Keaira closed the door behind Rei. She couldn't believe her Grandmother Marygold had invited him to stay for the weekend while she was out of town. Keaira was furious. She locked the door and turned the sign to "Closed" then stormed up to her bedroom. It was beautifully yet awkwardly decorated with Celtic prints in various shades of blue and green. She had several different band posters on her walls, and three book shelves full of everything from ancient looking books with barely visible spines to book that looked fresh off the press. She landed with a thud in the full size canopy bed and curled into a ball holding her faded brown teddy bear as close to her chest as she could. She listened to the breeze that crept through the large oak tree that branched out beside her second story balcony sized window. She was half tempted to sneak out that window and down the oak tree to take a walk as far away from Rei Morgan as she could get. She could remember the days that he used to sneak up the exact same oak to wake her up in the mornings for Saturday cartoons or to go play, and then come back that night after curfew with the latest horror flick and hold her hand through the entire movie. They'd been friends all growing up, all the way till middle school, when she went to Germany for a year to stay with her Aunt Rosengurtel and participate in the study abroad program. When she came home, she'd grown up a lot, she'd gotten taller, grew a chest, and had gotten rid of her glasses for contacts. Guys started paying attention to her, following her home, or picking on her while she was in school, and that was when Rei stopped coming over. It started swiftly, they stopped talking civil words in the halls, and all his friends harassed her with cat calls as she walked around the mall. She sighed. She'd secretly missed those days, when they were best friends, and he told her everything...now he just jumped from one girl to another, feeding on them, using them, then dumping them.
"You could act a little more happy about it Keaira..." She heard his voice from the window. "I mean...it's the first sleepover we've had since we were ten.."

"And what do you propose to do?...I mean...it's not like we're friends now is it?" She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

"Ah come on now..." He pouted. "Saying things like that could hurt my feelings you know..." He crossed his arms in mock of her.

"What feelings?" she asked and started to close her windows. "Leave me alone Rei...I've got homework to do!."

"Wait!" he pushed the window open again and crawled inside. "I'll do my best to behave this weekend...I won't even bring food in the house." he winked. Keaira pushed him out of the room. "Go away! I'm serious!" Rei grabbed her by her arms.
"Watch yourself." he warned his face dead, or undead if you will, serious. "All I'm saying." he then backed off and left.

She slammed the window behind him. "OOOH!" she growled and walked over to one of her bookshelves, scanning for a new book to read to keep her mind off of Rei. He looked so serious, so concerned about her. It was odd. He hadn't looked at her that way in years. It sent chills up her spine, chills she spent middle school trying to get to go away. Rei had been her crush for years. And for good reason, they were raised sooo close to each other. In fact, Rei's parents had a picture of them kissing under mistletoe during Christmas when they were six and seven. She laughed. She had that exact same picture behind a few other framed ones on her desk. She reached back and picked it up. Part of her wanted to be back in those days, having fun, being friends with him. Why did he have to grow up to be such a jerk? She thought to herself. With a sigh, she grabbed her book bag and started working on her honors English homework. It was three essays on medieval practices.