Chapter 2

The sounds of a dark nature theme were outside my window all night and I dreamed I was by a frog-filled pond and that the sun never came up for a full twenty-four hours. When I woke it was still dark but I was used to that and I found out I had three missed texts from my cousin, Samantha. I responded saying I had fallen asleep; she was in school or at least she better be. I grinned when he said she was in class listening to my old teacher talk about sexual reproduction. We were always weary about that topic. I had that class with Rick, it was just worse with him there with me to experience it with me. In my mom's family every kid gets the 'talk' by fifteen when they enter high school.

Getting up was easy and so was getting into the shower with the warm water and the dressing and the breakfast was the easiest part of my morning. I washed dishes manually and put them away after drying them. I followed Cyrus to my school and he stopped in the parking lot with me. I saw three cars in a row, Cyrus ignored them. I knew the models: LTZ Chevy Malibu- dark silver maybe black, the sun was out so it was hard to tell. Then the other two was a dark green Audi A8 and a Suzuki Reno with a black colour. I groaned when I realized the models and type.

"What?" he grinned.

"I actually know car types dad," I groaned again. He laughed and made sure I was all set; I tapped my head with my finger. "I have 3.8 GPA; I think I can figure out how to find the main office dad. Besides, time to let my hand go." I paused, "I mean it, dad let go of my hand." He grinned slightly and I waved bye as he drove away. I turned to see my KIA Spectra waiting for me to get in and runaway with it. I sighed, turned, and went into my new school.

I walked to the main office as I shut my Chocolate cell phone off and pocketed it carefully. I eyed the students around me, they didn't pay me any attention and I was appreciative of that. I saw the main office clearly titled and went over.

The woman had very short curly blond hair and a gray sweater with white dress pants. She was nice and her voice was raspy, "Hello dear, can I help you?" she had a German accent; her eyes were gray-like.

I nodded, "I'm new and I have no idea where to go." I explained shortly, she smiled at me and turned around then turned back and asked if I could wait for a moment. I nodded and went and sat down, I pulled out my notes for the Mother's Day gift for Glory and began reading over them again. She came back a moment later I hurried over as she held out a couple pieces of paper for me. "My schedule?"

She nodded, "Yes Miss…" she searched for my name on the paper. "Cross," I smiled and nodded. "This is the schedule and if you can please have your teachers sign this, I see that you don't have a study hall, is that alright with you?"

"Oh yeah, definitely." I said quickly. She grinned again and three boys came out of an office somewhere in back, I ignored them as they ignored me.

"Okay Nickolas, Edam, Christopher behave or you'll be suspended for a week." They said nothing and left, the man turned to us, I figured he was the principal. He came over and leaned again the desk. "Oh gosh, I don't know why you kids act the way you do." I smirked at the woman; she smiled back.

She spoke first, "Mr. Val this is Lilith Cross our new student." He turned to me and held out his hand and I shook it for a moment.

"Nice to meet you-," he hesitated. I knew why, every man did when they met me for the first time. "I'm Mr. Val the principal here of LA High School. Welcome."

"Thanks. I should go," I added quickly. He nodded and waved bye to me, I could see the three boys talking to another boy about their age. I shook my head at the principal as he came to watch me walk away. I couldn't help but smirk at myself as I past the four boys, one was wearing nothing but black and one actually wore a deep red. The other two had their own style that I wasn't accustomed with, the shirts looked Italian.

"LIL!" I turned to see Don, my cousin (from Glory's side of course) running towards me.

"Donald," I gasped. "I forgot you went here too," he said as he reached me, I stepped back and held out my hand, "Don, don't." I warned, but he still hugged me tightly, I yelled out in shock when he took me as tightly as he had. He had grown since our last meet; he had gained at least five inches- at one time I was taller then him-, started working out and got rid of his light hair and traded it for orange flame-like hair. We were both in jeans but he wore a dress shirt. I just had on a white tank top with a black thin over shirt.

"Still as fragile as ever," he said happily.

I hit his arm, "I'm not fragile." I snapped and then I added. "Sorry, but you took me by surprise." I said avoiding eye contact. He touched my face with his fingers. I cringed and somehow he didn't even notice.

"Hey, don't worry about it. You look great," he added to make up for his bear hug. I shrugged. I thanked him quickly and said the same about him, "Me? Look at me Lilith; I'm all muscle and full of who knows what-."

