Author's Note: Here's chapter two! YEEEEEEY!

PS: This is written in NEEDY'S POV.

CHAPTER TWO: Really Dark and Emotional and Stuff

The cemetery was freakishly quiet. It was early in the morning, and in Devil's Kettle, no one needs alarm clocks because of the damn birds. It's like buying a nature sound CD and having it stay on track 03-Loud Fucking Birds.

But today, no birds chirped. The only sound I could hear was a quiet sniffling that seemed to ripple through the crowd.

I kept twisting my hands around nervously and glancing every which way. I was sure I'd see Colin lurking behind a mourner or standing just to my right or something, but I saw no sign of him.

Colin's mother was still. Corpselike. It was awful.

Jennifer wasn't there. I checked.

Towards the end, some of the Dead Kids got restless. One of them said, "Colin wouldn't have liked this."

Colin's mom stepped forward. "No, I'm pretty sure Colin wouldn't have liked being eaten by a fucking cannibal before his eighteenth birthday. By the time they found Colin in that godforsaken house, he looked like lasagna with teeth. I'd know- I had to identify the remains. My boy's not in the realm of the undead. He's not flying around in the firmament with magical wings of flame. He's in an overpriced rosewood box that's headed six feet downtown." She began to sob, sinking to her knees.

I felt sick just watching. I turned around, prepared to go home.

Colin stood at the far edge of the cemetery. His hands were stuck in his pocket, and he pushed his lip ring around with his tongue. Hair hung in front of his eyes, making his expression unreadable. I turned back towards the crowd. No one else could see him, they were so fixated on the coffin. I wondered what was inside that box–sandbags? A dummy? What had the funeral director done when he found out there was no corpse?

When I turned around again, Colin wasn't standing there. Instead, he leaned against an enormous headstone, one with a marble angel standing atop it, its head bowed studiously in prayer. Damp streaks ran down his pale cheeks, and his shoulders trembled slightly. The sight of him crying twisted my stomach into knots. I tried to smile at him, but the corners of my mouth twitched inevitably downwards. I couldn't imagine how he must have felt, watching his mother like that.

After the funeral, I headed home and went up to the bathroom. I unzipped my black dress and tossed it over the toilet, reaching down to take off my baggy tights. The moment I stepped out of them, my phone rang. I scooped it up.

"H-Hello?"

"Hey, Needy."

I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't know who I'd expected–Jennifer, possibly. "Hi, Chip. How are you?"

"I'm fine. Where've you been?"

"Um, Colin Gray's funeral."

"Oh." He paused. "I'm sorry."

"It was awful, Chip." I sat on the rim of the bathtub, pushing my glasses up my nose. "His mom, like...I don't even know. It's just too much to handle, you know? First the fire at Melody Lane, then Jonas Kasellas, then this."

"Yeah, you two were pretty tight, huh?"

I could detect the hint of jealousy in Chip's voice. I blushed, thinking back on the night before, when Colin had paid his little visit.

"I don't know. I guess we were friends."

"Do you want to hang out today, babe?"

"Not today. I'm feeling a little drained."

"Oh. Alright." His voice dropped in disappointment. "See you at school, Needy."

The line went dead. I hurled my phone at the door. It bounced off, landing on my balled-up dress.

"I am such an idiot," I muttered.

There was a soft knock at the door. "Needy?"

"Colin?" I stood up and snatched my dress up off the floor, yanking it over my head in case he opened the door.

"Can I come in?"

"Y-yeah. Come on in." I laughed, my voice high and nervous.

He came in. The morning mist had dampened his hair, and it pressed close to his cheeks, curling gently. His rosary caught the bathroom light as it dangled from his wrist and set a tiny spray of silvery dots across the wall.

"Could I take a shower or something? I'm feeling a tad...bloody."

"Sure. I don't have any clothes you could change into or anything, though..."

"My clothes are fine." He brushed past me and I slipped out of the bathroom, closing the door softly behind me. I heard the hot water turn on and the sound of something unzipping. Sighing, I headed to my room.

