Wednesday, August 12th

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They were in English class again and Tommy was fighting the hunger he felt. He refused to believe this was happening.

Keagan was fidgeting and squirming in his seat, staring at Tommy worriedly.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

Tommy didn’t answer. Didn’t even acknowledge Keagan had even said anything.

“Dude, you have to eat.”

Tommy slowly turned his head in Keagan’s direction, his eyes filled with nothing but unadulterated hate.

“Shut the fuck up, you pathetic piece of shit,” Tommy spat in an even voice, enunciating some words, before shakily facing forward again.

“Yeah, no can do. You have to eat or else you’ll start turning,” Keagan said.

Tommy looked back over at him, “turning?”

“Into a Black Blood? Oh right, of course, you wouldn’t know what that is because you avoid me at all costs and don’t give me a chance to speak,” Keagan said, sarcastically.

Tommy rolled his eyes, unamused.

“The Black Blood curse is a brain infection. It’s caused by a lack of blood or major blood loss. It basically shuts down most of your brain until you’re a bloodthirsty feral monster.”

“Isn’t that what I am already,” Tommy spat.

“No,” Keagan deadpanned, “Black Bloods lose all sense of their morality. It’s a gruesome and traumatic thing to experience and witness. The only way to cure it is with a large amount of blood and that can be hard to get your hands on. So, please. Just eat.”

“Boys! Is there a reason you’re talking while I’m teaching?” Mrs. Bright called out.

Both boys shut up and faced forward.

A paper was soon slipped onto Tommy’s side of the desk.

And so they were in the bathroom, sharing a stall, again.

Keagan suddenly took Tommy by the chin, running his thumb across his upper lip. 

Tommy’s eyed widened and pushed away from Keagan pressing himself into the wall. “The fuck-?” He muttered, as he furiously wiped at his lips as if the boy had kissed him. “What the hell was that?”

Keagan raised an eyebrow, confused, “fang check? We’ve been doing this every day.”

“Yeah well I’m not out of it this time so fuck off. They look fine.”

“I still need to see them, man.”

“For what?”

“Multiple things. Tooth decay, make sure they aren’t growing weirdly or hitting your lower gum, make sure they aren’t pushing on your other teeth, see if there’s any kind of infection from the change,” Keagan listed off the reasons.

Tommy sighed and reluctantly curled his lip up and opened his mouth.

Keagan stepped closer, examining the sharp pair of teeth.

He hummed, satisfied, “Looking good.” Keagan shuffled through his bag for the two pouches of blood.

“How long will they get?”

Keagan shrugged his shoulders, “they all vary in size for everyone. They shouldn’t be too noticeable. Just borderline where humans start to ask questions but not enough to raise concern or suspicion on if vampires are real. It’s very rare but some vampires have unnaturally long fangs that’ll grow right past their lip. They end up looking like walruses,” Keagan joked.

Tommy couldn’t help the small smile at the image.

“What if that happens to me?”

“No biggie. I’ll take you somewhere where they’ll shave em' down for you,” Keagan assured. He handed Tommy his blood bag, surprised the boy hadn’t lost it yet and was still mentally there enough to ask questions.

Though that didn’t mean Tommy’s instincts didn’t make him tear the bag from Keagan’s hand and gnaw at it like a hungry animal.

Both boys were silent for a while, sucking away at the blood, Keagan a little more gracefully than Tommy.

“You know, this whole thing would be a lot easier on the both of us if you’d listen to me and stop fighting it.”

Tommy didn’t respond as his eyes shifted to look at anything but Keagan.

“Plus we have this project… We should really work on getting along together.”

That made Tommy look at him but not in the way Keagan had hoped.

The death stare was back in full force.

“We aren’t friends. I’ll never see you as a friend.” Tommy’s cold exterior was back. His voice had hardened and he looked at Keagan as if he had just murdered his entire family in front of him.

Keagan’s shoulders slumped and he sighed, “I’m not saying that. I’m just saying-“

“Save it,” Tommy finished up the last few sips and shoved the empty bag against Keagan’s chest before pushing past him and heading back to class.