Mina: Can we make this one short? I hate this chapter.

Me: You hate everything lately…

Mina: Not Vlad…

Me: You never hate Vlad. *Rolls eyes* whatever. Well, I do not own The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod. Nor do I own the song Mina sings Someone Like You is sung by Lucy Harris in Jekyll and Hyde. Another musical by Frank Wildhorn. Beautiful song, please search and listen to.

Mina: Oh! And my friend Amelia, you have to remember her! She is frickin amazing!

Me: You don't own her either. She's based off of my friend Kaitlyn. Well thanks Kaitlyn for helping me through writers block, therefore helping Mina through heartbreak! RAWR!

26 Someone Like You

Vlad has only been gone four days and I was going crazy! It was driving me mad not to see his welcoming smile and hear his laughing voice. I had already implanted into my mind that I could go on shunning Vlad until he got the picture.

But now that it has only been four days without him out of seven I don't think I could resist tackling him to the ground the moment I see him. Yet the thought that he probably misses Meredith and hasn't thought about me at all kept the flame of my anger alive. Until it devoured me once more and I was certain I could survive shunning him long enough for him to get the point.

It was still early in winter break and without Vlad things got dull. I lost my interest to go along with Joss and Henry wherever they went.

Don't get me wrong, I still love to spend time with my cousins. But they seem to understand that Vlad's absence is driving me insane. They requested I try to spend time with my older friends, I knew they meant well. So, here I am, waiting for my friends to come. Marie, Rachel, Megan, Lisa, and Amelia were all coming over to spend time here with me.

When my five friends came, we retreated to my room. I lay down on my floor, Rachel and Lisa took my bed. Megan sat down at the chair by my desk, Marie and Amelia sat with me on the floor.

"So what do you guys want to do?" Amelia asked.

"I don't know! I hang out with the guys all the time. All they do is play video games and act like idiots." I laughed at the memory of Vlad, Joss and I experimenting with Mentos.

"Lucky!" Marie commented, I rolled my eyes. Many girls in our school have taken a liking to come up to me asking if one of the popular McMillans is interested in them. Of course, I never tell them anything really important or leading. But still, I was used to it. So for at least on of my friends to be even remotely curious of my cousins wasn't rare.

"What I meant is I spend so much time with the guys I'm afraid I don't know what to do with the girls." I admitted, they seemed to understand, I guess. "So, educate me. What do we girls do?"

"Talk." Megan answered, I laughed.

"About what?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Well what do guys talk about?" I shrugged, respecting my friends enough to stay silent. All the girls leaned closer in excitement.

"Oh, yes! Tell us!" Lisa encouraged.

"No, guys I can't! That's personal!" They went in a fit of giggles.

"How personal?" Rachel asked, I sighed.

"Guys, I know things about them that you could only dream of knowing." Their grins widened. "But I have vowed never to tell."

"Oh why not, Mina?"

"They'll kill me if I do. But I will say one thing. Just because they are popular doesn't mean anything. They are all normal guys deep down."

"Do they talk about girls like we do them?" Maria asked.

"Of course they do." I shrugged it off as nothing. "What?"

"What do they say?"

"Girls, they are just like us. They are lost and confused about every little tiny thing that we do. Just because I hang out with guys doesn't mean I'm the missing link. Remember, all of them are family."

"Not Vlad." I blushed a deep red at his name.

"Well, he's-uh. Vlad… he's just…" I stuttered horribly, I didn't know exactly what to say.

"Oh come on Mina, we all know you like him." Amelia spoke while rolling her eyes. I froze on the spot. My face went from red to pure white chalk to blood pudding once again.

"What—what would make you think that? I don't like Vlad!" I went immediately in my defense. "I do not like Vlad! How'd you come up with that? Where did you get that? Oh, god I'm gonna kill Henry!" I stood up to go on another Hunt for Henry. Amelia grabbed my arm and yanked me down.

"The whole town knows it, Mina." I paled once again.

"What?" I shrieked.

