Disclaimer: (Wacks herself on the head)

Damnit! Forgot this thingy on Chapter 4.

Anyways, all characters and ideas that are not new to you belong to L.J Smith, new stuff belongs to me.

Thanx 2 Dark heir and Louise for saying my story's great. (Blushes)

Katysays22: I'm so glad you like it! (Claps hands excitedly) Kane does make a small appearance later on and I promise there's going to be soulmate stuff. ;)

Hope y'all like this chapter!

Chapter 5

The weekend had been a whirlwind crammed full of events. Yesterday, it had taken all of his energy to climb the stairs and fall into bed, still in his jeans.

Early on Saturday, Chris was bothered by Casper, who insisted giving him the full tour of Circle Daybreak headquarters. This had taken the entire day, the mansion was huge, but Chris suspected that the tour would have ended earlier if friends of Casper's didn't stop them so often. The girls were particularly distracting, trying to shower him with thousands of pointless questions. He also couldn't stop thinking about Lizzie, the girl he felt so strongly about. She stood out from any other girl that he knew. Chris had a feeling that Lizzie was going to be in his life from now on.

His eyes scanned the crowd of girls hanging around him, but he was disappointed to see that Lizzie wasn't there.

The next day he had the honor meeting Thierry Descousedres, one of the first made vampires. He went through the procedure of being initiated into Circle Daybreak, with saying an oath and having a witch put a spell on him, so whenever he exposed his upper arm to sunlight, the Circle Daybreak sigh would show up.

He was officially a human-loving freak, he thought smiling at what his gang would think of him now as he shook hands with Thierry. Hours later, he found himself dining with the most important and prestigious members of Circle Daybreak Las Vegas. The meal had dragged on and on. Chris was relieved when it was over; it had been a long weekend.

As he lay in bed, he remembered that Poppy had told him he could go to Daybreak Academy if he wanted to. He had to decide by tomorrow though. On one hand, he hated school. At Plyton, none of his gang went, they thought they were too powerful to be wasting time at school. On the other hand though, he would probably get to see Lizzie again. Smiling, he thought about her, her long legs, her beautiful swirling hair and especially her gorgeous smile.

Before he knew it he was asleep, still thinking...well dreaming of Lizzie.

Lizzie walked to first period. Self defense with Miss Naomi.

She smiled; there was nothing more stress relieving then kicking and punching the anger and jealousy out. As she pushed open the door, a feeling of dizziness rushed through her and she found the reason why.

It was Chris. Who looking as relaxed as ever was standing up and pounding a punch bag. Suddenly he stopped and turned around. Had he felt me staring at him? She wondered, walking over to the shelf, putting her books down.

He gave her an astonishing smile. Oh goddess, Lizzie could practically feel her insides melting.

"Hey Lizzie, nice to see you again"

Lizzie stammered a "you too" and felt her face flush. You're so immature, she thought to herself. She walked over to a punch bag and released her self-anger.

"Ok class, choose a partner and practice the exercises I demonstrated last lesson," Miss Naomi commanded, clapping her hands together and giving the class a wide smile.

Miss Naomi was one of Lizzie's favorite teachers at the Academy, because she allowed her students to work at their own pace and didn't demand them to spend too long practicing the moves that they had to learn. Basically, she just let the students have fun.

A lot of the girls in Lizzie's class were glancing at Chris appreciatively, trying to catch his eye. Probably trying to give Chris a hint that any one of them would gladly be his partner. The guys in the class were looking at Chris too, measuring his build with their own. Great, it's his first lesson and already he's the center of attention.

She was amiably astounded when she felt Chris tap her on the shoulder.

"Will you be my partner Lizzie?" he asked giving her a searching look. Well of course he'd ask you, she told herself. You'll his first friend here. Her mind cleared and she was able to concentrate, despite the hazy sensation that grew as he got nearer to her.

"Sure, let's start now" she smiled before aiming a punch to his stomach.

She's feisty, Chris thought as he blocked another one of Lizzie's punches, this time towards his head.

He was admiring her liveliness, when he heard her exclaim, "Aren't you going to fight back?"

He smirked "If I did, this wouldn't be a fair fight"

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you some kind of sexist jerk?" she asked angrily, kicking as well as punching now.

"Not at all. It's just that I don't know what exercises this class is doing since I'm new"

He could see Lizzie blushing "Oh, look...sorry, it's just that I'm kind of a feminist" she explained. Chris noticed that her face got prettier when she was red as a tomato.

"It's ok...and for the sake of it, I believe both men and women are equal"

Was he for real? He must be playing with me, she thought angrily. She gazed into his eyes. Goddess, she thought. His eyes seemed to go on for miles and miles, showing that he had meant what he said. He's like the perfect guy for me. That could never happen though, she remembered Josie and frowned.

