-1Thanks for the review! Here's chapter two:

Chapter 2, Familiar

I stared coolly back as Roman's eyes studied mine, the for some reason, I couldn't hold his gaze any more, I looked down. I lost control and looked down, the whole dejected demeanor that I was trying to project was lost in that one moment of submission. The look couldn't have lasted more than a second, but I felt his eyes sweeping over me filled with some unmet expectation. Should I be friendly to him? I was wearing my best smile, but would that be enough to possibly lure him away and change him later? Human's were often amazed with a vampire's beauty, it is the bait for the prey after all, but Roman was as beautiful as any vampire. No, my looks would not help me here.

Roman's eyes told me that he was still expecting something from me as he lead me from the office to show me around the large school. I was listening to Roman's words as he explained were my classes would be, but not absorbing them. No, I was still trying to decide how friendly I should get with the boy. Sarah and Jenna might not approve and gaining his trust would have been wasted, but not gaining his trust now would make it more difficult later. I didn't want him to think I was bipolar. But, why wouldn't they approve? He was perfect. I decided that gaining his trust was the best idea until I talked with Sarah and Jenna. I focused on the light tenor of Roman's voice and discovered that he was now explaining the off-campus lunch rules.

We moved from lunch to Computer Applications, a class Roman mentioned we had together. I remembered where my first five classes were located, but not what Roman had said about them. I am good at multitasking, it comes with my ability to control my mind and not give into instinct, surely he. . . No, I was just too preoccupied with this odd smelling human. I hadn't been focusing.

Roman was now leading me to my Spanish classroom, he filled me in on Mrs. Andres, a strict no-nonsense kind of woman. But I couldn't focus. Roman's eyes were too blue. They captured and held your eyes. They seemed to overflow with sadness. I decided that they must hold some kind of secret. I blinked, Roman was directing me to my final class, Algebra II. According to Roman, Mr. Ryker (the teacher) would give any girl an extension on their homework if they cried. Too bad I couldn't.

Roman checked his watch, "First period's practically over. I'll drop you off at Home Ec." Roman concluded the tour, his bright eyes studying me again. I hoped that I would be able to find all my classrooms again, I'd been too engrossed in my thoughts to pay much attention. Then again, it really wouldn't be too hard to find my way around; everything here had a letter, indicating the main subject, and a number, to identify the classroom.

"Thank you," I replied politely, sticking out my had, "it was nice meeting you Roman . . ."

"Collins." Roman flashed a dazzling smile and engulfed my hand in his. My hair stood on end at his touch and chill swept through me. The feeling his touch induced was indescribable. The bell rang and Roman and with a squeeze released my hand. He brushed past me, presumably, in the direction of his next class, but I was still staring at my hand. It was warm. Not because Roman's hand had warmed it, but like the slight squeeze Roman had given my had had put some life into it. I whipped around to look at Roman again before he was swept away in the confusing mass of students, and Roman was staring at his hand with a very peculiar expression. Again I asked myself, what was this Roman Collins, of course I didn't receive an answer, again.

Making a mental note to ask Sarah about my hand, I turned and entered the Home Ec room. A round man greeted me as I entered the room, "An unfamiliar face? You must be Ms. Kendrick." At my nod he beckoned me to his desk. "Good, good, good. I'm your teacher, Mr. Brown. We are currently on our sowing unit. Now, you will need to read this packet over sowing machine safety before we can set you up with one." He wiped his face with a handkerchief, and I quickly masked my horror. Flashed of pricked fingers and tangled threads rushed into my head. No, I would not sow. I was terrible at it. A vampire is the perfect predator, not the perfect housewife. I hadn't given the needle and thread so much as a passing thought since I had been changed. Pricked fingers wouldn't be a problem now, but I couldn't have gotten any better. Mr. Brown waved a plump hand at the tables scattered haphazardly and told me to sit anywhere I liked. I sit by myself and read every last detail of the sowing machine safety handbook in order to draw out actually using one. In the end, Mr. Brown said that he would set me up with a machine the next day, and sent me to art early.

