Chapter 2

I woke up to silence. Usually I would at least hear Tori snoring let alone her mumbling in her sleep, but the room was silent. I bolted upwards suddenly feeling very alone and looked around. No sign of Tori. I got out of bed confused. Light shown in through the window as I threw on my bathrobe and headed downstairs. There was no noise as I walked down the stairs almost tripping on the last one. I heard a grunt of laughter but saw no one. I walked into the kitchen but no one was there. Suddenly a pair of arms snaked around my waist and I let out a scream. I whipped around to see Derek concern crossing his face. I smiled at him and in an instant the concern was gone. I heard laughter from the other room and rolled my eyes.

"You should have seen your face. You were so scared." Simon said roaring with laughter as he entered the kitchen. Tori followed him, laughing as well.

"So." Tori said as she grabbed an apple from the bowl. "I talked to Kit and convinced him to go buy some food and drag Aunt Lauren along with him." she beamed. "We have the house to ourselves."

I grinned. "That's great, I can't believe you actually convinced her to go." I said crawling out from Derek's arms after noticing Simon. Simon still didn't know about Derek and I. Tori had figured it out on her own because apparently we were being obvious but we wanted to wait to tell Simon. We weren't sure how he would handle it. Derek frowned as I slid out of his arms but quickly recovered and grabbed an apple as well. Derek said something about needing to shower, and Tori went off to do whatever it is that she does. Simon walked over to me and asked if everything was alright.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just my Aunt is being a little annoying. I don't think it's hit her yet that I've grown up." I answered

"yeah, I get that." After a long pause he said. "Hey want to work on our comic, considering there isn't much else to do." I nodded and let him grab my hand and lead me to his room. His desk was covered in drawings. I tried no to notice that half of them were of me.

"Do you like them." he said closing the door and coming over to where I was standing. His arm brushed my side but I figured it was nothing.

"They're great. I wish I could draw like that." I smiled at him.

"I could teach you sometime." he smiled back. I laughed.

"No matter how hard you try I can't even draw a stick figure without messing up." We both laughed and he opened one of his desk drawers. He pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to me.

"Open that later tonight, okay." he said and left the room. I was confused and excited to open it but I knew I had to wait. I walked down the hall to my room and set the piece of paper on my dresser. I heard the shower turn off and ran into Derek's room before he got there. I hid in the closet and not even a minute later the door opened. I jumped out expecting to see Derek but he wasn't there. I got kinda worried so I stepped out of his room looking down the hall. As soon as I did I felt hands go around my waist and I jumped and let out a small whimper.

"You can't really sneak up on a werewolf." he said laughing.

"That's not fair. You can do it but I can't." I exclaimed pretending to be mad. I scrunched up my nose as he reached for me and stepped out of the way. He missed me and I went running down the hall. He ran after me but I reached the stairs before was able to grab me. I made it into the lounge area and just as I thought I was safe he launched himself onto me knocking both of us onto the floor. When we fell he positioned himself so I would fall on top of him instead of sitting the floor. I struggled to get away and faked desperation as he tightened his grip on my waist. He howled with laughter as I struggled and eventually gave up starting to laugh myself.

I bent down to kiss him and his hands relaxed on my waist just enough for me to bolt out of his arms and straight into Simon. Derek scrambled after me running into both of us and knocking all of us over. He caught me before I hit the ground and reached to help Simon up.

"What's going on here?" Simon said as Derek and I started to laugh.

"He...was...chasing me." I said in between breaths trying to slow my breathing.

"didn't your father teach you two not to harass girls." Kit said entering the room.

"I don't recall that lesson." Derek said still laughing.

"Speaking of you two I need to talk to you." Kit said to Derek and Simon. I looked at them and then said. "I'll take that as my cue to leave." I said to the three of them. Turning to Derek I mentioned. "I'm gonna hop in the shower, I'll see you when you're done." And with that I turned and headed up the stairs. I heard whispers coming from Kit. I brushed it off and hopped in the shower. When I finished I got dressed in white shorts and a loose long-sleeved lace shirt tucked into them. It felt nice to wear clean clothes again.

After I was dressed I headed down the stairs to the kitchen. As I passed Kit's office I heard hushed whispers. I heard them mention my name so I guess that made it alright to listen. Even though that is entirely not true, I listened anyway.

"It's best that we let her think that her powers are fully developed. We don't want to worry her." That was Lit. What do you mean fully developed? I hushed my thoughts as I heard Derek answer.

"And let her one day realize that oh she can do more than just raise the dead. What if she gets hurt because she wasn't warned about these new powers."

"Derek I realize that you are concerned about her bu-" Derek cut him off

"She can't just go wandering around without knowing that someday she is going to be able to do more. So what if it gets her hopes up. I would rather see her safe and mad about not having new powers yet than getting hurt when the powers strike out of the blue." And with that I kept walking. What did they mean new powers, was there more than I thought there was. I walked into the kitchen but not without hearing Derek growl.