"What?" I was worried by how he said it. He laughed at me and hugged me. "Don!" I gasped and pushed him away. He told me not to worry, "Then don't say bull like that Donald!" I snapped a little, "I already have Cyrus to worry about, did you know that they're working on this care that involves the freaking mob!" he sighed and waited for me to finish my rant. "Then Glory and Ellen are fretting about everything else and Sam is doomed to all eternity because of her grades. I was supposed to help her with her scores. How can if I'm here, Don?" I asked him as if it was his fault. He shrugged and waited for me to continue. I paced back and forth slightly, I did that when I was scared or nervous. "Then the house that Cyrus is making me live in is surrounded my trees! Can you say 'pass out'?"

"Because of trees?" he asked me, he pretended to sound bored.

I nodded, "Yes, Donald. I can't be in enclosed places and that's enclosed to me! Maybe not you because you're you… but for me it's difficult and then Duane had his stroke last week and-." He stood up.

"Hold on Pa Duane had a stroke. I'm finding this out now?" he demanded to know when it happened exactly. I told him. "Damn it Lilith, you're supposed to keep me informed. My own grandparents hate us for moving here."

"I'm sorry Don," I whispered. "I just didn't realize- I don't even know your number anyway and no one else does either. I heard that Tommy Tucker tried to call you last month and you never answered."

He rolled his eyes at this, "I hated Tommy T. He pissed me off and used you to do his work."

"I beat his ass two months ago, why do you think he wanted to call?" he looked pleased for the first time in his life.

"Really?" he asked me. I nodded. "Explain, enlighten me Lilith." He said.

I shrugged, "He was picking on Hanna and Billy. Sam's brother and sister. Rick and I took care of it, he was in the hospital for a while, but he lived at least and was too embarrassed to do anything. He grew Don, taller then you or me- of course taller then me- but either way. He could kill me if he wanted to; put Rick in a damn coma for the rest of his life-." Just saying it frightened me. He came over and led me away from the area. He seemed paranoid suddenly and steered me quickly from the main office area. "I mean Hanna and Billy are my family and Rick and I won't let some jerk do that to young kids. I'm terrible with children, but I like them. Not enough to want any, but hey, at least I get along with them well enough…." he nodded and led me into my first class. He introduced me to my teacher.

I shook hands with the teacher and he seemed pleased that Don brought me here, until Don said. "She's my little cousin and I hope this room isn't too small for ya Lilith. She's claustrophobic." He looked at me for authentication and I nodded.

He grinned at me, "Is it good?"

"Yes, sir. It is. I just mean really, really small areas. Like the elevator or something," I said giving an example. He laughed at this and Don left giving me a small kiss on my cheek.

"Be good Lilith," he warned me.

"Are you usually not?" the teacher whispered.

I smirked this time, "You have nothing to worry about." I said as I gave him my paper for him to sign. He took it still smiling and signed it. He directed me to the back seat, in the furthest corner, he asked me suddenly if that was fine and I nodded, saying I good eyesight. He sighed happily, he was worried he'd have to trade me seats with someone apparently.

The bell rang a few minutes later; I had the notes out already and reading through them when the bell rang. I didn't even notice until someone sat down next to me; my legs were crossed under the desk and the notes in my face. I lowered them to see if the class was actually started or not. He was taking attendance and checked to make sure the kid was there or not. He did every few seconds; that told me that today was either the first or second day of new seats. I stared ahead when I recognized three of the four boys from the front of the main office. I turned away from them and looked behind me to the window, it was still cloudy but warm.

Someone got my attention, I turned to my left; he sat right next to me. "Hi, I'm Andy Bachman."

"Lilith Cross." I replied, "Senior or Junior?"

"Senior. You?"

"Same." I said gratefully.

He was probably of course taller then me, but he wore long sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up already this early in the morning and tanned khakis. "I should warn you, before you find out: I never wear this kind of stuff." He told me lightly, I wondered at him. "I'm usually in black or at least dark clothes." I understood.

"I get it, Goth-like; same here, well I was for a couple years," he stared at me. "Although I think the colours yellow and orange are ridiculous, for clothing colours." I said, there was a red haired kid not far from us. He smirked at me.

"You don't seem the type to wear black twenty-four seven." He retaliated.

