As if having one class with the new guy wasn’t bad enough, I had my 2nd class with him too. If I see him when I walk into my English class, that would really suck. That means he’d have to hear my story. I’d have to read with him in the classroom. I don’t think I could do it. For some reason, he just makes me so nervous.

And what do you know? The new guy sits right across from me. Just like the class before this. I’ll be lucky if he’s not in my last class also. Now my performance is going to be a lot worse with him here. Ugh!


I sat down in my seat and took my story out. After 3 kids had read their stories, I heard Mr. Troutan call my name.

“Ms. Mason, will you please get up front and read your story?”

When he said my last name, I saw the new guy look up and at me. That made me blush, and then I unwillingly got up out of my seat and started walking to the front. Half way there, I tripped over a chair leg and nearly fell over but caught myself on the next desk just in time. I could hear most of the class chuckling quietly. I was already really red and I wasn’t even to the front yet.

When I finally reached the front of the class, I looked down at my notebook and started to read my story. I could feel the heat in my cheeks throughout the whole reading, and I avoided looking up at anybody. My main goal was to not look at the new guy at all while up there. I’m so happy that this is the last week for this unit. This is the last story I ever have to read up here again. When I was finished and everybody was clapping, I walked to my seat and looked down the whole way there.

“Thank you Ms. Mason. That was excellent. Now, if you will all get your homework out from yesterday....”


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The rest of the class went by pretty well. I didn’t have to talk to the new guy at all. And even though the class went by fine, I was still relieved when the bell rang. I swear I could feel his eyes just looking at me throughout the whole class. I never looked back to confirm my suspicion though.

I went to my locker to get my anatomy stuff and was glad that he already got his stuff and wasn‘t there. I hope he’s not in my last class because then we’d have every class together besides study hall after 1st block, and that would suck.

As I walked into the anatomy room, I was happy to see that he wasn’t there. At least I have my last class without him. Anatomy class went by really slowly, all we did was take notes. She should just print all her notes off and give them to us, it’d be a lot easier.

Once the final bell rang, I went straight to the library. I didn’t want to have another run-in with the new guy today.

After looking through what felt like half of the library, I decided on six new books. Two of the books were poetry dealing with love and heartbreak, and four of the books were just random fiction books that sounded like they would be good. I checked the books out then headed out the library doors. That’s when I wished I would’ve brought my school bag. I was struggling with six books plus my anatomy stuff. It’s not easy. I was just about to turn the corner to my locker when..... BAM! I sprawled across the ground and all of my stuff went flying all over the hall.

“Are you alright? I’m so sorry.”

I would recognize that voice anywhere! I figured he'd be gone already. I was still sitting on the ground when I saw the new guy offer his hand to help me up. I looked at it dumbly at first, then grabbed it. Wow was he strong.

“Are you alright?” He asked again.

“Y-yeah. I’m fine.”

He must of just been in the library too, he’s holding three books. I must’ve been too caught up in the books to notice him. Well, I was definitely very small compared to him because the impact didn’t effect him at all. He didn’t even loose any of his books.

I bent over to pick up all of my things, but he already had them picked up. He handed them over to me and said, “It was the least I could do for knocking you over.”

“Thanks.”

“Yeah.”

I started to walk away, but of course, he followed.

“I’m really sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“It’s fine, really.”

He was still following me and that’s when I realized that his locker was right next to mine. How stupid of me to think that he was following me.

“The name’s Damen by the way.”

“My name's Alice.”

“That’s a pretty name, Alice.”

“Thanks.” Now my face was probably beet red.

We were each at our locker now and I saw him looking at me waiting for me to talk. “Is that your car outside? The 2014 challenger?”

He looked at me surprised.

“What?” I asked.

“Well, most girls don’t know about cars or even look at them twice. I was just surprised, that’s all.”

“Well, I’m not like most girls. I like cars, and your car just happens to be one that catches my eye.” My bag was already packed and on my back by the time he spoke again.

“Well, maybe someday I can give you a ride in it?”

“Yeah, maybe someday.”

I walked away very surprised with myself. I actually got through more than half of a conversation with a guy without stuttering, AND managed to act like I was kind of hard to get. Earlier, Damen made me really nervous, but once I started talking to him, everything just flowed so smoothly. One thing that stumped me though, is why would he even bother with me? I have nothing to offer.

Then I realized his true reason for offering me a ride one of these days. He was just trying to be nice to me because he knocked me over in the hallway. Well, if that’s the only reason why he’s being nice, then he can just go back to not talking to me. I preferred it that way, when he wasn’t pretending. For some reason though, I was still ecstatic even though I shouldn't be. I walked out the main doors and saw Zoey walking towards the car.

“Zo!” I yelled and waved.

“Hey Alice. It seems like you had a good day today.”

“I actually sort of did,” I said with a slight smile.

“What happened?”

I told Zoey all about the new guy and his offer to give me a ride someday. I also told her why I think he offered to give me a ride. “He’s more than likely just trying to be nice to me after knocking me over.”

“Alice? Have you ever once thought that maybe he just liked you?”

“No, my idea is more likely than yours.”

“Alice, whether you think so or not, you are pretty.”

“Thanks Zo.”

The rest of the day went by as a regular day. But one thing that changed is when I went to bed. Usually, I just fall right to sleep and sleep through the whole night. But tonight, it took a while to get to sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about the new guy, Damen.

When I woke up in the morning, it felt like I hadn’t slept at all. Maybe it was all the tossing and turning I did? Then, it all came back to me. All of yesterday just came flooding back into my mind. The new guy revealing his name, offering me a ride sometime, having a full conversation with a guy. Wow! Yesterday had been quite eventful, now I see why I didn’t get any sleep. I don’t see why I thought of him all night though, I was still pretty sure that my idea was true. He probably won’t even talk to me today.

I got dressed, did my hair (brushed through it), grabbed my bag, and went down to make breakfast. Wait! What’s that smell? Something’s burning! I ran into the kitchen to see what was going on. It was probably Zoey trying to cook something. That always leads to a disaster.

“Mom! I told you we should’ve waited for Alice to cook!”

“Oh Zoey! I’m doing just fine.”

“Um, mom? The pancakes are burnt to a crisp!”

Of course! If it wasn’t my sister’s cooking, it was my mother’s. I walked over to my mom and took the pan off the burner.

“Jesus Mom! I told you not to cook unless I was around.”

“You were around! You were upstairs.”

“Very funny mom. I’ll take it from here.”

“I was just trying to do something nice!”

“We appreciate the effort mom.”

“Thanks.”

“Aren’t you suppose to be at work? I thought you’ve been getting more hours recently?”

“Well, I felt guilty for making you guys fend for yourselves all the time. I wanted to stay home this morning, make breakfast for everybody, and spend a little time together.” I could see the tears starting to form in her eyes. She could be emotional sometimes.

“Oh Mom!” I hugged her and had Zoey join the hug. I could also be emotional sometimes. I got that trait from her. And it's not good when you're emotional and you live with emotional people.

“You’re doing an excellent job mom! Don’t worry about us. We can take care of ourselves. You love your job. Just go and have fun. We’re fine!”

“Yeah Mom,” Zoey began, “Alice does an excellent job of cooking and cleaning. You don’t have to worry about us. Alice’s right, you should go have fun at your job.”

“You guys are the best. But I’m still staying to have breakfast with you guys.”

“That’s fine Mom, but I’m doing the cooking.”

Our mom laughed, and I started to make non-burnt pancakes for all of us. I served the pancakes and orange juice and we all sat down and ate breakfast as a family. It felt good, because we haven’t had a family meal in forever.


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After breakfast, I picked up the dishes and washed them, told my mom good-bye, and went to wait in the car for Zoey. For some reason, I didn’t want to go to school today. It didn’t take long to figure out why.

The problem was tall, muscular, has untidy dark brown hair, a beautiful voice, and wonderful green eyes. The problem’s name was Damen. I really didn’t want to go see him again today. He’s only talking to me because he knocked me over. I wish he would just go back to the way things were. He’s gotten my hopes up too much, and he’s going to just drop them eventually, so he should just let it go now.

I glanced at the clock and realized that we need to leave now or we’re going to be late to school. I honked the horn impatiently and yelled out the open window.

“Hurry up Zoey! We’re going to be late!”

I honked the horn again and a couple seconds later Zoey came running out yelling, “I’m coming! I’m coming!”

I was about to leave without her when she jumped into the car. “What’s the rush?” She asked.

“Look at the clock.”

“Oh my gosh! We’re going to be late to school!”

“I know!”

“Alice, I usually don’t ask you to do this, but you need to drive as fast as possible and not get pulled over by the cops. We need to get to school kind of early. I have friends to meet with before school starts.”

“Alright! No problem.”

I sped out of the driveway and towards the school, I was speeding the whole way there. I was lucky that there was hardly any cops around here because I was doing fifteen over the speed limit. We still had about ten minutes left before school started when we pulled in thanks to my driving abilities. I parked the car and Zoey and I headed to the school. Zoey saw a group of her friends so she told me good bye and went with her friends.

“Hey Alice! Wait up!”

Oh no! That was definitely not the voice I wanted to hear today. It was James Weatherson, my worst nightmare. How could I have forgotten about him? He’s the only guy who has ever really liked me. I don’t know what his problem is, but he just won’t leave me alone. He keeps trying to get me to go out with him, but I won’t. That’s why yesterday was so calm, he wasn’t here yesterday. My day just keeps getting better and better so far.

I ignored him and went inside the building. Yeah, he was good looking with the messy blonde hair, blue eyes, and 6’0 with a muscular body, but he was a stuck-up, immature, idiotic jerk. He caught up to me before I made it to my locker and grabbed my arm.

“Alice wait!”

“Let go and leave me alone you jerk.”

“Come on and give me a chance. How about Friday, tomorrow at 7?”

“Not a chance!”

“Come on!”

He was too close for comfort.

“Back off James. Now!”

“Ooooo! What you gonna do?”

He stepped in closer now so that our bodies are touching. He was making me so angry!

“I’m warning you!”

“You’re not much of a threat you know. You’re just a girl.”

“Yeah, a girl that can...”

The rest of my words were cut off because I was speechless, he was leaning down to kiss me! I don’t think so.

I pulled my arm back and had my fist half way to his face when somebody came out of nowhere and grabbed my wrist. Whoever did it was strong and really quick.

“Don’t get yourself in trouble Alice.”

It’s Damen! I could tell his voice anywhere. But why’d he stop me? I wanted to hit James so bad! Who cares if I get into trouble? Not me! Damen stopping me made me really irritated with him.

He dropped my hand and turned towards James with a look of fury. I was even scared for a second. Damen pretty frightening. By the look on James face, he was scared too.

“And you! Don’t you know how to treat a woman? No means no!”

James put some-what of a poker face on and started standing up to Damen. I wouldn’t have.

“And who are you to tell me what to do?”


“I’m your worst nightmare! If Alice says she doesn’t want you at all, then leave her alone.”

“I’ll do what I want, thank-you!”

“Touch her again... or any other woman... without their consent, and I will be in your worst nightmares!”

“Really? What you gonna do?”

I knew if this turned into a fight it wouldn't be very even. Damen is taller and more muscular, I knew he would probably win. I can’t believe Damen is protecting me. What for? I’m still irritated with him.

“You’ll see if you ever touch her again without her permission.”

With that, Damen grabbed my arm and dragged me away. He was gripping my arm a little too tightly that I could feel my pulse in my arm.

“Damen, loosen up the grip a little bit. Either that or just let go.”

He loosened his grip but didn’t let go.

“Why’d you stop me? I could’ve handled it myself!”

He was still dragging me and still not talking to me.

“Where are we going?”

Still no answer.

“Damen! Answer me!”

“Beside the school.”

Finally, an answer.

“Why?”

“To talk.”

“You know, you can let me go. I’m not going to go anywhere.”

“Right, I’m sorry.”

When he let go, I was seriously debating whether to just run away or stay here. I decided to stick it out and see what he wanted.

“Why did you stop me?”

“Were you seriously going to hit him?”

“Yes, of course I was! Now answer my question.”


“Because I didn’t want you to get into trouble. And I wanted to protect you.”

“Okay, I’ve had enough of this!” I said loudly.

“What? What did I say?”

“I know what you’re doing! All you’re doing is being nice to me because you knocked me down. It’s fine, that’s over with, you don’t have to act like you like me.”

He looked at me stunned.

“Is that what you seriously think?”

“I don’t think, I know. My theory is far more probable than you actually liking me.”

“Then you’re pretty stupid.”

“Gee... thanks.”

I started to walk away but he grabbed my arm.

“I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant. What I mean is that I can’t believe you would think that I was pretending to like you. I’m not pretending, trust me. What’s not to like about you?”

I could feel my face starting to heat up so I looked down at my feet. “Everything,” I muttered quietly under my breath so he couldn’t hear me.

He grabbed my chin and pulled it up. “That’s not true.”

How could he have heard me? Damn! I was hoping he wouldn’t hear me.

“If it’s not true, then what’s so special about me?” He still had my chin in his hand so I couldn’t look at the ground.

“Well, what I see is a beautiful girl who likes cars and reading. You just seem so different than any other girls. I wasn’t joking yesterday when I offered you a ride in my car sometime.”

My face felt like it was on fire. This is so embarrassing. Even though he was holding my chin, I managed to tilt my whole head downwards.

“T-thanks for the compliments, but I still can’t believe that a guy like you would really like me.”

“A guy like me?”

“Well, you know...” Just then, the bell rang and saved my life. Thank you!

“You better get to class. I’ll be asking that question again later.”

“What about you? Aren’t you coming to class?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“I just have things to do.”

“Okay, see ya then.”

“Bye.” Then, he walked away towards the parking lot as I headed to class.

Without Damen in my classes, the day seemed to drag on. I kept thinking about the things that Damen said, and I kept asking myself if it could possibly have really happened. I was so relieved when the final bell rang. Nicole, Trisha, Zoey, and I made plans to go to the mall after school. I ran to my locker, grabbed my stuff, and went to meet everybody by my car.

“Hey! Are you guys ready to go?”

“You bet! Mall + Me = Love!” Nicole said.

“Alright then, let’s go.”

The nearest mall was an hour away. The ride there wasn’t boring though, we had the radio on 101.3, and every time a good song was on, we would crank the radio and sing along with the music. It was actually a really fun ride and it helped me to not think about Damen. At the speed I was driving, it only took us forty-five minutes to get to the mall.

Right when we walked in, I realized I was behind on shopping. Christmas was only a month away and I haven’t gotten anybody’s presents yet. I’ll have to come here by myself sometime.

“Me and Zoey are hungry. We’ll meet you guys at Old Navy,” Trisha said.

“Okay, see ya soon,” I replied.

Me and Nicole headed off to Old Navy to do some clothes shopping. I have sixty dollars to spend today, so I plan on buying some clothing and getting Zoey a birthday present. I didn’t have my allowance money at the time of her birthday to get her a present, so I’m going to get it now.


“Hey Nicole? Can we stop at one of the jewelry stores? I have to get something.”

“Sure.”


We turned into the next jewelry store we saw. It took a while for me to find something that was affordable and that Zoey would like. I decided on a necklace and a bracelet. The necklace had a star on it made from “diamonds”, and the bracelet said ‘Best Sister in the World’ with hearts on both sides of the saying. I’m amazed that they were both cheap. They came up to twenty dollars. Now I have forty dollars to spend on clothes.

“Those are really pretty, your sister’s gonna love them. That’s cool that they wrap them for free too.”

“Yeah it's helpful, and thanks.”

“Hey, what’s up with you and that one guy?”

“Who? Damen?”

“Wow, you already know his name.”

“Well, nothing’s going on.”

“Right! I saw him drag you to the side of the school.”

“What? Are you spying on me now?” I asked sarcastically.

“No, I just happened to glance to the side of the school and saw you there.”

“He dragged me over there because I was about to punch James and he didn’t want me to get into trouble.”

“Oh no! Not James again?”

“Yep, and you know what?”

“What?”

“He almost kissed me!”

“WHAT!” Nicole yelled.

“Shhhhh! But yeah, I’m glad Damen stopped him.”

Then I launched into the whole story about James and Damen.

“Wow, he said he liked you?”

“Yeah he did.”

“Wow!” She said again. We were just turning into Old Navy when the other two showed up.

“Hey Zoey, I got you a late birthday present.”

“Really? You didn’t have to.”

“Well, I wanted to.” I took the two newly wrapped presents out of my bag and gave them to Zoey. “Open them up.” The first one she opened was the bracelet. Her face lit up with joy.

“Oh Alice! You really think I’m the best sister in the world?”

“Of course I do.”

“Thanks, I love it!” She put the bracelet on her wrist.

“Open the next one,” I encouraged.

Zoey opened up the next one and her jaw dropped. She was stunned. “Oh Alice! It’s so beautiful!” I saw Zoey start to tear up. I guess me and mom weren’t the only emotional ones. She gave me a huge hug.

“Help me put it on,” she said in my ear.

I grabbed the necklace and clasped it onto her neck. It looked beautiful on her.

“I love you so much Alice! Thank you!” She gave me another bear hug.

“You’re welcome, they looks beautiful on you.”

The rest of the time was just a regular mall day with friends. We all got clothes, grabbed some ice-cream, and headed to the car.

“Today was fun!” Trisha exclaimed as I was dropping her and Nicole off at their cars.

“Yeah it was,” I said.

“We’ll see you later guys!” Nicole said.

“See ya.”

Zoey was so tired by the time we got home that she decided to just go to her room and crash early.

“Thanks for everything today Alice.”

“No problem Zoey.”

Once in my room, I saw my pile of homework. “Ugh,” I sighed to myself. I better get that done. It was hard to concentrate because I couldn’t stop thinking about Damen. Why didn’t he stay at school today? Once my work was done, I went to bed thinking about Damen yet again. How can you like a boy this much in just two days?


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When I pulled into the school parking lot I saw Damen’s car and knew that he was here today. So far, my day was going good. I parked the car and Zoey and I walked to the school together.

“See ya later Zo.”

“See ya.”

When my locker came into view, I could see Damen leaning casually against his locker with his arms folded across his chest. I realized I could care less if he really did like me. As long as he talked to me, I’m going to go with it as long as possible.

“Hello,” I heard Damen say in that beautiful voice of his.

“Hi.”

“I decided to walk with you to class today.”

“You know, you didn’t have to wait for me.”

“I know I didn’t, I wanted to.”

“Well thanks.” I grabbed my calculus stuff and we walked to class together, just close enough that our shoulders were barely brushing up together as we walked.

“Hey wait,” Damen grabbed my arm right before we walked into the room.

“Yeah?”

“Before we go to class, I want to ask you a question.”

I swear my heart just stopped, and then Damen chuckled.

“What?”

“Nothing. Anyways, are you busy tonight?”

Right after he asked that question, I felt my face heat up. I looked down so my hair covered my cheeks. “No, I’m free tonight.”

He tilted my chin up again. There goes my heart, fluttering really fast this time, and now he can see my cheeks. He dropped his hand now that I was looking at him.

“Well, in that case, can I pick you up at seven tonight?”

“Sure, where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.”

Damen gave me a wink that made my heart completely stop and he laughed. That’s the first time I’ve heard him actually laugh.

“Why do you keep laughing?”

“It’s nothing.”

He turned around and walked into the classroom. I was momentarily stunned and couldn’t move until the bell snapped me back into reality. Where are we going to go?


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Damen walked me to every class except my last one. Once I got to my last class, I couldn’t wait for it to end, it seemed like it went on for hours. When the last bell finally rang, I practically ran to my locker just to see Damen. Why do I like him so much? I still think he’s just being nice to me. I almost ran into him running to my locker.

“Well hello Alice.”

“Hello Damen.”

My bag was already packed and on my back.

“Where’s the fire?”

“No fire.”

There actually was a reason for my hurry. I’m going to spend from the time I get home to six thirty tonight, to get ready. It’s my first date, I'm beyond excited. I turned around and power-walked away.

“See you at seven Damen.”

“Yeah, bye.” He looked confused.

I ran to my car and waited impatiently for Zoey. She was so slow that I’m just so tempted to leave without her sometimes. Finally, I saw Zoey walking towards the car. I honked the horn and she ran the rest of the way.

“What’s your hurry?”

“Nothing I just want to get home.”

“Right... Spill!”

“Okay, I’ll need your help anyways. You know that new junior? Damen?”

“Yeah. I’ve seen him around once or twice. All the girls talk about him.”

“Well guess what?”

“What?”

“I’m going to need your help getting ready tonight! He asked me out!” I figured Zoey would help me get ready because she’s fashionable and good with make-up.

