A/N: This chapter is really angsty, and I'm trying to tie it back into the show now. By the way, thank you to all my loverly reviewers, especially the loyal ones, and to my loverly beta, who needs to write more of Enchanted.

I should have known. But I didn't think it would happen, and I didn't think when it did happen. Paige was sitting on the steps, waiting, just like she'd promised. And she was sitting with Hazel and Jimmy and Spinner. She looked at me when I reached the sidewalk, and laughed. It was at something Spinner had said, I think. And maybe I'm just lying to myself.

I straightened my back and walked towards her. She and the others didn't look up until I was right in front of them, and then they had to squint in the sunlight to look up at me.

"Hey Paige," I said as calmly as I could. Paige blinked at me, then at her friends. Hazel held her gaze and raised her eyebrows.

"Um, hello, Vampira. Can I help you with something?" Paige said. This is a dream this is a dream this is a dream.

"Paige," I said, staring at her in disbelief. Paige looked thoroughly annoyed now.

"What?" she said. This is a dream this is a dream this is a dream. I walked right past her, heading for the building.

"Oh, careful. Don't get too much sun. Vampires can't handle it, right?" I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around to stare at her. She was laughing, and Hazel was laughing, and Spinner was laughing, and Jimmy was laughing, and I heard it, but it couldn't be happening.

I saw Marco walking up, looking confused.

"What's going on, you guys?" he asked. This is a dream this is a dream this is a dream.

"Oh, nothing. Just recommending some health ideas to your creature of the night friend," Spinner said. And Paige laughed. This is a dream this is a dream this is a dream. I turned around and ran. The glass door was propped open, and good thing, because if it hadn't been, I would have gone right through it. I kept running, and ran to the girls' washroom I'd kept myself in when I'd written the note to get out of school. It was empty, but I still locked myself in the end stall and sat down, leaning back against the wall. This is a dream this is a dream this is a dream.

My backpack was digging into my spine, so I swung it off my shoulder. It hit the stall door and my pencil case fell out, scattering its' contents on the floor. I started to pick it up, because I was getting used to needing to bail when Paige was near me. I stopped. The compass was lying halfway on top of the calculator. It was the same one I'd had in my old school, with Deanna, and those cheerleaders, and her friends, and now I had it again with Paige, and her friends, and this school, and I picked it up and pressed it down against my forearm. I dragged the point across my arm, and it bled, and it hurt. And maybe, I thought, when I wiped away the blood and the hurt with a paper towel, when I put the compass back in my backpack, when I pulled my sleeve down over the cut, maybe this wasn't a dream after all.