Cursed Blood .

I walked towards the highly equipped gate of my school. The weighty steels and laser security system no longer intimidated me despite being the only one who had to get scanned every day.

Like everyone else, I had a normal school life, except my school wasn't for anyone to attend. In fact, it was the school of geniuses - the Ultara Academy of Gifted Young Women. It was founded by a bunch of female scientists and inventors over two centuries ago.

After the light on the steel door flashed green, the enormous iron gate flung open, revealing the view of a great wilderness that surrounded the medieval buildings from a distance. White summits of towering mountains stood as their backdrop. It made everything seem like you were staring at a life-size postcard.

I attended the Ultara Academy with an exception- I didn't have to live in the mansion provided by the school. When the year started, all students would pack up their stuff to live in the mansions- but not me. I wanted to be with my best friends, but Mom had made a secret agreement with the headmistress that it was best for me to stay at home, and if you ask me, that was a bit odd and kind of unfair.

As I strolled along the gravel pavement across the campus, I heard someone whistle to me from a distance.

"Cam?" I called out, "I know it's you."

"Guess where I am?" she replied in a singsong tone.

I tried to follow the sound, but I couldn't make out where she was because of the echoes. The morning sun rose high above the horizon. I had to shade my eyes to look. When the breeze blew gently, it brought a palpable, sweet, alluring scent up to my nostrils.

I walked toward a dark oak tree, following the familiar scent. And there she was, hiding under the canopy of dark green leaves while swinging her long slim legs over a tree branch. All 5'8 of Camilla Logan, in a short checked skirt, a white cotton blouse, and a black blazer was on the tree. Unlike me, Camilla is a younger version of Miss Universe, so even in a school uniform and a monkey behavior, she still looked like she was fresh out of a runway show.

"It's not fun playing hide-and-seek with you," Camilla said, with a sulky expression. She kicked her feet rhythmically in the air as she glared at me. "How could you know where I am, for Pete's sake?"

"I pick up your scent from across the campus," I smirked at her.

"Not again, Vivienne," she said, rolling her eyes at me, "You've been playing that kind of trick since eighth grade!"

This brought back a memory. When we were in eighth grade, our biology teacher described how animals could trace smell and sound, and even sense things before they happened. And I had asked Ms. Grace whether humans could do the same thing, and she had said, "Yes, we can do that for survival. Everyone is naturally gifted one way or the other."

I was so fascinated by these simple facts that I started noticing things with all my human senses.

"What?" I shrugged at Cammie, "I'm just making better use of my nose, and it's not a trick, it's a natural gift!"

"Yeah, whatever," she said. "But I'm telling you - your smelling ability is as good as a puppy's."

"Well, I will take that as a compliment, then," I said with a smile. "Now tell me what you're doing up there?"

"Waiting for you to show up,"

"Can't you just wait like a human?" I said, "Come on, get down!" I beckoned to her from the ground. My mom would be paranoid if she saw me doing that, but this school is full of freaks. They get used to all kinds of weird behaviors the same way they get used to the explosions in our chemistry labs.

"What took you so long?" Camilla asked, standing up on the tree branch. Without hesitation, she jumped right off in a cartwheel motion and landed athletically onto the ground. Despite the height that could've sprained your ankles, Cammie stood up in full balance like a circus performer. I stared at her in awestruck, as if I hadn't known my best friend better; she could do such stunts even before she was potty-trained!

"I'm perfectly on time, Cam," I said later. Everything was always too slow for this control freak, but that's just one thing about this girl. Camilla spoke more languages than you could count on your fingers and also had the highest IQ among the sixteen-year-old girls in the school. I think it is the beauty of DNA. Camilla's mother was the Headmistress of the Ultara Academy and her father worked in the Ministry of Education. Simply a perfect image of an elite family.

Then my best friend walked forward in her most elegant posture, her blond hair bathed in sun rays and turned completely gold. Her sea-blue eyes flickered against the light. Then she stopped in front of me, her hands resting on her hips like a mighty goddess.