“No way?! Really?”

“Yeah!”

“Congrats! Of course I’ll help you! Where are you going?”

“I don’t know, he said it was a surprise.”

“Oh, how cute.”

Right when we got home, I grabbed Zoey and tugged her to my room. It was now three, we have three and a half hours left to get me ready, that should be enough time.

“Here,” Zoey said after going through my closet. A pair of pants came flying at me. I grabbed them and took a look at them before putting them on. They were a pair of my faded blue jeans that had designs stitched onto the back pockets.

“What am I going to wear for a shirt?”

“Hold on!” Zoey ran from my room and into hers. She came back a minute later.

“Here, try this on.”

It was a body hugging, red, long-sleeved shirt with ‘Hollister’ written across the chest. Me and Zoey were the same size besides the one inch difference in height and her bigger curves.

“I don’t know Zoey, it’s too body hugging for me, not my style.”

“But it makes you look hot! Your wearing it, and there’s nothing you can say to change that. It looks really good on you. Red is your color.”

“Thanks. But what about my hair?”

“Well, I was thinking about that. Since your hair is naturally straight, I’m thinking we should give it some curls.”

“Okay, I like how you think.”

While the curling iron was heating up, I went to get me and Zoey something to drink. I am so excited for tonight, I keep wondering where he’s going to take me. I grabbed us both a Dr. Pepper and headed back to my room.

“Hurry up Alice! We only have two hours left! An hour for hair and an hour for make-up.”

“Sorry, here’s a pop.”

“Thanks.”

I sat down on the desk chair in my room and Zoey started to do my hair. Like Zoey said, it took a whole boring hour because she had to get it just perfect. When she was finished, I got up and was going to check out what my hair looked like but Zoey grabbed my shoulders.

“No! You can’t see until I put your make-up on.”

“Fine, but not a lot of make-up though, just a little bit. I don’t really like make-up.”

“Don’t worry, all I’m putting on is a little mascara, eyeshadow, and blush.”

“Okay, let’s get this over with.” Zoey brought me into her room to sit on her bed. She’s got all the make-up imaginable in her room. It didn’t take Zoey long to put all of my make-up on. When she was finished she stared at me.

“What?”

“Just making sure all of the make-up is even.”

“Is it?”

“Yes, and you look beautiful! Take a look.” She turned me towards the mirror on the other side of her room.

“If he doesn’t find you beautiful, then he’s not a keeper.”

I was stunned. Is that really me? That girl in the mirror is too stunning to be me. But, she has the same eyes, its got to be me.

“Wow Zoey, you did an excellent job, I look great.”

“You were pretty before I did anything to you.”

“Thank you for everything.”


“Anytime.”

“Oh wait! What about shoes? Ten more minutes and Damen will be here. And I need a coat. It’s pretty cold outside, it is November.”

“Okay, okay, don’t panic. I have an idea, come on.” We headed to the closet by our front door.

“Okay, wear this coat and... these shoes.”

The coat was white with ’Abercrombie’ written in blue lettering down the sleeves. It must’ve been Zoey’s; it was cute and warm. The shoes were just plain white tennis shoes.

“There. Now you’re perfect. Since you didn’t know where you are going, I gave you white tennies, a coat, and you’re not all completely dressed up.”

Just then, the doorbell rang.

“I owe you one,” I told my sister.

“Sure, have fun.” She headed up the stairs towards her room.

I opened the door and saw Damen standing there in his green coat and blue jeans. That green coat of his matches his eyes so beautifully. Once he saw me, by the look of his face, his heart stopped too.

“You look beautiful,” he said after a while.

I sure hope the blush Zoey put on covers up my blushes. I have a feeling I’m going to be blushing a lot tonight.

“Thank you.”

“Are you ready to go?”

“Yes I am.”

He walked me to his car and opened the door for me like a gentlemen. I finally get to ride in my dream car, how exciting. I got in and was momentarily stunned. It was so beautiful inside. Damen got in and looked at me.

“What?” He asked.

“The car is just so beautiful!”

“Thanks. This is one of your favorite cars right?” He started to drive, and I was having a great time already.

“Yeah, and I love the power it has. How long until we get to where we’re going?”

“Not too long.”

“I know everything about this car.”

“Oh really?” He asked.

“Yeah.”

“Okay. How about some trivia then?”

I glanced at the speedometer. Seriously?

“You actually do the speed limit?”

“Not really. I just figured you would want me to do the speed limit.”

“I never do the speed limit.”

“Alright then.”

He sped up and it was awesome.

“Back to trivia about the challenger.”

“Bring it on.” I challenged.

“Okay. What’s the horsepower?”

“425.”

“What speed can it get up to in a quarter mile?”

“105.8 mph.”

“How fast does it go in 6 seconds?”

“Sixty mph.”

“Wow, okay, you do know everything about the challenger.”

“Told you so.”

“We’re almost to our destination.”

“Where are we going?”

“It’s a place where I used to go and just look at the stars at night. This will only be my second time coming here since I have moved back.”

“Is it beautiful?”

“Well, I hope it still will be with you there.”

“What do you mean?”

“You may be more beautiful than where I’m taking you.”

There goes the heat in my cheeks again. I looked out the window.

“Why do you always look away when I compliment you?”

“Well, uh, I don’t want you to see me when I’m blushing. It’s embarrassing.”

“Well, I think it’s cute. Now look this way.”

I looked that way slowly, and blushed even more when I saw him looking at me.

“It makes you more beautiful if that’s even possible.”

“Thank you. But, shouldn’t you be watching the road?”

“Oh yeah, I guess. Sorry.”

It took about another 15 minutes until Damen said we were there.

“You don’t mind walking a little ways through the woods do you?”

“No, I enjoy hiking.”

“Good, let’s go.”

“I have to warn you though. I like to hike, but I’m not very fast at it.”

“That’s okay, I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.”

We started walking through the woods and it was pretty dark. I hope he knows where he’s going. It was so dark that I didn’t see the stump in the ground before I tripped over it. Damen grabbed me right before I hit the ground.

“Be careful.”

“Thanks, I’ll watch closer from now on.”

“No need, we’re here.”

The woods opened up and we were standing on top of a hill. The hill was looking out over a lake, and you had a clear view of the sky. Wow, this place is really beautiful. You could see all the stars, the moon, and everything. The grass was quite green for chilly November, and it was so quiet and peaceful. I took a deep breath and could smell the lake water. This is the kind of place that I could stand in forever and never want to leave.

“Does anybody else know about this place?”

“Yeah, a few people do, but they’re hardly ever around.”

“This place is so beautiful.”

“I can’t agree, not with you here.”

I felt my cheeks get hot but didn’t look down. If he didn’t mind, then I shouldn’t either.

“Come on, let’s lay down on the hill.”

“Alright.”

Damen laid down so I laid down next to him.

“How did you find this place?” I asked.

“I don’t know, I was just hiking through the woods one day and I came across it.”

“It really is beautiful.”

“Yeah, I guess it is.”

“What do you think about when you come here?”

“Everything.”

“Do you know the people that know about this place?”

He started laughing that gorgeous laugh.

“What?”

“What’s up with the twenty questions?”

“I’m sorry, are they bothering you? I am just curious about you.”

“No, it’s fine. You can ask questions, as long as I can ask you questions next time.”

Next time? He really must like me.

“Okay, it’s a deal.”

“Okay, next question then.”

“Why did you move to a small town like this one?”

“New scenery. And this is where my mom and dad used to live.”

“Used to?”

“Yeah, they died a while ago. They left their house to me and my brother, but we couldn’t live there at the time. Too many memories.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, go on.”

“So did you move around with your brother then?”

“Yah, he’s nineteen. I‘m living by myself right now while he’s off visiting some friends.”

“You must be lonely sometimes. I know you’re a junior, but are you sixteen or seventeen?”

“Seventeen, how old are you?”

“Seventeen. I thought I was asking the questions?”

That made him laugh. “Sorry.”

“That’s okay, that’s all the questions I have.”

“Really? That’s it.”

“Yep.”

We laid and looked at the moon and stars for a little while.

“I think the moon and stars are so pretty,” I said.

“Me too, that’s why I like it here.”

“You just come here by yourself all the time?”

“Usually, but now I have someone to take with me.”

“You would really take me here with you? I’d think you’d want to come here by yourself.”

“Nope, like you said, I can get lonely.”

For about another half hour, we just laid there and looked at the sky together, just enjoying the peace.

“Hey, do you want to go get a snack somewhere?”

“Sure.” Damen got up and offered his hand to me to help me up. “Thanks.” I grabbed his hand, but when I was up, he didn’t let go.

“Do you mind? I don’t want you to fall again.”

“No, I don’t mind. But is it really because you don’t want me to fall again?”

“Partly,” Damen said with a smile. He had the most beautiful smiles and laughs.

I’m lucky he was holding my hand all the way through the woods because I tripped a whole bunch of times, it was just so dark. I wonder how he does it. Once we reached the car, he opened the door for me again. Once he got inside the car, he asked me where I wanted to go.

“I’m along for the ride, I’ll go wherever you take me.”

“Okay, I know of this really good restaurant, but it’s in the next town over. Would you still want to go?”

“Sure.” I’m glad I didn’t eat when I got home.

He started off to our destination. I wonder who taught him to be such a gentleman? Maybe I’ll ask him one more question.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“I thought you were out of questions?”

“I only have one more.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“Well, I’ve always noticed that you’re always opening the car door for me. I was just wondering who taught you to be such a gentlemen?”

“Well, I’d have to say my dad taught me how to be a gentlemen.”

“Was there a reason?”

“Not really, he just rubbed off on me. I’d always see him opening doors for my mom and stuff, I guess I just got used to it. Now I do it.”

“That’s so sweet, thank you for doing all those things.”

“You’re welcome,” he said while giving me a beautiful smile.

The rest of the ride was in silence. And once we got there, of course, he opened my door for me and I smiled at him.

“Your dad must’ve been a nice man.”

“He was. Come on now, it’s getting cold out here.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” The wind was starting to pick up quickly.

We walked into the restaurant and I was shocked to see how fancy it was. There was glass tables with white tablecloths, nice, painted, white, wooden chairs; it was magnificent. We sat down at a table that was away from everybody else. I took my coat off and forgot how tight a shirt I was wearing until I saw Damen’s face. His face was priceless.

“Is it too much?” I asked.

“No, it’s perfect.”

I smiled and said, “This place is gorgeous. How did you find out about it?”

“My brother brought me here when we were younger. I thought it was a wonderful place at the time.” That’s when the waitress showed up.

“Good evening. My name is Sarah and I will be your waitress this evening. Here are your menus. I will be back soon to get your order.”

I opened the menu and saw that the prices were pretty high priced. I decided to just get a cheeseburger, french fries, and a drink.

“I can’t let you pay for all this, I’ll pay for mine.”

“It’s fine. I knew what the prices were before I even came here. I’ve got it all.”

“Thank you, for everything this evening.”

“You're welcome, thank you for making this night lovely.”

“You're welcome.”

“You’re blushing again.”

That made my cheeks get even more red, so I looked down to stare at the menu. “Don’t remind me.”

“But it’s so cute. I love it.”

“Thanks.”

The waitress was back.

“Hello again. Are you guys ready to order?”

“Yeah, I’ll have a plain cheeseburger, french fries, and a Dr. Pepper please,” I replied.

“And what about you sir?”

“I’ll just have a cheeseburger please.”

“Alright, no problem. I’ll be back with your food soon.”

“Thank you,” Damen said. When the waitress left I looked at Damen.

“What?”

“That’s all you’re having?”

“I never eat much.”

“I can tell, it makes me look like I eat too much.”

“No, you eat normally. It’s me who needs to eat more.” He smiled at me and his smile was breathtaking.

“Can I ask you questions now?” He asked.

“Then what are we going to talk about next time?” Or is there not going to be a next time anymore? Did I do something wrong?

“Trust me, I’ll think of something to talk about.”

“Okay, ask me anything then.”

“Okay, um... is this really your first date?”

“Uh... yeah, it is.”

“I can’t imagine why.”

Once I felt my cheeks get red I saw him smile his gorgeous smile. “Next question,” I said.

“What’s your family like?”

“Well, my mom’s really nice, though she’s hardly ever home. My sister is the best sister in the world, she helps me through everything.”

“They sound like the best. Do you wish your mom was home more though?”

“Yeah I guess, but she loves her job. I wouldn’t ever take it away from her. I’m glad she’s happy.”

“So you put other people before yourself?”

“Pretty much.”

“Okay, I noticed you talked about your mother and sister. But what about your father?”

“Well, he left when I was two. I don’t have any memories of him, but everyone says I look like him.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

The waitress started coming with our food.

“Here you go. If you need anything else, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thank you,” Damen said.

“No problem.” With that, she turned around and left.

“Maybe I should’ve gotten an order of fries too. Those look delicious,” Damen told me.

“Here, you can have half of mine. There’s too much here for me anyways.” I handed him over half of my fries.

“Thanks, these are delicious,” He said as he popped a fry into his mouth.

“They are. This food is delicious, I can see why you guys came here all the time.”

“The food’s been this good for as long as I can remember.”

From then on, we ate in silence. It’s not as bad as it sounds, to eat in silence. It’s like, as long as we had each other there, we didn’t need to speak. It was actually kind of nice. When we were finished eating, I felt kind of guilty when we got the bill. My share alone was eleven dollars.

“Are you sure you’re going to pay for that yourself? I want to help.”

“No, no, it’s fine. Like I said before, I was aware of the prices.”

“Okay, if you say so.”

Damen paid the bill then asked if I was ready to go. I nodded my head and we began walking towards the exit. We were just exiting the restaurant when a big gust of wind came. I forgot my coat inside!

“Oops, I forgot my coat inside,” I said while folding my arms across my chest.

“Here, take my coat and go wait in the car. I will go get your coat for you. The keys are in my coat pocket.”

“Thanks, but won’t you get cold?” I said while putting his coat on.

“I’m hardly ever cold.”

“I’ll meet you in the car then.”

I got into the passenger side and started the car. I loved the way the car hummed to life. I turned the heat on and waited for Damen to come back. Damen's jacket was big on me, but it was nice and cozy. His jacket had a woodsy scent to it that smelled very good. It only took him two minutes to get my coat and get to the car. I didn’t see him come towards the car at all, I only noticed him when he started opening the car door.

“Here’s your coat.”

“Thanks again.”

“No problem.”

“Here’s your coat back.”

“Thanks.”

I glanced at the clock. “Wow! It’s already ten. That was fast.”

“Do you have a curfew or something?” He looked worried.

“Hardly. My moms probably not even home yet.”

“Wow, she does work some long hours.”

“She chooses to, and I don’t mind. I’d rather she be happy.”

“That’s the way I think too. If my brother loved his job, I wouldn’t be able to get him to cut his hours either.” After that comment, we were silent until we hit my house. Then he got out of the car to open my door.

“Thank you for tonight. It was really wonderful,” I told him.

“You’re welcome. I hope we can do it again sometime.”

“That’d be nice.”

What do I do now? Do I kiss him good-bye? No, it’s too soon for that right? I don’t know, I’ll just say thanks and leave.

“Thanks again, I’ll see you Monday.”

“I’ll see you then.”

Then, I walked towards my house. I was about to open the door when I heard Damen say something. “Have a wonderful night,” he said.

“You too.” But when I turned around, he was gone. I hope he heard me before he left.

I walked in the door as silently as possible so I didn’t wake Zoey up. But that was a wasted effort, because when I went up the stairs, Zoey walked out of her room to greet me.

“How was your night?” She asked.

“It was great!”

“Where’d you go?”

I told Zoey about the whole night.

“I want you to meet him sometime, he’s really cool.”

“Did you guys kiss?”

“Zoey! It was only the first date.”

“So.”

“Zoey!”

“Sorry, I would’ve kissed him. He’s gorgeous!”

“Do you think it upset him that I didn’t kiss him?”

“Well, by the looks of his face when you left, I think he was just sad to say good-night. I don’t think he cared at all.”

“You were spying on us?”

“No, I just happened to be peeking out my window when you guys showed up.”

“Right.” I hugged my sister and told her goodnight.

“Goodnight Alice.”

We went into our separate rooms and right away, I changed into my pajamas. It felt good to get out of jeans and a tight fitting shirt. After changing, I crashed onto my bed exhausted. Right when my head hit the pillow, I fell asleep. That night, I dreamed about Damen and the beautiful place he had brought me to.

When I woke up, I was surprised at the time on my alarm clock; it was eleven a.m.That’s the latest I’ve ever slept in before. Last night must’ve been more exhausting than I thought. Oh no, Zoey’s probably starved. It was a Saturday, so I went downstairs in my pajamas and didn’t even bother to brush my hair. I didn’t even care if my make-up from the night before was smeared all over my face.

“Good morning sunshine,” Zoey said as I walked into the kitchen.

“I’m sorry I slept in so late, you’re probably hungry.”

“Don’t worry, I made myself a sandwich.”

“Do you want anything else to eat?”

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Okay, don’t say I didn’t offer.” I grabbed myself a poptart out of the cupboard and some apple juice out of the fridge.

“I’ll be up in my room.”

“Okay, see ya later.”

I went up to my room and sat at my desk to eat. I had so much homework to do, might as well get started on it. I began with my anatomy homework. I had to do a worksheet on all the veins and organs of the body, how exciting. It took about a half hour to complete that assignment, then I moved on to the essay for English. We had to write an essay on who influenced you the most throughout your life. That took about an hour. Then, I had calculus homework, but I felt like saving that one for later. I don’t feel like doing anymore homework right now. It’s one thirty, so I’ll grab a snack and walk down to the park that's right down the road.

I walked into the kitchen and saw that there was a note on the fridge:
Alice,
Sam is having a sleepover at her house tonight. We are going to study and just hang out. Her mom came to pick me up, so I headed over there early. Hope you don’t mind. I love you!
Love, Zoey



Well, looks like I’m going to be by myself all day, this should be fun. Maybe after I’m done hanging out by myself at the park, I’ll do my christmas shopping. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.

I went up to my room to shower quick, brush my hair, and brush my teeth. Then, I grabbed my coat and headed out the door. Once I headed out the door, I found out how nice it was outside. Even for November it was nice. It was about fifty degrees outside. I started walking down the road towards the park.

All the park has is some swings and some slides. It’s a pretty old park. Most people just went there to get out of the house with their kids. It’s where I usually went to get out of the house. I haven’t been there in a while though, I’ve always been too busy cleaning and everything. Not today, today I was free to do as I pleased.

Once I got to the park, I realized how much I missed coming here. I’ve came here ever since I was little. I walked right over to the swings and started swinging slowly. That’s what I usually did; I just swang slowly and thought about everything. It was just so peaceful and calm here. I thought about everything that happened yesterday. Damen had said that he wanted to go out with me again sometime. I must’ve done something right. I can't wait until we go out again.

After about an hour of thinking, I heard a truck pull up. I turned to see if I recognized anybody. Then, I saw James step out of the truck. Oh no, what does he want? Two of his friends also emerged from the truck. It was Matt and Nick. All three of them are in football together.

“Hey Alice, what are you doing out here all alone?”

“Shut up and go away James.”

“I have just as much of a right to be here as you do.”

“Why are you even here?”

“We were hoping to catch you alone,” I heard Matt say.

“Well, you found me, now you can leave.”

James was only a couple of feet away from me.

“We’re not leaving until I finally get a kiss from you. The others want a little something too,” James said.

“Well, dream on. None of you will ever get anything from me.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Matt? Nick? Would you do the honors of holding her down please.”

“What?” I yelled as Matt and Nick started coming at me.

I jumped off the swing and started to run, but they were faster than me. They caught me within a couple of seconds. Once they were each holding me down (Matt had my legs and Nick had my arms), I could smell alcohol strongly on all of their breaths.

“Let me go!” I yelled at them.

“I already told you my deal. We’ll leave, once we all get a little something.” James must of had the most alcohol, because when he was leaning over me, his breath had a serious smell of it. There was no way I could fight these three off, even if they are drunk. I was screwed.

“Damn it James! Get off!” I yelled while struggling.

“Ooo, I like them fiesty,” James said.

James’s lips were just barely touching mine when someone grabbed him off the top of me. Whoever it was threw him against the ground a couple of feet away.

“I told you to leave her alone!” Damen! How’d he know I was in trouble? Was he coming to see me?

Matt and Nick were both advancing on Damen, he was outnumbered just like me. I was about to get up and help him fight when Damen punched Matt right in the face. He tumbled back about seven feet. Damen looked terrifying right now. He eyed Nick, and Nick was so scared that he left his friends and started running back towards the truck.

