Lily was shaking slightly as she walked up to Nova High's gates on a chilly Monday - the weekend passed with no more events besides several terms worth of homework she had to quickly skim over. No more surprise visits from werewolves or from her inner creature.

She was still panicking like she was about to be ambushed - were people still talking about her outburst on Friday?

Lily shifted the straps across her shoulders, anxiety crawling around her stomach. She felt sick. As the gates loomed, she paused and dug into her pockets of her jeans for her phone and earphones.

Music always calmed her down. It also allowed her to focus on something other than people's gazes of pity or curiosity. She liked music, and it somehow made her feel like she belonged somewhere else.

With one earphone slotted in place, Lily's music soothing in her ear, she walked through the dreaded gates of Nova High. She kept her head down while heading to the main entrance and tried to ignore the burning stares of the students around her.

Lily tuned out her thoughts, and those stares, trying to focus on the music in her ears. Renegades? She realised, losing herself to the rhythm before it was interrupted when someone called her name.

"Lily!" She froze and turned to the source of the shout, and relaxed only a little when she saw Jack wave a ring-covered hand and head towards her with a curious Claire and a nervous Karen in tow. Lily removed her earphone as they reached her, and was pinned under Jack's curious stare.

"How's your weekend?" Jack asked, shifting her bag. Claire was tapping her pen against her notebook like she was rushing to finish some homework before class started. Karen was clutching her binder like her life was stored inside.

"It was alright, had a tonne of homework to do." Lily said, fiddling with her earphones as her anxiety slowly churned in her belly.

"Yeah, Mrs Khan told us that you've been added to all these new classes," Jack frowned. "That sucks."

Lily shrugged. "There's nothing I can do."

"Besides drown in homework?"

"Yeah," Lily smiled a little, and nodded to Claire. "Is that what you're doing?"

Claire blinked. "Oh, I've done my homework. This is Jack's."

Jack smiled innocently at Claire. "Thanks a tonne!"

Claire scrunched up her nose but continued filling out Jack's notebook. The witch turned back to her. "What's your first class?"

Lily picked out the timetable she'd tucked into her back pocket. "Vamp Science?" She said warily. "Is it Week B?"

"Yep - you're with Karen then." Jack turned to the vampire next to her, who warily looking at Lily through her long dark hair. Her binder was still gripped tightly in her hands. "You okay?"

"Yes!" Karen squeaked as Lily looked at her. "Sorry, I'm just a bit nervous!"

Claire frowned. "Karen, babe, you're always nervous."

"Well, I-you know..." Karen sheepishly looked at Lily. "I'm sorry, I just can't get Friday out of my head."

Lily stiffened and shuffled her feet. "You're not the only one."

Jack scoffed. "The song's not that bad."

Karen blushed. "No, I meant-"

"I know but you're being ridiculous." Jack crossed her arms. "Just don't touch Lily's bracelet and you'll be fine." The witch looked to Lily, to her bare wrist, and frowned. "Where is your bracelet?"

Lily still felt that ghostly weight around her empty wrist. "It's too damaged to wear."

Jack's expression softened a little. "That sucks." Jack looked to her own wrists adorned with bracelets but focused on her non-existent watch. "Ooh, my watch says my homework should be done!"

"Gimme a few Jack, hang on!" Claire furiously scribbled on the notebook as the school bell quietly went.

"Are you okay showing me the ropes in science?" Lily pushed aside her anxiety and asked the shy vampire.

"Yes," Karen nodded. "It just may take a while before I'm used to you. I'm...I'm just very shy."

"That's okay," Lily smiled softly as her anxiety faded away and she could breathe a little easier. "My anxiety makes me shy too."

Karen's brown eyes gleamed a little as Lily admitted their shared trait. Jack looked between them and smiled. "Good! Alright, let's get this hellish day over with." She rubbed her hands together, sparks of green magic flying but she paid it no heed as she walked towards the main doors.

"You'll need your notebook!" Claire shouted after her and raced to catch up. Karen just smiled at the two of them.

"They'll take a while to get used to as well." Karen smiled softly, tucking her long curtain of hair behind her ear, and began walking with Lily to their first class. Lily's anxieties eased as she realised she had at least one friend in her new classes.

