"Are you ready, Steve?" The counsellor gulped, looking at me questioningly and nervously. "We won't be able to pause as soon as we started." I nodded glumly. My eyes were focused at what in front of me, hands gripping so tightly on something, as if that was the object that supported my life. "No turning back, remember."

"Yes," I sucked on my lips, being really nervous.

Gannen strengthen his grip on the joystick in front of him, pressing the button start and both of us just did a wild clicking spree. After I saw him playing back then, I started to doubt my self confidence, being all fidgety instead. But I won't lose to him in this game! It's my specialty.

I was losing. This can't be! To prevent me from falling, I began thinking of a distraction and it popped into my brain. "Gannen, do you know that Mr Crepsley once kissed Darren?" The plan was a huge success. He dropped his joystick, gaping at me in disbelief. But the expression that he created made me dropped my joystick as well, laughing at his priceless face. "Your face!"

"That guy kissed Darren? Darren Shan?" He slurred on his words, jaws moving up and down in surprise. "So even he is able to do that stuff. I always thought that he has no sense of romanticism at all."

"I'm gonna tell that to him and I'm sure he'll gladly kick your ass," I grinned at him slyly. Gannen rolled his eyes at my joke but couldn't resist a smile. He and I had been talking to each other during my three hours breaks and sometimes after dinner. We always throw insult and swore at each other quite a lot too. After he told me that he's a vampire yesterday and had Darren to confirm it for me, I made him vowed to me that he will only feed from me and no one else. He gladly accepted the condition.

We haven't talked about romantic stuffs for a while and that fact made me able to face him in ease, without worrying about thinking of an answer. He won't grow old soon anyway. So, I still have years to think about it. "Gannen, can you turn me into a vampaneze?"

"No." He said, so straightforward.

"Hey!" I looked at him, surprised to receive the denial right at me.

The counsellor smiled at me, patting my back. "Grow up, Steve." I snorted when he said that. "I mean, I'm waiting for our age gap to close. If I turn you into a vampaneze right now, there's no telling when you'll be as tall as me. Well, you're only 15 while I'm like 39 human years old."

"What?" I narrowed my eyes. "Thirty nine?" I let out a small chuckle. "I always thought that you're on your early thirty. Gee, I might as well call you gramp now." He punched me playfully on my shoulder, laughing. "How old is Kurda?"

"He's 32." I nodded, picking the joystick back up from the floor, still listening to him attentively. "Mr Purl's 30."

"What? Are you serious?" Gannen smiled again, following my action of picking the joystick up. "I always thought that Mr Purl is on his late thirty."

"Appearance deceives," He said, turning off the game. I curled my lips, letting out a sigh.

"Gannen." He turned his head to look at me. Without any further ado, I grabbed his collar, pulling his body forcefully and crashed my lips onto his. He tilted his head in an angle to find a more comfortable position and he deepened the kiss. I reacted by pressing my lips even harder, sucking on his. His tongue slipped into my mouth at ease, rubbing against mine swiftly, doing a wrestle. I shivered at the sensation, and as a reaction, my hands loosen the grip on his collar, completely giving in.

We parted, looking into each other's eyes. He stroked my cheek caringly with his other hand shoving my hair strands, and he landed a last kiss on my forehead. The room was so silent that I could hear the ticking noise of the clock, accompanied by our breath. I rounded my arms around his waist and buried my face on his neck. ". . .Like you," I whispered the words really softly. Those words were just replacement for 'I love you' since I thought that they're too strong.

"Is that a yes?" He ran his hand through my hair, and without even having to look at his face, I can already tell that he was smiling. Faintly nodding, I can feel Gannen's other hand gripped around me tighter, not wanting to let go.

"Any harder," I whimpered, "you'll end up suffocating me."

"Sorry," He whispered, managed to loosen the hug but it was still way firm anyway. "I'm just too surprised."

"Bedroom," After I chanted the magic word, he released me, and stared at me in disbelief. Not waiting for his response, I stood up, blushing furiously, walking out of the room with him following me like a puppy.

