Ice Cold

2: Courage

Scarlett

"Miss Johnson?" My Professor's voice disturbed me from my thoughts and I remembered where I was. All around me, fellow University students were staring at me as I snapped out of my trance. Ironically, I was seen as a harmless nerd here, although I was quite the opposite. Of course, no one here knew about my true identity.
     "Yes?" I asked timidly, playing along with my reputation.
     "What is the answer to this equation?" Yes, I took pure maths at University. But I could handle it.
     "42, Sir." I said confidently and the Professor looked slightly taken aback. He obviously didn't expect me to actually know the answer. I hated that about teachers; they always picked on people when it was obvious that they didn't know the answer. But I had an IQ of 160 so it wasn't a problem for me.
     "Er, very good. Now can anyone tell me..." I zoned his voice out and started to think about Chris' competition. If I could win that, then everything would fall into place. All I was waiting for was for the first challenge to be announced on Instagram.
     Suddenly, my phone buzzed in my pocket. This was it! I clicked on the notification and Instagram popped up. Impatiently, I waited for the picture to load, tapping my foot and annoying those around me.

Team Breezy! The first challenge is to record yourself singing one of my songs and I will choose my favourites! You have one hour!

I almost growled at the last sentence. But my University lecture was another two hours long! There was no way that I could miss this opportunity.
     "Sir, may I please go to the bathroom?" I asked as nicely as possible but he shook his head, carrying on with his lecture. I narrowed my eyes and slumped down further in my seat, beyond annoyed. I could easily murder him.
     An idea popped into my head, but I dismissed it immediately. It was the stupidest idea ever, and I would probably be kicked off of the course. But it would be my only chance! With a sigh, I went over to the video function on my phone and clicked on record. It was now or never. I stood up.
     "You gon' be my baby, love me love you crazy, tell me if you're ready, baby come and get it!" I belted out, causing the people in front of me to jump and everyone else in the lecture hall to stare at me. Quickly, I panned the camera round, capturing the shocked faces of the students before I stopped the recording and sat down again, smiling.
     For a moment, everything was silent.
     Then the entire hall erupted into laughter and applause. My cheeks flushed bright red and I quickly uploaded the video to Instagram with the caption:

🔥 New Flame 🔥 I scared everyone in my class LMFAO

Grinning, I put my phone down to see the Professor staring at me in anger and confusion. I gave him a small smile before turning back to my phone and checking to see if anyone had liked my video. My eyebrows shot up as I saw hundreds of notifications cluttering up my phone. I quickly unlocked it to see that it already had over 400 likes. But the comments were the thing that sent me over the edge. Nearly all of them said the same two words.

CHRIS LIKED.

Chris

I watched as the videos rolled in. Occasionally I would click on one but they were mostly just boring videos of average singers. I appreciated the love though. As I scrolled down further, one of the videos caught my eye.
     I snorted really loudly as I watched a girl with bright red hair jump up in the middle of a University lecture and start singing 'New Flame'. She had some guts, doing that in the middle of class. Before I knew it, I was hitting the like button and saving the video to my phone, making a note to repost it later. She would be one of my winners.
I switched on the TV, not sure what I was expecting, and sat back, crossing my legs. My throat vaguely started to burn again but I put it to the back of my mind and tried to concentrate on the TV. It was hard though considering the full moon was in a few days and that meant that my bloodlust would be at a maximum.
Suddenly, something on the TV caught my eye. I grabbed the remote and turned the volume up, leaning forward in my seat.
"...and in other news, a man in his mid thirties has been brutally murdered. His body was found in an old, abandoned house, along with several others that went missing months ago. We are now working on tracking down the murderer." My eyes widened as a picture of the victim popped up on the screen.
"That's my stylist!" I exclaimed to the empty house. Anger started to rise up within me and I stood up, switching the TV off. I had to get out of there before I killed my dogs or something. Feeling myself become stronger, I ran out of the front door inhumanly fast and started to run down the street, a complete blur. Why was my first instinct always to run? Maybe I was a coward.
There were people around, but I would just feel like a sudden gust of wind to them. Still, the amount of people was starting to make me thirsty. Human blood was far better than animal blood, but I didn't like to kill people. I had morals.
Quickly, I darted into an alleyway and popped on my ever-present sunglasses to hide my now crimson eyes. Growling softly under my breath, I latched onto a single human scent. One that smelled familiar.
     Before I knew it, I was back out on the street, staring after the person that belonged to the scent. They wore a black hoodie with dark jeans and Nike trainers. They faced away from me so I couldn't identify who it was but it didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was the thirst that I felt, and how important it was to quench it.
I let out an involuntary growl and felt my elongated canines brush against my bottom lip. Slowly and stealthily, I made my way through the crowd, like a hunter after its prey. People brushed past me, slowing me down further, but it would all be worth it in the end.
Suddenly, I made a move. Faster than lightning, I grabbed the person's hood and whizzed back to the alleyway. Finally! I would feast tonight. The person started to scream and I finally got a good look at my victim.
Oops.