A month later

Fi and i had always wondered what it would be like if somebody at our school died. I had always secretly hoped that it would happen one day, just so that i would know what everybody would do. I thought it would be exciting-provided i didn't know the person of course. I didn't want to be crying all over the place now, did I? That would be like waving a big flag to the teachers with 'HELLO I AM WEARING MAKE UP. WATCH AS IT RUNS DOWN MY FACE.' written all over it. And of course, i pride myself on the au naturale look.

But let me tell you, it was anything but exciting.

We were all called into the gym, for a special announcement. Rumours flew around as to what it could be, anything from people getting caught smoking, to the school closing down. (Although that was mostly the year 7s spreading that one of course.) And in amongst the rumours, i heard hushed whispers of 'where's Fi?' 'hey, have you seen Fi anywhere?'

That was too much for me. I couldn't face this, it was stupid of me to put on a front and pretend i could. I ducked into the senior locker room before anybody could see the tears rolling down my face. Fi had always said she had never seen me cry. Now she never would.

As i stared helplessly around the room, something caught my eye. Behind my tear-blurred vision, it looked like nothing but a pink smudge in amongst the grey and blue smudges of lockers and schoolbags, but i knew what it was. The book.

I wiped my eyes with the sleeve of my blazer and reached out to pluck the book from where it lay-just underneath the locker which Fi and i shared.

"So that's where you were hiding." i breathed. "I thought we'd lost you!"

It was our book, our own personal burn book that we had made after watching mean girls for what seemed like the 74769593th time. Fi had bought the notebook, and i had printed off the pictures of everyone in our class.

Yup, there it was in big bold letters. 'This is Sinead and Fi's BURN BOOK! Do not carry on if you don't want to see the TRUTH! Written on 27/02/10 at 12:20 pm. Smiley face.'

"Hm." i half-laughed to myself as i flicked through the pages. It took my mind off everything, at least. Recalling us sitting in Frankie and Benny's, discussing which rumours to put in and which we should leave out.

"Hey-that's odd?" i thought suddenly. "I thought we had never written this far?" Yet on the final page, a note was written, in Fi's trademark scribbled handwriting.

"Dear Diary." it read. "I know this used to be a burn book, but let's pretend it's my diary, okay? I always wanted a diary. Oh man, i should have started with I've always been fascinated by spiders. But i didn't, which was really lame. Oh well. So, I'm Fi, and this is my story. "

"This is priceless!" i thought. "I cannot just let this pass me by. She actually wanted to write a diary? Ha. She will never hear the end of-oh." the realization hit me hard. How could i have forgotten? Was i that bad a person?

"Of course you aren't." the little voice in my head said to me. "Now stop your moping and read the stupid diary. It's what she would have wanted." So i continued. "Now, before I start telling the tale of my adventures, Sinead, if you are reading this-have a nice life. And Larten, if you are reading this-stop kidding yourself, you are illiterate. But whoever you are, reading this in the future, enjoy my diary. If it is future me, that has received this diary from a mysterious source, due to certain events involving Des Tiny, vampires, and faking my death, I am proud. (PS. Make sure you publish it-or else.) And on that note, I am stopping writing now, I shall let destiny unfold as it chooses to. X" There it ended. With an X. Just as if somebody had got a huge permanent marker and drawn a big X over Fi. There, your life is done, finished, you are gone, forever. It didn't seem possible.

But maybe that was the thing. Skimming back over the last few pages, I read and re-read one line until the words began to blur on the page. Maybe it didn't seem possible that she was gone...because she wasn't.

I stood up abruptly, shoving the book back underneath the lockers, but ripping out the important page. The page containing my last link to what had happened to Fi. And that one line kept repeating itself over and over in my brain, faking my death, faking my death, faking my death.

Didn't have to be mean about any cirque-y stuff in this chapter, thank the vampire gods! And review, people, review! XD