Abbey's POV

I was surprised at how fast the day ended. All seven periods seemed to fly by. Especially the last two because Jesse was in my classes.

When we were walking out of the building, I saw Rory standing by the lockers with Ethan and Benny. He looked bummed out. I wonder what could've happened. Ethan and Benny were looking at me with concern again. Guys at this school were weird.

I waited for Erica to come out of the school. I was standing with Jesse, his arm still draped around me.

"So," Jesse says, looking down at me. "There's going to be a party at my house tonight, and I want you to come."

"I'm pretty sure my mom won't let me," I say, apologetically.

"Sneak out," he suggests.

"I'll see what I can do," I promise him.

He smiles at my response.

Erica comes out of the school and spots me over by the lawn with Jesse. She walks towards us.

"I was just telling Abbey about the party tonight," Jesse says, when Erica finally reaches us. "Don't you think that she should come?"

It took Erica a minute to respond. It seemed like she was trying to debate internally what she should say.

"Of course you should come," Erica says. "It'll be fun."

I felt like she didn't mean it.

Wes pulls up in a Mercedes and waits for Jesse to get in.

"I'll see you tonight," Jesse promises and kisses me on the cheek before climbing into the car with Wes. I stood there for a minute, watching them drive away.

I realize that Erica isn't standing beside me anymore. Thank God, I needed a break from her. She was starting to get on my nerves.

"Abbey!" I hear my name being called as I start towards home. I turn around and see Rory walking towards me.

"Hey, Rory," I say as he comes up to me.

"Hey, Abbey," Rory says, with a huge smile on his face.

"I'm sorry I didn't get to eat lunch with you," I apologize. "Erica kind of made me sit with her."

"It's okay," Rory says. "You probably didn't want to sit with a bunch of geeks."

Something was bothering him.

"Rory, what's wrong?" I ask.

"Nothing," Rory answers quickly.

"Don't lie to me," I say. "I can tell when someone's lying."

"I'll see you later," Rory says, and starts walking the other way.

Hmm…what was wrong?

I continue to walk home and when I'm half a block away, Ethan and Benny jump out of the bushes and start spraying me with Super Soakers.

"Oh my God!" I yell. "What the heck!? Is this how you treat newcomers in town? Jeez!"

I looked up at the boys, and they had relieved expressions on their faces.

"What!?" I yell at them.

"Welcome to Whitechapel," they both say, and start running the other way

"Was that really necessary?!" I yell after them.

Guys in this town were so weird! I cannot believe they Super Soaked me!

I finally get to the house and slam the front door.

Erica's POV

Erica left Abbey as soon as Jesse was gone. She was tired of 'babysitting.'

She dreaded that she had to take Abbey to Jesse's party tonight. Judging on how fast he took to her, he was no doubt going to try to bite her tonight. All Erica could hope for was that she wasn't going to be as hard-headed about turning as Sarah was.

Erica decided to go to Abbey's house because she had nothing better to do. Literally.

She walked up the front porch and rang the doorbell.

"Hopefully her mom isn't home," thought Erica.

Abbey finally answered the door and her shirt is wet.

Abbey's POV

The doorbell rang, and I looked out of my two-story window to see who it was. It was the one person who I did not want to see right now. Erica was standing on the front porch, waiting for me to open the door.

I slowly walk down the stairs, biding my time. The doorbell continued to ring. She was holding the doorbell down so I would open the door just to get the sound to stop. Man, she was annoying.

I put a smile on my face, and open the door to face Erica.

"Erica," I say. "What're you doing here?"

"I came to see if you made it home okay…" she trails off. "And to make sure you pick out the right outfit for the party tonight."

She looks at my shirt. I hadn't changed it, so I was still wearing the wet one.

"What happened to you?" she asks.

"Some idiots Super Soaked me," I explain.

"Who were the idiots?" Erica asked.

I didn't want to tell her who, because I knew that I was probably getting Ethan and Benny in trouble, but she'd find out eventually.

"Ethan and Benny," I admit.

"Just ignore those dorks," Erica advises.

"Okay…" I say.

I realized that Erica was still standing outside. I debated on making her stay outside, but I had a feeling that she would somehow force her way in anyway.

"Do you wanna come in?" I ask.

