Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyers owns Twilight. I do not. I do however, own my 'gang'.

A/N: You can thank my pre-reader Dirtychicken, the dirtiest chicken around, for editing this chapter for me.

Thank you to my reviewers.

WARNING: Please be advised, mild sexual content in this chapter.

Chapter 54

Rhonda's Dance Studio was just a few blocks away from our apartment. In addition to belly dancing classes, the studio also offered pole, tango and salsa dancing classes.

Liz and I had agonized for hours over what to wear to our first class. In the end, I settled on yoga pants with a camisole, while Liz opted for a pair of fitted sweatpants with a tank top. We completed our look with a couple of hip scarves decorated with gold coins.

For all her previous excitement, Liz was almost as nervous as I was when we first walked into the studio. There were sixteen women in our class, ranging from ages twenty to fifty. We couldn't have been any more different, but we'd all come to the class hoping for the same thing: the chance to try some new and maybe gain a little self-confidence along the way.

From the easy banter of a few of the women, I assumed that some of them were returning students. When Liz and I first arrived, we tried to discretely slink to the back of the class, but we were spotted and then swarmed by the self appointed welcome wagon. Knowing how nerve-racking the first class could be, they were quick to offer up some words of encouragement to the new girls. We all took turns introducing ourselves and explaining why we signed up. Some of the women were hoping to become professionals, some were just looking for a new hobby, while others were more interested in the fitness aspect of belly dancing.

The chitchat faded when a voluptuous, dark-haired woman in her forties emerged from the hallway. All eyes were riveted on the instructor, Rhonda, as she sashayed to the front of the class, stopping with her back to the mirrors. At her signal, exotic, Middle Eastern music began to pour through the speakers, and she kicked off the class giving us a demonstration of what we were all there to learn. Her choreography was fluid, arms fluttered through the air like ribbons in the wind. It was more than her graceful movements. It was the rapturous expression etched unto her face that said that Rhonda had been born to dance.

Her quiet confidence and obvious comfort with her body was a bit disheartening, making me despair at my own lack of grace, until she explained that dance was about using and appreciating the assets we'd been blessed with. It didn't matter what size we were, small or… not so small. When it came to belly dancing, there was no perfect body.

We were given a brief introduction to belly dance in which the instructor defined the numerous styles and their origins. Afterward, she took us through a warm-up, showing us proper posture and basic isolations. There was lots of giggling throughout the shoulder shimmying, hip pistons and belly rolling exercises. In the beginning the moves felt awkward, but as time marched on I began to get the hang of it. It helped a lot that no one poked fun whenever a newbie messed up.

During a short break, we sat on cushions choosing stage names for ourselves. After mulling names around in my mind, I settled on Yasmin because of its exotic feel. I was privately horrified when Liz began to lean toward Victoria. Although it took a fair amount of persuading on my part, my persistence paid off when she decided on Selena instead.

Coming down to the last hour of the class Rhonda had us incorporate all of the moves learned so far, in a basic routine. As we practiced our moves, Rhonda walked around correcting postures and making recommendations. Liz needed to work on her basic isolations, and I was instructed to practice my arm framings.

By the end of class, I was sweaty, exhausted and completely addicted. I could hardly wait for the next class.

Taylor and I were having lunch together in the Dining Hall when we were interrupted by someone I'd been hoping to avoid since last year.

I was doing or attempting to do some reading before my next class, but I was finding it hard to concentrate. Perhaps it had something to do with the man, who was once again staring at me when he was supposed to be doing some reading of his own.

When I'd finally decided that I'd had enough of reading the same line over and over, I murmured, "Stop."

"Stop what?" Taylor asked in a vaguely amused tone.

"Stop… looking." I refused to look at him, choosing instead to keep my eyes on words I barely registered.

"Why?"

"Because it's rude to stare." I aimed a look at him that was meant to chastise, but my budding smile ruined it. When he offered me a deceptively innocent smile, I pressed, "Seriously, what is up with the staring? Is it like a guy thing, a Spanish thing or what?" Taylor made me feel like he could stare at me all day long without getting bored.

He looked thoughtful for a moment before commenting, "I'm not sure. In Spain, it was perfectly normal for a man to notice a pretty woman. Maybe it's a Spanish thing. Or on second thought, maybe it's a guy thing." He ended with a smile that said he was just teasing me.

