Look who finally updated. I deserve any anger you throw at me. But I wrote a longer chapter to try and appease you all...

I looked across the stage and into the crowd until my eyes met a pair of green ones. My mother smiled tentatively at me and waved. She looked happy. Beside her, Ian was clapping like a madman, my father likewise. I waved back and moved the little hanging from one side of my hat to the other. I am eighteen years old and I've just finished high school.

Talk about relief.

Mom has been home, visiting for about a week. At first she and I talked a little on the phone. A lot of times I yelled at her, but when I realized that she never yelled back, I started to listen. She shouldn't have left. She was stupid, but she was sorry for all that's worth. Apparently she did become a private investigator, but she lived in a mediocre part of Miami, nothing special. Her boyfriend is still around, but she says they fight. I didn't really care though. Dad used to fight with her too.

When she first came up, she had to stay at the motel near Main Street, but she visits the house. I think things will get as little better now. Ian will stay with her for a week down in Florida. He'll like that.

As I joined the rest of my class mates, we tossed off our hats and the applause began. Graduating does have a high in it, and I was so happy. Yeah, I know, lack of better words. After that it's all a blur of photos, goodbyes to friends, and tears. Lots of tears. When we went home, my parents had me dress up so we could all go out to dinner.

All the while though, there was one thing missing, but I knew I couldn't see him until after sunset anyway. Remembering, I think I unconsciously threw on a dress that was lower cut than appropriate for a family meal. Oh well.

I grabbed a pair of strappy, black pencil heels as I hopped down the stairs, hastily combing my hair with my fingers. At the bottom, I say my mom and brother sitting on the couch, my father shrugging on his worn brown jacket. In that moment, it was so easy to pretend we were a normal, content family.

"Ready to head out troops?" Dad asked as he saw me join them, "We're going to your favorite restaurant, Mia Bella. Sound good Kerr?"

I beamed; they made the best Basil Linguini in the world and we didn't get to go often since it was so expensive. We piled into the sedan (our family wasn't big enough to warrant a larger vehicle) and raced off, me in the front with dad since my parents weren't comfortable with each other.

After a short wait, the hostess seated us. A handful of my class mates were also there with their families; as well as a couple. Ash and Matt had been together for nearly five years now, but Ash had decided to move to Tanzania as a Peace Corps volunteer. Normally they don't take high school grads, but her extensive community service made her eligible.

After ordering, I contented myself in people watching, while answering my parent's questions happily. Ian was too busy drawing with the crayons the server had given him. After a minute or so, I excused myself to run to the bathroom to wash my hands. Yes, I'll admit it; I'm a germ-a-phobe. It happened right after I met Michel for the first time. I'd started screaming in the night because I thought I had blood on my hands, so I'd spend half the night scrubbing them.

My dad finally calmed me down, and with the physiatrist's help it's nearly gone. That was back when I was having second thoughts on letting him go; when I still feared I was assisting murder by letting him live. Now I'm over it, because I know I couldn't change a thing anyway. Besides, it would be a lie if I said I was capable of hurting him.

Not that I like Michel in that way. Not anymore.

Coming back out, I was examining the tips of my shoes when I bumped into someone. Startled I apologized and looked up. The young man was wearing dark blue jeans and a white dress shirt and a black sports jacket. His straight, inky black hair was a normal length; styled in a casual mess fashion.

His blue eyes were laughing at my shocked expression. He brought up a long finger to his smirking lips to tell me to stay quiet. Later, he mouthed and turned away. I stood a moment longer and stumbled back to our table. He was such a liar, he did stalk me…

The rest of the evening left me partially restless, though I tried being cheerful for my family. I'd always thought graduation was a family affair, or at least some of it. Later at night there was a party at Nelle's house for all the seniors and some of the better known juniors.

At last during dessert, I calmed some, devouring my chocolate gelato. Cakes were too heavy, especially after an American helping of Italian cuisine. It was with a spoon still in my mouth, that his shadow fell across our table.

Note to self: It's possible to see a vampire's shadow…

Mom noticed him first, as she turned to see the intruder and gasped. "Christopher! Is that you? It's so nice to see you again." She sang, and tried to give him a hug. He moved back slightly and it was awkward for a moment. "What brings you here?"

Michel went through the formalities, and accepted my mom's gratitude for bringing her kids back to her. Though really, our phone number hadn't changed, she could have called us anytime.

"It was my pleasure. Anyway, I got Ian a present." Michel said, and took out a small gift from behind his back. My brother cooed and dropped his crayons, reaching up.

"Hold on little man. I'll give you this if you let me borrow your sister for a while." He said, Ian automatically agreed, though the question was more aimed at my parents. Dad looked like he wanted to say no, even though it was established that 'Christopher' was trustworthy. He still thought we were secretly dating. Mom on the other hand, would probably sell me to him if he asked, she liked him that much. Which was a pretty creepy thing to think about considering her boyfriend was 10 years younger than her.

"Don't you have to go to Nelle's after this Kerry?" My father asked.

"Oh it doesn't matter. Kerry can take Chris with her to the party. I'm sure he'll have fun." My mom stated before she and dad started a miniature glaring competition.

"Actually, I have an invitation myself. I just wanted to know if Kerry wouldn't mind coming with me, I don't know the directions to Nelle's house." Michel said, putting up a look of fake innocence.