As I was pulling on some normal clothes, my phone buzzed again. I flipped it open and pressed it to my cheek with my shoulder as I tugged on some jeans. "Chip?"

"No, it's Jennifer, four-point-oh. It's called Caller ID, hello?"

"Sorry. I wasn't paying attention."

"Wanna hang out? I just got Twilight on Netflix, and I am having another Edward crave."

"What, do fanged things attract?" I murmured, mostly to myself.

"Huh?"

"Um, nothing. I can't. I have...chores and, uh, stuff. You know."

"I swear to God, you are always busy. Is Chip over there boinking you or something?"

"No. God!"

"Just asking. Maybe he wants to watch Twilight with me..."

"I gotta go, Jen." I hung up and switched my cell off. Who did she think she was?

Oh, my God. Is Chip gonna be her next Snackscapade? I sank down onto the bed, burying my head in my hands.

"Uh, Needy?"

I looked up. Colin stood in front of me.

"You shower fast."

"Yeah, I can do a lot of stuff faster now." The corner of his mouth turned up. "Thanks for coming to the funeral."

"Hey, no problem," I replied, trying to keep my voice under control. "I'm sorry."

"You didn't do anything."

"I know. But I still am, Colin. Nobody deserves that."

He fiddled with his rosary. The metal beads clacked together gently.

I gnawed on my thumbnail. "Colin, I have to tell you something."

"What?"

"I think Jen's going after Chip next."

He was silent for a moment. "What makes you think that?"

"She's been talking about him so much lately, about how cute he looks all of the sudden and stuff. And I think she's targeting him." I looked into his eyes. "I need you to, I don't know, protect Chip or something. Keep him out of harm's way until we can figure out how to defeat her." I watched his face for a reaction. "Will you?"

He came forward and knelt in front of me, taking my hands in his. His fingers were long and white, studded with rings and ending in black-painted nails. "Needy," he said softly. "I promised you I'd be one of the good guys, and I fully intend to be. You've trusted me up until now, so I will look after Chip, if that's what you want."

I blushed. His hands were really warm. His skin seemed to glow with heat, the way Jennifer's did after she'd fed. "Thank you, Colin," I managed. "Thank you so much." Gently, I disentangled one of my hands from his and touched the side of his face. His eyes found mine again.

"You're so warm," I whispered.

"Am I?" He closed his eyes briefly. "I can't tell. Your hands are cold."

A moment later, he stood up. "I'm going to run to my house real quick. I need to grab some clothes, figure out where I'll be staying from now on, that kind of thing."

"Stay here!" I blurted out without thinking. I shrunk back a little. "I mean, if that's okay. I'm just saying, I don't want you sleeping outside or something."

"Really?" He smiled his half-smile and my stomach did a little flip.

"Y-yeah. Absolutely. Just be cutty, okay? My mom will freak if she knows some guy she's never met is living here. Especially since you're not my boyfriend."

For a moment, it looked as though he was going to say something. Then he turned away.

"I'll be back soon. Thanks again."

"No problem."

He slipped quietly outside my door. I heard his footsteps going down my stairs and to the front hall. As the front door opened, I raced downstairs and grabbed the door handle before the door swung shut. Pushing it open, I peered outside. Colin had just walked outside the door, and I couldn't see him anywhere. He really is like Jennifer, I thought as I closed the door.

"Where's it at, Monistat?"

"SHIT, Jennifer!" I shrieked, whirling around. "Could you, like, clear your throat or something next time?"

"But this is fun," she bubbled. "It's like being James Bond or something. No one sees me coming, so I have the best entrances."

"What do you need?" I snapped, knowing I sounded pretty bitchy. I would have felt bad had Jennifer not been a cannibalistic she-monster who preyed on adolescent boys.

Unfortunately, she was said creature, and I didn't feel bad.

"I just want to hang out, Needy. You don't have to go all Samuel L. Jackson on me! We're BFFs, remember?" she dangled the friendship necklace in front of my eyes.

Freaking sandbox love.

"Yes, I remember. But Jen–why do you have to do these things?"

"Do what?" she pouted, placing a hand on her hip and looking at me with big doe eyes.

