The last part of the midday break I spent giving Ria her requested lap pillow in our own classroom. With the sun beaming through the windows, you’d almost forget that the winter was almost completely upon us. Em was standing by the window, talking with Claire and her sister. The sun shone so nicely on her beautiful black hair.

I noticed Ria was also staring at her from on top of my lap. “Em is really beautiful, isn’t she?” Ria looked up at me with a smile.

“She is.” I gave her a nod. We talked softly so the others couldn’t hear us. I then ran my hand through her hair. “And you are beautiful too. I’m really spoiled with all these beauties around me, you know?”

Ria blushed. “You are very handsome, too.”

“Thanks.” I smiled and then booped her nose with my index finger. It almost made her sneeze.

Sadly, we didn’t have too much time left for blissful relaxation, as we’d already spent most of the break with our chess game. It didn’t help that Miss Turgeneva came into the classroom a bit earlier than usual, either. But nothing could be done about that.

Today’s geography lesson talked about the influence of ocean currents on the climate and how climate change affects these. Climate change had always been a subject that frightened me because there wasn’t really much a single person could do against it. It has to be a species wide effort. But I guess that’s true for most geopolitical happenings. That being said, the lesson was really informative and interesting to listen to.

After another theoretical lesson it was once again time to end the day with some P.E. And since it was gymnastics like it was yesterday, it would again be a class where I felt somewhat useless. Although with the advantage that I wouldn’t have to hide my capabilities because I had no gymnastic capabilities at all.

P.E. ended with me having face-planted three times, which was, sadly enough, not my ‘personal best’. At least it didn’t really hurt me anymore, which lead to Miss Garcia actually congratulating me on my resolve and perseverance. So I guess, even though I was complete garbage at gymnastics, my abilities were still giving me an edge.

After getting dressed into our casual clothes, we all exited the gymnasium for the last time this week.

Em, Ria and I said goodbye to Pres and Karin as we were going to have our conversation with Claire.

“See you tomorrow, sis.” Em had sent a message to her mom, telling her she’d stay over the night, as we didn’t really know how this conversation would go over. Ria also managed to get permission, albeit with a lie.

Karin and Pres left the four of us alone.

“So… where do you want to hold this conversation?” Claire asked.

“I suppose it doesn’t really matter much, as long as we can have the chat privately.” I shrugged. Ria and Em did the same.

“Hmm. Do you mind talking while we are walking, then?”

“Yeah, sure.” I nodded.

When we left the school grounds, we just saw Helen’s car disappear in the distance.

“Well, I guess I’ll start telling my story…” I sighed. While I had mentally prepared myself for this, it still wouldn’t be easy to come clean to my friend. But before I could continue, I suddenly felt a jank on my sleeve. It was Ria who’d apparently tripped.

“Ouch.” She called out and looked at her foot.

“Is everything alright?” I quickly turned towards my girlfriend.

“I think so, my shoe just kept hanging for a second.”

Em bowed down and inspected Ria’s shoe. “Ah, I think your shoelace snapped.”

“Oh no!” Ria quickly crouched down.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry.” Em comforted her. “I always have a pair of extra shoelaces in my bag.” Em took her bag from her shoulder and set it down on the floor before looking up at me. “Uh, Auro, you can go on with Claire. We will catch up with you.”

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“And tell her all by myself?”

“You can do it.” She smiled. “You told us all by yourself as well.”

“That’s true…”

“Anyhow, off you go.” She shooed me away, getting to work on our girlfriend’s shoelace replacement.

Claire looked a bit puzzled at what just happened, but once I turned around and continued walking, she just followed me along. “Did you know shoelaces could just break like that?”

“Uh, no, but apparently they can.” I shrugged. “Maybe I should carry a pair of extra shoelaces myself as well.”

“Yeah… especially if even Ria’s shoelaces break… she’s one of the neat types who keeps her clothes fine and dandy all the time.”

“I know right.” I chuckled followed by a quick cough to get the subject back on track. “Anyway… the thing I needed to tell you…”

“I’m all ears.” Claire nodded as we continued walking.