"Everyone knows you like Vlad. Trust me; it's not that hard to notice." Rachel added, I went wide-eyed. "Even people who don't even know your names think you're together all the time. You guys just… look like a couple." Megan told me.

"We what?"

"Well, you're always together all the time. And you blush around him too much. You blush even at his name! And also you are both pale with dark hair and like to wear dark colors like black and red. You both just fit."

"I—we just do that! We don't do that on purpose! We just like the same things."

"Each other." Lisa grumbled under her breath. I felt my eyes narrow slightly, as if I was tired. I sighed.

"No. Vlad likes someone else. I know he does, he told me. So even if I did like him, which I don't, it's not like it will matter." I saw their hopes dwindle as my own secretly did the same. "If you have a problem with that, talk to him."

They seemed to agree on that. I nodded and crossed my arms.

"But, if he didn't like this one girl and he liked you… would you like him?" I fidgeted with the carpet in front of me.

"I don't know." I stood and went to my window, looking down at the street outside my house. "Vlad is an amazing guy. This girl, let's call her Michaela, would be a fool not to see the potential he has. Like, did you know that he has the voice of a god?" I smiled widely as I went into a short daydream before shacking it off.

"Yeah that would get you." Amelia rolled her eyes jokingly. She knew I loved men who could sing. I copied her and rolled my eyes.

"He also can be very romantic. He hates it when things are just too normal, he likes just a bit of difference every day. And he gets really shy around girls. And he thinks he doesn't get along with people much or that they don't like him anyway so that's why he doesn't get out of our circle much."

The looks my friends were giving me were those of shock, confusion, and smugness. I felt that they were shocked that the boy who sits in silence everyday in class had more to him. The confusion could also be another link to that. Yet the smug grins on their faces caused me fear. And for the moment I knew I said something hinting to my secret love for the boy with black eyes and hair.

"Wow, I never knew there was that much to him." Rachel gasped, I nodded.

"Yeah, he's a complex kinda guy." I sighed in despair. "And, regrettably, very hard to fully understand or get to."

"Mina, if you both get along so well why won't you even think about getting together?" Megan asked me. I shrugged.

"He likes that other girl, has since second grade. He really likes her, guys. And also he is my cousin's best friend, and mine. And at times I think he notices me just as much as the girl, but other times it's not like that at all."

"What do you mean?" Lisa asked.

"He acts like he likes you?" Marie asked. I shook my head.

"Well… he has almost kissed me before." I went deep red; I'm not sure why I told them about that. I guess I just needed to tell someone, and they seemed like the right people. They all matched in expression. They stared at me in shocked excitement.

"Tell us more!" Marie demanded.

"Well once Henry, Vlad and I were playing a game. We were playing Truth or Dare, and I said truth. Henry asked if I ever kissed a guy, I said no. Then when Vlad said dare, he told Vlad to kiss me. He almost did, he was so close. But my aunt walked in and told us to go to bed." I saw their expressions drop. "Then when he spent the night one day he was still awake when Henry was in the shower. He had a nightmare and woke up screaming my name, saying I died in the dream. After making sure he was okay he cupped my face and almost kissed me. But he pulled away and acted as if I'd asked him to slice me in half and he could bear to do it."

"Oh my god, are you serious?" Amelia shouted in joy. I blushed harder and didn't look at them.

"Yeah. I asked him about it and he said he had thought about it. Said he had wanted to at the time. I told him that if he ever needed or wanted to that he could. I wouldn't do anything if he did or didn't, I don't care."

"How do you find the confidence to say that?"

"Well when I am alone with Vlad I feel different. I feel more like me, the true me. I'm normally not afraid to say what I really want to say around him, knowing he will understand me."

"Wish I could do that." Rachel said sarcastically.

"Yeah, well…It's hard not to. When I am upset with him he talks to me because he knows I can't ignore him." They laughed. "No really, I can't. It's is mentally impossible for me to ignore that he is there. And he is well aware of that fact, so he'll confront me about it and I'll give in. I always give in…"

"Mina… are you and Vlad okay?" Amelia asked, she apparently saw my troubled expression. I stifled the feeling of depression I felt as the image of Meredith and Vlad kissing entered my mind.

