Yay! Chapter 3 has arrived! I hope you like it! Going back, I discovered several grammatical errors in Chapter 2! *gasp* Hopefully they won't drive me insane. Hopefully. Anyway... for the disclaimers... I don't own a lot of things, including Twilight, chicken casserole, the news channel, baked radishes, and Purina cat food. The only things I own are Amelia Rose and Marbles. And a few other characters I invented myself. Enjoy the chapter, R&R!

When I arrived at home, my thoughts were no more untangled than they had been at school. To add to the mental burden, I had loads of math homework, a grammar worksheet, and a science fair paper due tomorrow. It was going to be a busy night. At least I was almost done with the science fair paper!

Digging my house key out of my jeans, I inserted it into the lock and turned the knob. The door swung open to reveal the cozy but simple home that I shared with my mother. My father lived in Chicago, where his job was. When he had enough, he sent money home for us. He usually didn't have enough.

I closed the door behind me. My sweatshirt being somewhere in the lost-and-found, I had basically frozen to death on the way home. The house wasn't much better. I dumped my backpack next to the stairs and went over to the thermostat. Why was it set at such a low temperature? I nudged it up several degrees higher, wondering halfheartedly if there were icicles growing on the staircase.

I entered the kitchen, calling my cat Marbles' name. (By the way, Marbles is styled after my sweet cat, Elvis. I don't know why I chose the name Marbles. Also, Marbles is a lot lazier than Elvis is!) He usually hung out on the kitchen counter, and he was there this time. Marbles opened one large green eye to regard me imperiously. Deciding that I was actually worth his attention, he raised himself to his paws. Marbles' dark grey fur gleamed in the sunlight. The grey almost looked blue in the sun. Slowly, Marbles walked across the counter, stretching one leg at a time. With Marbles' regal airs and lofty expressions, it was comical to see his plump, furry belly.

I gathered him up in my arms, burying my nose in his fur. He smelled like nothing else in the world, like nothing I could describe. Marbles squirmed, mewling for his food. I put him down on the floor and, at his glaring command, poured a cup of Purina cat food into his bowl, which was located next to the refrigerator. Marbles immediately buried his nose in his food bowl and ignored me.

Feeling a bit more cheerful, I dragged my backpack up the stairs and into my room. My room was decorated mainly in purple, which was my favorite color. The bedspread and pillowcase were lavender, as were the rug on the floor and the lamp on my desk. I walked over to my desk and took everything out of my backpack. I stacked my math and grammar books on the desk, and put my science fair stuff and my pencil case on top. Sitting on the worn grey desk chair that had belonged in my dad's office—now my mother's art room—I sighed. I really didn't want to start my homework.

Trudging downstairs again, I walked into the kitchen. Marbles was still eating. I think he ate about 30% of the day and slept for 60% of it. The last 10% of his time went to doing other activities, such as going to the bathroom.

Opening the refrigerator, I wrinkled my nose thoughtfully as I regarded the contents. Potato salad. Green beans. Chicken casserole. Baked radishes—eew. Out of all the options, I chose a bit of chicken casserole and a dollop of potato salad for dinner. My mom wouldn't be home for a while. We rarely had dinner together, unless it was a weekend. I tossed the food into the microwave and washed my hands using the 'daisies and clean cotton' antibacterial hand soap that my mom loved.

As I waited for the meal to heat up, I let my mind wander to thoughts that I had tried to ignore all the way home. The bronze-haired girl. Who was she? I really wanted to get to know her. Maybe tomorrow I could talk to her. But wouldn't it be embarrassing if she ignored me again? And besides, a pretty, sporty girl like her was sure to get sucked in by the popular crowd, and I definitely couldn't compete with that.

Ding! (No, Vampiregirl8484, it is not what you think!) The microwave announced triumphantly that its job was done.

I took the food out, threw away the paper towel I had put over it so that no unfortunate explosions would stain the insides of the microwave, and sat down at our wooden, four-person table. I poured myself a glass of milk and put that down too. I gathered a knife and fork and sat down to eat.

As I put the first bite in my mouth, the phone rang. Rolling my eyes, I got up to answer it.

"Hello?" I asked, hurriedly swallowing my first too-hot bite of casserole.

"Amelia, honey? Is that you?" my mom's voice reached my ears.

"Mom, who else would it be?"

"I'm just checking, baby. I wanted to let you know that I'll be home later tonight. Bethany's on vacation this week and they need me overtime in the office. Is that okay?"

"I guess."

"I wish I could come home, too, but the doctors need me. What are you having for dinner?"

