I touch my swollen lips with a smile on my face. I don't understand what happened. One minute, I was arguing with the jackass; the next, I was kissing him. However, that's not even the most terrifying thing. It's the fact that I enjoyed this kiss and enjoyed it more than I should have.

I giggle but quickly cover my mouth with my finger as I remember Angela's face. I sit down and stare off into space, biting my bottom lip. I'm left wondering what to do next.

Eventually, a chime comes in, letting me know I received a text.

I am fascinated by the shape of your lips and how they fit so perfectly with the shape of mine.

Initially, I felt like I was in paradise, completely lost in my thoughts and free from any worries. I was happy and carefree. However, my peaceful state didn't last long as I noticed Angela angrily walking towards me in the cafeteria and sitting beside me.

Angela slams her tray onto the table, revealing her anger. I stare at her warily, fearing she discovered my secret with Leo.

"Did you meet Carmel?"

I feel so relieved. I feel like a bouncing ball, but I nod soberly.

"Yeah, she's a piece of work," I murmur.

"I hate them. Leo was seeking someone to sire, but he already has one," Angela sighed, angrily taking a bite of her bagel.

I feel guilty; my honest voice screams at me to come clean. But my reasoning as a traitor tells me to keep my mouth shut.

I am about to say something trivial to light up the mood when Elena sits next to me, giving me a death glare that makes Angela take the hint. She picked up her plate and walked away.

Elena stares at me while I hesitantly eat, wondering why she's here. "You've been skipping class a lot," she says.

I take a bite of my bagel, feigning enjoyment of my food to avoid talking to her. "You can't expel me," I say smugly with a mouth full of bread.

She gives me an angry, piercing stare. "Don't tempt me."

"Please. You and I both know you want me just as dead as the person I am looking for."

She gave me a sinister grin, which made me want to retaliate, but I took another bite of my bagel.

"Lexi," the headmistress murmurs angrily under her breath.

"Can't trust vampires nowadays," I chuckle, almost spitting bread out of my mouth.

Elena gave me a look full of disgust, shook her head, and left.

Eon stands in front of me with a friendly smile. I notice that in his hands is a glass of blood. "Mind if I sit with you?"

I am about to say no, but Leo's words come back to my mind. You wouldn't have fallen for me if I was sweet like Eon.

"Sure," Eon's eyebrow shot up in surprise, and he sat down fast. "So what did the headmistress want?"

"Oh, she just wanted to talk to me about me skipping classes."

Eon chuckles. "Ah, Isabella, the rebel."

I laugh despite myself. "It wouldn't be me without being a rebel."

"I like one thing about you," Eon says, looking at me with blue eyes resembling storm clouds. He moves closer to me but clears his throat as if recalling something unpleasant. Suddenly, with a sad expression, he gazes into his glass of blood.

"Eon." He looks up at me. "Thank You."

He looked at me in disbelief, and I felt terrible. "Why?" he whispered.

"For being you, being patient with me. You are a good person-"

Eon moves closer to me, and even though I feel the urge to get up and create some distance between us, I decide to stay put. With his intense gaze, he seemed to be trying to communicate something to me. Intrigued, I lean in closer and smile.

Eon is the definition of a gentleman. "Isabella," he whispers. He leans closer, lips parting, and I open my mouth to tell him he's confusing the scene-

"Am I interrupting something?"

I stand up fast and glare at Leopold. He knows damn well he is. "Leave us alone-"

Eon quickly stands up and gathers his things, his body trembling. "We can talk later," he says, gasping for air. I try to object, but he doesn't wait; he rushes out of the room, almost running. I stare at his retreating figure, wondering why he's so afraid of Leopold. But then I remember the first day of school when I witnessed their rivalry. I turn and glare at Leo.

"What were you two talking about?" Leo asks, glaring after Eon, then returning to look at me with a smirk.

"None of your damn business," I say and try to walk away.

Leo grabs me by the arm, pulling me to him. "Isa-"

"Isabella," Angela interrupts Leo by yelling my name angrily. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

I snatch my hand back and step back, turning towards Angela. "Sure," I say.

"In private," Angela says, staring at Leopold.

"Well, since I was here first-" Leo says, glaring at Angela.

"Leopold, I don't want to deal with you right now. I need to talk to Angela first. Can you meet me in the woods?" Leo frowns and purses his lips but agrees to the request. He briefly glares at Angela with a look of anger before leaving.

I stare at Angela warily. "What's wrong?"

"I was on my way to class. When I found out something about your parents."

My heart is racing with anticipation. I have been waiting to hear something about my parents for a long time. Angela's tone sounds tense, but I can't focus on that; all I can think about is the news she has for me.

"What did you find out about my parents?" I ask, my breath coming out in short, raspy gasps. I've been at this school for months, trying to find out who killed them. I have a terrible feeling about why Angela knows before I do.

"Do you still want revenge for your parents?"

"I do," I murmur.

"It didn't look like it to me." She had an edge to her tone. She is angry at me.

"Have you been homeless, Angela?" I interrupt her.

"No," she says through clenched teeth.

"Angie, if you had walked a day in my shoes, you might understand where I'm coming from. Do you know what sleeping on the streets or in the woods is like, constantly watching your back for vampires looking for their next meal? Have you ever worried about what you would eat for the day or if you would have to go another day without food?" Her glare softened a little. "I have. I've been on the streets since I was six or seven. Yes, this place gave me a bit of normalcy, and I took it. I might have forgotten about my revenge for a while, but it's not something I'd leave behind. Because I knew this day would eventually come, and then it would be back to the streets."