Damen stared at Matt that was still laying on the ground and Matt got up and ran after Nick towards the truck. Once those two were out of the way, he started walking towards James who was still laying on the ground. I was scared for him. Why was everybody running away? It was three against one. What was their problem?

Once Damen was leaning over James, he grabbed him by the shirt and tugged him up to a standing position. “What did I tell you about touching Alice without her permission?”

“Y-you told me never to touch her a-again without her permission.” James seemed petrified.

“That’s right. So why did you?”

“I-I didn’t know you were going to be here.”

“Is that really a reason?”

“N-no, it’s not.”

“That’s what I thought.” Damen had his arm pulled back and was ready to punch him when I yelled.

“Stop Damen! That’s enough!” He was starting to scare me, he wasn’t himself. “Let him go.”

That stopped Damen in his tracks though he was still hanging onto James’s shirt.

“But he tried to kiss you,” Damen said, sounding very upset.

“I know, but you don’t have to hurt him over me.” I was almost on the verge of tears.

“He deserves it,” Damen said, mad again.

“No, he doesn’t.”

Damen saw that I was starting to tear up so he kind of tossed James to the ground and left him there. “Don’t touch her again or she won’t be able to help you next time.”

“O-okay.” With that, James ran to his friends in the truck and they sped off.

I collapsed onto the ground and started crying. “Why were you like that Damen? You shouldn’t have been like that. You were scaring me. How did you even manage to fight all of them off? How did you know I was here?”

Damen walked over to me and put his arms around me. I started crying onto his shoulder. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m really sorry. I guess I’m just too protective of you.”

“Damen? I have so many questions that I want answered. Will you please answer them honestly?”

“It depends.”

“Damen please?”

“Come on, let’s go for a ride.”

“I don’t want to go for a ride, I want to know the truth.”

“I will answer all the questions as truthfully as possible.”

“Okay.” I was almost done crying now, I was just sniffling.

“Come on now.” He grabbed my arm and helped me up.

“Is there anywhere specific you want to go?” He asked me.

I thought back to the mall idea and told him that I needed to go to the mall. “Okay, the mall it is.” We walked to the car and he opened the door for me. He then shut my door and got in on his side. We started to drive away towards the mall.

“So you’ll answer all of my questions truthfully?”

“As truthfully as possible, yes.”

“Okay, why were you being so... scary?” I asked, for a lack of a better word.

“I got too protective over you and I’m sorry.”

“But how did you fight all three of them off at once?”

He hesitated a little. “I guess I’m just faster than them and once I hit the first one the others got scared.”

“Okay...”

“Anymore questions?”

“Tons more.”

“Then go on.”

“How did you know I was in trouble?”

“It doesn‘t matter.”

“I thought you were going to answer all of my questions?”

“I’ll answer that one later.”

“How did you know where I was?”

“Um... I was just driving to your house to see you and I happened to drive by the park and see you in trouble.”

“You were coming to see me?”

“Yes I was.”

“Why?”

“I missed you.”

“Really?”

“Yes I did.”

Once I ran out of questions for the moment, the ride was silent the rest of the way to the mall.

“Is there a reason why you chose to come here?” He asked as we pulled into the parking lot.

“Yeah, I’m behind on my Christmas shopping.”

“Well, this should be fun.”

“You don’t want to be here do you?”

“I do. It’s just that, I have to do Christmas shopping for my brother still. And old friends. I just didn't realize how behind I was.”

“Well then, since we’ll probably be in different stores, how about we meet up at Dairy Queen in the food court at six?”

“Sure, I’ll see you at six.”

“Bye.”

I decided to shop for my mom first. She’s always complaining about her feet hurting, so I’m thinking I should get her a little foot messaging machine. After I shopped for my mom, I went shopping for my sister. She never has enough room in her purse for all of her things. Maybe I should get her a bigger fashionable purse? I think she’d like that, so that’s what I got her. It was medium sized, opposed to her small one, and pink with a jewel encrusted opening. I thought a purse wasn’t a good enough present, so I got her a cell phone too. I also got myself one. I put us both on a plan together with AT&T, that way we can talk to our friends and stuff. It sure was a good thing that I got my allowance this week.

Now I have to shop for Trisha. What would she like? Well, she said the other day that she was running out of her favorite lip gloss. Maybe I should get her some more of that? And I should get her some more make-up too, she also said she was running out of that.

Next comes Nicole. She said the other day that she was running out of her favorite shade of blue nail polish. I’ll get her some of that and a necklace, she’d like those.

Should I get Damen something? I should but, I don’t know what to get him. Hmm? I know! Is that two little though? Will he expect more? Will he like it? I don’t know, but I’ll try it. I know exactly what I’m getting Damen for Christmas.

It was now 5:45 so I went to meet up with Damen. He was already there when I got there.

“Were you waiting long?”

“No, I just got here five minutes ago.”

“Oh alright.”

“Did you carry all of that yourself?” He asked as he eyed my big four bags.

“Yeah, it’s not that much. Did you find anything?” I asked while looking at his two bags.

“Yep, I got some stuff for everybody.”

“Well that’s good.”

“Yeah it is. Did you want something from Dairy Queen? I’m going to get a medium snicker blizzard.”

“I’ll have the same thing you’re having, it’s my favorite.”

“I’ll be right back.”
I feel kind of guilty. He’s the one paying for everything. Next time, I’m going to help pay. “Here’s your blizzard.” I jumped up in my seat, I didn’t even hear him approach.

“I’m sorry I scared you.”

“It’s alright, I just didn’t here you come over.”

“Here.”

“Thank you.”

Once I took the first bite, I was in heaven. My favorite ice cream treat ever. “Mmm!” I heard Damen say once he took his first bite.

“I’m in heaven,” I said with a laugh.

“Me too.”

When I was half way through my blizzard, Damen was finished with his. “You’re done already?” I asked.

“It was just so good, I can’t see how you’re not finished yet.”

“I eat my ice cream really slow.”

“Ah. Well, did you find everything you needed for your Christmas shopping?”

“Yeah. How about you?”

“Everything except one thing.”

“Oh yeah? And what’s that?”

“I just couldn’t find the right thing for someone.”

“Oh, well I hope you find it.”

“Me too.”

I finished my blizzard and Damen asked if I was ready to go.

“I’m all set.”

“Let me help you carry some of those bags.”

I handed over one of the bags.

“There, that way we’re both carrying three bags.”

“I could carry them all if you wanted.”

"It's alright, I think I can handle it," I replied with a smile.

"If you say so."

“Thank you for helping me with everything today. I owe you big time.”

“You don’t owe me anything, I enjoy helping you.”

“Thank you.”

“And you know what?”

“What?”

“Your blush just adds to how pretty you are.”

Of course. Make a comment on my blushing to make me blush more. He would do that. I smiled at him and turned around to start walking towards the exit.

“I’m sorry, did I say something wrong?”

“No. It’s just that when you say things like that about my blushing, it makes me blush more. It’s just embarrassing. We've been through this.”

“How is it embarrassing?”

“Have you forgotten? I’ve never done anything like this before with a guy. I’m not used to being complimented all of the time.”

“I’m sorry if I make you uncomfortable. It’s been a long time since I’ve done anything like this either.”

“Really? I don’t see that as possible.” We were at the car by now and he opened the door for me.

“Thank you.”

“You don’t see what as possible?” He said when he was in the car.

“That you haven’t been with a girl for a while.”

“Well you better believe it. I don’t go out with a girl unless they’re right for me. Like you.”

I blushed again.

“It’s still cute,” he said.

That made me laugh and then he joined in.

“What’s so funny?” He asked.

“Well, every time I blush, I think you say those things to make me blush more. Since you say it’s cute.”

“You’re right, you caught me.”

We laughed for a little while longer. Then I remembered that he still hadn’t answered one of my questions. “Remember that question that you said you were going to answer later? You never did answer it.”

“I was hoping you forgot.”

“I didn’t forget. Why were you hoping I’d forget?”

“Do I have to tell you now? I promise I’ll tell you, but I don’t think right now is the time.”

“That’s fine, as long as you tell me the truth. Preferably sooner rather than later.”

“Don’t worry, it’ll be really soon.”

The rest of the ride home we just chatted about friends and family. It was actually really nice to learn a little about his past friends. He now knew who my friends are. We are getting closer to each other slow but sure. Once we reached my house, he did his routine by opening my door for me.

“Thank you.”


“I’ll tell you the answer to your question soon, don’t worry. Have a wonderful night.”

“You too. And thanks for everything.”

“No problem, see you.”

“Bye.”



I watched him drive away and then headed into the house. It was only 8:15 so I had time to do my calculus homework and get it finished. I went into the kitchen to grab a snack and a Dr. Pepper, then headed up to my room with my new cell phone. When I’m done with my homework, I’ll program people’s numbers into my phone.

It only took one hour to finish my homework. That’s the earliest it’s ever taken me to finish my calculus. Now let’s just hope that I did it all right.

It only took a half hour to program everybody's numbers into my phone, then I crawled into bed and crashed. Today was so exhausting with the run-in with James. I still want to know why Damen won’t answer my question. I have so many more to ask him. Did he really know where I was because he drove by? I have so many more questions stored away in my head. Will he ever answer them?

Riiing! Riiing! Riiing!

I turned around and looked at my alarm clock. It was eleven at night! Who would be calling so late? Ugh! I ran downstairs and caught the phone just in time.

“Hello?” I said sleepily.

“Alice?”

“Zoey? Why are you calling so late?” Is that music in the background?

“I need you to come pick me up.”

“What’s wrong?” She sounded really upset.

“Will you please just come get me? I’m at Sam’s.”

“Of course, I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

“Thank you.” With that, she hung up the phone.

Why does she want me to pick her up? It’s eleven o’clock and I thought she was at a sleepover? And was that music blasting in the background? Oh good Lord. I grabbed my keys and headed out the door in my pajamas and tennis shoes. Who cares what I looked like? Zoey needs me.

It took about ten minutes to reach Sam’s. And let me tell you, this was definitely not a sleepover. There was at least twenty cars parked on the road, and there was loud music playing. This was a party, not a sleepover. I spotted Sam and walked up to her.

“Hey Sam, have you seen Zoey anywhere?”

Sam eyed my clothes as I spoke to her. And when she did speak, there was alcohol on her breath. Great, there’s alcohol involved.

“Yeah. Michael took her out by the tree line at the side of the house.”

“WHAT?” I yelled. “And you didn’t stop them?”

“Nope, I didn’t see anything wrong.”

“UGH!”

I started to run through the yard and to the tree line. He better not have done anything to her! I could see them just up ahead. Michael had her pinned up against the tree. It looked like she was trying to fight him, but she wasn’t a fighter and she wasn’t a match for Michael.

“Knock it off Michael! Leave me alone!”

“Come on Zoey, you know you want to. Why not right now?”

“No I don‘t! Not now! Not ever! Knock it off!”

I was walking up to them just in time to see Michael’s hand going up her shirt. Oh no!

I grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him away. “She said to leave her alone. Could you not hear her?”

“I know she wants to.”

“Then you’re pretty stupid, she’ll never want you.”

“Just go home and go back to bed. We’ll handle this ourselves.”

He was starting to go back towards her but I pushed him again.

“Hey! Don’t do that!” James said, slurring most of his words.

“Well then back off!”

“You just go home and go to bed!” Now I was officially pissed!

He came walking over to me, stumbling a bit in the process. He was so drunk, that when he went to punch me I could grab his wrist and push him off.

“I’m warning you, don’t get me too pissed off,” I told him.

“Then leave us alone.” He was walking towards Zoey again.

I jumped in front of Zoey and punched Michael right in the face. It made him stumble a bit and fall over. He was going to have a black eye.

“I warned you!” I said. “Now go and tell all of your friends that you got beat up by a girl.”

“You b****!”

“You were warned several times. Come on Zoey, let’s get you home.”

I grabbed Zoey by the arm and started dragging her towards the car. “What were you thinking? Coming to a party with alcohol involved?”

“I’m sorry Zoey, I wasn’t thinking at all.” Zoey was slurring her words as well.

“You had to drink it too right?”

“I wanted to fit in.”

“Zoey you’re already popular, you don’t need to try any harder.”

“You’re right Zoey. I’m sorry. And thank you for picking me up and taking care of Michael.”

“No problem.”

When I pulled my car into the driveway I saw that our mom was home. When we walked in the door she was standing there looking at us. “Where have you guys been?” I already made up an excuse so Zoey wouldn’t get in trouble.

“Zoey was having trouble with Sam at Sam’s sleepover so she called and asked me to pick her up. I hope you don’t mind.”

Our mom looked concerned now. “Oh honey. Sam is your best friend. Everything will turn out all right.”

“Thanks mom. I’m going to go to bed now,” Zoey said.

“Alright honey, goodnight. I love you.”

“Love you too. Night.”

Once we heard Zoey’s door shut, mom sighed.

“I hope everything will turn out alright between them two.”

“It will mom, trust me.”

“You’re such a good sister for getting up to go get your sister.”

“Thanks mom. I think I’ll go to bed too. By the looks of your eyes, you better get some sleep as well.” Her eyes had bags beneath them.

“You’re right honey. Goodnight, I love you.”

“I love you too mom. Good night.” Then, I went back to my room and slept the rest of the night without any interruptions.

When I woke up the next morning at nine, I went in to check on Zoey. She was laying on her bed and looking at a Seventeen magazine. “Hey Zoey, how are you feeling?”

“Fine, I just have a major headache,” she said groggily.

“It’s called a hangover silly.”

“I am never going to drink again.”

“So you learned your lesson?”

“Definitely.”

“Good. Why don’t you come down and have some breakfast? It’ll make you feel better.”

“Alright then. What are we having?”

“I planned on making some of my famous omelets.”

“I like that idea.” She smiled at me and we headed down the stairs. When we walked into the kitchen, we got a surprise.

“Good morning ladies.” Our mom was home today!

“Good morning mom. Did you get the day off today?”

“Yeah, but I have to work this afternoon. I like my job and everything, but all those hours are just exhausting. I got my regular hours back. Now I get Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sunday mornings off.”

“Well we’re happy for you mom. Did you want to eat some omelets with us?” Zoey asked.

“Some of Alice’s famous ones?”

“The one and only omelets,” I said.

“I’m in.”

I looked in the fridge and saw that we needed some serious shopping done. “Hey mom? Can you go shopping later. Our fridge is practically empty.”

“Sure honey, I’ll go later.”

“Thanks mom.”

As I was cooking the omelets, I was overjoyed. We’ll be able to see our mom a lot more now! We used to hardly ever see her. I hope my day just keeps getting better and better. As we were eating our breakfast together, I told my mom all about me and my dates with Damen. I left out the whole fighting part.

“Oh honey, I’m so happy for you. You finally found somebody.”

“Yeah, I guess I did. That is, if it even lasts.”

“Don’t think negative honey. I’m sure it’ll go smoothly.”

“Thanks mom.”

After breakfast, I went out to get the mail from yesterday. I forgot to get it yesterday through everything that happened. I opened the mailbox and flipped through the mail. There’s one for me! On the front it said ‘To Alice’ in really nice elegant handwriting. I opened it and the top said it was from Damen. I wonder what it says? I didn’t care that it was chilly outside this morning, I sat down on our bench by our house and started to read it. The handwriting was so neat.


Dear Alice,

I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you the answer to your questions to your face. It’s just that, when I tell you, I don’t think you’ll want to see me again. So I’ll make that your decision. One of your questions was: How did you know where I was? The answer to that question is that I can read minds. I know, it sounds bizarre, but you have to believe me. I listened into your mind and found out where you were.

Your next question was: How did you know I was in trouble? Well, once I get close to somebody, I can tell when they’re in trouble. I just got this feeling that you were in trouble, so I found out where you were and went to help you.

Your next question was: How could you defeat three football players at once? The answer to that is, it’s my nature to be a really good fighter. You could’ve sent seven plus football players on me, and I would’ve defeated them all.

I know the next question you were thinking a long time ago when we first met. The question was: How is he so fast? That’s also my nature. I’m really fast when I want to be. However, it can be controlled.

I know after you read this that you will have a lot more questions. One main one that you’re probably thinking is: What am I? Am I even human? Well, that one is a really simple question. And after I tell you the answer, I hope you’ll still want to see me again and let me explain, and I hope you do not think that I am telling you lies. If you do want to see me again, come by the place where I brought you on our first date at six. Here’s the answer to your question:

Alice, I’m a vampire.

P.S: You don’t have to come tonight. I’ll understand. But please come hear me out. And please believe me.

Love, Damen


Oh my God, Damen’s a vampire? Is he serious? Can I trust him? Should I go tonight? So many debatable questions. I grabbed the rest of the mail off the bench and headed to the kitchen to give the mail to my mom.

“Is everything all right honey?” The look on my face must’ve been full of shock.

“Uh, yeah mom, I’m fine. I’ll be in my room.”

She spotted the letter in my hand.

“Who’s that from honey?”

“Just from one of my friends, I’ll see you later.”

“Okay honey, see ya.”

I went up to my room and laid on my bed. I have a lot of things to work out. If Damen really is a.....a..... vampire, then should I stay with him? Is he safe to be with? I’ve never seen any fangs. Does he even have fangs? Of course he doesn’t. Again, am I safe? What am I talking about? I’ve already been alone with him before. Of course he’s safe to be with. He’s never hurt me before. Damen is a good guy. That settles it then, I don’t care what he is. He can be a witch for all I care. Damen cares for me, and I’m not about to let him down. It’s noon, so I’ll eat lunch and then head over to the beautiful place early. That way I can just hike around the woods and check things out around the place. I want to see what that place is all about.

I was walking down the stairs when I heard Zoey yell out, “Owww!” I ran back up into Zoey’s room.

“Zoey, what’s wrong? Where are you?”

“Alice! I need your help, I’m in the bathroom. I think I might’ve broken my arm.”

I ran into the bathroom that connected mine and Zoey’s room. She was sitting on the ground wrapped in a towel. “Are you alright? What did you do?”

“I was going to go into my room to get dressed and I just slipped on some water that was on the ground and landed on my arm.”

“Which arm is it?”

“My left arm.”

“Let me see it. Where does it hurt?”

She put her arm in my hand. “It hurts right here by the forearm.” I touched it.

“Does that hurt?”

“A little bit but not too bad.”

“Okay, how about this?”

I tried to move her arm upwards.

“Ouch!” She yelled.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I think it is broken. Come on, I’ll help you get dressed then I’ll take you to the hospital.”

“Where’s mom?” She asked as I was helping her up.

“She must’ve gone to the store already.” I helped her to her room and helped her get dressed. Then, we headed to my car.

“Are you ready?” I asked her.

“Yeah.”

I was about to pull out of the driveway when I remembered that I forgot my purse inside. It also had my phone in it. I should call mom and let her know.

“Hang on Zoey, I forgot my purse inside. I’ll be right back.”

I ran into the house, grabbed my purse, and ran back out to the car. I didn’t want to keep Zoey waiting too long. She must be in a lot of pain.

“Does it hurt Zoey?” I asked as I got into the car and started to drive away.

“Yeah, a little bit.”

“Here. Reach into my purse and grab some aspirin.” I handed my purse to her. “Just take two.”

“Thanks Alice.”

As she was looking through my purse, she spotted my cell phone. “Since when do you have a cell phone?”

“I just bought it the other day.”

“Lucky.” I was glad I got her one for Christmas.

“Here, hand it to me so I can call mom when we get to the hospital. Let’s just hope she’s got her cell phone on her.”

Once we got to the hospital I brought her to the emergency room. The hospital was so busy today that we were waiting 2 hours before she got called into a room. They brought her in for x-rays and all that stuff, so I took that time to call our mom.

“Hello?” I heard her ask.

“Hey mom, it’s Alice.”

“Alice? Since when did you get a phone?”

“Just the other day. Look something happened to Zoey...” the rest was cut off by my mother freaking out.

“Oh my God! Is Zoey all right? What happened?”

“Mom! Mom! She’s fine. She just might’ve broken her left arm. She slipped in the bathroom and landed on her arm. We’re at the hospital, you should come over here.”

“All right Alice, I’m on my way.”

“I’ll see you soon mom.”

“Bye.”

Once our mom got there, Zoey seemed to calm down. We were now in a hospital room waiting for the x-ray results. It was a whole hour until the x-rays were back. It was now three thirty in the afternoon.

“Hello Zoey, I’m Dr. Pollin and I just got the results to your x-rays.”

“Is it bad?” She asked.

“Nothing that’s not fixable. You just seem to have broken your radius. We’ll get a cast on that right away.”