Reaching out my hand, I swiped one of his fries and popped it into my mouth.

"Oh, so I can't look at you, but you can steal my fries?" A cocky grin and the loss of another fry was his answer. "You know, I offered to buy you your own fries earlier and you said no."

"I wasn't hungry then." I went on to wash down his fries with his drink. There was something so intimate about drinking from someone else's straw.

"Well, if you're going to start stealing my food then you should come closer." Dark amusement swirled in his emerald depths and I became wary.

Before I could so much as blink, Taylor grabbed the handle of my chair and pulled hard, eliminating any distance between us. The chair scraped loudly against the floor, drawing curious stares from the people sitting around us. Under their scrutiny, a familiar heat came to my cheeks and deepened when Taylor brushed some hair off my sensitive neck. In spite of myself, I shuddered at the deceptively innocent caress of his cool fingers.

"Taylor, people are staring at us." I was struck with a sudden bout of shyness.

Never being a man of many words, Taylor murmured, "Don't care."

He threw an arm around my shoulder and went back to reading, but I still couldn't concentrate. Not when I was so preoccupied with the feel of his hard thigh pressing up against my leg.

It wasn't long before I found myself studying his handsome features. The dark sweep of his brow furrowed together in absorption. His dark hair hung a little lower than usual. He was getting a bit shaggy. At first glance, one might have summed Taylor's looks up as pretty. That observation was disputed by his strong jaw and the angular lines of his face, which added a masculine quality to his visage.

But as my gaze continued to linger, I began to sense that there was a darkness inside of Taylor that he always kept carefully hidden. I suspected that it had something to do with the clawed creature that was a part of him.

An involuntary shiver shot up my spine as I recalled Zach's chilling tale of his harrowing encounter with it. It was so difficult to believe that Taylor had something dangerous inside of him. But now that I thought about it, it made perfect sense. There'd always been a sort of feral intensity with an underlying potential for violence in Taylor. An undeniable air of danger that appeared to follow him wherever he went.

A ghost of a smile hovered around his mouth before he softly teased, "You're staring." Under the playfulness of his tone, I sensed a strain. Almost as if Taylor was struggling to keep the atmosphere between us light.

"I guess I am," I retorted unapologetically.

This time when Taylor twisted in his chair to regard me, I didn't look away. His head tilted to the side marginally as he stared back at me. Discreetly, I wondered if the other part of him was watching me as well. Oddly enough, the thought aroused more than it scared me. I always did have a thing for monsters and enjoyed flirting with danger.

Our staring competition was cut short by an intruder. "Hey, Izzy. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

I turned away from Taylor to find Dillon at our table and fought back a groan. By my constant avoidance, I was hoping he would take the hint and leave me alone. But his presence indicated that I hadn't been successful in getting the message across. I guess Ryan had been too subtle with that humiliating scene he made when he chased Dillon down the street.

If people weren't staring before, they were staring now. Everyone knew about the bad blood that existed between the men and were probably hoping for a showdown. That showdown would not be happening, not if I had anything to say about it. I needed to quit being chicken and handle this situation myself.

"Taylor, would you give us a minute, please?" I asked, hoping that Taylor wouldn't think that I was going to take Dillon back. This conversation needed to happen. As uncomfortable as it was, Dillon and I needed closure.

Taylor's displeased gaze shifted from Dillon to me. The line of his mouth hardened, but he wordlessly rose from his chair, stalking away to sit two tables down from us. He turned his attention toward his book, in an attempt to give us the illusion of privacy.

Dillon sat down in the empty chair next to me, after I gestured for him to do so. Not much had changed about Dillon Buchanon. He had the same blond hair, blue eyes and athletic build. But in place of his cocky, I own the world smile; there was an expression I'd never seen on him before. Regret.

"I just wanted to say that…" Dillon sighed and raked a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry for the way things went down last year. And I want you to know that the keg party was the only time I slept with Amber. It just sort of happened."

"I don't understand. How did it just happen?" I didn't get how two people just fell into bed together.

"I was drunk and mad that you left the party with Taylor. And then Amber showed up in my room…" His voice trailed off leaving me to figure out what happened afterward.

I reminded myself to lighten up on him, that Amber used him to get back at me. And that I wasn't completely innocent of any wrongdoing.

