As a Night World Academy student and witch, Addie Rosewood has always dreamed about her soulmate. Her world crashes when unfortunate events lead her to realize her soulmate is the school's super-jock and ultimate jerk, Blake Tarragon.

I have no rights and/or ownership over the night world series in any way. The main characters in this story are my own creation.

Chapter 10

"Addie! Where the hell did you go? I've been looking for you," Belle said, when I found her at the side of the dance floor, worried.

I just stared at her blankly.

"Hey, I'm talking to you," Belle persisted when I didn't respond to her question.

Where the hell did I go?

I thought back to the scene at the lake just minutes ago. The lake had been so beautiful and calming.

"I fancy you," Skye had said.

At that moment, I was glad I was sitting down, because my knees went weak. I hugged Skye's suit jacket tighter, and tried to keep my breathing steady.

His voice, his expression... everything about Skye had been so sincere when he said those words. Not a trace of doubt, or a lie. He told me so charismatically too. Even though I was the witch, at that moment I fell under his spell.

At the same time, my mind went spinning.

Skye liked me. Skye liked me, the unpopular outcast. The girl who was bullied and left to rot in the shadows of the social hierarchy.

But then something dawned on me, and I felt a little queasy.

Belle was in love with Skye. Skye was Belle's, not mine. He couldn't like me. It wasn't right. Even being out by the lake with Skye… It made the guilt start etching at my bones.

Skye eyebrows scrunched together. He seemed to be waiting for some kind of reply.

When I didn't give him one, he began to say, "Addie, I just-"

"Stop!" I interrupted, waving my hands out at him. I didn't want him to add anything.

"Okay…" I continued slowly.

I began to lift my body off the ground, hoping that my weak knees and unsettled stomach wouldn't have me falling into the lake somehow.

"I need to go," I said quickly.

Without letting Skye say anything, I just abruptly rushed away from the Lake. I didn't dare look back, I just kept on walking, or rather racing back to the party. He didn't use his vampire speed to come after me.

That was what led me standing in front of Belle, while she demanded for my previous location.

"I needed to throw up," I lied.

I patted my stomach and added, "don't eat the tarts."

Belle's eyes grew big. I don't think I've ever thrown up before. At least not since I was a baby.

Then again, I really did feel like puking. From the weirdness of Skye's random confession. And the guilt.

"Are you okay?" she asked as she put her hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm better now," I said. Before I could add to my lie, a high pitched voice pierced through the air behind me.

"Look what the cat dragged in."

An all too familiar chill ran down my spine as I turned around to face Carla and her fellow cheerleader minions. I did not need this right now.

"And look at what you did to your hair," Bridgette pointed out.

"Trying to look all pretty for someone?" Fiona added.

The three girls were standing hip to hip, Carla in the middle. Carla's hair was let loose and she was wearing a little black dress with golden heels. She would have looked really classy, if she didn't reek of stuck up cheerleader.

"It's okay Fiona, she's not going to catch anyone's attention looking like that. It doesn't matter what she does with her hair," she said.

I was actually insulted by this comment and this time, I decided I wanted to do something about it.

"When in the world are you going to stop being so jealous of me, and leave me the hell alone?" I demanded.

Carla snorted and flipped her blond locks.

"Why would I be jealous of some weirdo vermin lover?" she said.

I laughed.

"Oh goddess, Carla, you need to come up with better insults. But it's been evident time and time again that your tiny brain can't handle such a challenge," I said. I tried as hard as possible to make my words sound as condescending as possible.

"Okay, then. How about this?" Carla said, crossing her arms.

"It's pathetic of you to try so hard to look like your ugly mother."

That felt like a stab right into my heart. It hurt. A lot. Especially because Carla once knew my mother. I felt a lump well up in my throat, but I swallowed it and glared at Carla.

"Don't you dare bring my mother into this," I growled angrily.

"I just did," Carla said.

"What are you going to do about it?" she added with a bitchy smile on her heavily made-up face.

Then she took a step forward and shoved me back hard. I almost fell down, but I regained my balance.

"And what are you going to do about that?" she said.

Carla's minions were quiet. They were enjoying every moment of this, I could tell.

"How about I do this?" I said and I curled up my hand into a fist and punched Carla in the jaw.

She reeled backwards, despite her superhuman vampire powers. I had superhuman abilities too, and I was very prepared to use them.

Carla hissed and lunged at me, in a great speed. She managed to knock me down and pin me to the ground. She took her manicured hands and wrapped them tightly around my neck. I kicked her off immediately with the help of my telekinetic strength and pulled myself up.

A few people started to gather around us.

Carla dove toward me again but this time, I effortlessly dodged her attack and grabbed her arm as she went flailing forward.

I pulled Carla to face me, and looked right into her cold blue eyes, which were slightly tinted with silver now.

