Not even a week had passed, and all the members of the theatre club were summoned.

  There was one thing Jane must do first: choose her role in the club.

  Amelia and Alice paired up in the acting group. It would only make sense for Jane to go with Alina. And that was where the problem was: they dealt with numbers.

  Jane spent hours thinking whether she should join Alina or not, only to receive the news that they didn’t have a spot.

  Life saved her from having to make a choice again.

  Then the day finally came. Jane was excited and nervous. She spent an extra hour on her morning routine, brushing her hair, fixing her face, and waking Amelia up.

  They were supposed to meet in front of the water fountain, with the twins and a new but familiar member: Rose.

  “Where’s Rose?” Jane asked. Her feelings for Rose were complicated. Life became too boring without her, and too… scary with her.

  “She refused to wake up too early,” Alice said while leaning on Alina.

  Alice wasn’t the only one who needed support. Amelia too. She wore a pair of sunglasses today to cover her dark circles, saying she looked even more “dead” than Jane.

  Couldn’t say Jane was offended. It was truly rare to see a day when she became the one who did her makeup before walking out the door.

  “They’re supposed to announce the reason today,” Alice said. She straightened her back and finally stood on her own. It wasn’t sleep or food that she needed. She wasn’t physically tired; she was sick of watching endless auditions.

  “There was an emergency,” Alina added. Being part of the management team gave her access to bits and pieces of the truth.

  “That was the only acceptable reason. Our work was reduced to 3 days!!!” Amelia screamed. Jane could practically feel the fire escaping through the sunglasses.

  Those three days had been hell for Amelia. She moved through life like a ghost, running between the theatre club, classes, and the midnight social club. Luckily, she had Jane deal with her homework.

  But enough of the speculation, the building was already in sight.

  When they arrived, most members were already there, filling about one-third of the room.

  Lining up near the wall were small tables of food and beverages. Cake stands were filled to the top with colorful macarons, cream puffs... and even boba tea, something that definitely didn’t come from the school cafeteria.

  All the food was untouched. People scattered around, but no one strayed far from the main stage.

  Then, a male student stepped forward. His exceptional appearance drew the eyes of everyone, but he acknowledged none; he was there to do one job: placing the throne.

  As soon as the chair was set, everyone gathered and settled into their seats. The low gossip rumbled through the room, but it stopped when the rhythmic tapping of heels bounced across the wooden stage.

  The President arrived. She stood above them, the shining meteor pin on her chest was her crown. This was the second vampire Jane had seen that belonged to this rank.

  And like the other one, there was a certain coldness and distance, a wall built not only of races, but of class as well.

  “Good afternoon.”

  Applause and scattered cheers fell one after another like rain. Her eyes swept across the room with tolerance before she continued.

  “Traditionally, today would be a welcoming day for our newcomers. However, there has been a change in plans.” She paused, and the members held their breath.

  “Our play for the December event has been rejected.”

  Jane could feel the disappointment ripple through the crowd. She didn’t have to look far. Amelia gasped beside her while Alice stiffened.

  “The school has requested that this year's play strictly follow the theme. As a result, we will need to prepare another production.”

  Groans and quiet complaints broke out. Weeks of effort vanished. Still, no one dared to direct their anger at the person on stage, nor at the school. The theme had always existed; they just never followed, and no one batted an eye. Until now.

  “First, let’s find your own group, shall we?” The Vice President stepped up and picked up the thread.

  Though frustrated, no one lingered in place. They crossed paths, moving towards the table marked with their department names. Eventually, everyone found their groups.

  The most eye-catching group was, no surprise, the actors. What amazed Jane was how many humans there were. Not all were exceptionally beautiful, but none fell below average.

  Standing at the front was a boy, a vampire wearing a star pin. Third rank.

  But Jane didn’t look twice at him because he was more beautiful than the others. She looked because Amelia was standing next to him.

  Jane wasn’t sure if he was the one she had seen with Amelia that night; she was more impressed by his hand.

  Then Amelia pressed her chest against his arm. Yes. That was him for sure.

  She had often wondered why Rose didn’t take Amelia under her wings, the way she did with Jane and the twins. Now she understood. There was one thing Rose couldn’t give Amelia: another last name.

  And though disappointed by his low rank, Jane must admit: that made him a practical choice for marriage.

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  Jane quickly looked away. A vampire’s hunch was no joke. From the corner of her eye, she saw his attention shifting back to Amelia.

  “Now that you have found your places, take your time to get to know each other and enjoy the food.” The Vice President said.

  He himself had already picked up a serving of bubble tea.

  Glad to know her enthusiasm for food would stay even after the transformation.

  Jane grabbed a small plate from the stack. The girl next to her did the same. Their eyes met for one second before quickly sliding away.

  She had never liked standing buffets. A buffet was meant to be enjoyed, and eating while standing was more like torture.

  Still, she could see why it was chosen for social events, because right now, both Jane and the girl had no other choices but to eat in silence while their eyes scanned the room to avoid each other.

  “This matcha filling cake thing is pretty good,” Jane said, her finger pointed at the small ball of pastry with the green cream almost spilling out.

  She had never wished she had more knowledge about the pastry world than she did now.

  “Agreed. I like it, too.” The girl looked at Jane over her glasses. She wore an amber-coloured frame with a small daisy charm attached on one side.

  “Hi, I’m Jane.” She smiled. Starting a conversation wasn’t something Jane was used to. But over the years, she had learned to do it, because if she didn’t, no one would.

  “I’m Melissa.”

  Melissa was a rainbow trapped inside a human body. Her hair was green, with a faint trace of her old dye still clinging to the ends. She wore an ombre purple jumper beneath the red blazer, a weird combination that seemed surprisingly pleasant.