For one thing, throughout our relationship, I did a pretty decent job of keeping Dillon at arm's length. For another, I hadn't been honest with him about my budding feelings for Taylor. Even though, I didn't act on those feelings, in a way I'd cheated too.

Dillon was surprised when I spoke up. "Look, you not a terrible guy, Dillon. I'm not gonna to pretend that what you did wasn't hurtful and just plain wrong. But… everybody makes mistakes and I know you didn't mean to hurt me." I drew in a breath before adding, "And I… I'm sorry that I kneed you."

It appeared that Taylor wasn't the only one with a temper that needed restraining. If Amber had been a different type of person, I might have considered apologizing to her. Note I said the words might have. After all, the girl did sleep with my boyfriend and arrange for me to find out about it in a horrible way. Although hitting her gave me an immense amount of satisfaction, I shouldn't have gone there and stooped to her level. Normally the thought of violence would make me cringe, but Amber pushed me too far. Weirdly enough, our fight had little to do with Dillon. I was prepared to walk away, but her taunts and threats to go after Taylor was what finally made me snap.

"You don't have to apologize, Izzy. I kinda deserved it." Dillon admitted in chagrin. "Look, I know I have no right to ask this but… Do you think we could still be friends?"

"I don't know, Dillon. Maybe." It would have been the mature, adult thing to say yes, but I just wasn't quite there yet.

"Maybe's not a no." Dillon grinned hopefully and I rolled my eyes in amused irritation. Dillon Buchanon would never change.

"Well, anyway. I should get going before your boyfriend runs over here and punches me again." Dillon jerked his chin at Taylor, who frowned back at him in suspicion.

"Wait a minute, boyfriend?" I began and Dillon held up his hand to stop me.

"Don't even bother, Izzy. I might be a lot of things, but blind isn't one of them." I didn't know what to say to that, so I remained silent. Dillon stood up from the table. "I'll see you around?"

"Yeah, see ya," I replied and began to gather my stuff. My class was about to start in a few minutes.

Dillon left to go sit with his friends and Taylor reached my table just as I was getting ready to stand.

"Hey. You all right?"

"Yeah. I'm good." And relieved that I could finally stop dodging my ex-boyfriend. "I gotta get to class."

"Come on. I'll walk you there."

"Aw that's so sweet. Are you gonna carry my books too?" I continued to tease him as we walked out of the hall.

When Taylor stayed silent and looked away, I thought I spied a slight change in his coloration. No way!

"Oh my God. Are you blushing?" I giggled and extended a finger to poke his cheek.

Before my hand was able to make contact, Taylor captured and brought it to his lips. His hot breath swept across my skin as he kissed the center of my palm. He fixed me with a heated stare and suddenly, I was the one blushing.

A couple of weeks later, I was alone in the apartment when I decided to take a bath. I was somewhat disappointed that I'd managed to complete that task unmolested by Taylor and another one of his lessons. God knows he had the uncanny habit of materializing out of thin air when I was alone. With jittery anticipation, I wondered what and when the next lesson would be.

The memory of his last lesson gave me a shiver as I sat on my bed naked, blow-drying my hair. Lately, I'd discovered the joy of walking around in the nude, and as Liz and Ryan were out, I decided not to let the opportunity pass. I wouldn't dare walk around naked while Liz was in the apartment. Especially since she seemed to be allergic to knocking and liked to barge into my room whenever she pleased. One of these days I planned to give her a taste of her own medicine and see how she liked it.

I dug into my dresser drawer in search of a decent pair of underwear only to discover that my pickings were slim. That was unacceptable. I groaned, just imagining Liz's excitement and Alice's complaints once they learned about my sudden desire to go underwear shopping. Alice's complaint being that she wouldn't be able to go with us.

It was strange, the way things changed. In my teenaged years, I wanted to be a vampire so I could have eternity with Edward. What a naive child I was for wanting forever, without ever stopping to think about what it would mean to truly be immortal. No one could blame me for wanting to spend the rest of my life with the man I loved, but in the end, the payment for such a life would've been too high.

Now don't get me wrong, I was still coming to terms with the whole aging and dying thing. Some progress had been made. Of course, not having a perfect, unchanging boyfriend around to unintentionally taunt me with immortality helped a lot.

