Chapter 1

Hope's POV

I was bissfully dreaming of myself exploring Italy and seeing all of it's amazinng art that it had to offer, until my alarm starting beeping causing me to wake up.

"Aghh, what time is it" I wondered as I shifted towards the clock to see that it was 5:30 in the morning.

When I sat up in bed, I momentarily forgot where I was, but events from yesterday came flooding right back into my mind. I sighed nervously, this was it today was the start of my Freshman year of college. What happens within the next few weeks, will determine how the rest of my academic career here will go. I was determined to try harder to come out of my shell and make friends, not only for me but for my parents as well. I mean they shouldn't have to be constantly worrying about me all the time, it just wasn't fair to them. With that I slowly got out of bed to get ready for the day.

I decided to keep it simple by wearing a pair of my favorite blue jeans, with a simple white shirt with a yellow sweater over it, since the weather is a tady chilly for the day. My hair, which was a dark blonde, but many considered it be brown, was left hanging down in it's natural waves past my shoulders. I slowly got up from my vanity table and took a deep breathe as I heard girls running down the halls and laughing.

"I can do this" I whispered trying to reassure myself as I grabbed my bookbag and started to open the door.

As soon as I opened my door and walked out, I saw a bunch of girls just walking down the halls gossiping. Suddenly I saw a few girls walking by me giving me odd glares at me before snickering at me, before continueing walking. This just caused me even more worry, as I heard them talking down the hall.

"Did you see her outfit, it's like something from the 1970's" the one girl said with a laugh.

"I know, and did you see the pink bag, it's like she's still in grade school" the other girls said.

It took all my control not to let my anger get the best of me. No matter how hard I try and tune people out, I still always end up hearing all the horrible things they say about me. I don't know why I was able to hear conversations that were normally out of hearing range, but it's always been like this as long as I can remember.

Flashback (2022):

10 year old Hope was playing alone in the sandbox, as all the other kids were running around on the playground. Suddenly Hope's head shot up once she heard her name come out of two girls on the swings, at the other end of the playground.

"I wonder why here name is Hope, it should be more like dope" one girl said.

"She probably thinks she's better than us, because her parents have money" another one said.

Normaly Hope was one to avoid confrontations, but she wanted to set the record straight with those girls that she does not think she is superior than them because her parents are one of the richest couples in town. Her parents taught her the value of self-worth and that money is only earned by hard work and not by some kind of entitlement.

"Hey, I just wanted to say that I do not think I am better than you or anything just because make a lot of money. No one is superior to anyone else, we're all just uniquely different" Hope said when she walked up to them.

The girls gave each other a look, before the one girl turned to Hope and said "What makes you think we were talking about you."

"I heard you all the way from the sandbox"

The girls just stared at Hope with an unreadable expression, before snickering at her.

"Wow what a Freak, come on Lisa lets get out of here before she uses any of her wierd magic on us" the older girl said getting up.

"Yea, Ruby, I do not want to bewitched by this freak" Lisa said getting up following her friend.

Hope just watched as they walked away with tears starting to fall down her face.

End Flashback

A single teardrop fell from my eye, but I just wiped it away, after all I haven't even gotten through my first day yet, so there's still plenty of time to make a good impression.

My first class of the day was Introduction to Art of Europe, which I must admit I was looking forward to because I've always wanted to travel to Europe and take in all the wonderful art and artictects it had to offer. It was being taught by Professor Ingrid Wolff, I've never heard such an unusal name, maybe she's from Norway or something like that. When I entered the room, I was surprised that there was a good amount of people, but not enough to fill the entire room. Out of habit I ended up sitting in the back of the room, where there wasn't any people. I couldn't just go up to someone and hey want to be my friend, I rather have someone come up to me first.

"So I see i'm not the only who enjoys the back of the room" a voice said.

I quickly turned to the left to see a young man, who was probably around my age, taking the seat right next to me. He had to be one of the most good looking boys I ever met, he had a nice tan complexion that went well with his brown eyes and brown hair.

I didn't know what to say, so I said the first thing that came to my mind "Are you talking to me?"

He immediantley started laughing, and I couldn't help but flush. Why did I say that of Course he was talking to me.

"Yea, besides myself, your the only one sitting alone back here" he said with a grin.

"I'm so sorry, i'm just not use-" I started to get even more flustered than I already was.

Suddenly he gently grabbed my wrist and looked at me in the eyes and said "Look it's fine, I can tell your a little nervous, but trust me I'm perfectly harmless. The name's Jacob Anthony."

He held out his hand and I shook it and said "I'm Hope Winters."

He smirked at me and said "That's a beautiful name, for a girl as beautiful as you."

I quickly turned my head, trying to hide my blush. This was the first time anyone, besides my parents, has ever called me beautiful. I would describe myself as plain, and everyone that i have met have always agreed with that sentiment.

