As the months passed, the feeling of emptiness grew in both Savannah and Mrs. Jeepers, surprising the older woman as she'd thought she had that particular problem under control. Savannah tried to listen to her father and not speak to the older woman, but something unnameable kept drawing them together. Usually it wasn't for long, maybe a few minutes at most, but it happened oddly frequently. By the end of the year Mrs. Jeepers could have sworn she had had the girl in her class she had seen her so much.

Savannah on the other hand, had gotten used to seeing the woman multiple times a week, and as summer drew nearer she found herself beginning to grow anxious for reasons she couldn't explain. Concerned, her parents took her to a child psychologist, who determined the cause of her nerves to be a case of separation anxiety, and gave her a prescription to bring it under control. The only thing that upset her parents was that they couldn't find out why their daughter had separation anxiety, as it had seemingly shown up out of the blue. So they gave her the prescription and she seemed to go back to normal, but what her parents didn't know was that the pills weren't helping.

Her anxiety grew worse as school dwindled, but rather than end up with more medicine to go with what she already had, she learned to control her symptoms, acting completely happy and normal around her parents. It was when she was alone in her room that she'd let go, usually with tears, crying for emotions she had no name for. The best way she could describe these unknown feelings was fear and loneliness. They ate at her constantly, and as she fought them she learned a few things about herself.

For some reason, she knew she was different than other girls her age. While they had already begun saying they thought certain boys were cute, and generally having small crushes, she never once agreed. She actually had a few crushes on some of the girls in her class, though she hadn't truly realized what those feelings were until she'd asked her mother what a crush felt like, and of course the woman assumed she was asking because of a boy. She had never told her the truth, afraid of getting in trouble.

She had also noticed certain things older girls (and women) had that she didn't. They were….softer somehow. She supposed that could be attributed to the breasts that she didn't yet have, but there was something other than that. They just seemed more...approachable? Likeable? She wasn't entirely sure, but she just knew she preferred them to boys.

That, coupled with her anxiety, made the end of the year a bit rough for her, something that didn't go unnoticed by a certain redhead. Despite her initial unease around the girl, she had grown fond of her during their many encounters and, as with any student placed under her care, didn't like to see her upset. So one day in the last week of school, when the circumstances lined up yet again so that they were able to speak briefly as they had all year long, she pulled the girl to the side, green eyes sparkling with worry as she noticed the dark circles under her eyes and the general air of exhaustion surrounding her.

"Savannah, what is wrong? You seem overly tired," she said, keeping her hand on the girl's shoulder, afraid if she let go the poor girl would fall over.

"I'm fine, just nervous about next year I guess. And most of my friends are going away for the summer, so there's that," Savannah answered, unconsciously allowing the older woman to support her.

"Are you sure? There isn't anything going on at home?"

The girl jerked away, shocked the older woman would think such a thing.

"What? No, of course not!" she protested.

The older woman stepped back, sensing she needed space. Something deep down told her there was something else bothering her, but she wouldn't force her to talk about it.

"Okay sweetheart, calm down," Mrs. Jeepers cooed, not wanting to upset her further. She glanced up, noticing the hallway beginning to empty as students returned to class. "I just wanted to make sure you were all right."

"I'm fine," Savannah said, unable to look the woman in the eye as she lied.

Mrs. Jeepers' eyes flashed as she picked up on the lie, but she didn't call her out on it. Instead, she offered her a smile and squeezed her shoulder.

"All right. Have a good summer, Savannah," she said, turning to go back to her own classroom.

The girl watched her, her exhaustion preventing her from noticing that for the first time in months she didn't feel nervous or anxious.

"Come on, Adri, calm down," Mrs. Jeepers said to herself as she paced the length of her bedroom, frantically rubbing her upper arms.

School had been out for a few weeks, and without anything to distract her she found herself thinking of her home, family, and the ever growing emptiness in her soul. It was nearly enough to drive her crazy, and if she kept going at the rate she was she was certain it would. The only problem was she had no clue why the absence of her soul mate was affecting her so deeply after so many years of dealing with it. And she couldn't risk contacting her family, not with their enemies still on the hunt for her.

"La naiba!" she swore. "Nu pot sa mai suport!"

She grabbed a jacket, though she didn't need it, and darted out of the house. She would go for a run or hunt or just wander around, but she couldn't stand being cooped up in her house any longer.

That was how she spent her summer, brooding, hurting, and running. She was more than glad to see August winding down and September approaching, at least then she would have things to do during the day and evenings to keep her busy. Savannah, on the other hand, was dreading the beginning of school. The summer had only brought greater feelings of emptiness and not belonging. She had spent her summer as isolated as possible, trying to work out her inner emotions and find out why she couldn't seem to feel complete. Unfortunately, she hadn't found an answer by the first day of school.

And she wouldn't, not for another five and a half years, when her life would be changed forever.