"Sure," Erica says and steps into the house.

Erica starts heading up the stairs without a word.

"Where are you going?" I ask her.

"To raid you closet," she answers. "You can't wear a wet t-shirt to a party."

"I was going to change," I point out.

"You should've done that before I got here." Erica says.

"I didn't know you were coming over!" I argue.

"Oh, well," Erica says, brushing off my outburst.

Erica was going to be one of those friends that annoyed you to no end and you would have to be in a specific mood to hang out with. She hadn't been in my house for five minutes, and she was already getting on my nerves. I think part of the reason she was already getting on my nerves was because I was still annoyed at her for acting like she owned me at school today.

I walk up the stairs to my room, and Erica has already laid several pieces of clothing on my bed, and she was still in my closet, searching for more.

I walk over to the bed and everything that she's picked out for me is black or some other dark color.

"Is this really necessary?" I ask her.

"Yes," she replies.

"Why?"

"You want to look hot for Jesse, don't you?"

"I guess…" I trail off. I hadn't really given much thought into what I was going to wear tonight.

"This," Erica says, excited. "Is what you need to wear tonight."

I look at what she's holding up. It's a black dress with lace embellishments . It's very pretty, and it was also the dress I wore to my dad's funeral.

"I don't think I should wear that…" I trail off again.

"And why not?" Erica asks, oblivious to the change in my voice.

"I wore that dress to my dad's funeral," I explain.

"Well, looks like you'll be wearing it again," she says, with no sympathy in her voice. "Now, go take a shower and after that, I'll get you ready."

I was really starting to hate Erica. She had no sympathy for me at all and on top of that, she was acting like she owned me.

I go into the bathroom, and slam the door.

Erica's POV

"I could seriously live in this girl's closet," Erica thought. "Everything is so cute!"

Erica walks over to Abbey's book bag. It was wet, just like her shirt. She slowly took her index finger and touched a wet spot on the bag.

"Ow!" she yelled. The water had burned.

"Holy water," she thought. "They were testing to see if Abbey was a vampire."

Erica just shook her head and continued to raid the closet, looking for shoes to go along with the dress Abbey was going to wear tonight.

She looked at the dress again. Maybe she shouldn't make Abbey wear it. She had mentioned that she'd worn it to her father's funeral.

Erica sighs and puts the dress back in its place in the closet. She picks out a lacy purple camisole, a pair of black skinny jeans and a black leather jacket.

"She's going to thank me for this," Erica thought, smiling to herself.

Abbey's POV

I had finished my shower and walked into my room in my bath robe, to find Erica sitting on my bed, filing her nails.

I cleared my throat. She looked up, and smiled at me.

"Took you long enough," she says.

"I like how the hot water feels," I explain.

"I thought about what you said about the dress," Erica says. "I decided to put it back, and I picked this out for you." She motioned to my bed, where she had laid out my favorite purple camisole, my black skinny jeans and my leather jacket.

"Thank you," I tell her earnestly. "What shoes am I going to wear with them?"

She held up a pair of my mom's black strappy heels.

"Those are my moms," I say.

"I know," she says. "I raided her closet for shoes. I assume you two are the same size?"

"Yeah, we are," I admit.

"By the way, I love how your mom has a poster of Dirk on the closet wall."

I don't say anything.

"Let me blow dry your hair and do your makeup," Erica commands. "Then we'll leave after you get dressed."

For the next twenty minutes, Erica blow dried my hair, did my makeup and I got dressed. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I hardly recognized myself.

"Wow," I say, open-mouthed.

"I'm glad you like it," Erica says, smiling.

"I look hot," I say, surprised.

"That was the point," she explains.

"Right."

I sneak downstairs and my mom isn't home yet. I knew that if she was, she'd never let me out of the house looking like this.

I find a writing pad on the kitchen counter.

I write:

Mom,

I'm at Erica's house studying for this major test we have on Monday. It'll probably take a while. Don't wait up.

Love you!

Abbey

XOXO

I knew it was wrong to lie, but if my mom found out I was at a party, she would kill me.

"Smooth," Erica comments, reading my note. "You struck me as a 'I can't lie to my mom' type of girl."

"Think again," I say, smiling. "Now, let's hit that party."