A/N: This one's been a long time coming. I've literally been shipping Zoeil since the end of The Indigo Spell (because I'm a crazy person) and when there was a little bit of Neil in the beginning of TFH I just about died. This is my crackship, please let me have this one thing. Also, credit to Georgia and Tara (tara-k90 on ffnet) who helped me come up with the idea for this story, and letting me use her computer to work on it while we got drunk together. Good times.

"Everything's going fine. Absolutely fine." Zoe Sage assured her father, balancing her cell phone between her ear and shoulder as she walked. "I finished the report you requested to be sent by the end of the week last night. I'm going to email it as soon as I get back to the dorm."

"How are your grades?" Her father asked, seemingly uninterested in the fact that Zoe had finished her alchemist assignment 4 days ahead of schedule.

"Um," Zoe said, stalling for a good excuse to hang up the phone. "I actually don't know, I haven't checked in awhile."

"And why not?" Jared's voice took on a harsher tone. "I would hope you're not allowing your grades to slip in order to rush through your alchemist duties."

"Of course not!" Zoe's cheeks reddened as she spoke. "Dad, I didn't rush through my assignment, I-"

"Perhaps you should let your sister take a look at it before you send it in," he interrupted. "You know she manages to turn all her reports in on time while still keeping a 4.0 average. Surely you can do the same."

"Yes, sir." Zoe sighed, desperately trying to mask the bitterness in her voice. Why did he always have to compare her to Sydney? Zoe did her best in school but she wasn't a walking taking encyclopedia like her sister. Sydney's grades technically didn't even matter, so why was her dad even bringing them up? She also knew for a fact her current average was definitely not a 4.0, but she wasn't about to tell her father that. Withholding the truth wasn't the same thing as lying, she told herself, especially in this particular situation. If her dad knew about the recent C on her Brit Lit exam he'd be furious. Her sister probably knew the material backwards and forwards but Zoe was not about to go crawling to Sydney to ask for help with school work.

"Perhaps you can use the time you should have been devoting to your alchemist duties on studying. Your sister probably could help you learn to balance these things."

Her father gave her a brief goodbye and that was the end of the conversation. She sighed heavily and shoved her phone into her bag as she walked. Her sister probably could help her learn to balance the two better, if she wasn't always running off to do errands for her weird history teacher, or constantly making sure the vampires had everything they needed. Honestly, Zoe thought Sydney's attentiveness to the vampires was a little bit inappropriate. She knew her sister simply had to give nothing but 210% even when she had no reason to, but the vampires seemed to take her over achieving personality in a different way, it was almost as if they thought she was their friend, or something. The thought alone made her cringe. Zoe was all about giving this mission her all, but catering to the needs of everyone around her, especially the vampires, was not on her to-do list. When she looked up she sighed again. She was passing the library now and a small, annoying part of her brain was urging her to go inside and hit the books. That big red C flashed in her mind's eye like a neon sign. Maybe if she got a jump start on her reading list that would appease her father. She hoisted her bag up and marched into the library with a vengeance.

###

"Zoe?" The sound of her name made her jump. She looked up from Great Expectations and startled a second time when she saw Neil Raymond, one of the dhampirs assigned to guard Princess Jillian standing over her looking troubled.

"Mr. Raymond," she said, standing up to address him. She had to tilt her head up to look him in the eye, a slightly disconcerting feat -as he was the unholy spawn of a Moroi and dhampir coupling- and the fact that his stormy blue gaze was always so intense. "Can I help you?"

"Yes," Neil answered quickly. "I need you to go to the Valentine's Day dance with me."

"E-excuse me?" Zoe sputtered, absolutely certain she had misunderstood him. The school she attended as part of her cover was hosting a Valentine's Day themed dance the next weekend. She was not planning on attending, as it wasn't really necessary for her to be there. She didn't think it was a good idea for the vampires to be there, either. Around all those humans. Especially Princess Jillian. What if she got…hungry? Zoe shuddered at the thought. She'd have to speak to her superiors about this.

Not to mention, the fact that Neil…a dhampir…was asking her to go with him? "I'm sorry," she shook her head. "Did you just ask me to be your…" she blinked rapidly a few times, not even wanting to say the word out loud in regard to him, "..date?"

