So this had been edited, you may read it if you wish, but it isn't necessary as there aren't any major changes.
Oh, how I've missed this story!

TEXAS, DALLAS, AMERICA,

PRESENT DAY

"Everything you can imagine is real."

-Pablo Picasso.

Chapter Quote: " . . . if you even try to bite me I will rip those pretty little fangs of yours right out of your head, and shove them down your throat."

The sound of my bedroom door opening slowly brought me out of my slumber.

"Ella, get up!" Aunty Lorraine yelled as she smacked me in the face with my own pillow. I let out a groan and rolled onto my back, trying to open my eyes to glare at Lorraine but failed as they seemed to be glued together with sleep.

"Go away." I managed to choke out of my dry throat. I hated sleeping with my mouth open, I only ever did it when I had a blocked nose and wasn't able to breathe through the bloody thing, and as a result I would have to breathe through my mouth causing it to become dry and my lips chapped.

"Rise and shine sweetie-pie!" She all but shouted as she marched over to my French windows and pulled away the blue curtains to let the bright morning sun glare in my face. "Up, up!"

I rolled onto my side away from the bright morning rays which only encouraged Lorraine to slap my now exposed arse as she walked by and out of the room, leaving the door wide open, making sure to turn up the CD player that sat in the hallway downstairs, blasting Lady GaGa's Marry the Night.

I knew I lost, so I rolled my way to the edge of my comfy double bed and threw my legs over the side with effort before heading out of the purple room that had one of the walls completely covered in photos of myself with friends, and down the hallway that lead to the bathroom. Slamming the door behind me, I began to undress.

The bathroom was on the small side with a simple shower and a large cabinet with a porcelain sink placed upon the marble counter top. An oversized mirror hung on the wall above the sink where I noticed the bird nest hair of the sleepy wide eyed girl that just so happened to be myself.

When I finally managed to get my head out of my sleeping shirt a groan escaped the hole I call a mouth, realising I had left my uniform back in my room.

Redressing quickly, I headed back down to my bedroom and then straight back to the bathroom. Undressing once again, I quickly jumping into the shower because it was freezing and turned on the hot water first. I didn't care that the water burned my skin; turning it a bright ugly red colour.

It was just the beginning of winter, and it was getting cold, ridiculously cold if you ask me. I mean I liked winter, I wasn't overly fond of it, but it gave me an excuse to walk about wearing warm jumpers or jackets, jeans, and boots. I wasn't used to weather like this, I was an Australian, yes our winters could get cold, but it never got cold enough that it snowed (where I used to live anyway). No matter how long I lived here I still wouldn't be used to it, mainly because American summers suck, it's not hot enough. But I'm used to sitting around in my shorts and bikini top sweating my arse off while running through a sprinkler in the back yard with my bestie Evie, so I was certainly not happy with the fact that mister weather man decided to announce yesterday afternoon that this winter would be the coldest one in fifty years.

I rushed to wash my body; scrubbing it with some funky soap that smelt weird, as I had eczema and almost anything irritated the crap out of my skin causing it to form a rash, which then led to me scratching the shit out of it, which then led to looking contagious. I quickly rinsed myself off before bouncing out the steamy heaven.

I rapidly rolled my hair up with a soft fluffy white towel, making my way over to the towel rack and rubbed myself down hastily; knowing there were still water droplets clinging to my skin. I chucked on the school uniform that lay crumpled on the blue tiled floor which consisted of a royal blue and grey plaid pleated skirt that was to reach pass my knee with my white blouse was wrinkled to perfection. Quickly I jerked on my almost knee high white socks before my feet could freeze and fall off, and planted my little feet into my ugly black shoes before facing the mirror.

I couldn't help but sneer at the foggy reflection.

Just think of the ugliest 70's Catholic school uniform and that's what yours truly is wearing. The uniform hid any shape my body had to show.

The mirror was covered in steam and I had the intense urge to write something ridiculous on it, but fought it. Wiping the reflective surface down with the now damp hair towel, I studied myself.

The Universe decided to curse me with my father's confused silvery blonde hair which was a curly mass of chaos, so to keep it in check I had always kept it long, always kept it cut to just above my waist; never shorter, never longer. I pulled the hair dryer out of one of the drawers and dried my hair as swiftly as possible, brushing in through once to make sure it was knot free, but ended up looking like a poodle.

