At breakfast, Angela is already waiting for me. Her nostrils flared the moment she laid eyes on me.

I could feel my eyebrows furrow together. "Are you mad at me?"

"You let Leopold lick your neck?" 

I grimace at the thought. "Holy hell, where did you hear that?"

"Answer me-"

"NO! Could you answer me? I am so sick of everyone being informed about everything I do!"

"There were witnesses of Eon asking you about not having bite marks on your neck; Eon told everyone what Leopold said to the headmistress."

"Did you also hear Leopold use compulsion?" Her cheeks are suddenly rose-petal pink.

"No. It has been spread that you two-"

I stand up fast, slapping two hands on the table. "WHAT?"

"I'm sorry. I should have asked you."

I purse my lips. I should not get mad at Angela. She likes Leopold. "I'll see you around Angela-"

I stand up straight and turn, bumping up into Eon.

"Well, hello there, beautiful."

I look up and stare at Eon. "I'm in a hurry-"

Leo puts a hand on my arm and pulls me slightly towards him. "Wait," 

I look at the arm and then at him. He lets go. "Thanks to you, the whole school thinks I am a slut that goes around letting-"

"No. I didn't say that." I turned to where Angela was, and she was gone. "I wouldn't hurt your reputation, Bella."

"What exactly did you say?"

"I didn't say anything. People heard our conversation and just ran with it. It's just easy saying all of the rumors came from me-"

"You are just the new human girl; this always happens. Your life is out there for everyone to see. Eventually, you'll be invisible and miss all this attention-"

"I wish I was invisible now," I murmur. 

"It will come; you should use that popularity to your advantage with your search."

Leo's warning was suddenly actual, but I couldn't help myself. "Did you hear something?"

"Only that, the person you might be looking for... Is here." I get close to Eon, who smiles at me as he stares at my lips, but I don't care.

"Do you know who?"

"No." But how rigid his whole body is makes me believe he's lying. "But I wish you would just enjoy the free ride and forget about it."

"I will." I smile. Eon is trying to use compulsion on me, so lying to him is easy.

"Hey, I have seen you in swim class; Angela is your partner, but I know there's an assignment today where the teacher will ask you to pair up with a vampire. We are already friends; you want me to help you get an A."

I smile again, noticing he's not asking; he's telling me. "Yes, we will be partners today." Eon leans towards me, about to kiss me, and I reel back so fast I almost fall to the floor on my ass, but thanks to my good reflex, I am standing up. He frowned and stared at me as if looking for something. I know I might let him know he can't use compulsion. I need to save it. "I'm sorry someone is getting close to me like that without warning. It's not good. I have been attacked a lot."

Eon smiles and relaxes. "No one will hurt you here." I doubt that. "You know I have a crush on you since I saw you. Give me a chance," Eon frowns. And I know I am supposed to accept his command, but he's taking it too far. I try to smile and open my mouth to lie when Lexi finally saves the day.

"Trouble in paradise, Eon?" She smirks, and Eons stands up, glaring at her. He doesn't appreciate her coming and interrupting.

"Lexi, always a pleasure."

"Yes, good times," Lexi giggles. 

Eon glares at her, then turns towards me with a smile, grabs my hands, and I fight the urge to snap it back. "Let's talk later, okay."

"Yes." 

Eon winks and blows a kiss my way; when I turn to look at Lexi, she's staring at me with a winning smile. You have a disgusting mess here.

"What do you mean?"

"You and Angela fighting over Leopold-"

"We are not-"

"She is donating blood on purpose... You by punishment. She thinks that she will win his heart first."

"We are not-" I try again.

Lexi stares intently into my eyes, and I know once again this bitch is trying to use compulsion on me. "Don't lie,"

"I won't," I say, hoping I sound like a robot. 

Lexi seemed about to say something, and suddenly, her whole expression changed as if it didn't matter anymore. "I came to see you because you're looking for the vampire that killed your parents. You want to kill that vampire right."

Fuck, if I lie, she will know... Maybe she will tell me. I can do my revenge and survive the fight.

"That's right,"  I say with the same robotic tone.

