Ice Cold

7: Winners

Scarlett

It was the third and final day. I nervously awaited the next challenge, checking my phone every few seconds. My friends had abandoned me because I refused to talk to them in case I missed the announcement.
     Once again, I was in a lecture, and I was desperately praying that I wouldn't have to stand up in front of them all again and sing. That had been funny, but people had stayed away from me since then, saying that I was crazy. It was true but I didn't want them knowing that. Suddenly my phone buzzed.

Hey Team Breezy! The final challenge is an art contest! Post a picture of yourself holding any artwork you've done of me and I'll pick the winners. Good luck!

My heart almost stopped. Why did it have to be an art contest? Anything but that! I couldn't draw to save my life! With a sigh, I put my phone down and tried to concentrate on the lecture, but I couldn't stop thinking about how this was the end. Now I would definitely not be able to win this competition.
     But wait! Surely I could just find some art off the internet and photoshop myself standing next to it? I had an app on my phone that could do that. As quickly as I could, I found a suitable drawing and started editing the pictures together under the table, checking every few seconds to see if the professor was looking this way.
     As soon as I posted it, people started to send me messages. At first, I thought that they would be comments admiring my work, or telling me that I was a good artist, but no. They told me that I was a fraud, and started tagging the real artist, to my horror. As quickly as I could, I started to delete the comments, but one popped up that I simply couldn't delete.
     It was from Chris.

Wow, really? Stealing someone else's work to win this contest? You're disqualified.

I sat there, mouth wide open. How dare he? Now I would make his death more painful. I clicked on the DM button and started to type.

Chris, I'm really sorry about stealing the person's work. I'm just a huge fan and I really want to meet you! I guess you hate me now.

I wasn't really expecting a reply, but, mere seconds later, a message popped up below mine.

Go apologise to the artist, not me.

I snorted. Yeah, right. As if anyone deserved an apology from me. Instead, I deleted the photo.

Look, I've deleted the -

Before I even managed to finish typing, another message popped up.

Lmfao I'm just joking. You're still in the contest. I just wanted to make it fairer to the others by saying that. But you might wanna make a new Instagram so that I can tag you on there if you win 😉

My eyes widened in shock. He had been joking?! Wow, he was good.

Ooh okay. You scared me for a second! Sooooo...does that mean I've won?

I waited and saw to my satisfaction that he'd read the message.

I'm announcing the winners in a few hours.

I almost jumped with joy. This would be it. Then I would be able to kill him and make it look like an accident. Oh, I couldn't wait.

Chris

After I had leaped from the window, I had looked back up at Trey sadly. He had stared down in confusion and horror, watching as I blurred away, through the streets. I had kept reminding myself that it had been for the best, and that he probably would've found out eventually. Although I'd managed to hide it for a good three years.
     I was laying across my sofa, thinking about the girl with the bright red hair who had tried to deceive me. She had guts, thinking that she would actually get away with pretending to own someone else's stuff. But it wasn't me she should've been worried about. It was the rest of Team Breezy.
     As much as this was definitely breaking the rules of the competition, I saw something within that girl, some kind of dark secret. Her eyes were too beautiful and too deep to not hold pain within them. And yes, I had looked at her selfies on Instagram.
     Her eyes were similar to mine, although there was no way that she could be a vampire too. Could she? But surely I could find that out if I did pick her as one of my winners? I knew how vampires acted around humans and guessed that she wouldn't be any different if she was one.
     As I sat there, my mind started to wander to a question that I was once asked in an interview. 'Would you ever date a fan?' I had replied with a yes at the time, and now I realised that I still stood by that answer. As I stared at one of the pictures of the girl with the red hair, I imagined what her lips would feel like on mine, and how -
     I jolted upright and frowned in annoyance. That had definitely been the moon talking. The full moon was tomorrow evening, and my Team Breezy guests would be arriving tomorrow afternoon. I would just have to make up an excuse about how I was feeling ill and needed to get some air. But in reality, I would be hunting, unable to change back to a human and unable to access the human part of my brain.
     I started to type the names of the winners into Instagram. The other four had been good, but the red-headed girl was the best. I posted the names, and, making sure that I hadn't tagged the red-headed girl's main account, I sat back and waited. She had made a new Instagram, like I'd said, and put it on private so that no one could see that she hadn't actually posted the challenges on there.
     Now we wait.