i wrote a short story for my character on http://rwwce.wikifoundry.com/
“Please wait behind a moment, Mr. Gates,” a voice rang out, causing some of the other students to snicker as they packed up. Bailey winced, but nodded, pausing to watch everyone leave the auditorium.
“Yes, professor?” he asked hesitantly, coming to stand in front of her desk.
“Mr. Gates, I am aware that you are a bright student. You turn your work in on time, for the most part, and score well on exams…for the most part. But I’m afraid if you continue to sleep during my lectures, you will fall behind. Do you have any, ah, specific reason for your apparent lack of sleep?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Bailey exhaled, then forced a smile. “Not exactly. I lost track of time last night, is all,” he lied. Well, it was partly true. Time really /hadn’t/ been on his mind for most of last night.
“I see… And this has been happening every night for the past two months?”
The young man stilled, then shrugged sheepishly.
The professor sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, pushing her glasses down in the process. “Right. Well, I suggest you try not to let it happen again,” she advised him, a hint of disappointment in her tone at his refusal to tell the truth. Still, he was an adult, and it wasn’t her job to question her students every time they did something wrong. “You’re dismissed,” she added, not unkindly.
“Thank you, professor,” Bailey said, ducking his head and retreating to grab his stuff. He offered a timid wave as he left, mainly because he didn’t think he was on good enough terms with her for an actual goodbye. As soon as the door shut behind him, he sighed, pushing his hair out of his face tiredly.
He was so d*mn exhausted all the time. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much he could do about it without causing a scene and creating a bunch of chaos. For now he’d just bide his time and keep his head low. Make sure he wasn’t troubling anyone too much. /Try/ to avoid troublesome people.
He adjusted his bag over his shoulder and began making the trek back to his dorm, seeing as literature was his last class of the day and he had no classes tomorrow. Small victories, assuming he could actually get some sleep. No sooner than the thought crossed his mind did he feel a sudden tug at his bag, and he turned to look at Vinny with a blank expression. Bailey let the older student drag him back, noting his friends Thomas and Angie standing nearby.
“What do you want this time?” he asked, unfazed at their antics.
“What, is that any way to treat a member of your fan club?” Vinnie asked sarcastically, not letting go of his bag.
“We want the same thing as always,” Angie spoke up, crossing her arms and staring at Bailey intently. “To know what blood mix you are.”
“Why does it matter to you so much?” Bailey asked, annoyance creeping into his voice. Why couldn’t they leave him alone for twenty-four hours?
“Because you’re always acting like you’re better than us!” growled Vinnie.
Bailey went quiet at that, forehead creasing in confusion. He didn’t act like he was better than other people. He just didn’t socialize with people because he was introverted. Apparently these three didn’t understand that.
“Give us the key to your dorm,” Thomas demanded, stepping forwards.
“Again? Guys, I’d like to sleep every now and then, seriously! And you know the others won’t let me in,” he complained, already rifling through his bag for his key. If he didn’t just give it to them, he’d get beaten up now /and/ later, now to mention they’d just take it from him anyways if he didn’t comply.
Vinnie snatched it from his hand, and only then did Bailey try to pull his bag away from him. The older student let him go, though begrudgingly, and said, “See you later then. I’m thinking we test to see if he’s part siren…again.” Thomas seemed to laugh at that, but Bailey was already walking away.
Angie was part siren, part vampire. Thomas was part vampire, part human. Vinnie was part werewolf, part witch. All three of them had been trying to find out what Bailey was for the past, you guessed it, two months, but the part vampire, part werewolf won’t tell them. So they’ve been trying to narrow it down via ‘process of elimination’, in which they try several things, generally painful things, in an attempt to figure it out. So far, all they know is that he has enhanced healing. Which sucks for him.
Bailey could probably beat them one-on-one, if he wanted to. Angie’s pretty powerless without water, and she had pretty much the same vampiric abilities he did. Thomas was the weakest of the three, and Bailey was least worried about him if it ever came down to a fight. All he really had were better reflexes and greater strength than a human, to which Bailey had and more. Vinnie was a problem if Bailey didn’t shift, but if it came to a fight it’d be the first thing he did. If it ever came to all three against him in a serious fight, however, Bailey wasn’t so confident he’d survive a magic user while defending against Thomas, who was the kind of person who liked to get up close and personal, and Angie, who luckily lacked a hypnotic voice and simply healed faster in water.
The distracted half blood tried to focus back on where he was going, realizing he couldn’t just head back to his dorm with his key in the hands of the three jerks. He groaned and altered his course, instead heading to the library where he hoped he could get at least a few hours of quiet.
He did manage to get a few hours of quiet, and even a few hours of sleep before the librarian caught him. Thankfully the man was rather understanding and apparently saw lots of college kids asleep in the library. Bailey didn’t doubt that.