When I was finished with my hair, I stood in front of the mirror on my closet door, observing myself from head to toe. Thanks to the dryer, my hair hung a bit straighter. I wasn't voluptuous by any means, but I still had curves. Any weight gained over the years had been toned by daily exercise. My gaze dropped to my neatly trimmed triangle, and I wondered if Taylor liked his women bare. Maybe I should go Brazilian and give him a heart attack the next time he decided to stick his hand down my pants.

The thought made me smile. As a preteen, I remembered being so fascinated by the puberty process. Each day I would rush home from school, strip naked and search my body for any changes. By the time I grew my first pubic hair, I was exultant. Puberty at last! For weeks after my first sighting, I'd examine myself in the mirror from every angle. But eventually the novelty of having pubic hair wore off and I never really looked again.

Belly dancing gave me a new found confidence and appreciation for my body. Despite Edward's reassurances, I'd never truly believed that I was beautiful. And in only seeing myself as sickly pale, plain and clumsy, I never really loved myself. But with each passing day, I was learning how. I'd never be vain enough to call myself stunning, but for the first time I was starting to see myself. And whenever Taylor called me adorable and beautiful, I believed it. Not because he saw me that way, but because I saw myself that way.

Listening to Liz and Ryan going at it every night would make anybody horny as hell. And yes I would admit that there'd been a few nights when I'd chosen to forgo the use of my earplugs. Before, I used to wonder what all the noise was about, but now I knew.

I closed my eyes and dug up a recent memory of Taylor. I was walking down the hallway on my way to use the gym in the building's health club, when I passed the door that led to the indoor swimming pool. I caught a glimpse of what looked like a man using the pool and for some reason, stopped to take a gander. As I stood admiring the strong muscles in the man's back, I recognized the tattoo and realized that it was Taylor. Almost as if he sensed my stare, Taylor stopped and looked around the room until he discovered me. He pushed the wet hair out of his eyes, smiling at my obvious embarrassment at being caught gawking. Taylor raised his hand as if to call me over, but it was too late. I was already on my way out the door, mentally chastising myself for carrying on like a woman fresh out of prison.

With my eyes still closed, my head fell back and altered the details into a pool fantasy, where I didn't run and Taylor and I were the only ones in there.

My moment of nearing fulfillment was ruined when Liz suddenly opened my door. "Hey, Izzy. We're ordering Chinese -" Her speech was cut off the second her gaze connected with mine.

The silence hung heavily in the air as we stared at each other. One of us gasped, I'm not sure which. But I knew the small scream came from me as I sat up and clamped my legs together with my hand still trapped between them.

The expression on Liz's face flittered from shock to scandalize before finally settling on impish. Between giggles and snorts, Liz said, "Oh God… I-I'm sorry… Y-you go ahead and um… finish." She quickly closed the door, but the move did nothing to lessen her witch-like cackle.

Suddenly freed from my paralyzed prison, I leapt off the bed with a tiny cry and sprinted into my bathroom. With shaking hands, I quickly secured myself in my robe before sinking to the floor in abject horror.

I'd never been so humiliated in my life. I was so… immersed in myself that I didn't even hear when Liz got home. She'd gotten a pretty good view of… everything. My face burned hotly as realization hit. Liz said we were ordering Chinese. That meant that the guys were out there as well, probably laughing their asses off. Oh God, what was I going to say to Taylor? I didn't think for second that Liz would keep a golden story like this to herself. The situation couldn't have gotten any worse.

Note to self, lock the damn door!

It was some time before I was able to pick myself off the bathroom floor and put on some clothes. Before leaving the bathroom, I tried to wash the redness and embarrassment from my face. After a few minutes of splashing in cold water, the crimson in my cheeks faded to a light pink and I was able to leave the bathroom.

My mouth began to water as the aroma of Chinese food filled my room. It had been hours since my last meal and I was famished. But the thought of the kind I ridicule I would face upon leaving, kept me inside.

It wouldn't have surprised me one bit if Liz was outside my door, fanning the delicious scent of takeout in my direction in an attempt to lure me out. Eventually the gnawing ache of my empty stomach pulled rank over my shame, and I steeled myself prior to venturing out. I was hungry and food trumped embarrassment.

