~Cafeteria of Whitechapel High, 11:05 p.m.~

Ethan sat down next to Sarah at the table and gave a weak smile.

"How'd your exam go?" he asked, taking a bite of pizza.

"Eh, pretty good," she said, shrugging.

"So," Benny slid closer to Erica, wiggling his eyebrows. "Do you want to thank me for helping you with that exam?" He puckered his lips as Erica stared at him is disgust and slapped him upside the head.

"Not in my undead life," she hissed back at him, but much to her surprise, he didn't move farther away, he just continued to place mini chocolate doughnut on his pizza.

"What are you doing, Benny? And how do you even come up with this…. stuff?" Sarah asked, wrinkling her nose.

"Well, you see," Benny took a giant bite of pizza and doughnut. "There was this one time where I had a doughnut. And pizza. And I dropped the doughnut. On the pizza. And then I had to go… do something. And when I came back, the chocolate had melted, and I couldn't let the pizza go to waste! So I ate it. And thus!" He held up the pizza slice. "A gourmet meal was made!" He took another big bite. Sarah rolled her eyes. Erica scooted away from Benny a little. Ethan just thoughtfully chewed on a bite of pepperoni pizza.

"So what's up with you?" Sarah turned to Ethan who tensed slightly.

"Uh.. What? N… Nothing," He mumbled, and averted his gaze from Sarah's eyes. He couldn't look into those beautiful, chocolate brown eyes without spilling everything that had happened before the exam. And this was not the place to talk about evil pixies on the loose. He sighed and took a drink of his Mountain Dew.

"Hey waittt!" Benny pointed at Ethan's glass. "Why is Ethan allowed to have Mountain Dew but you guys get mad at me when I get it…"

"Because when you drink soda, you go insane." Erica said, smirking as she tipper her own glass of soda into her mouth.

"But you don't even need thattt!" Benny pouted, and Erica stuck his tongue out at him. The two started squabbling, and Sarah turned back to Ethan.

"Really, Ethan," Sarah furrowed her brow. "What's going on? I can tell something's up, come on, tell me!" Ethan glanced around. He couldn't keep anything from Sarah.. Only the fact that he was crazy for her, of course.

"Okay, so, this morning before the exams…"

"Ethan! Hey, hey, Ethan! Benny! " Rory stood in the cafeteria doorway. "Guys!" He waved wildly to them, and Ethan groaned.

"I'm so sorry, Sarah. I need to see what he wants." Ethan stood as Sarah looked at him quizzically. Had Ethan really just left her for Rory?

'It must have something to do with what's bothering him…' She though as Ethan stood and grabbed his book bag.

"Benny, come on." Ethan put his hand on Benny's shoulder, who was still arguing about whatever with Erica.

"Hun?" Benny asked turning around to look up at Ethan.

"Rory. Outside. Now."

"Okay…" Benny frowned. "You have to thank me later," he said, teasing Erica, who hissed at him, but it wasn't as harsh as usual. Benny got up, grabbed his backpack, and they headed out the door and walked over to Rory

"What is it, Rory? Did you find the pixie?" Ethan whispered as the three walked a little down the hallway.

"What? The pixie?" Rory stared blankly at Ethan. "Oh yeah! No, I didn't find Mr. Pixie…" His face fell and looked out a window. "Aww… poor Mr. Pixie…" Benny face-palmed.

"Ethan, really? You dragged me out of lunch for nothing? Good thing I snuck these in my pocket…" He pulled out the rest of the mini doughnuts that he hadn't put on his pizza. Ethan slapped them out of his hand and onto the floor. Benny pouted as Ethan turned back to Rory.

"Rory. What did you want to tell us?"

"Uh, I dunno. Oh yeah! Can I come over and play that videogame you guys hacked tonight?" Benny and Ethan groaned.

"Rory. You don't pull someone away from talking to babes to ask about video games!" Benny sighed. "However, yeah, Ethan! Let's do it! Please, buddy?" He asked as Ethan shook his head.

They had to deal with the pixies! But… they weren't doing any harm yet. And there was more than just one on the lose. They had probably just flown to some happy fields of flowers to frolic with gophers or something.

"Fine you guys," Ethan smiled. "But remember, kill the queen then go for the droids."

The bell rang.

Benny sighed. "Chem time."

"Yup," Ethan agreed.