“Thank you James,” I heard my mother say. She must know everybody in this hospital. She’s been calling everybody by their first names.

“It’s no trouble Jen. I’ll be right back with Zoey’s cast.”

Then, it took another two hours to put on her cast and tell her instructions and everything else. Now it was five thirty. I’m going to be late to see Damen. I have to be there at six! I still have to get Zoey home because our mom works the rest of the day. It’ll take a half hour to get home, then another half hour to get to the place. Hopefully he’ll still be there at six thirty.

It’s six twenty. I might as well leave. She probably doesn’t want to come. I wouldn’t come either if I was her. Oh well, I’ll run home then. I started to walk towards the woods when I heard running through the woods. Who could be out here at this time of night? They won’t be able to see in the woods. It‘s almost pitch black from daylight savings. Then, I smelled Alice. I would recognize her scent anywhere. It smelled like a mixture of flowers. Then, I heard her yell.

“Damen! Wait! Don’t go! I’m sorry I’m late. Zoey had an accident.”

Her sister had an accident? I hope she’s alright. “What happened? Is she okay?”

“She just slipped on the bathroom floor and broke her radius. She’ll be okay.”

“Well that’s good.”

“Yeah.”

Alice stood and looked at me for a while. I gestured for her to sit on the hill. “Please sit down.”

“Were you really telling the truth Damen?”

“I’m sorry. Yes, it is the truth.”

She looked at me some more.

“I don’t care.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t care what you are or how old you are, you could be a hundred year old witch for all I care.”

That made me laugh.

“What are you laughing about? This is serious.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just that you were off on the age thing.”

“Really? How old are you?”

“It‘s not important right now.”

“Well, no matter how old you are, I still don’t care.”

“I’m a vampire.”

“Still don’t.”

“I kill.”

“I still...” That stopped her in her tracks. She apparently hadn’t thought about that.

“Y-you kill?” I asked.

She seemed really scared now. She turned and started to run away. I was going to let her go. That was my plan in the first place. I was trying to scare her away. I didn’t want to hurt her if I lost control for even one second. But my heart couldn’t let her go. I loved her, so I ran to get her.

I caught up to her in not even half the time it took her to get across the field. I grabbed her waist and she let out a little scream.

“Please Alice, let me explain,” I said while still holding her.

“What’s there to explain? You kill people.” She was frantic now. Trying to escape.

“No Alice, I don’t!”

That slowed her struggling down a bit.

“What do you mean?”

“Please come back and sit down with me. I’ll explain everything.” I let go of her waist, knowing that if she ran, I would just catch right back up to her again. She was still reluctant to come.

“I won’t hurt you, I promise. You can trust me. I have great self control after years of practice. Please just trust me.”

“Alright,” she said while still looking a little freaked.

She let me grab her hand and bring her back to the top of the hill. “Now please sit down and don’t run. Just hear me out.” I was happy to see that she was sitting down. She did trust me.

“Explain.” She didn’t hesitate did she?

“Alright, it was true. I do kill. But not humans.”

“Then... what do you kill?”

“I don’t know if this will freak you out or not, but, I kill animals. That’s what I feed off of.”

“That doesn’t repulse me at all. Technically speaking, everybody eats animals.” She was starting to look like her normal self again. Not scared.

“True.”

“But wait, if you’re a vampire, then how come you keep going out and eating real food with me.”

“Real food?” I scoffed.

“This is serious.”


“You’re right, I’m sorry.”

She looked at me, waiting for me to answer the question. She is so beautiful. Stop! Get your mind back on track. Get back to the question.

“Well, when you’re changed into a vampire, you don’t stop eating ‘real’ food completely.”

“What do you mean?”

“Um... How do I explain this? Okay. You said your favorite ice cream treat was a snickers blizzard right?”

“Yeah.” She looked confused.

“Okay. If you were changed, it wouldn’t matter. You wouldn’t loose your ability to love that food. You could still eat it. But food that you kind of liked, it would repulse you.”

“So you’re saying that you can only eat french fries, cheeseburgers, and snickers blizzards because they were your favorites right?”

“Yep. And a couple more foods too.”

“I see now.”

“Good. And thank you for hearing me out. Any more questions?”

“Yeah. Tons.”

“Then go on.”

“You said that you were ‘changed’ into a vampire. How does that work?”

“Well, we’re not born this way. In order to be a vampire, you have to be changed into one.”

“I see. Okay, you said you were fast?”

“I am. You want to see?”

“Sure. If you go so fast, how am I suppose to see you though?”

“Hmmm. Is there anything in your car that I can get?”

“Sure. I left my cell phone on the passenger seat.”

“Okay, I’ll be back in a flash.”

I jumped up and ran to her car. It took me one second to get there and get her phone. I even put my number in her phone in that one second. Then, it took one more second to take it back to her.

“Here you go. I even programmed my number in there.”

She looked really fascinated and stunned at the same time. She even checked to see if I did put my number in the phone.

“Wow! That was cool.”

“I told you so.”

“Next question... How is it that you can sit next to me and not be overwhelmed by my um, smell?”

“Well it’s like sitting at a buffet of your favorite foods, but you can’t eat anything. You can just smell it. It‘s like that with every human.”

“Is it torture for you?”

“No, not really. I’ve had years of practice. At first it was very torturous however.”

“Oh. When you say ‘years’ of practice, how many years are we talking about?”

“I thought my age didn’t matter?”

“It doesn’t. I’m just curious, that’s all.”

“Okay, but you have to promise not to be repulsed by my age.”

“I promise.”

“I am 308 years old.”

“Really?” She looked kind of amazed.

“Yeah, I’m not joking.”

It kind of bugged me that she was taking all of this in and wasn’t even scared. I wanted her to be scared so that she would be really careful with me.

“So, does that mean that your brother is a vampire too? And he’s 310 years old?”

“That’s right.”

“So how were you guys changed?”

“That’s a story for another day. And it’s a long one.”

“Fine.”

She looked at her phone to check the time. The look on her face this time was surprise. “It’s already nine! I have to get home and get supper for Zoey.”

“Can’t Zoey cook her own food?” I didn’t want her to go.

“She can’t cook at all. She’ll burn the house down.”

That made me laugh. “I just don’t want you to go that’s all.”

“I’m sorry old man, but I have to get going.”

Old man? Really?

“You’re not very nice. I’m sensitive about my age,” I told her sarcastically.

“I’m so very sorry.” We both laughed for a little bit and then she said she had to leave.

“Thank you,” I told her.

“For what?”

“Listening to what I had to say.”

“Your welcome. And thank you.”

“For what?”

“For telling me the truth.”

“No problem, I feel better now.”

“Before I go, I have one more question.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you really read minds?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I have a favor to ask you.”

“What?”

“Can you please not read my mind anymore unless you have to? My mind can be embarrassing sometimes.”

“No problem Alice. And I have one favor to ask of you.”

“Yeah?”

“Please keep my secret to yourself.”


“No problem.”

“Good night Alice.”

“Good night Damen.”

Should I kiss her? Is that what she’s waiting for? I guess not. She turned around and walked away. I’m glad that everything is off of my chest now. I feel much better with her knowing the truth.

When I woke up the next morning I felt relieved. I had the answer to all of my questions. I could care less if Damen is a vampire. I’m just glad that he trusts me enough to tell me the truth. I can’t wait to see him at school today.

I did my morning routine, then went down to cook breakfast. I decided to cook french toast this morning. Where’s Zoey? She should be up by now. Once I got the table set and the french toast made, I noticed that Zoey still wasn’t down here. Why not? I went up to her room and opened the door and found out that she was still sleeping! The pain meds they gave her must’ve really taken a toll on her.

“Zoey! Zoey! Wake up! It’s six forty-five! You should be up by now!” I said as I was shaking her awake.

“What? It’s that late already?”

“Yeah. You need to get up now.”

“Okay. I’ll be down in five minutes to eat breakfast. I can get ready fast.”

“Okay.”

I headed downstairs and waited at the kitchen table for her. And like she said, it only took her five minutes to get perfect. Even with a cast, she looked perfect. I ate breakfast in a hurry, I want to get to school early. I rushed Zoey and had her go as fast as she could with a cast. We got into the car and I sped to school. It only took us nine minutes to get there. I told Zoey goodbye as we split in the hall and practically ran to my locker.

I was so happy to see him standing there, that my heart lurched. He looked so handsome in his blue jeans and green shirt. His green shirts all matched his eyes so perfectly.

“Hello Alice.”

“Hi Damen. How was your night?”

“It would’ve been perfect if you wouldn’t of left.”

Once my cheeks turned red, I saw Damen smile. Why he loved when that happened, I couldn’t tell you. I grabbed my calculus stuff and we walked to our first hour class together. Today was going to be a great day!


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Once again, Damen walked me to every class. But one thing that I was amazed to see was that when the last class was over, he met me outside of my anatomy class.

“Hi Damen.”

“Hey Alice.”

“What made you want to meet me here?”

“I just wanted to see you more.”

“Oh aren't you just sweet?”

“Are you doing anything tonight?”

“No I am not.”

“I was wondering if you wanted to meet my brother tonight? He just got back home.”

Does his brother feed off animals too? Or humans? “Is he on the same eating habit as you?”

For some reason, that made him laugh. I just couldn’t get over the feeling his laugh gave me. It was so beautiful.

“It’s a serious question you know.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry. And yes, he is on the same eating habit as me.”

“Then yes, I’m game on seeing him.”

“Alright. How about you eat supper with us tonight?”

“What?” I asked astonished.

“No silly! Not like that. We are all eating cheeseburgers and french fries.”

“I’m sorry I jumped to that conclusion. Are those some of your brother’s favorite foods too?”

“Yeah. We pretty much ate the same things when we were with mom and dad.”

“So you and your brother were really close then?”

“Yep and we still are.”

“That's always a good thing.”

“I’ll pick you up at six tonight. How’s that sound?”

“It sounds perfect.”

“I’ll see you later Alice.”

“Yeah, see ya Damen.”

He winked that wonderful wink at me and headed around the corner. Oh my God, I get to meet Damen’s brother tonight! It’s going to be so much fun. But after the positives comes the negatives. I don’t even know his name. Will he like me? Is he nice? Stop! I just need to go on the positives. Don’t even think about the negatives.

I went to Zoey’s locker to help her carry her stuff. That was our plan. Every day after school I was to go to Zoey’s locker and help her carry her stuff to the car. It would help her a lot.

I went into the freshman corridor and I could see that Zoey seriously needed help. She was struggling to use one arm to get all of her stuff into her bag.

“Here Zoey, give me your bag and I will do it.”

Zoey handed over her bag and I put all the stuff she needed into it. She sure had a lot of homework tonight.

“Thank you Alice.”

“Yep. Your friends are helping you during the day right?”

“Of course.”

“That’s good. Come on now.”

I put her bag onto my back along with mine.

“You know, you don’t have to carry my bag too.”

“I want to carry your bag. Less stress on you.”

“Your the best sister ever.”

“Thanks Zo.”

The ride home was really quiet. Once we got home, I carried her bag up to her room and then went to mine. I have to find an outfit for tonight. What should I wear? I decided to just wear a pair of blue jeans and a blue Aeropostal t-shirt. For now, I put on my sweats and an old t-shirt. I’ll stay comfortable until five, then I’ll take an hour to get ready.

To pass the time away, I cleaned the house. I did the dishes and everything. When I was done with that, I still had an hour until five. I’ll make Zoey something to eat. I yelled up the stairs.

“Zoey! What do you want for supper?”

“Whatever you’re eating!” She yelled back.

“I’m not eating here!”

She ran down the stairs.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m eating supper at Damen’s with him and his brother.”

“Oh. Then, I’ll have two grilled cheese sandwiches please.”

“Tomato soup too?”

“No, just grilled cheese would be fine.”

After cooking, I still had a half hour left. Time goes by too slow. I know! I’ll three-way Nicole and Trisha! I’ll tell them all about me and Damen. I dialed up their numbers and was sad to see that neither of them answered. Where were they? Then I remembered that they were both going to the mall tonight to Christmas shop. I already finished mine.

To pass the time, I’ll just go and read the books from the library. I’ll read my love poem books. I headed up the stairs to my room and sat on my bed with the books. After a little while, I heard the doorbell ring. I didn’t even realize that a half hour had gone by. I’m going to start reading if I need to pass time.

“Coming!” I yelled down the stairs.

I ran and opened up the door. Like always, my heart skipped a couple beats when I saw him. And to follow that, he laughed like always. I wonder why he does that? He looked me up and down. Am I wearing something wrong? What’s wrong with blue jeans and a... Oh no! I’m still in my sweats and old t-shirt. When I wasn’t watching the time, I didn’t stop reading to get ready!

“Oh no! I’m sorry! Please come in. I’ll be right down, I look like a disaster.”

“I don’t agree with that. No matter what you wear, you’re beautiful.”

I blushed and said, "Thanks, I’m still going to change though.”

“Why?”

“Really? I’m meeting your brother for the first time. I want to look presentable.”

“You are presentable!”

“To you!”

I didn’t wait to hear his comment and ran up the stairs. I hurriedly put on my planned clothes and looked at my appearance in the mirror. Good enough!

“Okay, now I’m ready.”

“You were ready before you went up to change.”

“Right. Now come on before we’re late.”

He walked me to his car and opened the door for me. Then he was in the car with the blink of an eye. Wow! I’m going to have to get used to that. He looked at me and gave me his beautiful smile and wink. My heart stopped again. Pretty soon my heart is just going to stop beating completely. He laughed again.

“I have a question for you.”

“More questions?”

“I said ‘question’ not ‘questions‘.”

“Fine. Go on.”

He started to pull away.

“Okay. Why is it that every time...” I didn’t want to tell him, “every time a certain something happens, you laugh?”

“What? You mean when your heart stops or skips a beat?”

Ugh! How did he know that? That is so embarrassing! My face must be the reddest it’s ever been. “How did you know that?”

“It’s my nature remember? I’m a vampire. I can sense those kinds of things. I can sense the blood going through your veins and your hearts every beat.”

My heart skipped again.

“Like that,” I heard him say.

My mouth must be wide open.

“I’m sorry, does that bother you?”

“Not really. It’s just really embarrassing for you to hear every time my heart stops when I see you.”

“Oh. I’m sorry that I make you embarrassed.”

“It’s fine really. Just don’t make fun of me. You can laugh, but please don’t make fun of me.”


“I won’t, I promise.”

“Thank you.”

Then I noticed that the way to his house was the same way to the beautiful place. “Is your house near the place you took me with the lake?”

“Yeah, it’s actually right next to the lake.”

“What kind of a house is it?”

“It’s a log cabin.”

“I love log cabins.”

“Really?”

“Yes I do.”

“Maybe after supper, we can go and lay on the hill together again?”

“That’d be nice.”

“It’s settled then.”

We just sat there in silence the rest of the way to Damen’s house. Once we got there, I realized something pretty important.

“What’s your brother’s name? You never told me.”

“Oh yeah, sorry. His name is Ben.”

“Short for anything?”

“Nope, just Ben.”

And like a flash, he was out of the car and opening my door. It still stunned me, but I was getting used to it.

“I like that. Your parents chose excellent names. Ben and Damen. They go well together.”

“I never thought about that before.”

When I got out of the car, I was in awe. The log cabin was so pretty. It was a pale color of wood that was polyurethaned. It had one of those brick chimneys going up the side. It was like it was out of a fairy tale. Kind of like Damen was. It all just seemed to fit together.

“It’s so pretty!”

“Thank you. It’s where I spend most of my time.”

“What do you do?”

“Hike around the woods and everything. Guy stuff I suppose.”

I laughed about that.

“What?” He asked.

“It’s just that I thought you guys would do something different.”

“Why? Because we are vampires?”

“Yeah I guess. I’m sorry.”

“No problem. I figure most people would assume that.”

“Now I feel stupid.”

“There’s nothing to feel stupid for. Now come on, I want you to meet my brother.”

“I’m nervous.”

“What for? He isn’t like other vampires, you’re safe.”

“That’s not what I’m nervous for silly.”

“Then what for?”

“Will he like me?”

“Of course he will. Who doesn’t?”

Four things happened simultaneously. I blushed, he winked that wonderful wink, my heart stopped, and he laughed. That’s probably going to be a daily routine with us. Fantastic.

“Okay, I’m ready.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Come on then.”

He grabbed my hand and we walked to the front door. He opened the door and gestured for me to go first. “Thank you.”

The inside was just as beautiful as the outside. Same log type and the brick chimney, and they had black leather furniture. The kitchen had wooden countertops, table, and chairs. It was so beautiful.

“Ben? We’re here,” he practically whispered. But I’m guessing he heard because a few seconds later, I felt a gust of wind and Ben was at our sides.

“So this is the girl you’ve been talking about?” Ben’s voice was a husky type of voice. He almost looked identical to his brother, but Ben was a little taller, and a little more muscular. He also looked like he was a little older. Otherwise he had the same hair, same green eyes, and a kind of pale look to him.

“The one and only,” Damen said.

“Please to meet you. I’m Ben, Damen’s older brother. I’ve heard a lot about you.” He stuck his hand out to shake mine. I looked at it dumbly at first and then grabbed it.

“Nice to meet you too. I’m Alice. I guess I’m the one Damen always talks about all the time.”

He laughed and he had a beautiful laugh, but not nearly as beautiful as Damen’s.

“I hope you like cheeseburgers and french fries. I’m grilling the burgers out back.”

“I love cheeseburgers.”

“You two are a perfect match then!” Hearing that I was perfect for Damen made me blush and my heart kind of skipped a little bit.

“You’re right Damen, the heart stopping and the blushing does make her cuter.”

Damen reached out to his brother and punched him in the arm. It looked like it hurt, but Ben didn’t even flinch. Must be another vampire thing. Can’t get hurt.

“Back off brother, she’s mine,” Damen said sarcastically.

“Fine, fine. Come on and take her out back. I bet she’d love to go out in the boat later. Full moon tonight!”

That got my hopes up. I loved to look at the moon, especially with someone else.

“Can we go later? Please Damen?”

“Of course.”

We followed Ben out back and watched him grill. We chatted about random stuff and I learned a little more about Ben. A little while later, Damen asked if I wanted to go and sit on the dock.

“Sure, I'd like that.” We went out by the dock and chatted a little more. We ate supper at about seven, then we went out to get onto the boat.

“You won’t get seasick will you?” Damen asked me.

“No, I don't get seasickness.”

“Good, come on then.”

We got onto his pontoon and went out to the middle of the lake. Ben was right, full moon tonight. You can see the moon plain as day, it was breathtaking.

“Isn’t it beautiful Damen?”

“Not as beautiful as you.”

Once again, I blushed and tried to look away. That didn’t work, he pulled my chin back to look at him.

“Please don’t. I don’t see you as much as I’d like to already.”


“You really want to see me that much?”

“Of course I do.”

He gestured for me to lay by him on the ground, so I did. He put his arm under me and pulled me closer so that we were kind of snuggling together. I liked it more than I should.

“You don’t mind do you?”

“Of course not.”

We laid like that for an hour and just looked at the moon together. There was a quiet peacefulness that surrounded us, and it felt amazing. All too soon he told me he should be getting me home to Zoey.


“You’re right. I can say thanks and goodbye to Ben though right?”


“Yes you can.”

We went back to his house and I didn't bother to yell Ben's name, I just said it normally like Damen had.

“You learn fast don’t you?” I heard Ben whisper into my ear from behind me. I jumped and spun around. I didn’t even hear him approach.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“That’s alright. I just wanted to say thank you for a lovely dinner and a good time.”

“You’re welcome. Are you leaving already?”

Damen joined into our conversation. “She’s got to get back to her sister."

“Oh yes, the one with the broken arm.” Apparently Damen told his brother everything.

“Yeah, I’ll be back soon.”

“See you later Alice. It was nice to meet you.”

“You too. Bye.”


Once we were driving away I said, “Your brother seems really nice.”

“He’s a good man.”

“Do you think he likes me?”

“I know he liked you.”

“How do you know?”

He tapped the top of his head. “Remember?” Right, he can read minds.

“Oh yeah, I guess I can forget about that sometimes.”

He looked kind of angry there for a second. What did I say?

“Never forget what I am. Please.” His voice had an angry edge to it.

“Why?”

“I want you to always be careful with me. I want you to be safe.”

“I trust you.”

“Thank you for trusting me. Just please don’t forget.”

“I won’t.”

“Thank you.”

It was silent the rest of the ride home. Once we got to my house and he opened my door, I stepped out and hugged him. He was surprised, but hugged me back.

“Thank you for everything tonight. It was wonderful,” I whispered into his ear.

