Roseville

Room 206. An english classroom. The homeroom that Alacyn had been assigned to in the waning months of her previous year at Roseville High. She was bad with faces, bad with names, but there wasn't a way in hell that she'd forget how to navigate to room 206. She'd perfected her route from Dr. Bradley's house to room 206 to the point that she could avoid as much contact with other people as possible, but still arrive exactly on time. She was, at least she hoped, known within the class for her punctuality and little else.

Alacyn entered room 206 in much the same way the moon rises in the sky, slowly, cautiously, but steadily. She made no scene as she surveyed the landscape, weighed her seating options, and made the logical choice of seating. Empty table, center back row, as removed from the rest of the class as one could possibly be. Sure, someone would likely sit beside her, but that was unavoidable. For now, however, she reveled in her exile. Around her, she caught snippets of conversation. If she focused, she could follow even hushed words across the room. Among the perks of vampirism was enhanced senses, and though she cared little for banter of her fellow classmates now, it felt good to be as aware as she was of her surroundings. It made her feel safe.

There was, however, a singular personality within room 206 that occupied her attention, albeit greatly to her chagrin. Luca Evans. The only name, unfortunately aside from Lily Edwards, that she bothered to remember in the entire class. He was seated in front of her, to her right, with his friend, whose name she did not recall. She eyed him casually for a moment, before catching herself and glancing up to the clock. She didn't want to like him, but she did, and she knew what the consequences could be. Still, no matter how hard she fought it, the fuzzy, warm feeling that came over her when he was around never truly went away. She could only hope that homeroom was the only class they shared this year.

The sound of Lily's voice startled Alacyn from her rumination and, suddenly aware that she'd been holding her breath, resumed normal respiratory function. Alacyn actually liked Lily, and as far as people who could have walked in on her and learned her secret go, she wasn't too bad. She had a tendency to babble, which was fine by Alacyn because she preferred to listen than speak anyway, and when Alacyn did need to respond, she always had ample time to compose her words. She never stumbled over her words with Lily like she did around others. As much as she wished that Lily would ignore her like everyone else, she was grateful for her friendship.

"Oh, hey Lily." She offered a small but warm smile. "I suppose my vacation was alright. It was quiet. I read 'The Count of Monte Cristo', 'Jane Eyre', and 'Of Mice and Men,' to keep occupied." She reached into her backpack and removed a notebook labeled "Homeroom" a little preemptively, opened to the first page, and scribbled the date. "I don't know what you mean, 'daydreamy.' I was checking the clock. How was your vacation?"

"Yeah it is pretty easy, it just gets a bit...tiring, listening to the same things over and over again. I mean it's not like anyone's changed anything about themselves over the summer....well excluding Drake over there, but I'm sure that's just some image change attempt or some such."

Jerrard yawned quietly, covering his mouth with a fist before resting his head on his forearms atop the desk.

"Give me a nudge when things get lively will you? I didn't get a chance to sleep too much last night."

Alacyn grimaced when Lily mentioned ladybugs. She hated insects, even harmless ones like ladybugs and just the thought of so many made her shudder. Oddly enough, she didn't mind them all so much when she was younger, and only recently did she really begin to detest them. She pondered this thought as Lily kept on talking, only half listening to the red-haired girl.

Her attention returned to Lily when she heard the word, "vampire." She turned to face Lily, just as she finished. When Lily walked in on Alacyn drinking blood from a bag last year, she didn't freak out, not noticeably, anyway. She seemed more excited than scared, almost as if the revelation had vindicated her beliefs. Ever since, they'd been, "best friends," in Lily's words, and she acted like the secret Alacyn shared with her was no different than a secret crush. Funnily enough, Lily did not know about her feelings for Luca, and she was perfectly content with that.

"Fairy tales, yeah." Alacyn spoke hazily as Lily trailed off, and glanced over at Amy. "Who would have guessed..." She returned her gaze to Lily. "Did you, uh, learn anything interesting?" She tried sounding as nonchalant as possible, as if she had only a passing interest. Even though Lily knew what she knew, and Alacyn deigned to answer her questions more often than not, she still didn't like discussing it plainly, even if they had privacy, let alone in the middle of homeroom.

