The sun is shining down on Maplewood in late August, Monday the 26th.

A small town, in the middle of nowhere. If you lived in Maplewood, you probably knew almost everyone in Maplewood.

All the kids knew everyone their age, as well as the year above and below.

It was always that way. Always would be that way.

There was only one elementary school, one middle school, one high school, and one college, a community college that anyone who wanted to be anyone transferred out of after 2 years.

There is a girl walking towards this college. A girl who wants to make something out of herself.

She is a 5' 8" pale girl with long black hair reaching the bottom of her neck. She often wears dark clothes with bright accessories, like a white watch or the rims of her sunglasses. She had bright white lipstick and nail polish, and as much as it made her stick out, she just enjoyed the color too much to care.

She throws away the now-empty coffee cup and looks up. She stares right at you.

'Hi, my name is Vivian, Vivian Gray. But my friends call me Vi.'

I wanted to start this like a TV show's intro. Let me have some fun.*

She thinks to herself, imagining this is a story about her new chapter in life where she can finally matter.

Well, in reality, Vivian didn't have many friends. In fact, she only has 2 friends. And despite what she says, most people call her Vi or Viv.

Or baby.

Or hot stuff. Vi didn't like those people. She always hated how she was looked at. How she was just another pretty woman.

Anyway, it's her freshman year at community college, and she couldn't be more excited. She is studying chemistry and hoping to fall in love.

In love with another aspect of science. Chemistry alone couldn't challenge her, and she always loved a good challenge. Any other kind of love?

No way, that's just an obstacle in her way to becoming successful. You see, Vivian wasn't your typical beauty. She was smart, and top of her class, albeit it was a class size of 50.

But she had the brains, any teacher or peer could tell you that. In fact, a new professor just learned that, and after speaking to Vivian after her Chemistry 101 class, he released her out to the hallway.

Vi walks into the hall just in time to see a boy getting pushed against some lockers.

She can overhear "How was your summer, dipshit?" from across the hallway.

'God, I can't imagine what life would be like if I was in his position.' Vi thought to herself, seeing the scrawny nerd get pushed around. Despite her being a nerd herself, she was never picked on. Like, ever.

Unbeknownst to her, her protection was due to the top jock, Josh.

You see, Josh isn't the brightest, he knew that. Neither are his friends Darius and Brutus.

But Josh is smart enough to know that if some jock picks on Vivian, she probably won't be falling in love with him, the biggest jock of them all, any time soon.

And he knows that as long as he keeps her safe, she'll fall right into his hands. So he's been keeping people off her back since middle school, so all his hard work would now pay off. There was just always something about her that drew him to her.

I mean, he was the hottest guy in school, with a line of all the girls to choose from. Sure, there were pretty girls, but none as smart as her. Josh saw what nobody else saw. A beautiful girl with a beautiful brain. There were none as perfect as her. And there was nobody as perfect as him.

They were a match made in heaven.

They were out of high school now, they were mature, she was mature. He could finally move on to the next chapter in his life.

And she was making her way towards him.

Vivian started to walk towards the direction of the tussle that was going down. Well, it was more like a one-sided beatdown. She stops right in front of Josh, who gives her a smile. "Well hello there pr-" Josh starts.

"Josh, I'm gonna be late for class. Can you move? I need to get to my locker, my textbooks are in there."

Josh steps back, dragging the boy by the collar out of the way. 'He's so damn lucky he has a locker next to hers.'

"You know, you wouldn't need to come to your locker, I could just carry all of them for you."

"Oh really, for all 7 of my classes?"

"Why, you think I can't?" Josh says, flexing his bulging muscles.

"I might take you up on that." She has a little giggle at the end, which melts Josh's heart.

"Well, just let me know, you know how to reach me." He smirks and walks away, completely forgetting about the boy that he left on the floor.

The boy, after the footsteps of the trio faded away, raises his head.

"Th-th-ank you Vivian." The boy said in a raspy tone. He clears his throat.

"No problem Wilson. Just try not to get blood on my locker. I don't want to risk it ruining my return on these textbooks." She says emotionlessly.

Wilson Coleman, another top student. He was the nerdiest of nerds. She had never befriended him, but she knew of him. They had an unspoken respect for each other, both being leagues above others in intelligence.

There would be no clear winner if they had a battle of wits, but no battle would happen anyways. Not even a friendly one. Vivian never tried to socialize with anyone outside her 2 friends.

The only thing beside intellect that Wilson had going for him in Vivian's eyes was that he didn't seem to be obsessed with her.

In fact, he seemed to not give a shit about her. He seemed to not give a shit about anybody.

'He has no friends, he is a loser, but who cares. He is going to make something out of himself. Those people always do.' She thought to herself.

And truly nobody cared about Wilson.

Other than respect, Vivian felt nothing more than occasional pity for the boy, who stood 3 inches below her at 5' 5". He had a bloodied face at the moment, but when clean, it wasn't much better.