"You know exactly what. Jonas, Colin, Ahmet–and now who? Chip? Is that who you're shooting for next?"

"Needy, Needy, Needy," she sighed, shaking her head. "Poor Needy. So insecure about her relationship with her boyfriend. That can't be fun for Chip, can it? He must be getting kind of sick of it."

"Jennifer, stop it!" I shouted, shoving her. She stumbled an inch or two and looked at me with dead eyes.

"Best you can do, Lesnicki? We both know that threw down, you'd be corned beef hash."

"I'm not scared of you," I hissed, too angry to be scared.

She stepped forward and grabbed my arms, pinning them to the wall above my head. I struggled against her, but her hands were like two vises.

Her glossy black head swooped down, and her mouth found my shoulder. She tore the fabric of my t-shirt away with her teeth, leaving a ragged hole where my neck and shoulder met. She kissed the flesh, softly, almost lovingly, and then sank her teeth into my skin.

I screamed. Nothing had ever hurt so bad. It was the sting you got from scraping your knee, magnified by a hundred and combined with a white-hot wire burning sensation.

"Je-JENNIFER!"

She giggled and released me. Blood coated her lips.

I sank to the floor and balled myself up, staring at her with fearful eyes. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"And that's only a taste of what you'll get next time you try to get in my way, sugar pie."

I closed my eyes for a moment, willed the pain to go away. When I opened them, she had left, leaving only the backdoor swinging as if in some phantom breeze.

Struggling to my feet, I hurried down the hall to the bathroom. Specter, my albino ferret, scampered across the floor, looking for all the world like a baby ghost. I couldn't help it. I let out another shriek.

Inside the bathroom I took my t-shirt off to inspect the damage. The wound sung with a sharp pain as though it were a bee sting, and the edges were pinkish, like raw chicken. I scrambled through the medicine cabinet for bandages and ointment, knocking aside my mom's pill bottles in the process. I slapped them on with all the precision of a blind four-year-old, sobbing all the while. Knowing Jennifer had lost whatever connection to me she'd ever had hurt worse than the wound itself.

I heard the front door open and shut, and half-expecting it to be Colin, I rushed to put my shirt back on.

Instead, it was Chip. He grinned nervously, leaning against the doorframe. "Sorry, the door was unlocked. I got worried and wanted to check up on you."

"Oh, how sweet." I forced a smile onto my face.

"Why are you grimacing like that? You look like Dolly Parton."

"It was supposed to be a smile," I grumbled.

He took a longer look at me. "What happened to your arm?"

Hastily, I covered the mass of Band-Aids with my hand. "Specter, uh, bit me. It's nothing serious."

"Maybe you should change your shirt, though."

"Yeah, maybe," I replied, trying to sound cheery.

He grabbed me around the waist. "Or maybe you should just take it off." His voice was warm and soothing, breath caressing my neck and sending delicious goosebumps up and down my arms. The thought that Jennifer would ever try to take him from me was more than I could bear.

I stood on my tiptoes and took my glasses off, shoving them in my pocket. I kissed him softly on the mouth as I ignored the residual ache in my shoulder.

His hands slid beneath my t-shirt and pushed the fabric up my back and over my head. I shrugged it off and threw it on the ground, taking him by the hand and leading him into the living-room. I pulled him down onto the couch and flipped over so I was on top of him, and then I reached back and tried to get my bra off. My fingers snagged and tangled in the fabric, and I let out an exasperated sigh.

"I could help you," he murmured, reaching up.

"Alright," I giggled. I leaned down and kissed his nose, gently grinding my hips against the bulge in his jeans. I had a million fears nagging in my head, but I wanted a moment of happiness with a boy I was scared to lose.

Can you blame me for that? I asked silently, turning my eyes to the brass statue of JC on the cross that rested on our sidetable.

Jesus' expression didn't change, but I'm sure he didn't blame me. I'm sure the Messiah would've wanted to spend some quality tiempo with his boo.

Author's Note: I tried really hard to keep in character with Needy, which wasn't easy. I think the hardest part was writing the dialogue, since they had all this slang and all these references in the movie. I hope it worked, at least sort of. Please review!