My inherited complexion was a pasty pale which made me look like Death. Lorraine always said I looked like my mother, Charlotte, more so than my father, John, and sometimes I agreed. Though I did have my father's hair and blue/green eye colour.

I wacked my hair into a messy ponytail with tendrils of hair pulled back from my face, and searched around for the make-up bag from the second drawer of the sink.

I basically slapped the war paint on as fast as possible and exited the bathroom, rushing back to my room to stuff notebooks and text books into my school bag.

"C'mon Ella!" Charlotte, Lorraine's daughter, screamed from downstairs. Charlie was my aunt's six year old daughter who looked exactly like her mother, naturally tan with straight dark blonde hair with wide hazel eyes that showed you exactly what she was thinking. Charlie was also named after my mother who had passed away while giving birth to me.

I raced downstairs and into the kitchen where I saw Lorraine and Charlie dancing away to now Katy Perry's Firework in the overly sized kitchen. The kitchen had a cottage feel to in and was extremely open. Glass doors led to the outdoor dining area that was placed on the deck and overlooked the garden that Aunt Lorraine took so much pride in. There was also a dining area inside with an average sized wooden table the happened to be round with a fruit bowl in the middle of it, and was placed on the left side of the room, it was the closest item near the window wall that showed Lorraine's garden. Lorraine danced about as she made pancakes and placed the ready ones on the plate that sat on the wooden island with the marble counter top.

"Eat them while there hot." I copied Charlie and followed her command and grabbed myself a plate, piling on the pancakes and drenching them in maple syrup.

I sat at the counter next to Charlie and inhaled my food, not realising how hungry I was until the food hit the taste buds of my tongue. We chattered about random things, mostly centred on my birthday plans, school, and the weather (and how we all hated it).

I washed up while Lorraine ran upstairs to change. I tugged on the royal blue school blazer that hung over one of the chairs at the dining table and slid my school bag on my shoulder, and waited with Charlie by the front door.

Finally Lorraine appeared before me with her straight dirty blonde hair pulled away from her face in a somewhat messy but stylish bun. She wore an ironed soft pink tank top with a white cardigan and dark denim jeans, but it looked good on her as she was slim and tone. At last she pulled of her grey hoodie, and grabbed her car keys, shoving them into her handbag.

"How do I look?" She asked and spun in a slow circle.

"You totally pull off the 'I-have-a-child-and-I'm-still-hot' look," I smiled. "How about me?"

"You're young, and my niece. Of course you look good." She stated it so seriously that I laughed. She smiled; her hazel eyes crinkling at the edges as she led the way out of the front door and locked it shut behind us.

"What about me?" Charlie whined from behind us.

"You always look beautiful, my dear!" Lorraine pulled her daughter in an embrace and planted a slobbery kiss on her daughters rosy cheek which only made Charlie squeak and try to wipe the lipstick off with the back of her hand.

We made a dash for the car and Lorraine squealed as she almost slipped on the slippery pavement. I laughed at her even though she gave me the finger, but she was laughing too. When we finally made it into the car she blasted the heat and cranked the music which was playing something I never heard before. I glanced out the window and watched my house grow smaller and smaller as we drove away.

"I'll pick you up after school during my break and you can help me out around the shop." Lorraine said as we pulled up out the front of the school and leaned over giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. Lorraine was a florist you see, and every day after school I'd help her unless I had too much homework. I loved working in her little shop, it was beautiful there. Everything smelt wonderful, and I always came home smelling like lavender or roses.

I nodded though I wasn't really listening, and jumped out from the vehicle. I turned to wave goodbye, but she was already speeding off down the road towards the Elementary school to drop Charlotte off.

A heavy sigh escaped as I tried to rid myself of the lipstick stain and turned back to the school. Lorraine was always in such a rush. I looked up and saw the gates that led to the school and beside the gates was the brick wall that had the gold lettering that read 'Sage Willows High School', which was in fact a private school. The gates were open and allowed students to walk onto the grounds and run off to see their friends.

As I walked into the school, students were already forming into their own little groups, never straying away from their clique. The school was old and has been here ever since I moved here with aunty Lorraine, and that was twelve years ago. But apparently it had been here since the late 1800's, a very wealthy man owned the school that once was a mansion. Lorraine had told me he had named the mansion after his wife, Sage Willows, and then after she had passed turned it into a school as his wife adored children. He moved away and never remarried.

In my personal opinion I found the story adorable, but miserable at the same time. It was sweet that he had done that for his wife, that he had loved her enough to name the mansion after her and never remarry after her death, but Evie would just accuse me of being a girl.