"Let's go blow up stuff!" Rory said excitedly, and the three boys headed off to the lab

~Back in the Cafeteria~

The bell rang.

Erica sighed and stood. "Ug. AP Bio."

"Psh, Erica you're going to do amazing, no matter if you act like you don't care anymore or not." Sarah picked up her bag and put it over her shoulder.

"What do you have now?" Erica picked up her pencil off the table and begin walking to the door with Sarah.

"Physics…" She rolled her eyes. Erica winced in sympathy as the halls started to fill with noise and students who rushed around, trying to cram in some last minute studying.

"I'll pick up a snack for us to have after school before I come over tonight."

"Erica…" Sarah's voice had a hint of worry in it, causing Erica to chuckle.

"I'm just going to get some popcorn and," She smiled, "Your favorite candy."

"Like… real favorite candy, like Skittles? Or "favorite" in SeedMints, which I hate?"

"Real favorite."

"You're the best."

"I know, I know." Erica smiled, but it soon faded when a burly teen ran into her. "Watch where you're going, jerk!" She hissed without dropping her fangs, returning to the normal, cold attitude that most people knew her to have. The teen paused and looked down at her. Something about his gaze made her feel nervous, but she just scowled at him and continued down the hallway.

"Who was that?" Sarah asked with concern.

"I don't know.." She looked over her shoulder to try and spot the boy in the black shirt and dark jeans who had just run into her, but all she couldn't find him. She narrowed her eyes. "But I don't like him."

"He's just some weirdo, don't let it get in your head, you kick-ass vampiress, you."

Erica smiled and Sarah, but then she returned to her stony expression. "I've been hanging out with you and the geeks too much, I'm starting to act nice again! I only have a week left, Sarah. I need to keep up my Scariest Senior reputation for just a little longer."

Sarah rolled her eyes at her friends antics. "If being feared is what makes you happy…."

"It does!"

"Whatever," Sarah teased, and stopped in front of her classroom. She gave Erica a little forced smile.

"Good luck," Erica said, giving Sarah a quick hug.

"Same to you." Sarah opened the door and took a seat as Erica kept walking to her class.

Benny glanced out the window of the lab just in time to see Erica's blond hair flowing past. He gripped his pencil a little tighter and looked down at the bare desk.

Chem time.

Science.

The thing Erica had helped him with after he had tutored her with Calculus.

Not a smart idea. Now everything that the talked about was clouded with memories of her making snarky comments at him, but in a more teasing, not rude, way. And how she looked. And how their hands would occasionally brush over the page of the textbook. Darn getting distracted during exams… Not fun. But still… Erica…

Ethan glanced over at Benny who had his head propped up on his fists and was staring off blankly in the distance. Ethan rolled his eyes. At least he wasn't going to be the only one distracted during the test.

The tests were passed out, the bell rung and the boys began. Or well, Benny and Ethan did. Rory was busy doodling space cats on his paper.

Erica whisked into the Biology lab. She gave a hint of a smile as the boys in the class glanced up at her, all their thoughts obvious in their eyes and expressions. Sure, most of them were nerds, but there were a few hotties in the class. She could sense the jealousy of the other girls as she walked pat them.

It felt good to be popular.

The test was passed out. She quickly scanned the first page and smirked.

It also felt good to still be as smart as she ever was, but without all the nerdy connotations.

~Hallway of Whitechapel High, 2:05 p.m.~

"Day One status: complete!" Benny said, walking out of the classroom, stretching. "Video game time!"

"Yeah! More explosions!" Rory exclaimed, grinning.

"Yeah… but there weren't supposed to be any explosions during our chem test, Rory." Ethan cringed at the memory.

"But it was still cool," Rory said, his face going blank as he though about it.

"It was pretty awesome.." Benny high-fived Rory, and the two headed towards the door out of the school.

"I'm going to go grab a snack first! Of the vampire kind." And with that, Rory flashed off.

Benny and Ethan kept walking, chatting about the exams, the impending zombie apocalypse, and best video game strategies, and the though of the little pixies was far from the forefront of Ethan's mind.

Hello All!

I'm really sorry for the long break between the last chapter and this one, writer's block. Ug.

And this isn't the best chapter ever... But it's necessary, plot-wise.

I hope you forgive my lateness and get back into the story!

Thank you guys so much for all the reviews! It means a lot.

~Zanna