A note to readers: I was  invited to submit a story for potential adaptation by Wattpad Studios. What you're about to read is a sample chapter, so there may or may not be a continuation. Thank your for your support in reading!

Vlog #1 –

Exterior: Busy College campus

RIN

(speaking to camera) Hey guys! Guess where I am?

The camera pans wildly around the campus and then focuses back on Rin.

RIN

It's the first day at St. Anne's College! Good old S-A-C. Sac.

Rin grimaces.

RIN

Uh. St. Anne's. So anyway, I moved all my stuff into the dorm room this morning and now I'm heading over to my first class, Creative Fiction.

I've got my course outline, plus the first Daybreakers book to reread for the millionth time. So now I can be that girl who talks to her camera and reads books in the corner by herself.

Rin grins and gives a sarcastic thumbs up to the camera, then turns around and runs straight into someone.

RIN

Wha-

MALE VOICE

Oh shi-

The camera goes black. Then the screen shows Rin on the ground, the book lying on the pavement beside her.

RIN

Ow.

MALE VOICE

Shit, I'm sorry, I didn't...were you walking backwards just now?

RIN

(a little defensively) I was vlogging

Rin grabs her camera. You see a waist-height shot of the man who is now holding the book and course papers.

MALE VOICE

Sorry. Does the camera still work?

RIN

(sounding sheepish) Well, I was walking backwards, so...um, looks like the camera is fine.

Awkward pause.

MALE VOICE:

(in a teasing tone) So, DayBreakers. Really?

RIN

(now defensive) What's wrong with Daybreakers?

MALE VOICE

(still teasing) What isn't wrong with it? You should know that as a creative writing major.

Rin snatches the book out of his hand.

RIN

(slightly outraged) Excuse me? And how do you know I'm a creative writing major?

MALE VOICE

Well...

He holds out the papers and Rin takes them.

RIN

Oh, right.

MALE VOICE

(sounding amused) I'm Jason by the way. Looks like I'm in your first class.

RIN

Okay. So what are you reading, Jason?

Rin leans closer, we see the book in Jason's arms.

RIN

Cloud Runner. Of course.

JASON

Of course?

RIN

(keeping voice light)

Don't get me wrong, I love Cloud Runner. It's the perfect mix of not-quite-literary and not-quite-fantasy and one hundred percent purple prose.

Also, it's the perfect size to prop up my camera.

(Brief pause)

JASON

(still amused) Okay, so you do have a copy at home though.

RIN

(exasperated) Oh my god.

She turns and begins to walk away.

JASON

(in the distance behind her) See you in class, Daybreaker.

Camera goes black.

Chapter One

She'd arrived way too early.

The classroom was empty, and Rin moved through the rows of long tables as quickly as she could, feeling her ears burn. She always did this, stressed out so much about being late that she arrived too early and then sat there sweating and overthinking everything.

Sinking down into a seat at a back table, she opened the Daybreakers book and positioned it in front of her face. It was a distraction, not a shield.

Still, as the minutes ticked past, she couldn't seem to focus on the words.

She felt nervous, restless and jittery. One knee jiggling under the desk, fingers tapping on the book cover.

From beyond the faded pages, the shuffle of footsteps sounded as a few students filed in. Rin's fingers tightened on the cover. She pictured that Jason guy walking into the empty classroom, seeing her huddled in the corner poring over Daybreakers.

Screw him. She was allowed to read what she wanted.

"Is this seat taken?"

She started, fumbling her book. It dropped to the desk with a loud plop, which echoed in the nearly empty classroom. Several people turned to look at her, and Rin slumped lower in her chair, face burning.

There was a woman standing at the end of her table.

She looked older than Rin, mid-thirties maybe, and she was short and round, with blond, doll-like ringlets, topped by an aggressive bouffant. Rin stared at her. The woman beamed back.

"Rin, right? I recognize the Daybreakers book."