Say, this is going to be a long night for us two.

"Steve, are you alright?" I frowned, looking at the troubled boy, who looked like he was having a problem propping himself up, and a major nausea when I told him to sit down.

"What's with your butt?" Evra added, clearly amused by Steve today. "Did you shove a cucumber up your ass or something?" We laughed; leaving the silver-haired boy staring at us with a red face.

"Funny, Evra." He spat sarcastically, and turned his back while growling. "And Darren, just try to sort things out with your love, instead of worrying about me."

"What's with you, Steve?"

"Nothing much," Before I can say anymore, the bell rang and we had to shut up because the grumpy and cranky Mr Ver Leth entered the room with his usual frown that never fail to make him looked heaps older than his real age. I changed the focus of my eyes to Steve, who was fidgeting, with such a pained expression. Hmm, I wonder why. . .

Then, I found that my mind had wandered off to somewhere. I was imagining what the school principal looked like. Nobody in the dormitory had seen him, ever. Maybe. . . raven hair, possible red eyes, very good looking. I shook my body to toss the image away.

"Eyes to the board, Darren," Said Mr Ver Leth firmly. I apologised softly, trying my best to concentrate on the lesson. I always find it hard to do so. I got easily distracted by various things. The subject that he teaches is Science, my second least favourite subject. Wait, I can say that was my least as math is now my favourite.

He gave out our science assignments back that day and I managed to pass, barely. It was out of twenty and I got eleven. Steve got eighteen, Sam got thirteen and Evra got fourteen. Out of us four, Steve had always been the smartest in most subjects, especially Geography. His test and assignment results always topped the class, no, the whole dorm.

A few minutes after the bell rang and fifteen students walked with chattering noise into the history class, the next thing I realised was the sight of Gannen in front of the room and I wondered what he was doing there. I looked at Steve questioningly but he started fidgeting even more with a red face.

"Most of the teachers here are attending meeting in the hall, might be longer than one period. Depending on how everything goes, I will be teaching you history and math today." Steve rested his arms on the desk, covering his face while grinding his teeth together in anxiety. He faintly turned his head when he noticed someone beside him. "Are you okay, Steve?"

"Ah, G-Ga. . . Mr Harst, yes, I'm alright." Said Steve, stuttering on his words.

Gannen eyed Steve almost apologetically, making me even more curious on what happened. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," He played with his fingers, blushing. "I was the first to ask you anyway."

I shifted uncomfortably on my seat, resisting myself from staring at the pair. What exactly did they do yesterday? Suddenly, I blushed, thinking of the possibility of them doing it. But. . . how did two men do it?

The time flew before my eyes really quickly. Gannen told me that Mr Crepsley won't be there for tutoring and that he left me a few works to do, inside his office. Without saying anymore; or even asked how I can get inside, he marched off in hurry. I rummaged through my pocket to retrieve the card that Mr Crepsley gave me a few days ago. I let the laser scan it and the door unlocked by itself. When I stepped inside, it was pitch dark as both windows and curtains were shut tight.

I sat on the usual couch after flicking on the light, wondering what's keeping him so long on the meeting. It's unusual. The practice sheets were waiting for me on the desk and I found it hard to concentrate. Not that I can easily concentrate usually, though. I glanced at the paper in front of me, reading it and answering the questions.

There were some questions I didn't get but Mr Crepsley had provided a textbook just next to it so I can peek at the formula. When I was halfway through my paper, the door slid open and Mr Crepsley emerged. For some odd reason, I found myself smiling at him happily.

He managed to give me a faint smile before he threw himself on the sofa just the opposite side of me. Without wanting to bother him by asking questions about the meeting, I put my head down, trying to go back and do the questions. However, I just can't. Mr Crepsley stared at my paper, as usual.

"Have I told you about staring at my paper?" I said, trying my best not to be awkward with the situation.

"Oh, yes, sorry." He said, standing up. With a sigh, he peeled the clothing that had been covering Madam Octa's cage before he threw some insects in. I didn't know why but I wasn't as excited as I was before. "Darren, you have not been pestering me about her for a while."

