4

The drive to Tori's, house is only a short one; I drive faster than I should, or faster than I usually would. But I figure, the quicker I get there, the faster we will get finished.

I pull up to the curb outside her house and get out of my car. I walk up her steps and knock on the door. I can hear her feet patting on the floor as she walks over to the door to answer it. "Hey," she says with a smile as she sees me.

"Hi," I say sounding less enthusiastic than she is. I walk through her door and walk over to her sofa. I take a seat and swing my bag off my shoulder. "Okay," I say "Let's get this done."

"Yeah sure," she says "Do you want anything to drink?" she asks from the kitchen.

I turn to face her and shake my head "No, thanks." I say.

She walks back towards me holding a glass of lemonade in her hand. "Okay." She says.

We both start to draw rough copies, of how we each want the scenery to look. But soon we both get stuck; our paper remains pretty much blank. Apart from a little bit of writing on the top of our paper.

We sit in silence for a while, neither of us having any ideas, on what we should draw. Obviously, I know how I want the scene to look; I just don't know how to depict in a drawing.

"I give up." I say dropping my pencil; it rolls off of the sofa and lands on the floor noiselessly.

Tori places her pile of paper next to her and puts her pencil on top of it, "Well, we'll have a break then." She says

"We haven't done anything, how could we possibly need a break?" I ask.

"I don't know," she says "But it can't hurt."

Tori turns on the TV, and my eyes fall onto the screen. It's some stupid show with D list celebrities on it trying to refuel their career.

I hear footsteps nearing us. Her mum walks down the stairs and into the living room "Hey girls," she says smiling the same way Tori had when I arrived.

"Hey mum." Tori said.

I waved at Mrs Vega and turned my head back to the paper that lay strewn across the coffee table. "Would either of you like any food?" Mrs Vega asks, in a polite manner.

"Do we have any pizza?" Tori asks. Her mum nods in response. "I'll have some pizza," she says.

"Jade?" Her mum says turning my attention towards her "Would you like anything?" she asks.

I shake my head "No, thank you." I say "I ate before I came," I lie.

"Okay," she says. She places the pizza in the oven for Tori, I hear her phone ring in her pocket, she pulls it out and smiles and says "I'll take this in another room." She has a slight smile on her face, before she walks out of the room.

I arch my eyebrows at the way she acted, Tori watches her, and I can't help but notice the confusion that lies on her face too.

"So," I say snapping Tori's attention back to me and our work "Do you have any ideas on what we could do for scenery?"

She shakes her head and sighs "Do you?"

I think for a while before I start talking "I was thinking maybe we should make it subtle." I pause briefly "Like a couple of trees, and then maybe a path, but all of this on a back drop."

"Yeah," She says, the enthusiasm from before seems to have made a reappearance in her voice.

"So let's draw some rough sketches now then." I say.

Tori and I set to work on drawing, each of us taking my idea in to account. Half way through us finally making some progress the oven dings letting Tori know her pizza is ready.

She cuts it into sections and brings the plate over to where we sit. She picks up a slice and takes a huge bite out of it. When she has swallowed the contents of what was in her mouth, she says "Are you sure you don't want anything to eat?"

I shake my head "I'm fine." I say.

I stay at Tori's house for about another hour drawing some more, and deciding how big the back drop will be. I check the time and say "I think I'm gunna get going."

"Okay." She says. "I'll do some more drawing, you can do the same if you want and we'll compare them tomorrow."

I nod "Yeah sure whatever." I say "Bye."

I leave her house briskly, and climb into my car, the chilly evening air, making me feel more comfortable than I have all day. The sun is lowering slightly in the sky, and the cramp like feeling that resides in my chest is subsiding.

I pull up outside my house, and even though I am outside, and in the confines of my car, I can hear the surge of noise coming from the house. I grit my teeth and ready myself for the onslaught.

I climb out of my car, and dash to the house, I open it, and see the band of people in my house. I see Ryder, leaning by the kitchen counter. I storm over to him. "What the fuck is this?" I ask.

"A party what's it look like?" he says, I glare at him "Look, Sebastian has gone away for a couple of days." He explains "On a hunting trip, he asked if either of us wanted to go, and I said no."

"So instead of waiting until I got home you just answered for me, and assumed that I would rather stay here."

"Relax, Jade." He says "Here have a drink." He says handing me a glass of what looks like red wine.

"Is this…" I begin.

He cuts me off by nodding "Yeah, I bought some today from the butchers." He says "Enjoy your pig's blood." He says in a hushed tone.