"Take this back to hell, bitch," I said.

I pulled together as much mental telekinetic power as I could and aimed it directly at Carla. I shot the energy right at her, and for the second time this week, she went flying backwards, crying out.

But this cry was different than the last time. It sounded even more agonizing than before.

Carla hit the wall before she fell to the ground with a loud thud. I still held on to that mental blast into her mind. I was incredibly angry, and it fueled the blast well.

I put out my hand and pointed it at Carla to focus the energy better and started walking closer.

She was immobilized, crouched on her knees with her arms to her head, and she was screaming.

"Don't you dare..." I said slowly, walking closer to Carla.

"Insult my mother..." I strengthened my mental grip on her and she cried out louder.

"EVER AGAIN!" I screamed. I felt a burst of wetness dripping down my nose. I was pushing myself really hard, but I didn't care. My mom had been nothing but nice to Carla. She crossed the line too far this time.

As I ripped her insides with my mind, a cut slowly started to form on Carla's forehead, and blood started oozing out.

Her shrill scream rung through my ears and I realized the music had stopped. Everybody was crowded around the two of us.

"Addie, stop!" I heard someone shout. It was very soft, drowned out by the sound of Carla's screams and by a dizziness that started to take over me.

I let go of my grip on Carla. When I did, I immediately dropped to my knees and Carla fell down completely.

That voice, I realized, belonged to Blake. I caught his gaze just in time to see his horrified expression.

He rushed over to Carla and asked her if she okay.

I rubbed the blood from my nose away with the back of my hand and steadied myself up.

"Addie, are you okay? What the hell just happened?" Belle asked with concern.

I held my index finger under my nostrils and kept it there.

"I'm fine," I said. But the truth was, I wasn't fine. I was worn out from the fight and hurt by Carla's words. But also, I felt guilty that I hurt Carla. The girl who used to be my closest friend. For some reason, it was much worse after I saw the way Blake looked at me for it.

I tried to walk a little but stumbled on my own feet and Belle caught me before I tripped. I held on to my stomach and looked at the floor, trying to calm my body down.

When I regained composure, I looked around, and everybody was pointing and whispering. I glanced at Blake and Carla. Carla was back on her feet and Blake was holding her. Thankfully, Skye wasn't anywhere to be seen. I didn't need him to add to this drama.

"Hey, let's get out of here," I said to Belle.

"Okay," she said.

We both walked out to the parking lot.

Belle unlocked her car and opened the door for me. A wave of guilt filled me up again. Belle was being so considerate of me. I knew that she wanted to stay at the party and get to know Skye better. Instead, she was now going to drive me home because I picked a fight with Carla. We barely spent an hour there and we didn't even get to the cake. But Belle, being Belle, dropped everything to take care of me.

There was no way I could ever tell her what Skye had told me. At least not yet.

When we got into the car and belted up, Belle pointed at my shoulders, "hey, isn't that Skye's jacket?" she asked.

Crap.

I still had his jacket on me. How was I going to explain that to Belle? I really didn't need this right now.

"Oh this?" I said, looking at the jacket and fingering the hem. I was trying to buy myself some time.

"I uh… I was throwing up outside and... Skye saw me and… I guess… he thought… I was cold?" I suggested weakly.

Wait, why was I lying to her?

"Aw, Skye is such a nice guy. I don't see him around anywhere though… I guess he won't mind if you return it tomorrow," she said.

Why did she believe me?

Well, it was too late to back out now. Great, I was lying to my best friend and I didn't even know why.

I suddenly had this thought, where I would suggest to Belle that she gave the jacket back to Skye tomorrow instead of me, so that she could strike up a conversation with him without it being awkward. That way, maybe, just maybe, Skye would develop and interest in Belle after seeing what a cool person she is.

But then I realized, that was one of the dumbest plans I had thought up so far. If Belle talked to Skye and asked about me throwing up, what would he say?

No, I decided not to make the suggestion.

"Good idea," I said.

Belle opened up the glove compartment and handed me a tissue.

"Here, wipe your nose with that," she said.

"Thanks."

Belle, stop being such a good friend, I thought.

She started the car and we drove out of Skye's estate. During the drive back to my house, I pretended to feel really tired and closed my eyes.

When we reached my house, Belle asked me if I was going to be alright. I told her that I would be perfectly fine. Yet another lie I had thrown out there.

She drove away waving back at me, smiling. I gave her a weak smile and waved in return, keeping up my 'extra tired' pretense.

I had just landed myself in a really messed up situation.

The next morning I was lying in bed, or dying in bed, feeling completely and utterly embarrassed. My dad had already left for work so he wasn't there to tease me and make me feel worse.

Why would he tease me, you ask? Well, I've always had a tendency of telling my parents everything. We were always very close. Since my mother past away, my dad and I got just that much closer.

Which means I told him everything.

