Jesse's POV:
I watched Susannah rest peacefully, her head in Paul's lap. Her emerald eyes drifted shut, but she was still somewhat awake. All of us were silent- on the outside at least- sitting in that cave. I felt a pang of jealousy pass over me, and I wished that I were the one Susannah rested on. Not him.

Stop thinking of her, Jesse! I scolded myself. She's not yours to think about!

And she never will be. Paul's voice broke into my thoughts. I looked at him. His eyes blazed. Get it through your head, De Silva. Suze is MY girlfriend. She's not into you.

I can see that, I thought at him. After all, it's not me she's curled up on.

Any other guy would stay away from her after I told them to. Paul thought at me. Why the hell are you so different?

What are you asking me to do? I can't help that I have feelings for your girlfriend. I wish I didn't.

Stop thinking about her. That's all I ask.

How am I supposed to do that? She's all I think about!

Then Paul started to use threats. "Just stop thinking about my girlfirend when you're around me or her. Got it?"

Yeah. I'll just get right on that.

I switched my thoughts to Spanish, cursing the fact that Paul had met Susannah first. We argued until a loud crash alerted us, and woke Susannah, who'd begun to fall asleep.

I raced outside, Paul behind me a few seconds later. I saw that monster, walking- in a sense- down the highway. Thank God it was only dawn, and there weren't many people out. I heard Susannah start to walk, but then she stopped, apparently deciding it wasn't worth it to move again.

Good. I didn't want such a querida to get hurt.

Oh shit. I didn't just think of Susannah as a querida, did I? I hope not...Slater would kill me.

If that monster didn't beat him to it, of course.

Paul's POV:
Ok, Suze had better stay put. I just heard the sound of someone falling, and I pray it wasn't her, trying to get up. I saw the monster come closer, and hoped we could get it into the ocean. I hoped the ocean would kill it...

"How do we lure it to the ocean?!" I yelled. The wind had picked up, and it was like yelling through a tornado.

"I don't know!" De Silva looked lost. "But with this wind, we may not have to! Look at the water!"

I looked at the usually calm ocean water. There was a funnel forming about 3 miles out, and coming towards us. We dived out of the way, only to see the funnel follow us.

"He's controlling it!" I yelled over the roar of wind and water. "Move to behind it!"

I ran as fast as I could to get behind that thing. De Silva rounded on it, to the other side, and we watched as the funnel of water crashed down, drowning not only the monster but most of the beach as well.

Including the cave we had hid out in.

That Suze was still in.

(A/N: If I were mean, I'd probably stop here and make you sweat. But I don't want to do that to you guys.)

Shit, please be ok, please be ok...

I ran to the cave, wading through ankle-deep water. I entered the cave to see Suze had tried to get up and had fallen- probably tripped over the blanket- and was now lying, unconscious in the water.

Soaked to the bone.

I picked her up and carried her to dry land. I laid her down in the early morning sunlight, peeling the thick blanket off of her form so she could dry off. De Silva was just standing there, as usual. I couldn't worry about him though...

I put my index and middle finger together, checking for a pulse. Any pulse, even a faint one...

Slowly, but surely...there it was...pounding under my fingers.

I bent down and started to perform CPR. Definitely something good to know, seeing as ghosts can be evil and cut off your air supply. Or the air supplys of innocent people.

After a few heartwrenching minutes, Suze suddenly bolted upright, coughing up water and shaking. I patted her back and when she was calmed, I pulled her into the tightest hug of her life. I felt her arms cling to me, as if begging me not to leave.

As if I would.

Suze's POV:
I awoke on dry land, coughing up water. Paul was leaning over me, this worried look on his face. I was pulled into a tight hug, and clung to Paul for dear life. We walked to his car, and I looked around. I didn't see Jesse- not that it really mattered, I just wanted to see if he was OK.

Paul told me how they killed the monster on the drive to the hospital. Hopefully, the hospital was still standing...

Most of it was. I mean, parts had collapsed, but almost everyone was alright. I got settled into my room again, completely dry and wearing new clothes. Paul laid next to me, and we started going over the past events.

"What I really want to know," I said, "Is why Jesse was still at school that late. I mean, it was what? 4, 4:30? Why would he stick around?"

"I don't know. Something to check into though." Paul said quietly, picking up my hand and running his fingers over my fingertips. I sighed and closed my eyes. It feels like all I've been doing is sleeping lately, but I didn't really care. I'd be fine by Monday.

Paul stayed with me the whole weekend. My mom showed up later Saturday afternoon, and was shocked when we told her the edited version of the truth. A quick visit to Father Dom's room- who was fine, just suffering from a concussion and a couple broken ribs- got her to believe us. Andy didn't come to visit because they had stopped off at home first, having not gotten Jake's message until they had turned into the driveway practically.

He just about had a coronary when he saw the house! I haven't seen it, but I heard it was bad. The china cabinet got knocked over (A/N: It was destiny that that cabinet get knocked over)...To put it simply, the house was TRASHED. Mom said the only rooms still in decent shape were mine and David's. David had gone to his friend's house with Max and his computer, and had locked his door as well. His room suffered no damage while mine...

My door had been broken down.

BY ADAM MCTAVISH!

Adam showed up to visit me Sunday, and I glared at him. "What in God's name made you break down my door?"

"CeeCee and I got hammered and confessed our feelings for eachother." Well, alright then.

Wait..."PLEASE tell me you didn't go near my bed!" Ew, ew, ew...If he says yes, I'm moving in with Paul.

Adam shook his head furiously. "No, we didn't do that! We just made out for awhile. On your daybed, not your actual bed."

I glared at him some more. Paul had disappeared for a minute, and I took the opportunity to ask Adam if he'd seen Jesse at all. "Uh, no." Adam said, clearly relieved I hadn't hit him for defiling my room. "But I can look for him, if you want."

I shook my head. "No. If you see him though, tell him I want to talk to him." Paul came in a minute later, and told me that I would be able to leave in a few minutes. My mom had run out to get me clothes and when she returned with them, I could go.

About an hour later, I was dressed and walking out to mom's car. Paul had kissed me and said he'd see me first thing the next morning at school. Yes, even though our school had been destroyed, classes were still scheduled as normal.

We were just being split into different schools. Students with last names A-L were going to Carmel High. M-Z were going to Robert Louis Stevenson.

Faboulous. Paul and I were together, and Jesse was at Carmel High. Thank God, maybe now he could stop thinking about me.

Life went on as normal. It was good. Very good.