By the time he actually started towards his dorm again, it was about 8:30pm. Which meant he had anywhere from two to six hours of time to kill in the hallway with his dorm. If he wasn’t there, he was risking not getting his key back for an extra day, which is something he couldn’t let happen /again/. As he couldn’t think of an alternative, Bailey reluctantly sat against the wall and pulled his bag into his lap, watching as others occasionally passed by and gave him odd looks. Or resentful looks. It was a good mixture of both.
One hour passed, then two, then three, and now it was 11:30pm with no sign of Vinnie, Angie or Thomas. Not that this was new. They were probably sleeping, knowing an alarm would go off at whatever time they’d chosen tonight to torture him. Possibly in the literal meaning, since the last time they tried to figure out if he was part siren, the night included of his head being forced in a bathtub of water and getting cut multiple times to see if he’d heal when he came in contact with it.
Bailey doubted they’d waste time doing that again, though. He was more worried they’d try to force him over some railing somewhere to see if he’d land on all four feet like a werecat, or maybe stab him with something silver or gold. It was only a matter of time before they tried to force feed him blood just to see if he’d drink it. Which, to be honest, he probably would.
Or maybe they’d just keep things simple and smack him around for a while until they gave up on getting an answer. Those nights weren’t fun, but at least he healed relatively quickly and he wouldn’t risk death by falling from a high place or drowning. There were endless possibilities as to what they had planned, but worrying didn’t amount to anything but to make him more anxious.
Bailey’s knee started bouncing in his boredom. He wanted to read his books or work on assignments, but he hadn’t thought ahead to bring a flashlight and his phone and tablet were long dead. Just as he sighed again and started considering trying to sleep in the hallway, the sound of footsteps caught his attention. At first he thought it was finally them, coming to torment him some more, but there was only one pair of footsteps, and they were quiet. Like someone was trying not to be noticed.
His eyes, having long ago adjusted to the dark, picked up on the smaller, feminine frame as she walked by him. Having nothing else to do, he cleared his throat, scaring her so bad she nearly shrieked.
“What the–What the hell?!” she exclaimed, voice lowered so she wouldn’t wake anyone. She seemed to be looking for the source of sound, so Bailey spoke up.
“Down here,” he called out softly, raising a hand in the dark in the hopes she’d see him.
“What are you even doing out here?” she grumbled, and he could make out her silhouette resting her hands on her hips accusingly.
“What are /you/ doing out here?” Bailey retorted quietly, crossing his arms in return. The girl sighed. Then, unexpectedly, she walked over and plopped down on the ground next to him. “Hiding from my roomate. She’s being annoying and demanded I go buy her something from the vending machine, but I didn’t want to, so I’m here.”“Well… Sorry, I guess? Here isn’t a great place to be though, currently, so it might be better if you went back to your dorm. Not to be rude, or anything,” he added, hoping that’s not how he came across as.
Suddenly a bright phone screen was right in his face, and he blinked, trying to cover his eyes. “Ow, turn that off,” he complained.
“Holy sh*t, you’re that guy Angie and her friends are always talking about. The one who hasn’t told anyone what blood mix he is,” she realized, then hesitated. “I’m Juliana, but I hate my name, so call me Anne.” As she spoke, she shined the light on her face, also blinking and immediately turning the brightness down so he could actually see her.
“Uh, yeah, I am. And…nice to meet you. My name’s Bailey,” he answered, offering a hand out awkwardly to shake. They did, and he quickly rested it on his bag again. “So are you friends with them, then?” he wondered.
“Friends? No way. Though Angie was the roommate I was talking about. She’s a bit of a b*tch, to be honest.”
Bailey snickered, nodding. Anne’s phone was in between them, white the only thing on the screen as it served as a flashlight. “Believe me, I know. Still, like I said, it isn’t a good idea to be here. ‘Angie and her friends’ will be here at some point, and they aren’t coming to talk.”
Anne’s eyebrows furrowed, and she looked at him confused. “What do you–hold on, why are you out here then?”
Bailey shrugged. “They have my key to get in,” he gestured with his head to the door besides him, “and my roommates are *ssholes who won’t open the door if they know it’s me. Not to mention I’ve already ‘lost’ my key a few times already, and the admins are getting upset with me.”
Anne frowned. “That’s awful,” she stated. “So… They’ve done this before? What do they do to you?”
He stared at her for a long moment, then sighed. “Depends. Usually they just try and figure out what blood mix I am. Let’s just say they’ve pretty much ruled out that I’m part siren or witch.”
She was quiet. “Does that mean they…test your abilities?” she asked.
“Basically. Getting your head held under water when you’re not part siren is about as fun as it sounds,” he answered honestly.
“So…why haven’t you fought back? You’ve got to have some sort of ability that can teach them to leave you alone,” she insisted.