Sounds of talking voices greeted me as I crept down the hall. The three figures sitting around the table immediately stopped talking as I came into view. Thankfully, Taylor was absent.

"Hey, Izzy. We ordered takeout. Grab a chair." Ryan was the first to speak up.

Let's get this over with, I thought as I eased into a seat.

Zach went back to shoveling noodles into his mouth and Liz wrinkled her nose at him as she passed me a container filled with eggrolls.

Ryan and Zach went back to talking about football and I began to relax, thinking that Liz had kept her mouth shut about what she saw.

That feeling was destroyed when Liz asked with a mischievous grin, "Hey, Izzy. Would you like me to pass you some fried rice or would you like to do it yourself?"

Zach laughed, Liz giggled and I died a little inside.

When in trouble, deny, deny, deny.

"Stop laughing. I was not -"

"Doing a one woman show?" Liz interjected, suggestively waggling her eyebrows.

Oh God!

"It's fine, Izzy. I just hope… you washed your hands after you were done... petting the kitty," Zach chimed in between guffaws.

Bastard!

The only person not laughing was my dear friend Ryan, but his attempt at helping came in the form of an unwanted admission.

"I don't see what the big deal is. So, what if Izzy got caught masturbating? I masturbate quite frequently," Ryan stated matter-of-factly as if he was talking about the weather.

The room went silent until Zach complained, "Hey, man! I'm eating here." He gestured at the filled plate in front of him.

"Izzy has needs too." Ryan defended and pointed his chopsticks at me. "Don't be embarrassed, Izzy. If you wanna touch yourself, you go right ahead."

Oh my God! Unable to take any more of their ribbing, I shot up from my chair, snatching my keys off the counter as I went. I planned to get the hell out of there.

Behind me Liz called out, "Aw come on, Izzy. We were just kidding around."

I heard footsteps behind me, but I was already on my way out the door. One would think that my exit would have ended the conversation, but I was wrong.

I'd taken a few steps down the hall when Ryan poked his head out the door and shouted, "There is no shame in masturbation, Izzy - Oh, hi, Mrs. Connelly. I… ah…" He gave up and closed the door, abandoning me to my shameful fate.

Humiliation swept over me as I whirled around to find Mrs. Connelly, our elderly neighbor, staring at me with widened eyes. God, she was just as embarrassed as I was! After opening and closing my mouth a few times, I found the strength to murmur a small hello. Following an equally awkward reply, Mrs. Connelly fled into her apartment, and I became certain that she would never ask me to cat sit for her again.

My day was officially ruined.

Minutes later, I let myself into Zach and Taylor's apartment with my spare key and barged into Taylor's room, startling the hell out of him. Sitting at his desk, Taylor's figure was just a blur as I threw myself on his bed and screamed into a pillow.

"Okay, I'll just go ahead and ask. What's brought on this latest bout of crazy?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know." My words were muffled by the pillow.

Taylor's chair squeaked as he stood. The sounds of his footsteps were absorbed by the carpet. The soft mattress dipped beneath his weight as he crawled into the space next to me.

"Oh, you must be talking about Liz walking in while you were um… self-cultivating."

At Taylor's snort, my head shot up. "Oh my God! How did you hear about that?"

"Text." Taylor pointed to his phone on the nightstand and laughed when I reburied my burning face in his pillow.

Damn Liz and her Tizzy updates!

"You've been a very bad girl." Around Taylor's eyes crinkled with laughter as he teased me.

"It's not funny, it's mortifying!" I delivered a smack to his chest. His firm, naked chest…

"You have to admit, it is a little funny," Taylor tried to coax a smile out of me.

"Oh God. I've never been so embarrassed," I groaned, feeling my ears burn.

"Embarrassed of what? Of being watched? Giving into your desires?" I shifted to see the smile dying on his lips as his expression intensified.

In a bid to shield myself from his penetrating stare, I angled my head, employing my hair as a curtain. But Taylor reached out and tucked my makeshift veil behind my ear, leaving me completely open to his scrutiny.

With one hand, Taylor grasped my shoulder and pushed until I lay flat on my back, staring up at him. As he edged closer, his breath fanned my face, gently warming my skin. My heart rate doubled as it always seemed to do lately, whenever Taylor was near.

"Tell me. Were you thinking about me when you were touching yourself?" He whispered the question against my mouth, and I resisted the urge to pull him into a kiss.

