I'd always thought that vampires, werewolves, mermaids, witches and zombies were all just made up. But, it turned out, I was wrong. They were all real. They'd been hiding amongst us this whole time! But, they'd revealed themselves to the world a few weeks ago. Maybe they were sick of hiding or something.

I loved supernatural things, like books, movies and TV programmes with vampires and werewolves in them. However, the thought of them being real terrified me. What was even worse was that my parents were making me move from Belfast to some place called Belcoo that I'd never even heard of. The place was supposedly packed with supernatural creatures. It was horrendous — they'd got me enrolled in a school full of those supernatural monsters.

All my things were packed, so I left my lovely house. It was the house I'd lived in my entire life, and I was sad to be leaving it behind. The house was attached to other houses, it was coloured like brown sugar. I'd miss my friends and neighbours a lot more than the house; now, I was going to have to completely start over and make new friends.

It was chilly outside and the sky was a dark grey colour. This was a typical horrible day in Northern Ireland. My mood matched the weather because I wasn't happy about moving, especially to a place that was so terror inducing.

My dad put my purple suitcase into the boot of the car. He was tall and thin, and had short brown hair; he wore glasses, just like me. His skin was ghostly white and so was mine — people might end up thinking we were vampires, especially when we were moving to a place infested with them.

“Do we really have to go?” I asked and sighed.

“Yes, this place is much cheaper now that everyone knows how many supernatural beings are there. Loads of the ordinary humans moved away. Anyway, you're obsessed with vampires and werewolves. You love Twilight, it'll be just like that.” He smiled, then patted my shoulder.

“Yeah, but not in real life! They're scary!”

“Oh, you'll be fine. We've all been living with them for years, and nothing has gone wrong.”

“They probably cover up their crimes. Like a werewolf could get away easily because people would assume it was an animal attack. Vampires could easily drink someone's blood and make it look like a cooking accident or a suicide.”

“Calm yourself, I'm sure they don't do that.”

It could easily be done, and loads of them probably did it. I was dreading moving to Belcoo and going to a new school. Would there even be an internet connection at this place? It seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.

Mum came out of the house with her pink suitcase. She was short and had long ginger hair like me. She also had very pale white skin.

“Are we all ready to go?” Mum asked.

“Unfortunately yes.” I sighed.

Dad put her suitcase in the boot, then we all piled into the car. The drive to Belcoo took about two hours, so it was a long drive. There was no way I'd get to see my friends often because they were too far away now.

Belcoo was a small village and there were a few pubs and shops, but not much more. But, there was a big park, which seemed nice enough. It'd probably be a hotspot for all the monsters in the area, though.

We got to our new house, which was detached, but close to other houses — I would've much preferred it if we were ages away from any creepy neighbours. In a place like this, everyone would know who we were, we'd stick out like a sore thumb because we were humans. The houses around here looked like regular houses, they were all white, although some had a bit of dirt on them. However, inside them wasn't normal at all because there were monsters in the houses.

****

Over the week, we'd met our neighbours, and they seemed pleasant enough, but I didn't trust them at all. None of them were human.

Unfortunately, school was starting again, and today was my first day. This was going to be awful, I'd be the only human at the school. What if the vampires tried to drink my blood? Maybe the witches would turn me into a frog, or the werewolves might attack me. I felt like throwing up, and my heart was beating unbelievably fast. This was bad, the vampires would probably hear my heart and know that I was more frightened than a lost child.

My mum drove me to the school, which was in Enniskillen, a town that wasn't far from Belcoo. The place even had the word kill in its name, this really wasn't a good sign. Mum went into the large white building with me; she was coming so that I could figure out where I was going, and to sign any paperwork. We walked over to reception, and my mum talked to the woman behind the desk. I barely paid attention, I was too busy worrying about everything that could go horribly wrong.

