Abbey's POV

When we get to school, we have to run to our classes because we're almost fifteen minutes late.

I walk into my Calculus class and the teacher gives me a death glare.

"So nice of you to join us Ms. Benson," Mrs. Smith says coldly. "I assume you have a good reason for walking into my class so late."

I feel my cheeks flush red, knowing that everyone was staring at me.

"It was an emergency…" I trail off, trying to come up with a good enough lie that she would buy.

"What kind of emergency?" she asks.

"My dog died…" I said it like a question.

"That's no excuse for being late," Mrs. Smith says. "I'll let you off with a warning, you're lucky I'm not giving you detention."

"Yes ma'am," I nod, and walk quickly to my seat, with my head down.

A few minutes pass and I realize that Wes isn't in the seat beside me. I look over on the other side, and Erica is sitting in her seat, quietly doing her work.

It seemed like class dragged on forever until the bell finally rang.

I get up from my seat and started towards English Lit, when Erica finally caught up to me.

Despite the fact that she had helped defeat Jesse's flock, still didn't make me any less mad at her.

She walked beside me for a while and I tried to ignore her.

"I didn't know you had a dog," she said, trying to be funny.

"I don't," I say, shortly.

Erica quickly picked up on my mood.

"Are you mad at me?" Erica asked.

I look up at the annoyingly tall blonde.

"What do you think?" I sneer.

"You're just having a hard time adjusting to being a vampire," Erica says.

"No, I'm not," I say. "I'm having a hard time adjusting to you acting like you own me!"

Erica was stunned.

"I didn't realize…" she trailed off.

"No," I say, about to cry again. What was up with all of the tears today? I wasn't usually an emotional person. "You didn't."

I try to walk away, but she grabs my arm and hauls me into the girl's bathroom. She lets go of my arm and looks under the stalls to see if anyone else is in there. Once the coast is clear, she walks over to the door and slams it shut, locking it before she turns back to me.

Erica takes a deep breath.

"Abbey, I am so sorry for acting like that," she apologizes. "I don't know what came over me."

"Are you sure it wasn't because Jesse made you?" I ask, not believing her.

"Okay, it was," Erica admits. "I probably should've learned my lesson about him by now."

"It's still no excuse," I point out.

"I know," she says. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry won't get my humanity back," I say, curtly.

"Please don't blame me," Erica says, almost begging. "Blame Jesse."

"Why can't I just blame you both?" I ask. "Both of you contributed to my vampirism."

"I guess you could," she confesses. "But hear me out first, okay?"

"Whatever," I shrug. "This better be good."

"Jesse had come back to Whitechapel a few weeks before you got here," Erica explains. "He had sent me out to do some scouting for new vampires. He heard that a new girl was moving into town and told me to go meet her. That was the only reason why I even came over to meet you and your mom. After I had left your house, I had gone to meet the rest of the flock. I told Jesse that I didn't think you would be a good vampire because you reminded me too much of Sarah."

"What does Sarah have to do with any of this?" I ask, confused.

"Sarah had a hard time turning," she says.

"But I didn't," I say.

"I know," Erica says. "And that was only because Jesse forced you to drink human blood."

"True," I admit.

"I did tell Jesse not to bite you," she promises. "I swear."

She seemed so sincere. I sensed that this side of Erica rarely appeared, and that made me want to believe her.

"Is that why you didn't want to take me to Jesse's party?" I asked. "You knew he was going to bite me?"

"Yeah," Erica says.

"I'm beginning to realize that he acts impulsively, doesn't he?"

"Pretty much."

"And so do you."

"No, I…" she trails off, thinking about it. "Okay, yeah, I do."

I smile.

"I forgive you," I tell her.

"Thank you," she says, relieved.

There was banging coming from outside the door. Probably girls that had to use the bathroom.

"You might want to unlock the door," I say, "Before they bust in here and kill us."

As I walked to lunch with Erica, I was dreading seeing Jesse. I was going to hide in the bathroom again until lunch was over, but I had convinced myself that I wasn't a coward and I needed to face Jesse.

However, that wasn't the case when I got to the cafeteria. The table that I sat at with Jesse and his flock was empty. I steal a quick look around the room, and there was no sign of Jesse anywhere. I breathe a mental sigh of relief.

I walk towards the table that Rory is sitting at with Ethan, Benny and Sarah. I sit in the chair next to Rory and he looks at me confused.

"I'll tell you later," I whisper in his ear.

He nods, looking over at Benny, with something that looks like triumph. I elbow him in the ribs.

"Ow!" he exclaims. He looks over at me for an explanation. I shake my head, trying to tell him that this wasn't a contest, and I wasn't a prize.

When I look up, everyone at the table is watching our private conversation.

"What?" I ask.

"Nothing," they all answer, looking quickly in different directions.

"So, what's up?" I ask them. "Anything interesting?"

"Actually," Sarah says. "The Fall Festival is coming up and I was thinking that we could all go as a group."

"What's the Fall Festival?" I ask.

"It's just the Fall dance," she explains. "I don't know why they call it a 'festival.'".

