Rosaline

I met some other friends during my first week of school. Alicia Jones, a girl from Band, became my best friend. Well, maybe not best friend, but a good friend. I sat with Alicia at lunch everyday. She introduced me to her friends. Jessica Pearl, one of Alicia's friends, was asking me a lot about Alex.

"I've always wanted to talk to Alex," Jess told me. "Alex was friendly to people, but he never talked much."

"Really?" I asked in surprise. "Alex looked quite open to me. He likes talking. He called me last night and chitchatted with me for a long of time!"

"Wow. Are you serious, Rose? The Emeralds never talk to people long!" Jess told me.

"So do you like Jackson Eyre?" Ella Mia, another friend of Alicia, asked me.

"Kind of," I admitted. The girls let out some 'oos' in surprise. "Not like that!" I protested. "I kind of like him as a brother. He looked like one of my cousins."

Jack did call me a few times during the weekend, wondering if I wanted to walk down to the park or drive down to the beach. I very much wished I could, but I had to go to the pool with Cathy so that she could 'train' me. Cathy and I basically spent all day at the pool and all evening at home doing homework.

San Diego was my favorite place now. People here were all so nice! They were all helpful and hospitable! Students in my school were great and all the staffs were there for you when you needed them.

The bell rang for Spanish and I quickly hurried to the classroom. Jack was there early, as usual. His lips curled into a wide grin the second I entered the room.

"Hi, Rose! How was your weekend?" Jack asked friendly.

"It was tiring," I told him.

"How so?"

"Well, Cathy wanted me to work out at the pool no matter how much homework I have. So I stayed in or close to the water all day. Then I have to do my homework all night and Cathy always has people call her, and… you really don't need to know this. I'm talking too much."

"Not really," Jackson said, keeping his perfect, breath-taking smile. "I liked hearing your story!" The Spanish teacher came in then and everything went silent.

Jack walked me to band, but left me going to PE alone because his younger brother, Bobby, wanted to talk to him. Walking to PE was boring without Jack. The short distance from the band room to the locker room seemed longer than usual.

As I approached the locker room, the wind started to pick up around me. Cool wind brushed against my skin, but it wasn't pleasant. There was rough stuff in the wind, kind of like the wind has a rough edge. Then, suddenly, a shadow, big and icy, rushed toward me. It came closer and closer to run me over. Before I had a chance to scream or even gasp, a strong wind went through me as if a knife made out of ice stabbed me in the heart. I felt out of breath and light-headed. My vision went black as I fell into the endless hole of blackness.

Alexander

A group of people was circling something in front of the girls' locker room.

"What is going on?" I heard Ella's voice asked.

"We don't know," Jessica told her. "Well, I don't know."

I hurried toward the crowd, trying to catch someone's eyes to figure out what was happening. As I approached, I saw Rossi's limp body lying on the black-top.

"What happened?" I asked. My words came out faster and louder than I thought. It wasn't even close to human speed. Rose seemed to be breathing and her heart was beating weakly.

"I don't know," Alicia explained. "She was walking to the locker room, but she fainted for no good reason." She was telling the truth mostly, but the 'no good reason' part was not true. There is a good reason to this, only nobody knew.

The nurse came then with two students behind her. The students were carrying a stretcher. I caught the eyes of one of the student behind the nurse, Eddie Mug. What happened to Rosaline? he wondered. I hope she's okay. Rose looked really sick, though. She doesn't even seem to be breathing! I hope she's not dead. It will be too bad if she died since she's so beautiful and lovely! I didn't get a chance to ask her out or to a dance yet. For the first time in my life, I felt jealousy. It was so strong and uncomfortable and weird! I'm angry with envy and I had to control myself to not kill little, fragile Eddie. It was too hard! Without thinking, I took off to the parking lot.

Jackson

"Jack!" Bob waved and called to me. "Come here!"

"Ugh!" I was so annoyed by my younger siblings. Bob and Zella never let me rest! They always find a way to bother me.

"You want to go?" Rose offered. I didn't want to leave Rose on the way to PE. She was so interesting to hang out with! Although she made my mouth water, I think I could handle being with her without making her my lunch if I really tried.

"Jack!" Bob called again.

"I'll meet you at PE," I told Rose. Then, I flew to Bobby. "What?"

"Zella's in trouble!" he told me, his violet eyes full with worries. Bob loved his sister. He was always so protective with her!

"How?" I asked. We both turned invisible to human eyes as we talked.

"Zella was hungry, you know. She can't control her hunger that well. She is still young, so don't get mad at her." Bobby always explains the situation first so that Zella won't get in any kind of trouble. "Zella told me that your… girlfriend… looked yummy. She said that she smelled sweet and sugary because she's so happy all the time. I could smell her, too. She smelled better than anyone else. So Zella wanted to go into Rosa's body and suck her happiness. She already went…"

"What? She went?" I couldn't believe my ears! Zella promised me over the weekend that she would not hunt Rossi! She betrayed me! How dare she? No problem, Jack, she had said to me. I will never ever hunt your little human girlfriend. She's going to be fine. I won't suck her happiness or anything like that, no matter how good she sounded, and smelled, and looked.

I took off running, still invisible to the human eyes. I could feel Bobby behind me, trying to catch up.

"Jack! Stop! Please forgive her!" Bobby pleaded.

"No! She promised me," I snapped.

I reached the nurse's office and flew in from the window. There, Rose laid, her heart weak. I could see Zella inside Rosa's body, sucking her sweet, tempting happiness. "Zella Erica Eyre!" The words slipped out of my tight-closed teeth. Zella's head snapped up. She seemed full and happy. "Get out of her body right now!" I ordered. I probable looked scary because Zella's eyes were wide with fear when she came out of Rose's body. Rose didn't wake up, which was perfectly normal. But her heart was suddenly stronger.

Zella followed me all the way to the field next to the parking lot with Bob beside her. I ordered Bob away when we got there. The second Bob was out of site, my palm flew across Zella's face. She fell to the ground, one hand over her cheek. Tears started to run down her face. "You know what you did to deserve this," I said coldly over her light sob. "Now tell me why exactly you sucked Rose's happiness." My order was like a stab in the heart for me- sucking Rose's happiness.

"I'm sorry," Zella choked out. "I'm really sorry."

"I'm not asking for apology," I reminded her.

"I was too hungry," she said. "I couldn't control myself. You should know about that." I did know that part. The younger a person was when they became a ghost, the harder it would be to control his or her hunger. Zella was only fourteen when she was turned, so it was harder for her than the rest of the Eyre family.

"But you promised," I told her.

"I know. But she's so delicious!"

"Just so you know, if you do things like this ever again, I will kill you!" Zella looked really frightened. Her face was whiter than usual. Her light-brown braids rested on her left shoulder and her loose hair divided her face, still beautiful even now, into irregular pieces. "You can go now," I whispered.

Zella lifted her skinny, perfect body from the ground and, still shaking, walked away toward the opposite direction of where Bobby stood, watching…