"I'm sorry," she mumbles.

But she didn't feel sorry; she only said it delicately because my life was messed up. Angela transformed from a kind person to a distant one.

"You don't need to apologize. You're my friend-" I say.

"Are we?" she interrupts me.

"Look, I know I have been distant lately-- "

"Is there something you want to tell me?" I stare at her, and I know she knows. This is the time to come clean and tell her. But I chicken out. I shake my head no.

"Not really," I say softly, hoping she doesn't hear my lie.

She gave me an angry look and pulled out her cell phone. "Listen, as your friend," she says, emphasizing the word friend with disgust. "I found something out about your parents that I think you should know."

"Really?" My heart races with anticipation and dread. I never wanted to know, but some part of me has always been curious. This might be the moment I've been waiting for. She handed me her phone and pressed play. I look down at the screen and see a conversation between Leo and Elena. They're arguing about something.

"Are you kidding me? I sent Lexi to take care of that bitch for you, and you did it yourself?"Leo looks around nervously, making sure no one is listening in. Angela had picked a well-hidden spot, and he didn't see her.

"I told you I would handle it," he hissed.

I look up at Angela, who smirks like Carmel did when I first met her.

Elena chuckles, bringing my attention back to my phone. "Oh, yeah. That stupid plan to change her mind about revenge by getting her to fall for you?" My heart sinks. This couldn't be happening. "How's it working?" A tear fell down my cheek, and I quickly wiped it away. But I know Angela saw it.

"Pretty good. She and I share a kiss. She has given me her blood willingly. That's a victory since we know how Isabella feels about vampires."

Elena laughed in Leo's face. "You think she will stay love-struck and let you keep feeding off her once she knows you are the one she's been looking for all along?"

Leo hissed under his breath and got even closer to her. I can feel it. My heart is breaking into pieces. I start to feel numb.

"I told you I will handle it. Lexi is on you."

Elena glared at Leo, mad about what happened to Lexi. "You have one week, Leopold, to bring that little girl around. Or I will handle the little situation myself."

I closed the phone and gave it to Angela. A few seconds ago, I told Angela I was taking a break and wanted to be expected. I scoff.

Normal...

The moment I stepped into the school has been pre-ordained by the fucking vampires. From the beginning, they all knew who I was and why I was there.

You and I have something special.

We sure did. He murdered my parents in cold blood. I looked up to see Angela glaring at me with hurt in her eyes.

"You kissed him-"

"He kissed me," I snap at her. That's when I realized what Angela's true motives were. She and I stopped being friends minutes ago, and now I know that she just wanted to hurt me all along, and she succeeded. "I pushed him off me and ran away. I've been avoiding trying to avoid him whenever it has not been necessary to talk to him."

"You keep asking to donate the blood to Leopold as punishment, and then the other day, you willingly gave him your blood-"

"Once," I am yelling now. "Once, and you knew about it. But you are right. I should have left him in the woods to die after that human tortured him!"

She stares at me and has the decency to look guilty. I have excellent points.

"I'm so sorry... I should have talked-"

"Save it," I say, standing up and walking away.

"Isa," I stop forming a fist as I stare at her. She has worry lines on her face. I have a feeling it wasn't about me either. "What are you going to do?" I give her a cruel smile.

"I will confront the monster and leave the school as planned. This is not my place anymore."

She nods, trying to look sad. But there is a smile hidden on her face.

Well, she has another thing coming. If she thought Leopold would be alive, she could enjoy him. I wasn't lying. I would confront Leopold and kill him, and I would die trying.

I ran to my dorm and got my old backpack from under the bed. I put on silver knuckles and gloves on top of them. I took the wooden stake and hid it behind my back. I stare at the mirror for a quick second. The girl who stares back at me has no feelings. I walk down towards the bench. With every step I take, a piece of my humanity dies a little more.

As I walk into the woods, I can see Leopold; he's too close to the school for my liking, so I keep walking, ignoring him. Hoping he'll follow instead of stopping me. He does, but doesn't let me go far. He steps in front of me, blocking my path.

"Isa, the woods are not safe for you-"

"Neither is the school."

"You are safe at school, Isabella; no one will hurt you there. Trust me."

I snickered. "That's right because YOU are the one I've been looking for all along."

Leo's smirks falls down his face like wet paint dripping down a wall. Leo steps towards me, and I march backward, bringing him deeper into the woods. "Who told you?" There's a dark undertone to the question, and for a moment, I am tempted to let him know it was Angela, but I smirk at him.

"Does it matter?"

"Yes," he says, his hands balling up into a fist and gritted teeth. "You were not supposed to find out this way. I was going to talk to you."

"Were you though?" I don't know what Leopold sees. But he cringes at my look. I walk towards him slowly but deliberately. My fist slams into his face, and thanks to the silver knuckles, blood pools in his mouth as I stumble apart for a brief second with a grunt from the effort.

But that sight of blood, even if it was for a second, has been satisfying to see. Leo stares at me with a look that screams confusion. In an instant, Leo was in front of me, putting his hands on each side of my arm and pulling me to him.

"Let's no overreact-"

"Overreact?" I screech. "You murdered my parents!" I lift my leg fast and kick him hard in the groins. My knee bruises instantly with the kick, but I pretend it doesn't and stand straight as Leo holds onto his member. I stare at him, enjoying his pain for a few seconds. Leo's jaw drops, eyes widening in disbelief as if a sudden jolt of electricity had coursed through his veins, leaving them momentarily stunned.

Leo stands up slowly and glares at me. The look he's giving says he's deciding something; whatever it is, I won't like it.