I chuckled, "That's because I'm not. I do when I feel like it," I showed him my white shirt under the back one. "See? White and not even stained," I was proud of myself. He laughed and another girl turned around. She threw a ball of paper at Andy's head and he turned to her just as another came flying. He put up his arm in time.

He muttered to me from the corner of his mouth, "That's Devin Grace. A friend of mine," I nodded, she smiled at me. I returned it. She got up since the teacher was still taking attendance and came over to us and sat on top of Andy's desk.

"Hi, I'm Devin Grace." I told her my name and we shook hands lightly, Andy was my first friend in Los Angeles and Devin wasn't close behind him. We all turned as a group of obnoxious boys came into the room. The three in front of me in my row glared at them. One of them threw a football and it almost hit Devin in the head. She yelled at them. "Daryl you ass hole, that almost took off my head!" she cried and got down from the desk.

The one named Daryl responded. Saw me and hesitated, "Sorry Devin." Even the teacher stared at Daryl. I assumed that wasn't what he was going to say, let alone what he going to say if he hadn't seen me. I got up silently and got the football and handed it to Devin.

"Thanks," she threw it at Daryl's head and missed. One of the boys in my row snickered, "Shut up Christopher." She snapped, she glanced at Andy. He shrugged.

"Devin calm down before you go into a heart attack." Andy whispered. She glared at him and hit him up-side the head as she went back to her seat. Her face red. Daryl picked up his ball and put it in his backpack and came over and sat right in front of me. Andy got my attention again.

"Sorry, she's having a bad week. Her mom," he didn't need to say anything else.

I held up my hand, "Don't worry about it. Make sure Devin knows that," I whispered. He smiled and nodded.

He then asked me, "Come and sit with us for lunch," I nodded and smiled at him.

"Sure, I'm sure Don won't mind." I looked away before I could see him frown and wonder if I already met someone so soon on my first day.

Thankfully I didn't run into Don for the rest of the morning. I got my other teachers to sign the paper and I had a class with Andy or one of his friends. Apparently he took my picture with his camera phone- I didn't know- and sent to his buddies so they knew who I was and were told to be nice to me or else they'd hear from him. I could see a group of males laugh and suddenly kill each other over me. I hoped they wouldn't do anything rash. My morning was fun and different; I then had Daryl trying to apologize to me about that morning with Devin. I finally told him to talk to Devin and not me. At Lunch, Devin asked if I said anything to Daryl Darnell. I assumed, again, that was the kid who nearly took her head off. I nodded and told her exactly what was said between us. Andy was pleased and so was Josh, Joe, Kate, Michael, Danny, Amanda, Devin, and an entire other table full of Andy's friends. Turns out, that I befriended the leader of the 'gang' that protected the students, from people like Daryl Darnell and David Greene and Candy Charnell, the head cheerleader. I didn't get anything to eat, I had a big breakfast and a few others weren't eating either so I didn't feel like a total freak. Andy had just offered me some fish chips when someone came up behind me, the ones that could see who it was had a look on their face that said to me, that they wanted to hurt this guy as much as they wanted to hurt Daryl.

He was smiling down at me with a leather bag over his shoulder, "Hey cousin. Can I steal you for a moment-?"

"Cousin?" they all repeated it.

Don nodded, "yes." He frowned at the people I was with, "Lilith, here is my cousin twice removed or something like that. Lilith, please," he asked kindly. I told Andy I'd be right back and got up; I brought my bag with me in case the bell rang.

"Just leave it, you have class with Kate, Amanda, and Josh next."

"Sure? We'll be back in time," I stated. Andy got up and took it from me; I shrugged and handed it over. He put it on the chair beside him as if I was still sitting next to him. The four boys from the main office were in a corner of the café, not eating like Andy and his group; they weren't even talking, they looked like they hated each other a little on the inside, but were forced to like each other. All of them were beautiful people, the only girl in the group looked like she could handle herself. She had black hair and experimented with blond highlights. In fact they all had black hair and dark eyes; they also all wearing mostly black. They were a gothic group on their own.

I turned and Don put his hand on my shoulder and walked me further then I thought we would. We had passed the table with the group of black clothes people before we rounded a corner and out of sight of most students and all cameras. He was still smiling when he stopped me. I turned to him and asked why we went so far.

He moved me up against the wall and glared at me, "Hand it over-."

"What?" I asked.

