Ten

Like millions of kids before me, I ran down the stairs to my living room clad in my pajamas to see what Christmas has brought me in terms of presents. I slid to the tree and started going through the packages, picking out which ones were for me. Nate and my parents shuffled in sleepily a few moments later.

"Charlotte, do you want to distribute?" My mom asked. I nodded and handed everyone their presents. We all took turns opening them, and they were pretty much what they were every year. Mom got clothes and perfume; Dad got new boxers and ties; Nate got new videogames and I got clothes and shoes. I got all the necessities I had asked for but there was one wild card I was dying to open; Aiden's present. I hadn't told him what I wanted and I didn't even know what to ask for because I've never been in this position. I didn't want to sound bratty and materialistic, so simply told Aiden I didn't care what he got me. I found his present and noted that it was a small box; my heart began racing, wondering what it was.

"Open it, Char," My dad urged. I guess everyone else was waiting, too. I opened the package and there was a jewelry box. Upon opening the box there lay a stunning silver necklace; the charm was a heart shaped lock encrusted with diamonds with a key hole in the middle.

"Oh, my!" My mom and I breathed at the same time. I took the necklace from the box and put it on instantly; was there any possibility a human could fall in love with an inanimate object such as this?

"Aiden's making the rest of us look bad," My dad joked and Nate shook his head at the corny comment.

"Well, I'm going to go up and test out my presents before the water works come in. Later," Nate said, scooping up all his stuff.

"I'm not gonna cry!" I cried out after him as he went upstairs. If anything they'd be happy tears, but I was too much in shock to do much of anything, really. The necklace was so pretty! I had to call Aiden immediately and let him know.

"Sweetheart, I know you want to go call Aiden right now but your dad and I have to talk to you real quick," My mom interrupted my thoughts with her weird psychic abilities.

"What's up?" I wondered, panic slightly starting to rise. It seemed that every time someone had to 'talk' to me about something, I ended up finding out they were some kind of mythical creature I once thought was simply that, mythical.

"I had a good time getting to know Aiden's family last night," My dad began. "We began discussing some important issues."

"Like what?" I questioned, dangling the necklace from my fingers and looking down at it.

"Such as the safety of our tribes," My dad explained. I looked up, confused. "There's been danger around us lately, but your mom and I haven't been letting on quite how much danger we're actually in. We're talking of course, about the killer."

"The killer isn't what everyone thinks it is. It's not human." My mom said those words and looked me right in the eyes. "Sweetheart, there's other creatures out there-"

"Is it a vampire?" I wondered. My parents looked at each other. "Look, I know there are vampires. Marlene and Aiden told me."

"Yes, we believe it's a vampire. There might even be more than one," My dad confessed.
"Anyway, Aiden's dad and I have decided the best way to keep everyone safe is to join forces."

"Join forces?" I repeated, stifling a laugh. "Dad, you're not Superman."

"He means Char that usually tribes keep to themselves and leave other tribes alone. There's no reason for one pack to mess with another unless they're looking for a fight. When we found out Aiden was a werewolf we weren't sure if we liked the idea of you two being together," My mom told me.

"What?" I cried out in disbelief. "You were going to break us up?"

"I don't know, probably not. But we wouldn't let it get far," My dad looked serious as he said this. I didn't know all this werewolf business could get serious.

"But don't worry," My mom added quickly. "You and Aiden are fine now, because your dad and his dad are going to work hard to keep the vampires away from us."

"When you say vampires, do you mean the Grahams?" I had to ask.

"No," My dad finally answered after a short pause. "The packs of werewolves around here don't necessarily approve of them living here, but they haven't done anything wrong. Until they do, we have to let them go as they please. The vampires we're worried about are foreign vampires who have proved time and again they are killing people."

"No wonder no one can catch them or find evidence," I realized. It's weird how all this stuff linked together; who knew the murders in the state had anything to do with vampires? Most importantly, I wondered how many people knew, but they just couldn't say anything because everyone would think they had gone crazy.

"I think we're done here," My mom smiled over at me supportively. "You can go call Aiden. Congratulations on your present."

"Thanks Mom…and thanks for telling me this?" I wasn't sure why this information was being given to me now, but at least I knew what the current situation was. My parents nodded, and I hugged them before running upstairs to call Aiden.

**

It was a day before New Year's Eve, and I was beginning to sense the end of my Christmas break from school. I didn't want to think about going to school in a few days so I tried to spend as much time with Aiden and my friends having fun as much as possible. There wasn't much to do in North Pole when there was so much snow your front door barely opened, but I tried to make the best of it.

I was hoping to start off the new year by enjoying all the things I had acquired in the past few months (as in, Aiden). I also planned on doing well in school and maybe lose some weight, etc. All the usual New Year's resolutions. One thing I wasn't planning on was still having Joel around. Well, he wasn't around physically, but he seemed to figure out a way to talk to me without getting everyone suspicious, such as Aiden. Joel, being the normal guy he was, decided to start writing letters to me. Well, so far there's only been one. And all it said was "Hey, how are you?" so I'm not really sure that counts as a letter; seeing as how it came in the mail and was in an envelope that's just what I'll call it.

I decided not to tell anyone. I mean, why should I? They would all just get the wrong idea. Joel wanted to be friends with me, this was clear, but just because he was a vampire or whatever everyone hates him. Wow, I sound so crazy, but I decided to keep this a secret and not bring drama into the new year.