I slowly wandered closer to the school which was three stories high; the overly large oak door was open as students wandered in and out. I glanced up and stared through the windows; they were huge just like the door and gave you a full view of the grounds from the inside. I loved the architecture of this place. It was beautifully built. The walls were made of a grey stone that seemed to have traces of silver through it as the sun shone down on it. Vines wrapped its way around the building as if it were hugging the mansion in a tight embrace.

But of course they had to modernise the old building to suit the school environment. A few computer labs were installed, along with an eating area both inside and out, a canteen, and bathrooms. A gym was added onto the grounds which ruined the beauty of the old mansion, but if you ignored the smelly building that was added on, then the old school did still have some of its beauty.

"Ari!" Someone screeched my name at the top of their lungs. I turned around from gazing up at the building to see Evie frolicking towards me (because neither of us ran) with outstretched arms. Before I knew it I was in her arms and she was squeezing the life out of me. "I didn't get to see you yesterday! I'm sorry, I had prefect stuff to do, and it was so boring!"

How Evie ended up as a prefect I'll never know. Her Australian accent was thick, but I loved it because it made the strange babble that came out of her mouth funnier. Finally she let go and was smiling brightly at me.

See, Evie and I have been best friends since I could remember, and even when I moved to America with my aunty at the tender age of five, we still kept in touch, spoke on the phone for hours, and planned trips to see one another. Then when I was about seven years old Evie's dad got a promotion at the company he works for and packed up and moved to America, to the same state, and the same city I was living in; in fact it's about a fifteen minute drive from my house to hers.

Evie just so happens to be one of the prettiest girls I know, her skin always has a healthy tan and her dark brown curly hair fell just past her shoulders. Her extremely long legs were something I envied, has the body that a swimsuit model would kill for, and on top of all that she had amazingly pretty electric blue eyes.

"Can you believe it? Second week back from her holiday and dragon lady Brianna is already spreading rumours." Evie's voice held irritation in it as she glared at two freshmen girls passing by us, I watched as they coward away in fear.

"Nice, Eve." Even I could hear the sarcasm in my voice, but she clearly ignored it and continued rambling on about everything she's heard so far. Apparently over the three day weekend Allana Williams had an abortion, which I'm against, but I couldn't be sure this was true as she's been pregnant five times already and has continually gotten abortions.

Mental Ari shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. We weren't huge fans of the attention whore.

Evie and I continued to talk all the way to homeroom; the thing you have to understand is that Evie and I are exactly alike and it's creepy weird. We like all the same things, and our personalities are so alike we could be twins (we had a theory that we were separated at birth.) We even finish each other's sentences. The scary part was that we even have the same medical problems such as eczema; plus we both swear like sailors.

We exchanged stories about our days apart. I loved the way Evie told stories; she always told them dramatically and enthusiastically, and at this moment in time she was telling me about her trip to see her mother's relatives in Queensland; she goes every year with her family, once she even tried to convince me to go but seeing as I'm afraid of heights, I refused to even see her off at the airport fearing that she might try to drug me, stuff me in her duffle bag, and carry me on board.

". . . So when we arrived at the airport, mum was already in an argument with crazy aunt Clary and practically screamed 'I'm gonna' kick your arse, you hear me!' and everyone looked at us like we were homeless and handing out free cats. I've never seen dad look so mortified." Evie concluded as she sat in the seat next to mine and folded her arms across her chest; glaring straight ahead.

I was about to laugh at her attitude, but had to swallow it down as the homeroom teacher walked in and sat down at the wooden desk. I immensely disliked this teacher. She was rude, nasty, and just plain mean. She always would pick the weakest to prey on, like an over grown bully. So I gulped down my laughter and tried not to glare at the middle aged hag with spectacles.

I had this homeroom teacher last year and I can't even remember her name that's how much I disliked her. And as usual homeroom was dull and boring. It felt as if it was dragging on and on, we never did anything, you either finish homework or do nothing; be silent at all times otherwise it's a detention for you from Mrs I Will Eat Your Face.

It was one minute left until the bell, and I waited impatiently as I watched the clock, tapping my pen against my note book. The bell finally sounded and I packed my things back into my bag in a rush.

"I'm so sick of school!" Evie whined as she met me outside of homeroom and we walked towards English. The halls were crowded and buzzing with gossiping students that didn't know how to move out of the way.

