Her sharp eyes followed the long, silky black hair cascading down past those pure, milky white shoulders. Even in the dim classroom, the glow of her ethereal beauty cannot be hidden. The powerpoint being presented may be important, but Seulgi’s eyes would wonder right back to the one that ensnared her heart: Bae Joohyun. She sat in the front, only a few rows away from Seulgi. With her being so close, it was difficult not to keep your eyes or mind off her. Any human or creature would do anything for her. Ah, how true it is that the Vampire Queen of the school doesn’t even need to hypnotize you to do her bidding. Especially, Kang Seulgi.

    As Seulgi lets Joohyun run through her thoughts, the lights flick on.

    “Alright, since we’re running out of time, I think this would be a good stopping point for now. Does anyone have any questions?”, Mr. Yoo asked as he turned off the projector.

    And of course, Seulgi’s best friend, Seungwan, raised her hand. “Will any of this be on the test this friday?”

    “Oh, no, I wouldn’t do that to you guys. I’m not that mean”. He chuckled, “Well, if that’s it, you are all free to go to lunch once the bell rings.”

    Everyone starts to gather their belongings and for the first time during that period, Seulgi’s mind is on something else.

    “Seungwan, what was that about a test?”

    “Wha― Tch, Seulgi, you dumb mutt, don’t tell me you forgot, again?” The siren folded her arms and stared at her werewolf friend in disappointment. When all Seungwan got was a confused look back, she sighed. “Let Zeus’ lighting have mercy on you… I can’t believe you forgot.  Mr. Yoo literally gave us a two week notice AND reminded us every other day! Jeez, maybe if you weren’t so focused on-”.

    Before another word could leave , Seulgi quickly covered it. The wolf looked at her, eyes wide with terror. Her eyes moved to the side, signaling Seungwan’s to follow the direction. In the area was, of course, Joohyun, whom was getting up to leave as the bell rang. When she left the room, Seulgi stepped back and let the air escape her lungs.

“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” she growled at Seungwan. “Gosh, you really want me to join you in hell early?”

“Oh, Seulgi.... We’re already there, but I honestly do think you should try confessing or at the very least talk to her instead of staring from afar. Honestly, it’s getting creepy. Like, real creepy… Like, as if-”

“Okay, I get it! But there’s just no way to talk to her,” she whined. “First off, you rarely ever hear of vampires and werewolves being on neutral grounds let alone friendship or more? Second, she is Bae Joohyun! I’m not the only one with feelings for her…”

Seungwan did nothing, but stare at Seulgi dejectedly packing her things. She was right. It’s rare for someone in this school to have not caught feelings for the vampire goddess at some point. Anyone brave enough to confess their feelings always got turned down by her. Maybe the rejection will help Seulgi get over this unrequited love? Or maybe she could be that lucky bastard? Seungwan smiled a little at that last thought.

“Hey, we gonna go eat or are you gonna keep staring at me?”

Her smile grew a bit wider at Seulgi. She swung her arm around the taller girl’s neck and pulled her down a little. “Yeah, let’s go feed you, you stupid wolf.”

When they arrived to the cafeteria, they saw that their other friends were already at their usual table. Tucked in the back, away from all the other rowdy tables, but at a good angle to see the “popular” table. Which is where, of course, Miss Bae Joohyun sat. Her friends keep telling her that she could probably sit over there and no one would care, but she’d rather die than do that. First, for the fact that she would never abandon her friends like that. And second, she may be on the football team, not willingly at that, but she hardly ever makes conversation with her teammates outside the field or locker room.

“What’s up, losers.”

“I love you, too, Yerim.” Seungwan replies as her and Seulgi set their trays down. “What have you guys been up to?”

“Trying to figure out the best ways to pass my class with minimal effort.” Sooyoung, who is sitting next to Yerim, says.

“Wha...What? You already copy off my homework AND classwork in the two classes we share! How lazy can you get?” Seungwan looks at her in disbelief.

“Yeah, but that one time you were gone on a field trip was a disaster.”

“Over exaggerating, but go on.”

“I wasn’t able to copy any of your homework! That day got me thinking…”

“Wow, she can actually think.” Yerim said under her breath, but loud enough for the rest of the table to chuckle at it. That earned her a slap on the arm from Sooyoung.

“Can you let me finish? Anyway, next year, you all are going to leave us abandoned and alone, so I have to prepare now.”

