Fallen (The Transformed Prequel)

I sat in the high school cafeteria, rolling the ring around in my hand under the table. I watched across the room as Alexis was writing in a spiral bound notebook, oblivious to the world around her. All the chattering students were just as unaware of her, even the ones sitting at the same table. Those two friends of hers appeared to want her to join in, but seemed to know that it would be futile to ask.

The last thing that I wanted to do was to give the ring to Tanner. Why would I give him something that would cause Alexis to fall for him? Granted, that didn't necessarily mean that he would fall for her too. But if she ever figured out her true potential, she would be gorgeous and would prove to be serious competition. That was it, I had to find someone else to give the ring to. Anyone except him.

When I had met Tanner, he'd been down on his luck. Maybe that was the kind of guy that I needed to go after instead of the nerds. Sure, they weren't popular but that didn't mean that they were unhappy or easy to convince about the existence of vampires. I needed to find someone depressed and hopefully desperate.

I looked around the room for someone who matched that description and couldn't find anyone. I would have to look elsewhere because the cafeteria was too bright, too busy, and too loud for someone who wanted to be left alone.

Stuffing the ring in my pocket, I stood up, dumped my tray of uneaten food, and headed for the halls. The kind of guy that I needed to find would be sitting in some dark corner, hoping to remain unnoticed. The first kid that I found sitting in a corner playing a game on his phone had greasy hair and skin. If there was a chance that I'd have to drink his blood, I didn't want that one.

Walking along further, I saw several others sitting quietly by themselves, but they all made my skin crawl. There had to be more like Tanner, who actually took the time to bathe even though they were lonely.

Just as I was about to give up, I saw a boy sitting beside a drinking fountain reading a science book. He was clean and had potential. In my mind I removed his glasses, cut his hair, and gave him a new shirt and a little stubble. He could be the next singing sensation. I sat down next to him and pretended to dig into my backpack.

He looked at me, obviously trying to figure out why someone like me was sitting next to someone like him on the floor, on purpose.