"You look paler," She said, eyeing me from head to toes. I looked down at myself. It's true that I had lost some color over the cause of school break.

"I had been touring inside my house," I told her. "So where have you been this time?"

"Just got on the family yacht to catch some fish,"

"That must be amazing!"

"No, that was boring," Cammie said, making a face. If she defined a trip on the yacht as boring, how would she describe my staying at home?

"Okay, let's not talk about it," she turned to say and walked closer to me. Our chests almost touched. "Now, you owe me a bear hug!" and before I could say anything, she threw her arms around me, pulling me into her bone-crushing embrace.

"Cam, I can't breathe!"

"It's so nice to see you again, Vivienne," Camilla said, inhaling the scent of my hair as she smoothed it with her hand.

"Yes, you too, Cammie," I said, patting her on her shoulder.

Then we pulled away. Camilla leaned forward and pecked me full on the lips. I gasped in shock.

"Perv much?" I shoved her shoulders lightly. Camilla just giggled. She can be so touchy sometimes, but we are best friends and I don't mind. In fact, girls in this school had their share of 'experiment' with her. Camilla is as sexual as she is beautiful. I would feel bad for those crying girls when they got dumped the next morning after.

"If you like it, I can teach you from my version of the Kama Sutra 101, you know," she shrugged.

"Oh shut up," I said. "I think we should go. Don't want to be late for the first day of school."

"Alrighty then," she said and then slapped my butt before running off. "Chase me, dummy!"

"You're a jerk!" I cried as I ran after her toward the school building.

At eight exactly, we were on our way to the first class. Masses of students in the Ultara uniforms stood in front of the entrance hall. They clustered around the foyer and up the main staircase. All of them seemed to float in and out. I almost got dizzy with these crowds.

"Have you seen her?" Cammie asked me.

"No."

"Me neither."

"She must be around somewhere," I said.

"Oh, you can smell her?" Cammie asked, raising an eyebrow at me with a mocking smile. I shot her a look. But then just out of thin air, we got a glimpse of a familiar figure emerged from the crowd.

"Alyssa!" Cammie shouted. "Over here!"

Alyssa was reading her schedule on a piece of paper when she turned abruptly, and we both waved like mad in sudden joy.

Here came my other best friend- another gifted girl in this school. Alyssa Schell, her baby face broke into a pearly white smile. Her dark hair swayed in a neat ponytail as she bounced up to us. And as always, Alyssa's uniform was perfectly pressed and not even a single wrinkle was in sight. She was the kind of nerd that when she put on her black-framed glasses, she could make the world burn with her geeky hotness, and which is exactly how she looked right now. Some of the freshman girls were already drooling after her.

Sometimes we call Alyssa the next Einstein. She's always obsessed with the E=mc2, Black Holes, and the Law of Gravity- anything that related to physics, just leave it to her. Like one semester, she conducted a low level of static electricity from a nylon stick and aluminum foil. I didn't know how she did that, but after she told everyone to hold hands in a circle as a human transmitter, she released a burst of electric spark through us. Thank goodness, Cammie and I broke the link before we got a new set of nasty hairdos, but the rest of us weren't that lucky.

"Oh! Vivienne! Cammie!" Alyssa yelled back excitedly and dashed through the crowd toward us.

"We were looking for you everywhere!" Cammie said when Alyssa finally came to make a trio.

"Me too!" Alyssa replied breathlessly, pushing her glasses up her straight nose, looking as if she'd just finished a marathon. "Did you guys miss me? Because I've missed you so much!" Then she wrapped her arms around the two of us.

"Oi, can't breathe!" yelled Cammie, then we all melted into laughter. I noticed how strange their perfumes smelled - I guess I would ask them whether it was a new Coco Channel or something - but I would save that for later; now I had to hug my best friends!

After we pulled away, Alyssa started bubbling about the trip to Da Vinci's hometown. I could pretend to be interested even though half of the things she said was only about physics. When she proceeded to open her notebook of what she found, a girl came up to us with a shy smile. She had brunette hair with red highlights and nice curves. Then I realized she was only looking at Cammie.

