From the way the moonlight bathed her pale, freckled face to how her long, blonde hair tumbled down her shoulders endlessly, she was stunning. She had to be supernatural, because an appearance like that is extraterrestrial. She was something else, and the night that I found out was awful. It was prom night, the night where girls coveted each others’ dresses and dates, and formed a giant mob in the middle of the dance floor. The entire area smells like fruit punch, sweat, and a load of drama. In the movies, it looks magical, but in person, it’s anything but. It’s basically any other dance, but a lot more inappropriate dancing and dress-coding. The extravagant dresses depended on the theme. Ocean-related? Mermaid dresses.  Midnight in Paris? Anything red, purple, blue, or poofy. I brought her to my senior prom as my date. My mom had nagged me endlessly for almost the entire year until I brought her. My anxiety kept me from going the year before, because it was as crowded as a Twenty One Pilots concert. I would know, I’ve been to one.

I had whisked her away after school to help her get her hair done into a pretty updo, and help her with her dress. Even though I am a girl, I insisted on wearing a suit, because gender roles are meant to be ignored. Suits are more comfortable to me, anyway. I feel as if I’m sprinting to catch up with our erratic pre-prom schedule, because we were already behind. Eventually we got everything done, though, and we both were quite the pair. I lifted her and her heavy dress into the car, and drove her to a steakhouse. There, we ate the savory, and satisfying prime rib and finished with a slice of pie each by candlelight. I felt happier than I have in a long time, like a ray of sunshine had cast through a cloudy week.

I happily drove her to the chaotic, very unorganized walk-ins, then we headed off to the gym. My school had a lot of money to put towards prom. It was an insane amount of money. I stroked my date’s soft hand gently with my thumb as I led her to the doors, tickets in my other hand. “Are you ready to go inside?” I whisper softly against her ear, earning a nod and a giggle from her. She pulls me under the archway and into the gym, the music booming in my ears almost immediately. The scene was beautiful; this year’s theme was a Masquerade Ball. There were streamers, vibrant lights glittering, tables decorated appropriately..and most of all, they were playing Fairly Local by Twenty One Pilots as I entered. A few staff members were handing out masks by the bubble machine; all varied in color, shape, and amount of glitter. To make things even cooler, the “sticks” you were supposed to hold the mask with were two glow sticks taped together.

The prom staff were swiftly savoring the sweet smell of success. Everyone was having a good time, even if they had just got there. “Let’s dance; It’ll be fun, I swear!” said a girl at my assigned table. “Yeah, right.” said her date, rolling his eyes. “I’ve told you a million times, no.” She pouted and sunk back into her chair. My date, however, was missing. That’s what alarmed me. Maybe she was dancing, though? Maybe she had to use the bathroom? Maybe she needed a breather from the crowd? Despair washed over me like a ton of bricks at my next thought. Maybe she left.. That’s when I felt it. It felt like a tickle, at first, on my neck. Almost like a kiss..then I felt something sharp prick my skin. I yelped and turned around to see my beautiful prom date, with huge, pearly white fangs replacing her once normal teeth. This is what scared me most. She had a look in her eyes as if she were eyeing her lunch, nearly drooling as she eyed me up. She licked her lips impishly and giggled. “What? Never seen a vampire in person before?” I sprint to the bathroom, avoiding poofy dresses and people “dancing” next to each other. I’m stopped and almost knocked over by a teacher grabbing my arm. “What are you running for? You’re not allowed to run in prom.” “Mr. K, there’s a vampire back there! She tried to bite me!” I show him the faint dent in my skin on my neck. “I’ll take care of this. Here, lock yourself in the bathroom until I get this settled.” “But I want to-” “No, you’re going to listen to me. Stay out of this.” He walked off, pulling a stake out of his sleeve, and went off in the direction I said I was coming from. Only, my date was right behind me, waiting for him to leave. This time, she gets me, and I scream, “Mr. K, help!” “Already ahead of ‘ya.” He says, staking the vampire through the back, the creature exploding on impact. I fall onto my knees, trembling, and hug my teacher’s leg, “W-What’s going on..?” My teacher helps me up, grinning at me. “I’m from the Fellowship of the Sun. You live amongst vampires, as you know, and I’m here to kill them all.” And that’s when the adventure started.