Neil's expression was suddenly just as horrified as she imagined her own was. "Oh," he said, his eyebrows raising. "Oh, no. I mean, I should have explained myself." He cleared his throat. "I've received approximately seventeen date requests today alone from the girls at this school. The human girls." His voice broke slightly over the word human, as if it frightened him. Zoe almost snorted. Oh, the irony.

"Oh," Zoe nodded in understanding. "Um, well, I see how that could be uncomfortable for you. But just…tell them you already have plans for that night? Or just…I don't know…no?" Zoe eyed him oddly, wondering why he hadn't thought of that himself. And what on earth that had to do with him asking her to go with him.

Neil shook his head, his brow creasing with anguish. "I can't do that."

"Why not?" Zoe was growing impatient. And the close proximity between them was making her more nervous by the minute.

"Because," Neil sighed and made a face and she wished he'd just get to his point so they could go their separate ways. "Angeline saw me cornered by four of them in the hallway this morning and 'came to my rescue' by telling the girls to step off because I already had a date. It got the girls off my back, I'll give her that, but now I have to show up to the dance with a date or they'll…" he visibly shuddered…"They'll attack me."

This time she did snort. "They're high school girls, you know. Not rabid animals." Boys…even half vampire boys…were so stupid.

He just gaped at her, his eyes wide and pleading.

"Look," she shook her head. "Why don't you just go with Angeline? She's one of your own kind. She seems to like you. Problem solved."

"That's exactly why I can't go with her," Neil's tone was exasperated. "I'm here to guard the princess, bottom line. She's attending the dance, therefore so am I. I can't go alone because I'll be dodging girls all night and my attention will be compromised. I can't go with Angeline because she's…" he paused, seeming to struggle for words.

"Angeline?" Zoe supplied.

"Exactly," Neil's face melted into an amused smile. His teeth were so white and straight. At least dhampirs didn't have fangs. Still, that didn't make them any less of an evil creature of the night.

"You're an alchemist," Neil said with what sounded like respect. "You get it. If we go to the dance together I'll be able to keep an eye on the princess and it'll keep the girls at bay. Two birds with one stone."

Zoe blinked. "I…see your point," she said finally. "But I really don't have any desire to go to the dance." That was kind of a lie. High school dances were something she'd always fantasized about. But she was here to work, not to have fun. Although, what Neil was proposing was sort of work-related. Irrelevant. She shook her head. "You'll just have to get my sister to do it." She suddenly wondered why he hadn't already done that.

Neil shrugged. "I don't really want to go, either. Dances aren't my thing. But I have to be where the princess is. That's my job." Zoe nodded in understanding, she certainly understood where he was coming from when it came to that.

"And honestly, I'd rather go with you."

Zoe sucked in her breath. Her heart picked up speed and she didn't know why.

"Your sister's a great alchemist but she's..." Neil paused awkwardly again, which was unlike him. "Well she's…quite…what I mean to say is…she's just-"

"Sydney?" Zoe supplied, unable to stop the upward quirk of her lips.

Neil flashed another smile. "See, like I said, you get it."

Zoe bit back another smile. Even if it was from one of the vampires, it was about time she got some well deserved respect around here.

"I do understand where you're coming from," Zoe told him. "And I agree it's a problem. But it's really not my problem. And I have a lot on my plate already."

Neil raised an eyebrow. "You have time enough to relax into a good book, it seems."

She bristled at his condescending tone. "You think I'm reading this boring brick," she grabbed her book and held it up for emphasis, "for fun? I have to read this for my stupid Brit Lit class, which is dragging down my entire grade point average."

"Okay," Neil frowned deeply. "You did not just call Dickens boring."

"Well, what else would I call him?"

"Masterful?" Neil suggested. "Genius? Poetic? I could go on."

Zoe scoffed. "You're just being loyal to your own kind."

That got another smile from Neil. She didn't recall ever thinking of him as a smiler, though in the past ten minutes he'd been doing quite a bit of it.

"I'll admit, I'm no historian, but I'm pretty sure Charles Dickens wasn't a dhampir."

A strange sound caught in Zoe's throat. She guessed it was some sort of horrified laugh. "I meant...you're both British." she said pointedly.

"I'm not British," Neil said, confused.

"You sound British," Zoe countered.