"Nothing fancy…just some leftover casserole and that potato salad you made."

"Why don't you try some of those baked radishes? You said you liked them!" my mom said.

I tried to hide my horror at the very thought. I'd only said I liked the radishes so that I wouldn't upset Mom's feelings. "No, I think I'm good."

"Do you have a lot of homework?"

"Yeah, but I'll probably finish it before you come home."

"Okay, baby. I need to go. Don't go to bed too late!"

"Bye, mom."

I hung up the phone and returned to my food. My mom worked as a receptionist at the doctor's office. The pay wasn't stellar, but it kept us afloat, in more ways than one.

As I ate, I thought about that strange girl. She kept popping up in my thoughts, her bronze-hair swirling around her as she ran after an invisible soccer ball—soccer balls didn't exist in my imagination.

After I finished eating, I put my plate, glass, and utensils in the sink. It was almost completely dark outside now. I hummed to myself as I locked the back door, the basement door, and the front door. My mom had her own key, so she could get in on her own.

Marbles was—surprise!—napping on the couch; I scooped him up in my arms and walked up the stairs to my room. I put him on my desk, next to my secondhand Windows computer. Reluctantly, I opened my math book, unzipped my pencil case, got a piece of paper, and picked up my pencil.

Amelia Rose, I wrote at the top of the paper, followed by the date, my homeroom teacher, and the assignment.

*~*

About two hours later, I was checking my email. I was done with my homework, although I was doubtful that I'd gotten too many right on my math.

I opened the small desktop icon with a postage stamp on it. Then I typed in my password and username. My unread messages popped up on the screen. There were five, all from Sarah. I opened the first one, to reveal about a million 'lol's copied and pasted over and over again, and the lyrics to a song I knew only too well.

Amelia is a kitty-cat,

From la-la land,

How to sleep and how to yawn and how to be a cat,

Amelia comes to sleep on the couch whenever we may need her,

Amelia will sleep on your couch too if you just make us leave her!

It was Sarah's own personal invention, an annoying song styled to the tune of "Barney is a Dinosaur". I clicked the 'reply' button and wrote back a saucy reply, complete with the same song, except that her name was inserted instead of mine.

I opened the next. It had a link, and I clicked it. Up came up a webpage about… vampires! I rolled my eyes. Sarah was obsessed with Dracula, with vampires. She was always sending me links to this sort of thing. For Halloween, she was going to be a vampire. She'd read every vampire book in existence, and was always trying to make herself vampire-ish. Me? I wasn't really a fan of vampires. Something about red-eyed, pale-skinned, fanged blood-drinkers wasn't that appealing to me.

I closed the link and opened the next email. Another vampire website, this one about vampire legends. The next email contained a quiz that was designed to figure out whether you were a vampire or not. I took it, and I wasn't. A big surprise!

I opened the last email, expecting another link to something I wasn't interested in. Instead, I was greeted by the words,

Amelia, do you know when our English essay is due? I want to finish it soon! Guess what I'm writing mine about? Vampires!

Sarah

Wait, what? English essay? I suddenly felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. I'd completely forgotten about it! I reached down to dig around in my backpack. I pulled out a small object, a homework planner that my mother had given to me at the start of the year. I was usually too busy to really write in it, but if there was a long-term project due, I usually jotted it down to remember it.

Sure enough, it was there, scrawled into one of the lines on the page.

English: Essay on mythical creature due next Monday.

Of course, I'd written down the assignment, and forgotten to check the planner later. Since I had forgotten, I had exactly one week to finish the essay. Now that I searched my memory, I could remember my English teacher, Mrs. Dianes, assigning it last Friday. We were supposed to research a mythical creature and write about it. Of course, my best friend was doing vampires.

I groaned. It was too late to start the essay today—I was already pretty tired of schoolwork. I replied to the email, telling Sarah that the essay was due Monday. I sent it, and then sighed.

Shutting down the computer, I stuffed all my schoolbooks into my backpack and zipped it up. It was dark outside; I felt marginally uncomfortable. I was used to being alone at home during the night, but I was always very alert.

Marbles was now sleeping on the desk, one paw stretched out to touch the computer keyboard. I pushed back the chair and walked downstairs. Since I didn't want to go to bed, I flopped down onto the couch and turned on the TV. I didn't usually watch that often, but I wanted to stay up until my mom got home.

The weather channel was on. As I watched the weatherman smilingly explain that tomorrow was going to be very cloudy and drizzly, I mulled over what I was going to do tomorrow. I was going to go to that girl and say hello. If she paid attention to me, great. If she didn't… I would know who to avoid from now on.