A/N: I felt that I should give a little more explanation to what happened last chapter, so I've been typing this up all day while watching a 'Snapped' marathon on Oxygen. I hope this clears things up a little bit, or at least is enough to calm some potentially anger readers down (^^; )

Chapter song: Seventy Time Seven by Brand New
~I
~II
~III

"I remember I kept thinking that I knew you never would, and now I know I want to kill you like only a best friend could...Cause you left the frays from the ties you severed, when you say 'best friends' means 'friends forever'."

~IV
~V
~VI

Aro stood over Alec's bed, he and the younger vampire observing the sleeping girl. Alec had brought her here early this morning and laid her down before finding his telepathic master. He wanted to know what drove the young girl to mutilating herself- as did Aro.

Snuggled into the comforter, Katherine was completely oblivious to the two vampires above her; dreaming was proving to be far more interesting, the Pokemon and flying fish dogs making their appearances once again.

In the real world, Aro and Alec spoke.

"I want to know why."

Aro sighed, petting Katherine's soft, brown hair. He had seen what Alec had, as well as the girl's previous troubles with suicide. He knew the dangers she posed to herself.

He also knew the feelings Alec had towards her. Marcus had shown him the one-sided connection early in the week. It wasn't as deep rooted as love, but it very easily could develop into such. Alec cared about Katherine. Alec hardly gave any person the time of day, but he truly cared for Katherine. Almost as much as he did for Jane. It was heart-warming.

Now, however, it posed a problem. Aro knew what Alec wanted to do, and he couldn't let that happen. It would be too much of a threat to their secrecy.

"I know you do, Alec," Aro stated softly, still focused on the sleeping girl, "But I can not tell you. I'm sorry."

Alec remained silent.

"She will be alright, Alec," The older vampire told him, making to leave the room, "In time, she will heal entirely. And she is going to have all of the time in world soon enough."


Katherine stood in the bathroom, staring at herself in the mirror.

She had dressed in the black, cotton shorts and red tee shirt that Alec had packed for her. Though it was nearly winter and the Volturi- being vampires- had no need for a heating unit in the manor, she understood the need for the shorts and flowy shirt. There were raw scratch marks all on her abdomen and moderate/severe injuries on her thighs. Tight, covering clothing would not be good.

In the mirror, she judged herself. Not as violently as she had the night before. No, now she was trying to convince herself that Andy- Alexandria- was wrong.

"My face isn't messed up," she muttered to herself in a child-like softness. "My eyes are kind of pretty. A-and I have a waistline." Her voice was catching with with the tears that were building in her 'kind of pretty' eyes as she continued to try to restore her self-esteem. "It's not a tiny one, but it's kind of there. And a C-cup is alright. I mean, it's...not huge, but..."

"You're fine."

Katherine turned to see who was in the bedroom, and, through watery eyes, saw Jane sitting on her brother's bed. The light-brunette looked bored, but not vicious. She looked Katherine up and down before returning back to her boredom, letting her hair down from its up-do and toying with it.

"I never like that Amy chick." The small blood-drinker stated offhandedly.

Katherine thought for a moment of who the hell 'Amy' was before it clicked. Did Jane know about what happened at the dance?

"Andy?" She asked carefully.

Jane rolled her eyes. "Like I care. Either way, she always struck me as a bitch- gave me a bad feeling."

Katherine got that. Turns out Jane's 'feeling' was right. "She told me about how she demanded you take her to the Masters. Knowing you now, I'm kind of surprised you didn't do your little 'Pain' thing to her."

"A silly little human like her? Not worth the energy." She blew off, braiding some of her hair.

Silence filled the room like smoke in a 1950s piano bar while Katherine reviewed Jane's words. One thing caught her. Jane had made her comment about "Amy" after giving a passing examination of her wounds. Katherine thought of whether or not she told anyone that it was Andy's words that led her to the self violence. She was certain that she hadn't.

"How do you know that Andy was a part of this?" Katherine asked timidly, still looking at herself in the mirror.

"Aro," she heard Jane reply, "He has a weak spot for me. I had to swear not to tell Alec, though."

The bed creaked as Jane shifted, sitting cross-legged as she looked directly at the human girl.

"Katherine," she started softly, "You can't listen to her. You're beautiful- way prettier than her. She's stupid and doesn't know what she's talking about. Trust me- I've been around far longer than either of you. Your beauty is timeless. Her look will die out in a decade."

Though she liked the words, Katie was confused by them.

"Why are you being nice to me?"

Jane sighed sightly, looking down. "I want my brother to happy," she shared through clenched teeth and with a pained tone, "And you have the power to do that. At this moment, because you're hurt, he's not happy. As soon as you get better, he gets better."

