Oct. 1st

I'm sorry I haven't written, but there really wasn't anything to write about until yesterday. Something, I think, that is very interesting. Hell, it's more then interesting. I think hell has frozen over.

The new girl, Amanda, befriended me. A slayer. And not just a slayer, a perfect all around girl not COUNTING her slayer abilities. I think I need to write exactly what happened, either as a refrence..or just to make sure I still have my sanity.

It was near the end of the school day, around 2:30. I was walking out the door alone..as I was many days. Generally I walked home with Harry. It's not that Harry didn't want to walk home with me, anymore. It was because I didn't want to walk home with him. Everyday, he'd been near Amanda..not talking to her..just hovering over her. I didn't want to wait there, watching him watch her, for him to walk home with me, when he clearly didn't want to.

Anyway, Harry had gone home early for a dentist apointment. I decided to stick around a little longer before going home, the time I normally would have been doing watching Harry. I liked to people watch..so I sat on a bench in the hall outside of the school's main entrance and did just that. I started zoning out.

Until Amanda sat by me.

I didn't turn. I felt like I was sitting by a rabid animal, and if I didn't move, she'd pay no attention to me, or not look my way. But my eyes constantly kept darting to my right, where she was sitting. So far so good. No eye contact. She seemed to be waiting for something, so hopefully, she was to preoccupied to notice what I did next.

I sneezed.

She jumped out of her stupor, turned to me and said way to sincerely, "Bless you!"

"..Thank you." I said, shocked. No one had EVER even said bless you to me when I sneezed. And it gave Amanda an oppurtunity to do what she probably was there to do the whole time.

"I think that broke the ice. Thank God, I wanted to talk to you. My name's Amanda. And you're Elizabeth, right?"

"Yes.." I said very hesitantly. I had no idea where this was going.

"You're the one without the slayer abilities, right?" She pressed on.

Cringe. I was actually starting to like this Amanda; but someone always had to bring my Prevalency up, didn't they? It was like I had a disease. I nodded.

"Would you mind..if you walked home with me? My mom heard about you and would like to speak with you."

"Sure.." I said, and gathered my books and followed her out the door. Her mother wanted to see me? I couldn't have POSSIBLY have done anything to her. Did her mom want to oogle at the Prevalent? See what everyone was talking about? The "freak."

I looked around as we walked, going the opposite way I took to walk home. I looked around as we passed in front of familiar shops, boutiques, bistros, cafes, resturants, and Starbucks I had gone to several times. We turned and began pacing at a slower pace through many subdivisions. Many of the houses were newer, placed in a plot of land that had been empty at a side of the town near the school for ages. I looked at many houses, with their perfectly mowed lawns. Some houses had banners up of their favorite college teams. Others had bare nothingness. Other, tire-swings showing signs of child play by eager, exhuberant children. More then likely, all the small girls would become slayers. Suddenly I realized Amanda was slowing down her already slow pace. Passing by a house with an elaborate lining of flowers lining the sidewalk, she came to a neat and trim house.

The lawn was neatly mowed, with a few wild flowers scatted about, and stones lining both the driveway and the walkways to the front and side door. A rather old tree stood exactly in the middle of the lawn. I thought the tree looked to old to have been planted there, and seeing as how the entire area had been flat except for a few small pines, this tall oak was very misplaced. I kept my thoughts to myself, though.

"Well..here we are..my home." Amanda said what appeared to be regretfully. She didn't seem to pleased by her home..or maybe her family. Or me; who knew?

"Your house is beautiful," I said a bit awe-struck. It DID seem almost to perfect. Not overly landscaped, and surely welcoming.

"Well, come inside..you can meet my mother, brothers, and my sister or dad might or might not be home." She said with a slight bit of cheer.

I nodded in acknowledgment of her statement, and followed her inside.

As she pushed open her door, the familiar security ring didn't sound. Of course not, why would it? Amanda was a slayer. I don't think many slayers HAD security alarms. We did; my mom didn't like to "leave me alone, especially at night" when I "couldn't defend yourself, you're a Prevalent, remember?" How could I forget?

A tall, slightly slim builded woman appeared. She had what appeared to be shoulder length mouse brown hair tied in a bun with spikes of hair flailed out. She couldn't have been more then 35 or so. She had a young look to her face, and appeared to have not have grown up; like she was a fellow teenager, almost. An aura, you could say, that seemed to reach out to me. Like we were..similar. Oh! I had had a premonition..I think. Something special, at least, that I felt. I batted my eyes to make sure I wouldn't zone out.

The woman came, smiling, wearing a sleek dark blue blouse and black slacks, her white sucks peeking out of the flared ends. She extended her hand.

"So nice to meet you. I've heard so much about you. Especially from Amanda."

"Thank you. It's nice to meet you too. I'm Elizabeth Smith." I said, returning the warm greeting my grinning and shaking her hand.

"Oh, of course. I know, I know. I'm -" Amanda's mother was interrupted by her daughter.

"Elizabeth, meet my mother: Dawn Summers Fletcher."

. . . Continued . . .