"Hey, Camilla," she said, her hazel eyes dancing flirtatiously as she spoke. Alyssa and I secretly rolled our eyes.

"Yeah, can I help you?" Cammie said with a smirk.

"I just wonder if you have a moment," she bit her bottom lip seductively. Her beautiful brown skin glowed even more.

"Sure," Cammie said, then mumbled something in Spanish before putting a hand on the girl's small back. They were about to walk off when I quickly gripped my best friend's elbow and yanked her back.

"Cammie! The class will start soon," I hissed into her ear.

"Relax, Viv," she whispered back. "The girl just needs a moment."

And with that Cammie and the hot Latina girl walked away, leaving us staring after them. But before they turned the corner, Cammie held her fingers in a V-sign and put it between her tongue. I just wanted to throw up.

"Did you see that?" I said to Alyssa.

"Vivienne, I have four eyes, what do you think?" Alyssa said without looking up from her notes. "Let her be. I think she misses that."

Still, the fact that girls hooking up with my best friend in the middle of our reunion is just pure annoyance sometimes.

Alyssa and I approached the front entrance of our Ancient Hall. It got that name because our school looks like the place where dragons and faeries would live. There are huge halls and passageways with plenty of Renaissance pictures and portraits on the walls. The Ultara Academy is constructed from blocks of grey sandstone and huge wood columns with Gothic sculptures all over the place. In contrast, every classroom is well-equipped with the latest hi-tech stuff. All the sensory glass doors, space elevators and sterilized steel labs, just to name a few, make the Ultara interior feel like a NASA station.

Later we got to our very first class. We settled in our seats for World History and waited for the teacher to call the roll. Cammie came back and took a seat with me and Alyssa. The smirk on her face grew even more smirky as I stared at her and shook my head. Then the girl she went with earlier appeared with a flushed face. Her hazel eyes almost looked glassy as if she was high on crack.

"Seriously?" I said. "Already on the first day of school?"

"There is no rule that says you can't come on the first day of school." Cammie shrugged. I had to think for a minute to get it, and then I almost fell off my chair.

"Well, that was quick," Alyssa commented.

"You know me," Cammie quirked her perfect eyebrows.

Then Mr. McKowit, our World History teacher appeared through the door.

"Welcome back for another interesting year," he announced. "I hope you enjoy this year lessons as much as I enjoy teaching them. But first, let us take a moment to welcome your new classmate..."

Then the whole class turned into a beehive with murmuring girls. It's because we hardly have any new enrollments in the Ultara Academy. We only accept two types of geniuses- geniuses who are born and geniuses who are made.

Besides, every subject in the school is designed especially for the gifted ones, a.k.a. freaks. So if you enjoy doing the oral math, learning Ph.D. chemistry, memorizing world historical dates, building robots, or searching for old fossils- then welcome to freak-hood.

Suddenly an unfamiliar girl with long black hair, wearing the same school uniform as us, entered the room. She had a slender body with pale flawless skin and a graceful walk. And the girl had the most gorgeous eyes I'd ever seen. She came to stand in front of the class with an air of confidence and smiled brightly. Well, for this new girl, there was no telling which one of the seven bits of intelligence she might possess, and in that case, she might have to be an attention-magnet for a while.

"My name is Jacqueline Deveraux, but you can call me Jacques. Nice to meet you," she spoke in a charming French accent and waved femininely to the class. Her raven black hair brushed against her shoulders like fine Chinese silk as she turned.

"Do you know anything about her?" I heard Alyssa whispered to Cammie. It's a customary question when we've got someone new because we simply want to know what kind of a freak she is.

"Nothing," Cammie whispered back, which was pretty unusual for her, not being in a loop. And if a daughter of the school headmistress doesn't know, no one else does. The new girl flashed her enchanting smile again before walking to the back. But when she walked past our desks, Jacques brushed her gaze across the three of us. Suddenly I got a brief feeling of adrenaline going inside me. And as if on cue, her face also changed into a curious frown. I didn't have a tendency to detest newcomers, but my intuition told me that there was something hidden in her dark gorgeous eyes, something darker.