"Do you want me to tell you?"

I get close to Lexi with hope in my eyes. "Yes."

"Well, I can't tell you here..." She leans towards me and puts her mouth clothes to my ear. "Too many witnesses, they might inform the headmistress."

I step back and nod. "Yes, your dorm-"

"No," she turns towards the woods. "We'll be alone in the woods, let-"

"Hey, Isa?" Angela says, walking towards us, oblivious that she interrupted what I have been waiting for my whole life.

Lexi hiss. "I'll wait for you in the woods." With that, she walks away, and I stare at her until I no longer can. I turn towards Angela, almost excited. 

Finally!

"Angela, I can't-."

"Are you ok?"

"Yes, I just have to go-"

"Isabella, people think we are fighting." I turn and stare at her.

"What?"

"Yeah, they think we compete for Leopold Love,"

"Well, that's stupid. Leopold doesn't have a heart." I wink at her.

She giggles. "Do you like Leopold at all?"

"No..."

Angela hugged me, and I stood there awkwardly, patting her back. "That's such a relief. Suppose you were interested in him. I would have never had a chance at him."

"Angela, don't talk about yourself that way. Have you seen yourself in the mirror? Not only are you an exquisite girl, but you have a beautiful soul."

"Sometimes that doesn't matter," Angela says sadly.

"Well, you have nothing to fear from me. I will not be a competition against you." But as soon as the words left my mound, it felt like I had lied to her for the first time since I met Angela.

Angela gave me another long hug. I just put my arms around her limply. "Thank You." Angela murmurs. 

I step back and smile at her. "I have somewhere I need to be. I'll be seeing you later then.

"It's not with Lexi, is it?"

"Why?"

"Oh, come on, Isabella, she doesn't like humans, and you are number one on her list of girls she doesn't like-"

"She won't kill me on school grounds-"

Angela turns to look where Lexi left. "Technically, the woods are not school grounds. I'll go with you-"

"Don't you have science?"

"Isa, and you have math. Getting in trouble would be me getting high; for you is hell. You still need to finish your days with Leopold. Do you want to add more?"

"Oh, come on, I won't fight with Lexi. We are just going to talk-"

"Missing class is forbidden, you know that."

"Hey, vampires choose what classes they attend and always miss class. I am just missing one-"

"Vampires are immortals, and this is a vampire school; we are guests here; we do as we are told, not what we see-"

"Are you defending them?"

"No. I am telling you exactly what will happen."

"I'll try to talk myself out of trouble-"

"You won't! And that will be another week of you giving blood to Leopold and getting kissed in the neck-" Angela's voice raise an octave.

"First of all, he doesn't kiss it-"

"How do you know?"

"I don't. I don't even remember how he does it-"

"That's my point. Please, let's go to class?"

I don't have time for this, and I smile since we don't have the same class together.

"Ok, you're right." I walk to the building and wait until Angela can't see me anymore, and I turn around and go towards the woods. I run, avoiding any guards or patrol; they will send me straight to the office.

"Lexi?" I heard nothing, so I kept walking deeper into the woods. I can hear the crunch of the leaves underneath my feet and the wind whistling through the trees; damp wood smells good after rainfall. "Lexi!"

"I'm over here," she sounds far away, so I run towards the voice.

"Lexi?" 

"Over here," she sings, and I can hear it slightly close to it. I ran towards the voice. I look around, disoriented. The trees tower above, their branches twisting and gnarling like grasping fingers. A thick carpet of leaves muffled my footsteps as I walked deeper into the woods. The air is thick with the scent of decaying leaves and damp earth; that is when I sense danger. Like before, I know I am in danger usually; when I get this feeling in the woods, I run towards a familiar place where I could get an advantage. I turn to look where the school is, and I can't remember for some reason. I am very familiar with the woods, but I must have taken a wrong turn because I need help deciphering what part of the woods I have taken.

 I need help. 

I am about just to run when Lexi speaks.

"Well," I turn to the angry voice. "Took you long enough,"

I stared at Lexi; something told me she'd been looking for an excuse to get me like this. Alone and with no one around...