Even through lunch, my day seemed like a day at a typical high school. Sure, there was a lot of homework, but that seemed to be expected in the honors program. Things started to change after lunch, though. The Apprentice class was held in the auditorium directly after lunch. All of the Apprentices had this class at the same time. Damon and Luce had lunch with us, so they walked with us to class too, while debating who would win a fight between an astronaut and a caveman. I smiled about how that was their biggest concern. Mary and Sarah were throwing in their opinions on the subject as well. I didn't understand their fascination, but it was amusing to listen to.

As we walked into the auditorium, Professor Rhodes handed us each a textbook. We took seats down near the front of the auditorium. I saw that there were a few upperclassmen sitting in chairs on the stage. There were two girls, a 2nd and 4th year, and a 3rd year boy. I wondered what they were doing there. I looked at the textbook we had been handed: Introduction to Vampirism. At least this school was finally starting to be different from other high schools. My friends were all looking at their textbooks in the same disbelief I was feeling. Everything had seemed so normal so far that it was hard to remember that we were in the academy for vampires.

"Good afternoon, Apprentices," Professor Rhodes greeted us once the bell had rung. She strode to the front of the auditorium and ascended the stage with a grace I couldn't ever hope to achieve.

"Good afternoon," the crowd intoned. We had learned that much at least.

"I hope your classes have gone well so far. I know things have seemed pretty normal for you, but that will change now," she explained to us. "This class is designed to teach you the truths about what it means to be a vampire and to help you prepare for the transitions your bodies will be going through in the coming years." She continued. "The student president from the Neophyte, Novice, and Journeyman classes will be sitting in on this class and helping me out. They will also be able to help you with any questions you have about your journey. They have been through the journey much more recently than I have." She gave a smile to them. "Would you introduce yourselves?" she asked them. The Neophyte girl stood first and walked calmly over to the podium, not as gracefully as Professor Rhodes had.

"Hello, I'm the Neophyte class president, Beth Jones," she had sleek black hair and glasses. "I'll be glad to help you in any way that I can," she smiled at us all and headed back to her seat. The Novice boy introduced himself and Edward Smith and the same speech about being willing to help us. The Journeymaid girl, Emily Dekapi, glided like a ballerina to the podium to give her introduction speech. I noticed that she was paler than the other two, though she still had dark brown hair. It seemed a little strange to me. So did her ballerina-like grace. Professor Rhodes took the podium again.

"You will all find a syllabus inside of your textbook," we spent the rest of the class going over the syllabus. That seemed like the theme of the day. I was curious about the class, but the syllabus didn't give much information. I had been hoping we would learn more about being vampires today.

"Before you go, there are a couple things about being vampires in training that you must know now." Professor Rhodes had everyone's attention with those words. "You cannot live outside of the company of full vampires. I cannot stress this enough. If you are away from full vampires while you are in training, your bodies will reject the change and you will die," I doubted anyone in the room dared to disbelieve her.

The bell rang then, freeing us from the reality of our situations. I separated from everyone except Mary for Japanese class. The rest hadn't chosen Japanese for their foreign language, which made me a little sad. I realized quickly that I was ahead in that class through my years of karate. Professor Kinoshita seemed impressed by this. Most of her new students didn't know anything about the language. I didn't know much. All I really knew were karate terms, but it was still more than the rest of the class. It gave me some comfort. Professor Kinoshita didn't waste time with the syllabus; we jumped right in to the first lesson, which was greetings. Thankfully, I already knew these, and wasn't embarrassed.

"It's so complicated!" Mary complained to me after class, shoving her Japanese textbook and workbook into her bag.

"It's just really different from English," I reminded her.

"Please don't let me fail," she begged. I smiled at her.

"Of course not," I replied, finally, finally feeling like we had a real connection, and she wouldn't just abandon me. We were interested in the same things, and she seemed to be able to look past the fact that I was a Shifter. We walked together to karate. Mary was looking excited. She had said she really wanted to learn.

I saw Professor Kinoshita again in my last class of the day, which was karate. There were no useless syllabi in this class either. We were expected to change into our gi, which we could leave in our lockers from now on, and get to work. I was at the front of the class, since I was a black belt. However, since I was only an Apprentice, I was automatically at the bottom of the black belts, since they were all Novices and higher. They smiled, though, and welcomed me to their ranks with open arms. The class was spent only on stretches and basic punches and blocks, but it was still good exercise, and it was good for the white belts to be introduced to the basics. I hadn't practiced in a little while, it seemed the other black belts hadn't practiced over the summer either, so I wasn't behind.

Dawn kept glaring at me through the entire class. She obviously didn't like me. I refused to let her get to me. She couldn't do anything, and already had detention and community service for the entire year for what she had already done to me. After the basic stretches, Professor Kinoshita had the black belts go around the room helping the other students. I spent most of my time with Mary. She was so enthusiastic and happy to be here. It was really reassuring. She was also one of the few Apprentices who accepted me, despite my background. The older students also didn't seem to mind. They gave me hope for this school.

Professor Kinoshita clapped to get our attention "I'm letting you leave early this week so the Apprentices can go to the club fair up at the main building. Those of you in karate club are welcome to stay and practice. Journeyman Yamada, you are in charge of the karate club booth. I encourage all of the Apprentices to try out the karate club," she told us in dismissal. We bowed to her as was proper, and the Apprentices returned to the locker room to change before the club fair started. I wondered what kind of clubs they had here. Mary and I walked up to the main building with all the other Apprentices from their various physical education classes.

My stomach was growling already. Lunch was such a long time ago and the workout hadn't helped. I hadn't eaten as much as I should have, since I was trying to look normal in front of my new friends. I needed to eat soon. I felt the hunger stirring my wolf, who was starting to smell the students, the Apprentices in particular, as meat. My wolf craved blood. It had been ages since I felt bloodlust. I had almost forgotten about it. It was so strange, since it was so much stronger now than I had ever felt it. What was going on?