Karen walked into class with her, arriving a little early before the main group of students went in. Their teacher, Mr Ren, was a vampire hailing from another continent and spoke with an accent that rolled his r's. He came over and introduced himself to Lily and explained where they were in their studies; he was pleased to hear Lily had read through their past classes so she was somewhat up to date.

"That makes this easier for you," Mr Ren said. His eyes were dark as he took in her getting out a new notebook.

"As vampires, whom rely heavily on blood we need to learn about where it comes from, what's beneficial to us, and what could be in it." Mr Ren explained while more students entered and took their seats. "Vampire science goes through the genetics of blood, what can be carried through it, as well as different diseases and viruses that can be picked up from it."

Lily nodded along, finding it interesting. She always had a thirst for knowledge, and Lily guessed it was her favourite highlight of being put into all the classes - she was actually learning something new.

Mr Ren pointed the whiteboard where he'd written up some instructions for the lesson. "I'm sure Karen will help you during our lessons. I'll only be lenient with your homework for this week Lily, I expect you to be up to date by next week."

Lily could only nod, despite the despair in her gut at the workload awaiting her when she got home. I officially have no life. She wordlessly started to write down what was on the board, Karen doing the same, as the rest of the class filtered in.

"Hey what's she doing here!?" Lily snapped her head up as Isaac Munford stared at her, all his friends pausing at her presence as well.

Mr Ren pointed at a chair. "Take your seat Isaac, Lily's in this class now and that's all the explanation you need."

Isaac was shocked, Lily could tell from his wide eyes, but shrugged off his bag when he got to his desk. "Alright, Mr Ren." He scoffed, glaring at Lily as she turned her head away and got back to her notes. Karen gently nudged her to smile softly, and Lily returned the smile - at least she had one person supporting her.

Lily did her best to keep up, jotting down as many notes as she could, while Mr Ren explained the next class of genetics to them. Karen whispered explanations to her as he went on, ignoring their chatter.

It was when they got to the practical experiment that things changed.

"Okay, pair off between each other-" Lily and Karen locked eyes in agreement, "-and I'm going to come around with your jars; one of you grab the aprons, safety goggles, and gloves, the other can clear your station."

Lily started to move their stuff about to clear the table while Karen went to grab the rest of the equipment, seeing as she was the only one who knew where it was. As she was moving their stuff to the side Isaac approached her bench.

"Enjoying yourself, freak?" He grinned, a snake's smile, unnerving Lily.

Mr Ren, however, had reached her bench as well. "Head to your station, Isaac." He said as he put a jar down on her bench.

Isaac leaned against Lily's bench. "But this is my bench, sir, Lily and I are a pair!"

"No we're not." Lily said bluntly. Isaac blinked at her as his friends snorted. She frowned at him, what was he thinking?

Mr Ren looked at Isaac. "Back to your station," was all he said as he kept handing out the jars. Isaac glared at him but left. Karen came over with Lily's apron, glasses and gloves while Karen already wore hers. It made her eyes larger, the innocent doe eyes taking in the clear station with a smile.

Lily then saw what was in the jar. "Is that a heart?"

Karen nodded, her face dropping. "It's a cow's heart, the poor thing. We're dissecting it to look at the valves."

Lily paled a little. She wasn't fazed by blood, not really, but it was still unnerving to cut into a heart. With gloved hands she reached for the jar as Mr Ren instructed for them to open them and begin dissecting, to be very careful with their scalpels and to follow his instructions 'word for word'.

Lily was struggling to open the jar as Karen recited the instructions, double checking she had the chopping board and scalpel ready. Lily huffed, removing her glove so she could get a better grip on the metal lid. It was slightly wet from being in a cooler so her hand was slipping a little.

She twisted her hand and gasped when her hand sliced open along a sharp edge of the lid. The class went silent as Lily looked down to see her blood lining her little finger and down her palm. It wasn't a deep cut, it would scab over in a few hours, but as Lily looked at her hand she realised the class was still silent.

