I own nothing to do with True Blood.

Hey guys, hoping you won't mind another update! :-) And hoping you will enjoy this one! I've found I absolutely love writing a True Blood fanfic, I just love the characters so much. You all inspire me in amazing ways, so thank you all! I love all you amazing people, I'm so flattered that you're interested in the journey of this story! xx

I'm sorry if this chapter is a bit boring! There will be some Eric and Godric in the next chapter, I promise you :D

I thought that being back at school would make me feel normal again. Turned out, I was dead wrong. My day only got worse, if that ever were possible. Hell, my life was getting worse and worse as the days went on and progressed. Even when I was trying to catch up on school and being like a human girl again.

At lunch break outside on the tables, my little mind-reading thing decided to pop up again randomly and completely out of the blue, without any hope of controlling it. My close friend Arlene, bestie Tara, and I, were halfway in the middle of a conversation, and just because my knee so happened to be pushed up against Arlene's thigh underneath the table the way it was, I ended up hearing a bucket-load of private thoughts and stresses I didn't particularly want to be aware of in Arlene's life.

Turned out, Arlene was having as much of a difficult week as I had, if worser.

As it was, I found out Arlene had missed her monthly period, and she was scared she might be pregnant at fifteen. All her thoughts turned X-rated, and she was recalling her date with her older senior boyfriend, Terry, the night before. Turned out, they had unprotected sex in the back of his old rusty and dented pick-up truck. Apparently, according to her thoughts, it was something unexpected, hence the silly idea of going without a condom. Things had just gotten too hot and heavy for Arlene to deny the proposition Terry was offering her with all his thigh and neck kisses, and now she was stressing obsessively over whether Terry would break up with her or not, if she found out she was in fact pregnant.

Throwing a spanner in the works and without even thinking carefully into what I was doing, I turned in my seat and gave her a big super-tight hug.

"Things will work out just fine, Arlene," I had told her, pressing my chin into her shoulder, in a friend's only way of comforting a girl in their serious time of need. I sure could use a hug myself. "Get a pregnancy test, and if it does so-happen to come back positive, I'm sure Terry won't mind." Terry and her had dated for very nearly almost a year, and by the looks of things, it was something serious. Well, as serious as two high-school kids could get. "And Arlene, you are a strong, independent and beautiful girl and, as for Terry, I know he's crazy about you!"

I could remember the day Terry asked her out, and how over the moon she was. He had made it a real theatrical affair; We were all in the school cafeteria, and Terry had jokingly gotten down on one knee and declared to the entire student body present that he wanted Arlene as his girl, and he had real tears in his eyes, like he was just bursting with emotion over the idea of having Arlene as his girl. It didn't get anymore romantic than that.

Once I pulled away from our hug and smiled encouragingly at her, she looked me over searchingly and went about as red as her hair. I realized my mistake a second later; Clearly, I hadn't thought my actions through enough. But I had only meant it out of the goodness in my heart, only Arlene just couldn't see it that way.

"Oh, my God. Tara told you, didn't she?" She asked, then turned in her seat to stare unsuspecting Tara down, betrayal written all across her face. I felt so guilty for making Tara take the fall and, yet, there wasn't really much I could do to rectify the situation easily. "Remind me never to tell you secrets ever again, you tattling bitch!"

I felt like crying over the blow-out I'd just caused, when Tara's mouth hung agape. Tara was always good at defending herself, though, and, naturally, she did. She recollected herself hardly a second later, with ferocity in her stride.

"Well, excuse me!" she snapped, downright insulted. "I never said anythin' to Sook! Now who you calling a bitch? You better take that the fuck back this instance!"

"Oh, I call bullshit," Arlene taunted, wiggling a finger over at her. I learned then just how bitchy girl's my age can get, and dangerously so. A girl-fight was definitely brewing in the midst of it all. "How else would Sookie know? You've gone and told her about my little problem, ain't you? Hell, the least you can do is admit to it, not just sit there and pretend you didn't! I thought we were friend's, Tara, but clearly I was wrong. True friend's don't turn on each other, like stupid bit-"

"Hey time-out, you two! Please!" I yelled between the pair urgently, trying to keep my face straight and no tears from running out. Which was pretty difficult. I hated seeing two close friends getting involved in a cat-fight, all due to my thoughtless mouth. "I'm sorry, all right?" I apologized, then scrambled to my feet. I realized I had to get the heck away from the pair of them before I started bawling, ruining my cover once and for all. "I never meant to cause a fight between you both!"