"That's what you said yesterday". I pointed out to her, but it only got me a mock glare in return.

Evie growled in frustration as some kid in the year below us slammed into her, but instead of not bothering to open her mouth she shoved him back and slammed him against the wall.

"Watch it, cock head!"

I grabbed her wrist and dragged her off to class before she got in a row with the guy, though I wasn't worried for her safety, I was worried for his.

Two hours later and it was break.

Evie and I were sitting beneath an old oak tree out the front of the old school building next to the extremely tall fence that kept us separate from the rest of the world. We shared each other's food like we were on a picnic and started to speak in English accents; pretending we were at a formal tea party.

"I must say that Miss Golden's behind has gotten quite large during the time we've spent apart from her." Evie's accent was horrible because of her current one but she could certainly pull off the attitude of a spoiled rich girl.

"Oh, I agree, my dear!" I snorted in laughter and sipped from my bottle of apple juice with my pinkie finger raised.

"Are you going on the field trip next week?" Evie asked after she finished laughing. The field trip to the University of Dallas was next week on Thursday where we were able to see all the things the Uni had to offer, that, and miss out on a day of school.

"Yep, I rather go to that then be stuck in class with old Mrs Pilgram." I folded my legs to the side of me and chewed on some hash brown.

"Fair enough, I'll go too! And we can try and steal something and touch the things that have signs next to them that say 'Do not touch!'." Evie smiled evilly and let out a laugh which sounded like she totally lost her mind. So I joined her and soon enough we were both laughing like raving lunatics.

I almost didn't hear the bell ring over our laughing, but when I saw people leaving I got up with Evie following and headed off to my next class.

Finally school was over and students were running all about trying to rush out of the gates as if they were going to close on them and keep them captive, never letting them go home ever again.

That was dramatic.

I was walking out with Evie and we stood out the front of the school waiting for Lorraine and Charlie. Soon enough Evie's mum, Kate, pulled up in front of the school with two of Evie's siblings in the car. A random fact about Evie's family, there are nine kids including Evie with another on the way, though we don't know the sex of it yet seeing as Kate's not finding out.

That's right nine kids; with another one coming.

Honestly, I don't know how she does it.

"Hey Kate!" I said as I walked up to the car with Evie. Kate was gorgeous, even when heavily pregnant and constantly complaining that she looked like a whale cross walrus hybrid. She had rich dark chocolate hair that was dead straight and longer than my own. Her eyes were just as big as her daughters and just as blue. Her mouth was wide, but plump, and her skin glowed with its olive complexion.

"Hey Ari." Kate's accent was as strong as Evie's. She turned towards the back seat. "Telly, Chanice, its Ari!" I smiled as I saw Chanice and Chantelle climb out of their seats and in the front of the car.

"Ella!" Telly beamed up at me where as Chanice stayed silent but still smiled. I gave them both a quick hug each. Chantelle and Chanice are three year old feternal twins with dark blonde hair that fell to their shoulders in loose curls. Though they should have been identical twins since there was hardly any difference with the girls, aside from the fact that Chantelle's a little tomboy spastic and Chanice is a shy girly girl.

"Come one, Eve. I have to get Breia from school." Kate said as she shooed the twins back into their cars seats.

"Fine!" Evie sighed dramatically as she wrapped her arms around me; pulling me into a bear hug that popped my back. "I'll miss you, twin!" She cried and pretended to sob.

"I shall miss you also, twin!" I shouted as we pulled apart and wiped our eyes of pretend tears.

"Farewell dear sister!" She shouted from the window as she drove off. I could only smile and walk back to the brick wall that read the schools name and leaned against it waiting for Lorraine and Charlie. It didn't bother me that she might be late, seeing as the Flower shop which she owned and worked in could sometimes get crowded during this time of the day, no, what bothered me was the fact that I left my iPod at home once again and that I didn't have anything to make the time pass.

Okay, so I've counted how many ants I could see, how many yellow cars I've spotted, and played 'I Spy' though that works better with two people. And it was now past five-thirty and the sun had set ten minutes ago. Your probably wondering why the hell I didn't walk home, but you see home is a thirty minute drive away; with me walking it's an hour and a half. I'd rather stay here and patiently wait out in the open with people all around me, then walk by my lonesome, get rapped, and die. See my logic? That and I didn't want to start walking only to have Lorraine show up and get a frantic phone call off her asking me if I'm dead.

