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.

Thanks for reviewing. I promise that I will write this story to the end! Don't worry :)

Chapter 12

Sometime after school on Wednesday, I was standing in front of the art school near my house. Blake and I had discussed that we would meet here, but I didn't see him in school for the past three days. I wondered if there was any point in waiting but I did it anyway.

Besides wondering if Blake would show up, there were a lot of other things on my mind. In Spellcasting and Powers, something very interesting happened. Belle and I decided to do individual training for the first half and then in the second half of the class, we'd train our unique powers together.

My training was a bit more normal this time. No crazy rage and bloody nose. I just practiced my martial arts. Just as I was done, Belle came running at me.

"Addie! Addie!"

She ran so fast that she crashed into me and we both fell down.

We looked at each other and started laughing. We just sat there laughing for a few minutes when Belle stopped, got up and pulled me up as well.

"Addie! Something amazing just happened to me!" she announced happily.

She jumped up and down with a huge grin.

"What?" I asked, itching to know what was making her so excited.

"My unique power… It's gotten stronger. And now I can shoot things with fire Addie! My fingers are like some weird fire guns and I don't even have to use the fireball paper!" she said. Then she gave out a little squeak.

"Woah," I said.

This was extremely exciting. Belle's powers weren't just getting stronger, but they were also growing. Just like mine. Earlier that day, another witch unlocked her power. She started floating in class randomly and she was all panicked and screeching, but then she realized that she had the power of levitation.

Belle was definitely changing… now her power was finally offensive and dangerous.

"Crap! That's awesome!" I said, jumping with her.

Belle stopped jumping and grabbed my wrist. "Addie, let's go train! I want to show you!"

We ran to the shooting area and Belle placed herself in position to shoot a target.

"Okay, I can do it two ways. First I can do it like this." She held up her arm and pointed her hand at the target. Then she curled her hand up like a gun, with her thumb and index finger. She closed one eye to aim and then, as if she were pulling the trigger on a real gun, she sort of clicked her thumb down and back up and a little burst of fire shot out from the tip of her index finger. Sadly, it missed the target, but that didn't matter.

Belle could shoot fire.

She gave out a little giggle.

"Okay, that sucked. Anyway, the other method is kind of like this flame thrower thing," she said.

Then she went back into that same position, but instead of her hand being shaped like a gun, she opened up all her fingers. She closed her eyes as if to concentrate then with a little spare, fire began pouring out of her palm in a long and constant flame… just like a flamethrower.

Belle had to stop after a while though. She was catching her breath and sweating a little. She wasn't sweating because the fire was hot, but because she was draining a lot of her own energy. It took a lot out of her.

"My powers… aren't just… little candle lights anymore," she said, in between breaths. There was a suspicious glaze over her eyes.

I went over and hugged her.

"Congratulations Belle! This is really amazing. Don't tire yourself out, okay?" I said.

I thought about Belle's powers all the way to the art school. Things were changing in the Night World. The witches were getting stronger. The world was getting wilder. Nature was preparing itself for something big.

I took a deep breath, taking in these heavy thoughts, and then let it out.

"You don't have to gear up for a painting class you know," Blake said out of nowhere, startling me.

I faced him, wide eyed, thinking I was seeing a ghost.

He wasn't a ghost. He was standing there in front of me, in all his tall and blond jock-ness. He wasn't wearing the school jersey or some other kind of sporty outfit today, and he looked very different. He was wearing a very preppy looking cable knit sweater with brown trousers. It was very country club chic.

"Where have you been? Why haven't you been in school?" I asked him.

Blake looked down and ran his fingers through his hair sheepishly. "It was some family stuff."

This was really weird. The atmosphere between us was weird. We hadn't had a proper conversation since that day he joked about us being soulmates. Then there was the party… we didn't talk, but his expression said volumes. He didn't come to school for three days, leaving me thinking about him constantly. I wanted to apologize to him. Explain myself. I wasn't too sure why and for what, but I did.

Now that he was standing in front of me, looking all awkward and sheepish, I didn't know what to do.

I just said, "I didn't think you were going to show up."

He transformed his pretty boy face into a confident smolder and said, "I couldn't deny you of my devilishly handsome face for too long. I know you missed me."

With that, the awkward atmosphere disappeared, and I let out a little snort. Missed him? Yeah right.

"Let's just get inside and get this over with." I walked into the building, leaving him to follow me.

We were all seated in a circle, facing inward. Each of us had an easel with a medium sized canvas and a little stand next to us with all our materials. This was just a sort of introductory class so that the teacher could assess our art abilities and place us in the categories; beginner, intermediate, or advanced. In the middle of the circle, there was a vase with very simple patterns. The teacher instructed us to recreate the vase on our canvases and that we only had an hour to do so.

I had been dabbling in various forms of art all of my life, so I was pretty confident that I could make it into the advanced section of the class. I worked away at my painting with a solid amount of effort. I stole a few glances at Blake during the hour, surprised to find him concentrating hard. Then again, he probably needed to. A jock vampire doesn't normally go hand in hand with professional artist.

I finished my painting just as the hour was up and the teacher began going around the circle to assess everyone. I looked at my work proudly. I had never taken a single art lesson in my life, but I was no rookie. I smiled when the teacher came around to assess my painting.