Sure enough, I erupted into miserable tears. I just wanted to be left alone, but at the same time, I was sick and tired of being alone. At least, I wanted human companionship. No more vampires and fangs and blood. But clearly, I wasn't about to get it today with these two after the drama I'd just caused.

God, seems I did wrong no matter where I turned.

My first day back at school, and what a failure that had been!

"See you two in English," I murmured, slipping off the bench. "And again, I'm real sorry, Arlene, for meddling!"

All this stuff that was happening to me, was a lot more harder to deal with than I thought. I thought I was getting a pretty good handle over everything, until now. But then I'd just only had Gran die due to being drained to death by a set of malicious vampires after my blood, and then Uncle Bartlett being murdered all because of Eric's carelessness. Add to that, I had all these things happening to me that I could not seem to control- things that kept making me realize how unhuman I was, all these special skills- and then I had Eric, a vampire who's meant to be protecting me, who only just had his memory magically wiped and underneath some misguided belief we were lovers. And then there's Godric, who wasn't a problem in his own right, but rather the solution that held everything all together and stopped everything from getting all crazy- as far as Eric was concerned, at least.

At least I had Godric, and he could control Eric and make sure he kept himself outta harms way, when I wasn't around. And realistically, a huge vampire like Eric was way beyond my control.

But then things just started getting worse and worse. I think I was now beginning to slowly crack underneath the pressure.

Mr. Merlotte had been my Gran's cat all along. He wasn't just a mere teacher looking out for one of his students best interests.

Mr. Compton had gotten real close to my Grandmother, only with the wicked intentions of killing her, and then once she was well and truly out-of-the-way, send me to the King.

I had a crazy Vampire King after my blood. Not to mention all these other Vampires and Were probably wanting to pinch me and take me to him. I think all that was definitely reason enough for me to crack and break underneath the strain of it all.

And so, I spent the rest of my lunch break sitting all by my lonesome having a good, old crying fest. Crying seemed about the only thing I could do, and though I knew it was hardly productive, it helped a whole lot and took a load of stress off my shoulders.

I just wanted something good to start happening to me. Now I didn't know what that was, but... I just wanted something nice. A well-deserved holiday from all this madness.

"What are you doing sitting there all alone, Sookie Stackhouse?" asked a deep voice from behind me, sounding outraged. "What is the meaning of this? This ain't cool."

I turned and peeked behind my shoulder and, sure enough, it was Hoyt.

Maybe this was it. Maybe this was what I needed, after all? A friend to talk to (maybe not by telling him all that's happening in my life, because surely, he wouldn't believe it and, Hoyt being a bit slow, he sure as hell would not be able to keep up). Still, I was real pleased he'd come to notice me sitting away from everyone, sobbing.

Hoyt was in Jason's grade, and they were the best of friends. Though I never had a crush on any boy's at school, I always thought Hoyt was pretty nice-looking, in a beefy kinda way. Too bad his Ma meddled in his business so often; I'm sure he would have made the best boyfriend in the world to any girl, if they'd ever given him so much as the time of day. He sure had a heart made of pure gold in my eyes.

"Hi, Hoyt," I breathed out weakly. I felt so self-conscious, when he came to sit down by me. I was sure my nose was running from all my crying, and I didn't even so much as have a damn tissue on me. Hoyt had never seen me cry before, I'm pretty sure. But it made me feel so happy to see that sympathetic smile on his face for me.

Hoyt put a stocky arm around me and patted my shoulder. "Hey, Sook. What's the matter?" Hoyt was always real sweet and understanding to me. At least, as much as he possibly could be towards a best friend's little sister, without breaking their code of brotherhood, or whatever it was they had, that is.

"Oh, nothing. I'm just being an emotional girl today." I moped up my tears and tried to put on a smile for him. "I'm just bein' silly, really."