Lily looked up, about to explain to Mr Ren she cut her hand open, when she took in everyone staring at her. Students were gripping the tables as the smell of her blood wafted through the room. To her it was just metallic, but to a vampire who had senses a lot stronger than hers, they must have smelled an underlying scent.

They were looking at her like she was food.

Lily looked to Karen to see she was surprisingly clear-eyed but struggling a little as she took in Lily's injury. All the vampires had their gazes locked on the red blood now beginning to pool in her hand.

"Lily," Mr Ren said calmly, hands raised defensively. He was the only vampire who wasn't struggling. "Slowly walk towards the door and to the sick bay. Don't make any sudden moves please."

Lily slowly reached out with her good hand for her books but the teacher shook his head. "Leave your things, collect them after class."

Lily nodded, trying to calm her racing heart and slowly stepped out from the bench to walk down the aisle of the classroom. The vampires' eyes followed her every move.

"What's going on?" She asked, her voice naturally a low whisper. Something shifted in her stomach as she realised she was in trouble. Instinct swam through her blood and told her to not stop walking.

"A scent is a lot stronger when it's attached to blood." Mr Ren explained as he slowly walked with her to the door. "Your scent is normal, altered enough to know you're not human, but it magnified when your blood was exposed to everyone's noses. It's similar to a trance. I'll explain more about it when you return for your books."

Lily just nodded, her fear drowning her instincts out as she walked out the classroom. She jumped when Mr Ren shut the door behind her, leaving her in a hallway alone with a bleeding hand and a lot of questions.

What an excellent start to her week.

Sick bay wasn't much help - the fairy teachers tutting over her accident, warning her to be careful. Their purple magic though, trying as it might to weave her skin back together, wasn't working. Their magic slid off her skin like oil so they had to heal her hand the old fashioned way. As they bandaged her up she was asking questions about vampire trances, about bloodlust, but they didn't have any answers.

"We're fairies, Lily." The nurse just said. "We know just the anatomy, not the instincts of us supernaturals!"

Lily scowled at her thickly bandaged hand - she couldn't form a fist, let alone grip a pen properly, and for today where she was in a whole bunch of new classes it was the last thing she needed.

Lily spent the rest of the lesson in sick bay, arriving back at Mr Ren's door when the bell went for recess. She didn't look too closely at the vampires that left the classroom, ignoring their itching stares as they locked onto the bandage around her hand. Their noses twitched like her scent still tickled them.

When everyone had left, Isaac passing her with a mixed glare, Lily entered the classroom to see Karen packing up her things and Mr Ren pinching his nose.

"Sir?" She asked, getting their attention. Karen weakly smiled at her and Mr Ren stared her down with a baffling expression.

"All healed up?"

"Somewhat." Lily waved to her bandaged hand. "Their magic doesn't work on me."

Mr Ren frowned. "Interesting." He picked up some paper from his desk and extended it to her. "Your homework is due in our next lesson. Karen took all the notes you'll need."

"Thank you." Lily took her bag from Karen and smiled at her, but the vampire was a little ashen. "What happened?"

"One's individual scent is magnified when their blood is exposed, as I mentioned before." Mr Ren explained, as Karen wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Because you're an incredibly rare creature there's no information about your supernatural side for us to learn about - but we now know what the smell your blood can do to a vampire."

Lily felt her anxiety begin to pool in her stomach. "Which is?"

Mr Ren stared at her. "It starves their senses, meaning your scent comes across as the one thing they need to survive. It gives them the overwhelming urge to drink it."

Lily gulped and clutched her wrapped hand, hesitantly looking between Karen and the teacher. Mr Ren narrowed his eyes. "I teach my students to master self-control, Lily. I make sure they understand there are more highly nutritious things to consume rather than blood, like beetroot for example, even if blood is easiest. You don't need to worry about Karen, or myself, attacking you. We're in control."

Lily's worry didn't lessen. "What about the others?"

"You might experience some unwanted attention but the rest of the teachers will keep them in line." Mr Ren said. "May I suggest avoiding the cafeteria for lunch today? Just because your scent is still in their noses."

Lily shivered. The cut on her hand burned as her anxiety swam up her throat, clawing at her. "Great." She choked out.