"The notes for the book you're writing for Mother's Day. Glory isn't even your mother," he added. I stared at him.

I asked him in a shaky voice, "Where did this attitude come from. Don it's me, Lily Cross." I took his arms in my fists and held them tightly. He pulled away from me and went to slap me, but though better of it and put his arm above my head and leaned against it, so I bent my knees a little. I'm a slayer and I was afraid for my life by my own kin and by a normal human! "Don, talk to me, tell me how you-."

"How I changed?" he mocked my words in my face, I bit my lower lip. I nodded only; he ran his left hand fingers down my cheek to my neck. I pushed his hand away suddenly aware that something was more then seriously wrong. He smiled and moved his head closer to mine, "I have the number, of someone who can kill a man at over a hundred feet-." I heart stopped. "Give me the notes for the M-D gift or Glory is history-."

"Don, please no!" I gasped and put my hands over my mouth. He nodded.

I was afraid because he looked completely serious. He then held out his hand as if I could pull the notes out of my ass. "Give them to moi, now Lilith or she's dead by dinner over there and that isn't far away." He reminded me; I turned away from him to my left away from the cafeteria.

I cried a little, he watched me. "I don't know what you're talking about Don, I swear. I already sent them in- to my publisher, they're in the mail right now-." He growled something in some other language. He went to Belgium a few months ago, that was what it probably was.

He took me roughly and let me go as a teacher went by. She ignored us and went into the gym. He held my arm tighter now. My left arm hurt terribly already, I had no idea he was this strong. "If that publishes, something really bad will happen. Do you understand me?" I nodded.

I gulped before answering; I winced when he held me tighter. "Don- what will happen to my mom?" I asked him in a whisper. He flashed me an evil smirk and left.

I pushed up the sleeve; he gripped me just so the sleeve covered it. It was blue from bruising. I went back to Andy; he stood up as soon as I got there. "What- did he want-?" his voice faded.

"He's changed," I whispered. "When we were younger, he saved Sam- my other cousin, from a horse and a week later ran a mile to school to get Rick's homework. He was only young teen then," I muttered. Devin put her hand on my shoulder.

She told me, "If we knew you were related we would have told you: he's the reason why Andy and this group here help the teachers to protect the younger kids. You know, from like… the school bully."

"Donald is the school bully?" I asked her, they all nodded. I sighed and sat back, "the others won't be happy to hear this." I whispered, mostly talking to myself. Andy put his arm around my shoulders as the café started emptying.

In my sixth hour class I sat next to one of the boys from the main office; my arm wouldn't heal for another hour or so. It hurt to move so I used it as less as I could. The one boy sat alone and ignored everything around him. I approached the teacher and she signed my paper for me. I thanked her and told me to sit next to the boy with black hair and dark eyes. Josh sat next to me, he leaned over to me.

"Sure you can handle this class-."

"Welcome Lilith, to Chemistry…. Passing this class very well from GB, I see?" I nodded grinning, Josh stared at me.

"I think I'll manage," he rolled his eyes, I was sure the kid next to me was smiling but his fist covered his mouth as if he was trying to eat it.

We started the class with notes on the Mole and Periodic table, I loaned Josh a pen and Kate rolled her eyes. I saw it from the corner of my right eye; she was sitting ahead of us next to a nerdy kid with thick brows and glasses. The boy next to me barely moved. I wrote slowly and in cursive. Josh teased me about it after class when he saw.

I glared at him, "I hate writing like this." I picked up his notebook, "How can you read this Josh?" I added. He took it from me and put it away. I smirked because I made a point and put my things away, he handed me the pen back and I gladly took it from him.

Just then the teacher spoke to someone, "Arubey are you ever gonna do the class work?" I turned to see the boy next to me, shake his head.

"But I'm still passing, am I right?" he asked, half of us-including me- turned to the teacher. She nodded and growled something, he chuckled and got and left as the bell rang just as he got to the door.

"Does that every damn time," Josh muttered.

"He does?" I asked, Kate nodded for him.

The rest of the day ended finally and I turned in the paper, I saw Arubey and Edam at the desk. I had a few classes with each of them, I found out over the duration of the day. I pulled off my over shirt and hung it over my arm, they glanced at me as the woman turned to me.

"How was the day Lilith?"

"Great." I said happily, "Just glad it's also over." She chuckled.

