p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"emBeep! Beep Be-/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I slammed the alarm with my fist and got up right away. I looked at myself and my oval emerald eyes in the mirror. My blue quills stuck up straight and my blue feet were cold. Time for school. I went into my closet and got my personal stash of milk, and drank a few drops./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"My height increased and from fur and quills, I got skin and human-style hair. Blue hair that was. My tail shrunk till it wasn't there. My soft ears went back to the oval ears mankind had. My eyes went into normal human ones./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"This was my curse. I always hid it. I was part monster with no way to change myself back for permanent. I was a hedgehog who could travel at sonic speeds. I went to the bathroom, dying my hair and eyebrows brown. Father's shade of hair coloring. I faked a smile. Now for another stupid week of school. Then spring break would come, and I could lock myself in my room and be free of dying my hair./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I wasn't going to let Ma and Pa know who their nephew really was. I didn't want to be put up for adoption. Being an orphan, I didn't want to lose the family I still had. I sighed, grabbing my bookpack and heading downstairs. Ma was making eggs and turkey bacon. "Hey Ma," I said, sitting at the table./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Mornin' Ollie. Ready for school?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Yep," I said, faking my smile a little too much. She stared at my mouth. "...I never noticed you had sharp teeth. You look like a batman."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""They're called vampires. And yeah, how funny is that?" Inside, it disgusted me that hedgehogs had fang-like teeth. I may be the only one in town who knows a hedgehog even has "fangs." Ma put some breakfast on a plate and handed it to me. I ate quickly. Then I ran out the door./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"It was like training practice for me. I was part of the track team, after all. I didn't run to my fullest potential when I was at meets and whatnot, if I ran at my super speeds someone would be suspicous. I was puny for a runner. I was the scrawniest one on the team. Funny how that works./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I ran up to the front of the building, and stared. Johnsonville High. Students pouring out of the buses and into the entrance. Well, time to start the school week./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I slammed the alarm with my fist and got up right away. I looked at myself and my oval emerald eyes in the mirror. My blue quills stuck up straight and my blue feet were cold. Time for school. I went into my closet and got my personal stash of milk, and drank a few drops./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"My height increased and from fur and quills, I got skin and human-style hair. Blue hair that was. My tail shrunk till it wasn't there. My soft ears went back to the oval ears mankind had. My eyes went into normal human ones./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"This was my curse. I always hid it. I was part monster with no way to change myself back for permanent. I was a hedgehog who could travel at sonic speeds. I went to the bathroom, dying my hair and eyebrows brown. Father's shade of hair coloring. I faked a smile. Now for another stupid week of school. Then spring break would come, and I could lock myself in my room and be free of dying my hair./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I wasn't going to let Ma and Pa know who their nephew really was. I didn't want to be put up for adoption. Being an orphan, I didn't want to lose the family I still had. I sighed, grabbing my bookpack and heading downstairs. Ma was making eggs and turkey bacon. "Hey Ma," I said, sitting at the table./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Mornin' Ollie. Ready for school?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Yep," I said, faking my smile a little too much. She stared at my mouth. "...I never noticed you had sharp teeth. You look like a batman."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""They're called vampires. And yeah, how funny is that?" Inside, it disgusted me that hedgehogs had fang-like teeth. I may be the only one in town who knows a hedgehog even has "fangs." Ma put some breakfast on a plate and handed it to me. I ate quickly. Then I ran out the door./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"It was like training practice for me. I was part of the track team, after all. I didn't run to my fullest potential when I was at meets and whatnot, if I ran at my super speeds someone would be suspicous. I was puny for a runner. I was the scrawniest one on the team. Funny how that works./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I ran up to the front of the building, and stared. Johnsonville High. Students pouring out of the buses and into the entrance. Well, time to start the school week./p