Neil looked genuinely surprised. "I do?"

Zoe narrowed her eyes at him. "Um, yeah. Why do you think you've got all the girls drooling over you? It's the accent."

"Ah," Neil nodded slowly, as if the secrets of the universe had suddenly been revealed to him. "I did spend a decent amount of time in England. I guess I picked up a little of the accent."

Zoe shook her head, she really didn't have time for this. And Neil had reminded her of something very important, something his stormy pleading eyes and straight white teeth had almost made her forget. He was half vampire. An evil creature of the night. And he was not her friend. And his problems, though technically work-related, were none of her concern.

"Then I suggest you try putting it down," she quickly gathered up her things and moved to walk past him. "That will certainly keep the girls at bay."

Neil smiled again. How many times was that now? Four? She hated the way he smiled, she decided. It was too subtle, too quick. Like he'd just figured out the punch line to a joke and didn't want anyone else to know. "So you're saying...I drop the accent and suddenly I'm Undesirable Number 1?"

"I'm saying," Zoe said as she walked past him, "The accent isn't the only thing you and Charles Dickens have in common."

A low, harsh laugh sounded from behind her. "Now you think I'm boring? Zoe Sage, your perception is seriously skewed." She hated the way her name sounded in his dumb fake accent. And the dry, amused tone that accompanied it. "No wonder you're failing Brit Lit."

She didn't appreciate being teased by anyone. Especially by an obnoxious dhampir with a fake accent and exhausting superiority complex. "I never said I was failing," she quipped, then spun around to add, "Have fun at the dance." And she turned her back on Neil Raymond, certain this time she was the only one smiling.

Zoe tried to forget about the whole thing after that, she really did. But Neil simply wouldn't allow it. She was oddly put out with the fact that when they all gathered for the next feeding, Neil was back to his usual stoic self. He never even looked her way one time. There was no cheeky smile, no knowing glance, nothing. Maybe she'd been a little too rude with him the other day. Not that she was obligated to be friendly with him, but her father always taught her that when dealing with dhampirs and Moroi in the field, a distant politeness should be maintained at all times. Professionalism was key. And Zoe certainly hadn't acted appropriately. But he was just so annoying. That wasn't her fault.

Still, his strange shift in personality ate at the back of her mind, distracting her, when she needed to be focused on her job and her school work. She tried devoting all her free time to studying, but reading Great Expectations only made her think of him. What was his problem, anyway? Who did he think he was? The vampire community should be grateful to the alchemists for all the hard work they do to keep their dirty little existence a secret. She didn't owe Neil Raymond anything as far as she was concerned. And she hadn't even been that rude to him. Not really. Had she? She didn't understand why she was even wasting time worrying about something that did not matter.

Which made her actions the Monday before the dance even more nonsensical. She had just turned the corner after her Algebra class when she saw a semi-circle of girls gathered around someone in the hallway. There was a startingly intensity to the scene, the girls in sight were poking and tugging at whoever it was they had surrounded. At first glance she thought the girls were bullying someone, which was bad enough. But even worse than that, they were blocking her path. Upon closer inspection she realized the person in the middle of the girl-storm was…Neil.

She stopped dead in her tracks. Seriously? What was it about this boy that was rendering the girls of this school into a pack of snarling she-wolves? He wasn't even that cute. Well, of course he wasn't cute at all to Zoe. She knew what sort of monster he really was. Well, part monster. Whatever. Even if he was attractive by these girls' standards, he had no business fraternizing with humans. Nothing good could come of their infatuation with him. At least, in his defense, he understood that. And he'd tried to avoid this sort of thing from happening again by coming to her. And she'd refused him. She sighed. She barreled past the girls just as they were pushing Neil up against a row of lockers. His face was contorted in deep discomfort, brow creased and cheeks flushed as he stumbled his way through what she assumed was an escape plan.

"Hey," she greeted him with a bright smile. "What's up?"

Neil's eyes shot to hers quickly. His eyebrows quirked up in confusion, though his expression was significantly less distraught. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He looked…terrified. It was like he had no idea how to even process the situation he was in. Facing down a gang of bloodthirsty Strigoi? Didn't bat an eyelash. Cornered in the hallway by a handful of high school girls? Full-blown panic attack. This boy was utterly ridiculous.