"Oh no, you don't," he said, in playful warning. "You know Hoyt Fortenberry don't budge for nobody. Especially not his best buddies little sister, when she's upset. Now spill!"

"I've just had a crazy week," I said, unsure whether I ought to really tell him the half of it or not. Even then, crazy was such an understatement. "I just caused Tara and Arlene to have a real big blow-out, all because of me shooting off my stupid mouth. I swear, I never learn!" I couldn't help it, I broke down crying again. "Things in my life just keep going from bad to worse, I swear!"

"Oh, now. That ain't true," he said consolingly, like it'd help. "Your life ain't that bad. Surely, it could be a million times worse, right?"

"Oh, you don't even know the half of it. And, even if you did, you wouldn't even believe how crap my life is right now," I said, hoping to make a light-hearted joke out of it. Well, at least I still had a little bit of humour in my system to work with. Sure, I could laugh about it now, while I was away from it. But soon as I got home, and everything turned dark outside again, it'd just turn bad all over. It occurred to me I was whining, so I decided to make some good use out of being around Jason's best pal. "How's Jason going?" I asked, finding comfort most of all in the subject change.

"Yeah, he's good. You know Jason, same old routine." He laughed quietly, and rubbed my shoulder again consolingly. It was kind of nice to be held by Hoyt. Nicer, than I would have thought. He was so warm and cuddly, it was a nice change from being surrounded by cold, hard vampires. Then again, I think it's always nice to be held in general by anyone, when you're in a weepy mood. "He's actually hooked up with this chick. She's not half bad lookin', either. She's got a real pretty smile."

"And that'd be Tara, I hope?" I asked bluntly, fixing him with a stern stare.

Jason had made the impression by me reading his thoughts that one time, that he'd really seriously had a thing for Tara. And Tara definitely liked Jason. I would be super peeved off at Jason if he deliberately made a go at hooking up with another girl, all because he was too chicken to voice his feelings for Tara out in the open. But knowing Jason and how much of a cad he was, always playing girl's for the thrill of it, I couldn't say it would have surprised me in the slightest.

"Unfortunately, no," Hoyt admitted slowly, frowning. "But hey, I know for a fact he likes her. Like really, really likes her." He shrugged and waved his hand into the air dismissively. "But knowing the stand-up guy Jase is, he's just too concerned it would interfere with your friendship with her. He's too much of a great guy to jeopardize that. You ought to give him a little more credit for being the awesome guy he is!" He gave me a dopey, proud smile. "And that awesome guy is my bestest friend in the entire universe! Who would have ever thought your bro would have a loser like me as his best pal?"

"Hoyt, you're a million times better than Jason." I snorted at his unfairly self-depreciating words, then shook my head. "C'mon, let's be honest here. Jason is anything but a stand-up guy. You ought to know that real well, considering the number of times you've seen him break a girl's heart and leave her inconsolable the way he has!"

"Oh, come on." He gave me an incredulous look, raising his eyebrows. "If I could be anyone in the world, livin' or dead... I'd want to be Jason fuckin' Stackhouse. Jason is The Man!"

"Oh, I wouldn't like you then if you were anythin' like my brother," I told, shuddering at the mere thought. "Jason is selfish, egotistical, and a complete and utter heartbreaker! Almost as bad as Eri-" I had to get a firm hold of myself just then. I was about to say Eric Northman, but then realized just how silly that was. Not to mention downright risky. Not that Hoyt would gather any sense into it anyhow, being as unobservant as he was.

"Yeah, but you're his little sister," he said, like that made my opinion invalid. "You're not supposed to like him!"

Boy, Hoyt sure had rose-colored glasses on whenever it came to my brother. It's like he couldn't so much as think a bad word of Jason, ever. But lucky me, I knew Jason for what he truly was: A mischief-maker, always running around and breaking girl's hearts. It was only because I knew Tara so well and how strong she was, with never letting her feelings get the best of her, that I would willingly push her into dating Jason the way I had. Tara sure wasn't like other girl's at school; She could handle herself, and well.

"Who's this new girl, anyhow?" I asked, more interested than I ought to have been where Jason's dating life was concerned. Knowing Jason, it wouldn't last all that long. Jason changed girl's as often as he changed his underwear, and that was weekly.

