Daniel stays distracted while Brandon attempts to flirt with his sister, but fails because her beauty isn't just mesmerising, it's distracting. Daniel shakes his head as he listens to Brandon stumble with words, trying to explain the events that happened at the school.
Daniel looks around him. He's never been at a public school before; he's been in a private school all his life. Being in Cupid's Hollow High makes him feel like he's in all those teen American TV shows his sister forces him to watch with her. But he does love them regardless.
From the black and red varsity jackets being worn by the jocks to the cheerleaders, to people wearing whatever the hell they want. Daniel has been in uniform since he was young, and this is all new to him.
What he did back home to warrant them moving to the States was worth it. He's always wanted to go to a public school.
While he admires the red lockers as he follows Brandon and his sister. She spots someone he's been dying to see since that night he fought the wendigo. A small smile forms on his face when he sees her. She looks more beautiful than ever before.
She stands firm with her pretty curly hair, and her confident stance gets him riled up. He just wants to walk up to her and burst into song and express how much he likes her.
Musicals, another thing he loves because of his sister. But the difference now is that Cece has grown out of it, and he still loves musicals.
Rose stands by her locker talking to her friends Devon and Violet. She giggles and then smiles; she doesn't really like smiling when she doesn't show her full teeth. Daniel wishes she had shown her teeth.
Because she's that beautiful.
She looks like a rockstar princess right now. And by the look of the way she dresses, the triple piercing on her ear, the nose ring and leather jacket. She's either a rockstar herself or she just loves rock music.
Either way, she looks badass.
Rose looks away from Devon, and her eyes land on Daniel. Her smile immediately disappears when she sees him. She's not charging toward him, and she doesn't look away from him, pretending not to notice him; instead, she stares back at him. They both stare at each other like they're seeing each other for the first time again.
God, she's so pretty. Daniel thinks.
God, what is he doing here? Rose says in her head.
She wants to look away from him, but she just can't; she's stuck, and so is he, but the difference is that Daniel doesn't mind.
"Good morning, students of Cupid's Hollow High." That sound comes from the intercom system. Good, Rose has an excuse to look away from him and put her focus on whatever Mrs Nancy, the principal's secretary, is about to announce. "Welcome back to school, it's the start of a new year. But before you start classes, please kindly move to the auditorium for assembly. Thank you," and the intercom goes off.
"God, I have really not missed school," Devon says.
"Tell me about it," Rose says, giving Daniel the side eye while she hangs her backpack. Daniel gives her one last look before looking away and shaking his head with a smile on his face.
Violet gasps dramatically. "You guys don't mean that. You didn't miss me?" Violet pouts; she gives them that puppy dog look she always puts on her face, like the golden retriever she is.
"Violet, we spent the whole summer together," Rose says.
"And even if we weren't in high school, we would have still been able to see each other." Says Devon.
"Oh," she says.
"God, Violet." Devon puts her hand around her, and Rose chuckles as she leads the way to the auditorium.
The three of them head to where they always sit. Which is the middle row? Rose spots Daniel sitting up front he genuinely looks excited. She doesn't know if it's because he's excited about starting a new school or the fact that he saw her.
Rose doesn't care; she just hopes he doesn't blow her cover by spilling that he helped her fight those wendigos the other night.
Because if he does, she doesn't care if she's not allowed to kill a moroi, because she will kill him if he opens his mouth.
Principal Shawn Watson walks up front, standing in front of the mic. He's a petite bald white man with a pair of glasses on his eyes, and he always dresses like he's still in the eighties.
He goes on welcoming students, and he puts emphasis on grades and extracurricular activities. But he doesn't say it in his usual annoying way, like he does, trying to pander toward teenagers. Trying to use Gen Z slang and all that.
He looks distressed; in fact, the teachers do. There's bad news about to come after this.
"I'm afraid there's bad news I have to share with you." He says, and Rose knew it. "News reaching us this morning is that one of our students, Nora Sullivan and Abdul Malik were killed last night."
People gasp, and they start to murmur amongst themselves.
"Oh my God," Violet says, putting her hands on her mouth.
Rose remembers Nora, she's Pastor John Sullivan's daughter. She was so nice, and she knew that she and Abdul were always sneaking around being love birds to each other. They're dead. What must have killed them?
"Yes, I know it's quite unfortunate, they would have started senior year this year. What happened to them was a tragedy. We'll be sending prayers to both their families."
"I heard Abdul killed Nora and then killed himself." Rose hears someone say.
"I'm not surprised. Isn't he muslim?"
Rose grimaces.
"What the fuck?" she mutters.
"Just ignore them," Devon says to her.
Rose rolls her eyes.
Fucking racists.
"We'll be holding a memorial for them tonight at the town square. You don't have to be there, but please, it will be nice to show your respects."
Rose hears someone crying, and she sees it's Nora's best friend, Layla Smith. Her head on her boyfriend's shoulder, and he tries to comfort her.
Rose can't help but think whether their death is supernatural or mundane. If it's mundane, then there's nothing she can do about it.
But then again, why the hell does she immediately think they were killed? What if it was an accident?
They've been dismissed. And Rose has been using her super hearing to listen in on what people think happened to them, and so far they've come up with different theories.
Some think they killed themselves because their parents didn't allow them to date.
Some think they died in a car accident.
Some bigots think Abdul killed Nora.
And some misogynists think Nora killed Abdul.
"Ah ha!" Devon says, looking into his phone, he went from all smiles to disgust in a second.
"What did you find?" Rose leans in closer, and so does Violet, who looks hella sad, she really hates the news of death.
"They were killed when they were on their way out of Cupid's Hollow. And get this, their hearts were removed."
"Oh my God," Violet says, sounding pained if it was her mother's heart that was ripped out of her chest.
"Is the person who did that human or…" Rose says quietly, and Devon already knows what she's asking.
"I don't know, but I bet the adults will."
"Hmm," Rose says, trying to think of a monster that would want to rip out someone's heart. She has never heard of one precisely, but she's sure it's a monster. It can't be a human that did this. There haven't really been crimes committed by humans in this town for as long as she can remember. It's a peaceful town filled with people who love love.
Hence why the town is called Cupid's Hollow.
"Poor Nora, she was so nice," Violet says. "Why do nice people have to die?"
That's a question Rose cannot answer.
But she will try to figure out who or what killed them. And definitely not buying into the narrative that Abdul killed her and then killed himself.
She's also met Abdul, who was a nice guy.
And they looked too in love. How can two people be stupid enough to kill themselves simply because mommy and daddy didn't allow them to date? That doesn't make any sense to Rose.
This is why she doesn't do love or romance.
"Wait a minute, are those-" Devon stops, and Rose looks at him and notices he's looking at people in aghast.
She traces his stare and then sees that he's looking at the morois who are in the hall.
"Those are moroi vampires," Devon mutters.
"Moroi vampires, here?" Violet says, looking at the two of them. "Ohhh."
Daniel glances at Rose, and they stare at each other for a minute before looking away as soon as the bell rings.
The moroi better not say anything about their encounter in that club.
She heads to English class.