Tainted Love

Chapter 20

Rose's POV

"Get up, sleepyhead! First day of so-called vampire school," Abby chirped.

I groaned. I glanced at the clock. 6 am. I had dragged myself into bed around 3 am. I couldn't sleep because of what happened with Reynold, so I ended up walking around for a good three hours. This was going to be a long day.

Grace handed me a package. Inside was my schedule. Thank god, I only had four classes:

History 1:  7 - 9:30
Basic powers 1: 10 - 10:45
Intro to Red criteria: 12 - 1
Combat 2: 3:15 - 6

Abby glanced at my schedule. "We have history together," she cheered. We high fived and continued to compare schedules. Grace had the same history class as us, and I had the same speed class as Rylee. Abby and Rylee were all together for another class. What confused us was that everyone else had five classes - I had four.

"You've got Combat 2. All of us have Intro to Combat and Intro to Weapons. Guess they know that you can fight," Rylee said.

I shrugged. This worried me. I was getting too much attention. How do I get back in the shadows before people start to get suspicious?

I put on regular clothes - I didn't need to wear that stupid uniform until speed class, which was half an hour after history. Hopefully, I had time to change.

We walked to the elevator, and yet again we're met by Maggie and Tyler.

"It's my favorite Academy girls," Maggie chirped. Tyler nudged Grace and me. "Nice job with Holden. He got crap about that for the rest of the night."

I smirked. I'm glad I did something right.

They checkout out our schedules. "Hey hey Rose! We've got the same Combat class!" Tyler said, pointing to his schedule, then mine. Oh no. I was taking the same class as a Four.

He saw my concern. "Don't worry. I'm behind for my class. I flunked it last year," he joked.

"Flunked it?! Brendan kick your ass on your last test!" Maggie yelled, laughing as she did so.

He shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a lover not a fighter."

If only I could be that way.

**************

The entire morning bored me to the point of no return. History? I don't care. Basic Powers? Unnecessary. Is this what high school is like? High school sucks.

Then we hit the Intro to Read Criteria. Essentially, this class was literally Basic Powers but more advance. Oh, and they try to kill you.

"Who's first?" The teacher yelled, who had forgotten to tell us his name. We were lined up next to a fancy treadmill in dead silence. Only five people were in the class, including Beck. He glared at me every couple minutes. What was his problem?

"I'll go first," one of the boys offered, which I quickly recognized as the boy who saved Grace - Marcus. The teacher clapped his hands together. "Great! Hop on."

He reluctantly did. The treadmill started to move, forcing the boy into a slow jog. "Here are the rules. I'm going to make this thing go faster, and you're going to try to keep up. Simple."

The treadmill started to move faster, causing Marcus to move with it. Gradually, he turned into a blur, moving faster and faster. I was surprised at how long he stayed on. The teacher look at his watch. "Oh, and if you can't stay on for another five seconds, I'm shooting you in the leg."

We gasped as he pulled out a gun. Is this guy nuts?!

I could hear Marcus panting. Come on. Keep going.

One... two... three... four... fi-

The treadmill abruptly stopped, causing Marcus to go flying into the front of the treadmill, flipping over it. Gasping for air, Marcus was lying on the floor, bruised from his sudden trip. The teacher wrote something in his clipboard. "Good job," he mumbled, obviously mad that he didn't get to hurt someone.

Beck and another girl help him up. As usual, I received a glare. He was starting to get on my nerves.

Beck went next. After the same amount of time he slammed into the treadmill, stopping himself from falling like Marcus.

"Hope you've got a good pain tolerance; you're going to need it," he quickly mumbled as he walked by me. I felt my fist tighten. What was his deal?

Another boy went. Like Marcus and Beck, he survived the treadmill.

My turn. My heart raced. I knew I was much faster than the treadmill. If I go too fast, I'll get caught. If I go too slow, I'll get my leg back with a bullet.

I started running. Gradually, it got faster. I turned into a blur. I felt the tips of my feet skim the top of the treadmill. Too fast! I slowed down, only to find my heels doing the exact same thing on the edge of the treadmill. Too slow! I ran faster, pacing the speed of the treadmill. Suddenly, I was flung forward, slamming into the top of the treadmill.

I immediately looked at Beck, fuming. For a moment, he seemed impressed. But that disappeared to a sneer in the blink of an eye.

I stepped off. The last person, a girl, hopped on the treadmill. I felt a part of me sink. She was one of the girls who almost died yesterday because she couldn't run. How was she supposed to do this?

She started running. Even at the pace of a normal human, she was slow. The treadmill quickened. She turned into a blur. Thank goodness, she's not going to fail-

The girl was sprawled out on the floor, panting. Her foot had slipped, causing her face to slam into the treadmill. The teacher, quite happy for some reason, stood over her.

"Tsk tsk tsk. I thought we'd have a five person streak. Guess not," he said bluntly before pulling out his gun.

I wish I had the heart to flinched as I watched the bullet go through her leg, followed by a blood curling scream.