We drifted out to the Lunch Hall after a few of our new classes, but when we opened the grand double doors, the entire place was in a state of organized chaos.

The sound of porcelain plates colliding with spoons and forks could be heard all over the place. All the Ultara geniuses were moving around, laughing and talking amongst themselves. I could recognize a few faces of my former classmates, Serena from Science, Yasuko, and Rajani from Arts, also Vida and Rosa from Chemistry. And I was sure a few of them had a mega crush on either Cammie or Alyssa or even both. I was just glad that I stayed out of their gaydar.

Throughout seventh and eighth grade, all the Ultara students have to bundle together, learning from general curricula until they discover their passion and go off to blossom in the different fields.

Actually, Alyssa should be around the Einstein nerds with the rest of the physics freaks whereas Cammie should be in the multi-lingual crowd, speaking Elfish or ancient Greek and whatnot. Instead, the three of us have made the oddest trio in this school. We still hang out together like blood sisters, but none of us has anything in common.

"Your birthday is next week, Viv. Do you want to have a party?" Alyssa asked me while we were walking inside. She made it sound like if I said "Yes", she would wave a magic wand to run the whole thing- which she might. For the daughter of a town mayor, it's just a piece of cake, literally. But the importance of having my birthday party for Alyssa is emphasized on the word 'party'.

We reached our usual table. We'd always been sitting together since the first day we met.

"No, I guess not," I said as I took a seat opposite them.

"Don't you want to do anything fancy? I can order the best birthday cake for you, you know, with a Michelangelo's David made of candy on top," Alyssa suggested, and I couldn't help imagining a naked man on my cake. I burst out laughing.

"Whoa! What's wrong with your teeth Vivienne?" Cammie exclaimed out of a sudden, "Did you do anything dental?"

"What? No...why?" I asked, feeling a little self-conscious.

"For a moment, it reminds me of a cat's claw. They look kind of different from the last time we saw you, I mean your canine teeth." Cammie said.

"Really?"

"Are you even sure you're not evolving backward to a gorilla?" Alyssa said and then both of them laughed.

"Ha-ha, genetics joke, funny," I said, trying to shut them up, "We're not exactly evolved from gorillas, dummies. We are all homo..." I said tilting my head to Cammie. "Homo sapiens, so we're likely to have canines. You have that too, see?" I reached over the table and pinched both of Alyssa's cheeks and stretched them. She yelped and pulled away, rubbing her face with a sour expression.

"But the chimps," I added dramatically, "can be the reason why some people are so fond of trees!" I arched an eyebrow at Cammie again although biologically that is not entirely true. She scrambled a piece of bread into a ball and threw it at my head. I dodged it and the ball sailed past.

"Ha! You missed!" I said mischievously.

Unsatisfied by the first attempt, Cammie picked up a grape from her lunch tray and pitched at me again. This time I seized it with an instinctive move.

"Looks like you have a poor hand-eye coordination, Cam," I said.

The remark irritated Cammie so much that she bolted out of her seat and grabbed my tie. Then I was towed forward, and she pointed a chicken leg at my face like a knife.

"Oi oi! Have some respect for a vegetarian!" I spoke, looking at the chicken leg in disgust.

"If you don't want to die young, say you're sorry!" she threatened.

"You're sorry," I repeated sarcastically and had to let out aloud, "Aaagh!" as Cammie pulled me across the table. Suddenly she pushed her lips as if she was about to kiss. When her face leaned in closer, I could feel the blush rising from my neck. Damn, that girl knows how to strike a nerve. I signaled to Alyssa for help. She laughed before coming to the rescue.

"Guys, knock it off!" she said.

I quickly pried Cammie's hand off my school tie before she could choke me to death. She released me with a perverted glare.

"Alright, I'm getting hungry now," and not until she said it that my stomach started rumbling. I took out my carton of milk and drank it straight from the opening.

"Viv, do you have to drink it every mealtime?" Alyssa asked, pointing to my milk. I rolled my eyes because, after all these years, she still asked me the same question.