The woman handed my timetable to me, then called over some girl called Jodie. She was beautiful, she had long brown hair, brown eyes, white skin, and she was tall and slim. Hopefully, she wasn't a werewolf, zombie, or vampire because they seemed far scarier than a witch or mermaid.

“Hey, I'm Jodie.” She smiled.

“Uh, I'm Fiona.”

“Can I see your timetable?”

“Yeah.” I handed it to her.

“Oh, we're actually in the same class, so you can just come with me.”

“Thanks.”

She gave me back my timetable, and I put it in my blazer pocket. Even at this supernatural school, they wore uniforms; the blazer was purple and the skirts or trousers were grey, as well as the jumpers.

I followed Jodie through the school. There weren't many students around because I'd got here before school started, but I was sure that these narrow hallways would be packed later.

“Uh, so what supernatural being are you?” I asked and twirled my thumbs. Hopefully, the question wasn't rude, I'd hate to make any enemies. I'd also tried to phrase it as kindly as possible.

“I'm a mermaid,” Jodie said.

That was a relief, mermaids weren't scary.

“You're the human everyone's been talking about, aren't you?”

“Um, yeah. What have people been saying?”

“They've just been wondering what you're like, and how you'll fit in. You seem nice.” She smiled.

“Oh, thanks. You seem nice, too.”

Maybe she would be my friend, I'd like that. I couldn't go through the school year with no friends, it would be miserable.

Jodie opened the door to a classroom, and there were already a few people inside. They all stared at me, which made my heart beat even faster, I got really sweaty as well. My face felt very hot, so I must've been blushing. Some red eyes stared back at me — the petrifying vampires. I wanted to run straight out of the room, then sprint back to Belfast.

“Come on, this is our class,” Jodie said and linked her arm with mine, then led me into the room.

It was quite a small room, with only about ten tables, and most were squished together. The carpet and plastic chairs were green, and there was a whiteboard at the front of the classroom.

I walked with her to the back of the class, and everyone turned to look at me. Why did they have to do this? She sat down beside an Asian boy who had golden brown skin, beautiful dark eyes, and black hair that was short. He had a fringe that had a parting in the middle. He was very good-looking, but he was probably one of the scary monsters.

“Hey, I'm Kim Min-bae, but just call me Min-bae. What's your name?” He asked.

“I'm Fiona.”

“Well, it's nice to meet you.”

“Uh, you too,” I replied.

The others were still staring at me, it was so creepy. Had they never seen a human before? Some were whispering to each other.

“I'm sure you're wondering what Min-bae is.”

“Yeah, kinda.” I nodded.

“I'm a werewolf. Don't worry, I'm not evil like the one in Little Red Riding Hood.”

“Oh, that's good to know.”

I hoped that he was telling the truth because I didn't want to get attacked or stalked.

“Werewolves are usually pretty chill, apart from on the full moon, that's when our emotions are heightened,” Min-bae said.

“Uh, I'll just avoid werewolves around that time,” I replied.

“Well, you don't need to avoid Min-bae on the full moon, he's got good control.”

“It's true, I haven't had a bad full moon in years.”

“So, do werewolves and mermaids often hang out with each other?” I asked.

“Oh no.” Jodie shook her head. “Mermaids only hang out with their own kind, or vampires. You see, there's a sort of hierarchy, vampires are at the top because they're all really hot, rich, and the most powerful. Then mermaids are second because of their beauty, witches are third because of their power. Next it's werewolves, they have strength, but they're usually poorer and less powerful within the community. Second last are zombies because they don't have any strength and most people don't like them. Unfortunately, you're in last place. Humans are at the very bottom because they aren't strong or anywhere near as beautiful as vampires or werewolves. They also aren't in any powerful positions.”

“Wow, I had no idea.” I shook my head.

Everyone in the government must've been vampires or mermaids, that was very unsettling. People probably didn't even know.

“So, then if you're a mermaid near the top of the hierarchy, then why are you hanging out with a werewolf and me?” I frowned.