“You’re welcome Alice. Have a wonderful night.”

“You too Damen. I’ll see you later.”

He drove off and I went into my house. When I got inside it was completely dark and silent. Everybody must’ve went to bed early. I grabbed a snack and headed to my room to do my homework. That’s one thing I could’ve been doing while waiting for time to pass. Why didn’t I think of that? At least I don’t have much to do.

Once I was done with homework, I grabbed some sweats, an old shirt, and headed into the bathroom to shower before bed.

Finally, it’s Christmas day! All through the beginning of Christmas break while hanging out with Damen was fun, but I couldn’t wait for this day! We still hadn’t kissed, and I have a reason for doing that. First, I’ll spend the day with my mom and sister, then Damen will pick me up at six. He’s going to take me to our hill. It’s going to be an amazing night.

The morning went by so slow until we had our Christmas lunch and opened presents. My mom and Zoey loved the present I gave them. My mom got me a laptop to do my schoolwork on, and I loved it. My sister got me a bracelet exactly like the one I gave her for her birthday. She also got me a twenty dollar gift card to Old Navy. I loved all the presents that I got, they were amazing.

Once six came around and the doorbell rang, I was set to go. I was so excited! And like always, when I opened the door, my heart stopped, he laughed and winked, and I blushed. Our routine.

“You know, I still haven’t met your mom or sister yet,” he said while trying to step through the door to meet them.

“You still won’t. Not today,” I said while lightly pushing him back out the door. He could’ve stopped me if he wanted.

“Why?”

“Just because, now come on.”

“Boy, you sure are in a hurry today.”

“I just want to go to our hill.”

“Right,” he said while looking at me suspiciously. I smiled and walked towards the car with him.

It was already dark by five, so by the time we got there, it was pretty much pitch black besides the glow of the moon and stars. I wouldn’t have been able to find my way around if not for Damen. Once we got to the hill, we laid down. Another full moon tonight, it was as beautiful as always. Like Damen. Though Damen topped the beautiful scale by a long shot.

After a while Damen spoke up. “I got you something.”

“Really?”

“Of course.” He handed me a little box wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper. I just stared at it.

“Aren’t you going to open it?”


“Oh yeah.” I opened it and was amazed. I'm pretty sure my mouth dropped open. It was a really pretty diamond heart necklace. This must of been really expensive.

“Damen! It’s so beautiful. You shouldn’t have. It must’ve been so expensive.”

“Don’t worry about, you’re definitely worth it.”

“Oh my gosh! Thank you so much Damen,” I said while giving him a hug.

“Your welcome.” He hugged me back.

Should I give him my present now? I’m going to. “Damen?”

“Yes?”

“I really hope you like my present. It’s not even close to as good as yours, but I hope you like it.”

He looked confused, but then I leaned in for the kiss. He was surprised at first, but then he kissed me back. His lips are so warm and tender. My first kiss, and it’s with Damen. I hope I’m doing it right! His hand moved up to cup my chin, and it felt like I was on fire. It felt so right and perfect, like this was supposed to happen tonight. All too soon he ended the kiss. My face must be flushed with heat.

“I love it Alice, it’s way better than my present.”

“How is it better?”

“Well, your present is irreplaceable. It was the best present you could’ve given me.”

“I’m glad you liked it. Could you please help me put this on?”

“Sure I can.”

I grabbed my hair and moved it out of the way, and tried to move my coat out of the way. I felt the cold necklace go onto my neck. Then, I felt his warm hands touch the back of my neck. It sent shivers up my spine. Once the necklace was on, he kissed my neck and the clasp of the necklace at the same time.

“Turn around,” he told me.

I turned my body around and his face was like an inch away from mine. I think my heart stopped for five whole beats. He laughed and winked, then leaned in for another kiss. I kissed him back as his hands went to my back. This whole thing tonight, just feels like it should be happening. Like it was destined. His mouth moved against mine in perfect harmony. I’m really glad he doesn’t have fangs. I chuckled while we were kissing.

He stopped. “What?”

“Nothing.”

Then he continued to kiss me harder than before. His arms were bringing me closer to his body. His lips are hungry against mine. I didn’t want him to stop. His hands moved from the small of my back to my chin. He kissed my cheek and then stopped. I was amazed to see that his face was probably as flushed as mine. He was also breathing as hard as I was.

“I can’t.”

“You can’t what?” I asked.

“I can’t kiss you any longer tonight.”

“Why? Did I do something wrong? I’m sorry if I did...” I was frantic now. Damen interrupted my babbling.

“No, no, no. Stop, stop. It’s not your fault at all, it’s mine. I’m sorry. I’m not saying we can’t kiss ever again, just not tonight.” He looked upset.

“Why not?”

“Alice, I can only push myself so far. I can’t push any farther tonight. I don’t want to hurt you.”

So this is why he stopped. He didn’t want to end up hurting me. “I’m sorry,” I told him.

“What for?”

“That must of been torture to you. Instead of just having the buffet in front of you and smelling it, you were kissing it instead of eating it,” I said referring back to how he explained being with me.

That made him laugh for some unknown reason. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. When I kiss you, I forget what I am. Just like I told you not to forget what I am, I can’t forget myself.” I nodded to show that I understood.

“So you’re not mad?” He asked.

“Of course not.”

“Thank you Alice.”

I smiled at him, and he pulled me closer. We laid down to look at the sky together, and I couldn't of asked for a more perfect night.

Our drive back to my house was pretty silent, so I took that time to think over the little makeout scene. The way his lips moved against mine was amazing. It was like fire everywhere he touched me now. It’s like our kissing just intensified our relationship.

“Did you here me Alice?”

“Huh? I’m sorry, I just spaced out for a second.”

“I said thank you again for your Christmas gift. It was the greatest thing you could’ve ever given me.”

“Your welcome. And thank you again for the necklace. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” After I said that, I mumbled really quietly, so that Damen's tremendous hearing wouldn’t hear it, “Besides you.”

“I heard that. Thank you for the compliment.”

“Damn it! How did you hear that? I could barely hear myself.”

“I’m just that good,” he said sarcastically.

“Right!” I said while lightly punching him in the arm.

We then pulled into my driveway and once he got out of the car, he was already opening my door for me.

“Aren’t you afraid that someone’s going to see you do that?”

“I know they won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“If there was anyone watching I would be able to hear inside their mind.”

“Right, I forgot about you being able to read minds.” I saw a kind of angered look on his face. “Don’t worry! I didn’t forget what you were though.”

The look disappeared. “Good.” He walked me to the front door.

“Thank you for everything tonight Damen.” He startled me by bringing me closer and hugging me. Then he leaned down and kissed my forehead.

I blushed and looked up at him. “I thought you couldn’t do that anymore tonight?”

“I couldn’t help myself, you’re just too beautiful.”

That made me blush more. “Thank you Damen, I had a wonderful night.”

“Same here Alice. It was spectacular.” I saw the dreamy look in his eyes and wondered, could he possibly feel the same connection I did?

“Goodnight Damen.”

“Goodnight Alice.”

I was just turning around when Damen grabbed my arm and turned me back around. He leaned down and kissed me on my lips. There goes that burning sensation again. I had to quit after about a minute to get some air. Then he went right back to kissing me again. His hands were moving up my back towards my neck. I heard the door open.

“Alice, somebody...” Zoey walked out and saw me and Damen kissing. She looked proud of me. Damen broke apart and looked at Zoey.

“I’m sorry guys, I don’t mean to intrude. I just need to tell Zoey that somebody just arrived that wants to talk to her.” I guess I never noticed that black sedan parked in the driveway.

“I’ll be in soon.”

“Okay.” Zoey turned around and walked in the door. Once I saw the door close I turned to look at Damen.

“Couldn’t help yourself?”

“I really can’t control my emotions around you.”

“I’m fine with that.”

We both started laughing when I realized something. “Damen? Why didn’t you ‘hear’ that Zoey was coming?”

“Because I wasn’t listening for anything. I was too occupied with you.”

Our routine happened again; he winked his gorgeous wink, my heart skipped a beat, and he laughed which caused me to blush and laugh. Why I’m not used to that wink yet, I have no idea. It just stuns me every time.

“Well, I have to go. Apparently there’s someone waiting for me inside.” After I said that, Damen’s face looked furious.

“What’s wrong Damen?”

“It’s nothing. Goodnight Alice.”

“Goodnight.” He gave me one more soft kiss on the lips and went to his car. I waved and then went into the house. I walked into the kitchen and saw a guy sitting at the table. Zoey wasn’t there, she must’ve went to her room. He had short brown hair, and he looked a little muscular for his age. He seemed to be in his late thirties.

“Hello, you said you wanted to talk to me?”

Once he turned around I saw that he looked like me, with the brown eyes and everything. “Who are you?” I asked.


“Who does it look like?”

“Dad?”

“That’s right.”

“W-what are you doing here?”

“I came back to see everybody. I’m hoping your mom will take me back.”

“After you just up and left us?" I asked, a little angrily.

“You have no idea what happened between me and your mother.”

“Well either way I doubt she will want to take you back after you failed to show your face to either of your children for fifteen years. Oh wait, you didn't even get to see your other daughters face because you left before she was even born."

He stood up in his chair, as angry as I was and said, "I'm really here to talk to your mother, not to talk to you. Is this any way to talk to your father?"

"You can hardly call yourself my father. It's not like you stuck around to be one."

He slammed his fist against the table and demanded, "Where is your mother?"

"She is at work and she won't be home until very late. I suggest you come back tomorrow."

“I’m your dad, can’t I stay here and wait for her?”

“You're not my dad, but I guess. You can sleep on the couch.”

He said nothing as he sat back down at the table.

I was in complete shock, but yet I was quite upset! Why is he back? Why did he leave in the first place? I had so many questions, but I have a feeling that tonight isn’t the night to get them answered. I turned around and went upstairs to get him some blankets and a pillow. When I came back down, I saw that he had made his own way to the living room.

“Here’s some blankets and a pillow, I’m going to be up in my room,” I said as I threw the blankets on the couch. For some reason, he made me uncomfortable to be around him.

“Don’t you want to stay and talk to me? You’re so grown up now.” It seemed like his anger from earlier had diminished.

I need an excuse. “Um, I have some big homework assignments that I have to get done before next week.”

“Can’t you do them this weekend?"

“It’s just... I like to get my stuff done early.”

“Okay, fine. I’ll see you in the morning then.” It seemed like his anger had spiked up again. Maybe that's what happened between mom and him, his anger issues.

“Night.”

Once I was out of his view, I ran up the stairs and into Zoey’s room. “Zoey! Do you even know who that guy is?”

“No.”

“So you just let a complete stranger into the house?”

“He said he knew our mom.”

“Oh, he knows her alright.” I went to sit down on the bed next to her.

“What’s that suppose to mean?”

“Zoey! Look at him once, and then look at me.”

“Hey you two look alike!”

“Damn it Zoey! He’s our dad!” She looked kind of hurt that I yelled at her.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you. I’m just shocked, and angry, and uncomfortable.”

“Why are you uncomfortable?”

“I just don’t feel right about him. Like there’s something I’m not remembering. Please stay away from him if you‘re not with anybody.”

“Okay...”

“Never mind. Just go ahead and go to sleep. I’m going to stay up and see what happens.”

“Okay. Night Alice. Love ya.”

“Night Zoey. Love ya too.”

I walked out of her room and into mine. I decided I’d get my homework out, just in case he decided to come up and check on me. I didn’t do my homework though, I just set it on the bed next to me. I grabbed my laptop and started to write a story. I want to write a story about me and Damen and everything that we’ve done. Throughout our relationship, I’m going to write about it. That’ll sure be something for people to read. They’d think I was crazy.



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Once I was done getting my story caught up, I checked the time. My mom would be home in half an hour at eleven. I’ll read my book on poetry until she gets here. I grabbed my book off the desk and went to sit on my windowsill. Now I could see when she got home.

After what seemed like forever, I saw her pull into the driveway. I hurriedly shut my light off so she wouldn’t see that I was still up. When I looked back out the window, I saw her look confusedly at the Sedan and walk in the front door. I carefully opened my door so it didn’t make a noise, then crept down the stairs. I could hear some arguing in the kitchen already.

“I don’t want you here Mike! Just leave! It was bad enough that they even saw you!” She was yelling quietly at him so as not to wake us up.

“I want to come back Jen!” He pleaded with her.

“Don’t think I haven’t forgotten why you left in the first place!” My dad had no reply for that statement.

“I can’t believe I even put up with you that long. I was too weak then. You abused me and Alice the whole time you were here! I was lucky that you cheated on me! I was happy that you left before Zoey was born! She was lucky not to have met you!”

Then it all came back to me... all those visits to the hospital... all the accidents... they were from my own dad. That’s why my mom always had bruises. She said they were from her klutziness. I was too young to understand... I was even too young to understand that I was being abused. Now he’s back in our house!

“Isn’t that a little harsh Jen? I know you still love me.”

“No I don’t! And I believe it’s not harsh enough!” They were still quietly yelling.

“I’ve changed!”

“That’s what they all say Mike! Now I want you to leave now! Before I call the police. I’m not as weak as I was before. Alice has taught me some things.”

“I’m not going anywhere and you are not going to call the cops. I’m going to come back and live with you guys. You do anything that involves the police, I will hurt the whole family!”

That surprised my mom. She let in a little gasp. She was almost on the verge of tears.

“So much for changing huh Mike?” He didn’t say anything.

“Why do you even want to come back Mike? Is it because you couldn’t control your girlfriend like you controlled me? Is that it?” She was crying now.

He slapped my mom really hard across the face. The sound even echoed. I jumped into the kitchen.

“Don’t touch my mom again!” I couldn’t help it. There was no quietly yelling for me.

“Stay out of it sweetie. Just go up to your room now,” he said.

“Don’t call me sweetie! I don’t consider you any part of my life! I agree with my mom. I think you should leave. Now.”

“Like I said before. I’m not going anywhere. Same rules apply to you too Alice. You tell anybody, I hurt the family. Got it?”

I couldn’t go against that... I don’t want my family hurt. He had the worst way of getting somebody to do what he wanted. My face fell and he knew that he had us both in his clutches.

“That’s what I thought,” he said.

My mom and I just stared at him.

“Oh, and by the way, that guy you were kissing outside, I don’t want you to see him anymore.”

“WHAT?!” No way!

“You heard me.”

“WHY?”

“I just don’t like him.”

“But he’s a good guy.”

“I don’t care. You can’t see him anymore.” I couldn’t help it, I started crying. My one (and probably only) love, and I couldn’t see him anymore. Then he slapped me across the face... hard. That one’s going to leave a horrible bruise.

“Alice!” I heard my mom yell.

“Quit your crying and go up to your room. I’ll send your mother to bed too.”

“Don’t touch her!” I had to stand up for her no matter what he did to me. He slapped me again, even harder if that was possible. My mom was in hysterics, she kept her emotions under control though so she didn’t get slapped too.

“You’ll do as I say.”

I gave my mom one last look of sadness and went to my room. I didn’t want to know what he was going to do to her. Hopefully he just puts her to bed like he said. Once I laid down in bed with my cheek pulsing, the hard reality set in. I couldn’t see Damen anymore, my family was in danger, and my own biological father is a monster. I started bawling my eyes out. I usually don't cry, but tonight was wonderful and it turned into a horrible, terrifying nightmare. After a while, I ended up crying myself to sleep.

The weekend went by worse than any other weekend I’ve ever been through. I now had two new bruises on my body. When Zoey left for the day on Saturday, I told my “father” that I was going to tell Zoey everything, she deserved to know. I already lied to her about the bruise on my cheek. He then got angry and slapped me across the face again. Now the bruise has multiplied in size. I even tried cover-up this morning, but it didn’t work. My whole cheek is completely black and blue. Yesterday on Sunday, I was about to go out and buy some food from a fast food joint, but my “dad” told me he wanted me to make something homemade. I told him I didn’t feel like cooking anything and was just about out the door when he grabbed my arm so hard that it left a humongous bruise on my arm. That one was also black and blue but with a hint of yellow in it.

Also throughout the weekend, I cried every night over Damen. Now I had to get up and go to school. I went to my closet and automatically grabbed a sweatshirt and sweatpants. I already thought it out. I would wear my hood into the school and keep my hair covering my cheek all day. And the sleeves of the sweatshirt will cover up the bruise on my arm. I just hope it works.

I grabbed Zoey and we went to the car without breakfast. I told her I wanted to get to school early today. She didn’t object. I really did it because our “father” wasn’t awake yet. Even though Zoey still sees him as a good guy.

When we got to the school I automatically went to my locker. I knew Damen would be there, so I kept looking down. My hood covered everything. I just wanted to tell him I couldn’t see him anymore and not have to explain anything. If I looked I would get weak and not be able to do any of those things. I got to my locker and opened it up but didn’t look at or say anything to Damen. The same thing didn’t apply to him.

“Hey Alice. How was your weekend? And what’s up with the hood?”

“Damen don’t!”

He grabbed my hood and pulled it back. He was leaning down to give me a light kiss when he saw my cheek. “Alice what’s wrong with your cheek? What happened?”

“Nothing happened. I can’t see you anymore Damen. I’m sorry.”

I grabbed my stuff and ran to my first class.

“Alice! Wait!”

I kept running, trying to evade conversation with him completely. Oh God, we have the same first class. I forgot about that. He sat in his seat.

“Alice, tell me what’s going on.”

“Nothing Damen. I can’t see you anymore. End of story.”

“I’m not talking about us. I’m talking about your cheek.”

I had this lie all made up. “Me and my mom got into a fight. It’s nothing.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes. Now please stop talking to me Damen.” It hurt so bad to say those words. Why does this have to happen to me? Out of the corner of my eye, I could see his worried expression turn into a hurt one.

“I’m sorry Damen. But it has to be." He didn’t say anything, he just turned in his seat and looked at the front. I started tearing up. What am I going to do?



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When I got home, I had two frantic calls from my friends. They wanted to know why my cheek was bruised. I told them both the same lie I told Damen because my “dad” was in the room. I should’ve gave them my cell number.

“Very good,” said my dad when I was off the phone.

“Gee, thanks,” I said sarcastically. I was about to leave the room when he told me to stop.

“Did you break up with the boy today?”

“Yeah.”

“Good, he was bad for you.”

“He was a really good guy. You didn’t even know him so shut up you asshole!” I guess I got a little too protective over Damen. His face was turning red and I gulped. What could he possibly do next?

“Don’t use those words in front of me!” He ended up grabbing my arm very tightly and shoving me into the wall. My back slammed into the wall pretty hard and I gasped. At least it was the opposite arm from yesterday’s abuse. I thought he was done so I was leaving the room.

“Hey! I’m not finished with you! Get back here!”

I went and stood in front of him. I was sick of cringing away from him. He slapped me on the same cheek as every other time and I didn’t even flinch. I won’t give him the satisfaction, even though it did hurt like hell.

“Now go to your room and don’t come back down!”

I went upstairs and spent the rest of the night within my room. I wish we had an ice pack. During the night I wrote in my story about everything in my life so far. It’ll be my life story.


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When I was at my locker the next day, I was happy to see that Damen wasn’t there waiting for me. He wasn’t there at all. So I went through the day without him.

After school ended, I went out the back door. I’m going to spend as much time getting to my car as possible. I don’t want to go home. As I was walking out the back door I saw James walking around. Great, now I have to go past him too. I guess he also noticed that Damen wasn’t here today because he started to make his way over to me.

“Hey, I’ve been wanting to know what happened to your cheek. Was it Damen?”

“This has nothing to do with Damen.”

“Then who did it?”


“I told everybody already, my mom and I got into a fight.”

“Are there more bruises? Is that why you always wear a long-sleeved shirt or a sweatshirt?”

He was leaning towards me to lift my sleeves up when I heard a beautiful voice. “James, quit harassing Alice right now.” I thought he was gone today? Why is Damen here all of a sudden? James must’ve been thinking the same thing I was. James didn’t hesitate though, he took off. I guess he learned his lesson the first time.

“Thanks.” I started walking away.

“Don’t even go anywhere Alice!” He grabbed my arm and I cringed. That’s where I was grabbed yesterday. He didn’t see me cringe though.

“Damen! Just let me go, I can’t see you anymore.” I was almost crying now.

“You can’t? Or you don’t want to?”

“I can’t!”

“Now we’re getting somewhere.”

I couldn’t help it, I started crying right in front of Damen. I broke down completely.

“I’m sorry Alice.” He grabbed me and held me in his arms as I cried on his shoulder trying not to touch my cheek to his arm.

“It’s not your fault Damen, I’m just so scared,” I said through sobs.