I sighed and started to glance up and down the street seeing if I could spot Lorraine's silver four wheel drive anywhere, but it seemed life hated me and didn't want to be nice to me today. I wrapped my arms around me as I looked up across the street at the little café which was still busy and had the cheesy name; 'To Taste' to see a guy probably the same age as myself, maybe older, staring at me; at least it looked like he was staring at me. He looked like he was a head and a half taller than me (that's not saying anything, because I'm practically a shorty), with a straight nose and a sharp jaw line. His dark chocolate brown hair was perfectly tousled, like he had just woken up along with his clothes making him look like that as well, seeing as he wore a loose white cotton shirt along with loosely fitted khaki pants. Did I mention he was pale? Paler then yours truly.

Which signaled warning signs in my head.

Meaning the cute guy from across the street was a vampire.

I frowned at him and started to look around me to see if he was actually looking at anyone else, but when I looked back he was still openly staring in my direction (I hoped to the Lady herself that he didn't want to eat me. I mean I'm all for Vampire rights, but when you want to drain me dry, I draw the line). Maybe he was staring at the school; I am standing in front of it after all.

Yes, that was it! He was admiring the architecture of the building.

You're a fucking idiot. Mental Ari screeched at me, waving her arms above her head while jumping up and down. He's a stalker!

I avoided looking at him, keeping my head down; hoping I didn't end up dead in a ditch somewhere.

Okay, so I was a little paranoid.

Finally aunty Lorraine pulled up in front of me with a wide smile on her face which clearly said 'I'm sorry, please don't rip my head off!'

"Where the hell have you been?" I scolded her as she cringed away from me.

"I'm sorry!" She pouted at me, which made my eyes roll. I grabbed my school bag I placed on the ground beside me feet and went over to the car, jumping in it quickly. I looked out the back window to see if the vampire guy was still there, but he had disappeared.

The week went by quickly and today was finally the day of the field trip to the University of Dallas. It wasn't a pleasant day as it was pouring out side and freezing cold, but on the bright side of things we were allowed to wear normal clothes instead of our school uniform which I was thankful for or otherwise I would have frozen to death if I had to wear my school skirt. So instead I was wrapped up in thick black tights and black knee high boots that had a sensible heel on them and a thick warm white jumper that was loose and hung off my shoulders. I wrapped a black scarf around my neck along with a black beanie/beret thing that I didn't know the name of and placed it upon my head letting my wild curls fall loosely down my back.

I grabbed my handbag which had pretty floral designs on it and shoved a single notebook in it with a pen and my shinny blue wallet that had cute little cartoons thingy's on it. Before leaving my room, I decided to take out my black Batman jacket from my closet and shoved it in my hand bag just encase it got too cold.

I marched down the stairs and walked past the lounge room where I saw Charlie sitting fixated in front of the television watching 'Ben 10: Alien Force' stuffing her face with coco-pops.

"Mornin', aunty 'Rain." I found Lorraine sitting at the small kitchen table with a cup of steaming coffee while eating some toast.

"Hey, babe." She smiled. "The cereal's in the cupboard." She pointed to the cupboard next to the fridge.

I pulled out a blue spotted bowl and poured myself a big bowl of cereal, and shovelled it into my mouth, only somewhat chewing before swallowing it down and into my belly.

"Dear Lady, you eat like a man." Lorraine laughed and took a swig of her coffee. "This is why you don't have a boyfriend."

I opened my mouth to let her see my mushed cereal; she sniffed and turned away from me to rinse out her bowl. Truth is that I really couldn't care less if I had a boyfriend or not, there were more important things I should be doing in my life at the moment.

Like studying for my Ancient History test which was next week, and that I promise I will be studying for when I get home, along with convincing Lorraine to give me extra hours at the flower shop so I could finish saving up for that acoustic guitar that sat up on the wall in the 'Jimmy's Guitar's' shop that called my name every time I walked into the store. It was high time that I have my own guitar and stop stealing Lorraine's.

"Can we leave now?" Charlie announced her arrival to the kitchen with her arms crossed and her voice demanding. "I have to get to school and show Aleasha the book Ella lent me." She smiled brightly at me, as I remembered what she was talking about. The book in question was 'Hans Christian Andersen: The Little Mermaid' which was my favourite story of all time (!), but I decided I'd to let Charlie have a read of it once I told her what it was about; she was quite smart for a six year old.