"Oh, yeah. Hi!" Rin shifted in her seat. She was pretty sure she knew who the woman was now. She'd talked to her new roommates in group chat just this morning, but her selfie hadn't done this woman justice.

"Um, nice to meet you in person..." She wasn't sure if it was the bouffant, or the exaggerated southern drawl, but she found herself suddenly off balance, wracking her brain for a name. Panic clutched her chest. She knew this.

"It's Tracy, hon." The blond woman sat down, slinging her book bag on the desk with a noisy thump. Thankfully she didn't seem offended by Rin's fumbling. "I just dropped my stuff off. I'm glad I'm not the only one who brought a million books!"

Tracy's bag had slumped over. There were gum wrappers and a few pens, and a very battered romance novel trying to escape across the desk top.

Rin sat back, strangely relieved.

Tracy didn't seem to have it all together either.

"This writing thing is murdering me. I just got another rejection." Tracy jabbed a thumb back over her shoulder at the teacher's desk. "I hope this professor can work some magic. How about you, still working on the fantasy novel?"

"Oh, uh. I scrapped it." Rin blushed. She'd totally forgot "what I'm writing" had been included in the roommate introductions. "I'd like to try something for teens." Her face was burning. Could Tracy tell from there?

Why was human interaction this hard?

"Oh! Me too." Tracy lit up all over again. "There's just not much stabbing going on in middle grade, is there?"

Rin nodded, not sure how to reply to that.

"Brought the whole Daybreakers series, huh?" Tracy said.

Rin tensed. That wasn't a judging tone, was it? "Uh, yeah. Didn't want to leave them behind."

"Do you think I could borrow them? I heard they're good." Tracy held up one hand, palm facing Rin, as if she were about to pledge an oath. "I solemnly swear, I don't eat peanut butter while reading."

Rin relaxed, sliding Daybreakers across the desk. "Yeah of course. And don't worry, I'm not one of those don't crack the spine types."

Tracy reached out to smooth one hand over the cover. "Thanks. I swear I've had an eternal book hangover since the last Harry Potter. I keep looking for a new series to fangirl over."

Rin leaned forward eagerly. "Me too. You'll love these. And we can geek out together." She dropped her voice, feeling a little self conscious. "And um, you don't write fanfiction, do you?"

Tracy shot her a sly look from under her lashes. "I know I'm old, so don't judge me, but...Drinny."

"Oh my gosh, that's awesome." She hesitated, still not certain she wanted to confess to her specific Daybreakers slash fic. 

She still had to feel Tracy out a bit, but she didn't seem judgey. "I write Daybreaker fic."

Tracy giggled. "Okay, after I reach full fangirl status, can we please write one together where the characters are actually in my demographic, like thirty-something housewives? We can call it Daydrinkers."

Rin laughed. "Are you going to try to fit Wine-O'clock somewhere into the series title?"

"Oh my god, yes. The Wine O'Clock Trilogy—no wait, Chronicles. That sounds more epic. What would the first one be called?"

Rin was trying to think of another amusing title, when a woman in a forest green sweater vest marched in and set her books down loudly and decidedly on the teacher's desk. She glanced around the classroom, adjusting thick, black-framed glasses.

The woman's steel-grey hair was tied into a tight knot at the back of her neck, and Rin's stomach tied itself into a similar knot at the mere sight of her.

This looked like a woman about to thoroughly disapprove of genre fiction. A woman you could never mention fanfiction around, unless you wanted your eyebrows scorched off by the sheer force of the look she'd direct at you. It wasn't that Rin believed in judging people by mere appearances—books and covers and all that—but she'd met these types of people before.

She felt a stab of panic. Why had she thought she'd be welcome in something called, "Creative Fiction: Becoming a Professional Novelist"? If only there'd been a class named, "Fanfiction: Becoming a Neurotic Shut-in Who Spends Way too Much Time on the Internet Obsessing over Fictional People".

