Thunder erupted in my head with such intensity I whimpered. Ouch. "Stupid… stupid…" I groaned with regret. My muddled mind tried to remember last night. Not much came through. I remembered the bright flashing lights of the party, and my best friend Alexis Greyson and me dancing our hearts out. "Ugh…" She'd gotten me drunk, again, and by the feel of this hangover, I'd been really wasted. That was saying something, too, since vampires getting drunk was about five times harder than humans.

My cell phone rang and I growled at it, but held it a little away from my ear as I pressed the talk button. "What?" My voice was sharp and barely understandable from the deep sleep I'd been in.

"Viv, girl, how's the head?" It was Alexis, her voice high and bright. I wanted to kill her. She'd let me do this.

"Ugh, shut up, Alexis. You know how the head is. How much did you let me drink anyways? I feel like there's a parade going on in my head with lots and lots of drums." My hand wandered up to my head, attempting to massage the hangover from hell away.

She laughed quietly. "I can see someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Anyways, it wasn't my fault. I tried to tell you it was enough, but you kept going. You were hell-bent to get drunk." She paused. "I wouldn't have stopped you anyways, after…" She didn't have to say anything.

We both knew the real reason why I'd gotten drunk. It was to erase the memories, erase the pain, if only for just a night. I'd had a reprieve and Alexis wouldn't have made me stop for the world. She cared, and she knew that if I felt the best way to deal with my grief was to get drunk every now and then, than she wouldn't stop me. She wouldn't let me become a hopeless alcoholic either.

"So…" She said. It was a warning of her next words. "How are you doing, Viv? We haven't really talked about what happened with your dad… And I don't want to push you but… Shouldn't you talk about it? At least to me? It would be better for you." Her voice was sad and sympathetic.

A lump grew in my throat, and I swallowed, trying not to let the tears that threatened to fall. "Alexis…" I took a deep breath. "I don't need to talk about it. I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I will get over it. What happened was… It was tragic. I'm doing better though. I just… Sometimes getting drunk takes the edge off." I was lying, and I knew she knew. I wasn't getting over it, and I did need to talk. But the tragic death of my dad wasn't easy to talk about. I missed him more than anyone could ever know, and my grief was so immense, but… I couldn't talk about it.

She didn't press me. "Okay." With the ease of a dancer, she changed the subject. "So, how do you feel about the new change in the school systems? Intense, huh? Vampires with werewolves… It's unthinkable. I can't believe they would decide to do something like that. There's already been at least three fights break out between some of the groups."

I nodded, thankful for the subject change. It'd get my dad off my mind for a while. "Yeah, I know. I was surprised to see them at the beginning of the year, but I'm getting used to it. The werewolves aren't that bad, but some of the vampires and werewolves are a little prejudiced against the other."

"A little?" She scoffed. "One group of werewolves nearly ate up one of us. Truthfully, I'm a little scared of them… Werewolves are so… unpredictable. They're so angry all the time, I'm afraid one of them is just going to decide to kill me one of these days."

My eyebrows drew together in confusion. She was afraid? "But they haven't done anything to you…"

"Everyone I know of is afraid of them… There's talk that the werewolves are going to try to kill us all…"

Checking my bedside alarm clock, I gently sat up, careful of my pounding migraine. "Alexis, don't worry about those rumors, they're usually never true. But, hey, I need to get ready for school. See you in an hour?"

Alexis gave me one last sigh. "Yeah, yeah, see you later."

A grin spread across my lips. Our friendship was thicker than a concrete wall and ten times as strong. I'd been one of those fortunate people to make a friend like her. We were best friends, and nothing could come between that.