The day after the night before ... [PUBLIC]

Jared let out a little groan of tiredness as he stopped at the counter of the store.

- Coffee - black, three sugars." he said gruffly.

So tired ... I shouldn't have gone to bed so late yesterday - we've got fricckin' classes all this afternoon! he thought, putting his money down and slamming his forehead on the table.

I hate English Lit' so much ...

Rafe entered the store, as confident as always and leaned on the counter. He smiled at the shop assistant and yawned with boredom.

"I'll have a latte with two sugars" , he ordered

He heard someone else ordering next to him and turned his head. It was a boy his age, quite shorter than he was.

"Hi, fellow!" , he greeted, "New at school? I'm Rafe, by the way" , he introduced himself

As he looked at him more closely, he noticed a slight resemblance at the boy's face with someone he knew.
Yes, his face is quite familiar, he thought

He turned his head, raising his eyebrows. This guy was tall. Taller than him, anyway, and it wasn't making his day any nicer.

- Jared Merianne - so you go to New Moon?" he asked

The guy behind the counter put down two cups topped with plastic lids and a drinking hole on each.

He dragged one of them towards him and took a sip, burning his tongue in the process.

Ow! he thought, and grimaced.

Rafe smiled, once again his white teeth contrasting his perfect copper skin.

"Nice to meet you, Jared. Yes, I do but I'm keeping a low profile, so you've probably haven't seen me before. But...wait a second, are you, by any change, related to Castella?", he asked curiously

He took his cup and drank nearly half of it at once, without being bothered by its high temperature.

Jared narrowed his eyes.

Why are all the students here so good-looking? I feel ashamed of myself. he thought grumpily.

- Then you're doing a good job because I've never seen or heard anything about you and I've been here for over a month." he chuckled. " Yeah ... she's my younger sister. Why, do you know her?" he asked.

How many guys does Cassie know? And here I was hoping that all the people she would meet here would be girls. he thought, taking a larger swig of his coffee once it had cooled a little.

Rafe nodded, laughing

"Yes, that explains everything..." , he murmured, more like talking to himself

"Yes, Jared, I know her. We've talked a couple of times, your sister seems to be a nice girl" he said with a sad tone in his voice, remembering his own, long lost sister. His biggest wish was to see her again, but over the years he had convinced himself she was dead

- Okay ..." he said quickly, pondering over why that would 'explain everything' - Castella and him looked nothing alike, so why did everyone always say that?

He nodded, a little surprised by that single note of sadness in his voice as he spoke.

- Hem -" he coughed, " So why exactly have you been keeping a low profile, then? Some vampires out to get you, or something?" he asked.

Rafe began laughing after hearing Jared's question

"No, nothing like that. Vampires are not a threat to me"

I'm a threat to them, he wanted to say, but decided not to reveal his werewolf identity yet and let Jared believe he was human

"No, it's just me. I'm not a really outgoing person, myself" , he explained
"Plus, this school is overcrowded by blood...umm...vampires"

- Lucky you - I have this impression like there's always one out to get me. And I've only been here for a few months!" he groaned.
He blinked as he explained his situation, and corrected himself.

- You know it's fine by me if you call them bloodsuckers. I'd bloody call them that if Cass wasn't friends with a bunch of them. I don't hate them ... it's just hard to forget what they are." he sighed.

Rafe flashed a crooked smile. He had a some kind of natural talent at recognising whether a person was good or not and so far he could see that Castella's brother was a nice person, just like she was.
They actually had more in common that he firstly thought
"They are predators. Just like tigers; they look beautiful from afar but when they come close, they kill you" , he said

"You have to be cautious with them. Oh and if any trouble occurs, you can always depend on me for help. I'm trained at...martial arts" he explained, although he knew it was a lousy excuse

Jared nodded, an impressed look on his face.

- Tigers, huh? But Tigers are also an endangered species. They'll do what they can to survive, so you can't blame them entirely for their way of life." he said.

The young man laughed, and patted Rafe on the back amicably.

- I might have to take you up on that one. Martial arts are always cool, but I think I may be able to defend myself if there are any sticks around ... I do fencing. Sabre to be specific." he said, proud of the fact he could wield a sword.

"Vampires are- luckily for us -not many either. But you're right, tigers are simply animals"

He was pleased that Jared hadn't suspected anything. Usually, when people found out what he was, they ran away from him as fast as they could, so his only friends- and extended family- was his pack.
But now he was miles away from them, he wouldn't like to spend his time hanging out with all these strange creatures in that school. Humans were always nice; after all he used to be one too, a while ago.

"Wow, fencing! That's really cool, man!" he muttered, impressed by Jared's skills
He's not as weak as I thought, he told himself

But still, even a sabre sword seems like a toothpick for vampires, he thought, but kept it to himself as he was trying not to scare him so soon.

"I've only seen those on tv! They must be pricey, huh?" he asked curiously

- Actually I wanted to do archery, but they didn't have that in Princetown - so I ended up doing fencing." he smiled.

He quickly finished his coffee, which by now had cooled down considerably so that he could take a long swig.

Jared shook his head.

- Not really. It's the antiques that cost a fortune, though. On the other hand, the basic one costs as much as a new pair of sneakers." he explained.

Rafe shrugged his shoulders

"It depends on which sneakers" he joked

"I had no idea! Well, you should show me how to do that one day!" he said

He didn't really need swords when he had his claws, but he always loved them. He looked at his watch and little wrinkles appeared between his brows, while frowning

"We should probably get back to school"

Jared laughed too.

- I guess so - maybe another day, when I feel less crap." he added, wincing as he finished his coffee - it had turned cold.

Jared checked his own watch and agreed.

- I think you may be right. Are you going to finish your drink, or want to get going now?" he asked, slipping off his seat and standing up, stretching his arms.

Rafe dropped his coffee plastic cup with some of content still in it at the garbage can.

"No, I drank enough. I don't need to be any more hyper than I already am" , he said
and wore his jacket, because it was still a bit chilly outside and wanted to look as human as possible.

"Lets get out of this place and go back to the kingdom of boredom" he said grabbing the main door's handle and opened it.

Jared raised his eyebrows, a little surprised, and shrugged.

Doesn't seem that hyper to me ... no one can beat Cass when it comes to hyperactivity, especially after her eighth chocolate bar. he thought, and followed Rafe out.

- If you say so - and if I may say so myself, that was nicely put. " he laughed. "Kingdom of Boredom" worked pretty well for school.