“Come on Alice, let’s go for a ride.”

“No Damen! Don’t you understand? I have to go home!”

“No you don’t. I think I know who’s doing this to you. I’m going to help you with all of this.”

“Please just let me go home Damen. I’m already too late. He’s going to hurt me again.”

“Trust me Alice, he won’t touch you ever again.”

I heard his sudden change in voice. It was now furious instead of caring. I glanced up at his face and he had the terrifying angry look. I suddenly believed every word he said. He is going to help me through all of this. He is going to protect me from my ‘father’. How did I not realize that he could help me from the very beginning? I was so stupid.

“Okay, I believe you.”

“Come on, you’re coming to my house.”

“But we won’t be alone.”

“Yes we will. Ben went to visit more friends.”

“Okay.” I was still kind of sobbing and was weak from the breakdown. Damen noticed that and put his arm around my waist. He supported me all the way to his car.

“Why weren’t you in school today Damen?”

“I was just really upset Alice. I didn’t want to come to school and see you. If I were to see you, I was surely going to break down and beg you to come back to me.” For some reason, that made me laugh. Now I was the one laughing in a serious conversation.

“You think I’m kidding don’t you?” I could tell he wasn’t kidding, his face had a serious look to it. I can’t believe that I really hurt Damen that much, I’m such a horrible person.

“Damen, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was just trying to protect myself from him. I’m such a horrible person,” I said, repeating the words from my head. I was almost on the verge of crying again. I’m acting like such a baby.

“No Alice, please don’t cry. I don’t want to make you feel bad. It’s not your fault, it’s your father’s fault.”

What? He knew? Or at least assumed that it was him?

“Damen? You know about my father?”

“No, I was just guessing that your father is doing it. I knew that was him in the house waiting for you. That’s why I got angry all of a sudden. Remember?” I did. “I just didn’t think it would turn out like this.” He turned his head and looked sadly at my cheek. Then, he reached across and stroked my cheek. I flinched at the sudden pain, but it also felt good at the same time to have him touch me again. It left a burning sensation where he touched my cheek. A good burning sensation. Definitely not like the burning pain of being slapped.

“I’m so sorry Alice.”

“None of this is your fault Damen.”

“It partly is. I didn’t do anything to stop him. I just let it happen. I’m the horrible person, not you.”

“You couldn’t have done anything.”

“Oh I can think of a few things.” I could imagine what those things were, and I agreed with him.

“I agree, but Damen, I don't want you or us to get in any trouble."

“Fine, but I will protect you from him, even if you have to come live with me. You legally turn eighteen in a few months. What’s it gonna hurt? Just get your mom’s permission. You don’t need your dad’s.”

Oh my, is he really inviting me to come live with him? But wait, I can’t. I won’t just leave my mom and Zoey with that man. They can’t even cook their own food let alone protect themselves.

“You don’t know how good that sounds Damen, but I can’t. I think you understand.”

“I do.”

We were just getting to his house now. Once we were in the house, he had me follow him to the living room. There’s nobody home but him and me. Alone.

“I want you to sit down on this couch with me and tell me everything. Leave nothing out.”

“Way to get right to it Damen.”

“I’m sorry, but I’ve got to know.” He glanced at my cheek. “Please sit down and I’ll be right back.”

I sat down on the couch and waited for him to come back. When he did come back, he was carrying something.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“It’s an ice pack for your cheek.”

“Thank you,” I said as he gave me the ice pack. It felt so good on my cheek. I saw Damen staring at me and I got a little self concious. “It’s not that hideous is it?” I asked.

“That’s not what I was thinking at all.”

“Then what were you thinking?”

“That it doesn’t matter that you have a bruise on your cheek. You’re beautiful no matter what.”

I hope he can’t see my cheeks get pink with the bruise that’s on it. “They still blush too.” He winked at me, my heart stopped, and we both laughed together. Chain reaction.

“Please Alice, you can trust me. Tell me everything.”

“Alright then. I’m starting from the very beginning though, when you dropped me off.”

“Go ahead.”


“When I went inside the house, I saw the man from behind. When he turned around I could see that he looked like me. I immediately knew who he was. I felt uncomfortable around him, so I lied and went up to my room to do ‘homework’. I watched out my window to wait for my mom to get home. When she got home, I went down the stairs and eavesdropped. They were talking about when I was two, before he left. She said that he abused both of us. After I heard that, all of the hospital visits came back to me. That my mom always told the hospital that we were just big klutzes,” I laughed at that, “I can’t believe that they believed her. My dad left my mom for another woman. My mom was actually glad of that. She was also glad that Zoey never had to meet him. I’m glad for that too.”

I was almost crying again. Why do I keep crying?

“It’s alright Alice, go on.”

“Well, she was telling him that he had to leave and never came back. They kept arguing about it. Finally he slapped my mom across the face,” I was now sobbing a little bit, but not fully crying, “That’s when I jumped in and told him never to touch her again. He slapped me too. He said that he was staying and that if we involved the police, he was going to hurt us all badly. So, as you can tell,” I pointed at my cheek, “he’s been abusing us since then. I can’t find a way to make him happy, he’s always hurting me. Damen, I don’t even know what he’s been doing to my mom,” I was fully crying now. “Damen, I’m so scared.”

He pulled me into his arms and held me on his shoulder to cry. “Oh Alice, I had no idea. That bastard!”

“Damen, please stay out of this. I don’t need anything to happen to you too,” I said through my tears.

“Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to make this all better, just you wait.”

“He’s going to hurt me so badly when I get home.” I was crying and hysterical now.

“Don’t worry, he won’t touch you anymore after tonight.”

“Oh Damen!” He let me cry on his shoulder until I finally stopped crying five minutes later.

“I’m sorry Damen.”

“For what?”

“I’m such a mess, I can’t even control my emotions.”

“You’re not a mess, you’re as beautiful as ever.”

He was still holding me, though I wasn’t crying. I looked up into his deep green eyes and saw him looking at me too. He leaned down and started kissing me on the lips. His kisses seemed to be spreading fire throughout my whole body. His lips moved against mine right in rhythm. His lips were even warmer and more tender than the last time we kissed. His hands were moving up my back towards my neck. He pushed me back against the couch and he was leaning over the top of me.

His hands were moving up my front now. Even though my jacket was still on, his hands seemed to be spreading fire wherever they went. We were still kissing each other passionately. Once his hands reached my chest, they started unbuttoning my jacket. Once the jacket was unbuttoned, he slipped it off my shoulders and threw it on the ground, not even stopping the kissing. I wanted to stop, but yet I didn’t. It just felt so right. When he was done getting the jacket off, he starting bringing his hands slowly up my arm. Fire was slowly spreading up my arms along with his hands. Once his hands reached the top part of my arms I felt him hesitate. He stopped kissing me.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“You didn’t tell me that there was more bruises than the one on your cheek.”

What bruises is he... Damn it! I forgot about the bruises on my arms. All the passionate kissing distracted me. His expression was one of anger.

“I’m sorry Damen, you just distracted me, that’s all.”

“Besides the bruises Alice, why did you even let me go that far with you? You should know better!” He raised his voice slightly.

Why is he yelling at me? “I’m sorry you kissed me and stuff Damen, I didn’t mean to push you too far,” I told him angrily and sarcastically. I pushed him off of me and grabbed my jacket up off the floor and slipped it back on. Why is he being such a jackass?

“I’m going home Damen. Please just forget everything I told you and stay out of it. I’ll figure it all out myself,” I said angrily. I was half way out the door when he grabbed my arm. I cringed again.

“You aren’t going anywhere Alice.”

“Oh? And why not?”

“For two very good reasons.”

“What are those reasons?” I asked.

“Reason number one, I drove you here. You don’t have a car to bring yourself home.”

“I’ll walk,” I said with a shrug.

“Reason number two, I’m a jackass.”

He was thinking the same thing I was. But I was still mad at him. “Then you take me home Damen, I want to leave now.”

“Please, let’s not take you home right now. I’m sorry. Just come back to the couch with me.”

“Oh no, I don’t think I should.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to seduce you again.”

We both laughed. And just like that, our anger at each other was gone.

“I changed my mind, I was fine with that,” he said.

“It doesn’t bother you?”

“What?”

“Kissing the buffet?”

He chuckled a little and then saw the seriousness on my face.

“It does, but not as much as before. I’m getting used to it.”

“Okay I’ll come back for a little while. I really do need to get home soon though.”

“Thank you.”

He led me over to the couch and gave me the ice pack back. We snuggled on the couch for about another half hour. My ‘dad’ is going to be so pissed.

“I hate to say it Damen, but I need to be getting home.”

“Alright, come on then.”

“I still need to get my car.”

“No you don’t, I’ll pick you and your sister up tomorrow morning for school.”

“Are you going to stay in school?”

“Yeah.”

“He isn’t going to like this at all.”

“Trust me, he won’t mind.”

He drove me home and walked me to the door. He was just kissing me goodbye when the door opened. “I thought I told you that you couldn’t see him anymore.”

“I’m sorry Mike, but I believe that she has the right to see who she wants to see,” Damen said. How does he know my dad’s name? I never told him. Then I remembered that he was probably reading Mike’s mind.

“I’m her parent and I say she can’t see you anymore. So don’t come around here anymore.”

I’m getting so upset over my ‘father’. I’m done with his attitude. I’m going to start striking back.

“He’s right dad, I can see who I want to see.” Damen looked surprised by my sudden outburst.

“Get inside right now Alice.” He grabbed me by the arm and tried to yank me inside as I flinched, but Damen grabbed my other arm.

“Let go of her right now Mike.”

“I don’t think so. She’s my daughter.”

“Well she’s my girlfriend.” I’ve never heard him call me that before.

“I have more say than you.”

“You have no say over me. You're not my father!”

I saw his other arm come flying at my face fast, but Damen was faster. Damen grabbed Mike's arm and knocked it away.

“You will not touch her anymore. Do you hear me?” Damen told him. He looked really ferocious. My ‘father’ looked kind of afraid of Damen. “If I find anymore bruises, or even hear about them, I will come back.” Damen was even freaking me out. Mike (not even calling him ’dad’ anymore) just stared at Damen. “I don’t want to hear about anything happening to any of the other family members either.”

“I’ll do what I want,” Mike finally spoke up with a gulp.

“Oh really? Trust me, if I was you, I wouldn’t go against what I said. I’m a lot stronger than you. You will get hurt.” After he told Mike that, he turned to face me. “I’ll pick you up in the morning Alice.” He leaned down and kissed me gently right in front of Mike. I blushed about that. He winked his wonderful wink, my heart stopped, and we both chuckled.

“Goodnight Damen.”

“I’ll see you in the morning Alice.”

With that, he drove away. Now there’s nobody to protect me. I turned around to see that Mike wasn’t standing there anymore. Damen’s threat worked. Or was it a warning? Who cares? I walked into the house, shut the door, and went up to my room peacefully.

When I woke up in the morning, my cheek felt better than the day before. It was probably because it went a whole day without being abused. I was so glad that I finally got to tell Damen everything. It’s off my chest, and now I have somebody to help me through it all. I could’ve told my friends I guess. No, they wouldn't of been able to help like Damen did without telling the police.

I got up out of bed and got ready for school. I felt excited to go to school today. I can be back together with Damen, and we can kiss again. Oh do I love his kisses. It just feels so right with Damen... wherever he touches leaves a good burning sensation. I wonder if he feels the connection too? I skipped down the stairs and was stopped in my tracks to see my dad standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Oh no, there’s nobody here to protect me anymore.

“Good morning!” I decided to act cheerful.

“Cut the s***! I don’t want you to go to school with your... boyfriend. I’ll drive you.”

“Sorry Mike, already made plans. He’s going to be here any minute now.”

“I don’t care. We’ll leave without him.”

“No way, I’m not going anywhere with you!”

Mike is making me so pissed! He has no right to tell me to do anything! I want to hurt him so bad, but I know I’ll loose if I go against him.

“I’m your dad, and you’ll do as I say!”

His hand just about smacked my face until something stopped him. It was too fast to see. I blinked and Mike wasn’t there anymore. “Mike?”

Where did he go so fast? Then I heard grunting in the living room. I ran into the living room and saw somebody holding Mike against the wall. Mike was literally off the ground, on the wall, with somebody holding him. Wait a second... Damen?

“Damen? How did you get in? I didn’t even hear you.”

I momentarily forgot about Mike. Damen didn’t answer me either. He was too busy yelling at Mike. “I told you never to touch her again! You’re really pushing your luck you piece of s***!”

All of a sudden, a burst of anger just shot through me. Mike is finally going to be hurt. He’ll finally feel the pain that he’s been making us feel for years.


“Do it Damen!”

“What Alice?”

“Hurt him!”

Damen turned around and looked at me. He had shock written all over his face. “Hurt him!” I yelled again.

“You know you don’t mean that,” Damen said. Mike was still against the wall.

“I do Damen! I’m so sick of him!” I am so angry now, that I have angry tears in my eyes. Or maybe it’s scared tears? I don’t know, but I’m getting angry at myself for crying all of the time.

Damen turned his attention back to Mike. “This is your last warning!” Then he tossed him onto the couch on the other side of the room. Damen walked over to me and pulled me into his arms.

“I’m sorry Alice. I didn’t mean to loose it like that, I’m so sorry. Are you alright?”

I leaned onto him for support and tried to stop crying. “No Damen, I’m sorry. I keep acting like a baby in front of you. And I had that sudden burst of anger back there. You probably think I’m crazy.”

“I don’t think that at all. What I think, is that you’ve been through a lot and you need a day off of school.”

“What about Zoey? She still needs a ride.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll drop her off.”

I was finished crying, so I quit leaning on him and just grabbed his hand instead. By the way, where is Zoey? I walked into the kitchen and saw a note taped onto the fridge.


Dear Alice,
Don’t worry about me. I got a ride from Sam’s parents. We wanted to get to school early to plan a surprise birthday party for Elisa. So don’t wait up for me. Love you Alice! See ya!
Love, Zoey


“Well, we don’t have to wait up for Zoey.”

“Why not?”

“It says here that she got a ride with Sam’s parents.”

“Okay, let’s go then.”

He grabbed my hand, and after getting my jacket, led me to the car, then he opened the door for me like a perfect gentlemen. Before I even got my seatbelt on, he was in the car and driving away.

“Where do you want to go?”

I looked out the window to check out the weather. It’s frosty outside, but no snow. But it’s about eleven degrees outside. Too cold to sit outside.

“I don’t know. What did you have in mind?”

“Well, I was thinking that we should go to my house, sit in front of the fireplace together, and have some hot cocoa.”

How romantic! “Is your brother back?” I had to ask the question.

“No he isn't.”

The thought of being alone with Damen again sent chills up my spine, and a blush to my cheeks. “Why are you blushing?” He asked.

“No reason.”

“Right,” he said sarcastically.

“I’m not kidding,” I said. That made my cheeks go even redder.

“Oh yeah? Is that why your cheeks are darkening?” I stuck my tongue out at him like a third grader, then smiled at him.

“I wish I could read your mind right about now.”

“I thought you could?”

“I can, but remember the promise I made?”

I thought back but couldn’t remember.

“Sorry, it’s not ringing a bell.”

“I promised that I would never read your mind again unless it was an emergency.”

Oh my gosh! I’ve been worried about him reading things in my mind that I didn’t want him to, and I’m just now finding out that it was a waste of time.

“What?” Damen asked. The look on my face must be priceless.

“Nothing,” I said quickly.

We drove silently the rest of the way to his house. Once we got there, he opened my door and we walked to his front door. I just had to ask the question again.

“So your brother’s not home? It’s just the two of us?”

“Yeah...” He looked at me questioningly. I hope he doesn’t know what I’m getting at. Then his face turned into one of understanding. “Don’t even think about Alice, it’s not happening.”

My cheeks turned a really dark red, the reddest they’ve ever been. “That’s not what I was thinking about.”

“Oh? Then what were you thinking about?”

“I was just hoping we could...”

“You can talk to me Alice.”

“It’s just that... I was hoping that we could... kiss some more.”

“And you need to be alone for that because?”

“I don’t know... I just think that it can be embarrassing sometimes. I’m new to this.”

“Then we won’t kiss in public anymore.”

That’s the last thing I wanted! I don’t want to stop kissing him in public at all. “No Damen, that’s not what I mean. I’m just not used to it, that’s all.”

“Alright then, I’ll just have to get you used to it.”

He leaned down and gave me a passionate kiss on the lips. We’re not even in the house yet and we’re making out.

“How am I going to control myself around you Alice? We’re not even in the house yet and we’re already making out.”

“I thought you couldn’t read my mind?”

“You think I can’t control myself either?”

“No! I was just thinking that I can’t control myself around you. If you could hear my mind half the time...”

“Wait Alice! Are you saying that you... think about me?” He asked sarcastically.

“Yeah, I do, all of the time,” I said, looking down at the ground. Damen took his hand and tilted my chin up. He then kissed my lips softly and left a trail of kisses up the side of my cheek to the top of my forehead.

“Come on Alice, there’s a fireplace and some hot cocoa waiting for us.” We finally walked into the house and he led me to the couch. “Have a seat and I will get us some hot cocoa and start a fire.”

I sat down in the middle of the black leather couch and waited for Damen to come back. As I was waiting, I was playing with my fingers nervously. When he came back, he was carrying two mugs of hot cocoa. Must’ve been one of his favorites.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I used the packets that you pour into hot water. It’s not homemade or anything.”

“I don’t mind at all,” I said with a laugh.

He then started a fire in the fireplace right in front of the couch. When the fire was started he sat on the far side of the couch and pulled me into his arms to sit on his lap and cuddle to him.

“You don’t mind do you?”

I was way too happy at this point in time to care at all. I instantly forgot all about Mike and all of my problems and just focused on Damen.

“I don’t mind at all.” I gently kissed him on the cheek and put my head on his chest.

“Only on the cheek?” He asked sarcastically.

“I’m sorry.” I brought my head back up and kissed him on the lips. I looked into his eyes and nearly lost myself in them until he brought his hands up and held my cheeks, being careful of the now half bruised cheek. He brought my face carefully forward and kissed me again. We kept on passionately kissing until we couldn’t breathe anymore and we were both panting. I looked into his eyes once more and then put my head back on his chest. I could feel his chest rising and falling.

“You know what Damen?” I asked

“What?”

“You haven’t told me very much about yourself.”

“How about I tell you today?”

“Really? I’d love to hear your history.”

“Where do you want me to start?”

“The very beginning.”

“From when we were changed?”

“Yes please.”

“Alright. Well, when I was seventeen and Ben was nineteen, we were changed. It all started in 1701.” He looked at me to see if I was surprised. I wasn’t. I just kept staring into those gorgeous eyes, so he went on.

“It was about seven at night, and my dad, mom, brother, and I were all sitting around the table eating supper. All of a sudden we heard screams from outside. Ben and I went to check it out while our parents stayed in the house. We had heard legends about vampires by then, but that’s what we all thought they were, just legends. But when we stepped outside and saw three attractive people terrorizing the village, we figured that the legends must be true. There were two men and one woman. In the legends, it said that vampires were always very good looking, it helped them to lure in their... victims. Many of innocent, good looking people were killed because of that part of the legends. Once we saw what they were and what was really happening, we ran back into the house to tell our parents. We were just telling them that we all need to leave, but it was too late. The three vampires knocked down our door and barged in. The two guys saw me and Ben as their biggest threats so they tackled us and threw us to the ground. I heard everything around us being broken and smashed around. The next time that I looked up, I saw that neither of our parents were around us anymore. I was screaming at them to tell us what they did to our parents. I kept struggling to get up, but we were no match for the vampires. Then, I heard the taller one speaking to the other ones. ‘I think we should keep these two. They’re perfect. They’re tall, muscular, and brave’. Then the woman spoke, she was the leader. ‘You’re right. Let’s take them back to our place and change them.’ The two guys tied our arms and legs up and picked us up in their arms. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t get away. I still have no idea what happened to our parents but I’m pretty sure that they were killed.”

His face looked so sad that I threw my arms around him. “Oh Damen, you don’t have to tell me anymore right now. You can tell me some other time.” I kissed his forehead and looked him in the eyes.

“Why are you crying Alice?” He wiped tears off of my cheeks that I didn’t even realize I had.

“It’s such a horrible thing that you and your brother have been through.”

“I’m sorry Alice, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“Damen, don’t worry about me. You’re the real sad one here. Never did I once believe that what you went through was that bad.”

“It was Alice, it was.” He had some tears running down his cheeks. I kissed the tears from his cheeks.

“It’s alright Damen.”

“I want to tell you so badly Alice.”

