Chapter One: First Days of School and Broken Prank Dreams

Bailey City had never been the most normal of places. Odd characters came and went throughout the years, never staying long enough to raise many suspicions or questions. Whether they were particularly hairy camp counselors, too-pale counselors with razor sharp eye teeth, or librarians with an affinity for Camelot, none of these strange adults stayed more than a year. Two years, tops.

And Eddie Matthews was eternally grateful for this.

Despite this, he was not grateful for the interminable boredom to be found within school. From Bailey Elementary to Bailey Middle School, then finally on to Bailey City High. Obviously the city council was feeling creative they day they decided to name their school systems. In fact, there was even a Bailey University, nestled deep in the west side of the city. And it wasn't just the unoriginal names that irritated Eddie concerning his schooling.

It was the goddamn rules.

Save third grade, elementary school was a blast compared to middle school. It seemed the older he got, the more his teachers wanted to stuff him in a box and make him shut up. They wanted him to "settle down", to become "productive". Those were just excuses to make him conform, to keep him from being. . . well, him. And let it never be said that hormones passed Eddie by during his dreadful middle-school years, because he would be the first to say – quite vehemently in fact – that hormones were a bitch. A raging, bitch with PMS like nothing anybody had ever seen before.

Still, he was pretty confident that high school had to be at least a little better than middle-school. Why is the only reward for graduating from one school always moving on to a bigger and more annoying one? Eddie had never really understood the logic behind that. However, he did understand that having a nerdy best friend like Howie had saved his ass on more than one occasion.

Speaking of nerdy best friends. . .

Howie was making his way towards the high school building, bag slung haphazardly over one shoulder and dirty blonde hair falling across his thick-rimmed glasses. The gangly freshman was still the best partner in crime a guy could ask for, even though he was a nerd to the extreme. Eddie grinned, taking off at a sprint towards the unsuspecting fourteen-year-old.

"HI HOWIE!" Eddie shrieked.

It was a comedic moment of the ages. Howie leapt nearly a foot in the air, clutching his worn copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to his chest before he finally realized who was accosting him. The blonde scowled viciously, thin shoulders hunching in on instinct and dark eyes flashing.

"Dammit, Eddie!" Howie growled. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack? What the hell was that for?"

Eddie grinned, shrugging even as his thin Kansas City Chief's tee protested the movement. "I dunno. You're an easy target, dude. And I need to practice my dick-move skills for later today. The teachers here will fear me by the time I finish seventh period."

Howie rolled his eyes, adjusting his glasses out of habit as they made their way towards the formidable building. They got some odd glances from some of the older students, mostly because their friendship was just so irregular.

Even in elementary school, Howie Jones was a bookworm. An excellent student with straight A's all around, teachers loved him. He was slight of build and soft-spoken. And even though he was cute in the face, the poor kid was so terribly shy outside of his group of friends, hardly anyone tended to give him a second thought. This being said, Eddie Matthews was the polar opposite. Eddie had filled out since middle school, opting to play sports such as soccer and football in his spare time. He was tall, all muscle and a loud boisterous attitude that automatically made him a big focus when he entered a room.

Ignoring the odd looks and pointed whispers, Eddie almost immediately spotted their other two best friends amongst the mass of swirling teens. "Liza! Melody! Over here!" he called.

A delicate-looking blonde girl with blue eyes looked their way, smiling brightly. Her companion, a taller black girl with an obvious affinity for sports, smirked in a way that almost made Eddie think twice about calling them over. They waded their way through the pre-school mob with practiced ease, and Liza immediately gave both boys a bone-crushing hug.

"Oh my God, I am so excited!" Liza exclaimed. "We're finally in high school! This is gonna be awesome!"

Eddie snorted. "Yeah, if by awesome you mean mind-numbingly boring. The only thing I'm excited for is some fresh teachers to torture."

Melody sighed heavily. "Eddie, when are you ever going to grow up?"

"Never! Growing up means getting boring, and I refuse to become one of those tie-wearing sticks in the mud! Besides, I see no good reason to act my age."