"Fine," I say giving in with a shrug. I take a drink from my glass, and allow the sweet liquid to run down my throat, only partly quenching my thirst. I look around the room "How do you always get away with doing things like this?" I ask.

"Because I always make sure I have enough time to do stuff like this."

"No, I mean, if you had gone with Sebastian, he would have probably wanted me to go as well, but if I'd have gone, you wouldn't have been made to go" I say.

He shrugs "Maybe he just trusts me more."

"Yeah, and I wanna know why." I say.

"I don't know he just does, and if I were you, I wouldn't complain, we have the house to ourselves until Thursday," he says. "Plus while ever I am staying here and doing things like this," He gestures to the party that seems to be in full swing in the living room. "You get to join in too."

"Why do you even want me here, when you're doing things like this?" I ask.

"Because, I like you and we get along sometimes." He says. "Besides, some of my friends think you're cute."

"Oh!" I say "So, I'm just here for them?"

He chuckles slightly "Like you mind."

In all honesty, I don't mind them thinking I'm attractive, and I don't mind being told that, there isn't anything wrong with having an ego boost. But I do mind him inviting me here, solely for that reason.

"Well I do mind." I say.

"Okay, I'm sorry." He says, but there is something in his tone that tells me he couldn't care less. "But at least hang around until the party is over."

I roll my eyes, I can't believe he is having a party during the week anyway, we might not be able to get drunk, but other people can, and most likely will. What made him think that having a party tonight would be a good idea?

"Fine," I agree, in an angry manner.

"Be nice." He warns.

"I'm not promising anything," I inform him.

I walk out of the kitchen and into the living room where most of the guest are congregated, dancing to music, that I detest.

I spend most of the night in the kitchen, refilling my drink, one of Ryder's friends won't leave me alone, and I have been pretty much forced to talk to him and be civilised, due to his stubbornness.

I zone out of most of the conversation, I hadn't even realised he was still talking until, I snap out of my daze and turn to face him. He looks at me with expectant eyes.

"What?" I say.

He chuckles "I said do you want to go upstairs."

"Oh, no," I say. I give him a slight pat on the arm in a patronising manner, before I walk away from him.

He's not a bad looking guy, but I have definitely see better, he has ashy blonde hair that has been gelled neatly on his head, he has a slight beard that is lighter in colour than the rest of his hair, and his eyes are a pale shade of grey.

I walk into the kitchen and pour myself some more pig's blood into a glass. I stay in the kitchen for a while, until I can no longer see the boy who I left standing alone.

I spend the rest of the night avoiding him, I feel relieved and happy when the party finally ends. I watch him leave the house, get into his car and drive away. I sit on the sofa, and feel I can finally relax.

Ryder walks towards me and smiles at me like an idiot "Jade," he says "Would you mind helping me put all of this stuff away?" he asks. I arch my eyebrow at him "Please." He says.

I roll my eyes and stand up to help him. We start in the kitchen and throw away any empty bottles, r left over drinks. "So," he says "Did you have fun?" he asks.

I shake my head "No." I say in a matter of a fact tone "I didn't because half of the night I was being followed by one of your friends and the second half of the night, I was avoiding him." I say, "So no. No fun was had tonight."

"Yeah, I saw," he says "So why were you avoiding Stephen?" he asks.

"His name is Stephen?" I ask, realising how little notice I had taken of him, he nods "Anyway," I say going back to the point. "I was avoiding him, because, I didn't like him." I say.

"Why, what'd he do?" he asks.

I shrug, "Well besides following me around all night like some lost little puppy, he made a pass at me." I say with a shrug, "I just don't like him." I say "He seems arrogant." I add onto the end of my sentence.

"That's why you didn't have fun, 'cos of one person?" he asks.

I shake my head "No, that's not the only reason, but it is the main one." I say.

"Well what other reasons do you have?"

"I didn't know anyone who was here." I say "And believe it or not, I don't want to be surrounded by your friends all the time." I say. "I would much rather be hunting right now!" I say.

"Why are you acting like this?" he asks "You're not usually like this." He says.

He's right, any other day, I probably would have been happy that we were home alone for a couple of days, what teenager wouldn't be right?

But ever since Beck got here, I can't shake this feeling.

"I know," I admit "I guess I just like hunting is all." I say "And I'm a bit grouchy that I missed out on going." I lie.

"Is that it?" he asks, I nod, stilling lying through my teeth about the situation. "Oh well, if that's it," he says "Come on let's get back to work."

