On Thursday I woke up to a frozen rose on my windowsill again. Ignoring the feelings it caused to rise up in me, I braided my waist-length brown hair to one side and put on my Day Class uniform.

Throughout the day all I overheard were people chatting about the soirée. It caused both positive and negative feelings within me. I mean sure, it was great that Aido and I were going together, but under the circumstances it felt like anything but a blessing. Here I was, heart-breakingly in love with a vampire who is just babysitting me until someone can find a spell that makes me not remember that vampires exist.

I looked down at my chest and patted roughly where my heart had started to race. I laughed, but it wasn't happy. "You're just as defective as my mind is..." I said out loud to myself.

Before I could descend much further, Akane and Rei were pulling me to the door of the school building, as it was the end of the day.

"Are you excited for the soirée, Kisa-chan?" Rei asked, waving a hand in front of my face.

"I think so." I mumbled. Could what I was feeling simply be excitement?

"Oh she's excited." Akane poked my cheek. "I'll be excited if her date lets us anywhere near her, though!" She giggled, teasing, but my chest just felt heavy. Sensing the mood, she gently pushed Rei off of me toward some of his friends, so she could take me aside.

"Is something wrong?" She studied my face carefully. "Tell me."

Looking into her eyes I faltered. I wanted to brush her off like I always did, for her safety of course, but part of me wanted to try harder to be honest with her. She was, after all, my best friend.

"There's this girl..." Akane nodded encouragingly, and I continued. "And she kind of told me... not to go to the soirée with Aido."

"Is she Day Class or Night Class?"

"Night Class. And she's been all over him any time that I was at the Moon Dorm."

Akane hmm'd. "Guess she just thinks she has a claim on him and if she can intimidate you she can get Aido to go to the soirée without a date."

I shrugged one shoulder. "That's what I thought. But she's kind of... scary..." I settled for "scary" as an adjective to describe Aika.

"Kisa. Let the girl dance with him once and then tell her to buzz off. At the end of the day Aido chose you, and you're his girlfriend."

Yeah, but for all I know Aido wants to be with her too but I got in the way and now he's obligated to escort me... I thought to myself.

Either way, we're no match for Aika and we need to stay out of her way. My inner thought back.

Our conversation was unable to continue once we got close enough to the Moon Dorm gate and could hear the screaming of the Day Class girls. Akane rubbed her temples.

"Kisa, I'm getting a headache all of a sudden. If you don't mind, I'm going to find Rei and go home quickly. I think we still have those painkillers in the bathroom cabinet."

I nodded. "Yeah, go ahead. Feel better."

I heard a soft giggle. "I thought she'd never leave."

My eyes widened but I narrowed them as I turned back to face Aika, realizing what she'd done.

"You leave her alone." I said, sotto voce.

Aika laughed at my tone like one would laugh at a declawed cat attacking with its paws. "Or what? You'll stare at me? Cry? Please. I could deafen you before you even touched me."

"So to what do I owe this discussion? When you could just 'deafen me'." I was irritated now.

"I came to remind you of my earlier warning. To stay away from Aido, even though the two of you are clearly pretending to be dating. I can tell he doesn't love you, so you should let him go to the soirée alone so he could enjoy himself, yeah?"

I opened my mouth to contradict her, but I suddenly felt a flash of earsplitting pain in my forehead, as if someone had hit me with a baseball bat.

"Aika-chan!" Suddenly Ichijo had thrown his arms around the petite blonde vampire, her curls bouncing as he gently rocked her side to side. "We're going to be late! Make friends with Day Class girls later!"

Aika's concentration being broken meant I could hear again. I sighed with relief.

"Don't test me, Day Class human." Aika broke Ichijo's hold and practically glided back to the group, leaving Ichijo grinning at me.

"How are you, Kisa-chan?" Ichijo asked brightly. He didn't wait for me to answer. "I'm glad to see you, but perhaps avoid Aika-chan? She has a bad temper!" His gaze turned serious for less than a second, and then he was walking away. It dawned on me that he'd interfered on purpose.

I saw Aido approach from my other side, looking after Ichijo in disgust. "What did Ichijo-senpai want?"

"To ask me to the soirée." I began dramatically. "I had to crush his hopes."

Aido scoffed. "Right. I happen to know that he's 'chaperoning' Rima and Shiki, much to their chagrin."

"Oh my." I laughed at the mental image of Shiki being shadowed on a date.

"C'mere." He pulled me by the wrist over to the woods. "Have to hurry since your little chitchats made us off schedule."

I felt my back hit a tree and then my head was being tilted to the side and my blood being drank. I relaxed and let my mind clear as he had his fill, but was shocked when after he licked a stripe over the spot where his teeth pierced he kissed me hungrily. I gasped and leaned my head back against the tree and he followed, deepening the kiss and holding my face with one of his hands.

He drew away quickly and my heart was racing. What the hell was that?

"Sorry. I got carried away." He truly looked embarrassed.

I fixed my clothes and turned around. "Do I have any tree bark on my back?"

He brushed his hand down my back once. "No."

"Okay." I nodded, unsure if I was okay to walk away now.

"I'll see you at the soirée." Aido said quietly, before striding away to catch up to the other vampires.