Chapter one: Allayne and Bryan

San Francisco, California, now

School had started again. Lauryn walked through the gates of the school campus in her black uniform pants, white uniform shirt, red uniform sweater, and backpack. A short girl with long dark hair and a taller boy with short black hair and glasses ran to meet her.

"Lauryn!" the girl said. "Hi!"

"Hi, Allayne," Lauryn smiled. "Hey, Bryan."

"How did you spend all winter break without us?" Bryan said.

Lauryn rolled her eyes. "Yeah, how could I spend a whole two weeks without you?"

Allayne looked up at Lauryn. It sometimes bothered Lauryn that all her friends had to look up at her. It's not like 5'8 is unusual for a fourteen year old girl. Is it? "I heard a cousin of yours was staying at your house for a week," Allayne said.

"Well," Lauryn said. "He's not exactly a cousin. He's my dad's cousin's husband's third and twice removed cousin's son."

"Wow," Bryan's eyes opened wide. "That's complicated."

"Is he cute?" Allayne asked hopefully.

"Allayne!" Lauryn gasped.

"Well sorry, isn't it an eighth-grade girl's job to ask if her best friend's distant cousin is cute?"

"Would you think a black-haired, blue-eyed, Irish vampire was cute?"

Allayne drew back in disgust. "No way!"

"You wouldn't think my cousin's cute."

"So what did you do over break?" Lauryn asked her best friends.

"Well," Allayne began, "I went to Disneyland, then I went to China to visit my aunt."

"I just stayed home and did more work on my article for the school newspaper," Bryan said.

"Well, what do you know," Lauryn said. "Me too."

"Yeah, right," Allayne rolled her eyes. "Lauryn Jeffreys staying home all two weeks. As if!"

"Okay, okay," Lauryn looked around nervously. Then she leaned towards her friends and whispered, "would you believe I spent my weeks saving a secret, underground species from being discovered and destroyed, then went to that tourist attraction, Alcatraz, and rescued my fairy friend's partner from a gang and lost a ton of brain cells when my fairy friend saved me from being killed?"

Allayne and Bryan shook their heads. Lauryn sat back up and dug her spork into her school lunch. "I stayed home."

Lauryn and her friends walked out of the gates after school ended. A Bentley was parked outside. "Hey," Lauryn said, "Artemis came to pick me up."

"Artemis?" Allayne asked.

"My cousin."

"Oh."

Artemis Fowl II was leaning against the car. "Hey," Allayne said. "Lauryn, you liar. He is cute! How old is he? Fifteen?"

"Eighteen."

"God, he's old! Where's all the white hair and wrinkles?"

"Hello, Lauryn," Artemis said. "Your mother asked me to take you home before my family and I return to Ireland."

"Hi!" Allayne said, tossing her hair over her shoulder and blinking her long lashes. She was obviously taking advantage of her good looks. "Are you Artemis? Lauryn has told me so much about you. So you come from Ireland? I've been there before. It's simply gorgeous. I'm so glad to have met you. From what Lauryn says, you're very charming and intelligent. What a lovely car! Do you drive?"

"Allayne!" Lauryn hissed. "Shut up!"

"Ah," Artemis raised one eyebrow, "yes, and yes and no. Very nice to meet you too."

"So you don't drive? Who's driving your dad?"

"No, my bodyguard."

"So you're rich?"

"Allayne!" Lauryn snapped. "Will you shut up?"

"Yes, actually," Artemis said, checking his manicured nails. "I believe if you were of higher intelligence and less concerned of your appearance, you would have heard of me."

Allayne scowled.

WHOOHOO!! First chapter done! How was that? I like Allayne. She's funny. Hopefully I'll find room for her in the future. R&R!!