"The teachers stay for a meeting." We both snickered and she thanked me for the paper, I nodded and left before Arubey and Edam. I was outside when I noticed that the hand mark on my left arm was still there, I pulled my over shirt back on and put unlocked my car before I got there. Inside my car, I looked at it better. It was a clear print. I winced when I accidentally touched it. I was afraid because I was sure that someone had to have seen it during the five minutes I had the shirt off. I saw Andy in one of my mirrors and rolled down the window. He complimented my car.

"Thanks Andy, need a ride home?" I offered, "Least I could for befriending the new kid so soon." I told him. He chuckled and went around to the other side. I started the car and he turned the music on. He told me to go ahead down the street- we pulled onto and then he pointed out a house with ivory growing on the side. He got out when I stopped in the driveway. "That's it?" I asked him, he nodded. I could see the school yet, we drove half the block.

He laughed at me, I cursed at him and he laughed again. The house was larger then it looked he explained and told me that he lived with Josh and Joe. The bushes had a few wrappers in them, but I ignored that. He motioned me over to him, I dropped my bag in my car first and stalked over slowly; he kept smiling at me.

He took my hand lightly and held it, the bruise on my arm pulsed as it healed quickly. He opened his mouth finally, "I was wondering you would be my-." There was an annoyed honk from somewhere and my attention was adverted.

I rolled my eyes as the LTZ Chevy Malibu pulled into Andy's driveway. I could see Josh and Joe making their way down to the house. Arubey kicked open the door and came over to us, he glanced at my car and then glared at me. He shoved something into Andy's arms; it was a three-inch binder.

Arubey looked not pissed, but just really annoyed. "Leave it again and I throw it away Bachman," he warned.

Andy glanced at me, but I was watching Arubey's face. "I didn't leave it anywhere; I put it in my locker Karew." He hesitated in saying the last name.

Arubey growled, "Obviously not if I'm giving it to you now. Take better care of your shit and this won't happen," he snapped and turned away from us.

I stepped forward, but Andy pulled me back. "Arubey," he stopped. I was sure he was amused that I was actually speaking to him. I saw his eyes move toward my left arm, I turned my body so he couldn't see it that well. "Did we have homework for Chem.?" I asked him, he rolled his eyes.

He opened his car door and got in as he said, "No, we didn't. By the way, welcome to LA." I tried to smile a little in my thanks for the welcoming, but I couldn't. The other two cars passed him; they held the boys and girl from his table. Arubey Karew rode alone. He stopped moving into his car when Don pulled behind him to block his car. "Get out of the way Don," he gruffed. I stepped back when Don glared at me and he looked toward my car window on the driver's side.

"I need Lilith to come with me," he said looking back at me. Arubey said something but I didn't hear what it was. I shook my head and turned to Andy.

"I'm hanging out with Andy and his friends for a while. Cyrus doesn't get home for a few hours and-."

"Come. Lilith you need to come with me now," he said and opened my driver door. I bit my lip, fear showed in my face and I stepped forward.

Andy grabbed my arm where Don held onto me, I forced the keep back the yell of pain. Instead, I gasped and he assumed I didn't expect him to grab me. Arubey closed his door without getting inside of it. "You don't have to go you know, he doesn't control you." He whispered. Don said my name.

"Sorry Andy, I have too." I whispered and pushed his hand away from me; I went over to my car and he closed the door for me when I got in.

"Closing door Lilith," I nodded and he slammed it shut. "If you would please move your toy we'd like to get out of here." He snapped turning to Arubey, my window was down so I could hear everything. Arubey's fist formed, I saw that from the corner of my eye; he spun on his heel and got into his car and left. Don smiled and got in on the passenger side and told me to start my vehicle. I did what he said and we left Andy's driveway. "You don't have to be afraid of me." he told me every few minutes as we went to Cyrus's house. I said I wasn't every time he said it to me; I said it so many times I was convinced that I wasn't until he got me into the house. I smiled finally, we were away from other people and I could fight him if I needed too. We got out of the car and started walking upstairs. He pushed up the sleeve to see if the bruise was still there. He squeezed it so tightly I screamed and I kicked him in the shin, then I formed a fist myself and hit him so hard I gave him a black eye. He spun in a 360-degree circle and fell to the ground.