Art was better. There was no threat of sowing machines, just the paintbrush. Mr. Cruz, the teacher, was a tall, eccentric man. I liked him and his odd dress immediately, and my liking increase when he announced that the class was working on a scenic watercolor piece (my favorite). Another added plus was that Roman Collins shared the class with me, and he immediately sat next to me when he entered the class. We made small talk as I sketched out my moonlit canyon. We talked about nothing in particular, mainly the weather. Near the end of class I snuck a peek at his picture. It was beautiful. An oasis in a desert, done in watercolor and acrylic. He was using the thicker acrylic to perfect detail of the sand slowly transforming into the greenery around the haven.

When the bell rang Roman asked, " Would you like to walk to English together?" Why did this angel even bother, couldn't he sense I was a demon like the other humans? I nodded and went to put my sketch away. Once I'd done that and grabbed my books Roman asked another question, "What do your parents do for a living?"

His question took me off guard, it sounded innocent enough, and I answered without thinking, "They owned a stable, but where killed by one of their own horses."

"How long ago?" Roman asked quietly, his voice full of concern.

It had happened 117 years ago, I was over it, I hadn't meant to tell him about my parents, but I could play this to my advantage, "It happened about two months ago. Right now, I'm living with my aunt"

Roman looked like he still wanted to pursue the subject of my parents, but upon hearing my tone he quickly changed the subject, "Other than drawing, what are your talents."

"Not sewing," I muttered, thinking of the torture I would have to endure for the rest of October.

Roman laughed, it was almost musical, "Come on! Do you sing, garden, what?"

"I'm a good actress, does that count?"

"Yes." Roman looked thoughtful, "The play this year is, Twelfth Night maybe you could go out for Viola or Olivia?"

I smiled sadly, "Not this year."

"Oh! Of course not, sorry, I shouldn't have suggested it."

I shrugged to let him know he was forgiven. We had arrived at the classroom. Upon entering I was waved to the teacher's desk. Mrs. Tejena made me introduce myself to the class before I could sit down. We were currently reading To Kill a Mockingbird. There would be a test over it in a week. Mrs. Tejena tried to give me an extension since I was new, but I assured her that I would be finished by the test, I had plenty of time, since I couldn't sleep.

Chemistry was next, on entering the room a girl that I recognized from my pervious class caught my arm, "Was that Roman Collins talking to you before English?'

"Yes," I answered, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, I thought he might have had a twin or something, you see Roman Collins doesn't talk to anyone if he doesn't have to."

Then why talk to me?

The girl flipped her light brown hair over her shoulder, and eyed me from head to foot, "Of course you're beautiful, just like him. Maybe he only associates with people within his league."

If my body still had the ability to blush I would have flushed red then, but my face remained as pale and cold as ever, "I have no idea why Roman Collins has singled me out. Thanks for the compliment though." I glanced over the girl, taking in her soft curls, brown eyes, and slightly bucked teeth. Reaching out, I tentatively put a hand on her curls,

"You have the softest hair, what do you wash it with?"

She smiled, named a shampoo and mentioned rinsing with cold water before sticking out her hand, "I'm Whitney Davis, I have a free spot at my lab table if you'd like to sit with me?"

I accepted the offer and Whitney pulled me to the teacher's desk in the classroom, just as the tardy bell rang. Mrs. Yancy gave me a packet to read over lab safety while the rest of the class took their test over the table of elements. After the rustling of papers and scratching of pencils had been irrupted by the bell, Whitney asked me to lunch at some fast food restaurant near the school, I declined with the excuse of no money and made my way to the cafeteria.

The cafeteria buzzed with the students talk, I made my way carefully to an unoccupied lunch table and sat down. A guy at the table next to mine took a bight out of the chicken that was being served to day, and chewed slowly, giving me a very odd look. It suddenly occurred to me that I had to food in front of me, and that it would look strange if I sat here, every day, eating nothing. I grabbed my books and made to leave the cafeteria, I would find a place to sit and read, a classroom maybe. The sound of my name being called softly over the babble rooted me to the spot. It was him. I had no choice but to wait until Roman caught up with me.