I sat on my bed, a pen in my hand and hovered over a sheet of paper. I didn't know what to say back. I'm not sure I even knew how to send a letter; couldn't he just use a phone? But I suppose there must be some secret reason why he can't openly contact me, besides the fact Aiden would get mad. Maybe he's involved with the murders? No, I didn't want to think of that. In a weird way, Joel seemed too perfect or something to do something like that. But perhaps he wasn't perfect after all…maybe he just seemed perfect because he was a vampire. I keep forgetting they basically put a sort of trance over you.

Right, so, I shouldn't bring up the murders. I should keep things safe and casual. I noticed he signed only his initials with the letter; maybe I should do the same. But what to say back? Well, duh, Charlotte, I thought in my head. Answer the question. I looked down at the letter again.

Hey,

How are you?

J.N.G.

For some reason I didn't know what to do. Should I keep it short and blunt, like he had? Should I delve into my mind and let him know exactly how things were and how exactly I was feeling at this very moment? Such a simple task as this was driving me crazy. I decided that I shouldn't be worrying over this in the first place; Joel was like nothing to me, and I don't mean that in an evil way. I mean that he literally has no place in my life except for the strange boy who's extraordinarily good at confusing me. I mean, who writes a letter like this? It's more like a note.

So I wrote back in as good of a handwriting I could do. I replied, "Everything's fine. How are you?" That should be it. There was nothing left for us to say to each other; for once, I was going to forget about him as soon as I sent this letter and if he wanted to talk to me he very well should write more than just one little question.

Matter resolved.

**

"Five, four, three, two, one!"

Everyone screamed and whooped; fireworks were crackling outside and all the underage males of the house began setting off poppers and spraying silly string everywhere; adults were taking gulps of champagne and kissing each other. After I set off some poppers myself, sprayed silly string into Marlene's hair, I looked over at Aiden. He smiled down at me and we kissed. The New Year's Eve party at Marlene's house had been super fun, consisting of mostly Marlene's and I's friends plus a few parents and friends of theirs. For some reason my brother had chosen himself to come but brought a friend or two. Marlene's family usually can't make it to anything like this, I've yet to know why for sure, but she says witches are incredibly busy and her family was all over the world at the moment. It's just Marlene, her mom, and her aunt most of the time, which is why I was glad so many people had showed up this year. Parties are a lot more fun with a lot of people, obviously.

Pretty soon though all the kids were getting tired and the parents wanted them home. I didn't mind; staying up late was never my strong point. Aiden decided to take me home so I told my parents I'd meet them back at the house.

"Happy New Year!" I hugged Marlene good bye, and she said I had to come back tomorrow to clean the place up.

"Promise?!" She cried and I laughed.

"Yes, yes," I replied and smiled at her once more before taking off. Aiden held me close on the way to his car and opened the car door for me. Once inside he started to laugh as he backed up; Marlene was waving from her porch at us, cat in hand.

"Marlene's a character," Aiden said to me as we started to drive back to my house.

"Yep," I agreed. "That's why I love her."

"Really?" Aiden grinned. "So why do you love me?" I looked at him and laughed at his expression; he realized too late what he had just said. "I-I didn't mean it like-"

"I know Aiden," I replied, smiling still. "But if you would still like to know, I'll tell you."

Aiden smiled, returning his eyes to the road. All of a sudden he pulled over. I watched him park the car and looked at him confused now. "What's going on?" I wondered.

"I have to tell you that…well, maybe that wasn't a mistake," He said. I felt my eyes widen involuntarily. "I really do think it's like that, I really do think it's love right now…"

"What is? Like, us?" I interjected, trying to clear things up.

"Yeah," Aiden replied softly. "I sort of love you, Char."

"Sort of?" I cried and it seemed to make him feel better, less nervous. He laughed.

"Well, no, not sort of," Aiden corrected.

"Good," I replied, looking down at my hands. "Because, well…I feel the same way." I looked over at him and he was watching me with a small smile. I began to feel nervous and I suddenly realized how hot it was inside that car. "Quit staring at me!" I covered my face with my gloved hands and he laughed, this time starting the car and starting to drive again.

"I couldn't help it," He replied. "I like staring at you."

"Okay, you can stop being perfect now," I grumbled, suddenly glad I was heading home so I can play this moment back in my head over and over without distractions.

Aiden chuckled, and I smiled to myself. I liked making him laugh, I always have. And even though it still felt overwhelmingly hot in that car, I decided I liked the warmth. I liked Aiden's warmth, more specifically. I was glad we confessed to each other because though I felt it I never really knew how to go about telling him and how couples started in the first place; I'd never been this far with a guy. It felt amazing, though, that's all I can say about now.

When I got to my house and I got out of the car, I walked over to his side and stood on my tip toes to kiss him good bye. "Text me later, or something," Aiden told me, and then, after a pause, "Love you."

I giggled. "Love you, too…no offense, but it's weird!" I exclaimed, shaking my head. "I mean, I've been wanting to say it, but now to finally be able to…"

Aiden laughed. "Yeah, I know. Well, see you later?" He wondered.

"Yep. Bye!" I gave him one last kiss and didn't go in the house until he had driven out of my eyesight. I sighed and turned to the front door and practically missed what was on the ground because I was so distracted with thinking about Aiden.

"No!" I cried out. What I saw was another envelope. I hated how Joel seemed to always remind me he existed by appearing at the most inconvenient times. I was supposed to be thinking about how much I was in love with Aiden! But now I'm going to stress over this letter.

When was this going to end?