“I can't sing… well, I can, but it sounds like I'm screeching. It's pretty much a requirement to sing perfectly to be a popular mermaid. I don't know any other mermaid who can't sing, so I'm the odd one out,” Jodie replied.

Maybe I wasn't so alone after all.

“Oh well, I'm sure you don't need to be popular anyway,” I said.

“You're right Fiona. If you could sing, we wouldn't be best friends.” Min-bae smiled, then hugged her.

“That's true.” She laughed.

“Do you two know why the supernatural community decided to reveal themselves to humans?”

“Partly, we're sick of hiding. But a big reason is because the vampires found a substitute for human and animal blood. Now, they drink something that scientists created. Apparently it tastes like blood, and quenches their thirst, but I've no idea what it's made from.” Min-bae shrugged.

“Yeah, they thought that would make humans less scared, so they thought now was as good a time as any to let the world know the truth.”

“Well, I'm still scared. I don't want to be anywhere near vampires.” I whispered, hoping none of them would hear me.

“Aww, we'll look after you. But, I highly doubt any vampire will attack you, it'd be awful for our community,” Min-bae replied.

“How did all of you manage to hide from humans for so long?”

“Mermaids are easy to hide, they just don't go in the sea around humans. Vampires put in contact lenses and don't drink blood when humans are in the area. Werewolves take time off when it's the full moon as a precaution in case they wolf out. Zombies are very rarely in areas where there's a big human population, but you probably wouldn't recognise one anyway. They have a weird greyish tone to their skin, but they just put on makeup around humans,” Min-bae said.

“What are the zombies like?”

The picture in my head were the mindless man-eating zombies, but they probably weren't like that in real life.

“They sometimes smell a bit of death. The only time they're dangerous is when they're sick because if they bite someone, that person goes mad for a few hours. Once, when I was in primary school, one of the zombies was sick and bit a vampire, then the vampire started attacking everyone around them. Most of the class got infected that day, they even had to bring in the supernatural police to deal with it. Everyone who got bitten had to be put into a prison cell until they returned to normal.” Jodie said, and my mouth dropped open.

A zombie apocalypse could actually happen; this was the most terrifying thing I'd ever heard in my life.

“Oh, it's okay. It practically never happens. It only lasts a few hours as well, so it's nothing to worry about,” Min-bae said.

I was definitely going to be avoiding the zombies if I could.

“Uh, alright… what are the supernatural police?”

“They're just like the regular police, but none of them are human, and they only deal with supernatural incidents,” he replied.

The bell rang to signal class was starting. I'd arrive thirty minutes before school officially started because I wanted to be early and find out where I was going.

More students came in, and some of them were zombies. It was easy to tell who was a zombie because their skin colour was unnatural, and I could tell who was a vampire by looking out for red eyes. At least it would help me to avoid them. It was a shame that there was no way to see who was a witch or werewolf; although maybe there was a way to tell, but I just wasn't aware of it.

The teacher came in, and she was a short, chubby woman with grey hair. She had white, greyish skin, like one of those creepy porcelain dolls who'd been neglected and got dirty. She was a zombie, there was no way she could be anything else with a skin colour like that.

“Hello, I'm Mrs Winter, for those of you who don't know. We have a new student, Fiona. Would you like to stand up?”

No, I don't want to. But, you couldn't exactly say no to a teacher, so I stood up.

“Uh, hi,” I said.

A few of my new classmates said hello back, while others just stared, or didn't even look in my direction.

This class didn't last long, since they were just seeing which students were in and which ones were off or late. Mrs Winter was very strict with the people who were late, and gave them a break tine detention. I couldn't ever be late in the mornings, detention was too boring.

I went to my next class, which was ICT. Thankfully, Jodie and Min-bae were in all of my classes. I'd feared Min-bae at first, but he didn't seem so bad. They were both friendly, and didn't mind answering my questions.