His face had some scars, and he had no glasses, unusual for the stereotypical nerd. His eyesight was bad, but his glasses had been broken on his face so many times that he switched to contacts some time ago. Probably the smartest thing he ever did. He had enough scars on his face from Josh smashing the glass into him, he didn't need more.

He had short, scraggly light brown hair that was generally unkept. He often wore, well, anything. It seemed like he was poor, despite his family being rich. But he was never given anything. Wilson had been ready for adult life coming out of middle school, but Maplewood's school system didn't allow skipping grades, else he'd be long gone.

He too had this respect for Vivian. Yes, Vivian WAS beautiful, he can't deny it. And she was also exceptionally bright. But he didn't care. She was just another person he didn't want to see once he got out.

He just wanted out. Out of Maplewood. Out of this life of his. So boring yet filled with pain. 'Oh well, just keep moving.' He'd tell himself.

"Promise you won't get blood on my locker?" Vivian asked Wilson.

"I'll try my best." He responded.

"Good enough for me. Here." Vivian tossed him some cash.

"Wh-"

"Save it. I know they took yours, so childish, and if you truly mean what you just said, this is fair retribution. Take it and go eat."

Wilson smiled at her, probably the only smile she had seen out of him ever.

In all the time she's known him, pretty much their whole lives, the only smile she'd ever seen come from those lips parting.

"Go on, class starts soon." She said.

He got up, thanked her, and went off in the direction of the cafeteria.

"Ooooooooooo, are the nerds finally getting together?"

"Never in a million years you dic- oh, it's just you guys." Vivian turned to see her only two friends. "Whats up Lily and Ally?"

"Not much, just it absolutely BLOWS to be back in school." Lily pouted. Lily was a sophomore at the college, but she wasn't planning on transferring anywhere. Get an AA or maybe a bachelors, then go out into Maplewood's workforce. She stood at 5' 2", with long black hair similar to Vivian.

"You're taking like 3 classes, calm your tits." Ally snapped. She too was a sophomore, with the same ambitions as Lily, to go nowhere special. She was like Vivian's big sister, she even looked like it if you squinted. Similar complexion to her, just a little taller at 5' 9", same black hair too.

"But yeah, Lily brought something up. You talked to 2 unlikely suspects today, is my little Vi finally coming out of her shell?!?"

"I just needed to get to my locker." Vivian said blankly, opening said locker.

"Yeah, but you giggled."

"Oh, and you gave money to that nerd. AND made him smile!" Lilly said, doing little hops.

"So?"

"Soooooo, maybe you can talk to one of them more. Who knows, you might even fall in lo-"

"No need." Said Vivian, now done with her locker and slaming it shut. The metal rang loudly.

"Well, okay. Anyways, see you tomorrow, I don't think our schedules line up for a break the rest of the day." Said Ally sadly.

"Yeah, and we ain't waiting around until dark for you to finish all your classes. Ya nerd." Lily said playfully.

"Bu bye!" They said in unison, waving to Vi and walking to their next class.

Viv then makes her own way to her next class, ready to be done with the day.

Vivian finished her classes, and when she stepped outside, it was already dark. She started on her walk home.

'Ugh, that was a long day of going through syllabi.'

She walks into the mansion she calls home. "Mom!" No answer.

"Mother!" She screams again.

'Eh, she must be out.'

Vivian walks towards the stairs in the middle of the hall, bored as hell with the day she just had. 'I wish we had at least done some learning today, I have nothing to study. I guess I can start on my chemistry book.'

She walks up the stairs, turning to go to her room when she overhears some voices coming from her parent's bedroom.

She walks towards them, recognizing one of them as one of the many maids in the place.

As she gets closer, she hears the other voice is her mother's. Vi stands outside the door, waiting to talk to her mother.

She can't make out what they are saying, and curiosity takes the best of her. She gets closer to the door, almost putting her ears to the door.

"I'm not sure now is the right time, madam."

"I know, but I should've told her years ago, don't you think it is time I do?"

'Tell me what?' Vivian wonders to herself.

"Yes ma'am, I suppose it's better late than never. But this first week of school might n-"

"That is nothing to be worried about." Vivian's mom says quickly. "Besides, she can't change the outcome."

Vivian realizes that the conversation may be coming to an end, so she sneakily moves to her room and then goes about her night.

After dinner was eaten, Vi returned to her room to do some textbook reading. She was already way past what they would be covering that week, or maybe even month. She then hears a knock on the door.

'That's mothers' knock. It must be related to-'

"Vi, can we talk?"

"Sure mother, come in."

Her mother, Mina Harker, let herself in.

If you want to get a picture in your head, it's just best to look her up. There are multiple versions of the character, pick whichever one you like best.*

"So, I meant to talk to you about this some years ago, but I never got around to it."

"Okay mom, what is it?"

"And I only bring it up now because you're mature enough."

"Mom, what is it?"

"I mean, you were mature enough some time ago, but -"

"MOM! Just tell me!" Vivian screamed.

Her mom snapped out of her worried state and back into her normal self.

"Well, I guess there's no easy way to say this."

A long silence, and before Vivian can speak, her mother puts her finger to her lips.

"Vivian Gray. You are a vampire."