I am so sorry. I really am. Life has been so crazy for me, so in honor of my last day of school, I'm updating! Warning: I will NOT be updating again until two weeks from now, I'm on vacation. Which I need. Kind of short, but I think the content more than makes up for it ;)

"Chloe!" Someone was calling. I glanced up at Simon. He rushed at me with a hand stretched out. He slid onto the ground beside me and touched my neck gently, near the sight of the fang marks. He swore loudly. "That's nasty."

I glanced at the ground before muttering, "So I've gathered."

He wiped the blood off my neck gingerly. Derek reminded Simon to be careful, to which Simon didn't even bother replying. "Do you feel dizzy? Nauseous?" Simon's amber eyes were wide as they stayed latched onto my throat.

"I-I don't know. I haven't moved, but she was- was drinking from me. So I lost blood, so I think… I think I'm not well." I wasn't making much sense, and I knew it. Luckily for me, Simon seemed to understand what I was saying.

He nodded briskly and shouted for Tori. She was taking her sweet time getting here. She seemed to be checking out the area, scanning for blood stains and stuff. When she saw me, she whispered, "Oh no."

I wasn't in the mood to have people talking about the evident tragedy that was my life. I couldn't help but glower at her. "I know, okay?" I snapped.

Her eyes were even broader than Simon's. I braced myself for her freak-out. "Your… your hair!"

Needless to say, this was not what any of us were expecting.

Derek was looking at her like she was incredibly stupid. "What about it?"

She whirled on him. "What about it? It's covered in blood and we don't even have shampoo to get it out! We need a hotel tonight. No questions asked."

"So she can wash her hair?"

Tori nodded firmly. "Oh, and don't talk to me like I'm stupid. I'm sure Chloe could use a shower, if only to wash the vampire stench off her so you can stand near her without wanting to puke. Like right now."

Derek was looking a little green. His lip was curled, and while Simon couldn't stop staring at the wounds, he was doing everything he could to avoid seeing them. "Well, okay then."

"Good," Tori replied. "I'll go keep watch outside, blast any vampires that come running. If they're brave enough." She strutted out the door, only turning back to look at me with an expression that was actually… kind? Sympathetic? Understanding?

I frowned. Could it be that Tori knew I just needed rest and wouldn't say anything? Was she actually being nice to me for a change? Before I had time to think about it all, I was brought out of my reverie by Simon saying, "We need Dad. Or Andrew, or someone who knows the purging spell."

"P-purging spell?"

Derek nodded. "We get the poison out through magic. It was important that we find Andrew before, but now…" He didn't finish the statement. He bit off the words like it was almost too painful for him to speak it out loud and let the truth hang in the open. "Simon," He said, changing the subject, "do you think you can try that tracking spell? Or a messaging spell, or something?"

He raked a hand through his hair, looking agitated. When Simon took longer than two seconds to respond, Derek burst out, "Well, can you?"

"Yes." Simon shrugged. "But I'll need quiet. I'm gonna go walk around in here, see if I can find some place where I can be alone." He ambled off, leaving Derek with me.

I was waiting for Derek to follow his brother, or to even go find Tori. After all, anything would be better than getting stuck with stupid Chloe. Stupid, half-vampire Chloe.

Stupid, disgusting Chloe.

He treated me like I was totally revolting. I guess I was. I was turning into someone who was his worst enemy, and there was a chance that I wouldn't be able to stop it. Simon and Derek were trying to avoid saying it, but we all knew the truth: I might not make it out of this in the way that we all wanted.

It was one of the scariest thoughts of my life. For such a long time, I was a freak. The psychotic schizophrenic girl. And just when I'd started to get a handle on dealing with my necromancy, things got even worse. I was becoming a vampire, an undead creature that probably didn't even have a soul.

Would I lose myself? If I didn't make it, would I even be me?

"What's wrong?" Derek interrogated. "Are you okay? Feeling sick? Aching? Can I do anything?"

I shook my head, slightly mystified when I saw little crystals flying around me. Then I realized they were my tears. "Nothing's wrong," I breathed, trying to keep my voice from breaking. It didn't work.

"Something's wrong," It was a steady, clear statement. One of Derek's declared facts that said if you tried to argue, he could easily think of a hundred ways to counter any of your inferior logic.

I didn't argue. But I didn't offer any information about why I was so upset. He didn't deserve to know. Or maybe he did and I was just too worried about what he would say to really care otherwise. He wasn't the most sensitive guy out there, especially when it came to other people's feelings.

"Chloe…"

"I'm scared," I finally told him. I closed my eyes and pressed my hands against my face to try and hide the salty liquid that wouldn't stop rolling down my face. "Derek, I have never been more scared in my life."