"What's wrong Lizzie?" Chris asked, concern plain in his voice.

Shaking her head she shrugged her shoulders "Don't worry about it"

"Ok class, I want you to practice those moves for next lesson, 20 minutes max" Miss Naomi said, glancing at her watch.

The bell rang.

Wow, the time went by fast when you're fantasying about a guy you can never have. Lizzie gathered her books and walked to her second period class. She bumped into Josie on the way.

"Lizzie! Guess what?"

"What?" she asked, sounding less than enthusiastic.

Josie didn't notice or chose to ignore it. She continued talking.

"I saw Chris in the hallway just then, I also overheard him asking Janet where the history classroom was. Do you know what that means?"

Lizzie was about to say she did indeed know what that means, but Josie answered her own question.

Josie held up three fingers and ticked off while as she listed the obvious. "Firstly, he's coming to school with us, secondly, he's in at least in one of our classes, coz me and you both have history now and lastly, since you know him already, you will be our matchmaker. What do say to that Lizzie? Excited?" she finished.

She stared blankly back at Josie, her friend looked like a little girl who had just been given her first puppy. Matchmaker? Did Josie even consider the fact that she might be interested in Chris as well? Sometimes Josie really was selfish and cruel.

But why should she care? Didn't she tell herself that being friends would be enough? I don't stand a chance with him, so why should I be so jealous? Lizzie put her feelings aside and flatly convinced herself to devote her energy to get Josie and Chris together. Josie is your best friend. Josie is your best friend. Josie is your best friend, she repeated to herself. This is going to be tough, she thought as she led an excited Josie into the History classroom.

She prepared herself for the worst.

Chris face softened when he saw Lizzie walk into the room with a good-looking girl with platinum hair and deep blue eyes.

Lizzie was heading to a seat at the back of the room, which was a few seats away from where he was sitting. Before Lizzie could sit down though, her friend literally dragged her over to the table next to his.

He nodded at Lizzie and smiled. She gave him a wry smile in return. Her expression quickly changed into annoyance as her friend started nudging her and whispered something in her ear. She sighed and muttered, "ok, ok" before turning to him.

"Chris, this is Josie, my best friend"

Chris reluctantly turned away from Lizzie and looked at her friend. She looked like a stereotypical supermodel. Blonde, blue eyed, tall and had an amazing smile, but she was not extraordinary like Lizzie. He couldn't explain it, but whenever he looked at Lizzie, it always felt like there was a radiating glow around her. This is not the time for daydreaming, he told himself as he realized that Josie was still smiling charmingly at him.

"Pleasure to meet you Josie" he replied.

Josie's smile got bigger, if that was possible.

"No, the pleasure's all mine" she said in a flirtatious way.

Chris tried to keep the heat from rising to his cheeks. He was used to girls flirting with him, but this girl was being very open about the way she felt. Too open, he thought.

What Josie did next really made him feel inadequate.

She was staring at him in a way that wouldn't let him escape her gaze. Her hand was stroking his arm and she was still smiling.

"Chris, I'm so happy that you've joined Circle Daybreak and you must be really powerful and tough for surviving such a horrible and serious injury"

Chris was speechless. They had just met and she was already acting as if they'd known each other forever. He was tempted to push her hand away from his arm and tell her to mind her own business, but he knew he'd never hurt girls, even if they were as obtrusive as Josie.

Lizzie felt sickened.

Was Josie purposely trying to upset her by acting all chummy with Chris? She would have been embarrassed for Josie for trying so hard, but all she could feel right now was revulsion. She turned away from the "dandy couple" and stared at a chart of a shapeshifter shifting into a tiger. Her thoughts quickly returned to Josie and Chris though. They looked so great together, she thought. I don't know how much of this shit I can take. So much for trying to be the matchmaker...and she already broke her promise to help her best friend and Chris to get together.

She sighed, why did Chris mean so much to her? Sure he was the hottest guy she'd ever seen, but Lizzie didn't fall for guys just for their looks. That would make her shallow. Maybe it was really just a crush. A Big crush though, her heart burned when she thought about him, and she could always tell if Chris was near. Was this normal? She buried her thoughts as class started.

During the lesson, Chris tried very hard to control himself.

Josie was still holding onto his arm and whispering nasty remarks about the history teacher Mr. Jenkins. He sneaked a glance at Lizzie who also looked frustrated about something and kept looking determinately at Mr. Jenkins.

Chris held back a laugh; she looked like she was forcing herself to concentrate on what the old man was saying. A strand of her light brown hair fell down her face, but she didn't seem to care and kept staring at the teacher.

He had a sudden urge to slip her hair back in place. What has gotten into you? He asked himself. You're obsessed with this girl. He'd never felt this way about any girl before, it was as if she fascinated him whether he liked it or not. Not that Chris minded.