"You need to tell her Kit, or I will." I suddenly got worried. What were these new powers, when was I going to get them. I heard footsteps behind me and saw Simon and Derek come out of Kit's office and jump at the site of me. I needed to think quickly, I didn't want them to know that I knew but I needed to know about these powers. Derek was right what if I got hurt. No. I could handle them.

"Hey guys." I said pretending not to know anything. I could handle these new powers. I could.

"Hey Chloe." they both said as they went to grab some snacks.

"So I was thinking we could get pizza for dinner, is that okay with everyone?" Kit asked also pretending that he hadn't just told her boyfriend and one of her best friends that she was going to have new powers soon that she should know about.

"Sounds great. I'll go tell Tori." I said turning and running up the stairs before Derek had a chance to say anything. As I went up the stairs I heard the front door open. Great, Aunt Lauren was home. She was the last person I wanted to deal with. I decided to hide out in my room with Tori until there was a knock on the door. I went to open it and Derek stood there.

"Hey." I said glancing at Tori. I hadn't told her but she knew there was something up.

"Can I talk to you?" he sounded serious. I said yes and followed him into his room. Not two seconds after we had sat down there was a knock on the door.

"Chloe it's me. I would like to have a chat with you before dinner." It was Aunt Lauren. I groaned quietly and kissed Derek on the cheek before getting up and leaving the room. I followed Aunt Lauren down to the lounge area and it was silent for a few seconds. Before she talked.

"Look Chloe. I know you like Derek and all but I think you should reconsider." I really wasn't in the mood for this conversation. I knew I would end up snapping at her and saying something I would regret so I took a deep breath and calmly answered.

"Aunt Lauren. I get that you are trying to look out for me, but I'm old enough to make my own decisions. I appreciate your concern but I have everything under control." I started to get up but she grabbed my arm.

"Chloe he is not who you think he is. He doesn't know how to control his powers. I just don't want you to get hurt. He's a...different. He's different." she caught herself before saying monster. I knew she was going to say it. God I'm sick of this.

"Look." I said raising my voice. "I am old enough to decide who I want to date. You can't control my life forever. I don't need you to baby me anymore especially if you think the guy that I happen to be in love with is a monster. He is not like that and you know it. I know it. He isn't the person you think he is. You think he is some untrustworthy bastard but he isn't. He's mine. I need him and I'm not going to let you take him away from me." I screamed at her, and screamed at her, letting it all out. Once I had finished I stomped up to the bathroom locking the door and sliding down it. I started to cry. No not just cry, sob. I hated how this had all turned out. Derek was different, yes but he was not monster.

I heard a knock on the door, ignoring it I quieted a little until I thought the person was gone. I started to sob again and then I heard a voice.

"Chloe..." it said softly. I couldn't tell who it was through the sound of my whimpers.

"Chloe open the door." And I did. I unlocked it at least. Sliding so it wouldn't hit me. It was Simon.

"Chloe what's wrong?" he said closing the door and sitting next to me.

"I-I don't w-want to talk a-about it." I stuttered through my sobs. He nodded and put his arms around me. I collapsed into him and we stayed like that. He whispered encouraging words into my hair until finally I had stopped crying. I looked up at him.

"Thank you Simon." I croaked out.

"It was no problem Chloe, really. You can always come to me." He smiled at me and I smiled back. I started to get drowsy and wanted to stay in his arms until there was a knock on the door.

"Everything okay in there." it was Derek. I was too tired to care. Simon answered saying that I was okay and was falling asleep. I thought I heard a pang of jealousy as Derek answered him. I drifted off not really caring if it was or not.

When I woke up I was in my own bed. It was dark outside and Tori was snoring. I sat up and noticed a note on top of the drawing Simon had given me. I opened the note first. It said

Chloe. I know you've been through a lot lately but if you're up for it I will be downstairs

until 3 a.m. I will wait for you but you don't have to come if you don't want to.

It's really important but it can wait if it needs to.

Simon

I looked over at the clock. It was 2:55. I scrambled out of bed throwing on my bathrobe and slippers. I walked as fast as I dared, not wanting to wake anyone. I brought the drawing and the note. I still hadn't gotten a chance to look at it but that wasn't important now. I stopped at the top of the stairs. I could see him sitting there staring at his watch anxiously.

I opened the drawing. It was of me. I was smiling up at someone. My hair was down and I was wearing a dress. I looked at who I was smiling at and it was Simon. I just stared at it. What did it mean. I glanced at the clock on the wall realizing it was 2:59 and I ran down the stairs. I basically fell onto him as I raced to sit next to him.

"S-sorry." I said. "I didn't read it until a few minutes ago. How long have you been down here?"

I asked. He didn't answer. He just turned to me. He stared into my eyes and for a moment I was lost. His dark brown almond eyes were dreamy. He leaned in closer and I didn't know what was happening. His eyes flickered down to my lips and then back to my eyes. Before I realized it his hand was on my neck and he was kissing me. I kissed him back, not realizing what I was doing until it was too late. He smiled into the kiss and I broke it off.

"I-I'm sorry Simon, I can't." I stammered and took off. I ran up to my room and tried to wake Tori. I was so confused. I didn't know why I kissed him back. And what about Derek. Oh god what was I going to do.