He placed a hand on my arm. He tugged gently, trying to get me to uncover my face. I resisted as a sob tore free from my throat. Interestingly enough, my cut didn't throb anymore. I was pretty sure it closed, probably because of the vampire poison, but I didn't care to check.

"Come one, Chloe. Stop that."

"I can't h-h-help it!" I removed my hand and peered at him angrily. "If I'm not saved, you'll hate me. You'll hate me as much as you hate Charlotte! And I don't… I d-d-don't know how to st-stop it."

I was nearing hysterics, and I knew that if there was any chance of Derek not hating me, it was probably gone now that I couldn't stop my crying. "Chloe." There he was, doing that impossible stating-the-truth thing again. Somehow, when he said my name in that voice, it was kind of sexy.

And that only made me cry even harder because I would never be able to blush about something like that again because it just wouldn't work. He was already acting like he hated me, placing me at a distance… It was so awful. Absolutely awful.

I closed my eyes, desperately trying to stop the tears. My lip was quivering violently, and I clenched my jaw hard. My nose was running. I knew I looked like crap, which was probably appropriate because I felt like crap.

Something started to squeeze me and I couldn't help but flinch away. Then, I heard Derek's rumbling voice, pleasantly close to me. Right above me. "If you're going to cry," Which I still was, unfortunately, "you need to at least let me hold you." He sounded like he was trying to sound joking, but instead just sounded kind of nervous. It was adorable.

I craned my head up to look at him. His eyes were surprisingly soft as opposed to his usually harsh stare. Tears were flooding my eyes, my chest was heaving with hiccups, but as I wrapped my arms around him and stared at him, I was never happier.

Almost like he was in a trace, he brought his hand up to my face. His fingertips traced my cheek, sending a thousand jolts throughout my body. I could feel his heart hammering in his chest, and knowing that I could cause such a reaction in him was exhilarating. In a husky tone, he added, "And let me wipe your tears."

"It makes crying worth it," I murmured.

He looked shocked for a moment, and I was too. I wasn't bold. I didn't flirt. Certainly not with guys like Derek.

But no amount of flirting could surprise either of us as much as how good it felt when he pressed his lips to mine. My eyes flew open, then closed in something that I could only describe as sheer bliss. His lips were warm and soft, if slightly chapped. I leaned into him, aiming for as much physical contact as possible. He seemed to like that and helped me out, pressing us together even more.

It was hard for me to reach him because I was so much shorter, and he seemed to get that so he literally swept me off my feet, crushing me to him. I was hovering over the ground, and I pulled away. He started to put me down so I quickly kissed him again. I lifted my arms, running my hands through his long, dark hair.

At first, it was kind of awkward. I had never been kissed, and I'm pretty sure Derek hadn't been either, but it was perfect in its imperfections. It was pure and innocent, but still charged in its own way. Neither of us really knew what to do, but it wasn't very long before we both caught on.

My lips parted slightly and I sighed. Our mouths moved in perfect unison, and everything just felt miraculously right. He kept me suspended like I weighed nothing, which to him, I probably did. After a few moments, he pulled away and set me down, looking kind of confused by happy. A lot happier than I'd ever seen.

"What? What was that?" I finally managed to ask through a huge, silly grin.

He shrugged. "I… don't know."

"Wait, a second? You don't know? That's a first," I teased him, bumping my shoulder against him.

Derek half-smiled at me, sufficiently filling me with a thousand butterflies. "Enjoy it while you can."

"So what does this mean?" I asked. I tried to sound too full of hope and failed miserably.

This time, he didn't smile. He only looked away and said, "I'm not sure. I think we'll need to think about what we want."

I stared at him. That wasn't the right thing to say. It wasn't even close to being the right thing to say. I didn't tell him, "But I already know what I want." Instead, I nodded. "Yeah. That's probably a good idea."

He looked relieved, which hurt a lot. "Glad we're on the same page."

An awkward silence occurred until finally, he said, "And Chloe? I could never hate you."

There was something about the way he said it that managed to fill me with hope again. So we needed to think about what was going on. Thinking was good. Thinking would always be good as long as it was about Derek.

I beamed at him. He returned the smile quickly, and I hugged him close.

That was when I figured out that even if Derek and I didn't work out romantically, we would always be best friends. Always.

(A/N) At the bottom of my profile, I have just placed a link to freerice(dot)com. It's a website that's up to help combat world hunger. It's completely free us to use. I'm sure that so many people throughout the world would appreciate it if you could just go on for ten minutes a day – Just think of how many people we could help if we all pitched in! All you have to do is answer some really simple questions and within ten to fifteen minutes, you could probably easily donate over 500 grains of rice. For those of you who agree, feel free to copy and paste this onto your profile/stories along with a link :) Thank you for reading this.