She made her way to the bedroom doorway before turning back and looking Katherine in the eyes. "Listen," she started, "You need to forget her. I know she was your best friend but- hell- you would of had to do it anyway."


"Hey."

Becky shook Andy awake, the latter being dead-asleep in her wrinkled dress. Andy had made a gurgled noise of protest before rolling over, her back to the red-head.

"Andy," she called firmly, grabbing the blonde's shoulders and throwing her onto the ground.

"The fuck!"

Becky ignored the angered shout. "Where's Katie?"

"What?"

"Where's. Katie?" Becky questioned again, her hands on her hips and her sleeping red hair falling around her face.

"Like I care." Andy muttered, standing up and rubbing her eyes and walking past the other girl.

Becky stood in the room alone, stunned by the response. "The hell does that mean?" she shouted down the hall, running after her friend.

"It means that I don't care where that desperate wanna be is." Andy told her simply once Becky had caught up.

Becky was stunned still once more. Where the hell was this coming from?

She jogged down the stairs and to the kitchen, where Andy, some other girls and the RA- Jessica- all ate breakfast.

"What do you mean 'desperate wanna be'? What happened last night?"

Andy threw her cream cheese bagel onto her plate in frustration and looked Rebecca dead in the eyes.

"I mean that Katherine Jensen is a pathetic slut."

Silence.

The entire room- dead silent. It was widely known that Andy loved Katherine, that they were closer than family.

Jessica looked to Rebecca for an explanation.

But Beck gave none. She hadn't even noticed the look. She was too focused to the...the bitch that had just insulted her friend. Sure, Becky and Kathy weren't insanely close, but they were still friends.

And this bitch just called her friend a slut.

In quick motion, Rebecca stalked to the blonde and back-handed her. When Alexandria tried to retaliate, Rebecca caught both of her wrists, and looked at Jessica.

"I make a motion to have Alexandria Benton evicted from this house."


Katherine sat in an annoyingly creaky chair in one of the game rooms- the one Felix and Demetri were currently in. The two men were at a pool table across the room, conversing with Katherine as they played.

"So she called you fat?" Demetri asked, eyes judging the position of the white ball.

"Yup." She confirmed, flipping through a magazine she snatched off of the secretary's desk. It was in Italian, so she didn't understand the articles, but the pictures were cool.

"Aw heeeeell no," Felix commented in a mockingly ghetto-girl voice. Katherine laughed when Demetri threw one of the ivory orbs (obtained pre- 20th century) at Felix's head.

"And you hacked yourself up because of it?" Demetri questioned, lining up his cue stick with the cue ball.

"Yup." She confirmed, observing a brilliantly lit and coordinated photograph on the glossy paper.

"A profoundly tactical handling of the situation." Jane commented as she and Alec entered the room, heading straight to the chess board set up parallel to the pool table.

"Tactical warfare is just one of my many talents." Katherine joked easily.

"Is shattering a mirror with your fist another?" Alec asked smoothly, sending her a goading smile.

Katherine took the jesting bait and stuck her tongue out at him, flipping him the bird with her bandaged hand.

He chuckled, sitting at the table across from his sister and focusing on the game.

Ten minutes later, Katherine had flipped through the magazine and was completely bored.

With nothing better to do, she decided to train her telekinesis a little bit. And screw with Alec. A little bit.

She focused her eyes on the collar of his gray dress shirt, feeling her pupils dilate. Her mind centered on her desire, one word pulsing through her head.

Tug. Tug. Tug.

Slowly and ever-so-slightly, his collar twitched. He hadn't noticed.

She smiled and re-focused.

Tug. Tug. Tug.

Nothing. Damn.

Katherine frowned, huffed, and sat up straight in the creaky chair.

She focused on his collar once more, her eyebrow and the corner of her mouth twitching. Her shoulders tensed and her jaw clenched.

Tug. Tug. Tug.

Tug. Tug, tug, tug.

TUG.

Suddenly, an invisible force yanked Alec by his collar, tossing him onto the floor.

Jane and Demetri gasped while Felix boomed with laughter.

Alec, disheveled, looked up at Katherine, who was smiling innocently.

He smirked, grabbed a chess piece off of the table and threw it at the gifted human.

Katherine's smile fell and her face went blank as her eyes followed the chess piece flying towards her. Her pupils constricted, centering all attention on the little wooden specimen coming at her.

Inches from her face, the piece stopped, floating in mid air.

Alec stood with a smile and sauntered over to the frozen girl. He nabbed the chess piece out of the air and kissed her forehead.

"Nice job, Kitty." He congratulated readily, returning to the chess board.

Katherine snapped out of her haze and furiously scrubbed away at where Alec had kissed her.

Felix laughed.