"Well," Zoe said when he didn't reply. "I have to get to class but I'm glad I caught you. I wanted to tell you that I finally got my dress for the dance. It's black. So make sure your tie matches."

The girls around him went silent, no doubt glaring daggers into her back. Served them right, Zoe thought, for cornering a random boy in a hallway to interrogate him about a dance, of all things. Like, really? Get a grip.

She turned to the girls then, giving them a surprised look, like she had just noticed they were there. "Oh," she said politely. "Can I help you?"

The girls skulked away wordlessly and Zoe gave Neil a triumphant smirk. "Don't ever say I never did you any favors."

She turned on her heels, silently praising herself.

Her joy was short lived when Neil appeared in front of her. How had he caught up with her so fast? And so quietly? She hadn't even heard him coming up from behind, and now here was in front of her, blocking her way. Must be a dhampir thing. She cringed inwardly. The reminder of his non-humaness making her uncomfortable.

"I have to get to class," she said, sidestepping around Neil and continuing on. But Neil simply spun around and trotted along beside her.

"I just wanted to say thank you," he said. "I don't take this situation lightly. I..." He paused for a long moment, forcing her to turn and look to her side, unsure if he was even still there.

Unfortunately, he was.

"You what?" She prompted.

"I owe you one," he said, nodding his head slightly.

"I'll keep that in mind," she answered primly. "But I'm just doing my job."

And then, suddenly, the Neil from the library made an appearance. The one that had mysteriously vanished since that day. The one she'd been half certain she'd made up entirely.

His tightly drawn lips stretched into an easy smile. "I didn't know saving my ass was part of your job description."

Zoe bristled. "You always use that kind of language around a lady?"

Her comment seemed to sober him up, the smile disappearing and replaced with his trademark severe expression. Zoe suddenly wished she hadn't said anything.

"Of course not," Neil said, his tone gravely serious. "My apologies, Zo-" He cleared his throat, "Miss Sage. I just um...I just wanted to say thank you, which I did, and now..." He looked around as if he'd just realized where he was. "I'll just...be going now. Thank you."

And finally, he was gone. Zoe shook her head. What had she gotten herself into? She could hardly stand being around Neil in the most casual of situations. How was she going to be able to deal with being his date to a dance? Well, pretending. That was the key word. Pretending to be his date.

It's just one night, she reminded herself calmly. Just a couple hours. You have to do this.

Though even more than 20 minutes later, as she listened to her teacher drone on about whatever, she found her thoughts drifting back to what Neil had said. And the questions she refused to ask herself. Why was she doing this? She told herself she had to. But did she really have to? It wasn't in her job description. Not really. She supposed she was doing it because she felt like it was just the right thing to do. Even though everything about the entire situation was so very, very wrong.

When Zoe was 13 years old, she'd found out via the online forum she frequently visited for home-schooled kids that there was going to be a dance in her area. It was organized specifically for kids who didn't get the perks of things like dances that kids who attended regular schools did.

She'd begged her father to let her go. When he said no, she'd cried to her mother. When her mother had yelled at her dad and her dad had yelled back, louder, she'd thought that was the end of it. But then the next day her mother had come home with a long plastic bag and kissed her on the forehead and said, "this is our little secret". A very pretty lavender, knee length, and kind of itchy little secret.

She remembered feeling weird about doing something behind her dad's back. It made her see her mom in a weird way, even though she knew she was just trying to give Zoe what she wanted. She had to wonder, does mom lie to dad often? Does he lie to her? Flash forward to now, her parents mid-divorce, she supposed they must have.

The dance, as it turned out, was super lame and not worth the huge blowout that ensued after her dad had found out what her mother had done. She only slow danced to one song with one boy, who had sweaty hands and smelled like cabbage.

At least, she thought as she clipped her freshly curled hair to the side, from what she could tell, Neil did not smell like any sort of vegetable.

The black dress she'd spoken of to Neil was her emergency formal occasion dress. It was plain, sort of tank top-ish at the top -though the sequins kept it looking more cocktail than casual- with a high waist pleated A-line skirt that settled a few inches above her knees. Her dad would probably frown at the length, but Zoe liked the way it accentuated her legs. She wasn't very tall, naturally, but the cut of the dress paired with her little kitten heels made her feel positively Amazonian.

