eyes. I cock my head. Something's happening to me and it doesn't seem good at all.

I look down at my hands, gripping the basin so hard that my knuckles go white. My hands are too pale and have a greyish pallor to them. I can hear my breathing, heavy and loud. I raise my head to meet my reflection again.

There is someone behind me.

I flinch from the unexpected figure. "This is a girl's bathroom, you know," I tell Brett through gritted teeth.

I keep my face down. "Lenore, look at me," he says.

"No," I say. "Get out of here."

His hand locks onto my jaw, his fingers digging into my cheek. He snaps my head back up. I widen my eyes at him and clench my teeth.

"Holy shit," he says, studying me. "Look in the mirror."

He releases my face and I face the mirror again. My mouth falls open. My eyes are black marbles, no colour in them except for a shiny obsidian. My teeth are elongated and pointy. Fangs. I have fangs.

I open my mouth to scream, but Brett clasps a hand over my mouth. "You want to alert the whole of Devenford that you're not human?" He shakes his head. "That's not a good idea." I'm only then aware of how close his body is to mine.

I bite down hard on his palm and he recoils. He cradles his hand to his chest. "What was that for?"

I ignore his question. "What's happening to me?" I huff through my teeth. "You better tell me or I swear to god I will scream again."

He looks up and chuckles. "Go ahead. Scream all you like. Invite the whole town in. Just wait until the entire freaking church community stakes you."

"What's happening to me?" I ask. My bottom lip quivers. "I'm not, like, possessed or anything?" I cock my head to the side. "And how come you don't care?"

Brett turns away and when he turns back, he's transformed. His irises are rings of molten gold and when he opens his mouth, fangs protrude from where teeth are meant to be.

I widen my eyes, scrambling away from him. "What are you?" I huff.

"I'm a werewolf," he says.

I furrow my eyebrows. "You're kidding, right?"

He shakes his head. "You know what you saw, Lenore. Don't deny it. I'm not human and neither are you."

"Is it going to stay like this?" I ask, swallowing the lump in my throat. "Will I look like this forever?"

He flashes his teeth in a warm smile. "No, Lenore. You'll go back to normal soon enough," he says. He pauses. "Just be wary of changing unconsciously. You should get control soon."

"And until then? I can't go out there looking like I came right out of freaking Paranormal Activity."

"Just...try and get your mind off of it," he says. He lowers himself down onto the floor and gestures for me to follow his lead.

I drop down next to him. "I hate this," I say. "The crash, my parents dying, this whole creepy supernatural thing."

He leans his head against the wall. He's so tall that he has to bring his knees up to his chest to even fit in the small space. "It'll blow over," he says. "It's not as bad as it seems."

"Yeah? And what's the upside of the whole demon-looking thing?"

"If you're supernatural, you probably have a gift," he says. "For example, werewolves have super speed and strength."

"Well, what am I?"

He bites his lip. "See, here's the thing: I don't know for sure."

I groan. "That sucks."

"Right?" He grins. "How's Devenford going for you?"

I sigh. "I've literally just found out I'm not human and you're asking how school is?"

"Um, yes," he says. "You really think you're going to get that medical PhD with that attitude? God, woman."

I laugh. "I'm taking it there's no wolf powers to give you good grades?"

He chuckles. "I wish." His expression softens. "Your face. It's back to normal."

I feel my lips curving into a smile. "Thank you for distracting me," I say.

"You're welcome," he says. "I know how hard it is to control it."

"Did this happen to you, as well? The whole surprise morphing thing?" I raise my eyebrows questioningly.

"I knew I was a werewolf," he says. "I was born one. It was just a matter of controlling it for me." He pauses. "Wait, your parents are human, right?"

I gnaw on the inside of my bottom lip. "Yeah. Well, they were. They were killed in a car crash."

He raises his eyebrows. "You sure about that?"

"I was in the freaking car crash. I'm pretty sure I would know," I snap.

"Wait, then how did you survive?" he asks. He widens his eyes suddenly and he raises a hand, moving right towards my...boob?

I swat his hand away. "Did you just try to grope me?"

He opens his mouth and then shuts it again. His mouth is agape and his eyes are wide. "I - well, no."

I feel my cheeks turning crimson. "Well, this is awkward for the both of us now, isn't it?"

He laughs nervously. "I, uh, I'm sorry about that. It's not your fault."

"No, no. It was mine. Don't worry about it." I wave my hand around in a dismissing gesture. "What were you doing near my chest anyway?"

"Can I show you?" he asks.

I nod hesitantly. He grabs my hand and lifts it to my chest, pressing my palm against where my heart is.

Where the steady beating of a heart should be, there is nothing.

He nods slowly at me. "See? Maybe you didn't survive the crash," he says quietly.

I furrow my eyebrows at him. I'm dead. My heart isn't beating. When I speak, my voice is hoarse. "Then why am I here? Why am I not lying in the ground somewhere like a dead person should be?"

It still feels too surreal. I'm actually dead. All this time, I haven't been the survivor that everyone's been labelling me. All this time, I've been wondering why I survived, how I survived. And now I have the answer.

It all starts to come together now. The crash, my death, the man with fangs, my eyes. I think I know what Brett's about to say before he says it.

"Lenore, I think you're a vampire."