A soft knock on my bedroom door woke me up, followed by another knock, and then my Aunt Jenna slowly popped her head into my room. I stared at her with sleepy eyes as she walked over to my bedside and placed a glass of water and some paracetamol on my dresser.

"I've brought these just in case. How was last night?" she asked gently. I pulled the duvet up over my head and felt her sit on the end of the bed. What could I even tell her? She gently squeezed one of my feet through the duvet so I resurfaced slowly.

"Erm, it was... eventful."

"Eventful?" she probed.

"Yes. The first place we went was pretty fun."

"And the second?" she pushed.

"The second was fun until it was awful," I stopped and took a sip of water.

"Were Kalen's friends nice to you?"

"Oh yeah, it was nothing like that. Broch actually met me here last night to walk with me, and Gabriel ordered me a taxi home." I could see I'd thrown her.

"Did you drink too much?"

"No," I looked at her face, "No, I literally had three drinks, it was just a fight broke out in the club and it was really scary. Some guy grabbed me and Kalen got all defensive, but the guy seemed to own the club, and then the others were trying to defend me and I, well, I just ran out of there and did nothing at all," I spluttered, feeling guilty and ashamed.

Jenna watched my expression for a moment. "Oh Anastasia, I'm glad that you got yourself to safety, that was really sensible," she paused, "I'm really proud of you."

"I got into a bit of an argument with Kalen about it though."

"Is that why your phone is on the other side of the room?"

"Yeah. I just wasn't ready to deal with him last night... to be honest, I'm not sure if I'm ready to deal with him today either."

She brushed my fringe away from my eyes with a soft hand. "If you're not ready to tackle this head on yet, I get it. Just give yourself some time and figure out what you want to say." She looked at me carefully. "It's better to take the time to figure out the right thing to say than rush and say something you might regret. Plus, you and Kalen have been best friends for years, you'll figure it out."

I nodded. "I guess. Thanks for the water by the way, although I really don't think I'll need the paracetamol."

Jenna laughed and stood up, grabbing the paracetamol from the table. She paused at the door and looked at the pill box in her hand. "If you don't need these then you did a much better job than me on my first night out. I remember your mum told our parents I was sick with flu the entire next day - I was so hungover I couldn't get out of bed!" she giggled in a sad way.

"I think she'd be really proud of what you did last night though. You know how she and your dad felt about getting into fights," Jenna said, and her smile made the slight lines around her eyes crinkle just like my mum's used to, then she left, shutting the door behind her.

It always made me both happy and sad when Aunt Jenna talked about my mum. I looked at the picture of my parents hung up on the wall. I missed them. Without my mum's blonde hair or my dad's dark eyes, I didn't look much like either of them, but sometimes I liked to think that we were alike in other ways instead. Jenna always said her big sister had quite a fiery and protective character, and I was definitely fiery – when I wasn't running away like a scared little girl. I sighed, threw back the covers and trudged through into the bathroom.

Once inside, I undressed and slung my dirty pjs into the washing basket, then climbed into the shower when the water was hot. I just stood there for a while, letting the water wash over me, unknotting my muscles and slowly running down my face. After a few moments, I began to wash my hair, massaging my head at the same time, trying to release some of the tension that had gathered up, and it worked, for a while. I coated my long, thick hair in conditioner and watched the tendrils run midnight black through my fingers. Leaving the conditioner in, I lathered up a sponge and quickly washed all the sweat from last night off my skin before rinsing my hair. Finally clean, I stepped out of the shower and towelled myself dry before pulling on a vest top and jogging bottoms.

I grabbed a different towel and patted my hair dry as much as possible before running a brush through it. Deciding I was too hungry to bother with the hair dryer, I pulled on a zip hoodie and socks, then made my way to the kitchen. Finding a box of Coco Pops in the cupboard, I poured myself a generous portion before covering it in milk. Aunt Jenna was already in the front room catching up on the Great British Bake Off when I slouched onto the sofa next to her.

"This programme always makes me hungry for cake or pie," Aunt Jenna complained, staring down at her Alpen in disappointment. I mumbled my agreement through a mouthful of cereal.

When the adverts came on Jenna turned to me, "How shaken up are you about what happened last night?"

I stared at her for a moment, trying to read the expression on her guarded face. "Erm, I'm okay," I mumbled, "Why?"