Mr Ren opened the classroom door for them. "Once your hand's all healed up in a few days, they'll be fine. Just don't cut your hand open again."

Lily just nodded, her body walking out the classroom with Karen following. Her skin wasn't as pale anymore, a little bit of colour returning. The vampire looked at her under her curtain of black hair. "Are you okay?" Karen asked.

"Yeah." Lily said automatically. "I think so."

"I'm sorry if I scared you..."

"Nah, you're fine." Lily's gaze wondered over the students gathering for the next class, feeling itchy under their stares. "You weren't who I was worrying about."

Karen frowned. "Isaac?"

Lily nodded and quietly told her about the confrontation last Friday morning before her wolf 'bodyguards' stepped in. Karen's eyes were wide, mouth open in shock. "He threatened to bite you?"

Lily pursed her lips. "He was probably bluffing, but what if he wasn't?"

"And now he's scented your blood?" Karen put the two together and paled again, clutching her precious binder. "Lily, he wouldn't do that on school grounds, no way..."

"Are you sure?" Lily slowly walked them to their lockers. "'Cause I wouldn't trust him not to."

Karen adjusted her binder as she looked up at Lily. "I'm sure Jack will help you if he does something? She hates him."

Lily almost smiled at the idea of the two of them battling, placing a little wager in her head on Jack winning in less than a few minutes. She cocked her head at Karen. "Any reason why?"

Karen thought for a moment. "I think he just gets under her skin, that's all. I've never seen Jack back down from a fight though. She'd happily fight anyone."

Lily halted by her locker, seeing Jack and Claire standing a few metres away, and really looked at Karen; the shy vampire who couldn't stomach the idea of pain. "What did it smell like?" Lily whispered, hesitating for a moment.

Karen rubbed her nose, not quite looking her in the eye. "Like...it was a life. A refreshing glass of life that I needed, 'cause I was dying."

Jack and Claire had walked over and overheard Karen's haunting description, Lily's face was pale, but Jack just raised an eyebrow.

"That's poetic," she deadpanned. "Was science that boring?"

Karen flushed, tucking her face behind her binder. Claire narrowed her eyes between the vampire and Lily, spotting her bandaged hand. "What happened!?" She exclaimed.

"It was an accident, the jar wouldn't open." Lily muttered, picking at the stupid bandage.

Jack frowned. "How'd that go down in a class of blood-loving creatures?"

"I'm not allowed in the cafeteria at lunch." Lily said, grabbing an apple out of her bag. There wasn't time for anything more filling so the apple would have to do.

Jack whistled low, Claire's eyes lighting up at the idea of gossip. "Which maths do you have now?" The fairy asked.

Lily scowled looking at her full timetable. "Mathematics?"

"Mathematics, not General Maths?"

"Yeah..?

"Excellent, you're with me." Claire's grin was full of delight. "You can fill me in on what happened in science."

Jack groaned. "Karen please tell me you have a family emergency that requires you to be in sick bay all day and I can be a good friend and be there for you?"

Karen smiled softly. "Sorry Jack, you're stuck in maths for 90 minutes."

"That's too long." The witch whined as Karen began walking with her to their class. Claire led Lily to their own, her new teacher barely giving her a second glance as he stared at the room.

"Alright. Trigonometry." He said, holding the textbook in his hands like it was holy. "Work through pages 347 to 359 for this lesson. Exam style, so complete silence."

Lily almost left the classroom right then and there. Luckily her teacher wasn't too strict, ignoring Claire's quiet whispering on what 'x' truly was and how the graph was to be laid out, keeping her up to date.

In return for Claire's help, she wanted details on what happened in science. Lily tried not to look too closely at the vampires around them - they hadn't bounced back as quickly as Karen had. Their skin was sickly. Some were scratching their nails on the table as though pain kept them grounded on reality.

Lily's hand still burned under the bandage and she struggled to write the equations out with her pen.

Despite the pain and burning over her palm, Mathematics passed by quickly. As she checked her timetable, Claire bouncing beside her with the new gossip recharging her energy for the school day, Lily felt dread sink in her stomach.

She had PE next. Werewolf PE. And she didn't have any friends in that class.