Before I could respond to him, the teacher suddenly walked in and she was not at all what I expected her to be. Her hair was up in a bun, but it was all wild and curly, and her outfit was rather revealing, it was simple black dress that went down to her knees and the sleeves were see through. Instead of sitting on her chair, she opted to sit on the desk legs crossed.

"Ok class, the name's Ingrid Wolff and I will be your professor for the semester. Now unlike other professors, I do not give out a syllabus, wherever we end is where it will be and there will only be one test which will be during finals."

At this most of the kids groaned, while Professor Wolff just shrugged and said "Well if you pay attention and do your work then you should have no problems passing, your all adults now, it's time you start prioritizing what's important. Which is why I only take attendance once, I figure if you want to be here you need to be here everyday. So once I call your name just say here."

As she started to take attendance, I couldn't help but feel strange about this teacher. She doesn't seem like any other professor, which is probably due to personal preference, but still something seems off about her and I couldn't place my finger on it.

"Hope Winters" I heard her call my name out.

"Here" I said as I raised my hand a little. As soon as I spoke, Professor Wolff looked at me with this strange expression. It's hard to even describe, but I swore I saw something of resemblence in her eyes. She turned her attention away from me, as quick as she did as she went on.

I heard Jacob scoff next to me and said "Seems like teacher of the year material to me.

I couldn't but smile at his comment, I would've silently laughed before Professor Wolff spoke.

"Did you have something to share with the rest of the class Mr. Anthony" she asked staring directly at him.

This time it was Jacob's turn to flush. "Um no Professor."

She just smiled and said "Good, now that we've gone over the basics of this class, you are all free to go for the day, but be ready for Wednesday."

"So what other classes do you have for the day" Jacob asked as I was getting my stuff together.

"Um, you know just the basics like English and my Math" I said still feeling a bit self-conscious.

"That sucks I have my computer classes tonight, but here let me give you my number so we can hang out sometime" he said as started to write down his number.

"Hey Jacob you coming" one of his friends asked by the door.

Jacob smiled as he handed me his number and said "Here text me sometime if you want. See you later."

I just stood there completley dumbfounded, I wonder why he gave me his number. No one has ever shown the least bit interested in me before and now for some reason someone has. I quickly shook my head, realizing how stupid I was being after all it's probably some kind of prank against me, just to humilate me. So i just shoved the paper down into my pants pocket before walking out of the room. However as I was leaving, I noticed Professor Wolff, watching me.

The rest of the day for a better word, was just awlful. It seems no matter how hard I try to make friends, it always backfires on me. For some reason it's just impossible to find a group of friends for me to fit in with. In between classes my mother had called to check up on me, while expressing her worry over me and of course people overheard our conversation and automatically I was being labelled a mama's girl and all other sorts of names and now here I was crying my eyes out in the girls' bathroom. I almost wish I would let my anger take over, and throw a few punches at those horrible people who I know deserve much worse than a black eye.

"Hey are you ok"a voice called out.

I turned around and saw a girl who appeared a few years older than I was, she had long chestnut hair and light blue eyes, wearing a floral shirt with a leather jacket over it and jean pants. Usually I might have responded, but I'm tired of humiliation for one day.

"Yea just peachy" I said before making a run out of the bathroom and heading down the halls to return to my room.

Normal POV

After Hope made a run out of the bathroom, the older girl just stood there looking at the door in a somewhat worried and confused look. She suddenly grabbed out her cell phone and hit her dial button.

"Hey Jacob it's me, yeah I just met her for a just a moment, but your right there's something seriously off with her Aura" she said into the phone.

Hope's POV

When I got back into my dorm room, I immediantley fell into my bed glad that this day was finally over. I just don't get why people don't like me, I try my very best to be nice to everyone everyday, even if it's at my expense. It's not like I can help that I just happen to have better hearing than most people, I try all the time to block it out, but I can't. It's at times like this I wonder if one of my Biological parents, had the same issues as I did with this. I mean don't get me wrong I love my adoptive parents with all my heart, but they just don't understand how hard this is for me. I can't help but imagine how my life would have turned out if I was never adopted into the Winters family.

Before I knew it, I got lost in my thoughts and ended up falling asleep for a long while, because by the time I got up it was already half past midnight. I slowly got up and made my way to the window once I saw that there was a full moon out. I couldn't explain why, but just by watching a full moon always helps sooths me. However what I didn't expect once I looked out the window was a huge brown wolf staring up at me, from the ground.

"What the hell" I said to myself, not entirely sure why there's a wolf on school grounds, but also looking up right at her.

Suddenly she heard a door creak, which caused her to turn around and much to her confusion her door was still closed. When she turned back to look at the wolf, it was already gone.

Just what the hell is going on here I thought with so much confusion and nervousness.

Author's Note

Well there's the first offical chapter and I hoped everyone liked it. Hope's personality may seem bland at first, but trust me as time goes on you'll see a major change in her as she discovers the supernatural. Chapter 2 will go into a little more depth with other characters and we just might meet a certain original vampire, because next chapter will be actually heading into the city of New Orleans. So please continue to read and review and let me know what you think.