“I don’t really know. I mean, yeah, it sucks, but they aren’t fatally injuring me–yet–and I heal pretty quickly, so I guess it’s just not that big of a deal. Maybe it’s just because I’m worried everyone would find out what I am and everybody would be on me about it. It’s already enough that we’re discriminated against for having parents of two different species…” he trailed off, turning his head to get a better look at her. She was still frowning, head tilted back against the wall. He had the sudden urge to ask what her blood mix was, but figured that’d be hypocritical of him.
She seemed to be lost in thought for a few moments, before asking, “You want something from the vending machine?”
Bailey grinned and nodded, reaching for his wallet and handing her five bucks. “If I’m not being too much of a b*tch,” he laughed quietly.
Anne rolled her eyes, a playful smirk on her face. “Be right back,” she told him, getting up and straightening her shirt. After a second of hesitation, she reached for her phone to take with her. She waved and wandered down the hall. Seeing as the closest vending machine was downstairs and a few hallways down, he didn’t expect her to be back for at least ten minutes. For a moment he considered following her, but another set of footsteps, make that three sets, quickly reminded him why he was there in the first place.
“Here we go…” he mumbled to himself, just as Vinnie, Angie and Thomas rounded the corner. “Hey bae,” Angie called out, making him cringe because that was technically a valid nickname for him, and yet really disturbing on the same token.
“Hey. So when do I get my key back?” he whispered questioningly, voice loud enough for the three other half bloods to hear him, but quiet enough that he wouldn’t disturb the people sleeping all around them.
“When you either tell us what you are or follow us so we can figure it out for ourselves,” Thomas replied, cracking his knuckles as if that were threatening.
“Oh, so you mean in a few hours after you’ve tormented me and not gotten what you want? Cool, nice to know,” Bailey retorted, coming to regret the decision when Vinnie pulled him to his feet by the collar of his shirt and backhanded him for the comment.
“You’re awfully talkative tonight,” Angie remarked, eyes narrowing in dislike.
“Yeah? You’re in an awfully bad mood tonight. You should eat a Snickers. You aren’t yourself when you’re hungry, you kn–” he was interrupted as he was shoved into the wall behind him by Vinnie. Behind him Angie was looking particularly furious, maybe because she’d actually wanted Anne to go get her a Snickers from the vending machine. “Geez, you all need one,” he muttered, raising his arms in time to catch a punch aimed at him.
“Fine! Fine, I’ll go with you,” he relented, seeing a light flick on under a door opposite of his dorm. “”It’s not like I have any other options if I want my key back.” Vinnie pulled him forwards, sending Bailey staggering to catch his balance, then nodded for Thomas to put a hand on his shoulder and guide him to wherever they were going.
“Uh, maybe don’t go this way?” Bailey suggested, realizing there was a high probability they’d run into Anne if they continued on that route. The only response he got was a kick to the back of his knee, which almost made him fall.
Sure enough, not a minute later they ran into Anne, who was looking quite angry herself with two Kit Kat bars and Cokes in her arms. “Angie, I suggest you three let him go. If he doesn’t want to tell you who his parents are, he shouldn’t have to.”
Angie crossed her arms defensively, and Thomas pulled Bailey behind Vinnie.
“Let me rephrase this,” Anne stated, shifting her arms so only one was holding the stuff from the vending machine. Then she stepped forwards, her tone changing eerily. “You don’t /want/ to take him anywhere. In fact, you want to give Bailey his key back and leave him alone for the rest of the night.”
When none of them moved, Anne rolled her eyes and stood in front of Vinnie. “Right?” she inquired, looking for confirmation as she ran a fingertip along his jaw.
“…Right,” he and Thomas said at the same time, while Angie just nodded vacantly from behind them. Bailey looked at her in slight awe, a smile playing at his face as Vinnie handed him his key back and, with a part to his shoulder, left with the others.
“Good!” Anne exclaimed, handing a Coke and Kit Kat for Bailey to hold. “Now you can help me carry this back to my dorm, if that’s alright with you. Your roomates seem awful, and you don’t have to worry about Angie, by the way. She won’t be back until morning. Though I imagine when she is, she’ll be p*ssed,” she laughed.
“That was… Wow. I actually don’t think I can thank you enough,” Bailey replied, taking his stuff from her and grinning.
“Well, just because you won’t fight back doesn’t mean I can’t. Not that it was fighting, but oh well. I’m honestly disappointed in Angie. She knows my dad was a siren and she never considered I inherited some of his powers. But yeah, I doubt they’ll mess with you as much as long as we’re friends, though I can’t guarantee constant protection,” she warned.
“Are you kidding me? I’m just happy to have a friend,” Bailey replied, then yawned after a moment.
“Of cours–Jesus Christ you have a tongue piercing?!”
“Yeah… I guess there’s a lot you don’t know about me.” He winked halfheartedly, though there was a bit of amusement in it. She didn’t seem to notice, only looking at him with a half smile and a knowing look. “I should let you know now, by the way,” she said, then dropped her voice into a whisper. “I don’t swing that way.” Then she smiled and gestured for him to follow her back to her dorm, leaving him rolling his eyes good naturedly and following.