In this class, the teacher didn't have assigned seats, so I sat beside Min-bae. Jodie was sitting on the other side of him.

“So, are supernatural people made or born?”

“Both. Humans can be bitten by a werewolf or vampire, then turn into one. When a human dies, if they get bitten by a zombie, then they come back to life as one. The only thing humans can't be turned into are a mermaid or witch because you have to be born that way,” Jodie replied.

“Oh, cool.”

I never wanted to be turned into anything, I was happy being a human.

“Were you born or bitten?” I looked at Min-bae.”

“Born, I've been a werewolf my whole life. It's probably why it's easier for me to have more control during the full moon,” he replied.

“I'm curious, are you two dating or are you just friends?”

“Eww, just friends. We've grown up together, so Jodie is like a sister to me,” Min-bae said.

“Yeah, I'd never date him.” She laughed.

“Oh right. I'm awful at picking up on these things. In my old school, people were close sometimes, but I didn't know if they were dating or just friends. I always had to ask my friends for all the relationship gossip.”

“So, you can't tell when people are dating?” Jodie asked.

“Uh, it depends. If I see two people kiss, I'll assume they're dating, but otherwise I'm usually not sure. I hug my guy friends, so when I see other people doing that, I don't know if it's because they're friends or because they're dating,” I said.

“Don't worry, we'll keep you informed. Jodie and I are single. If there's anyone else you want to know about, just ask,” Min-bae replied with a smile.

“Thanks, I will.”

****

In all of my classes and at break and lunch, I stayed with Min-bae and Jodie. There were only two classes left, then it was home time.

I walked to Home Economics, and thought I'd get to sit with Jodie and Min-bae, but this teacher was assigning us seats. This was hideous, what if I got put next to a vampire or zombie? I'd die of fright if that happened.

The teacher was a middle-aged woman, and she was white, and had long blonde hair that was greying. She had a large nose and icy blue eyes. She wasn't a vampire or zombie because she didn't have their features. It seemed unlikely that she'd be a mermaid because she wasn't drop-dead gorgeous. She was either a werewolf or a witch.

The room was spacious, and there were a few high tables around the room, with two stools at each table.

She called out my name and told me where to sit, which was right at the back. This was unfortunate, it was much harder for me to see the board at the back. I had glasses, which made me see very well, but the writing was difficult for me to see from far away. I'd just have to hope that the person beside me would be able to help.

A boy was walking towards me, he had those deathly blood-red eyes. He sat down right beside me, and my heart was beating a million times a minute. This was a nightmare, a vampire was my Home Economics partner. The vampire had light-brown skin and black hair that was in a quiff. If I wasn't so scared right now, I would've found him very attractive.

“Hey, I'm Ezekiel, but everyone calls me Zeke,” he said.

I suddenly remembered that I'd brought things that I'd heard would keep supernatural monsters away from me. Maybe if I made a scene, the teacher would move me to another seat.

I lifted my bag and took out a silver cross — silver was meant to be for werewolves, but it couldn't hurt to try it on a vampire. Plus, crosses repelled vampires in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I held it towards Zeke and he frowned.

“Uh, what are you doing?”

I put it on his hand, but nothing happened. Next item, then. I put the cross back in my bag, and got out a clove of garlic. He didn't seem fazed by the garlic either, but I put it on him anyway. Again, nothing happened. Then, I tried a wooden stake, that did nothing either.

“You're very strange,” Zeke said, and I rolled my eyes.

The last thing I had was holy water; I'd got it from my priest in Belfast, who was terribly worried about my family going to live in an area that had one of the highest supernatural populations in Ireland. I took it out of my bag and threw it over Zeke. His eyes were wide, and his mouth hung open.

“You threw water on me!” He exclaimed.

The people around the class laughed and stared; they were probably wondering why I was throwing water over him.

“What's going on over there?” Mrs Watson asked and glared at the two of us.

“It's nothing, I just accidentally poured water over myself when I was drinking it,” Zeke replied.