His tone said that he was expecting some sort of answer from me, and as I seemed to be verbally challenged, I managed a shaky nod. The admission sent a wave of redness up my neck, drawing Taylor's attention.

Placing fingertips on my chin, he gently canted my head to the side, facing away from him. "Wow, that blush really goes all the way down," Taylor murmured with traces of awe in his tone. Fingertips followed the trail of redness down the curve of my neck, stopping mere inches from my breast.

My eyes drifted shut as he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss just beneath my ear. "What is it about you?"

Warmth seeped into my chest at the reverence behind his question. It was nice knowing that I wasn't the only one who didn't have things all figured out.

"Haven't you heard? I'm one of a kind." My witty remark drew a smile from him.

Taylor slowly slipped his hand under my skirt, his fingers trailed up my thigh to curl around the waistband of my panties. Without Taylor's directive, I raised my hips upward, giving him room to slide them down my legs. He sat up with a dark smile and tossed them over his shoulders.

As Taylor rose from the bed I sat upright, watching as he moved to collect his chair and bring it closer to the bed. I placed one of the pillows behind my back and leaned against the headboard. I was curious to learn what his intentions were.

"Tonight's lesson will be about the joy of watching and being watched." His voice deepened with a dark sensuality that caused my breath to quicken.

Voyeurism.

I swallowed nervously around the desert in my mouth as Taylor settled himself onto the chair, gazing at me with narrow-eyed intensity.

"In this room, there is no place for shame or modesty. Do you trust me?" His voice sounded strained, deeper somehow.

"Yes." My answer was automatic and without hesitation.

"I want you to spread your legs and lift up your skirt."

He wanted me to what?

Another wave of heat washed over my body when I began to realize what he wanted from me. A small choking noise slipped out of my mouth and I was suddenly overcome with bashfulness.

He wanted me to show him. This would be the most erotic thing I'd ever done in my life. We were creating a new level of intimacy between us. If Taylor wanted to look, then fine. This would be a private showing. Just for him. The thought bolstered my confidence, and just like that the decision was made.

With burning cheeks, I began to inch my legs open bit by bit while maintaining a death grip on the edges of my skirt. Taylor waited patiently as I, with legs widely parted, haltingly slid the fabric of my skirt upward, until I was left completely exposed to his gaze. Darkened eyes seemed to devour my naked flesh as if starved for the very sight of me.

My mouth fell open when Taylor quickly reached for his button and undid his pants. His hand delved into the unzipped portion at his crotch, wrapped around the obvious bulge and tugged.

"Holy…" Whatever else I was about to say was lost when Taylor slowly began to pump his fist along the length of his arousal. Apparently, Taylor thought I deserved a show of my own.

The muscles in his arm ripple and tensed with each stroke. He let loose a deep growl that sent pleasurable shivers racing through my body. The longer I watched him, the less self-conscious I became. It seemed like what we were doing was the most natural thing in the world. Unable to help myself, my body began to respond as Taylor bit his lip and bucked into his pumping fist. The labored sounds of his breathing were joined by my breathless pants.

I was undeniably mesmerized by his erotic display. Rays of the setting sun emanated through his window, bathing the room in an orange glow. That light slanted across the muscled plains of his torso. Never had I wished for a camera more than I did at that moment. Sitting before me, partially nude with light and shadow playing over his body, Taylor was a work of art.

His green eyes were focused on my face, wordlessly showing and telling me what he planned to do to me. Soon, very soon. I heard him groan, a deep sexy sound, and my fingers itched to trail themselves across his naked, olive-toned flesh.

"You're wet."

"Oh God," my voice squeaked in acute embarrassment and I moved to cover myself with my skirt. This was far too intimate.

"Don't you dare." Taylor growled, his voice laced with arousal. I looked up to find that his face had hardened, his piercing gaze burning into my flesh. His voice had softened a fraction as he continued, "When we are alone together, nothing else exists. No shame, no modesty, no hiding. Not with me."

His compelling words filled me with a sense of sexual daring. Taylor was right. We had this precious time alone together without any intrusion from the outside world. There was nothing wrong with sharing parts of ourselves with each other. We were just Izzy and Taylor. Just us.

I could do this.

Izzy could do this.