"Absolutely, my sweet." Lorraine jumped up and placed all the dishes in the sink and grabbed her keys and hand bag. Charlie and I both followed her out to the car and piled in and waited for Lorraine to join us as she locked up.

The ride to school was fast as all three of us started to sing the songs on Lorrain's CD mix off-key, one of them being Carly Rea Jepson's; Call Me Maybe, which we sang the loudest to.

We pulled up to the school once again, and just as I was about to jump out, Lorraine grabbed my arm and handed me her mini umbrella. "Take it."

"Thanks. I'll see you at five." I paused. "You won't forget will you?"

"Don't worry, Ella! I'll make sure she remembers!" Charlie smiled cutely at me, making me smile. I opened up the door and quickly pushed the button that released its hold on the blue coloured umbrella and sprung up, promising to cover me from the drops of water that planned to drench me. I jumped from the car, making sure not to land in the puddle pooling on the side of the street in the gutter.

I ran towards the school, ducking pass other students trying to hurry inside as well as me. As soon as I got inside the old building I pulled the umbrella down and locked it in place. I walked through the corridors and made my way to the Hall where all the other students in my year who wanted to go on the excursion waited for everyone to arrive so they could leave already.

I walked through the already open doors to the Hall and quickly scanned the room for my twin. I found her glaring holes in the back of Brianna's head and I couldn't stop the laugh that escaped my lips.

Kevin Harper, who stood just a few centimetres away from me, looked at me like I belonged in a mental institute before walking away towards a group of people, he must have told them that he heard me laughing like a loony because they looked over at me, but I returned their stares with flipping them the bird as I made my way over to Evie.

"Attention!" Mrs Cunningham called out above all the talking. I quietened down, as did the rest of my year. Amanda Cunningham was head teacher of Music and Art. She was a short woman with shoulder length dead straight hair that was a deep brown and almost looked black in this lighting. Cunningham's eyes were small and blue with thin pink lips and a pale complexion. "Good. We'll now be taking the roll. Call out once you hear your name and line up on the right side on the room behind Mr Thomson."

A few minutes went by as we waited for our names to be called. All the while Evie and I were thinking of words that rhymed with candle.

"Evelyn Carroll." Cunningham called clearly and I watched as Evie slinked off towards Mr Thompson and the other students that were lined behind him wobbling about because I knew that she had the theme song of Batman running through her mind.

"Ariella Moriarty." Cunningham finally bellowed my name out and I quickly rushed over to Evie as she pushed the guy next her to make room for me. Evie then linked her arm in mine and we leaned against each other and waited for the teacher to finish the list.

"Come along then, children." Cunningham called as she made her way out of the hall with the rest of the year trailing after her.

Once Evie and I boarded the bus we sat together towards the front speaking with some of the others in our year about anything and everything thing. At this point in time we were discussing Tiffany Follo who refused to leave her ex-boyfriend alone and continually stalks him. Evie and I actually used to be friends with Tiffany (well Evie was any way, I told her she was bad news, but did my twin listen? Nope, completely ignored me, but I was right!) until Tiff thought it would be a good idea to pick on Evie's little sister, Brittany, then all hell broke loose.

We arrived twenty minutes later with the teachers telling us where we were allowed to go, and where we weren't allowed to go. They split our year in to three groups, thankfully I was with Evie so we stuck together trying to find cool stuff to touch that we weren't allowed to touch, but unfortunately we came up short, which led to Evie complaining and saying that she didn't want to go here anymore. That was until we came across a teacher giving a lecture to a group of our classmates on the classes they had here about different subjects to do with Behavioural and Brain Sciences. Evie and I had a knack for knowing when something was wrong with someone (it's a gift), and pretty much counselled our friends for free. We both loved to know what goings on inside someone's brain, why they think the way they do, why someone does the things they do. Whenever we stay over at each other's houses we end up watching the Crime Investigation channel trying to figure out if a certain killer is a total nutter or not.

So we sat there for over an hour, dear Lady it was the longest either of us has ever sat still for, listening away, and even collected the information guides they given us.

"I change my mind! I'm totally going here! Say you're going to?" Evie rushed out as we walked out of the Uni with a bunch of other kids.

"Of course." I smiled. And I was serious, I didn't want to leave Dallas anytime soon, even if it was too cold and the summers sucked. I liked it here; it was rushed here, in a sort of calm, straight to the point kind of way.

We walked out of the Uni to see Evie's mother parked out on the curb waiting patiently for her daughter. "Do you want a lift?" Evie turned and asked once she realised Lorraine wasn't here.

