Abbey's POV

I followed Erica to first period Calculus. Apparently, we had the same schedule and I guessed that I'd be following her around for the rest of the day.

She'd called me her 'new project'. What in the world did that mean? Did she usually take new kids under her wing and call them her 'projects?'

We arrived at Calculus and I walked up to the teacher to introduce myself.

"Hi, I'm Abbey Benson," I tell the teacher. "I'm new here."

"Oh," the teacher says, looking at her attendance role. "Yes. I'm Mrs. Smith and you can take a seat right beside Erica."

"Thank you," I say to her and go sit beside Erica.

A guy sitting in the desk beside me leans over and speaks to Erica.

"I assume this is Abbey," he says, looking pointedly at me.

I look at him shocked, how did he know my name?

Erica gives him a look.

"What do you think, Wes?" she asks him, sarcastic.

Wes looks me over.

"I'm Wes," he introduces himself.

"Abbey," I introduce myself. "But you already knew that."

We both start busting out laughing and Mrs. Smith gives us both evil looks that makes us go silent.

For the rest of class, I was talking to Wes. I thought he was pretty cool and that I'd get along pretty well with him.

I think Erica was starting to get annoyed at us, because when class ended, Erica rushed me off to second period before I could say goodbye to him.

"What is up with you?" I ask her, when we get to second period English Lit.

"You don't want to get involved with Wes," Erica explains.

"Why?" I ask. He seemed nice and had a sense of humor.

Erica didn't answer me, she pretended not to hear me.

The next three periods were like that. If a guy flirted with me, she'd tell them to back off. Why was she doing that? It was starting to get on my nerves.

By lunch, I was seriously about to blow my cap on her. I would have done it, but I got the feeling that Erica was the kind of girl who would take up for herself and I didn't think that I needed an enemy living next door, so I just tried to let it go.

It was hard to let it go though. I had control over my life, didn't I? I had a feeling Erica was going to make that impossible pretty soon.

Once in the lunch room, I look around and then spot Rory. He's waving at me across the room from a table, sitting with Ethan and Benny, and I start to go and join them, but Erica catches my arm.

"No, no, no," Erica scolds. "You're eating with me."

She drags me over to a table filled with people who're wearing mostly dark colors.

"Everyone," she announces, "This is Abbey."

I look around the group and the only one I know is Wes. There's a seat open beside him and I try to pull away from Erica, but she sees where I'm going and pulls out a chair in front of her.

"Sit," she commands. I do as she says because she was starting to frighten me.

"Can I at least get lunch?" I look up at Erica.

She nods her head, signaling me to go.

Erica's POV

Wes was starting to get Erica's nerves. He was flirting with Abbey, and was going to no doubt ruin everything.

She walks over to Wes and sits in the seat beside him. He looked startled that Erica had sat beside him. Even though he was one of Jesse's right hand men, he could also be a coward.

"Wes," Erica says sweetly.

"Yeah?" Wes answers, wary of her.

"Stop flirting with Abbey," Erica threatens, flashing her fangs. "Or I'll stake you myself."

"Who're you to tell me that I can't be friends with her?" Wes asks, starting to get defensive. "Jesse didn't say anything about that. You want her to like all of us, don't you?"

"Of course," Erica says.

"Then why can't I hang out with her?" he asks.

"Because knowing you," Erica explains. "You'll ask her on a date, and I know she'll say yes, then you'll bite her, turning her into a fledgling and then Jesse will be totally pissed at you and probably stake you himself."

"And not allow you the honor of staking my sorry butt?" Wes was starting to get smart-mouthed.

"Just leave her alone, okay?" says Erica.

"Fine. Whatever," Wes says. "Wouldn't want to piss off Jesse."

"Guys," Erica says, addressing the whole group. "Whatever you do, do not mention vampires in front of Abbey."

"Why do we have to listen to you?" the same fledgling from yesterday asks. "I don't recall Jesse putting you in charge."