“Don’t worry about it. Just tell me when you’re ready to tell me, I can wait.”

“Thanks Alice.”

I smiled at him. He then leaned down and kissed me on the lips. He was kissing me harder than ever before and he was already taking my jacket off. He threw it down onto the floor. His hands were trailing up my back leaving fiery trails. He leaned me down and set me on the couch so that he was leaning over me. He started to move his hands up inside of my shirt. We were still kissing eagerly; his lips, so tender and warm. His hands were at the middle of my back now and my whole body felt like it was on fire. A fire that warmed but didn’t burn. Once his hands came up front and touched the edge of my bra, it must've triggered something. One second, he was in front of me and the next he was across the room from me.

“Damen what’s wrong?”

“Alice, you have to please stop letting me do that. One of these times I’m going to go too far and then...” He didn’t finish his sentence.

“And then what Damen? We’ll end up having sex? Is that such a terrible thing?” I asked, embarrassed. Yeah, I was kind of pissed. Every time we did something like this, I am always blamed. He takes some type of clothing off of me, but I’ve never gotten any off of him, but somehow it's all my fault.

“It’s not that Alice.”

“Then what is it Damen?”

“I just don’t want to scare you off...”

“How would you scare me off Damen?”

I saw him smile a weak smile, not the breathtaking one. “If I get too... close to you, then I loose all sense. My brain just quits on trying to be safe with you. That could be bad Alice. Then I might... bite you. I really don’t want to hurt you.”

“What would happen if I was bit?” I asked.

“After a couple of biting sessions, you’ll turn with some pain. It's kind of like being stabbed all over because your whole body is going through the change.”

I gulped. I really don’t feel like being stabbed right now. I motioned to the spot on the couch next to me.

“Come sit down Damen.”

He came to sit down and he pulled me onto his lap again. “I hope you’re not mad at me Alice.”

“Not anymore.”

“You were?”

“Yes I was.”

“Why?”

“No reason.”

“There’s got to be a reason.”

I looked at him shyly.

“Tell me Alice, the suspense is killing me.”

“Well, every time we do that, it’s just that... you always get to take something of mine off... but I never get to take anything of yours off. I'm just a little curious is all.” My cheeks felt like they were completely on fire. Damen laughed, smiled his gorgeous smile, then kissed me on the lips tenderly.

“You’ll have your turn eventually.”

It was my turn to laugh at him. “I sure hope so,” I mumbled under my breath. But of course, he heard me and he laughed. He leaned down and gently started kissing me again.

Just then, Ben walked through the door.

“Hey guys, hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“Shut up Ben,” Damen said sarcastically and grabbed the remote from the coffee table and threw it super fast at Ben. I didn’t even see it move until I saw that Ben had caught it.

“Nice try bro.”

I glanced at the clock. It was just about three already. “I need to get home for Zoey, Damen.”


“Alright, come on then.”

Once we were in his car and driving away, I thought of something. “I’ve still never been able to take this car for a drive,” I told him.

“You’re right. How about I leave it at your house, and then you and Zoey can take it to school tomorrow?”

“Then how will you get home?”

“Alice, I’m a vampire. I’ll run home.”

“Right.” I yawned a huge yawn. I have no idea why I’m so tired already. I leaned my head against his shoulder and drifted off to sleep.

I was awaken by a drift of wind and somebody grabbing me into their arms. I peeked my eyes open to see who it was. Damen. I guess I fell asleep in his car. Oops.

“I can walk now Damen, I’m awake.”

“You’re still sleepy though, you’re not fully awake.”

“It’s fine, I’ll make it.”

We were to the front door by now.

“Please let me just take you to your room and lay you down. That way you can sleep some more.”


“Fine.” I nuzzled my head into his chest and started nodding back off to sleep. That didn’t work because we were stopped by my mom’s frantic voice.

“Is she alright? What happened?”

“It’s nothing Ms. Mason, she’s just tired is all.”

“Well, I think she should get up. It’s not even six yet.”

Damen laughed and she went on. “So you must be Damen?”

“Not now mom,” I mumbled to her.

“I think today is the perfect day to meet him. Now get up sleepy head and make us all some supper,” she said as she was tapping me on the back a little.

“It’s fine Ms. Mason, really.”

“No, she’s right Damen. You can set me down now.”

He looked down at me and I nodded to him. He set me down gently onto my feet. “You can go watch TV or something mom. I’ll let you know when supper is done.” She nodded at me and headed towards the living room. I started to walk into the kitchen and Damen followed. I got out steaks and potatoes. I turned towards Damen, he was leaning against the counter.

“How do you like your steak?” I figured I had to ask because of the whole blood issue and the favorite food issue. Maybe he likes it rare? I started frying the steaks and baking the potatoes while waiting for his answer.

“Well, I don’t want to freak your family out, so I’ll have it medium rare.”

“That’s how I like it too.”

“Really? Most girls think it's disgusting.”

“My mom and sister do think it is. I love it.”

I smiled at him and his face turned instantly happy.

“What?” I asked him.

“That smile was so beautiful.”

“You mean this one?” I smiled my smile again.

“Exactly that one.”

“You do your wink and smile thing now.”

“I don’t know...”

“Why?”

“I’ll do it if you smile your smile one more time.”

“Fine.” I smiled again.

Then, Damen smiled his wondrous smile and winked his gorgeous wink. That just made me smile for him again.

“I love it when you do that,” I said.

“Why?”

“It’s just so... gorgeous.”

That made him laugh for some reason. Then he winked at me and I turned red. When he saw that my face turned red, he walked over to me and put his hand on my cheek. That made my face burn even more red.

“Now that’s lovely. I‘m going to wink more, just so you blush more.” He kissed me gently on the lips.

“Your steaks are going to burn,” He mumbled against my lips.

“Damn it!” I turned around to look at the frying pan. The steaks were almost burnt but not yet. Mine and Damen’s was just turning medium rare. I quickly took mine and his off. After a minute more I took the others off.

“You distract me way to easily,” I said sarcastically to Damen.

“Well, with my awesome kissing abilities, it’s not that hard.” He smiled at me.

I laughed and said, “Right!”

Damen started to set the table and I really don’t know how he knew where everything was. He didn’t make a single mistake.

“How do you know where everything is at?”

“I said I’d never read your mind. That doesn’t mean I can’t roam Zoey’s mind.”

So that’s how he’s doing it. Of course. Damen paused suddenly.

“Did you really hit that guy Alice?”

I looked at him, confused. “What guy?”

“That Michael guy.”

“Yeah I did. He was messing with my sister. There’s no way I was just going to let that slide.”

“You’re right.” He smiled a wonderful smile at me and I smiled back. The look on his face turned so happy when I smiled that I couldn’t resist. I walked over to him this time and kissed him on the lips softly.

“I really do love it when you smile,” He mumbled against my lips.

“You’re distracting me again Damen,” I mumbled against his lips.

Then Damen reached up and put his hands on my cheek. He leaned in slowly and started kissing me. After a little while, I was happy that I took the steaks off of the frying pan. I didn’t want to stop. Damen gently started pushing me against the other counter. His kisses kept getting more and more urgent. Then we heard a throat clearing in the kitchen doorway. Damn it! My mom! I turned around and was glad to see that it was just my sister.

“I was just wondering if supper was done. But it looks like you two are busy doing something else.”

“Um...yeah supper’s done. Go tell mom that.”

Once she left I turned back towards Damen and smacked him lightly on the chest. “That was embarrassing,” I told him.

“I thought it was kinda funny,” he said while chuckling.

“Damen!”

“I’m sorry but it’s true.”

“You’re right,” I said and then we both laughed.

I put the steaks in the middle of the table and got milk out of the fridge, then my mom walked into the kitchen. “I heard that supper was done.”

“Yes it is,” I told her.

“Good.”

“Is Zoey eating with us tonight?”

“No she’s not, she already ate.”

“Alright then. Mom, Damen, have a seat.”

We all sat down and began eating. It wasn’t long until my mom began her questioning.

“So how old are you Damen?”

“Seventeen.”

After I said that, I giggled and my mom looked at me confused. I shook my head at her.

“Good, good. What do you plan on becoming when you’re older?” She continued.

“I want to become a doctor.”

“Really?” My mom asked surprised.

“That’s what my dad was.”

“Was?”

“Yeah, he died a while ago.”

“I'm sorry to hear that, are you living alone then?”

“No, I’m staying with my older brother.”

“Well that's nice. How long have you and Alice been seeing each other?”

“A couple months.”

“Glad to see it's still going strong.” Then she turned and looked at me and gave me a huge smile.

“What?” I asked her.

“Your dad left and he’s not coming back.”

“Yes!” I turned towards Damen and gave him a huge smile. I nodded to him in thanks, and he smiled. The rest of dinner went by in silence minus the little chit chat here and there. When it was over, I was about to put things away when my mom stopped me.

“You made supper, I’ll clean up,” she said.

“Alright, if you say so.”

I grabbed Damen’s hand and led him to the door.

“You might want to get out now before she comes up with any more questions,” I said.

He laughed and said, “Alright, alright.”

I opened the door and we stepped outside.

“Thank you for supper tonight Alice. It was wonderful.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yup.” He kissed me on the lips softly and then started walking away.

“Goodnight,” I said softly, knowing he could here me. I waved at him as he drove down the road. I walked back into the house to see if my mom needed any help, but the kitchen was already clean and she wasn’t in there. Oh well. I began making my way up the stairs so I could finally sleep when I heard her behind me.

“He seems like a wonderful man Alice.”

“Thank you Mom, he really is.”

“I’m glad that you found a man like him.”

“Me too.”

Then she saw where I was headed. “You going to bed?” She asked.

“Yeah, I'm pretty beat.”

“Goodnight honey, I love you.”

“Love you too Mom, goodnight.”

Then I finally made it to my room. Once I was in my pajamas with my teeth brushed, I laid on my bed and instantly feel asleep.



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When I woke up, it was midnight. I just didn’t feel very good. I walked into the bathroom to get a glass of water. On my way back to bed, I glimpsed out my window. There was somebody outside. I walked up to my window and tried to get a closer look. There were two guys standing outside underneath my window. They weren’t anybody I’ve ever seen before. They both look extremely handsome though. I got a good look at their features before one of them looked up and saw me looking at them. He gave me a wicked smile and jumped through my open window.

“What the? How did you...” He must be a vampire! They both must be because the other one also just jumped through my window! They looked very frightening. They began talking to each other.

“Hey Benny, this one looks delicious doesn’t she?”

“She does Mikey, she does.” They were both looking at me hungrily now. What am I going to do???

“Leave me alone,” I told them.

“Oh, she’s a feisty one," said Mikey.

“They’re the best," said Benny.

I could only think of one action. They will probably catch me, but... RUN! I ran towards my door and flung it open. One hand grabbed my arm violently, but I yanked my arm free. I jumped from the top step and landed on the bottom. I heard a crack, and my ankle instantly began killing me. I have to tough it out... I ran my hardest and grabbed my keys from the table, then I flung the front door open. One grabbed my leg and I fell forward, putting my arms out to catch me. I kicked whoever it was in the face and got up. I barely made it to my car door and flung that one open too. One of them grabbed my wrist and I yanked away, just barely getting my own arm in the car when I slammed the door. I started my car and took off.

As I drove away, I realized I had no idea where I was driving to. I know, I’ll go to Damen’s. He’ll know what to do and why they’re here. I turned around and sped towards Damen’s. I continually kept looking in my rearview mirror to see if they were following me. I wish Damen really would’ve left his car for me, he must’ve forgot. That way, I wouldn’t have to drive so slow in this piece of s***! I thought while I smacked the dash board.

As I was driving to Damen’s house, so many questions were going through my head. Who were they? Does Damen know them? Does Ben know them? How did they know about me? Were they specifically after me? All these questions were bringing fearful tears to my eyes.

Once I hit Damen’s house and was crying uncontrollably, I looked around outside until I saw that nobody was around. Then I stepped out of the car and ran/limped to his door and started beating on it. A few seconds later, Damen opened the door. He looked like he just got out of bed and he was rubbing his eyes. For a minute I stopped crying and really looked at him. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, just a simple pair of sweatpants. He had the most beautiful, sculpted muscles ever. I longed to just reach out and touch them, but right now wasn’t the time. I began crying again.

Damen reached out to me and brought me into his arms. “Alice? What’s wrong babe?”

“Oh Damen! It was horrible!”

“What happened?”

I couldn’t speak right now, my fearful tears were spilling out my eyes even though I knew I was safe with Damen. Before I knew it, I was off of my feet and into his arms.

“What are you doing Damen?” I asked through sobs.

“You’re clearly not in the mood to talk right now, so you’re going to sleep with me.”

“What?” I asked shock.

“Not like that silly. I mean you’re going to lay with me in the bed and you’re going to sleep until morning. Then you can tell me what happened.” My face turned red from my misinterpretation. Damen saw that and leaned down to gently kiss me on the lips.


“Now is really not the time for what you were thinking.”

I smiled and my tears started to slow. I feel really safe with Damen here. As I was still in his arms, he walked with me up the stairs to his room. Then I realized that I’ve never been in his room before.

When we walked into his room, I was amazed. His room was like a normal room but just filled with old books and other old things. It had a couch over in one of the corners, and in the other three corners was a desk, a bed, and a bookshelf. His room was a dark red color with black carpeting. It seemed to fit him perfectly.

He walked over to the bed and set me down on one side. I winced because my ankle hit the bed wrong. “I’m sorry Alice, what did I do?” Damen asked frantically.

“You didn’t do anything. When I was running, I jumped from the top step and landed on my ankle wrong. I think it’s broken or something.”

“Let me see it,” he said. I gently brought my ankle over to where he was standing. He touched it in a few places and moved it around. He did it so carefully so that it didn’t hurt at all. “It’s broken, wait here.” He ran from the room and a split second later, he came back with some type of wrap and a brace.

“Oh no Damen, don’t make me wear that. I’ll look silly.”

“You always look beautiful to me.” I blushed but he didn’t notice because he was too busy wrapping my leg up and putting the brace on.

“How’d you know it was broken?” I asked.

“My dad taught me some things. Remember when I said he was a doctor? I wasn’t joking. And I really did want to be a doctor.”

“That’s really cool.”

He looked up and saw my arm. He scowled.


“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“You hurt your arm too?”

“It’s nothing.”

He frowned and went to lay on the other side of me. Once he was comfortable, he reached over and grabbed me to pull me to his side. I giggled like a little girl. Then he leaned down and kissed me on my head. He was careful of my ankle the whole time. We sat like that for about ten minutes. I decided that I could tell him now. I feel much better now that he’s with me.

“I want to talk now,” I said.

“You don’t have to. Just go to sleep and get some rest.”

“No Damen, I really need to tell you,” I said as I started to get up.

“Alright, as long as you stay here and lay with me.”

“Deal. I can handle that.” I leaned back down and cuddled into his side.

“I’m listening,” I heard him whisper into my ear.

“Right, sorry.”

“That’s all right, please begin.”

“Okay, well it all started after I woke up in the middle of the night. I wasn’t feeling very good so I went into the bathroom to get a drink. When I was walking to bed, I glanced out the window...” I blinked back the tears and Damen rubbed my shoulder in encouragement.

“It’s alright, I’m here now,” he said.

“Well... I saw two guys outside my window. They saw me looking at them, so they stared at me and then jumped up through my window. They weren’t human Damen.”

“WHAT?” Damen interrupted. It took me one blink of my eyes and Damen was across the room. I winced because Damen jostled the bed and made my ankle move. He ran back over to me. “Oops, I’m so sorry Alice. I didn’t mean to, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay Damen, just relax, I’m alright.”

“I can’t relax after what you just told me, and the fact that I hurt you.”

“Don’t worry Damen, I’m fine. As you can see, I’m still laying here, not dying.”

“How’d you even get away from them?”

“I-I ran and they grabbed me a couple times. I kicked them and yanked away from them. I got in my car, and came here. I guess it was just luck now that I think about it.”

“Oh my God! I’m so stupid.”

“Damen, none of this was your fault.”

“Yes it was. I had a feeling I should’ve stayed with you tonight! Ugh, I’m so stupid!” Damen sat down at the end of the bed.

I reached over and grabbed Damen’s chin and jerked it my way (knowing it wouldn’t hurt him). I looked him in the eyes and started yelling at him. “How can you even say that Damen? It’s not your fault at all. It’s not like you knew this was going to happen.”

“It is my fault. I should’ve went with the feeling in my gut.”

“Please just stop blaming yourself. It’s not your fault at all.” I was now begging him to stop blaming himself.

“Fine.”

“Thank you.” He leaned in to give me a quick kiss and a hug. Then I realized something.

“You still blame yourself don’t you?” I whispered into his ear.

“Of course I do," he said while pulling back.

“You’re impossible,” I said sarcastically while lightly punching him in the arm. He smiled at me and gave me another quick kiss.

“We’ll talk to Ben about it in the morning, please get some sleep now.”

“I don’t want to sleep anymore. I want to stay up with you.”

“Please? Just get some rest for me? I’ll stay here and lay with you.”

“Will you sleep too?”

“Of course.”

“Fine then.”

“Thank you.”

I laid back down and pulled the blankets over me. When I looked up, Damen was still sitting at the end of the bed.

“Well come on,” I said to him.

“Sorry, I was just thinking.”

“About what?” I asked as he was getting under the covers with me.

“Nothing important.”

“Oh, okay then.”

Once Damen was comfortable under the covers, I turned towards him and snuggled into his side. He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. Then I looked up towards him and he kissed me long and sweetly on the lips. I smiled at him and he smiled back.

“I love you Alice,” he said lovingly. Once thoughs words were out, I felt my heart swell up and nearly explode with glee. I could feel the happy tears start to pool up in my eyes.

“I love you too Damen,” I told him.

“What's wrong Alice?” He asked as he was wiping my tears away.

“Nothing’s wrong Damen, nothing at all.” I snuggled back up to his chest and drifted off to sleep.

When I woke up in the morning, Damen wasn’t by my side. Where was he? I got up out of bed and hopped into the bathroom from his room. I look like such a mess! I took my fingers and brushed them through my hair. It’s useless. I took the binder off my wrist and just put my hair up. I then put some of Damen’s toothpaste on my finger and brushed my teeth. There, now I feel much better. I started trying to make my way down the stairs and heard somebody in the kitchen. I hopped into the kitchen and saw Ben cooking some french toast.

“Good morning Ben.”

“Ah, hello Alice. How‘s your ankle?”

“It‘s alright, thank you for asking”

He continued to cook the french toast. “Was french toast one of your favorite foods?” I asked him.


“No, Damen asked me to cook you some breakfast when you got up.”

“Well thank you Ben, that's awfully nice of you.”

“It's no problem at all.”

“Speaking of Damen, where is he?”

“He’s out hunting.”

“Oh, right.”

Ben put the food in front of me and I thanked him again. “Did Damen tell you why I showed up here last night?” I asked before taking my first bite.

“No he did not.”

“This food is delicious by the way.”

“Thank you.”

I finished my french toast then looked at Ben. “I’ll tell you what happened.”

“No, I think we should wait for Damen to get here first, so we can discuss this problem.”

“Alright.”

Ben grabbed my dishes and put them in the sink. Then, he walked out of the kitchen. I didn’t want to be rude, so I hopped to the sink and did my dishes. Once mine were done, I decided to just do up all the other ones. I was nearly finished when I felt two arms go around my waist. I jumped and got water all over myself and whoever was behind me. I hopped around to see who it was.

When I turned around, I saw Damen with soap bubbles and water dripping down his face and dripping off of his clothing. He just stood there with bubbly water running everywhere. He looked so ridiculous that I couldn't help but crack up.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry Damen,” I said through my laughter as I grabbed a towel from the counter and started wiping his face. He laughed and took the towel from me.

“It’s fine Alice, it was my fault. I shouldn’t have snuck up on you after what happened last night.”

“No, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have gotten water everywhere.”

I took the towel back from him and started to wipe off the counter. “Alice, will you just stop? You’re all wet.”

“That’s alright, it’s my fault.”

I continued wiping off the counter until I felt the towel completely leave my hands. “Hey!” I complained.

“Will you please just stop Alice? You didn’t even have to do the dishes in the first place.”

“Well, I decided to do up my dishes and then just ended up doing all the others. Then I just made a mess and I want to clean it up.”

In the blink of an eye, all the water was wiped off from the counter and the floor. “There, now you can’t clean it up.”

“Ugh!”

I hopped back around and continued to do the dishes. I felt his arms go around my waist again, then I heard him whisper in my ear, “Are you mad at me?” His whisper sent chills up my back, it was sexy.

