Chapter 7

I pulled back immediately. "I HATE YOU!"

Mark replied, "Good." He turned and disappeared into the woods.

"Never come back here again!" I muttered. "I will kill you... Soon..." I stormed back into the house and went to my room.

The phone rang. I picked it up.

"Erica." It was Kevin.

"Mark just came to see me. I have to kill him soon. I hate him!" I yelled into the receiver.

"What? What happened? Did he hurt you? Erica, what did he do?" He was worried.

"That stupid vampire KISSED ME! He stole my first kiss," I wailed. I had forgotten that I was talking to a boy…

"That's all?" He sounded relieved. I thought he of all people would be furious!

"Aren't you mad?"

"Yes. I'm trying to remain calm so I don't go over and hank his sick, twisted brain right of his skull."

"Note to self: never make Kevin angry by moving in on his girl." I giggled a little.

Kevin was silent. "Is that what you are?"

I paused. Yes, I decided, I was his girl. "I believe so."

A beep indicated there was a call coming in. "Hold on; there's another call coming in." I put Kevin on hold and went to the other line. "Parker residence."

"WHAT DID THAT MORON DO?" Evangeline screamed.

"Are you talking about Mark?" I guessed.

"YES! HE KISSED YOU, DIDN'T HE?"

"How'd you know?"

"No one moves in on Kevin's girlfriend without getting whooped by Evangeline Harper! I'm whoever his girlfriend is' bodyguard, by the way."

"No kidding. Hey, I have Kevin on the other line, so I'd better go."

"Ok. Tell me if Mark does anything like that again, ok?"

"Sure. Bye, Evangeline." We hung up as I put Kevin back on the line. I thought, Well, she'd probably know if Mark did something else like that… Or worse.

"Evie?" he asked.

"How'd you guess?"

"She knows everything that happens to that vampire. She's so protective of me. It's been like that since I met her back when I was in 6th grade. She was always looking out for my girlfriend and was there for me when my ex and I broke up."

"Who was your ex?"

"Shelby."

"That's why she got mad when she saw you and me this morning." Oops. He didn't know what her eyes had been saying to me.

He was silent. "She was mad?"

"Yeah. Not too much, though." I said that for her sake.

"I didn't know she still cared." He sounded really surprised.

"Well, apparently she does."

"Interesting... I thought after what she said when we broke up she was truly over me."

"What... What did she say?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound too interrogative.

"She said, 'I truly did care for you one time. But not now. I absolutely despise you now!'"

"What did you do?"

"Nothing. It was those Simon twins who screwed things up."

"Oh. I know how." I recalled what Shelby had said about the twins on my first day.

"Yeah... Hey, I've gotta go now."

"Oh. Ok. Bye..."

"Bye." He hung up.

I did the same and went back to my Facebook. I had a message from none other than Shelby O'Neil.

She said, "Hey, you know that Kevin was my bf before u right? Well u better!"

I typed back, "Yeah, actually I did know. And it's not my fault he liked me before I liked him!"

"So? How could u do this Erica? I thought we were friends! :("

"I'm srry Shelby. But he's moved on; u should 2."

"I can't. He's always right there, next 2 me, pretending I don't exist."

"I know how that feels. Back in Oregon I liked a boy so much but he didn't know I existed. Then I moved here and got over him. When u graduate from 8th then go to a different high then him and u'll get over him."

"No. I. Won't." And she stopped sending me messages.

"Fine. Be the stubborn girl you are," I said as I logged off of Facebook.

I wouldn't let her stubborn attitude get to me. I went to my email and found there was a new email from an unknown address.

The message was this:

"My name is Anastashia. I am 13 years old from Georgia. I am moving to Maryland in a few days for purposes you will soon know of. I know what and who you are.

I will not know who you are when we meet, but in time I shall remember.

Until we meet in real life,

Ana"

I reread the message in confusion. "What in the world?"

If she knew who and what I was, then she likely knew of the prophecy and the twins.

I shut off the computer and went to my window.

"I'm actually getting used to the fact that there's constant cloud cover in the winter," I whispered. "The trees probably look much prettier in the summer and fall."

What was I saying? Was I trying to forget Oregon? Though it had pretty much been the same there, we'd lived v\closer to the ocean and it wasn't always foggy, like in Washington.

I'd never forget the sandy beaches in the summer, the ocean spray in my face, and the day I swore I was in love with a boy...

That was a crush, and I'm over him now, I told myself.

I stepped away from the window and walked out of my room.

I went outside, and sat down on the steps. I stuck my hands in the pockets of my coat.

"The weather is just as cold as I feel today," I murmured.