Howie snickered behind his hand, trying to cover it by adjusting his glasses some more. Melody smacked him in the stomach anyways, while Liza merely giggled at Eddie's response.

"Eddie," she chuckled, "I know for a fact you got that off of a t-shirt. Don't even try to deny it! And the least you could do is try to act like a normal human being, if not for your sake, then for ours."

The red-headed boy just widened his grin, turning his flat-bill cap – Chiefs pattern, to match his shirt – backwards on his head. "To start, I wasn't going to try and deny that I found that quote on a t-shirt. That just really describes my newfound philosophy in life. As for acting normal for your sake, there can be no promises. "

Melody scowled, but quickly changed the subject by saying, "Who do you have for homeroom? I have Mrs. Jenkins."

Howie shook his head, gesturing towards the leering red-head by his side. "Eddie and I compared schedules last night. Since I had your schedules too, we went ahead and looked to see if there were any classes all four of us have together. The only class we're all in is Algebra at the end of the day."

Another groan erupted from Melody just as the first bell rang, signaling the beginning of a new school year for everyone. "You mean I have to deal with this dipshit and his pranks during my hardest class? Great. That's just frickin' brilliant!"

The group made their way into the dull concrete building, laughing and joking together until it was time to go their separate ways. Howie started his day with an AP English class. Melody began with gym, basketball to be specific. Liza got the ball rolling with Physical Science. And Eddie?

Eddie, as always, began his school day – indeed, his school year – with a bang in American History.

The other three went through their day relatively smoothly. Paying attention, taking meticulous notes, and listening to each teacher with rapt focus was on the agenda for them. This was not the case for their carrot-topped companion. Eddie did everything in his power to disturb the peace this first day. He switched schedules with several other students. He showed up for random and incorrect classes, only ambling off to the right one after the tardy bell had rung and the teacher had gotten well into their first-day lectures. He pulled pranks right and left, even managing to make a gaggle of seniors collapse into fits of laughter after he tripped the resident outcast of the sophomore class.

To be frank, Eddie Matthews had himself crowned the Prank Master of Bailey High by the time seventh period rolled around.

Singing loudly to himself, Eddie break-danced into the algebra room, knocking over several books in the process and generally making a nuisance of himself. It was a shitty time to have a math class, if anyone were to ask the students. How the hell were they supposed to concentrate on formulas and equations when there was only an hour between them and the final bell?

Sliding into an empty seat, Eddie punched Howie lightly on the arm with a contagious grin. "Eh, what's up, doc? How's the nerd-ness coming?"

Howie adjusted his glasses and tried not to let his smile be too obvious. "Dude, it's the last hour of the day, and math is my favorite subject. Try to tone it down a notch, will ya?"

The grin Eddie returned was nothing short of evil. "There can be no promises, buddy."

Somehow, against their better judgment and the persuasion of their peers, both Liza and Melody decided to sit next to Eddie. There was a better chance all three of them would manage to keep the resident trouble-maker from doing something stupid rather than leaving Howie to fend for himself. The rest of the students were laughing, grouped together in little packs around desks that seemed far too small for their still-awkward bodies. A pungent mix of body odor and cologne permeated the air, and the air conditioner made the room almost unbearably cold. Chatter rang on the air in a dull roar.

But every single student, even Eddie, went silent the minute Principal Gibbs walked in the room.

Principal Gibbs was an older man, extremely tall, and thin to the point of ridiculousness. He appeared to be in his mid to late fifties, with thick gray hair despite the impressive amount of premature wrinkles lining his face. But he seemed to be the jovial sort, gracing them with a welcoming smile before tucking his hands in his pockets and clearing his throat.

"Welcome, students," he began. "I hope your first day here at Bailey High has been a pleasant one." He glanced around the room with deep brown eyes, serious despite his grandfatherly nature. "Now that pleasantries are out of the way, let's get down to business. Now, you might recall Mrs. Howard being the instructor for this class when you registered. And, up until this morning, you would have been correct in assuming she would be your teacher for this year. However, the school district was notified of a sudden career change for Mrs. Howard earlier this month. A replacement has been found, and I'm sure that you'll all give this lovely lady the respect she deserves."