Just as she was starting to feel better about this whole situation, she heard the door of her dorm room open.

"Zoe?"

Great.

Sydney had been too wrapped up in whatever to notice the goings on of Zoe's life this past week. She didn't even think she knew the school was having a dance, let alone that Zoe would be in attendance. And more importantly, who she'd be attending with. Zoe was hoping she'd be able to squeak the whole thing by without her sister getting all up in her business about it. It sucked, because under normal circumstances she'd want her sister to get her through this, make sure her hair and makeup didn't look disgusting, that sort of thing. It was her first real dance after all, but these were not normal circumstances. She wasn't going to this dance to look pretty or to have fun. She had to keep reminding herself that.

"I'm in the bathroom," Zoe finally called back.

"Oh," her sister replied, sounding as if she was right outside the door. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," Zoe mumbled, making faces at her reflection. Her eyeliner was definitely uneven, and her mouth just looked weird. But, as always, this was as good as it was going to get.

"Well, I haven't got anything going on tonight so I was thinking we could, you know..." her sister paused. "Do something together?"

Zoe sighed heavily. Now Sydney wanted to hang out with her? Of course she did. "I can't." Zoe replied simply.

"Why not?" Sydney sounded disappointed.

With an eyeroll, Zoe turned to open the bathroom door. "I've kind of got a prior engagement."

Sydney's eyes widened as she took in the sight of her sister. "Zoe..." she blinked a few times. "You look..."

"Ridiculous," Zoe sighed, slumping her shoulders forward. "Yeah, I know."

"I was going to say gorgeous," Sydney replied, earning another eyeroll from Zoe. "What are you all dressed up for?"

"The dance," Zoe said, praying her sister wouldn't ask any more questions.

Sydney halted, then narrowed her eyes as if trying to solve an equation. "Oh," she finally said. "Valentine's Day..." A strange, dreamy look passed over her sister's features. "I always forget about Valentine's Day. I never had any reason to celebrate it before."

"Before what?" Zoe asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sydney's expression widened oddly, deer in the headlights style. Then she smiled. "Nothing. Nevermind. I just meant...you know," she laughed. "Anyway, back to you! You're going to the dance?"

"No, I'm going kiteboarding." Zoe deadpanned.

"Alright, sass-a-frass." Sydney leaned in to tug on one of Zoe's curls. Zoe shook her off, groaning.

"You don't seem very excited," she frowned.

"Nothing to be excited about," Zoe shrugged. "I'm just going because...well you know, Princess Jillian will be there. And someone has to keep an eye on her."

Sydney's brow furrowed in confusion. "That's what Eddie and Neil are for."

"Well, Yeah," Zoe grumbled, realizing she was talking herself into a very tight corner. "But I just...I feel like I should be there. Too. I mean, you know. Whatever."

Her sister's smile had returned, this time with an annoying air of knowing about it. "Right. Well, okay. Even if you're just going on business, you look absolutely stunning. You're going to take his breath away."

"Whose?" Zoe sputtered, her heart beat going wild.

"Whoever the lucky guy who gets to call himself your date tonight is," Sydney chuckled.

"Oh," Zoe sighed, her anxiety dissipating slightly. "I'm not going with a date. Well, I mean...just nevermind." She paused, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her eyeliner was worse off than she thought, and her hair looked too Sunday School. It clashed with the dress. She sighed heavily and looked back toward her sister.

"Can you..." she said, feeling incredibly stupid, "Can you help me?"

"Of course!" Sydney's face lit up eagerly. "What do you need help with?"

"All of this," Zoe gestured to her face and hair. "Can you fix it?"

"What do you mean?" Sydney cocked her head to the side. "Fix what? You look lovely."

"Don't be nice!" Zoe whined. "Don't be all sistery. If I have to go through with this then I refuse to do it looking like an idiot."

"You're being ridiculous," Sydney said. Then, she leaned forward to gently rake her fingers through Zoe's tightly wound curls. She felt them loosen and settle around her face.

"There," Sydney said. "That looks really pretty."

"What about my makeup?" Zoe asked. "It's all wrong."