"Mom would slay me if I didn't. But I like it, milk makes us strong, don't you think?" I tried to tell them, but even saying that still made me feel really dorky, for I wasn't only a milk-drinker, but also a vegetarian. All of these are because of Mom.

Ever since my milk teeth were gone, she had stopped cooking red meat and adopted vegetarianism instead, and we even do meditation every weekend. She said it's good for my emotional health. As a result, I've never visited her hospital nor gone to see a shrink, which really proves my exceptional well-being indeed.

"But I've seen you drinking milk from this blank box since we met in seventh grade, and the box itself doesn't have a brand name on it, not even a cow picture!" Alyssa complained. I didn't know why she suddenly took a special interest in my diet, but I guess it was because, among the three of us, I seemed to be the weirdest one.

"Mom said I need milk with special nutrition, so she always brings it from the hospital where she works," I said with a shrug even though I had no idea what kind of special nutrition I was talking about.

"All right, hurry up girls, we don't have much time. Today, we've got self-defense class!" Cammie said, looking as excited as a kid heading to the playground.

"Oh, shit," I groaned, knowing what lied ahead when I looked at her.

In self-defense class, we have got the international champion, Mr. Kent, who teaches us Karate, but he told us to call him Sensei. Now, as we were all in our Karate suites, he would line everyone up into two rows. I prayed so hard not to be paired with my best friends because one is too strong, and the other is too weak. In other words, I didn't want to hurt Alyssa as much as I didn't want to be a dead meat for Cammie.

"Girls, stay focused. Look at your opponents in the eyes, and don't let them get a hold of you, you got it?" Mr. Kent said.

"Yes, Sensei!" everyone answered in unison. Then the teacher clapped his hands together as a signal, "Now, line up and bow," he gestured for us to come onto the square matted floor. We did as we were told.

I was relieved that I wasn't paired with Alyssa, but as horror might have it- I was up against Cammie! Camilla Logan is one of those black belts who could snap you like a toothpick with only her pinky. She smirked at me and cracked her knuckles. It made me flinch. Not that I'm bad in Karate, but it's just that Cammie is way better.

"Poor hand-eye coordination, huh?" Cammie raised her perfect eyebrow at me, the corner of her lips curved up into a confident smile. Sure, she wouldn't let me get off the hook, would she? And as if to prove the point, one of my classmates got thrown flat onto the floor next to me. I flinched, knowing exactly how it felt.

"Oh please, Cammie," I turned to plead desperately, drifting away from her, "Don't do that to me. We are best friends," I was looking for a safer side to stand, but Cammie just smiled gently. I knew that look - it meant she was going to break my bones at any time soon.

"Of course we are, thanks for reminding me, Vivienne," she said, beaming, "I was impressed with your biology lesson at lunch, so now it's my turn to teach you some basic lessons, too."

I felt like bursting into tears. And without giving me a second chance to negotiate, she bowed at me, which I had to bow back as a rule. But it was like giving her a green light because then Cammie darted forward so quickly and got a hold of my shirt. She just shifted herself to the side and the next thing I knew, I was on the floor with the world spinning. Sparkling stars danced above my head.

Cammie came to straddle on my stomach. Her hands placed on either side of my head as she stared down at my face.

"You're alright?" she asked, looking amused. I guess I might be alright if there was no internal bleeding or organic injury after this. I struggled to get her sexy behind off me, but she kept me caged under her.

"Cammie, you're not playing it fair!" I managed to speak. "I wasn't ready!"

She laughed before getting herself off. I staggered to my feet again. With her angelic figure, I couldn't help but wondered how such energy could exist in her body.

"Again?" she asked with a laugh. I steadied myself into a better position. I wasn't going to let her toss me like a rag doll anymore. But then again, Cammie rushed to me before I could even blink. She pinned my right hand behind my back, her other arm wrapped around my neck.

"Ow ow!" I winced as she laughed triumphantly.

"Just so you know, Vivienne," Cammie spoke softly into my ear, "only the fittest survive."