“No.” He leaned in and kissed my neck and it felt so good.

“Will you please stop doing the dishes?”

“Well, they have to be finished. They were already started.”

“Then I’m helping.”

“Fine.” He stood on the other side of me to rinse and dry.

“How’s your ankle this morning?” He asked.

“It’s alright, I’ll make it.”

“I’m sorry you’ve had to hop around all morning. We don’t have crutches or anything.”

“It’s alright.”

Once all the dishes were done, he pulled me to his side. “Are you happy now?” He asked sarcastically.

“I’ll be happier if you give me kiss,” I said as I hopped around and smiled at him. He laughed and slowly brought his lips to mine. Except it wasn’t just one kiss, it was like a hundred of them. We would’ve kept going on if we weren’t interrupted.

“If you love birds would kindly join me in the living room, we could discuss our problem,” I heard Ben say.

“Ugh,” I groaned against Damen’s lips.

He laughed and put his arm around my waist and pulled me up into his arms. “What are you doing Damen?” I asked with a laugh.

“I’m not letting you hop around all day.”

I smiled and he brought me to the living room and set me down on my foot. There was only one chair left because Ben was hogging the whole couch.

“Go ahead and sit in the chair Damen.” I was just about to sit on the floor when he grabbed my waist again.

“You can sit with me," he said. He sat down on the chair and pulled me down onto his lap.

“I’m not too heavy for you?”

“You’re light as a feather," he said.

We smiled at each other and Ben began the discussion. “So what exactly happened last night Alice?”

I told Ben the whole story that I had told Damen. He sat and listened to the whole story and I managed not to cry this time. When I was finished, Ben nodded his head. “And you said the names were Benny and Mikey?”

“Yes.”

“Explain exactly what they looked like.”

“I’ll explain Benny first. Benny had long, dark, straight hair. He was pretty muscular and had dark eyes. He was about your height Ben. And next is Mikey. He had short, blonde, wavy hair and also had dark eyes. He was also your height.”

“It’s exactly as I expected,” Ben said sadly.


“What happened when you were gone Ben? I thought this had something to do with you! It happened once before too, and it always ends up hurting me!” Damen said angrily to Ben.

“I’m really sorry Damen, I didn’t think it would come to this. I really didn’t want it to come to this.”

“What happened?” Damen must be really angry, I could feel his whole body tensed up. I really hope these two don’t fight.

“Well, those two and I used to be really good friends. We were out on a hunting trip. I convinced them to hunt animals years ago. We came upon the scent of some hikers. They wanted to take them down, but I said no. They went after them anyway, but I stopped them. I fought them until they gave up. They were really pissed off at me. They told me, ‘Just you wait Ben. We’ll find something really good to eat. You and your brother won’t like it at all.’ I didn’t believe a word they said and then I just left them and I came home.”

“You asshole!” They were lucky I was on Damen’s lap otherwise he probably would’ve got up to fight.

“I’m really sorry Damen, but don’t you see my point? They were going to kill innocent hikers.”

Damen relaxed a little bit. “I’m sorry for blowing up Ben. You’ve got a point, I just don’t like any dangerous situation that involves my girl.”

“So they’re after me now?” I asked.

“By the looks of it, yes,” Ben told me.

“Great, just my damn luck,” I said.

“Don’t worry sweetie, nothing’s going to happen to you.” Damen kissed the top of my head.

“I believe you Damen. I can stay here for a couple of nights right? I didn’t go into school today, so what’s another couple of days?”

“Alright, if it’s alright with your mom.”

“Can I borrow your phone?” I left my cell phone at home.

“Sure, here.” He gave me his phone. I got up and hopped into the kitchen and dialed my mom’s number. She answered frantically.

“Oh Alice! We were so worried. We woke up and you weren’t home. Where have you been? Why aren’t you in school?”

“Mom, mom, calm down so I can explain everything.”

“Alright Alice, go on.”

“I woke up last night feeling very afraid. I wanted to go see Damen really badly hoping he can make me feel better....” I quickly said the made-up story. But then my mom interrupted.

“Oh Alice, you didn’t... you know... did you?” She asked nervously.

“Oh mom, no! Damen even said himself, not yet. So please just let me finish.”

“Okay, I’m sorry honey.”

“Well, some things have been going on, so you don’t mind if I stay here at Damen’s for a while and skip school this week? It’s really important, and Ben will be here the whole time, so no worries. I promise that I will explain everything to you when I come back home.”

My mom grew silent so I knew she was pondering the idea. “If you insist Alice... But if you do anything... at least be safe.”

“Oh thank you mom, I’ll be home to get clothes and stuff later. We aren‘t going to do anything either so no worries.”

“Okay, I’ll se you later then honey, I love you.”

“Love you too mom.” I hung up the phone and hopped back into the living room. The two guys were practically huddled together.

“Am I interrupting anything?” I asked.

Damen turned towards me with a smile on his face. “Of course not, we’re just discussing things.”

“Like what?” I asked as I got on his lap again.

“Just different plans of action.”

“You’re not really going to fight are you?” I asked frantically.

“Of course we are Alice. That’s the only way to solve this problem,” Damen answered back to me.

“Please don’t get hurt,” I told him while burying my face in his chest. He rubbed my back in encouragement. When I finally looked up, Damen was looking at Ben with a hurt expression on his face.

“Damen, what’s wrong?”

Damen looked down at me and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. “It’s nothing you need to worry about hun.” I smiled.

“You want to go spend some time on the hill with me?” Damen asked.

“Sure, let’s go.” We got up out of the chair and he grabbed my hand and he grabbed his jacket and put it on. Once we were outside, I shivered. In all the rush last night, I didn’t grab a jacket.

“Are you cold?” Damen asked me.

“Yeah, I forgot my coat yesterday.”

“Here, take mine," he said while taking his coat off and handing it to me.

“I understand that you’re a vampire and all, but the cold doesn’t bother you at all?”

“Nope, not at all.”

“Why do you even wear a coat then?” I asked.

“Appearances.”

“Right.”

We walked (I hobbled) all the way over to the hill. I kept catching him looking at me very sadly and I really had no idea why. I’ll have to ask him later. Even though the ground was covered in frost, we both laid down on the grass. Damen put his arm under me so I had kind of a pillow. I cuddled up closer to him and he hugged me closer. I leaned in to kiss him but he stopped me. That’s never happened before.

“Damen? What’s wrong?” I asked sincerely.

He looked at me very sadly again. “I just don’t feel very good right now.”

Can vampires get sick? I really don’t think so.

“Well, why don’t you feel good? Are you like... sick or something?”

“No silly," he smiled. I finally got a smile from him, but it only lasted about five seconds, now he’s back to depressing again. “I’m just really worried about you.”

“Don’t be, I’ll be fine with you two.” For some reason, that made his face turn even more depressed. There’s something seriously wrong with Damen and I wish he would just tell me. He sat up a little bit and took my hand.

“Whatever happens, remember that I love you and that’s never going to change," he said quickly before he let go of my hand and laid back down. I cuddled back up to him, a little confused, but I let it go. We laid on the hill for about a couple of hours, then Damen got up. He grabbed my hand and helped me up.

“You want to go get some lunch?” He asked.

“At your place?”

“Yeah, unless you want to go some place else.”

“No, let’s just go back to your place.”

We walked (once again, I hobbled) back to his place and into the kitchen. He got out some hamburger and started making hamburgers. He looks so depressed and it’s kind of bumming me out that I can't do anything to make it better.

Once the hamburgers were made, he put one in front of me and the other in front of himself and we ate in silence. He is really bringing me down today. When we were finished, I walked over to the sink and put our dishes in it. I turned and faced Damen. He was just looking down at the table.

“I’m going to go read a book,” I said to Damen.

He nodded his head and I hopped up to his room alone. What’s his problem tonight? I hopped over to his bookshelves and started reading the spines of the books. I finally came across an ironic book. One about vampires. I picked the book up and hopped over to lay on his bed. I looked at the title of the book again. Vampires: Real? Or Fictional? Why would Damen even have this book in his room? I chuckled a little to myself and opened up the book and began reading.


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When I woke up, it was dark outside. I checked the clock; Midnight. I must have fallen asleep reading the book. I guess it wasn’t that interesting to me. I also forgot to go get clothes. I sat up in bed. Damen’s not here. Wonder why he didn’t lay with me tonight?

I got up out of the bed and hopped down to the living room. Where was everybody? There’s nobody sleeping on the couch. I hopped to Ben’s room and peaked inside. Nobody in there either. Huh. I returned to the living room and turned on the TV. Nothing on at midnight except Family Guy. I guess I will watch that.

I watched re-runs of Family Guy until five a.m. Don’t get me wrong, Family Guy is a funny show, but when you watch it for five hours, it gets boring. I think I took a little nap in between those five hours of TV, I can’t remember. Suddenly I felt a pair of arms go underneath me and pick me up. I jumped a little in their arms.

“It’s okay Alice, It’s just me,” I heard a husky voice say. Damen, he’s home. I opened my eyes and saw him looking down at me. He started heading towards the stairs.

“No Damen, I’m not tired anymore.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me Alice. You haven’t even gotten eight hours of sleep.”

“I’m not lying Damen. I’m seriously not tired anymore.” Then I really looked at his face. He was the same depressed person, only this time, he seemed even more depressed if that's even possible.

“Damen, please tell me what’s wrong,” I begged while he brought me back to the living room where Ben was.

“There’s nothing wrong with him Alice, he’s just worried,” Ben said as he gave Damen a dark look. What was that look for? What am I missing around here? Damen set me down on the couch and sat on the floor next to me. Fine! If he wants to be that way where he can’t even sit by me or kiss me, then so be it.

“Where were you guys?” I asked angrily.

Damen looked at me confused by my sudden burst of anger. Good. “We were out hunting.”

Wasn’t expecting that answer. “Oh.”

For about an hour, we all just sat there looking at each other. Then Damen finally said something. “Are you hungry Alice? We need to go someplace soon, so if you’re going to eat, eat now.”

Oh, we’re leaving somewhere are we?

“What if I don’t want to go?”

“Well, you’re going.”

“Where?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“Is Ben going?”

“Yeah, we’re all going.”

“I don’t want to go.”

Damen turned to look at me. He looked like he wanted to say something, but didn’t. I saw a really pained look cross his face and he said, “Will you go for me? Please?”

I looked at him closely. He was so sad that I couldn’t say no. “Fine, I’ll go.”

“Thank you.” He gave me a painful smile and turned back around.

“So are you going to eat?” Ben asked.

“No, I’m not hungry.”

“Suit yourself, we’ll go early then. How about it Damen?”

“Sure, let’s go.”

Then Damen did something really odd. He started walking towards the door. He didn’t even offer his hand to me or anything. That’s a first. He’s just going to make me hop to the car by myself. I got up and hopped after them. We all got into the car and started to drive away. After a while, I had no idea where we were.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“Nowhere you need to worry about right now,” Ben said.

“No seriously, where are we?” I asked demandingly.

We pulled over and Damen and Ben got out of the car. “I’m not getting out until you guys tell me where we are.”

I saw Ben and Damen’s lips move but couldn’t read them. Then Damen spoke to me. “Get out of the car Alice,” Damen said demandingly. I looked at his face and saw that it wasn’t pained anymore... It was angry.

“No.” I just got the word out when I was suddenly ripped out of the car by Damen. At least he was careful of the ankle.

“Damen!” I yelled. “What’s your problem?”

He was holding my arms. He grabbed my waist and threw me onto his shoulder like you see in the Shrek movie when Shrek throws Fiona over his shoulder. I hit him on his back telling him to put me down. I could tell it wasn’t phasing him at all, so I gave up.

“Where are you taking me?” I yelled at Ben who was walking behind us.

“We made a trade,” Ben said to me.

“What kind of trade?” I asked, confused.

“We knew they were here all along. Those two guys, we lured them to you. You were lucky you got away that night. Now we’re just bringing you to them. We traded you for information on certain people. Don’t worry, they’ll make the kill fast and painless, not slow and painful.” I felt Damen flinch underneath me.

“WHAT?” I screamed. “YOU’RE BRINGING ME TO THEM? THIS WAS PLANNED THE WHOLE TIME?” I continued to scream. “I thought you loved me Damen. But I knew deep down that somebody like you couldn’t possibly love me. I knew it was too good to be true.” I said the last part while crying. Damen tensed up underneath me.

I sat there quietly (besides the crying) and patiently, and also very coldly. They never gave me a jacket. There was nothing I could possibly do against two vampires, soon to be four. Might as well take these last few minutes and think of the good times with my mom and Zoey. Oh, how I’ll miss those two. I started to cry even harder.

These last two days have made sense. He wasn’t showing any emotion towards me these last two days because he knew that soon he wouldn’t have to pretend to love me anymore. I finally see the reason. A couple of minutes later, we came to a clearing. Damen set me down on the ground. His face was a toss up between depressed and angry.

“Don’t move,” he told me.

I gave him the dirtiest look I could come up with. “Sure, I’ll just sit here and wait for the two to come and eat me. No problem. Tell me when they’re coming so I can look as appetizing as possible for them,” I said sarcastically. If I’m going to die, I might as well not spend my last few minutes crying.

Pain flashed across Damen’s face. Good, I hope he suffers big time. He made me feel like I finally had someone to love me. I guess not, all of it was just a show.

“Just don’t move," he said again. I gave him another dirty look and sat there like a good little girl. Even if I did run, I wouldn’t have a chance anyways. A couple of minutes later, the two others from the night before showed up. They looked me over and I gave them a dirty look too.

“Still feisty I see?” Mikey asked.

“Of course,” I replied.

“I didn’t think you guys would come through with our trade,” Benny said.

“Yeah, you really made it look like you loved her,” Mikey added on.

“You guys should know me and my brother by now. When we make a trade, we go through with it,” Ben said.

“This could’ve been a time where you didn’t go through though,” Mikey said.

“You’re right, this could’ve been,” Damen said.

“Ah, Damen. How’ve you been? It’s nice to see you again,” Benny said.

“I’ve been alright Benny. How’ve you been?”

“No time for chit-chat fellas. We just came for the girl. And you gave her to us damaged?” Mikey interrupted while scrutinizing me.

“She’s damaged because of you guys,” Damen said.

The other two smiled wickedly.

“Come and get her, she’s all yours,” Ben said.

Benny and Mikey started walking towards me. I was about to close my eyes when they were two feet away, but Damen ran from the side and slammed into both of them. “Don’t touch her!” I heard him yell. I got up and stepped back into a tree. Damen was taking on Mikey. Benny was about to attack Damen when Ben stepped in and started taking on Benny. While they both continued on fighting, I turned around to try and find something to help. I spotted a really sharp branch. I wonder if this is just a myth, or can you really kill a vampire with a wooden stake through the heart? Oh well, I guess anything is worth a try.

I hopped as fast as I could over to the branch and grabbed it in my hand. I then hopped over to where the fight was going on and hopped to Damen and Mikey. I waited for the right moment to where I could get a clear shot of Mikey’s heart. It wasn’t easy, they were moving so fast. But I finally got a clear shot. I stabbed the branch at Mikey’s heart as hard as possible then pulled it out. Mikey quit fighting and a few seconds later, he fell to the ground. Damen was confused at first until he looked over and saw me holding the bloody branch. He gave me a quick ’thanks’ and went to help his brother. I held my hand up and he stopped. I held out the bloody branch.

“Take this.” Damen nodded and grabbed the branch. Once he grabbed it, I realized how confused I was. If this was a trade off, how come they are fighting. And why did Damen stand up for me? Oh, I get it now. They must not have gotten the information that they traded for. Well, I guess they don’t need me anymore.

I turned around and started hopping away. After a while I began crying again. There were a couple of good reasons why:

1. I thought he really loved me.

2. It all seemed so real.

3. I can’t believe I didn’t realize it sooner.

4. I should’ve known love like that would never happen to me.

5. I am very cold.

6. I was lost.

7. My ankle really hurt.

The last three were excellent reasons. I seriously had no idea where I was going, I just kept walking in one direction. I should come out to a road eventually. I also should’ve ate when I had the chance, now I’m starving. And my ankle is killing me, it feels like pins and needles and just pure throbbing pain shooting up my ankle. I have to kind of walk on it now because my other leg is soar from all the hopping. It also doesn't help that I don't have a jacket, it is January after all...

A little while later, which seemed like an hour, I sat down next to a tree and just started crying. I’m hungry, cold, lost, tired, in pain, and who knows what else. I just sat there and cried. I may die out here... Then, I heard a branch snap. I looked up quickly and saw Damen standing there alone.

“Are you okay?” I heard him ask.

“What do you care?” I snapped.

He looked at me very painfully, like I hit a nerve or something. I couldn’t have though, because he really doesn’t care. He already admitted that once already. “Do you want me to help you out of here?” He asked.

“No, I’ll find my own way out,” I snapped again while standing up and trying to hop in the opposite direction from where Damen was.

“Please Alice, please just listen.” I turned around and saw him knelt on the ground nearly crying. “You have no idea how hard that was for me. I didn’t want to go through with the plan from the beginning, but it was the only way we could get them to come.”

“What are you talking about Damen?” I asked.

“You have no idea what it felt like when Ben told you that it was all a lie. It wasn’t all a lie and I can’t believe you believed that. Don’t you remember what I told you yesterday on the hill? From how in love we were, you hear one thing and you just assume that it’s true.”

I hopped and sat down next to him. “Yeah Damen, I did believe it. It wasn’t that difficult for me to believe it because it was more probable than you really actually loving me.”

“Oh Alice, you seriously have no idea how hard it was. Once they looked at you the way they did, I just snapped. I can’t see you in danger like that ever again.”

“Why not Damen? I’m really confused now. You said you didn’t like me and now you’re telling me you like me. Is there another trade or what’s going on?”

“Can’t you see Alice?” He looked up from the ground to look into my eyes. “I’ve loved you all along. I told you yesterday that I’d love you no matter what happened. I’ve never stopped loving you. There’s no possible thing on earth that could stop me from loving you.”

“So all this was just a plan so you could kill those guys and get them to leave me alone?”

“Yes! Yes! Alice, you get it now. Could you ever forgive me for what I did? That was the worse thing anybody could’ve ever done to you and I went along with it anyways.”

“It was for my own good though.”

“It doesn’t matter, I still shouldn’t have went along with it. We should've told you our plan and had you go along with it.”

“Don’t blame yourself Damen, you did the right thing.”

“And when we were done fighting them, I turn around to try to explain everything to you and you were gone. I got really worried.”

“I’m sorry Damen, I just assumed that you guys were done with me.”

“I’m never going to be done with you Alice. Never.”

I looked into his eyes and I saw everything. I don’t know how to explain it, but I could just tell that he was telling the truth.

“I’ll tell you what Damen, I’ll make a deal with you.”

“Please, no more deals or trades or plans.”

“Trust me, this one’s a good one.”

“Okay, tell me.”

“If you kiss me right here, right now, I’ll forgive you. I know it sounds kind of cheesy, but that’s my deal.”

“A kiss just isn’t good enough.”

“What do you mean it’s not good enough?” I asked.

“You need more than one kiss to make up for everything that I did to you.”

“I can live with that.”

He leaned in and started kissing me. I could still feel the fire that his kisses bring even though my body was freezing. He kissed all around my neck, cheek, and lips. All the trails left mini fires. I know it’s only been like two days, but God have I missed his kisses. He was now pushing me backwards and was on top of me, being careful of my ankle. He continued kissing me.

After our little make-out session, Damen leaned down and whispered huskily into my ear, “Am I forgiven?”

“Definitely,” I whispered back.

He gave me one more kiss and stood up. He offered his hand like normal and helped me up. I’m glad all of this is over with. Damen put his arms around my waist and brought me up into his arms and carried me. I’m glad we made up, I would have been hopelessly lost.

“Ben’s been waiting for us in the car.”

“Are you serious? We’ve been making him wait on us?”

“Yeah, he deserves it though for coming up with that nasty plan.”

“You’re so mean.” I lightly slapped his arm and he continued carrying me to the car.

The next few months went by excellently. Heavy kissing sessions with Damen, spending most of my time with Damen, going to the hill with Damen. As you can see, everything had something to do with Damen; we were inseparable. Also, somehow at school, he had the school change all of his classes so we were together. Don’t know how he did it, but he did. Thing is, we didn’t sit by each other in every class though, and that part sucked.

So far, no new vampire attackers coming to get me. I’m just waiting for that day though, when a whole gang gets together and just comes at me. That would be just my luck. Well, I hope that never happens though, just have to keep thinking positively. If it does happen, I’ll have Damen and his brother there for me.