"No it's not," Sydney argued. "You just need to balance it out a little. Here." She rummaged through her purse and expelled a small pink tube. She ucapped it and started rubbing what looked like a permanent marker on Zoe's lips.

"What is this?" Zoe asked, rubbing her lips together uncomfortably.

"Lip stain," Sydney replied. When Zoe just stared at her, Sydney added, "It's like lip gloss, kind of. But drier. It sticks to your lips and the color lasts longer."

"Since when are you turning into Carly?" Zoe laughed.

Her sister laughed at that as well. "I'm definitely not that far gone. But I have been picking up a few things here and there. Being around fellow teen girls for 7 hours a day will do that to you."

"Hmm," Zoe turned to take another look in the mirror. Her lips were now stained a dusky berry color. Sydney was right. It did balance out the eyeliner. She still wasn't sold on the whole thing, but it looked better than it had before, at least.

"Perfect," Sydney nodded, smiling. "You'll be the prettiest girl there."

"Yeah, right." Zoe scoffed. "Anyway, it's not about looking pretty. I'm just there to do my job."

Sydney narrowed her eyes and Zoe knew full well that Sydney knew she wasn't telling her something.

"Well," she said after a moment. "Do you need me to give you a ride to the dance?"

"No," Zoe sighed, reaching for her own purse. "I was just going to take one of the supervised buses, but Neil insists on picking me up-"

Zoe stopped short. Sydney stopped short.

Oh.

Crap.

"I thought you said you weren't going with a date," Sydney said slowly.

Zoe tried to quiet the hummingbird in her chest. "I'm not. I mean-it's not like a real date, we're just going together because we both have to be there and Jill is there..." All this had sounded much more eloquent when Neil explained it. And made a lot more sense than the babbling mess that was coming out of Zoe's mouth right now.

"He asked me!" Zoe could feel her face heating up in frustration. "And I felt bad for him because, like, all the girls at school were practically harrassing him and we both agreed that humans and vampires should stay as far away from each other as possible. So we're just doing this because, well, we have to. You know." Her sister just stared at her with a strange, closed expression. Like she wanted to be expressing something else but was forcing her face to remain neutral.

Finally, Sydney broke her silence. "Zoe," she said carefully. "You don't have to explain yourself to me."

That was a first. Zoe raised her eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Sydney dropped her voice low "You can tell me anything, you know that right?"

It took Zoe a few seconds to realize what her sister was implying. When she did, she was furious.

"My God, Sydney." She breathed, shaking her head in disbelief. "I know you think I'm stupid, but do you honestly think I'm insane?"

"What?" Sydney's tone was shocked. "Zoe, of course I don't think you're stupid. I just-"

"Save it,"Zoe spat, pushing past her and toward the door. She turned, "You know, one of the main reasons I was so excited about coming to Palm Springs is because I'd finally be able to prove myself to you. I thought maybe you'd finally see that I'm not your immature baby sister anymore. That I'm perfectly capable of doing everything you do."

Her sister looked so stricken and Zoe didn't know why. She was the one on the defensive, here.

"But, seriously? I mean...seriously?" Zoe shook her head. "You'd actually go as far as to accuse me of something so utterly disgusting as having...some sort of relationship with one of them?" Just saying the words out loud made her want to vomit.

There were tears in her sister's eyes now. It seemed makeup tips weren't the only thing rubbing off on Sydney from her female peers. She was also now a drama queen. "Zoe, I never accused you of anything. And you don't have anything to prove to me. Listen to me, I-"

"I'm going to be late." Zoe said, even though she wasn't. "Just leave me alone. Go call dad and have a little best friend chat about how incompetent I am, or whatever it is you two talk about."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Sydney grabbed her arm, keeping her from darting out the door. "Zoe will you please just stay and talk to me for a minute?"

"Let go of my arm," Zoe said very slowly, tears stupidly welling up in her eyes. All she wanted was for her sister to understand where she was coming from. She'd always felt closer to Sydney than her other sister. Carly was sweet but she was so...far away. In every sense of the phrase. She had her own life and her own things, she didn't understand what it was like, taking the alchemist route. But Sydney did. Or at least she thought she did. But no. Apparently her sister was exactly like her father. Always judging and never understanding. No wonder she was his favorite. She'd never understand what it was like to feel so inadequate, to feel worthless, never good enough.