Rebecca sat with Jessica and Amelia- a girl who occupied the room next to Katherine's and would sometimes hang out with Katie, Beck and Andy.

"Before this morning, have either of you noticed any troubles between Katherine and Alexandria?" Jessica asked the teenage girls, her Italian accent heavily influencing her perfected English.

Amelia was the first to speak. "Not really. I mean, they would fight, yeah, but who doesn't fight with their friends?"

Jessica nodded and took notes in a small notebook. "How often did they fight?"

"Not very," Rebecca told her, "But that's pretty much because Katherine avoided the fights."

"Why?" Jessica asked, "I've never seen Katherine shy away from a fight with anyone. Myself included."

"She doesn't have a lot of friends, " Becky said, "She's very shy- although she hides it well. She doesn't trust people. I think that, after what Krysten and Abbey did to her, she's desperate to have any close friend."

"Who?" Jessica asked.

Rebecca clarified, "Friends from the States. She went to elementary school with them and they were like sisters. Then, one day, Krysten called her and said 'Abbey and I were thinking, and...we don't want to be your friends anymore. You're mean...bye.' It destroyed her."

Jessica nodded and wrote something down.

"So she avoided fighting with Andy. But the fights that did happen, who instigated them?"

"Andy," Amelia answered immediately, "It was like she was fighting with her mom. Katherine would be like: 'Hey, it's late, we should go home' and Andy would just be like: 'Fuck no. Shut up, you're not my mom'. It was ridiculous. That's why I don't hang around them more, Andy always irked me."

Jessica nodded again and continued to write.

"Did anything happen last night?"

The girls looked at each other and shrugged.

"I think there was a boy," Beck informed, "I know that Andy has some...like, abrasions on her shoulder and her hands. Like when you fall on the side walk."

Jessica nodded once more before sighing, "All right girls, you are dismissed. And please tell Andy to come see me."

The girls nodded and exited the dinning room while Jessica sunk into her seat.

She knew Alexandria had troubles at home. Her parents had divorced the year before and neither her mother nor father handled the way one would hope adults would. A thirteen year old Alexandria was put in the middle, delivering crude messages to and fro and being tugged back and forth in a ridiculous amount of custody hearings. Needless to say, all respect for adult figures was lost.

Then she met Katherine. Katherine was an adult in a girl's body. What had Shakespeare said? "I never knew so young a body with so old a head"? Katherine seemed to be exactly what Andy needed. A stable, mothering figure, the sister she never had and the best friend every girl needs. Jessica had thought that, maybe, this would be good for Alexandria.

I guess I was wrong.

Jessica sighed and sat up as she heard Andy descend the stairs.


"Perfection." Felix stated, praising Katherine's billiards shot.

"I know right?" She agreed with a wide smile and a laugh.

Upon hearing this, Alec paused his game with his sister and looking at Katherine. She noticed this.

"What?"

"Last night," He started, "When Alexandria called you perfect-"

She held up her hand and he paused.

"I'm going to stop you right there," She told him, "Felix called my move perfect, not me. And besides, she didn't mean it. She was making fun of me. Which she knows I hate. Had it been you, I'd have given you leeway, because you wouldn't have known any better. But she does. She knows as well as anyone that I despise being called "Perfect"." She made sure to exaggerate the sarcasm of the word.

"Seriously," she continued to rant, "It's just rude. I mean, it's not like you walk up to a homeless guy and say 'Oh, you're doing good for yourself, aren't ya? Yeah, you got that Swiss bank account? You got your Armani on? Yeah, everything's working out for you, isn't it?'. No, you don't do that because it's messed up and just plain mean. Just like it is for mocking someone because they got an A on their test or because they actually looked nice in a family photo and was happy about it."

There was silence.

"O...kay," Felix started, watching a fuming Katherine closely, "I'm sensing some deep-rooted psychological issues here...anyone want to change the subject?"

"Do you like Red Velvet Cake?" Demetri offered, looking at the only person in the room capable of eating it.

Her eyes rolled in delight and she fell against the pool table, "Oh my God, yes!"

He chuckled, "Well, I hear there's this new Red Velvet Cake ice cream or something..."

Her eyes widened.

"Mother of Jesus..." she looked at Alec, who seemed to be holding back laughter, "Did you bring my wallet by any chance?"

"No." He chuckled.

"Okay," she said, righting herself and walking to the door, "Well, I'm going to my house, getting my wallet and buying that ice cream. Oh my God, the ice cream and some Red Velvet cupcakes...oh...Okay, I got to go, I'll see you guys later." She waved goodbye before going to grab the bag Alec had brought.

The four vampires were quiet for a moment before all began chuckling to themselves at the silly human's antics and returning to their individual activities.