Drake gaped up at the school, not believing his eyes. "Megan did all this?" he breathed.
Ashlyn shook her head, as Pierce snorted. "Of course not." the blonde vampire scoffed in a smug tone. "She'd never do something like that for a boy. Ria did it."
Drake turned to face the couple, his eyebrows raised. "Why would Ria do something like this?"
Ashlyn laughed, before shaking her head, again. Drake relaxed a bit-he hadn't heard her laugh happily for a long time and it felt nice to hear it again. "Ria is Megan's best friend, Drake. She knew the two of you were soulmates in practically the same instant that you two did."
"And does Rina know that you and Pierce are soulmates?" Drake raised a brow, smirking.
Pierce glared at him-probably for sounding so smug in front of his soulmate. "Rina doesn't know about the Night World. Ash can't exactly tell her that we are."
Drake matched the blonde's glare-hating that he had to admit that he had a point. Ria obviously knew about the Night World since her and Raphael were soulmates. But, Rina didn't have a soulmate, so there was no way she could know.
Ashlyn had put her head down, and Drake could see a few tears escape her eyes. He mentally slapped himself. How could he be so stupid? It was obviously hurting her that she couldn't tell her best friend about the Night World. The two of them had hardly any secrets from each other!
"I'm sorry…." he murmured, putting a hand on her shoulder-and ignoring Pierce's glare. "I shouldn't have brought it up."
Shaking her head, Ashlyn sniffed, then looked up, smiling through the tears. "No, that's okay. I know it's best for her not to know. It's just-it's hard, ya' know?"
Drake nodded. "Of course I do. I have to keep it from Keith, too, ya' know."
Ashlyn laughed, all traces of her tears now gone. "Yeah, guess I kinda forgot about that." then she looked him in the eye-hers was slightly shining. "So, what are you going to say to Megan next time you see her?"
Drake bit his lip, and looked back up at the school.
~NWNWNWNWNWNW
"So, you're finally admitting that you're in love with him." Ria's voice was slightly smug, though not overly so as to show that she was showing off.
Megan glared at her, nevertheless, through her tear stained eyes. "I hate you, you know that?" she sniffed-obviously not meaning it.
Ria laughed, before hugging her close. "Yeah, I know. I 'hate' you, too."
Sniffing, Megan buried her head in the redhead's shoulder. "Am I being an idiot?" she hiccupped. "I mean, I'm not supposed to fall in love with him. He's supposed to be just a boy-a nothing to me."
Ria rubbed her hand up and down Megan's back. "But, he's not just a boy, Megz. Why can't you see that? He's not just someone to play a game with-he's your soulmate."
Megan tried to laugh, but it sounded hoarse. She couldn't speak much louder than a whisper due to all the crying. "Ria, could you call up Kaya and Caitlin?"
Ria's hand stopped, and she pulled Megan up by her silvery-blonde hair. "Why?"
"I need some girl time. Could we have a slumber party, tonight. I just need some time to have fun and to forget about all this."
Ria nodded. "Yeah. Of course we can."