“Stop messing about.” She sighed.

Why did he cover for me? He could've easily got me into trouble. Now, I was going to have to deal with this vampire for the rest of the year. I hadn't found any repellents, either. All the movies and TV shows must've been wrong about what would hurt a vampire. I had to find out what it was, or else these vampires could attack me.

“I hope you don't have anything else in that bag of yours. I get that you're scared, but I'd never hurt you or anyone else.”

“Okay, I won't try anything else. But, I don't trust you.” I shook my head.

I'd never trust a vampire. Even Jodie and Min-bae said that the vampires were bad news, and they'd told me not to get involved with them. I was even more vulnerable than most because I was a human. This was why I had to figure out what would hurt a vampire. Maybe Zeke could be my test subject, or I could be friendly towards him and find out.

“Can you at least tell me your name?”

“Fiona,” I said.

Unfortunately, I had to cook during this class, which meant that I'd have to work with Zeke instead of ignoring him. The instructions were on the board, but as I suspected, I could hardly see what the writing said. If I had normal eyes, perhaps I'd be able to see the writing clearly.

“I can't really see the board, could you tell me what it says?” I asked, hating that I had to ask this blood sucking leech for help.

“Sure,” Zeke replied, and started telling me about the different ingredients that were written on the board, and the equipment that we needed.

We were making burgers, which I liked, but it would be far better to be partnered with one of my new friends.

Zeke got the equipment, while I got the different ingredients. Then, I took off my blazer and hung it up by the door. I put an apron on and rolled up my sleeves, then tried to tie the apron, but it was too difficult. I'd always got a friend to do it for me at my old school. Zeke was already back at the table with all the equipment, and his apron already on. Did vampires have super speed, or was that another myth? I went back and stood beside him.

Unfortunately, I was going to have to ask Zeke to tie my apron because I couldn't get it tied properly.

“Could you tie my apron, please?”

He nodded, then got it tied super quickly.

“There you go.”

“Thanks.”

We started making the burger — putting the mince into the bowl, along with an egg, onions, and breadcrumbs.

“Why are you so scared? I thought you'd be excited to be around vampires, since you love Twilight.”

“How did you know that?” I asked and stared at Zeke.

“Oh, everyone has been looking you up online. It's on your Facebook profile that you like Twilight,” he replied.

“Jesus, I need to make that more private.” I sighed.

“So, why are you scared of vampires?” Zeke asked again.

“They're cool in movies and stuff, but in real life it's terrifying. You could literally kill me or any other human so easily. Maybe you could even hypnotise me, I don't know what you're capable of.” I shrugged.

“We don't just go around killing people or hurting them. We don't hypnotise people either, we can't do that. We only have super speed, healing, strength, hearing, vision, there are some other things that I've probably forgotten.”

“That really doesn't help.” I rolled my eyes.

“I'm just saying, you don't have anything to worry about.”

“I'll decide that for myself.”

“Okay. But, you shouldn't judge vampires,” Zeke said.

“Maybe not, I'm sure I'll find out with time.”

We cooked the burger together, but I didn't talk to Zeke much. I'd been warned that they were sneaky, so I didn't want to start trusting Zeke when we'd only just met.

Once the class was over, I immediately joined Min-bae and Jodie again.

“What went on with you and Zeke?” Min-bae asked with a frown.

“He's a vampire, so I was scared. I brought stuff into school with me to defend myself. I tried using garlic, a silver cross, a wooden stake, and holy water on him, but it didn't work,” I replied.

“Oh my, none of those things work.” Min-bae chuckled. “I don't know what does work. It's a secret that only vampires know.”

“Yeah, we all know our own weaknesses, but not the ones of others,” Jodie said.

“Well, you know the werewolf weakness because I told you.” He looked at Jodie.

“Well, yeah, but most of the time we only know the weakness of our own kind,” she replied.

