edited and rewritten

School goes on as normal. Students move to their next classes as if it's just a regular day. There's no anxiety written on their faces, not like mine anyway. The ball is a week away and my heart won't stop pounding against my chest.

I turn the corner to get to my next class but someone slams their hand down on my shoulder. I jerk around to see Via and she gives me a soft smile. I wrap my arms around her neck and she giggles, "Via! Oh, man, I missed you."

Her arms wrap around me and she buries her head in my neck. "I know, where have you been? I barely saw you last week. What happened?"

"Nothing happened, I just ended up taking different routes to my classes. I was trying out something new but regretted it when I didn't get to see you," I tell her a lie. I can't exactly say the real reason for what happened last week since I signed a contract but this is torture. She's my best friend I don't want to lie to her. Especially not about something as big as this.

I know that I've lied to her before but I want to stop. I lied to her about being single last year, I didn't tell her about. . .him. I just want to stop all of this lying. It's tearing me apart.

"Oh, well why did you barely talk to me in Art?"

I let out a sigh, "I know, I'm sorry. I wasn't feeling good. Do you know those sad feelings? I simply wasn't really in the mood to talk. I should've told you."

She hugs me tighter, "It's okay, I understand. How was the first week of school?"

"Okay, not the best but it was fine."

We continue walking to our class while we make small talk. I've tried everything so I don't remember about that text message but so far it's failing. It doesn't leave my memory. It just refuses to. Every night before I go to sleep it gives me severe anxiety and I fall asleep crying.

What a beautiful life.

I arrive at my class and Via and I hug once more before we part. "See you at lunch?" I ask her but she hesitates.

"Um, no, counseling called me. I'll be there for the rest of the day. Sorry."

I shake my head, "No, it's fine. I hope everything goes fine in counseling for you," she smiles at me then she skips away. I walk into class to see Mr. Rick set up the TV board. He smiles when he sees me then he goes back to what he was doing.

I take a seat and I take out a book from my bag. I flip to the page my bookmark is lodged in and I start reading. My eyes read the words but my brain registers nothing. This is one of my favorite books and I can't even focus when reading it. I'm stuck thinking about that stupid text message. Why couldn't he have deleted my number and moved on with his life? I'm sure it wouldn't be that difficult.

The bell rings and class starts so I shut the book and put it back into my bag. It's not like I was reading it anyway. "Good morning class, let's begin. Okay, so last class we finished Intro to Vampire History. Today you have the assignment to complete and it needs to be submitted by the end of class. Your assignment is posted in MyClass. This assignment is basically about you writing an essay about what it would've seemed like to the average human when vampires came out. I want you to place yourself in their shoes so please try to imagine what they must've felt when they realized that vampires were real. You have the rest of class to work on this."

I take out my computer and I start writing the essay. I don't mind writing essays, I like them.

→⁜←

At lunch, Via and I eat our food in silence as the entire cafeteria is engrossed in noise. We eat our sandwiches in peace until we're done and we dispose of them. "How much time we got left?" She asks me as she sits back down.

I look at the clock then I turn back to her, "Ten minutes."

She nods then she fully turns to me, "Good, then we have time to talk." I look at her confused but before I could voice my thoughts, she continues.

"You never got to tell me who saved you from that. . .attack," she whispers the word 'attack' and my palms get a little sweaty.

I can't tell her that the prince saved me. "Uh, I don't remember who saved me. It was a guy who was passing my house and saw the commotion. He came in through my window and saved me then the vampire fled."

I've gotten good at lying these past two years, haven't I? I wanted to stop lying this new school year but I'll be doing it even more. She nods, "Oh, have you told anyone?"

I shake my head, "No, I don't want to tell anyone yet. It wasn't that bad," she eyes me but she leaves it be.

A question arises in my mind and I ask her, "Hey, how was counseling? What happened for you to go in there?"

She pauses and looks away from me, "Oh my counselor just wanted to talk to me about home stuff." My brows crease together as questions rush through my mind.

"What 'home stuff'?" I ask.

She shakes her head, "Oh you know, just simple stuff. She was helping me fill out the form so I could get financial aid for college." I squint my eyes at her but I nod anyway. She's lying.

I've been lying to the people in my life for two years, I know when someone is lying. I don't press her. If she's not being truthful to me then it's probably for a good reason. It would be hypocritical of me since I'm lying to her. "Oh, okay."

We make small talk within the six minutes we have left. "So," I elongate the 'o' and Via smiles at me as she realizes what I'm going to ask her, "How's Art with Landon?"

A blush forms on her cheeks and she avoids eye contact with me. "Ara," she wacks my hand, "Stop. Oh my gosh, it was amazing. In Art, I don't know if you saw but he was helping me draw."

"I know! I saw you guys. How is that relationship progressing? Is he flirting with you? Are you flirting with him?" I say.