He looked up at me as I spoke pleasantly to him, "Don't touch me and stay away from my family, friends, and my mother, Donald. Threaten my life or anyone else's and you'll be sorry Don," I told him. I wanted to kick dirt in his face, but I figured he would get even more pissed off, so I didn't. He stood up and felt his eye and winced, he motioned to come at me, but I thought better of it.

"You don't scare me little girl," he whispered. I scowled at him, he came at me so suddenly we went flying backwards and he held me by my neck. I poked his eyes with two fingers and he howled as he rolled over screaming at me. "Why'd you do that!" he screamed so loud a bunch of birds took off.

"That's for threatening my mother Don!" I yelled back. He came at me but I jumped and kicked him in the face, he was thrown, violently backwards and fell into the dirty ground again. He couched and dust flew away from his mouth. His nice clothes wee ruined, by I didn't care. "I hear you hurt kids younger then you, Don. What will Duane or the others say when they find out you're the school bully?" I asked him, I walked around him slowly and carefully. He growled at me and I ignored the comment he made about Duane and Lynn. He jumped at me so suddenly I couldn't react, he grabbed me by my legs, wrapped his arms around them and then I tripped and fell backwards. He pulled me toward him and got one leg on each side of my waist and hit me; even slayers are kicked around by the enemies once in a while.

I finally blocked his punch and I hit him, but he barely moved. Don jumped off me and grabbed me by the arms and turned me around, I knew he was going to kill me as he wrapped his arms around my chest. I gasped but I still couldn't breath, I whispered his name twice and he held me tighter.

Everything went black suddenly and I passed out.

I woke and I knew Don had taken care of everything because he was calm and in control as he drove his own car. He glanced at me and gave no notion to me being awake finally. The clock told me I had been out for almost three hours. I groaned as I saw we are headed south, the compass on the dashboard told me. He pulled over to the shoulder of the road and turned to me, he held up my wrists. They were chained together.

"Pull any shit I have my people hurt your dad." He told me, I nodded. He unlocked them slowly as he watched me, then he took the back of my head and pulled me closer to him. He kissed me and I pushed him backwards; I wondered if he did anything to me while I had been unconscious.

"Stop it and take me home, please Don." I gasped, he chuckled and put his hand on my thigh and moved it upward. I took his hand instead and held it, maybe which would make him happy. It did and he smiled at me, it hurt me emotionally as I smiled back at him. "Where are you taking me?"

"Just for a drive so I could be alone with you," he answered me. I winced when he told me this, "No worries, I didn't hurt you or any way except for the cuffs." He promised me, I only nodded at him. Cars passed us quickly at about seventy to eighty miles per hour, he kept the light off and he turned away from me as a semi crept passed; he glanced at me and faced me again. "When I take you back to Cyrus's… tell him and I hurt Glory and you'll never forgive yourself. We both know that," I nodded in agreement and I stopped when I realized I was nodding my head. "Don't tell him and this will be the first and last time I do this, as your cousin, I promise." He assured."

"May I speak?" I whispered, he nodded- smiling at me. He then reached out and touched my chin and leaned in to me and kissed my arm where he had grabbed onto it that afternoon at lunch. "Why are you doing this, what about the notes I already sent in to my publisher?"

He considered this for a while. He finally answered me, "Hasn't arrived yet and there's a chance she'll hate the story so… not much to worry about." He told me. I nodded, not everything I write is great or good enough to publish and I know that. "I love you dear cousin, but you must stop worrying." He whispered and kissed my neck. I pushed him and he chuckled for a while.

I said nothing as he pulled away from the shoulder and at the first chance he got he turned around to head back to Los Angeles.

I sighed with relief when we pulled into the driveway and a couple minutes later were pulling up to my house. Cyrus was on the porch with a few people; Don and I looked at each other when we knew two of the three, the night was warmer then I wanted it to be but it didn't matter. Cyrus has air conditioning so everything worked out well. Cyrus stood up when Don pulled to a stop and I got out of the car, I waited for Don and he led the way up to the small porch, four by five and wood of course. Cyrus was leaning against the railing and so were Arubey and Edam, they were on either side of the third man. He smiled when I reached him and pulled me into a large hug, I gasped.

"Cyrus," I whispered.