He found my fight with Carla amusing, but he told me that I should try to make up with her. Other than that, he couldn't help but tease me about Skye.

Addie, you idiot! What have you gotten yourself into now? I thought, as I flipped myself over and burrowed my face into my pillow.

Last night, it turned out that Skye 'fancied' me. Then I just left him there. Then I lied to Belle about it. Then I got into a fight with Carla.

The strangest thing though, above everything else, I was thinking about Blake freaking Tarragon.

The way he looked at me was awful. I couldn't get the image out of my head. I had disappointed him somehow.

It bugged me more than I cared to admit.

"Ugh," I coughed out as I pushed myself away from my covers and got out of bed. I walked over to my vanity table and studied the mirror.

I scrunched up my face at my own reflection. My hair was back to normal, so it fell below my shoulders in messy bed-head curls.

I looked horrible. The tiredness showed in my face and my eyes. Oh goddess, there were dark circles under my eyes.

There was no way that Blake and I could be soulmates.

Blake was such a prep school jock, with his cropped cut features, and popular boy ways. I was more or less your typical girl next door, but with bad hair. This description obviously excludes our little Night World secret.

Anyway, he was good sports and enjoyed partying. I liked to write music and curl up in my bed, reading a classic.

He probably liked to run around the house with his mom's bra on his head and a sheet for cape, pretending to be Superman.

Weirdo.

I shrugged at myself and went to pick up my guitar that was placed next to my study desk. I plopped myself onto the bed as I adjusted my guitar on my lap.

"Blake, you're so stupid, with your stupid blue eyes and your stupid stupid lies!" I sang along to random notes I played on my guitar.

"Blake, you're so crazy, with your Barbie blon-"

-RING RING! RING RING!

My house phone was ringing loudly, interrupting the embarrassing jam session I was having with myself. I put down my guitar and reached over to my bedside table, feeling a little silly about my lyrics.

Blake? I thought, picking up the phone.

"Hello? May I speak to Addie?"

Wrong. It was Skye.

Wait… Skye?

"Yeah, this is Addie," I said.

I heard a sigh of relief over the phone.

"Brilliant! This is Skye by the way," he said.

What was Skye doing calling me? How did he even know my number?

"How did you get my number?" I asked. I almost sounded accusing.

There was a brief pause and an awkward laugh over the line.

"Uh… I rang about four other Rosewoods from the yellow pages before I finally got to your house," he blurted out.

I tried to hold back my laugh, but it came out anyway.

"You didn't!" I cried.

"Oh yes, I did."

"I didn't know Rosewood was such a common last name!"

Skye gave a little laugh.

"It isn't, I kind of forgot to check only our area. I'm not used to the yellow pages in this country," he said.

I gave him a loud and hearty laugh. He was so silly!

It was such a cheesy thing to do, but it put a smile on my face.

"So, what's up?" I asked.

"It's about last night."

Oh.

For that moment I had completely forgotten about the events of the night before. I felt sick again, bracing myself for what he had to say. There was so much guilt attached to his confession last night. At least there was for me. And then there was that whole thing with Carla.

"Look, before you hang up on me," Skye said quickly.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for just telling you what I did, like that. It was a down right pants thing to do."

Okay, it's not about Carla. But, pants? Must be some kind of British slang.

"Alright…" I said slowly, still hoping he wouldn't bring up Carla.

"Let me make it up to you. Meet me at the park next to the sports center at five today," he said.

I thought about it for a moment. Should I say yes?

Skye was being so random all over again. But I thought that I might as well take a chance. He did make me laugh after all. Especially when I feeling so bad about myself that it brought me down to singing the worst lyrics created in the history of bad lyrics.

"Okay," I said, taking a leap of faith.

"Great!"

I could almost hear a smile form on his lips.

"I'll see you later," he said and then he hung up.

Hours after preparing myself, I finally arrived at the park, regretting that I had decided to walk. I could almost feel the sweat droplets forming on my body. I crossed my fingers, hoping I didn't look too much a mess and started walking down a white tiled path.

I was in one of those extremely picturesque parks with the lush green trees, kids flying kites, and people having picnics.

Speaking of picnics, I spotted Skye on a mat with a basket. He was waving at me to walk over.

"Hi," I said as I sat down next to him on the red mat.

"Hi," he said back to me with a sheepish smile which made dimples form in his cheeks. His green eyes sparkled in the sunlight.

"Look up," he said.

I did look up and the craziest thing happened. There was a small airplane circling in the sky. In a few moments it started to spell out words against the clouds.

'I'M SORRY ADDIE,' the first line read.

'FORGIVE ME?' it finished.

My jaw dropped.

I threw my hand to my mouth, trying to hold back a laugh.

"Oh goddess!" I said.

I looked back at Skye.

"You're absolutely crazy!" I exclaimed.

