John was looking at his tray of food, waiting to hear a gasp or a remark about how he was a monster. He ducked his head automatically as he heard the suspected gasp, but the boy started and stared at Alucard as the vampire let out a hysterical cackle.

"Perfect! I see we'll get along wonderfully until the end of lunch." Alucard was beaming as the boy's shock took some of his glee. "Continue. You killed someone, who? When? Where? Why? And do not forget the how."

"You're nuts." The boy breathed and Alucard's smile became more pleasant.

"I'm already aware of that universal opinion. Now continue, boy."

John sighed, glancing around to make sure no one was listening to them. He sighed again and looked down at his neglected tray. "It's a long story."

Alucard was quiet.

John gave a humorless smile and then scowled at the tray. "It happened two weeks ago, during Christmas break, though the death occurred the night before last. But it really began six years ago. My family was always one that limped along, tearing at the seams and leaving pieces of ourselves along the way. My mother was an alcoholic and my dad was worse because he just didn't care. She would get drunk, and my father would just turn up the volume on the television or he would put on earphones as he typed away at his laptop. She was a small time actress and he was a successful stockbroker. I was the child that held nothing in common with either, so that during my mother's drunken rages she would rant about how someone had stolen her child and left me with her. Then she would hit me and then later she would cry." John broke off to scowl and his fist gripped the side of the table until his knuckles turned white and his fingernails began to dig into the wood.

"Yes?"

John didn't respond.

Alucard blinked at how oblivious the boy was of the blood that was forming under his nails and that he had stopped talking, so the vampire grabbed the clenched hand and squeezed it so that the bleeding fingers would throb. John gasped at the pain and looked at Alucard with bright, wide eyes. When he began to talk again, the vampire let go of the hand, glancing at the blood once.

"Well," he chuckled darkly. "…she didn't have to wait long for a better child. She was soon involved with another man and when she announced that she was pregnant, she also announced that she wanted a divorce….it was the first time I had seen my father smile in months."

My mother moved out shortly and the house became quieter, neater, and the bottles of booze disappeared. Life did not include home for me. I went there to sleep, nothing more. It always felt empty, though my father was usually there. She had a daughter, I think she named her Jenifer or Jessica. I met her for the first time when she was three and I was fifteen. It was an accident. My grandfather, on my mother's side, died and left me some money in his will, so I went to his funeral without her knowing. She was furious when she found out and threw such a fuss that I was asked to leave."

I wasn't angry about that. I hardly knew the man, and couldn't feel that attached to him and so felt little when he died. I wasn't jealous of the little girl as I saw how happily she could smile. I was mad that my mother didn't have the decency to be a little less selfish at her own father's funeral, or to at least pretend to like me in front of the rest of my extended family. Sympathy cards I received after that, for my grandfather's death, mentioned my mother. They would apologize that she couldn't control herself, or they would blame me for being a bad son. Most of them were just of pity, the few of hate did nothing because it wasn't true. But the pity burned. It cut me more than anything as it led me to pity myself."

After that time, I started on a familiar teen spiral. Drugs, drinking, parties, girls…" he caught himself and looked apologetically at Alucard who told him not to be stupid. John smiled, but it left him when he carried on. "I only sobered because I thought I knocked some girl up, but it turned out to be a lie. It was actually that brunette girl from before."

John paused as he saw the first signs of the expected surprise on Alucard's face. "Harry? Or Harriet?" Alucard said, trying to remember her name. "That would explain her temper."

"What temper?" John frowned, not thrilled with the possible meaning.

"She threw a pathetic tantrum yesterday." The vampire shrugged. "Grabbed my hair like a child."

"She hurt you?"

"No. But anyway, we're off topic." Alucard motioned with his hands for the boy to continue, but John felt exhausted and said that he was going to go buy a drink as he had lost his appetite.

As soon as John left, Harriet showed up, followed by a nervous Seras. "What are you guys talking about!" she demanded with a harsh whisper.

"It's a secret, girl, so leave." Alucard didn't bother to look up at the girl who was sitting next to him now.

"You don't have any right to…"

"You claim the right to know what we were talking about?" Harriet blushed indignantly at Alucard's straight face. "Go back to the other table, girl."

"Stop calling me that! Stop looking down on me!" the shriek made the entire cafeteria fall silent and eyes found Alucard and glared as they identified him.

"Don't get haughty and bitchy just because you've got the teachers eating out of your hand!" came a voice from a random girl and there were other comments supporting this. Alucard opened his mouth, but suddenly a carton of milk was poured on his head and it dripped into his mouth, making him gag. Silence resumed once more for a moment, then there were cheers and applause by most, though Seras watched in frozen horror. Alucard looked up as the last of the milk dripped on his head, his eyes blazing dangerously, but they widened when another hand appeared. John had returned and he took the empty carton of milk from the other teenage boy and poured the Pepsi he had just bought on the boy's head.

He then grabbed Alucard's wrist and hurried out of the room, leaving behind silence and awe. Alucard slipped his hand out of John's as the bell rang and he headed towards the nearest exit.

"Wait!" John tried to take the vampire's hand again, but Alucard moved away. "I have to take a shower or something. I'm not going to sit for three hours, drenched in milk. I'll meet you by the front of the girl's dorm later, around 4 pm, and you'll finish your story."

"Make it 6 pm. I have basketball practice after school." Alucard raised his hand down the hall to show he had heard.

The vampire Alucard, the No-Life-King, Count Dracula, debated on calling Integra or Walter to inform them that he was going to have to use the girl's dormitory's showers, but he decided against it and he took an unused towel along with his fledgling's shampoo, soap, and conditioner. As he walked down the empty corridor to the bathroom, he noted that all of them said STRAWBERRY in big pink letters. Strawberries beat milk….the vampire shrugged. Too bad it wasn't blood, then he could have just absorbed it. But milk was disgusting animal juice, not compatible with the vampire's stomach.

Luckily there weren't any little girls in the showers so the event passed without any problems. The uniform was ruined and he had to wear the extra set Walter had packed for him. If this one got ruined he would be able to form another using his shadows, but until then his orders were to where the school's uniform. He went back to class at 12:55 pm, and the teacher excused his absence as he explained someone had accidentally spilt milk all over him.

He noted that he was receiving more stares than usual and he frowned at the faces as he passed them on his way to his next class. Mrs. Flore was jubilant to find him in his proper uniform, making him scowl as he sat down. John had noticed during the previous period, but now he went over to the vampire. Halfway, the teacher caught him and made him go back to his seat. The next period passed by in the same way.