"Well, she's got a real pretty smile. She's blonde. Her names Crystal."

"Crystal?" Well, that name wasn't familiar to me. No one at school came to mind. Obviously, she wasn't a Bon Temps student, then.

Seemed Hoyt knew exactly what I was thinking of asking about her. "She don't attend here," he explained. "I'm not actually sure what school she goes to. But she's real wild. Jason was sayin' she's a real panther in the sack, or maybe he was just bragging to get me jealous." He threw a playful wink at me, and I felt my face scrunch up. "They've hung out a lot. In fact, he told me not to tell you, but he's skipped school to hang with her."

"Ugh. Too much information, Hoyt. Like I needed to know what the girl my brother's currently seeing is like in bed!"

"Well, hey." He lifted his arms in the air, pleading his innocence. "I'm just repeating what he said. Those were his words, they ain't mine!"

"Well, maybe it's for the best that things didn't evolve between Tara and him," I said, after a moment of inwards reflection. "Tara is way too good for him!"

"No way. Jason's too good. For anybody."

"Oh, really?" I smiled at him, and I found talking with Hoyt was just the nice distraction I truly needed. "If he's as good as you say, why don't you date him then?" I teased.

He pretended to be wounded, and scoffed. "Hey play fair, sister Stackhouse! You know I don't bat for the same team!"

"Sure sounds like it."

"I'm serious." He looked into my eyes, and I swear his cheeks reddened a bit. "Besides, clearly I ain't gay. I find you real pretty. You've got the prettiest, nicest smile and your voice sounds like angels and symbols." He avoided my eyes, embarrassed.

I blushed myself, feeling giddy and flattered. That was about the most sweetest thing a guy had ever said to me, and it was all Hoyt, Jason's best buddy. What a surprise, even if it was the slightest bit cheesy.

"Are you hitting on me, Hoyt?" I asked, in playful warning. "Because, you know, Jason would never stand for it and he'd flip out if he ever heard you say such a thing to his younger sister!"

"Then, he doesn't have to know, right?" he said, shrugging. "We'll keep what I said a secret. Somethin' just between you and me, pretty girl."

I was wearing the biggest smile then, because I realized something. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad dating a human boy after all? And Hoyt was definitely nicest, funniest, and sweetest enough.

Vampires weren't known to get into relationships with humans anyhow. Humans were probably just top of the food chain for them. Nothing more than warm, living-breathing supplies of blood. And, no doubt, Eric especially would always view me that way, whether he was being a different Eric at current, or not. I felt my stomach drop. Why Eric just came into my mind so suddenly, it was news to me. But surely, he'd be glad I was taking incentive to try to lead a normal life, anyhow.

And eventually, once this curse does ware off, he'd just treat me the same as before. He'd never see me any different. Plus, he was too old for me. Why did I like him anyway? So, I might as well stop dreaming and getting my hopes up on anything. I wanted to start living my life as a normal, human girl would do, exactly like before, even if I was a Faerie and had all these supernatural beings after my ass. I deserved it, and so I decided I might as well make good use and enjoy the daylight hours and my human time to myself as much as possible.

I knew I'd have to be the one biting the bullet and taking matter into my own hands, as far as starting to date was concerned. So, I decided, why not see if it'll work out on Hoyt? Surely, Jason wouldn't care a rat's ass. And plus, it wasn't like it was going to turn into anything serious or not. We'd just be friends hanging out and plus, Gran would have wanted me to experience new developments in my life.

"Hey, Hoyt."

"Yeah?"

I didn't even recognize my voice, when I said it to him. "You want to maybe hang out with me after school?"

"Yeah, that'd be cool. How can I refuse an offer that the great Jason Stackhouse's little sister is making? I'd be full-on crazy as nuts! Hopefully some of that Stackhouse coolness will rub off on me, huh?"

Little did I realize then, just how bad and dangerous it'd be of me to be inviting Hoyt over when there was two vamps underneath the floorboards; One, that was convinced I was his human wife because of this pledge-thingy. Godric wasn't really a concern to me at this point in time. But... Eric. Well, who knows what he'd do now that he's all confused and unpredictable?