Skye had a smile on his face, but he turned serious when he said, "so do you forgive me?"

I squinted my eyes at him.

"For what? I'm not upset with you or anything," I said.

"You're not?" he said, sounding genuinely surprised.

"When you just left me at the lake like that yesterday, I thought you were really angry."

Oh.

"Look, I wasn't mad… I was just confused," I said. I looked up to the clouds and spotted one shaped like a rabbit.

I looked back at Skye with an eyebrow raised.

"Shouldn't I be sorry for messing up your party?" I asked.

"What?"

My voice dropped to a soft mutter. "You know, the whole thing with Carla."

"Oh that? Don't worry about it. I remember what happened at the tennis court. The party was fine and Carla is fine. She's just a little cheesed off, maybe."

That was a relief. He wasn't mad.

"Okay."

I relaxed myself. He was being really sweet about this. It made me feel a little uncomfortable. I wasn't really used to people being so nice about things.

"Why do you like me?" I asked abruptly.

I had to know.

Skye looked a little uncertain. He shifted body to face me completely and he squared his shoulders.

"I don't know where to start," he said.

Right then, he seemed almost… scared.

"This will probably sound really cheesy but... I remember the first day I walked into the halls of NWA. The first thing I saw was a girl. She had rich dark hair and porcelain skin. But what really caught my attention were her eyes. Her beautiful brown eyes. They looked pure and innocent, yet mysterious at the same time. I guess you can say I was enchanted."

He took in a deep breath before saying, "that girl was you."

I was still taking in what he said when he continued.

"Then I made this group of friends. They welcomed me easily, but warned me to stay away from you. That you were bad news."

He said the last sentence as if it were absolutely absurd.

"Then I learned that the whole school really didn't accept you. I was unsure how to react and I was pretty gutted. I didn't know you and they were my friends. I guess I was sucked into the peer pressure of it all. But what kept my interest in you, was the way you always fought back."

His eyes pulled up, as if recollecting a memory, and he smiled.

"You have spirit."

I thought back to all the times Skye was around when the other popular kids had put me down. He was always in the background never joining in. I always found that behavior atypical for a popular boy, but his explanation made sense. It made a lot of sense.

"I sure do have a lot of spirit." I didn't know what else to say.

"You do."

"And through time, I learnt that you're also creative, funny, and smart. I didn't even need to be your friend to see those things."

I just looked at him and let him continue. I was absolutely speechless.

"When Out of the Circle came out and you were paired with Blake. It finally saw the opportunity to talk to you. Which is why I'm only telling you now, after all this time."

His words were like the last piece to the puzzle. It explained why he never taunted me and why recently he'd been so nice to me.

"I like you, Addie. I really like you," Skye said, finishing his confession.

I still hadn't said anything, which must have alarmed Skye because he said, "oh no, I'm doing it again."

"Doing what?" I asked.

"The same thing that made you leave last night," he said.

"Relax Skye, I'm not gonna run off," I said. I put my hand on his arm and gave him a warm and reassuring smile. He was so nervous, it was adorable.

He didn't seem convinced, so I decided to change the subject.

"So... what are we having for this picnic?" I asked, pointing at the basket.

"Because I'm starving," I added.

That took his mind off being nervous because he went into full-on host mode immediately.

"We have the finest pastries, fresh fruits, and hot piping lasagna," he said taking out the food items one by one from the basket.

I got pretty excited. I loved lasagna. Like Garfield.

"How did you know lasagna is my favorite food ever?" I asked.

Skye eyes lit up at that.

"I didn't, but I guess I got lucky," he said. He finished setting up the whole picnic on our mat.

I hungrily attacked the pasta with a plastic fork he laid out.

"This is so good! Where did you get it?"

"I just tried out some of the recipes I had learnt back when I was in Italy," he said.

"You know how to cook?" I asked, surprised.

Not just because he was a rich boy who probably had all his meals made by a private chef, but also because he was a vampire. Sure vampires could enjoy food but they didn't really need to. They only needed blood after all.

Skye clutched his heart and made a playful 'I-am-hurt' face.

"That's painful Addie," he claimed jokingly.

"Of course I can cook. But I only got good when I moved to Italy," he said.

"Italians and their awesome cooking," I agreed.

We started talking about Skye's experiences in Italy and the few other countries he'd been to. Before we both knew it, hours had passed, and Skye was walking me back home.

It was late, and the moon was beginning to rise up against the stars.

He walked me to the front door and I looked up at him. But before I could think of any appropriately cheesy thing to say, Skye hugged me. I hugged him back.

"Thanks for today," he said, breaking away a little too soon.

"Thanks for the food," I said with a smile.

"I'll see you later then," he said.

"Yeah, see you later," I said.

He walked away with a wave. I rushed inside my house and closed the door behind me.

That was really… Nice, I thought.