Chapter 2 Starfall Academy
LOUISA
Blood?
My eyes dimmed in shock and curiosity as I stared at his face.
He was staring at me and didn't even flinch when I stared back.
It felt like he couldn't even see but his eyes were staring in my direction. And that blood dripping from his lips down to his chin made it even more eerie.
“Is that blood?” I blurted out.
“When did you start hallucinating, huh?” My brother's voice came up behind me and I spun around.
“What?” I turned to look at him, my brows furrowing in anger and spite.
My brother smirked, his back against the car.
“Seems like your desperation to stake a vampire is eating up your mind,” he laughed and my heart burned in rage.
“Stop barking around and look up there!” I snapped and waved my hand at the rooftop.
The wit in his eyes disappeared and he looked up at the building.
My heart raced as I waited for his reaction. I couldn't wait to see that horror in his eyes when he saw that boy up there.
Alarm flashed past his eyes and he turned to look at me, his eyes narrowing in confusion.
“I think you need help, Louisa,” he muttered and my heart dropped.
My head swerved to the side and I felt horror engulf me when I realized that there was no one there.
“Okay, honey,” my mom threw my bag to me.
Students were beginning to troop in through the school gate, most of them turning to look at my family.
“We'll come pick you up later, hmm?” My mom smiled and kissed my forehead.
I forced a smile and nodded my head.
My dad ruffled my hair and got into the car, bringing the engine back to life.
“Don't go hallucinating about vampires, pumpkin,” Ellis smirked at me and squeezed my shoulder before getting into the car.
I sighed with a slumped shoulder as their car swerved into a lane and drove off. I could see my mom waving until the car disappeared into the horizon.
“This must be your first time here,” a voice chirped behind me and I turned.
My eyes dimmed as I stared at the blonde girl smiling widely at me.
“Yes,” I nodded. The girl tilted her head to the side, her lips twitching as she narrowed her eyes over me like she was searching for something on me.
She straightened up and stretched her hand to me.
“Here. I'll take you to the registrar’s office,” she grinned at me.
I smiled at her and hesitantly took her hand, watching her. I studied her features, searching for anything that looked out of the ordinary. Her teeth were perfect and looked human.
There was no way she was a monster. I sighed, cursing myself for being so oversensitive.
“My name is Claire by the way,” she said as we walked into the school.
“I'm sorry I didn't ask,” I said and she chuckled, waving it away.
My jaw dropped when I raised my gaze and saw the artistry of the school. From the red brick walls that surrounded the large school to the high building staring down at me with so much intimidation.
From the stone ground, the garden on both sides of the pathway, to the fountain in the middle of the school.
The students walked past, laughing and chatting without a care of anything else in the world.
“Starfall Academy has won several awards in different categories including the most prestigious Highschool in the country,” she said as we began walking again.
I wasn't surprised at all. During my research, I found out the school was 150 years old.
That was quite unbelievable but there was proof of it on the internet. The building looked like it was built in the Victorian era.
Secretly, I wished that I would graduate from this high school. The school looked like just any normal school with normal students but something didn't feel right.
I kept looking around, forcing a smile whenever my eyes locked with any of the students.
As we ascended the stone stairs to the large dark doors, excitement and anxiety flooded through my body.
The moment we stepped in through the doors, I felt my breath stop. The high ceilings of the large hall were adorned with floral paintings and historical drawings of generations. Tall arched windows with stained glass running from floor to ceiling were on each side of the large hall. The air smelled of varsity, old books, old wood, and elegance.
It felt like I was out of breath as I stared wide-eyed around the hall.
“This is amazing!” I exclaimed, clasping my hand over my mouth. The students who passed turned to look at me with a bewildered and amused expression on their faces. They all were in a navy flared skirt, or straight trousers, and a navy blazer over a white shirt. Their striped ties were tugged under their buttoned blazers.
“It is!” Claire laughed. She wrapped her hands around me again and began to draw me to the large stairs in the middle of the hall.
“Come, the first lesson will begin soon. We need to get you your materials and assign a guide to you,” she said as she drew me up the stairs.
I barely paid attention to her as my eyes were fixed on the gold that coated the staircase railing. It didn't look like any normal gold around. It looked surreal.
“It's just gold,” Claire's voice forced me back to reality.
I turned around and my heart skipped a wild beat when I realized that all the eyes of every student in the hall were fixed on me.
The air suddenly felt oppressive as all eyes pierced through me with so much hatred in different shades of their eyes.
“Haven't she seen gold in her life?” I heard a snide comment and laughter burst out. My chest tightened and I gripped my fist tightly, trying to swallow up the anger that ate me up.
“Let's go!” Claire whispered and took my hand, pulling me up the stairs.
“There are rude students in every school,” she tried to justify the scalding comments.
“Of course,” I forced a smile. It felt like they weren't hating me because of the gold but because of something else.
We walked down the busy hallways in silence and ascended three different flights of stairs before we got to a door in an empty hallway with the word “Admission Office” written on it.
“Here,” Claire muttered and let go of my hand.
“My companionship ends here. You can go in and get yourself registered. I hope you get a good guide,” she said and turned around.
I stared at her back, my lips twitched up in a smile.
“I hope we meet again,” I called out to her. She paused at the bottom of the stairs, a grin appearing on her face.
“I hope so too,” she said and disappeared into another corridor.
I sighed and faced the door then raised my fist to knock.
“Come in,” a husky voice growled from within the door even before I could knock. I paused, my brows furrowing in confusion.
I hesitated before grabbing the knob and pushing the door open.
I pulled my head in first, a fake grin on my face. My eyes locked with a pair of cold, dark eyes behind round spectacles, and the grin dropped immediately. I walked fully into the office and closed the door carefully with my eyes still on the middle-aged woman seated behind the mahogany desk.
“Hello ma'am, I'm–”
“Louisa Williams. You are late,” she rolled out the last three words with heavy stress, her spectacles slipping down to the bridge of her nose.
My lips parted and slammed shut, my mind reeling. I couldn't tell her I spent half of my time studying and gazing at the school's imperial beauty.
“I'm sorry…” I paused and looked at the gold nameplate on the desk. “I'm sorry, Mrs. Benedict, my family arrived late in town–”
She raised her hand and my lips slammed shut. I wasn't expecting that level of coldness.
She beckoned me closer and I didn't hesitate to scurry towards her. I began to fill in my choice of courses and my academic details.
Just within half an hour I was done with my registration process. I was so used to doing this process in different schools that it has become a part of me. I didn't even need to ask for any explanation of some of the questions since I was used to seeing the same recycled questions in different schools.
“Your guide is waiting for you at the door,” she said as she handed me the school materials. I dipped my locker key into my pants pocket and held out the school map. Since it was definitely a large school, I needed a map.
I thanked the registrar and walked off to the door. I grabbed the knob, forcing my lips to stretch into a warm smile to greet my school guide.
I opened the door and raised my head when I saw a pair of black, sparkling shoes right at the door.
The smile dropped, and so did my heart when I stared at a pair of ice-cold sapphire eyes staring down at me.
I narrowed my eyes over the cold, handsome, pale face and rigid body.
“Louisa Williams?” He called in such a cold voice that I felt shivers run down my spine.
I nodded, my throat knotted so hard that I couldn't speak. It was him! The weird student on the rooftop!
He stared at me for a minute like he was assessing me before stretching out his hand.
“Hi, I'm your guide, Vlad Sabastian.”