With that, he gestured to the door with a signal for the new teacher to enter the room for introduction. "Class, I would like you all to give a warm welcome to Mrs. Jeepers. She's been living in Bailey City for several years now. But she is, however, new to our school. Be kind. Be courteous. And, most importantly, remember Mrs. Jeepers is the authority figure while you are in this room."

With that, Mrs. Jeepers in all her terrifying glory stepped to the front of the room. She looked exactly the way the four students remembered her. At least, she did in the face. Her long red hair hung loose about her waist now, curling gently at the ends, and she wore an attractive black pencil skirt with a green short-sleeved blouse. That damn brooch was now pinned at her breast, mocking Eddie every time it caught the light. A light smirk curved her still-full lips as the Transylvanian woman surveyed the class before her.

Green eyes locked on to dark brown, a staring contest for the ages. Eddie thought his head was going to explode. Or he was going to spontaneously combust. Either way, the sensation could never be classified as a pleasant one.

Liza looked like she was ready to faint. Melody had her mouth hung wide open, eyes bugging out of her head and pencil ready to slip from her fingers. Howie had turned the color of a ripe tomato for reasons Eddie would never be able to fathom. Maybe hormones were being a bitch again.

Eddie did believe that hormones were a bitch. This was only evidence to further his point.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll all get along grandly, Principal Gibbs," Mrs. Jeepers purred. Visible shudders ran through the class as her accent slid along their exposed skin. "In fact, I recognize several of my students from my elementary school days."

Liza gulped, lips moving even though no audible sound came out. Eddie figured she was praying that her nose wouldn't bleed. Melody, having awoken from her shock-induced stupor, looked ready to punch someone in the face. Howie was still blushing, still staring at pale skin with shadows and unnatural emerald eyes.

Eddie, however, dropped his head to the desktop with an audible "thud!"

"I'm fucking doomed," he whispered dejectedly.

One hand reached over and patted his back sympathetically, even the owner of said hand didn't look away from their new-found torture. "It's okay, bro. At least we're older. It won't be all that bad."

The glare Eddie shot the blonde boy could've frozen Hell over ten times. "If you ever say that again, I'll cut your damn tongue out. This is going to suck balls."

Neither boy noticed the way emerald eyes flashed in amusement, nor did they notice the way the woman floated gracefully to the center of the room. Only when her smooth, Transylvanian accent washed over the room again, did they manage to look up and pay attention.

"As Principal Gibbs has already stated, I am Mrs. Jeepers, and I will be your algebra teacher for the coming year. Now, while I'm sure you are all mature, reasonable young ladies and gentlemen, I would like to go over a few rules before we begin with today's lesson."

Mrs. Jeepers sent an almost wicked half-smile in Eddie's direction before proceeding to write a few of the same damn rules from third grade on the white board. The red-headed boy went pale, gulping as he slumped back in his seat.

He shot Howie a defeated look. "I'm fucking doomed, dude."

No one, not even his best friend, had the heart to lie and say he wasn't.

A/N: Hey guys! BlackRosePoetry here, and I must say, it feels great to be back! I want to start out by saying this work is something that came to me whilst reading 'Vampires DO Wear Polka Dots' by the incomparable Arwen17evenstar. It's a pretty good fic, and the lovely has been kind enough to let me write my own interpretation of it. That being said, I made a few changes, mainly to the content and storyline. Being a teenager myself, there were a few things that I felt needed to be addressed. Such as swearing. Teenagers swear a shit-ton more than most people give them credit for, and I have a head-canon that Eddie would be a complete potty-mouth.

With that, I thank you all for staying with me thus far, and I hope to read your lovely reviews soon. More chapters are to come, and with this I bid you all a fond farewell until next time!

Sincerely,

BlackRosePoetry