As the sun slowly peaked over the dark green pine trees and foggy mountains of Washington state, high schoolers began another average day in a small town named Puyallup. Josh, a seventeen-year-old boy pulled into a parking spot with his brand-new Lexus and stepped out. “Hey guys, I’m back.” Josh said while throwing his bag over one shoulder.

“How was New Zealand bro?” Asking one of the jocks in his group of friends.

“It was nice man… Seems like Puyallup High School never changes, look at these idiots.” Josh and his friends chuckle as they walk by a group of teens studying. A girl in the group stands and asks, “What did you just call us?”

“You heard me losers!” Josh laughs.

She grabs his hand and stares at him dead in the eyes and he feels a rush of something unexplainable through his veins. “What was that?! Let go of me!” She walks away as he stares in confusion.

            On the way home after school he notices his skin turning pale and a feeling of ice shooting up his spine. Josh sprints to the bathroom and looks in the mirror, his pupils turned to red and brown and his incisors began to grow. “No, no, no! What is happening to me?”

            The next day he parks ten minutes earlier and walks up to the girl from yesterday, “What did you do to me?!” Without saying a word, she gestures for him to follow her toward the side of the building. “You can only break the curse by true love. You have six months and then this will be permanent.”

“What do you mean? Please help me!” Josh yells as the girls walks into the building. “You can’t leave me like this!” Josh gets in his car and speeds off. After parking in front of his house he hits his steering wheel and places his head in his lap with his hands folded over his head. “What am I going to do? My reputation is going to be ruined.” He sobs.

            Over the next two months Josh stayed in his house, rarely even left his room for food. “Josh are you doing okay? Why don’t you come out and spend some time with your brother before he leaves for football practice?” His mom asks as she held her ear against his door.

“No please go.” Josh exclaimed.

“Well we have someone over who wants to see you.” His mom says as the next-door neighbor’s daughter named Alyssa walks in.

“I heard you dropped out, I wanted to see if you were okay.” She says pulling her long blonde hair around to her left shoulder.

“Yeah.” He looks down at his feet.

“Well, you’ve certainly changed since we last hung out.” She giggles.

The next few weeks Alyssa stopped by after she finished her online school and they talked about the old days when they played together as kids and laughed.

            One day he reveals to her the way that he has changed and treated people at his high school. “How could you do that someone?” She looks at him in disgust and tries to walk out.

“Please its not what it seems!” He grabbed her hand. She jerks her hand away and slammed the door. Josh cried in disappointment, “It’s over for me”.

            Days go by with no sight of Alyssa, “There has to be a way, I can’t live without her.” He searched through his closet and found a picture of them as kids and wrote a love letter. On the way to her house he found flowers off the side of the road and grabbed enough to make a bouquet. “Knock! Knock!” Alyssa opens the door. “Alyssa, I need you in my life. Over these past few weeks you have opened my eyes to things that really matter in life and I want to share this new path in life with you. I love you.” He hands her the flowers, love letter, and picture of them as kids and then hugs her. “I love you too.” She whispers. Warmth fills through Josh’s body and he gains back his human characteristics.