"Yeah. Fine. Better than fine, we are great!" I lied, she saw through it.

"Liar." I sighed and rubbed my arms. What could I tell them? I just said I don't like Vlad, but if I said I saw him kissing another girl and I'm mad with jealousy would be stupid. Very stupid. I saw my IPod speaker and pressed play. Sympathy-Tenderness played in my ears, I relaxed.

"Well, he did something I'm not too happy about. And I won't tell you what, it's personal. But after that he went to Siberia and missed my birthday. I'm a little angry about that."

"Then tell him." Megan stated.

"I can't tell him I'm mad at him. It doesn't work that way." I shook my head.

"Then what are you planning to do? Just stand there and bottle it all up?" Lisa questions, I sighed and stared out the window.

"No. I really am going to ignore him this time. I won't let him break me open and get to me. I will shun him like he deserves to be shunned. He will know something is wrong, and when I don't open myself to him he will be bothered. It will drive him mad. Once he is good and crazy I will tell him why I was pissed."

"Are you sure it will work? What if he doesn't notice?" Rachel asked.

"Yes, I am. We spend every minute of every hour of every day together. If we aren't together we know where each other are and what we are doing. He will go mad if I shunned him. But this whole part about him being in Siberia is hard on me. I'm worried about him."

"Don't worry. He will be fine, perfectly fine." I nodded. I smiled softly, a sad smile.

"I love this song…" All was silent as the song arose from my IPod. The song after Sympathy-Tenderness was Someone Like You. Amelia sat up excitedly. I was guessing that they all were looking for a change of subject and she found one first.

"Why don't you sing for us, Mina?" I whipped around to her. "Guys, she has the most amazing voice! You should hear her in choir!" I rolled my eyes. Requests were shouted at me from the moment I opened my mouth to refuse. I sighed deeply.

"Fine, but we're keeping this song." They nodded. I wasn't really up to singing since the night of the Snow Ball. Yet I put that aside and took in a breath to sing along with the song. They easily put off my actions, expressions, and passion as acting. Yet I knew deep in my heart that I was thinking of only one person as I sang.

"I peer through windows, watch life go by, dream of tomorrow, and wonder "why"? The past is holding me, keeping life at bay. I wander lost in yesterday. Wanting to fly—but scared to try." I watched Henry and his friends pass the house laughing. I pictured Vlad and me among them. Yet we somehow just didn't fit. "But if someone like you found someone like me, then suddenly nothing would ever be the same!

"My heart would take wing, and I'd feel so alive. If someone like you found me!" I smiled at the thought. "So many secrets I've longed to share! All I have needed is someone there. To help me see a world I've never seen before. A love to open every door, to set me free, so I can soar!"

I sat on my desk near Megan, they all watched me with over reactive excitement.
"If someone like you found someone like me, then suddenly nothing would ever be the same! There'd be a new way to live. A new life to love, if someone like you found me! Oh, if someone like you found someone like me, then suddenly nothing would ever be the same! My heart would take wing, and I'd feel so alive!" I held out the note till it cut off. My fiery emotion dimming to wishful daydream as I cut off.

"If someone like you loved me…" I sighed and leaned against my wall. Shortly after my solo my friends slowly departed as their families came to pick them up. Sooner than I could have ever imagined I was alone once again.

The song ran through my mind like a broken record. Yet I knew it was only half true. I would like for someone like Vlad to love me. Yet for Vlad himself to love me, that I couldn't deny it's appeal. Hopefully Vlad will be back soon so I can see him, even thought it will be through narrowed eyes.

I miss him too much. I have but three days until I could see him and feel his presence beside me. I longed for his touch and the feel of his eyes on me.

Only three days. I could live through that couldn't I? My problem was controlling my ever growing emotions when I see him again. What scares me is I'm not totally sure if I had the strength…

Mina decided to tap into her deep down Blood Countess Elizabeth Bathory instincts and be ruthless! MUHAHAHA! REVIEW PLEASE!