It takes hours before the house looks somewhat respectably clean again; we had to tidy the house top to bottom.

We both sit on the sofa, watching the telly, each of us holding a glass of what remained of the pig's blood that Ryder had purchased from the butchers.

The sun has slowly started to rise in the sky, the parted had ended in the early hours of the morning I highly doubt that anyone- other than me- who was at the party will even go to school today.

"Well, I'm gunna go get ready." I say as I stand from my seat.

"Why?" he asks "Sebastian isn't here to make sure we go to school, he won't know if you go or not. I'm not planning on going; I know we don't need to."

"No, I do need to." I say "I've got to work on Sikowitz project." I tell him.

He scoffs "I am sure you could miss a day."

I shake my head "No, I'm working in a pair, and I have a pretty major part, and we have to plan a lot of stuff." I say, and then I look at him and arch my eyebrow "Why do you want me to stay home so badly?"

He smiles at me "I told you last night, I like you and we get along, plus we could have gone hunting too."

I stare at him "I'll pass thanks." I say.

I walk away from him and into my room, I don't trust when Ryder is being nice, there is always more to it than he lets on, and I am not sticking around to find out what it is that he wants.

I take my time in getting ready, well as much time as I can take, I don't need to do make-up or any other usual morning rituals other than getting dressed, which leaves me with a lot of time usually.

I slowly look through my wardrobe deciding what to wear.

I dress fully in black today; black jeans, black combat boots, and a black long sleeved shirt. I check my reflection in the mirror as usual, and then I check the time. If I set off now, I will arrive at school at the same time as I did yesterday.

I walk down the stairs and grab my jacket and my bag as I pass them on the stairs. "You're really going?" asks Ryder in a disbelieving tone.

"I'm really going." I say as I pull on my leather jacket.

I sling my bag over my shoulder and walk towards the door "Bye then," he says sounding somewhat offended about me leaving.

"Bye," I call back, in a happy tone.

I get in to my car and drive to school, with the radio on; I drum my hand on the steering wheel to the beat of the song.

I pull into the car park and find it just as empty as it was yesterday.

I walk through the double doors, and the smell of blood hits me, I don't think it helped that I drank some blood not too long ago; but now I ache for something more satisfying. Tonight, I will have to hunt.

I walk past Tori's locker and straight into the girl's room, I know that I will have no chance of meeting Beck in here, which will give me time to clear my head for when I do eventually see him through the day. Also, I need to be away from the throng of bodies, before I do something drastic

I look at myself in the mirror, and check my teeth to make sure they aren't stained a deep red.

When I feel satisfied, that I can make it through the day without killing anyone I leave the girl's room and walk towards Tori's locker.

As I walk past the janitors closet. A hand grabs me by the elbow, and yanks me through the open door "What the hell do you think you're doing?" I ask angrily.

I stare into Becks face. As his arm goes behind my back and he locks the door. I straighten out my leather jacket, after the force of him pulling me through the door made it askew.

"Look," he says in a hostile tone. "I am sorry about how I've acted around you." He snarls. Making be believe nothing he says.

"Oh, and you think dragging me in here makes up for that?" I arch an eyebrow at him. He tenses his jaw, and looks away from my face. "Well?" I say.

"I don't know what more to say to you." He grumbles.

"Beck, just leave it." I say "I get it you don't like me. That's cool, that fine" I lie, it's not fine because in a way I want him to like me.

I never usually care if I am liked or hated, but he's different, I don't know why. I hate him, or at least I think I do, but I can't help but be drawn to him. I'm like a moth to a flame.

"No," he says "I..." he stammers

I cut him off "I said it's fucking fine!" I yell. "But, just answer me one question." I say "Why don't you like me, what could I have possibly done to you that makes you hate me so much?" I get close to him as I ask this question; our faces are mere centimeters apart. He tenses his jaw again, and I see something ripple through him. "Bye Beck." I say reaching for the lock on the door.

His hand stops me he grabs hold of my hand to pull me back, he lets out a small gasp, as he feels the ice cold temperature of my skin.

He glares at me, and then in what seems like one fluid movement, he unlocks the door and barges past me.

I have never been more afraid that my secret could be exposed than I am now.


A/N: Dun, dun, duuuuuun. I really hope you like this chapter, sorry if it is boring and drags on too much, and I hope you like the length. Please read and review, tell me what you think. And for those of you who are wondering what is going on between Beck and Jade, you shall find out in the next chapter. Once again, I really hope you like this chapter, please, please, please review.