Chapter One: My Last Name is a Joke.

Chapter 1: My Last Name is a Joke.

Hello there. This lovely creature you see before you is me, Tyler Dutchess.
I was born and bitten a vampire, but if I had chosen, I would gladly pick
human over blood-sucking beast. You might say either vampires are dumb,
or that being a vampire would be awesome. Well, if you said ‘Vampires 
are dumb’ then I would undoubtedly agree. Well, they’re not dumb, more 
like terrifyingly powerful. And if you said, ‘Being a vampire would be
 awesome’, let me explain why you’re wrong.

The powers you would get are pretty worth it, you might say,
but there are five billion too many cons for me. First, you can fly,
but it’s not as easy as lifting off and whooshing around. The wings rip
themselves from your back whenever you want to fly; it's because to fly,
you sort of turn into a bat, sort of stay a vampire. It’s complicated. Also,
the vampire customs aren't fun either. Vampires leave their children to
fend for themselves once they turn eight, and we live in separate, warring
clans.

It’s super fun.

(And yes, there's more.) Vampires are not born vampires. They are bitten
when they are babies and most die from it. But this is a book, not me
complaining about everything coming my way. The actual ‘adventures’
started when my parents decided to put me into a sort of project called
‘Project Rockwood’. Basically, I was meant to live in a normal, human,
Vampire free town, and see if it would be worth it to attack people living
there.

The school let every student know what the schedule was before class,
and boy, were they thorough! They made us start school a whole WEEK
early. The actual first day somehow ended up being the only exciting thing
that had happened this entire time.

The first day of school began, and I was sadly one of the teenagers at
Rockwood High. Brrrrinnnngggg!!! The bell rang and everybody jammed
themselves into their classrooms just as things were getting started.
I breathed in a sigh. Uhg, human scent.  I was starting to get hungry and
I quickly shoved the feeling back down. Not now stomach! There are too
many humans. The class I was taking was a simple history class that I
usually got C’s or B’s in. I wasn't too horribly terrible at human school.
Not that there are Vampire schools, of course.

Our teacher for history, Mr. Minnick, usually started with announcements.
“Good morning class! Today we are going to start off with some
announcements...” (See, I told you so.) He cleared his throat and put on
a pair of old-fashioned reading glasses, then picked up the announcement
sheet that Principal Vanport passes out to every teacher. “Tonight there
will be a ‘welcome to school’ party at…” He paused. “Ehm, at Vanport
Mansion, I believe.”

A girl with long, red hair and flashy green eyes raised her hand and
enthusiastically waved it around.

“Yes, Miss Vanport?” Mr. Minnick said.

The girl smiled at the class around her like they were her subjects. I was
already a little wary of her.

“Hello, fellow students. My name is Vallery.” Vallery spoke with an accent
so “fellow” sounded more like “fyellow” and “students” sounded more like
“shtyoodunts”. Her voice had a fake-ish ‘grin’ to it when she spoke.
“Some of you may know that my father is principal of this very school.”
An odd smile spread across her face. “I convinced my father to allow
everyone to our mansion for a party for… Em… Reasons.”

I could have sworn that she looked at me directly.

“I would like you all to know that the basement and upstairs are strictly
forbidden.” Vallery rolled her R’s quite smoothly. “Or, you will be banished
from the school.” She promptly sat back down.

“Uh, thank you for that, Miss Vanport,” Mr. Minnick rumbled, and
continued with announcements. I had no idea why Vallery had to
mention a handy dandy way to get expelled.

But I really didn’t like it.

Chapter 2: Parties Do Not Look Fun.

At this point I thought, Well, I’m not going. Well, it was a thing we had
to go to, but I have no ride. I am NOT risking being seen as a human/bat
hybrid flying over the city of Rockwood. I went to lunch but, being a
vampire, I kinda couldn't eat anything - ahem, anyone. I sat down on a
low wall next to the fountain in the courtyard. It was dedicated to a
charity I didn't recognize. Sitting alone was a sort of luxury.
Where my clan lives, everything is busy and no one gets breaks.
Hunting big game animals all the time every day is pretty hard.
Vampires need a lot of human blood, and when they can’t get it,
it means even more animal blood.

I admit I nearly snapped my human act when a girl sat down next to me.
I was so hungry. I knew who she was. She was a kind of extrovert-y girl
with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. Her name was Sara, then she sat
down, looked at me and said, “Hey, aren't you that new kid? The one
that's supposed to have really pale skin? You don’t look that pale to me.”

OK, hold on. I have to explain something. When you are bitten, your skin
turns pale and your hair turns really dark. Not black, usually, but dark.
I don't know why, and I honestly don’t care. Oh, and also vampires do
not burn in sunlight. Just thought I should clear that up.

Anyway, I took what she said as a big compliment. A lot of the kids made
fun of me for having really pale skin and for ‘looking like a Vampire.’
Welp, they got one thing right. I am a Vampire.

“Oh, um, thanks,” I mumbled. “Aren’t you Sara?” I said in a louder voice.

“Oh yeah, thats me!” she exclaimed cheerily. “So… you going to the party
tonight? I heard it's at the principal's house.” Of course she just said this
to start a conversation, because all the teachers announced that it was at
the principal’s house, but I let it slide.

“Eh, no. My parents don’t think parties are worth wasting gas on, and
I don’t have a car.”

She tilted her head like she was about to say something, when none other
that Vallery Vanport interrupted her.

“I heard that someone doesn't want to come to my party. I don’t like
people who forbid themselves from hospitality.” Her eyes shimmered in a
very not nice way. “Oops.” She said in a monotone voice, and kicked my
ratty backpack into the fountain. The kids behind her forced a laugh. Sara
looked ready to bust her top. “He didn’t deserve that Val! Plus the only
reason he couldn't come is because his parents wont let him!” I kinda felt
bad. Obviously, Vallery was not convinced by Sara, and continued to be
a jerk.

“Heh, this boy seems like a fast runner, he could have just walked.”
Dang, why didn’t I think of that? And she was sorta right. I can run fast.
“What’s your name?” Her eyes pierced through me. At this point, I was
getting a little scared. She could make up an excuse in three seconds flat
to get me expelled.

“T-Tyler,” I managed to say.

“I’d better see you at the party,” Vallery hissed, “because getting caught
upstairs would do you no good.” And she strolled away.

I turned around to see Sara already drying off my fifty-year old textbooks
from my now drenched backpack.

“You, um, didn’t have to do that you know,” I said and started to help her
dry off some of my stuff. I know I said that, but in reality, I was grateful as
pine.

“Well…” Sara murmured.

“Well… what?” I prodded.

She laughed a little and scoffed, “I was going to say ‘Well what are 
friends for?’ or something goofy like that. Most people don’t like it when 
I see them as a friend.”

“Oh… I don’t mind.”

Crud.

Oh crud, oh crud, oh crud. Great job Tyler! Make friends with your food! 
This is exactly what this entire project was for! As I picked up all my damp
 things, thanked Sara and turned around to leave. I am such an idiot! But I
 can’t let her get hurt now. That’s a thing friends do, I think.

A shout interrupted my thoughts.

“Tyler!” I turned around to see Sara running up to me. “You can ride with 
me if you like! I need a plus one.”

I did a double take. “Uh, that would be great, actually.”

She grinned. “Yay! Here’s my number, call ya later!”

And with that, I was friends with someone normal Vampires call, ‘a tasty 
snack’.

(A side note for the viewer. Sorry for the odd text sizing and such. But, this is not a school-based story. Some people thought that and rejected it from the first read. Enjoy!)