"No hiding," I reaffirmed, marginally pleased at the steadiness in my voice.

The corners of Taylor's mouth turned up in a proud smile when I raised my skirt higher, spreading my legs wider.

Weeks later, I was in the middle of an exam when my phone began to vibrate in the silence. With the hope that the person on the other end would stop calling, I tried to ignore it. After a few moments, the buzzing stopped only to start up again.

What the hell!

Who would be calling me now? And why did they keep trying over and over again?

The buzzing was soon becoming a distraction, and the glares of classmates sitting nearby told me that the sound was turning into a nuance. With a bemused smile of apology, I reached into my bag and rummaged around for my phone. Finally my hand closed around the offending object and I turned it off. Although before I was able to do so, I caught a glimpse of the person calling… Alice.

I didn't have time to wonder why she was calling, so I put the phone away and devoted my full attention toward the exam. By the time I'd completed the exam, Alice's calls had been long forgotten and my cell phone lay switched off in my bag.

But as I hustled to my next class, which was a few buildings away, I experienced the strangest feeling. The fine hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, prickling with eerie awareness that stopped me dead in my tracks. Looking around, I didn't see anything or anyone out of the ordinary, just the usual scene of students and professors walking around campus. With hesitation, I continued on my way, blaming the chill on the nape of my neck on the cold weather.

A few steps later, I stopped after getting the weird feeling once more. Another scan of my surroundings revealed nothing out of the ordinary, and yet feelings of paranoia still crept its way into my gut.

Quickening my pace, I ran smack into someone and would've fallen if not for quick hands, reaching out to steady me. "Hey, cutie. Where you off to in such a hurry?"

My body relaxed a fraction as I found Keisha staring back at me. "Just trying to get to class on time," I replied and smacked her hands away from their place on my waist.

Someone else's hands would've gone to my shoulders, but not Keisha's. Even on a subconscious level, the girl was a flirt, and would never pass up on an opportunity to hit on me or anything in a bra. I was constantly being subjected to her many requests for us to make caramel colored babies together.

"I was just trying to help. Honest." Keisha held up her hands in defense even as her lips curled into a mischief making smile.

"More like you were trying to help yourself," I shot back, unable to prevent my own growing grin. Keisha was like a darker, female version of Zach. I glanced down at my watch. "Anyway, I have to get to class, so I'll talk to you later."

Keisha's reply was lost as I resumed my race to get to class.

Any uneasiness was completely forgotten until I drove into the basement parking lot later that day. Due to the snow, many of the building's tenants chose to park in the basement instead of outside, so parking spots were a bit scarce. After driving around a bit, I finally found an empty spot in the corner farthest away from the elevator.

Shouldering my backpack, I set off in the direction of the elevator and paused. The basement seemed much darker than usual with quite a few light bulbs needing to be replaced. I made a mental note to give the building manager a call when I got back to the apartment.

I drew in a deep breath, fighting to quell my growing anxiety. Memories of what happened the last time the basement had been poorly lit assaulted my mind.

There is nothing to be afraid of.

Increasing my speed, I played with thoughts of potential desserts for later, desperate to keep my mind away from imaginary dangers lurking in the shadows. But the echoes of my footsteps in an empty, darkened parking lot did nothing to assuage my fears which tripled when I began to feel invisible eyes boring into me.

My heart surged within my chest and I became certain. Someone had been watching me all day and had followed me back to my apartment. Dread shot through me as the white-knuckled grip on my bag strap tightened.

I didn't need to turn around; someone was definitely in here with me. The elevator came into view, and adrenaline surged, muscles tightened as my body began to prepare itself to run.

I'd only managed to take one running step before a cold, hard hand encircled my wrist in an iron-like grip.

It was too late.

The realization hit me like a sledgehammer before I was dragged off into the darkness.

Vampire!

A/N: I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel people. I'll begin the countdown to Bella's homecoming in the next chapter.

Back to the story: Bella's belly dancing class seems to be going well.

Bella finally got some closure with Dillon. Should she have apologized to him?

What did you think about Liz walking in on Bella and then torturing her about it? Poor Bella :)

Taylor's latest lesson... Bella sure seems to be gaining more confidence, huh?

I think Bella's development is coming along nicely. What do you think?

Bella should've answered Alice's calls.

Review and receive your teasers people!