I looked up at him and grinned thinly. "I don't even know why myself. Maybe now that I've taken a liking to math, I haven't been paying attention to her ever since." As soon as I said that, I can see the corner of Mr Crepsley's eyes twinkled. "Mr Crepsley. . ." I started, staring at his face. "Is it just me or you look paler?"

He paused for a long while that I though he won't answer my questions. But then, he sighed and looked back at me. "You think so?"

Nodding lightly, I focused back on my work. "Haven't you been feeding lately?"

Mr Crepsley was frozen on spot when I asked him the question. "Well," He coughed, opening the curtain and the light scattered in. "Busy."

"But you feed at night. You don't work at nights, do you?"

"Just do your work, Darren," Said the head teacher, pointing at the paper. "Worry about yourself, not other people." I sneered when he said that. Why was he being so cold, after he told me that he likes me?

"Mr Crepsley. . . how to do number six?" He sat beside me and began to explain the question to me. Sometimes I just feel like he's ridiculing me by making the even hardest one seemed like a piece of cake. But maybe I was just reading too much into it. I let out a small 'aah' from my lips in understanding after he explained everything. "Ah, jeez, Mr Crepsley. . . you always make hard questions seem easy." I smiled at him, playing with the pen on my hand.

"That is why I am a teacher," Slightly blushing, he avoided eye contact with me, looking away. "Darren, the next class test is in a week. I am looking forward to see you getting the top mark."

"You sound so certain that I will."

"Of course you will. Well, as long as you do not repeat the foolish decision that you did before." Without any purpose, our hands brushed against each other on the sofa. On that second, I can feel his touch sending an electric pulse. As fast as possible, I pulled my hand, placing it on my lap.

"I'm going to the bathroom." I said while standing up, hastily running off into the right direction. Hnnn, what was that? I clapped my cheeks with my palms, staring at my reflection on the mirror. Why would he need this? Vampires don't have reflection, do they?

After taking my time to calm the hell down, I walked off the bathroom and saw Mr Purl on the door, talking to Mr Crepsley. They were whispering under their breath and I cursed myself for being a human, not vampire. Now I can't make sense of what they were talking about. Paying attention closer, they stood up way too close to each other. Probably only around 10 centimetres gap between their noses.

"No!" Mr Crepsley exclaimed, all of sudden, almost making me jump in surprise. "There is no way I will do that. Never!"

"Calm down, Larten!" The brunette raised his voice, putting both of his hands up, trying to stop the head teacher from shouting. After he did that, the two vampires began to whisper again. "Now!" He smashed his hands on Mr Crepsley's shoulder pretty hard, it made a soft smacking noise. "Straighten up." He brought his face even closer than it already was. 5 more centimetres and they'll kiss. Code red, Darren, code red. "I'm on your side, after all."

I gritted my teeth in anger at the sight. Taking a deep breath, I screamed loud, taking their attention. Mr Crepsley freed himself from Mr Purl's hands. Both of them hurried towards me. "What is wrong, Darren?"

"I saw a mouse," I lied, pretending to be frightened.

The brunette laughed when he heard my response. "I can't believe you're scared of that filthy creature. A mouse is nothing compared to Madam Octa." Said Mr Purl, winking at the orange-haired teacher.

Mr Crepsley sighed, turning Mr Purl's body forcibly. "Okay, okay. Now get out." He gave him a last push before the other teacher laughed, walking out of the office. "So, where is the mouse?"

"What mouse?"

The Y Effect: ; n ; Thank you so much for the compliment *ish flattered* and lol no, I wasn't making a fuss over those reviewers with accounts and those who didn't. But yeah... stupid computers that break down :/

deirdre: Thank you so much :D

- : Aw really? Thanks x3 Glad you do look forward for more =3

- : The characters are a bit OOC, though eheheh but thanks =D

Man, I should stop watching Junjou Romantica and get this fic over and done with x3