I told her the story as it had happened chronologically, how I encountered Viktor, how I got turned and how I told Emma. What happened with Ria in the park and then in short what we learned at the Conclave. It wasn’t easy to tell and I sputtered along the way a couple of times. But Claire continued listening to me without interrupting me a single time.

“And… that’s basically it… I asked one of the others what we should do with you and she said I could tell you if I trusted you well enough… Which I do…”

Claire looked pensive and then stared in front of her while we continued walking. A bit further on there was a mural, painted by a famous local street artist, next to which Claire stopped. I stopped next to her. She still hadn’t said anything yet. So now both of us were silently staring at this big art piece of a red fox.

A lonely approaching van in the distance was our only company, as Ria and Em still hadn’t joined up with us.

“Claire, do you have nothing to say?” I looked to my left.

Claire didn’t say anything but it was also clear she wasn’t paying attention to the artwork either. She probably was just using it as some kind of screensaver while her mind processed everything I’d said.

That process came to a screeching halt as a loud bang made both of us turn our heads. The sound came from the van that had closed within twenty-five meters from us. Its left front tire had popped and the driver of the van started to panic as it veered in our direction. Time slowed down for me and in a split second I took my friend in my arms and sprinted her out of harm's way. Only a second or two later, a loud crashing sound sounded through the empty road. The van had hit the wall at the exact spot we had been standing, the art piece gone as the brick wall it was painted on had fallen on the front of the van.

“Holy shit, that was close.” I stood there with Claire being princess-carried in my arms. I looked at the wall and back to my friend. She looked unharmed yet slightly shocked. “Are you okay?” I decided to ask her anyway.

“I… I’m fine…”

I put Claire down.

“Your eyes…?”

“Yeah… that’s a part of the vampire thing…” I rubbed the back of my head and then I looked back at the van. “...Uh… but we should probably look if the driver’s okay first…”

“I… I will take a look… you should probably get your eyes fixed first. Can you call the emergency services?”

I nodded and Claire ran over to the van to look how the driver was doing while I took out my phone to call the emergency services.

“The driver is still conscious!” Claire yelled back, as it was important information I had to relay over the phone.

By the time I got on the phone and explained the situation, my girlfriends had joined me by my side. Well, Ria did, while Emma went over to Claire to check on the driver too.

The person on the phone told me to stay on the phone while the emergency services were dispatched to our location.

I quickly put my hand over my phone’s microphone and whispered to Ria.

“Are my eyes back to normal?”

Ria nodded. “They are normal, but what happened? We just heard a loud bang.”

“The van’s tire popped, I had to sprint Claire out of the way otherwise…”

“Hmm.” Ria nodded again.

“Ma’am, are you still there?” The dispatcher asked.

“Yeah, I am.” I unmuted my phone.

“The fire department should be there momentarily.” I could already hear the typical long tones of fire truck sirens in the distance.

“Thank you very much.” I stayed on the phone for a bit longer until the fire department had arrived, but nothing else came up. Em and Claire then joined us on the other side of the street. One of the firefighters told us we’d have to wait until the police arrived to give some kind of declaration of what just happened.

“I checked the cabin while I was checking on the driver. He doesn’t have a dashcam.” Claire looked back at the van and how the firefighters started to cut open the cabin with their hydraulic scissors. “It would probably have been bad if they had to analyze the footage if he had one…” She then looked back at me. “By the way… thanks… for saving my life.” She then squeezed her cheek pretty hard. “Yep, I’m awake…”

“I’m sorry, I know this is really absurd…”

“Absurd as in ‘it feels I just entered the world of myths and fairy tales’ absurd? Yep, pretty much. I honestly was thinking that you’d gone completely mad… Vampires… damn...” She then looked at Ria and Em. “So that entire story about Corelia almost dying is also true?”

Both Em and Ria nodded.

“And immortality?”

“Yeah.” I replied.

“Wow…” Claire not knowing what to say was definitely a rare sight. -But then again… she just almost got isekaid…-