“By actually studying?” Seungwan asked and all she got in return was a look of disgust from the succubus. “You’re right. Don’t know why I even asked.”

“Yeah, me either. So, back to me, my plan is just to put a person in each of my classes under my charm spell. Someone obviously not dumb, but not someone super smart. I hate having to dumb down Seungwan’s homework when I copy it.”

Before Seungwan could get a word, Seulgi spoke up. “So, like, I know I’m not the smartest here, but I feel like this would backfire at some point?”

“Ah! And THAT, Seulgi, my good girl,” Yerim moved closer to her and proceeded to scratch behind her wolf-ish ears, “is where we are on the same page! But I need you to shut the hell up ‘cause I’m trying to watch her fail.” She smiled at Seulgi and slapped her back. “Also, your tail is out and you have wolf ears now.”

Seulgi’s hands shot up to cover her ears. Her face reddens as she no longer feels the once human-like ears. Eyes scanned her table of laughing friends before glancing in Joohyun’s direction. Their eyes meet. For the love of Satan, their eyes meet. Seulgi watches as Joohyun cover as she starts to giggle. Embarrassed even more, she settles for comfort by burying her face into her arms on the table.

Lunch ends and Seulgi parts ways with her small group of friends. Her next class isn’t her last, but it is her last with the vampire goddess for the day. Even if she wasn’t in it, Seulgi wouldn’t dread going into this class without Seungwan because this class is Drawing & Painting. Art classes are the only classes she’d ever walk happily to and also arrive early to.

Yes, it was quite a shock when she was waiting in Drawing & Painting that first day for everyone else to arrive. She took one of the front tables and set stuff in the chair next to her. A lot of people like to take art as an easy pass and she wasn’t taking the risk of having some obnoxious person sit by her. So when someone walked in, thinking it was the teacher, she glanced over to the door. Seulgi’s heart stopped and she sat up straight. Bae Joohyun just walked through the door and smiled at her.

It’s definitely a memory Seulgi enjoys. Maybe for the fact that only greetings were exchanged between the two, so there wasn’t enough time for her to make a fool of herself. However, She didn’t offer up the seat next to her; therefore, Joohyun sat a row back on the other side of the room.

When the teacher walked in, she gave a short spiel on what was expected for this next project. It started out fine. ‘A scenery painting with surrealism mixed in there using acrylic paint on canvas.’ That's no problem for Seulgi! ‘The scenery has to be a new place you haven’t taken a picture of.’ That’s okay. Seulgi has many places in mind she wants to have pictures of. ‘Only two colors can be used and they have to contrast.’ Piece of cake! ‘It is a partner project!’ What?

If there was anything more she hated than having to partner up without Seungwan was partnering up in any art class. Most people who try to partner up with her are more than likely just trying to ride her artistic skills to get an A+ on the project. And the few times she picked her partner was just frustrating. They were good people, but had no artistic bone in their bodies.

So Seulgi did the next best thing she could do, which was to sit in her seat and wait. Wait for everyone to scramble to their friends and joke around. Wait for all of them to be paired up and pray she’d be the only one left or that the other person would be okay for asking the teacher if they could work alone.

As she waited, Seulgi played with the pencils in front of her. Rolling them from one side to the other. Until someone stood in front of her and cleared their throat.

“Excuse me, Seulgi?”

The second she looked up, her heart started pounding harder and her pencil slipped from her grasp. “Y-yes, Joohyun? Is there something I can help with?”

“Everyone else seems to have an idea on their partners. Why don’t we be partners?” she smiled showing off her white fangs.

Seulgi felt as if she just won the Monster Lottery, granted all of her cognitive abilities were dumbed down. “I...uhh, I’d be more-” Her eyes start to water as a familiar itch fills her nose. “I’d be more than...than...than”. Seulgi’s hands shot up to cover her nose before out came a sneeze that rivaled Zeus’ thunder.

Her eyes opened slowly, but she didn’t dare look up at Joohyun. It wasn’t just the fact that the volume of her sneeze was powerful, but also that in her hand was an all too familiar slimy, hot, thick substance. There was only one thing on Seulgi’s mind and that was: I WISH I WAS ING DEAD.

“Gesund-” before Joohyun could finish, Seulgi hastily got up and made her way to the door. Not before running into a few tables and nearly tripping over a short stool.