"Yeah," I say, nodding my head. "I could be up for that. When is it?"

"This Saturday," Erica answers. "Which means shopping!"

Now there was something I could agree on with Erica, a shopping trip.

Rory's POV

Rory was sitting at the lunch table, trying to get up enough courage to ask Abbey to the Fall Festival, but he didn't know if he could do it with Benny sitting right there across from him.

He was already in a good mood. He knew that Abbey had chosen him and was trying so hard not to show how ecstatic he was.

He knew he was smiling like an idiot, but didn't care. He had the girl that he was in love with sitting next to him.

Benny's POV

When Abbey had come over to the table and sat by Rory, he got a good look at both of them. He was still a little hurt over being rejected, but he was happy for his friend. Rory hadn't really ever had a girlfriend. Well, one that wasn't one of Jane's dolls, or imaginary. He realized that Abbey would be good for Rory, and Rory seemed to like this girl a lot.

"Might as well go back to chasing after Erica," he thought to himself, fighting a smile.

Abbey's POV

The school day ended as quickly as it had started and before I knew it, I was walking out of school with Rory and everyone else.

"Do you mind walking me home?" I ask Rory. "I need to talk to you."

"Sure," Rory says, smiling.

We separate ourselves from the group and start walking. Before I know it, our hands are intertwined.

"So," Rory starts. "What do you want to talk to me about?"

"Would you like to take me to the Fall Festival?" I ask, looking up at him.

He was stunned.

"I was going to ask you that," he says, smiling. "But now I guess I don't have to."

"I guess you don't," I giggle. "What do you say? Wanna take me to the dance?"

"Absolutely," he says without a pause, then something occurred to him. "What about Benny?"

"I think that he's more interested in Erica," I assure him.

As we get to my house, Rory walks me up the stairs. He tried to lean into kiss me, but was interrupted by my mom swinging the door open.

"Hi, mom," I say, blushing. "This is Rory."

"Nice to meet you, Rory," my mom says. "I'm Abbey's mom."

"Hi, Mrs. Benson," Rory stutters. "I was just uh…walking Abbey home…I'll, um, call you later Abbey."

"Okay," I say, smiling. "Bye."

"Bye," he says, walking down the steps. "It was nice meeting you Mrs. Benson."

"It was nice meeting you too, Rory," my mom calls after him.

Within minutes, he was gone.

I look up at my mom sheepishly. She was pointing into the house with her thumb, signaling me to come in. I nod and go into the house, knowing I was about to get the lecture of a lifetime.

Once I am sitting curled up on the couch with a mug of earl gray tea, sweetened with honey, is when my mother starts her lecture.

"I just have one question," she says, getting to the point. "Three guys in less than a week? Really? What are you thinking?"

"One, Jesse is a jerk and I never want to see him again. Two, Benny is just a friend, I swear. And three, Rory is really the only one I have eyes for at this point in time," I explain.

"Well, he is cute," she admits. "What did Jesse do to make you hate him?"

"He wanted me to change who I am," I say truthfully. "And I can't do that."

"Most girls your age can't do that," my mom says. "They just get so wrapped up in their boyfriends that they don't realize that they've changed. But not you. If you can find someone who truly makes you want to be yourself, hang onto him."

"I think that's who Rory is for me," I admit. "I know that I'm only seventeen, but I truly believe that."

She smiles at me, taking in what I've said so far.

"Watching you two earlier," my mom says. "I think it is true. Not that many people can find that this early in life."

"I guess I'm just lucky."

"You have no idea."

Something occurred to me.

"Where you spying on us?" I ask, accusingly.

"I was waiting for you to get home so I could talk to you about this morning," She explains.

"Why'd you open the door when he was about to kiss me?" I ask.

"Because I didn't want you to lead another guy on," she says. "But now I know you weren't. I'm sorry."

"It's fine mom," I assure her. "Is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Yes," my mother says. "What happened this morning? Why were you crying?"

How was I going to explain this?

"When Benny came over Saturday night, we kind of snuggled while watching TV, and I think he started to have feelings for me. So this morning, I decided to set him straight."

"Set him straight, like how?" she asks

"By telling him that I only like him as a friend," I explain.

"You friendzoned him?"

"Mom!"

"Sorry, but that still doesn't explain why you were crying," she points out.

"I know," I admit. "He was being a jerk about it, and kinda hurt my feelings, so I just stormed off. And started crying on the way home."

She nods, making sense of it all.

"You've got one heck of a love life, girl," my mom teases.

"I know," I say, sighing.

I untangle myself from the couch and make my way towards the stairs.

"Where are you going?" she ask.

"I have some homework that's dying to get finished," I say, starting up the stairs, but I pause before I'm halfway up. "Before I forget, Rory asked me to the Fall dance!"

"That's wonderful," my mom says. "When is it?"

"Saturday. I'm going dress shopping with Erica and her friend Sarah at some point this week."

"That's great."

"I know." I was smiling like an idiot.

I continue up the stairs, anticipating Saturday.