This is my Watty Awards Entry! PLEASE VOTE!! :))

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Five words.

                  Peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

                  My lunch smacked against the metal classroom desk in front of me as I emptied the contents of the brown bag I had been carrying around in my backpack. Sandwich, juice box, two apples, and two bags of chips that Mom had packed at 3:00 AM in the morning, as the note stapled to the bag said. It also read:

                  Your dad and I love you so much, Peppy. I promise we'll try to change our hours soon so we can be home more. Make friends and behave for us. This is our new home. xoxo

                    I guess you could say I was making friends the first day of school.

                  "Well, how was the rest of your morning?" Sin asked me, leaning forward in his desk and watching me poke at my sandwich.

                  So let me summarize what happened after Sin implied there was a reason as to why the vampires across the street hired my mom and dad and brought us to Orange Gate County in the first place. Sin offered to talk to me about my situation during lunch detention so that he could get back to his class, and Hunter disappeared into thin air.

                  That's right. Poof went the blind doggie.

                  "Are you going to answer me?" Sin pressed, leafing through a large book on his desk. "Hopefully you didn't cause any problems with the other teachers. Not many of them are as nice as I am."

                  "Is this "detention" going on my record because I don't think you're supposed to talk to me so casually during it like we're BFF's."

                  Sin looked up from his book. "I'm still thinking about it. Your permanent record doesn't really matter much to me or any other teacher here, to be quite frank. You're just a sassy, disrespectful human in my eyes."

                  I clucked my tongue. "Fu--"

                  "Fudge brownies! They had them!" Hunter intercepted perkily as he strolled back into the classroom with a tray full of food from the cafeteria. Apparently, Hunter had rode aimlessly around town on his motorcycle -- which I have no idea how he drove -- until my lunchtime came because he wanted to, and I  quote: "Confirm that Paprika wasn't a hunter so he could return to his hideout in the forest and comb his back hair while howling at the moon."

                  Sin's eye fell into slits as they followed his brother across the room.

                  Setting down my sandwich, I loudly cleared my throat. "Sin, you said in the bathroom that you would discuss my families situation. It's been ten minutes."

                  "Yes, and we have thirty more minutes to resolve this," Sin pointed out, "and I want ten more minutes to read my book."

                  "Can I have your apples?" Hunter asked as he stood in front of my desk, his clouded eyes looking directly them. "They're my favorite."

                  My mouth fell open a little. "How did you know I had apples?" Then a sudden realization hit me. "Wait a minute...how did you know I was a brunette? And that I had plump lips? And how...how do you walk around without one of those stick things?"

                  "Sin gave me your description over the phone and my sense of smell and hearing is eight times greater than yours," he replied in an obvious tone. "You're very stereotypical against blind people. It hurts my feelings."

                  I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

                  "Fine, I'm sorry. I won't call you Stevie Wonder anymore. You can have my apples."

                  "Hot-diggidy-dog." Hunter fell lazily into the desk a few rows next to me, held both of my apples in one hand, and took a massive chunk out of one, whipping the other at Sin with a quick flick of his wrist, who caught it easily with one hand. Hunter then dove into one of his many sandwiches.

                  It was a miracle Hunter even fit in the desk.

                  "You know, you're lucky I didn't just run to the nearest police station after you strangled me," I told him.

                  "You don't say?" Hunter feigned interest in my words. "You're lucky you're still breathing, so shut your damn mouth," he snapped. I won't lie and say my heart didn't pick up a notch around Hunter. I definitely would not want to be alone with him. But that being said...there was something about him that made me believe he had a soft spot somewhere deep inside his blind self.

                  "You wouldn't have killed me," I blurted. "You don't seem like the killing type."

                  "Well, well, well, it looks like you can't read me at all." Taking a large knife from his boot, Hunter faced me, his mouth turning up in a bit of a snarl, and started to cut out a piece from his apple all slow-like. "Do you honestly think I wouldn't kill you, sweetheart? Because my conscious left me the moment my vision did, and that's the truth."

                  Wow, that was deep. And really sad... And look at that, Hunter actually did have a knife collection. "I'm sorry to hear that," I said, turning away from him. I then sipped my juice, eying Sin as he leafed through a large book. "What would you do if I told the police that you locked me in a bathroom on school grounds twice?"

                  "Deny everything. But that wouldn't even have to happen because nobody would care if you ratted either of us out for anything," Sin replied in a fairly bored tone.  "Hunter's really good at playing the handicap card to get his way, and I'm too pretty to go to jail. Plus our family owns almost all of Europe, this school, and many other public places in Orange Gate County so we have enough money to hire the best defense attorney in the world." He then polished off his apple in four large bites. "I'm just saying," he added, after taking in my scowl.

                  Hunter sighed deeply at my right, bringing my attention back to him. He had my entire lunch, plus his pile of food from the cafeteria spread out along his desk.  How he had gotten my lunch without me seeing him do it, was beyond my comprehension.

                  "Hey!" I reached for my lunch.

                  Hunter slapped my hand away. "You'll get your food back when you answer some questions, human."