"Alright then. Well, your curfew's still at one," He reminded me.

"Um dad, I'm staying overnight afterwards for the sleepover, remember? The girls promised to help her clean up."

We finally left after mom insisted that I told them about the sleepover a week ago and that I wasn't just making excuses so that I could have sex. By that point in time, my cheeks were blushing furiously. I grabbed Michel's wrist, said goodbye, and stormed outside.

As we got into his car, he grinned and turned to me, hanging his arm over the back of seat.

"Do you really have an invitation?" I asked before he could get started.

"Naturally. I got one after I bumped into your friend and asked her if she knew where you were tonight." Neither one of us had to add that Nelle had been flirting outrageously. It was who she was. I cringed to think of what she would say when I talked to her next.

"Is there really a sleepover or were you in fact hoping to get laid?" I wanted to wipe that gloating look from his face.

"Of course there is!" I looked out the window hiding part of my face with my hair so he couldn't see me blush. I'm sure he knew anyway.

"Well, I'm sure we can apologize for why you won't be able to stay that long. As for your dad, Nelle would probably be more than happy to cover for us." He said as he pulled out onto the street. I turned my head fast enough to get backlash, my eyes wide in shock.

"Wh-what…d-do you mean by that?" I stuttered.

"I only come by every few months, so I thought you might want to catch up. Why, would you rather spend the night doing each other—'s nails?" He asked calmly, though his eyes glittered mischievously, telling me that he knew exactly what perverted thoughts my mind had come up with. I groaned.

"Fine, but we can't leave before 11 or she'll murder me, then tell my dad, who will murder me again."

"Speaking of which, I can't wait until you get to college. I'm sick of your parents and your curfews."

I was saved from answering when we pulled up to Nelle's house. It was a medium sized colonial style house with gray walls and black shutters. There were cars parked everywhere along the road. She must have invited half the school. Correction, half the school must have shown up; we had a bad reputation for crashing parties. I'd better watch my drinks; someone's bound to spike the punch.

As we stepped out off the car, I brushed the skirt of my dress as Michel waited. As we walked towards the house we could hear music play and I suddenly felt the need to run. It looked like I brought a date, and I didn't know what was worse, having everybody think we were together, or for my 'date' to start flirting with someone else. Thank god this is the last time I will see the lot of them. I only planned to keep in touch with a selected few.

My friend was being a good hostess and welcomed her guests at the door, but when she saw me, (and Michel), her eyes went wide as saucers.

"Well Chris, it looks like you found her after all. I've still got some work to do, but I'll catch up later. We seriously need to talk Kerr!" She winked at us and Michel nodded as we made our way in. It was only nine, so we had time to kill.

Though I'd been looking forward to this all week, I found myself wanting to leave. Suddenly, my friend Alice came and tugged on my arm.

"Hey! What took you so long Kerry? Look, we need a few more people for our game, wanna play?"

"Um….I don't know, Chris?" I asked. He was leaning against the wall, only half paying attention, his hands stuffed in his pockets. He gave me a half nod, not caring on how we past our time here.

"Cool. We're doing 10 minutes in the closet; as far as you're willing to go." She said slyly, giving Michel a look over, He pretended not to notice as we sat down in the circle on the floor and spun the bottle. I started sweating around then; I hadn't planned on this sort of thing with him, though honestly, I wasn't expecting him today at all.

The first few rounds went by uneventfully, that is until Chris' name was called along with Jillian. She was one of those party crashers that wore too much makeup and gravity defying miniskirts.

"You don't have to do this" I muttered under my breath, knowing he'd be able to hear me easily. In a response he grinned and helped Jillian up. I rolled my eyes; I should expect no less from them.

As the clocked ticked, I rung my hands and twisted my mouth. Surely it had been 10 minutes already? As the door finally opened, Michel walked out with his hands in his pockets, looping over with his nonchalant gate and took a seat beside me. Jillian followed afterward, her eyes hazy and her hand half touchy a 'hicky' at her throat. The group whistled and catcalled.

I glared at him, one of my eyebrows half cocked. She was too young for him. He only smirked at my annoyingly, his tongue quickly darting out and sweeping his lower lip. How was it that he always found a girl when I was around?

This happened a second time before I finally got called with one of the drama kids. He was pretty handsome; the type that wore skinny jeans and always ended up with a major casting roll.

As I stood, Alice cheered me on, opening the closet door with a bow. Walking in, James folded his arms and leaning against the wall.

"How far do you want to go?" He asked. Kissing wasn't a big deal for him, even if he had a girl friend. He was so used to stage kisses that he treated it as offhandedly as Michel did.

"Not too far, but I'll let you know when it's gone far enough." With that James pushed his lips against mine. I smirked; he was a good kisser, just like I remembered from that time way back. Ten minutes later we stumbled out and I sat next to Michel with a blush when James winked at me. I heard him snort, but when I looked at him, his head was turned away. It was about 10:10 and we would leave soon.

"What's so funny?"

"That kid's acting like he scored something big, but we both know you're too innocent for that."

"Jerk, what do you think I am, a five year old?"

"Well…" he trailed off. I was about to ask him what he was implying when my name was called once more, along with Michel's. He quirked an eyebrow as the group began to chant.

Please leave me a review. I actaully wrote this months ago but forgot to update...

~Vine