"Oh right, breathing tend to be a problem." I nodded and he looked at Don in a way that made me pleased to know that even my father hated the young man. Arubey didn't seem pleased he was there either. Cyrus took me around the shoulders and turned me to the three across from him, "Mr. Dawson, this is my daughter Lilith Cross. Lilith, this is the Museums curator- Mr. Dawson. You know his sons, Arubey and Edam?" I nodded. "Mr. Dawson this is Lilith's older cousin Donald Cross; son of my ex-wife's father's brother. Did I get that right Don?" he shrugged and just nodded. "Okay," dad was still unsure but didn't talk about it anymore. He turned back to me, I looked at him with weary eyes; I was totally ready for bed, "Lilith, call your mother, she called a few hundred times and Samantha is calling my cell phone now-."

I rolled my eyes, "You could have called me, to- you know- let me know dad," I muttered and went inside. I called Don after me and we went to the noose and I asked for my cell phone from him. Sure enough, I had thirteen missed calls from Glory and ten texts from Sam. Don looked around the house.

"Nice place-."

"Don't get any ideas, don't use your threatening me to obtain anything." I whispered as I called mom. She picked up and yelled at me for a while before calming down and telling me calmly about her day. I cut her off and told her to go back to bed and she made me promise her to call her when it was more convenient for us both. I agreed and hung up and then answered Sam's texts with one short one: Don is here, he's different and school bully. Found out first hand- call when u can.

I went back to my father, he spoke before I could. "Get in touch with you mother?"

I laughed once, "Didn't you hear her yelling at me for avoiding her calls?" I asked unsure, he shrugged.

Don spoke next, "Well, Lily I have to go-." I winced at the nickname and three people noticed.

"So soon?" I couldn't wait for him to leave.

He nodded dully, "See you tomorrow at school. Meet me where I found you alright?"

"Yeah." I waited until he was gone so I could whisper, "fat chance of that happening. Dad, I'm going to bed." I added.

"What it's only nine," he asked concerned. I nodded, completely aware of the time.

Mr. Dawson stepped forward, "Good night Lilith."

I didn't expect that, honestly I had forgotten they were even there. "Yeah, thanks. Same to you, 'night dad." I added, he nodded.

"Night Lilith." Arubey and Edam both said, I paused and turned to look at them. They weren't smirking at me like I thought they would be, they were watching me. Dr. Dawson was as well. I turned and skipped steps going downstairs to my own floor; I hurried to my room to the right of the stairs and closed my door and got into my sleep wear and a dark green T-shirt. I went to the bathroom and brushed out my hair, I sighed with relief that it wasn't terrible looking from the near six hour car ride that had taken place tonight. I was hungry but I didn't want to eat so I promised to get extra breakfast. I turned to leave the bathroom and groaned as I shut off the light when I remembered that I left my cell phone upstairs on the island. I skulked upstairs and ignored my father's laughs as the four men spoke like old school friends.

Mr. Dawson was young, I figured he just wanted to feel like a dad so adopted teenagers; I could see a couple doing that, but I didn't know if Mr. Dawson was married or not. I didn't see the wedding band on his finger so I assumed not…. I sighed with relief when it rang just as I got there; Cyrus glanced inside to see if I got it. I held it up for him to see and he nodded and I answered it to hear Sam's scared voice.

"Don is a bully?"

"Yeah. Not exactly something I wanted to have in my new life here. But we can deal with it- I can anyway."

"Don't act hero Lilith. Your mother called a few times-."

"I know," I explained to her that I got the messages and everything else. "Are you on internet right now?" she confirmed. It was late there, I hated that she was skipping sleep for me. "Okay go to my mom's web page, you have it saved in the favourites." I told her, she giggled and said she found it. "Okay now let me know if anything was been added or not." We spent the next five minutes in silence and she carefully read everything.

She came back on finally, "Nope. Nothings changed, don't you get internet over there?"

"I do, but I want to go to bed and I don't feel like turning my computer on and everything." She snarled something about using her and I laughed at her. I stood up straight when Arubey came into my home. She said something about having to go suddenly, "What? Wait- Now-?" She hung up.

"Something wrong Lily?" I shook my head and looked up at him.

"What did you call me? My name is Lilith," I said, I was concerned about my second life- the life I had during the summer. He nodded slowly, I stepped backwards away from him as he advanced. I finally got enough courage to brush past him with my phone in my hand, "Well Arubey. I'm going to bed, 'night." I said and went to my room and closed the door.

I fell, exhausted, on the futon and grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around me and I was asleep within minutes.

Thanks for reading.