Chapter 31 Ch. 21.1
It had been a week since Ethan’s blood test and he has been cleared from the drug rumours, but somehow, passing the drug test made it even worse. Some new stations began speculating that the tests were forged but luckily for him, his coach had said if they wanted a footage of the test, he was happy to provide it.
School on the other hand had turned into a circus. People didn’t look at him like he was just another student anymore. They looked at him like he was a god, or an alien—or both.
Someone from the drama club started calling him “the vampire prince,” like that was cute. A boy from the soccer team posted a TikTok saying he was pretty sure Ethan was the product of a government experiment. The video went viral that it got over four hundred thousand views in less than four days.
His father has been beyond angry, threatening to take it all away from him but without actually doing anything about it.
Ethan had avoided his house like the plague and had been sleeping in hotels.
It was a Thursday morning, and he had barely gotten any sleep. A rival vampire faction has tried to attack him the night before as he was bringing attention to the possibility of supernatural beings. The fight has exhausted him, and he was not spared without a brutal injury to his stomach. He however could not let it show. He walked through the school hallways tiredly, ignoring the whispers until someone stopped, clutched their heart, and said, “Bless me with your supernatural presence.”
He didn’t even know the guy.
“Okay,” Ethan muttered, opening his locker. “We’ve officially crossed into stupid.”
Noah walked past him then, a bottle of juice in hand, barely looking his way until Ethan stopped him.
“Hey,” Ethan said. “Uh… how’s it going?”
Noah gave him a quick look. “Fine?"
Ethan rubbed the back of his neck. “How’s Zara? Has she been doing okay? I haven’t seen much of her around.”
Noah stared at him like the question came with an agenda. “Why are you concerned?”
“Just asking," he said with a shrug.
Noah nodded, giving him a teasing smile while taking a sip from his juice.
“You know what else is stupid?” he said, pulling out his phone. “Your ex.”
“i haven't had a girlfriend since freshman... and all those... nothing serious. Which one?”
“Kristen.”
Ethan groaned. “What did she do now?”
Noah held up his screen. “She posted this on her close friends story yesterday."
"You're close friends with her?"
"I'm in the list," Noah shrugged. "Everyone wants me," he winked and but clicked play on the video.
The blonde haired girl had her camera at an awkward angle and was drinking boba. "You know, sometimes I miss his lips on my neck, especially when they almost broke skin. He was obsessed with that spot. Guess it makes sense now."
"No way.”
“I took a screen record of that part myself.”
Ethan stared. “Oh my God.”
“She’s trying to go viral.”
“I hate this place,” Ethan muttered, reaching for his backpack strap.
“Apparently you have a thing for necks. So, it tracks.”
“I do not—” Ethan cut himself off with a groan. “You know what? Never mind.”
“Yeah, well, good luck explaining that to the rest of the student body.”
By lunchtime, three people had called him Dracula in passing, someone asked him if he drank blood from a hydro flask, and a girl from drama left a red-stained rose on his desk with a note that said, My neck is available.
Ethan crumpled it and tossed it into the trash.
He barely made it through the rest of his classes. He kept zoning out and did some reason, he was looking around for Zara but he could not find her.
She has probably resumed her truancy again.
He was not even sure why he was looking for her— if he saw her, did he have anything to say to her? And he was supposed to stay mad at her, so why did he care? The whole rumours had started simply because she ran her mouth off.
The bell rang, signifying the end of school and he was more than glad. He walked out of his last class and through the hallways, glancing over the top of heads to see if he could find Zara's full head of curly hair, but he could not.
"Hi," a sickly sweet voice called out to him. It was familiar but he did not remember the face. The girl's hair was in a perfect braid, and her lip gloss looked freshly applied. "It's been a while."
"Uh, I guess?" Ethan said. It has to be a while for him not to remember.
“So,” she said, walking beside him as he slung his bag over one shoulder. “You down?"
Ethan blinked. “What?”
"We used to hookup but you just... Stopped. Ghosted me. And you're a pretty good kisser. I've been kinda thinking about you for a while."
He paused, and blinked again, staring at her intently to try and remember where he knew the face from. He still didn't remember.
"Want to mess around?" She whispered.
He thought about it for a while. He needed the distraction, so was there harm in it?
Then he thought about Zara and suddenly had the urge to say no but she was already tugging him gently toward the back of the gym.
The moment they were out of sight, she kissed him without warning. Her lips were slightly sticky and tasted like cherry. He kissed her back slowly, not sure why he was doing that.
Her hands slid under his shirt. His jacket fell into the grass.
Then his lips brushed her neck— which was more like a reflex action. He has no intention to drink from her, it was just a sexually intimate gesture but she gasped.
"Wait.”
He froze.
“Are you gonna suck my neck dry?”
Ethan blinked, pulling back a little. “What?”
“I mean… you are a vampire, right?”
“I’m not.”
“It’s okay,” she whispered, moving her hands lower. “You can tell me. I won’t judge.”
“I’m really not,” he said, stepping back and grabbing his jacket.
She tilted her head. “Come on, Ethan. I won’t freak out.”
“I have to go,” he said, shaking his head as he pulled his jacket on. "Track meet."
“Wait—Ethan, I was just playing.”