"No, we don't flirt, but I do find him staring at me sometimes and it's so cute. Gahh! He's so adorable." She brings her hands to her face to cover her flaming cheeks.

A smile comes upon my lips too. It's so adorable. "I love that for you, honestly. I don't mean to hurry your guys' relationship along, but remember he's a senior and is leaving next year. You don't have forever to wait around and pine after him." I say and she frowns.

I don't mean to upset her but it's just the truth. "I know, I'm working on it." She says then the bell rings and we leave for our next class.

→⁜←

I can't believe how quickly this day passed. It's already after ten at night. I sit up in the bed then I bring the covers up to my neck and I stared out the window. I've drawn my curtains but the wind from the A/C and my fan move them about.

I become conscious of my breathing and I make sure that I'm breathing fairly well. It's not coming back, just keep breathing Adara. The vampire isn't going to hurt you. Relax.

I can't relax though. My eyes don't move from the curtains as if at any moment the vampire will come back and finish the job. Vampires rarely leave their victims alive. They feed from their victims then they kill them. If they keep them alive that leaves the victim the opportunity to report them since feeding from humans is illegal. Maybe the vampire hasn't killed me yet since I didn't get a good look at him.

A branch cracks right outside of my window and I flinch as my eyes widen and I focus more on my window. Please don't let it be a vampire. I beg inside my head as my fingers grip my blanket so tight it hurts.

Something scrapes against my window and my heart starts beating even faster. What on earth is outside my window? Is it the vampire? Another scrape. And another. Is it taunting me?

My parents aren't home yet, they're coming home within the hour but what can they do to a vampire? We'd all die. Another scrape. By now my heart is beating exceptionally fast and my breath comes in pants.

Fear creeps around me and my lip starts to tremble as tears build up. No, no, no, don't hurt me, please. The prince said that I could call out to him if the vampire came back. I'm not sure if it's the vampire taunting me outside my window right now but it's better to be safe than sorry.

"Sparky," I whispered as low as I could. If there is a vampire outside I'm sure it heard me.

Adara? I hear his voice inside my mind. Did you mean to call me? Or was it an accident?

"Help," I say but I don't get a response from him. Did he not hear me? I can't call out any louder, if I do then the vampire outside might hear me if it hasn't already.

Something whooshes into my room and I look instantly to see what it is. My shoulders slump in relief when I see the prince. "What happened?" He asks as he looks around the room.

I point to the window and he goes to my curtain and draws it open. I flinch as I expected a vampire to be standing on the other side but there was nothing but darkness. "Did you hear something?" He asks as he draws the window open and peeks outside.

"I heard something scratching against the window and I thought it was the vampire," I release my grip on my blanket.

He looks at me with creased brows then he goes out of my window and stands on my roof. He looks around then out of nowhere he grabs a branch that nearly hit him.

"I think this is what was scratching your window. There's a storm coming and there's heavy wind outside. I guess it ended up blowing this branch far enough to scratch your window." He says then he comes back inside.

"Good news for you is there isn't a vampire outside to hurt you."

I nodded, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to drag you away from your duties for my paranoia. I'm sorry."

His brows crease and he comes closer to me as he places his hands behind his back. "No need for the apology. I understand your fear but I signed a contract and I made a promise to protect you. That vampire won't hurt you again, I promise."

I look at him with wide eyes and I nod, "Okay. But, I'm scared. Every night before I go to sleep I fear it may come back. I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in almost two weeks." Tears start rolling down my cheeks and I begin to pant.

I hate my cry. Ugh, it's so awful. I hate that I pant and have hiccups when I cry, it's ugly.

He blinks a few times as he wonders what to do. He takes a step closer to me then he rests his hand on my back and rubs it in a circular motion. "It's okay. The vampire isn't coming back." His voice is monotone and lacks any emotion but his voice eventually calms me down.

"I'm sorry. I don't want to stay here alone," I wipe my eyes.

"Do you wish for me to stay with you until your parents arrive?" He asks.

I look at him with surprise written on my face. I nod, "Yes, please." He goes over to my bean bag and takes up the throw pillow that was in it and sits in it. He places the throw pillow in his lap as he gets comfortable.

"I'll stay here. Don't worry, no vampires will hurt you now." He says as he gives me a sly smile.

I frown, "You're a vampire, you could always hurt me."

His smile gets wider instead of shrinking, "Darling, if I wanted to hurt you I would've already."

I swallow and I look away from him. I mean, he isn't wrong. If he wanted to hurt me, he could. I let myself get comfortable with him and he just reminded me of why he's unapproachable. He could do the worst crime ever and he'd get away with it. He has the second-highest body count in the world. That's terrifying. He has killed quite a lot of people. He's watched the life drain out of people and felt good enough to do it again.

Tell me why I got into a contract with a murderer.