"Nah, I'll wait it out like I did yesterday." I gave her a quick hug and waved her off as she drove away.

I plopped myself on the bench that was just outside of the Uni, lucky for me, and started to read the information guide. I was half way through when my phone buzzed, scaring the crap out of me.

'Please don't hate me!

Some brat pushed Charlie & broke her arm at school 2day & they didn't bother 2 tell me until I picked her up.

I'm hospital. & I totally 4got about picking u up.

4give me?

I'll pay u back 4 bus fare.'

Keep using bad grammar and I'll never forgive you.

I groaned as I shoved my phone back in my bag along with the guide. I was totally going to strangle the kid that decided to put their hands on my cousin! Ooh, I was going to make that little bully pay for making me wait out it the freezing cold. And dear Lady, if I start to walk, and it rains, I will have a fit here and now.

I muttered to myself as I made my way down the darkened streets with the only source of light coming from the street lights above me. I was too caught up in my childish rage that I didn't realise something was in front of me until I ran into it.

Felt like a brick wall.

"Well, well, aren't you a pretty little thing." I looked up at the man above me who had a thick southern accent and a cowboy hat upon his head.

I raised an eyebrow at him, clearly I was in no mood for this weirdo's shenanigans, and went to walk around him, only to have the bastard grab me by the wrist and pull me back to him. I heard a distinctive click, and groaned inwardly in frustration. I should have known the weirdo was a vampire.

"I swear to the Goddess herself, if you even try to bite me I will rip those pretty little fangs of yours right out of your head, and shove them down your throat." I growled out and snatched my wrist out of his hand, and turned to walk away.

It all happened so fast, I didn't get time to think until the cowboy weirdo had an arm around my waist, pinning my arms down, while his other hand grabbed a hold of my hair and pulled my head to the side, exposing my neck to him.

You can get out of this.

But I was wrong. I was too panicked that I couldn't think straight, let alone conjure enough energy.

I closed my eyes tightly and waited for the painful bite that was surely to come, but as his fangs grazed my neck, ready to make a mark, something stopped him.

"Release her." A calm male voice, a voice that was deep, but not too deep, and had an accent laced into it; one that I couldn't place, ordered from in front of us, which made the vamp weirdy freeze from behind me. My eyes snapped opened to find the guy from yesterday.

"But . . ." Cowboy man trailed off, as if silently pleading with the younger man, still holding me tightly in his iron grip.

"She is mine." His? Oh hell no, he had another thing coming if he thought I was his bitch. I fought the urge to scream at him, but with-held and thought better of it. I'll yell at him after the weirdo was gone.

"Yours?" Cowboy hat wearing guy asked as the vampire (slash) my hero nodded. Oh how I wished he would just let me go. My prayers were answered as I felt his grip loosen as he pushed me forward, making me stumble. I turned around to scold the arse-hole, but he was gone.

"You're not going to eat me, are you?" I asked as I turned back to my saviour and fiddled with the strap of my hand bag.

I could have sworn I saw his lips tug up at the corners, but it was gone as quickly as it came.

"No."

"Well . . . that's a relief." I breathed out heavily letting my shoulders sag, before I straightened back up and smiled at him. "I don't know if I should say 'thanks' or not. Seeing as you're my stalker." I said as I stood in front of him, this time a small smile did cross across his lips.

"So you did see me." It wasn't a question, it was a statement, but I felt the need to give him an answer.

"How could I not, you were practically staring, though you could've been looking at the school." I told him matter-of-fact-ly, as we started to walk up the street, me to the bus stop, and him because he's my stalker.

"Why would I look at the building when you were there?" He asked generally curious.

"A hero and a charmer." I laughed. "Don't worry; you'll get all the girls." I said as I pattered him on the shoulder.

He waved off my comment, "May I walk you home?" He asked instead.

"I don't see why not, but we're going to have to take the bus." I informed him as he nodded. "What's your name?"

"Godric." He looked down at me and smiled slightly. "And you are?"

"Ariella." I smiled back.

"Pretty." He stated and I fought to keep the blush from rising to my cheeks.

"So," I started, trying to change the subject. "Is it hard being around humans? We're practically Happy Meals with legs." I asked as we stopped in front of the bus stop.

He turned to me and laughed. It was a beautiful sound, deep and rich; I decided that I liked it when he laughed.

Not a whole bunch of changes!

-13teen xx