Wade Shug oozed into Room 206 wearing a smirk, and too much cologne.

While some of his classmates were a shade tanner thanks to the summer months, "Shug the Slug" seemed to have gotten -- if anything -- paler, and sicklier. You couldn't tell him that, though. He wore a stiff leather jacket that practically smelled expensive over a lifestyle brand blue-and-white striped polo. His limited edition Nike's were just about as white as he was. On anyone else, such clothing may have bordered on attractive, but on Wade, it just looked comical.

Shug scanned the room with wide-set eyes, sauntering to the back and his designated seat next to Alacyn Bradley.

"Ladies .. " he leered at she and Lily both, thin wormy lips spread across flat teeth. His voice was high and wimpy, but he settled into his seat with the confidence of a superstar. He wore his cologne so heavy, and so recently, it still shone on the pale sliver of his neck.

Most in the room only spared the Slug a passing glance. However, there were a few individuals who eyed the youth with a mixture of disgust and sheepishness. It was for those few individuals that Wade secreted confidence, like a slime. His smirk stayed firmly in place as he de-shouldered his backpack, and withdrew a dark green spiral-bound notebook.

He began lazily flipping through the pages. There were names and words written in pencil, and ink of all different colors and handwriting. They were all signatures, names, with items and promises. The Slug nodded along to some internal calculations. Across the room, someone watched him intently.

That someone was Jake Everton, the poster-boy for frail, four-eyed nerds. The youth was twisted around in his seat at the front, watching Wade with an anxious, yet somehow determined expression.

Whatever business was about to conspire between the two, it had to be done soon. And it didn't look like Wade was planning on getting up and moving any time soon.

If dead returning from their graves was anything new around here it might be.

He almost said it without thinking, but manage to stifle his sarcasm and instead give an unenthusiastic, "Meh." in response. He peeked up over his arms, scanning the faces of the other students with one eye. Everyone seemed pretty shocked, he didn't blame them, under different circumstances he'd probably be pretty stunned, No one seemed to have a conspicuous reaction though, and he lowered his head into his arms once more.

Closing his eyes he filtered his mind. He often pretended to sleep in class in order to listen to the whispers of others.

And with the walking dead, there were bound to be whispers.

Alacyn felt Lily recoil as Wade greeted them. She understood why, of course, but didn't share the same feeling of distaste as some of the other students. Rather, her aversion was to the populace in general, so in practice, "Shug the Slug," was no worse a seating partner than anyone else. In a way he was better, because anyone who wanted to speak to her would be forced to endure his presence, and that was something that no one wanted to do for too long.

"Hi, Wade." She greeted him politely, if briefly, and complemented it with a disinterested but nonetheless warm smile. With that out of the way, she returned to her notebook. She had started a doodle in the bottom right margin, a vine, adorned with roses and small thorns, snaking it's way up the side of the page, splitting and splaying, like an intricate web of veins. She ignored his dealings with one of the students from the front of the class. Whatever it was, Wade didn't care to hide it, but Alacyn felt it best to remain ignorant all the same.

Then entered the rest of the class, or, more aptly, Cynthia and her attachés, her "drones", no more than vultures picking at whatever scraps the apex predator left for them. Alacyn thought back to middle school, before she turned. Back when she was a drone to a girl named Cassidy, and she felt like nothing could bring her down. Looking at it from an outside perspective certainly took a dump on those pleasant memories. Is that how I would have ended up? She would have shuddered, if her body still did that.

Lastly, came Jamie Winters, another name that Alacyn remembered. She was on the news after she overdosed and died. Or supposedly died, as it were. Perhaps both, as Alacyn had learned, death might not be so permanent after all. She resolved to investigate, if only to satiate her own curiosity, and to bring the topic up with Dr. Bradley when she returned home. She gave Lily a slight nod of acknowledgement as the redhead moved to join Jamie at her seat.They were friends, and whatever they were talking about now was at least secretive and, given the circumstances, likely related to the rumors of Jamie's death. Alacyn made a mental note to press Lily on the subject. Anything to not have to be alone.