"Hmm…" She narrowed her eyes and held her chin.

"Solid drawing skills…"

I nodded, unable to hide my grin.

She pushed her glasses up her nose. "But you need to work on your coloring. It's not very accurate."

My grin faded immediately. What? My coloring was impeccable! It looked exactly like the vase in the middle of the circle!

"Eh… I think I can put you in advanced. You're going to have to keep up." With that, she moved on to the next student.

My jaw dropped. Keep up? I could do more than keep up! My painting was good! I only had an hour to do it, obviously it wouldn't be perfect. What a hard ass.

I was slightly worried for Blake when she approached his painting. If I could barely make it into advanced, the poor guy was probably going to sit in beginners. When the teacher let out a loud gasp, I began to worry for him seriously.

How bad could it be? I thought.

Imagine my astonishment when she turned the easel around for all of us to see and said, "this is what a good painting looks like!"

She was right. Blake's artwork was remarkable. He didn't seem to use many colors, but they were still incredibly vivid. They looked etched into the canvas like a photograph, only somehow a little better. No wonder the teacher told me I needed work on my coloring.

I was still sitting in a wondered state when everyone was assessed, and we were dismissed. Blake made his way to the door and I stood up to join him.

While we were walking I said, "where did you learn to paint like that?"

"My mom's an artist and she's been teaching me since I was a kid."

We both halted to a stop when we reached outside the building. I took a step away from Blake to study him. Up until then I couldn't imagine that he could possibly have any other skill or talent than being a popular jock. Now I didn't know what to expect. I was really impressed, but also a bit scared; scared of what else he might be hiding from the world. Maybe there was more to Blake than I thought.

"It was really, really good," I said.

Blake looked over at me and then gave me a smile. It wasn't one of his 'Blake Effect' smiles, or his cocky grins, or anything of that sort. It was a genuine and happy smile. I was a little taken aback by this and couldn't help but give him one in return.

"Thanks," he said.

We stood there for a few moments just looking at each other and smiling. It was starting to get a little strange so I decided to stop and say goodbye. He beat me to it with something else.

"You want to go grab some dinner at the burger shack?" he asked.

Boy, he was full of surprises that day.

"You know, just because we're doing this Out of the Circle thing, doesn't mean we have to act like we're friends. I won't give you a bad assessment," I said.

Blake scrunched up his eyebrows and frowned. "Geez, I was just trying to be nice Rosewood. Whatever."

Did I just hurt his feelings? I didn't understand. He gets all cocky and full of himself in one moment, then he's all nice and friendly the next. What was his deal? It was so infuriating. Sometimes I just wanted to slap him so hard that his face would land on Jupiter. Other times I could almost hug him for being so considerate… Like that time he drove me home after tennis.

Blake was about to walk off when I sighed said, "wait!"

He stopped.

"I'm sorry. Okay, let's go to the burger shack."

We kept quiet during our walk to the fast food restaurant all the way until we had our orders and sat down at a booth. He had a large burger set with curly fries. He must have been one of the few vampires who enjoyed food despite the fact that he didn't need to consume anything but blood. He started munching away at his burger happily.

I also ate my burger and we still didn't talk. I was getting full when a thought skidded across my mind.

What are we even doing here?

Then it dawned on me. This was some sort of new and cruel prank Blake was pulling to get back at me for Carla and the party. He probably put something in my food.

"Blake," I called, setting down what little was left of my probably poisoned burger.

He stopped stuffing his face and looked up at me with his mouth full, just chewing. "Hmm?"

He looked sort of cute with his face stuffed and eyes wide, just enjoying his meal. I snapped myself out of those thoughts.

"If this is some sort of prank, just tell me now, I really don't want to deal with this today," I said in my most 'I'm tired, don't mess with me' tone.

Blake swallowed the food and picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth. My eyes drooped to his lips, distracting me for a few seconds. I dragged myself back to reality and looked away, hoping that Blake didn't notice.

Blake smirked. "Don't wet your pants, princess. Just enjoy the view."

He gave me a small wink and for some reason that sent me over the edge. Not in a good way.

"What is your problem?" I said with my voice raise a little too high.

I didn't let him answer.

"You're always being so hot and cold all the time! You dump worms on me one day and then act like you care the next. What is wrong with you?" I didn't tone down the volume and people were starting to look.

Blake was a bit concerned and the smirk was now nowhere to be seen. "Addie-"

"-Then you don't show up in school and leave me thinking about you all the time."

"You think about me?"

"What?"

Oh crap, I did not just say that.

"You just said you think about me all the time."

"No. I said I think… about why you aren't in school because… you don't get sick."

Nice try, Addie. I thought to myself.

"I told you, it was family stuff."

This was my chance to change the subject and I took it. "What family stuff?"

Blake looked away. "I don't want to talk about it."

I wasn't going to let the conversation steer back to me thinking about him, so I persisted. "Why not? What kind of stuff is it?"

"Just drop it okay, Addie?"

Woah, he called me Addie. This might actually be something serious. Now my curiosity was piqued.

"Is it bad?"

"No…" Blake hesitated a little.

"Yes… No, just leave it alone."

I didn't feel like leaving it alone.

"What is it?"

Blake slammed a fist at the table which made me jump back.

"Fine!" He said.

"I'm getting married."