"Chris, hello?"

Huh? Chris felt Josie's hand grip his arm and he turned to face her, infuriated.

"What?" he whispered.

"You're have human studies for the next two lessons right?" she asked nicely, ignoring the angry look on his face.

He scanned his memory and was happy to retain the fact that he had Art next. Yes, finally I don't have to put up with this pretentiousness anymore.

"No, sorry" he said, not sounding apologetic at all. Josie's face fell, but brightened up almost straight away.

"Well, I guess I'll just see you at lunch"

Chris clenched his teeth. Geez, this girl never seemed to give up. He didn't know how much more he could take. I will be polite to her, he promised himself. Although, what he really wanted to do was tell her to back off and leave him alone.

For the rest of the lesson he watched the clock, counting down the minutes before he was freed from being with Josie.

Lizzie collapsed on her usual chair in the student's dining room. Human studies had been so boring, no wonder Night World people hated going to human schools. I mean how is geometry going to help anyone in the future? She thought blatantly, rubbing her tired eyes.

She looked down at her food tray. Lasagna-good. Rice crackers with cream cheese-good. Can of coke-good. Hearing footsteps coming closer she glanced up. Josie with her arm linked with Chris's-bad, bad, bad.

Forcing a smile, she called Josie over. Big mistake.

She had failed to notice the group of girls that were trailing behind Josie and Chris. You must be blind, she thought to herself. The "dandy couple" and Chris's "fan club" all crowded around the small table that was usually only occupied by just Lizzie and Josie. Lizzie told herself that things could not get any worse.

Peace and quiet was nonexistent for the next 45 minutes. Lizzie propped her hand up so that her head could rest in it. She tried to block out the mindless chatter, but that was impossible. The girls at the table talked really loudly.

She could feel Chris looking at her, probably uninterested in the questions these brainless bimbos were asking him.

Looking at him from the corner of her eye, she found she was right. He kept gazing at her and didn't even bother answering the questions that the girls were asking him. Look away, she thought to him. He didn't, instead he did the opposite and kept staring. Lizzie felt a shiver run through her. What is he doing? He's got Josie, so why is he still playing with me?

Goddess she was beautiful, Chris thought, looking at Lizzie who was now blushing a luminous red. An aching formed in his heart. Why was he sitting here listening to crap? He wanted to talk to Lizzie and tell her how he felt about her. Something was pulling at his heart. What had gotten into him? Chris Redfern, murderer and banished vampire was going soft?

He snapped back to reality as the bell rang.

The rest of his week passed slowly and was just the same as today, except worse. He seemed to have caught the attention of nearly all the girls at Daybreak Academy. Except for Lizzie's. The girls were stopping him in the hallways, complimenting him for surviving the injury. You idiots are all crazy, he thought as he put on yet another fake smile, pretending to listen.

It should be Lizzie who they should be praising. She had healed him and so many other people, but nobody seemed to acknowledge her, except as Josie's best friend. Aggravation appeared on his face as he thought about Josie. She was like a...well kind of like a faithful puppy who followed him almost everywhere. An unwanted puppy. Chris comprehended on how to tell Josie to, putting it bluntly, get lost.

He didn't want to though; hurting a girl's feelings was not a constructive thought. But he just couldn't take her crap anymore. Chris brusquely told himself that he'd tell Josie on Monday next week. He was planning on what to say to Josie when he bumped into someone familiar.

"Casper! Haven't seen you all week!"

After all the female attention, he was glad to be talking to a guy for once this week.

"Hey! Enjoyed school?"

"Man, it was hell, you're so lucky you don't have to go" Chris exclaimed.

Casper gave him an amused smile, "Well, you better be pitying me then, coz I just graduated last year and I've spend 2 years in "hell"

Chris laughed and said sympathetically "And I thought being shot was the worst it could get"

Shaking his head Casper asked, "So, you going to the Summer Solstice dance tomorrow?"

Uurgh...that damn dance. Chris really didn't want to think about it. About 20 girls had asked him to be their date, Josie however, had asked him about 50 times. He didn't give any of them a straight answer, just muttered an "I'll think about it" before rushing away.

The only girl he wanted to go with, was, well...clearly not interested in him or stalking him either, which he had to admit was a good thing. He had hardly talked to Lizzie since his first day at the Academy. That didn't stop him from forgetting about her or looking at her in classes. He was even more mesmerized by her then before, and he always felt slightly shaky when she was near him.

He saw a hand waving up and down in front of his face.

"Chris, what's up with you? You were miles away," Casper asked with a bemused expression on his face. "And are you going to the dance or not?"

"Huh? Um...yeah I guess so" he replied still a bit perplexed.

Please review!

(Gets down on knees and begs)

Ok, I'm a little melodramatic...or maybe I'm just psycho....OR maybe I really want reviews??