  And Jane didn’t say this solely because of the colour scheme. The way her curls freely roamed touched an unknown part in her chest.

  Jane liked the curves. Curvy people, people with soft features, anything that didn’t pierce through her eyes.

  To Jane, those kinds of people carried something gentle. Either an innocence she wanted to protect or a positivity that lit her own world.

  She never said it out loud. Even thinking about it made her stomach protest.

  But was it all the truth, Jane?

  She slightly tilted her head to the side. Someone was coming towards them, with heavy and straightforward strikes.

  “Hello.” A hand slid into their table. ”I’m Chace.”

  The last member of their writing group. A boy. A human. Jane quickly glanced at his chest out of habit. How unnecessary. He didn’t have the look.

  Chace had been in the club for one year, but in another department. He had the look of a rich person, and rightfully so. His family owns a costume business.

  “Then wouldn’t it be better if you stayed in the production department?” Melissa asked, voicing exactly what Jane was thinking.

  “I want to try something new,” he smiled. “You know.”

  He had curves, too. The meat on his face lifted when he talked, making his eyes even smaller than they already were.

  Jane didn’t know. There was something sketchy about him, but as long as it didn’t bring any trouble, she didn’t care.

  “Sorry, I’m late.”

  The words were swallowed by the noise of the room, lost among overlapping conversations and clinking plates. Jane almost missed them until he spoke again.

  “Ryan.”

  The world stopped spinning. Jane’s neck went stiff as she slowly turned toward the voice.

  A pair of long legs hugged in black pants. An untucked shirt, no tie, and a glimpse of something metallic glinting beneath his collar.

  Destiny had its way of giving humans a heart attack.

  Of all the names in the world, he had to be Ryan, her first deskmate, the one she had forgotten to ask the name of.

  ***

  Jane couldn't help but, once in a while, stare in the opposite direction. She swore it wasn’t obvious.

  Her old deskmate, now teammate, sat quietly in the corner. His platinum white hair was outstanding. The way it glowed under the chandelier lights caught her eyes like she had turned into a mayfly. How was his hair so soft? Did he condition? What was his routine?

  “How about you, Jane?” Melissa asked, snapping Jane back to reality.

  They were gathered in the small meeting room behind the stage. Four people took up only one-third of the table.

  Not long ago, at the buffet, the Vice President had dropped a bomb on them. Bad news but expected: as the play was reset, they were the first to work, to come up with a new script.

  The Vice President had been kind enough, or perhaps hurried enough, to lend them this room, and one piece of advice before he left: “Find The Theurgy Club if you hit a dead end.”

  The Theo… what?

  Jane didn’t even know what that was, let alone how to write based on it. Actually, none of them did, not even Chace, who technically had one year of experience in the Theatre club. That one year was useless, as he had spent the last season choosing fabric for Romeo & Juliet and ignoring the “boring” theme.

  “I think we should just work individually first,” Jane proposed. “Do our own research about the event, then come back with an outline.”

  15 minutes had passed, and nothing useful had been done other than learning each other’s classroom numbers. Jane stared at their pins for fun while waiting for a response.

  The three of them wore the standard clear glass pins. Only Jane with the red leaves, a mark of someone who was in the “blood donation program”.

  She looked down at the polished glass table. It reflected her own blank expression, like a stain on the pristine surface.

  Still no reply. Melissa looked like she would agree to anything, even though she didn’t say it. Chace, however, was a contradiction. He was the one who wanted to enter the meeting room right away, and now that they were actually here, he seemed disappointed that the work wasn’t working.

  Jane thought he had some brilliant idea. It turned out he was as blind as everyone else.

  “Why not let two people do the research, and the other two write?” Chace asked, his legs shaking underneath the table.

  “I don’t know…” Jane frowned. “Wouldn’t that make the workload unbalanced?”

  “No. The one doing the research has to make sure the writing is right, after all.”

  "So they do… almost both?” Jane’s eyebrow hadn’t relaxed for one bit. They were wasting more and more time.

  “I think all of us should have some basic knowledge of what we are writing,” Jane continued, her voice firmer this time. “So research first, dividing the role later.”

  She was getting frustrated. Why did no one back her up in this obviously illogical argument? Then she noticed the heavy silence in the room. Melissa seemed timid, Chase didn’t know what to say, and her white-haired teammate had woken up.

  “Fine,” Chace said. “But in pairs?”

  “Yeah, okay.” She smiled, a peace offering. There was no need for smoke before the fire even started.

  “Can I go with Melissa?” Jane asked quickly.

  “Wouldn’t that be too... lame,” Chace smirked, a look that made her blood boil.

  Her mother always said there were people born to test your patience, and that Jane had to be the bigger person. But right now, she just wanted to wipe that smirk off his face.

  “Sure.” Jane offered a tight smile, deliberately looking away from Chace for a moment.

  Then, she locked her gaze back to his face. Her pupils were naturally large, so she usually kept her eyes half-lidded to avoid looking intense. Now, she opened them wide, letting her true emotion bleed through.

  “Do you want to pick first, then?”

  “No, no, after you two,” He laughed it off and lay back on his chair. His eyes crinkled into two threads behind the glasses.

  Jane realized something then. She was fighting a battle that no one else was participating in.

  She turned to the side, her voice softening instantly. “Melissa, who do you want to choose?”

  There were two options. Ryan was handsome, strikingly so, but cold. His purple eyes were always half-hidden behind his lashes, giving the impression that he was stuck in winter. Asking him to be a partner felt like pressing your face into a snow pile.

  Thanks to that, Chace didn’t seem that unbearable.

  Melissa hesitated. A faint redness slowly rose beneath her freckles. She glanced across the table, then quickly back to Jane.

  “Can I go with… Ryan?”