Rin shifted in her chair and shot a look at Tracy, who's smile had dimmed, and who was now eyeing the professor with the kind of twitchy nervousness usually reserved for squirrels confronted by housecats.

"She looks kind of scary," Tracy whispered, and Rin was about to agree, when there was a mutter of general annoyance from the front.

There appeared to be a bottleneck in the doorway. Someone had dropped their pencil case and leaned down to pick it up, and a line had formed behind them.

Rin froze.

Jason was there, standing at the very back. He shifted from one foot to the other, adjusting the strap of his leather bag, leaning sideways to see past the crowd. The Cloud Runner book was still tucked under one arm, and his black curls were windblown and hanging in eyes. She watched, a little helplessly, as he shook his hair out of his face.

Rin groaned softly, sinking lower in her seat.

"What's wrong?"

She glanced over to see Tracy frowning at her. "Um, just this guy I ran into earlier."

"Which one?"

"Black hair, leather book bag."

Tracy sat up straighter. "Oooh, him?" Her voice was a loud whisper. "I wouldn't mind starring in his erotica. Did you get his number?"

"Oh my gosh. Tracy, hush." Rin nearly overbalanced, and Tracy laughed.

When she'd righted herself, Jason and a few of the other students had filed in and were finding seats. She stiffened as he paused just inside, scanning the classroom. When his gaze fell on her he grinned and gave her a little wave.

"He's cute," Tracy whispered.

Yes, she supposed Jason was cute, with his riotous tumble of curls, and dark eyes framed by long lashes, but that was entirely beside the point.

"I didn't notice earlier," she said firmly. "I was too busy wishing I could punch him in his stupid face."

Tracy's eyes went wide. "Tell me everything."

Rin told her about the encounter, keeping her voice low, and one eye on Jason. He was now looking over the classroom idly while he waited for people to move.

"Cloud Chaser." Tracy scoffed. "Every lit professor assigns that. I bet she's about to. Look."

Sure enough, the professor was approaching Jason now, nodding down at the book in his hand, giving him a warm smile.

Gross. She was looking at him like he was some kind of saint just for reading it.

"Shit, you're right." Rin sat back, frowning. "It's not his favorite book, he just brought it for class. That makes my earlier comeback totally ineffective."

"Come on, look at him." Tracy flipped blond curls over one shoulder, shooting Jason a narrow look. "I bet his writing is all just people standing around in the rain holding cigarettes in their long white hands." She mimed holding a cigarette between two fingers, pursing her lips and drawling out, "Oh God, it's all just so deep."

Rin laughed.

Jason was grinning at the professor now, tapping the book cover with one finger. Probably making some kind of point about the literary genius of it all. "And you just know he goes around calling everything Kafkaesque, right?"

Tracy leaned forward, eyes shining. "Right, and he's going to write the next great American novel in second person future tense and if you don't like it, it's because you're a capitalist hack."

"Naturally."

Tracy gave her a wicked smile. "You know, you can always tell how small someone's dick is by how much he quotes David Foster Wallace. There's a direct ratio."

Rin clapped a hand over her mouth, and ended up making an awkward snorting noise, and Tracy cackled.

She could feel her ears heat up as Jason glanced up from his conversation, brows raised.

She returned his stare, defiant in spite of all her blushing, and tried not to fidget in her desk as a slow grin spread across his face.

Why was he looking at her like that?

"Let's have a seat, people."

Another shuffle and murmur as people began to settle in, and the professor waved a hand at the whiteboard, where she'd written her name in a series of spiky scribbles.

"As you can see, I'm Professor Stephanie Weber. Welcome to Fiction Writing." She turned to smile at Jason. "This is very exciting. Turns out we've got a bit of a mystery guest this morning."

Rin's stomach dropped as Professor Stephanie Weber slid her copy of Cloud Runner off the desk and held it aloft.

"Meet Jason Padeleki. You might know him better by his pen name, Clive Richardson, author of Cloud Runner, and our first book of the course."