To her sister's credit, at least she knew when to back off. "I'm sorry, Zoe. I didn't mean to upset you," she said very quickly. "I didn't mean to imply...anything I just...nevermind. The point is, you look absolutely beautiful and I hope you have a nice night. That's all I want."

Throat too tight to speak, Zoe simply turned on her sister and left, praying with everything she had in her that Neil would already be waiting for her. Waiting alone in the parking lot would be a really lame thing to have to do post dramatic exit.

###

As it turned out, God was gracious. Zoe practically sprinted as soon as she saw Neil's undeniable profile in the driver's seat of a compact silver car. She gingerly wiped underneath her eyes to make sure they were clean and tear-free, then slipped silently into the passenger seat.

"You're early," she noted.

"I was just about to text you," Neil smiled, "You must be psychic."

"Hardly," Zoe rolled her eyes, though Neil's presence was strangely disintegrating her bad mood. At least now she had something else to focus on, like how annoying he was.

"Is this yours?" she asked, gesturing to the car.

"I rented it when I knew I was going to be working here," he explained, "Little did I know your sister and Adrian pretty much have the carpool thing locked tight. But I figured it still might come in handy, and I was right."

"You must be psychic," Zoe mocked in a monotone voice.

She turned to look at Neil when he didn't respond who was now eyeing her oddly. Great, now Neil thought she was a jerk. Not that it mattered what he thought of her.

"Sorry," she mumbled, clearing her throat.

"No, it's just...I just noticed your tattoo," Neil said. "Aren't you supposed to keep that covered?"

"My..." Zoe reached up to touch her face. "Oh...I forgot." Her mind flitted back to the conversation she'd just had with Sydney, ice splashing over her heart. "I can't...I don't know what to...I can't go back to my room." Her chest felt tight. Oh, God. She was not about to start crying in front of Neil Raymond. Her life could not possibly suck that much.

"No worries," Neil seemed unaffected by her withering emotional stability. "I'm sure it will be dark at the dance. And...oh!" He leaned forward suddenly, his hand reaching. She was too stunned to flinch away from his touch. He unpinned the clip securing a handful of her hair and it tumbled into her face. "There," he seemed pretty pleased with himself. "Problem solved."

Her hair was now effectively covering the side of her face where the tattoo was, but it was also covering half her eye. She shook her head slightly, willing the tousled waves to do her bidding. She blinked up at Neil. "But this looks stupid."

Neil's eyes went momentarily unfocused as he stared at her and she felt something twist in the pit of her stomach.

"You don't look stupid, Zoe." Neil said quietly, his hand reaching up again to lightly brush through her hair, placing it so that it covered the tattoo.

Under normal circumstances, she'd be going out of her mind with anxiety. Alone in a car with a cute boy. A cute boy she was going to a dance with. A cute boy who smelled like citrus and cedar wood. But these were not normal circumstances. Neil was a dhampir and- oh God. She was alone. With a dhampir. She swallowed, refusing to let herself freak out. She had a brief nightmare of him driving her to the middle of nowhere and every gory slasher movie she'd watched behind her father's back played out before her eyes. Neil was much bigger than her, certainly stronger. She'd never stand a chance if he...ugh. What was she thinking? This was Neil. Sure he was an evil creature of the night, but he was too much of a dork to even politely turn down a flock of female admirers, much less cause her any sort of harm. If anything, she felt safe being alone with him. She sighed, recalling the way he leaned in to her, his hand in her hair...that had been weird. Too weird. She didn't like how weird that was.

She furrowed her brow, turning to him sharply. The words were out of her mouth before she could think better of them, "Next time, ask before you touch me."

"Of course," He tore his gaze away from her and started the car. He cleared his throat and rolled his shoulders back, like he was trying to shake something off. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Zoe said, feeling bad again. Whenever he gave her that stupid frowny face she felt awful, even though she hadn't done anything wrong. "Just...ask next time."

Except there wouldn't be a next time, as Neil would never, ever be touching her again. She realized, then, that they were on there way to a dance. A dance where there would be dancing. A dance where it would look highly suspicious if Neil and Zoe were to show up, as 'dates', and not dance with each other. Okay. Revision: Neil would never, ever be touching her again...starting tomorrow.