"Not hungry?" He asked, eyeing armful of books. I did my best not to flinch as he hit on exactly what I was trying to hid. If he noticed, he gave no sign. I would have to be careful around this boy until I knew if I was changing him or not. Apparently I'd been silent too long, because Roman answered for me, "It is your first day, you must be too queasy to eat."

I nodded, giving him my best sick face. I had to ask. "Why are you being so friendly to me? Whitney Davis told me that you talking to people is unusual."

Roman paused for a moment, then spoke, "It's true that I don't normally talk much, but there's something about you. . ."

Intrigued I prompted him when he trailed off, "Something about me?"

His powdery blue eyes met mine, confusion and fear seemed to be playing behind them, "There's something about you that seems familiar," he finally finished.

I pondered his statement for a moment. I was sure I'd never seen him before in my life. That neutral scent he gave off did bring on a wave of nostalgia for the days when I could be around humans without being thirsty, but that was it. "I know this isn't going to help, but I've never meet you before in my life." I peered up at him, Roman was smiling.

"Well I'm going to continue hanging out with you until I figure out why you're so familiar, if you don't mind."

I flashed him a smile, "As a matter of fact, I don't mind. As you can see, I don't have many friends." I swept a hand around the empty expanse of hall.

"Why don't we talk a walk outside? The sun's broken through the clouds and it's really warming up."

Problem. I can't go out into the sun without alerting everyone in a five mile radius that I'm not human. I decided to play new girl some more, "Do you mind if we stay inside? I was going to the drama room actually."

"Thinking about doing the play after all?" He asked, starting in the direction of the drama room.

I shook my head, pretending to be embarrassed. He raised an eyebrow and produced an apple from his pocket. He appeared to be think about something very hard as he ate the juicy fruit. That was fine. I would leave him to his thoughts a I attended to mine. Whitney Davis's face with it's slight flush was brought up in my mind's eye again. I would have to feed tonight. I quickly mapped out my night: getting Roman approved, feeding, and homework. All three bound to take unnecessary time.

We spent the rest of the lunch period wrapped in our individual thoughts. It was nice just to be able to sit and think. The theater was dark and cool, most vampires liked the sun, myself included. It gave us a sense of being alive again. The only vampires that loved the dark had truly given themselves over to their instincts. Jenna prefers the dark though, a tiny voice reminded me. There are always exceptions, I whispered back.

"Hmmm?" Roman's eyes focused on me.

"I didn't say anything."

"Well, the bell's about to ring, we should probably start heading to class." Roman looked at his gold watch, judging the time.

Mrs. Tamar, a small bird-like lady with very sharp eyes taught very sharp eyes, taught computer applications. Computers were another thing that I had trouble with. In 1883, computers where not your common household object, leaving me knowing absolutely nothing about computers.

"What!" Mrs. Tamar squawked when that I'd never touched a computer before, I'd never even seen one. After Mrs. Tamar was satisfied that I wasn't going to kill the computer, she left me to my own devices. I played around in the image program we were currently manipulating a photo in, when the computer let out an angry beep, and I yelped. I glanced over at Roman, who was suppressing his laughter. I barely knew the boy and I was afraid of embarrassing myself in front of him.

Perhaps I left Computer Applications too fast, later a coach ask me to join the track team. Nevertheless, I made it to Mrs. Andres's Spanish class in record time. Being a vampire so near the Mexican border, it was an unspoken rule to speak Spanish. This was something that I could do. Mrs. Andres was impressed with my knowledge, giving me the warmest of smiles she set me to work grading papers after I'd finished my assignment. I watched last class tick closer as I did the repetitive job of grading and set them down on Mrs. Andres's desk when the bell rang, so not to interrupt her rant to a very startled boy about speaking with a proper accent. She did pause and wave at me with another smile as I left the room.

Math was another easy subject, I'd taught myself as soon as Sarah trusted me not to fall upon every human in sight. However, Mr. Ryker taught math in a whole new way his lecture, tricks and shortcuts on Trigonometry made me think on a whole new level. Apparently, I didn't know everything about math. I considered the idea of college after I'd satisfied Sarah's desire to add another to our number.

I ran home in a daze, thinking about the new concepts I could apply to Trigonometry, but as home came into view, the little cabin, or rather the lack of it, pulled me up short.