"Actually, I put Erica second in command behind Wes," Jesse says, coming up behind them, startling the fledgling. "And it seems as if Wes isn't taking his job seriously."

"I was taking my job seriously," Wes defends. "She just came up to me and threatened me to stop talking to the new girl."

"You weren't talking," Erica emphasizes. "You were flirting."

Jesse looks over at Wes.

"Were you?" Jesse asked him.

"Yes," Wes admits. "Tell me one reason I can't."

"If you ask her on a date, and assuming she'd say yes, you'd bite her before the night was over," Jesse explains. "And you'd have me to answer to for turning someone I hadn't okayed."

"See?" says Erica. "That's exactly what I said, like five minutes ago!"

Wes ignored her and looked down at the table, with a defeated expression on his face.

"Speaking of the new girl," Jesse says, changing the subject, and looking at Erica. "Where is she?"

"In the lunch line," Erica answers, and looks over to the register, where Abbey is paying for her lunch. "She's checking out."

Abbey's POV

While I was in the lunch line, I was debating on whether or not to ditch Erica and go sit with Rory and the two other boys. But something was telling me that Erica would bite my head off, literally, so I decided to go back to the table where Erica was.

I steal a glance over at Rory's table and they're all looking at me with confusion, or was it concern when I walked towards the table Erica was at? I just shrugged it off and sat beside Erica.

There was someone new at the table. He was tall with pale skin and dark hair and brown eyes. He was looking at me speculatively. I was so drawn in by him that I couldn't look away. He was really cute and had the whole mysterious thing going for him.

"You must be Abbey," he says, looking at me, still speculating.

I nod, because I'm speechless.

"Abbey," Erica says, trying to capture my attention. "This is Jesse."

I looked up at him again, something told me that he was the ring leader of the group.

"It's nice to finally meet you," Jesse say, mysteriously.

"Finally?" I think. Were they expecting me before I even got here? Things were starting to get weird.

Rory's POV

Rory couldn't understand why Abbey had chosen to eat with Erica. She seemed way too nice to be hanging around with that group, especially Jesse. He was sure that Abbey had been about walk over to their table and sit with him, Ethan and Benny, but Erica had stopped her.

He was looking over at Abbey, and wished that she was sitting at the table with them. He had thought about her all day and was still love struck. She was just so beautiful, and he was drawn to her.

The bell rang, signaling that lunch was over and Rory looks up at the table where Abbey was sitting, and she was leaving with Erica, and Jesse's arm was around her, much to his dismay.

Rory felt his heart fall. Abbey belonged to that group now, more specifically, she belonged to Jesse.

"There's no going back now," Rory thought, glumly. "She's Jesse's."

Ethan and Benny were getting up from the table, and noticed that Rory wasn't his usual dorky self.

"Rory, are you okay?" Ethan asks.

"I'm terrific," Rory says, sarcastically.

"What's up?" Benny asks.

"Abbey," Rory answers.

Ethan and Benny look up towards where Abbey is with Erica and Jesse.

"That is not good," Benny notes, noticing Jesse's arm around her.

"We've got a problem," Ethan says, concerned.

Abbey's POV

I got along with the group pretty well, and Jesse seemed to like me. Erica seemed pleased at that.

After I got over my speechlessness, Jesse and I started talking. I really liked him, and I felt drawn to him. Something about him being the leader of the group made him irresistible.

We were walking towards sixth period Theatre and Jesse's arm ended up around my shoulders somehow. I didn't know why, but I actually liked it. I felt like I belonged to the group now that Jesse approved of me, I felt like I belonged to Jesse and the arm around me was meant to be possessive. And for some reason, I liked it.

I know that I said that I didn't need any distractions from boys, but I think I could bend the rules just this once.

In the back of my mind, my brain was reminding me that Erica hadn't told Jesse to back off from me and that I should probably question it. I ignored it and continued to walk down the hall with Jesse's arm around me, and Erica on my other side. My first day was beginning to become better than I thought it'd be.