Arabelle Kay Stanton glanced around the room, checking to make sure that she wasn't being followed, before opening up her diary. She was just about to begin writing when her younger brother, Damien Nathanial Stanton, snuck up on her and made her jump a foot off the couch she was perched on.

"Ari and Will sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage-"

"Damien, knock it off. Now," Rosalie growled, annoyed.

Rosalie Christine Stanton, the oldest of the three Stanton children, had little tolerance for her younger brother's knack of constantly causing mischief. She thought that her parents would have been better off naming him 'Demon' for all the trouble he caused her and her sister.

Damien scampered off, knowing that it wouldn't be good for him if he stayed. He'd seen the consequences from that far too many times. Arabelle sighed in relief.

"Thanks Rose. He's been pestering me all morning. I finally thought it was safe to try and write in my diary, but no, he just got a little bit smarter."

Rosalie laughed at the way Ari had stretched out the word 'no', making it sound like 'no-oh'.

"No problem. It's a shame that mom and dad didn't stop at you. Then we wouldn't be annoyed all the time."

Arabelle covered her mouth to stifle her laughter.

"Rosalie! You shouldn't say things like that. He is your brother after all. Besides, the only person that gets annoyed is you."

The older girl plopped down on the couch beside her younger sibling, four years her junior.

"Yeah well, it's true and you know it. Besides, you really like being embarrassed all the time. I saw you when I came in; your face was as red as a cherry."

Ari couldn't deny that, and Rosalie knew it. So, instead of having a pointless argument, she opened up her diary and began writing in peace.

"So, you like Will do you?"

William Swan was Rosalie's own age, with dark brown hair and green eyes. He was also the center of just about every girl's attention, so the chances of Arabelle ending up with him were slim. She didn't dare say that to her sister of course, as, being her sister and all, she wouldn't dare do anything to upset her. She flushed, not as badly as when Damien was teasing her, but obviously embarrassed.

"Yes," she mumbled shyly.

Before she could question her any further, Irene Annette Thompson bounded into the room, lighting up when she gazed upon her best friend.

"There you are Rosalie! I've been looking for you all over."

She noticed Arabelle after a minute, "Oh hey Ari! Where've you been hiding out lately?"

Arabelle shrugged, "Here and there. Basically wherever Damien's not is good."

Irene laughed heartily.

"Well, good luck with that. Mind if I steal your sister away from you?" Arabelle shook her head, and Irene dragged Rosalie up off the couch and down the hall.

"What's so important that you had to come all the way up here to find me for?"

They weren't really that far up; only on the second floor, but it must've been something important if Irene had pulled herself away from the training rooms.

"Mason wanted me to come get you. There's some bimbo downstairs that's saying that she can take you, and saying a whole bunch of crap about you."

Rosalie just shook her head in disbelief. The only person she was downright rude to was her brother; she did have a certain amount of respect towards others. The rest of the walk to the training rooms was silent, and upon nearing their destination, they heard a lot of raised voices.

"Rosalie Stanton's all talk and no show. She probably couldn't even beat a five year old," a high pitched, whiney sounding voice said.

The honey blonde couldn't understand why anyone would talk crap about her when she hadn't even done anything to them.

Irene slammed the door open and glared daggers at the girl that Mason had called a bimbo.

"Shut the hell up you stupid slut! You can't go around talking crap about my best friend just because you're a lousy fighter and feel the need to make someone else look bad. Did you just randomly pick from a list and decide to pick on that lucky person or what?"

She looked ready to strangle the intruder, so Rosalie held her arm to hold her back. The other girl who had been saying all the mean things about her didn't look afraid, like any sane person would if Irene screamed at them. Her dark eyes narrowed, and her black hair was pulled into a high ponytail. Her voice totally contrasted with her appearance; it was more suited for a slutty bleach blonde girl than anything.

"No stupid. I'm just stating a fact; Rosalie Stanton is a huge coward and a sucky fighter. Why else would she have you down here insulting me while she hides out somewhere?"

Rosalie's blood boiled and she glared at the girl who dared insult her.

"You don't know anything about me, so I'd stop talking. It's obvious that you don't know who I am, since you didn't know that I was even in the room, so I'll ask you once and once only: What do you want?"

Everyone else that was in the room knew that Rosalie wasn't a sucky fighter. On the contrary, she was one of the best. Bimbo number five hundred and three obviously didn't know that though, and no one was going to ruin watching her learn it the hard way by telling her either.

"To prove that you're a fraud and that you're a sucky fighter."

Irene again wanted to leap on her and beat her to a pulp, but this time Mason held her back. Mason Greene was recently put in charge of the first training room, and he also happened to be Irene's boyfriend.

"I'm going to laugh when Rosalie kicks your ass bitch!"

The girl simply laughed, not at all phased.

"Who are you?" Rosalie asked coldly, glaring effectively with her ice-blue eyes.

"Miranda Knight."

Rosalie knew exactly who she was now; her family had been banned from the mansion when they were found to have been willingly helping the vampires. They had been banned by her father, in fact, who had been supported by people higher up. It appeared that this girl wanted to get vengeance by proving that she was a better fighter than the oldest Stanton child.

"Fine then. You want a fight, I'll give you a fight."

Not a millisecond after the words left her mouth, Rosalie lunged at her, punching her hard in the face. She staggered backwards a bit before regaining her balance, but Rosalie struck again, sending a blow to her stomach. Looking around, the girl grabbed a sword off one of the racks in the room, but she didn't do any better against the blonde even with a weapon.

Growing annoyed the longer the banned girl dragged this out, she swiped her foot underneath the Knight's feet, causing her to fall to the ground, the sword flying from her hand. Before she could move, Rosalie was over her, her foot on her throat, holding her there.

"Lesson number one, Knight," She said, venom dripping from her voice, "Don't let the sword fall out of your hand."

Now the girl was showing some normal emotion; fear.

"Lesson number two: Don't talk about people you don't know."

She continued to glare at the girl, "Lesson number three: Learn how to fight, because you could really use some lessons."

Irene laughed, as did everyone else.

"Irene, could you get me some rope?"

Irene was released from Mason's grasp so she could follow her 'order'. She found something better than rope.

"Here, catch!"

Rosalie felt cool metal in her hands, and looked down to see a pair of handcuffs.

"These'll work too."

She moved her foot off the girl’s throat, lifting her to her feet before cuffing her hands behind her back.

"I told you you were going to get your ass kicked!" Irene shouted at her.

"Where are you taking her?" Mason asked.

"To the council room. They're going to love this."

Mason looked wary.

"Well then take a couple people to go with you then."

His eyes scanned the crowd, and he found the two people he wanted.

"Winters! Dawson! Go with Stanton to the council room and make sure that the bimbo doesn't escape."

Alexander Winters and Gregory Dawson emerged from the crowd of people, as Rosalie turned to go, hauling Miranda with her. Gripping the girl's arm tightly, she started up the stairs, but she started squirming, trying to get away.

"Let go you stupid whore! Let go of me right now!"

Alex and Greg were a couple steps behind ready to step in when necessary. Rosalie turned her icy glare once again on the girl.

"Shut up and quit calling me names. It's beginning to piss me off."