“So, there are definitely things that would injure a vampire?”

“Yep, there's something. I trust you, so I'll let you in on a secret. If a werewolf touches a deathshade plant, we get sick for a few days. If you came at a werewolf with that, we'd run for sure,” Min-bae said.

“I've never heard of that.” I frowned.

“You wouldn't have. It's a plant that only the supernatural know about,” he replied.

“What can you tell me about Zeke?”

“Not much, he doesn't really have any friends and keeps to himself. But, he doesn't bully people, so he's not the worst vampire,” Jodie said.

“Yeah, he's pretty quiet.” Min-bae nodded.

“He didn't seem too quiet to me. He was the one who insisted the conversation with me.”

“That's not very like him. But, maybe he's changed this year. We are in our final two years after all,” Min-bae replied.

We got to our next class, which was science. This was another class where seats got assigned. If I was with another vampire, I'd scream.

The teacher was tall and slim, he was Asian and had light-brown skin. He had those creepy red eyes, telling me that he was a vampire. His hair was long and dark brown, and came down to his chin and it was in a middle parting. This teacher was extremely hot, just like all the other vampires I'd seen. Why did they all have to be so good-looking? All the students probably had massive crushes on Mr Lee.

Unfortunately, he put me beside Zeke, oh, how lucky I was. At least, I didn't have to sit beside a different vampire. The desks in this room were close together, so maybe Jodie and Min-bae would be at the one opposite us. Then, I'd be able to talk to them instead of worrying about Zeke.

The tables were dark brown and high, and I was sitting on a stool again. I was at the front this time, so I'd be able to see the board clearly. There were four tables squished together at both sides of the room, two desks in the middle, and a row of four at the back.

Min-bae's name was called out, and Mr Lee pointed to the desk in front of mine. This was great!

“Oh, I'm so glad you're near me.” I smiled.

“Me too.” He smiled back.

“Aren't you scared of werewolves?” Zeke asked with a frown.

“I'm scared of the others, but not Min-bae, he's nice.”

“Thank you,” Min-bae replied.

“Well, I'll prove to you that I'm a nice vampire,” Zeke said.

“Alright, you do that.”

“Wow, I've never heard you talk this much.” Min-bae looked at Zeke.

“Umm, okay,” Zeke said.

Zeke really didn't seem shy or quiet to me, it was strange to hear that he didn't usually act like this. He was probably doing it so that I'd be his friend, and then he'd try to drink my blood.

A beautiful white girl with shiny blonde hair went and sat beside Min-bae. If I had to guess, I'd say she was a mermaid.

“I have a question for you,” I said and looked at Zeke.

“Go ahead.”

“Are vampires immortal? Also, how old are you?”

“We are immortal, just like all the other supernatural people. But, mermaids, vampires, and werewolves are the only ones who look young forever. I'm sixteen,” he replied.

“Really? You're not a hundred and something?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

“No, vampires age until they're twenty-five, then we stop aging and look young forever. So, no, I'm not a hundred and something, I'm the same age as you.”

“Wow, I didn't expect that. Very interesting.”

It was fun finding out about all these supernatural people, but I still wouldn't be getting close to Zeke, even if he did seem friendly enough. I just couldn't deal with the fact that vampires drank human blood.

Everyone was seated, so Mr Lee started the class. We weren't doing any experiments today, and I was a sort of glad because it meant that I didn't have to work with or talk to Zeke.

As soon as the class was finished, I walked to my car and got in.

“So, how was your first day?” Mum asked.

“It was fine. I think I've made two new friends.”

“Aww, that's great. I'm so glad.” She smiled.

The day had been much better than I'd thought it was going to be. Min-bae and Jodie were great, not to mention Min-bae was super attractive. Vampires were meant to be the best looking, but Min-bae could give them a run for their money. Zeke was amazingly hot as well, but I didn't want anything to do with him. Maybe this new school wouldn't be as bad as I thought.