Hi, this is the first thing I've ever written. I'm not a writer, but after reading this series and finding this great website, I just had to submit this story. I hope you guys love it. Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Strange Angels.

I woke up with the lights glaring at me from the closet. I shot straight up in bed. What the hell? Someone was in my closet. I heard clothes hangers screeching across the rail and a couple of drawers opening and shutting. I reached under my pillow to get the gun that I always kept there. Now that I had no one sleeping in my room with me, I needed all the extra protection I could get. I looked up quickly to my door. All the locks were still in place. How the hell did someone get in my room then?

Christophe? No it couldn't be him. He hasn't come through my window since Graves had left over seven months ago. He doesn't even talk to me other than at council meetings or when he's yelling at me during sparring lessons. Geese, I had told him I wasn't ready to decide if he could have a shot at a dating me, but that didn't mean ignore me. Then again, he had said he would never push me, and I'm not about to push back. Not yet at least. But the way he acts around me now confuses the hell out of me. He doesn't act like my Christophe anymore. I'm not even sure if he is interested in me anymore. Hell, I'm still not sure if I even wanted him to be interested. These past few months have been sort of peaceful without dealing with the whole Graves and Christophe issue.

Graves, now there's something I didn't need to think about. Not one single word from him since he left, not to me directly at least. He still kept in touch with Dibs and Shanks, but he has not once ever asked or said anything about me. He always asked if everyone was safe and ok and if there had been any attacks on the schola, but never anything directly about me.

There hasn't been one single attack since the death of Sergei. And forget about me going out on a mission with everyone else. When I begged and pleaded with Christophe to let me and assured him I could handle it, he had said "Not a chance, you are not allowed to go on a mission until your entire training is complete and even then there will be no promises. We are going to keep you safe at all costs. We won't risk it." And of course the entire council agreed. What was up with that? I'm supposed to be the head of the council, and what I say goes right? But I didn't push it any further. I had vowed I would never use my authority just to get what I wanted. I would never become what Anna was, a selfish dictator. Especially since I respected my council too much, and I knew they were right. I definitely needed to finish my training. I couldn't always rely on Anna's memory skills.

Just then a shiver ran all over my body. Damn it's cold in here. I realized that I'm feeling cold air coming in through the window. I looked over to see that the window is jarred all the way open. I didn't taste any danger candy, but the last few times I was under attack it hadn't always warned me in time or wasn't as strong as it should be. The wards were still there too which should've kept anything that meant to harm me out. I edged my way out of the bed trying not to make a sound and headed over to stand behind the nook of the closet door. I clicked the safety off the gun as silently as possible. There's no way it was Christophe, but he's the only one that ever came through my window. If it was him, why the hell was he in my closet?

Just as soon as I clicked off the safety, the person in my closet stopped shuffling the clothes hangers. "Dru...Are you up?" Nat said with scared shitless shake in her voice. I must have just scared her as much as she scared me.

"Jesus Nat! You scared the hell out of me!"

I didn't realize I will still standing in attack mode until she said "Um Dru, are you going to put the gun away before I come out or are you still planning on shooting me for waking you up?"

I gave out a short chuckle. "Oh. Sorry. So what's up and why did you sneak into my room through the window?" She smirked.

"Duh Dru, we are going to sneak out and do a little shopping for tonight. I was about to wake you as soon as I got your clothes ready."

Ugh shopping. I have had enough shopping last summer to last me the rest of my life. I had promised myself that I would let Nat take me shopping without complaint if I lived to ever see her again. That was right before I killed Sergei. And since I did survive and found myself back in the safety of the schola, I owned up to the promise. She was totally shocked beyond belief the first time we went when I didn't complain at all. Not one peep came out of me. She took me everywhere; Saks Fifth Avenue, Dolce and Gabanna, Bloomingdales, Barneys, and Nordstrom. But my favorites were at Betsy Johnson and True Religion.

After we hit just about every store there was in New York, we jetted off to Paris and Milan. I couldn't decide who was more thrilled, Nathalie or Benjamin. They were both still in shock that I wasn't complaining and actually enjoying the shopping that. Neither one of them would stop suggesting new stores to visit until we were all exhausted. We must have spent an entire month in Europe just shopping. The only reason we came back was because school was about to start back and Christophe wouldn't stop complaining about not being in the protection of the schola grounds. I mean come on, we had taken twenty extra guards besides my own personal four plus Christophe and we hadn't even come close to an attack.

When we got back to the schola I had so many new clothes, shoes, and handbags that they had to convert the room next to mine into one gigantic closet. I couldn't believe how much we had gotten, how much I had gotten. And now that she was suggesting another shopping trip I couldn't help but say "Shopping? Really, don't I have enough already?"

Nat frowned. "So I guess the pod has left the building and your back to the old you?"

I quickly recovered myself with a cheerful smile. I am not about to upset my best friend over something so trivial. "No, it's just, what's so special about tonight that we need to go out and get something new?"

She perked up and started bouncing up and down like a little puppy. "Because it's New Year's Eve. Did you forget about the party we were having in your room tonight? The whole gang is going to be here. And since it's a holiday party we need to get something extra special."

I sighed, ugh I had forgotten its New Year's Eve and I stupidly agreed to have this party in my room. Everyone kept arguing that even though Nat was the only other one that had a private room, mine was obviously the better choice since I have the bigger room and nicer furniture. When they converted the room next to mine into my new closet they had actually extended the adjoining wall back further into the other room giving me more space to add an entire living area in my original room. I argued furiously because I hated the extra special treatment, but as always no one would have it my way. "A svetocha deserves the best, so you will have the best." I quit arguing with them, especially since my little inner circle of friends got so excited to have their own private hang out spot. All the boys have to share dorm rooms and common areas with everyone else. Fights break out constantly because there aren't enough TVs and video games to keep everyone occupied.

They brought in the most comfortable U-shaped sectional sofa I've ever sat in. It's dark grey with microfiber suede material and could sit at least ten people. On the left side of the sectional, instead of the traditional love seat, it had a chaise which was hands down my spot to lie on and everyone knew it. Since my room was now the hang out spot, I had an 80" LED flat screen TV installed for the boys. Supposedly it was also a smart TV, whatever that means, and they were so stoked about it. I also made sure that every gaming console was available for them along with all the games they could ever wish for. It was nice having them always in my room with me. It kept my mind off of Graves and Christophe and everything off else that had happened.

"So do we have everything we need for the party?" I asked, and by everything, I meant my good friend Mr. Jim Beam and coke. If we were going to have an actual party then I was going to actually have a good time or at least pretend to.

Her mouth quirked up into a small smile "No we don't actually, that's the reason we are sneaking out so that we can sneak Mr. Beam back in."

So that's why she nearly scared me to death. We haven't snuck out like this in ages. "OK then what the hell are we waiting for? Toss me my clothes." She handed me my favorite pair of True Religion jeans along with my Betsy Johnson military style black leather jacket and a black sleeveless cow neck sweater. I grabbed some socks and slipped on my military boots. Now that I'm fully bloomed, the jump from my three story bedroom window was as easy and graceful as a cat leaping down from a tree.