                  "Did you forget my name?"

                  Hunter bit into my apple. "No."

                  "Well, I have a name," I said, "and it's not Paprika."

                  Hunter took another bite of my apple then motioned to his lounging self. "Do I look like I give a shit about your name?"

                  "Hunter, relax," Sin growled.

                  "No you relax, you son of a bitch," Hunter said, whipping his soda at Sin's head. Sin ducked right in time, his mouth lifting in a snarl.

                  Talk about bipolar twins, I thought.

                  "Aw, what's wrong, Sinny?" Hunter pouted at his brother. "Did you think I lost my sense of aim? Praying for it? I always was better than you in everything. Dating, running, fighting, swimming... and I always will be."

                  Sin slammed his book shut. "Do you seriously still blame me for what you did to yourself?"

                  "What I did to myself?" Turning to me, Hunter lifted up his shirt. I would have filled an Olympic pool with my drool once I saw his abs, nipple piercings, and tribal-like black tattoos, had I not instantly been drawn to the numerous scars that lined his abdomen. Some were burns, too. "I guess I did this to myself, too! Don't you think, Pepper?"

                  "Oh my God," I whispered.

                  Sin stood to his feet. "Keep your temper under control, Hunter. I mean it. You're getting out of control."

                  "What are you going to do about it? And I'm not even angry, yet!" Already on his feet, Hunter maniacally laughed and threw a desk across the room as if it weighed a penny. I almost flipped over in my desk it startled me so much.

                  "I think I should go," I said, slipping on my backpack and hurrying out of my seat.

                  But before I could make it even halfway to the door, Hunters muscular arm wrapped around my waist and secured my back against their body. "Where the hell do you think you're going?"  

                  I opened my mouth to scream, when I felt multiple hard and pointy objects that felt like knives digging into my body along my abdomen. Looking down, I saw that Hunter's nails had completely been wolf-fied to the max, threatening to rip open  my stomach.

                  "Please let those just be from a really, really bad manicure," I whispered.

                  As I locked eyes with Sin, I realized how paralyzed he was. There was something preventing him from stopping his brother, something that went a lot deeper than fear. Almost like...dominance.

                  "Hunter...please. Let. Her. Go."

                  Holding my breath to prevent Hunter's nails from entering my body, I tried to focus on anything but his mouth at my neck. His watermelon jolly rancher smell. Lord Almighty, why was that such a sexy scent? Out of all the possible scents this sex bomb could have -- watermelon jolly ranchers. And let me tell you, having a hot blind guy's mouth caressing your neck that smells like such a delicious candy, is not exactly something one can stay still for. You may applaud me, please.

                  And can I just mention I was starting to sweat like a fat kid forced to do the mile eight times in a row?

                   "She smells like coconuts,"  Hunter said throatily. I felt his wet, hot tongue lick up the base of my neck. I shivered violently, earning a deep sensual moan from the werewolf -- excuse moi, hybrid from behind me. "And she smells like fear, but she doesn't show it, does she? Not. One. Bit. I can tell. Reminds you of a hunter, doesn't it Sinny-boy?"

                  "She's not a hunter," Sin said sternly, his features twitching with anger.

                  "I'm not a hunter," I echoed, restraining myself from moving against his claws. "I didn't--I didn't even know you people existed until I moved here. Don't hurt me because you're assuming things. This is all a misunderstanding, I promise."

                  Hunter dragged a hand down to the hem of my shirt, playing with the edge of it with his clawed hand. Breathing harshly into my ear, he said, "You like this girl, Sinny. I bet you want to tap this so bad now that I'm holding her. Jealousy is a bitch, isn't it? Would you still like Paprika her with her neck chewed off?"

                  Suddenly Hunter had my neck exposed to his mouth, which was a mouthful of fangs that looked straight out of Jaws.

                  "That's it, hairball!" I screamed, elbowing Hunter right in the groin. His arms immediately let go of me, and as he let out a yelp, I spun around and slapped him right in the face. Hard. "Don't mess!"

                  Hunter moaned, leaning over in pain. But before I could do any sort of victory dance, he was standing up straight again as if nothing had hit him, chuckling lowly. "That was cute. Now I'm going to eat you."

                  I waggled a finger at him. "Whoa, let's not do that. Cannibalism isn't cool, man."

                   Hunter's features melted into a shape that didn't seem natural and his eyes lit to a blue that was frigid and bold. His mouth opened in a roar that shook my entire body to the core. Sin grabbed me with one hand and threw me behind him, rapidly reached into one of his desk drawers with a speed that made my mind spin.

                  There was a few clicks of metal and then before I knew it, Sin had a gun raised up towards his brother.

                  Boom. Boom. Two sharp cracks of a gun momentarily deafened me.

                  Hunter grabbed at his arm, hissing. The smell of burning flesh filled the room.

                  "You'll regret that," Hunter snarled. Somehow, I felt like it had been more towards me.

                  In the blink of an eye, Hunter was gone, and I was left wondering if Sin was actually the cause of his brother's blindness...and maybe even more.

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