"Because I'm supposed to be staying at Natalie's tonight, but if you're feeling worried or unsure, you and I can always have a film night here, just the two of us?" She babbled.

I smiled at her. "No, please, go to Natalie's and have fun tonight. I'm more than happy to get take out, at your expense, and watch films solo..." I replied, raising my eyebrows in the hope she would pay for my dinner.

"Fine, fine, but I'm only paying for you. If any of the others come over then they have to pay for their own!"

"That was one time and it was a mistake!" I grinned, "They all paid you back...

"Eventually!" she shot back with raised eyebrows. "Seriously though Anastasia, are you sure you'll be okay on your own tonight?"

"Yeah. I'm fine," I said and pointedly started watching the TV again.

Although, I wasn't fine. I was far from fine but I knew being around Jenna, and pretending I was fine, wouldn't make me magically any better. I needed some space to sort out my thoughts.

"On a scale of yes to no, would you be okay giving me lifts to Wepre Woods this morning?" I asked.

"I'll go with a 50% yes. I can give you a lift there but I've got to get a few things done this afternoon so would you be okay getting the bus back?"

"Yeah, that'd be absolutely fine, thank you. I'll just go get ready now. When would you be okay leaving?"

"I've got to sort out the kitchen and get myself washed and dressed, say 45 minutes?"

"Perfect, thanks," I said, standing up, collecting our bowls and taking them through to put into the dishwasher.

Running up the stairs two at a time, I made it through my bedroom and into my bathroom quickly. After a brief assessment in the mirror, I brushed through my hair and stared at myself smugly; it was getting really long now with the ends covering my chest. A length my mum used to refer to as 'mermaid hair'. Once I'd curled my full fringe with my straighteners I applied way too much hairspray and then turned my attention to my make-up. I applied mascara, plucked a few errant eyebrow hairs, smoothed concealer under my eyes and went top-heavy with my winged eyeliner.

The doorbell rang. Jenna asked me to get it so I jogged back down the stairs and opened the front door to find Kalen on the other side staring at me in surprise. I didn't say anything.

"Ana, I wanted to check that you were okay after last night. You didn't respond to my texts," he said with a gentle but accusatory tone.

"I turned my phone off. I haven't checked it since I sent the text," I explained somewhat inadequately.

"Oh, okay," he paused, "Look, can I come in? I need to talk to you."

I stepped back and let him into the hall so I could shut the door behind him. I wasn't going to let him any further into the house, but standing in such close proximity made me feel uncomfortable after last night, so I walked through to the kitchen. He followed me and we stood at opposite sides of the island counter in silence. He smiled at me awkwardly, but I wasn't able to return it; all I could think about were the fangs I'd seen him sporting the previous evening.

After a few more floundering moments, I looked at his face carefully. "So what did you want to say?"

"I don't know Ana, I just needed to check that you're okay, that we are okay? When you cringed away from me last night..." his shoulders slumped a little, and he watched me with sad eyes.

"Honestly Kalen, I don't know if I'm okay. I don't know if I can deal talking to you about it yet. Last night was so... screwed up. It was just a huge mess," I replied quietly, answering the question I could. "I was so frightened..."

"I never wanted you to be frightened. I didn't want you to be in danger at all... I didn't want you to come out, but you and the others were so pushy about it..."

"Don't you dare turn this back round on me," I said with a coldness to my voice that surprised us both. "Going to the clubs wasn't the bit that frightened me. If Zeph had been a normal guy, I could have handled it completely on my own."

Kalen looked ashamed and stared at me wordlessly for a long time. Then, Aunt Jenna came down the stairs and froze at the entrance to the kitchen. "Um, hi Kalen, nice to see you. I'll be in the front room if you need me Anastasia," she said and then left like a rabbit released from a trap.

"Ana, can we go to your room please, just for some privacy to talk? I never meant for you to find out about any of this, especially not the way you did last night."

His words tipped me from numb to angry. "No Kalen. No, you can't come upstairs. I need you to leave."

He was shocked. "What?"

"You never meant for me to find out. You've been my best friend since we were nine and you were never going to tell me the truth." We stared and each other; him, incredulous, me, furious.

"Ana, it's not that easy..."

"Just get out," I said firmly and walked out of the kitchen to open the front door. I wouldn't meet his gaze as he brushed past me and left the house, but he did pause on the step outside.

"I'm always here for you Ana."

I shut the door.