I find it funny that the world can turn on a dime. One moment I'm in Pennsylvania, then I'm in Georgia. One moment I go to Halloway High School, the next I go to Thorton High School. I've lived everywhere, but my most recent place of habitation is Arizona. I go to Mesa Verde High School as a senior, but in the next three months I'm sure I'll live somewhere else.

This is the part where I stand up and introduce myself to everyone in the room. Hi, I'm Lydia Vennett, and I have a problem. I am on the run, and I mean a massive wild goose chase. No, I didn't phrase that wrong. It's a goose chase which in meaning implies that it's a hopeless case. I, my friends, am running from the inevitable, but damn me if I don't try.

So here I sit during lunch time, eating a turkey and cheese sandwich. The bench I'm sitting on is green and rusted, the table wobbly and weak, the atmosphere…intense and loud. Very fucking loud.

The joys of high school, right?

I don't have many friends here because I figure I'm leaving here anyways. I do have one friend in particular, but only in school. We don't go over to each others house and watch movies or gossip. It's a fluff relationship, you know, convenient. I have no one and she can't remember math equations, but I don't mind. I'm happy to help her. She's nice.

"Lydia!" Missy is a short girl with a mop of platinum blonde hair, huge honey brown eyes, and an all around sunny disposition, "Lydia!"

She hurried over to my table and sat on the opposite side from my person in an excited flurry, "Hey! I just talked to Mr. Finch and I got a B on the math test!"

I laughed at her excitement, "Awesome Missy! I'm happy for you. Now you can go back to cheering."

She got up and danced around the table, "I know! The girls are all hyped! I just wanted to say thank you for your help!"

She ended up hugging me as I took a bite from my sandwich. I choked a little before laughing, "Yeah Miss, it wasn't a problem."

She twirled a short blonde lock around her finger in a nervous gesture, "Well, me and a few of the girls were wondering if you wanted to celebrate with us. You know, it'd be casual and everyone's so excited," at my small frown she continued, "It would be so much fun Lydia. Just try it on for size."

My brow furrowed, "What exactly is 'it'?"

Her smile stretched across her face, showing me pearly whites, "A party of course."

I laughed. I laughed hard.

"Naw Miss, that's just not my thing."

She pouted slightly, "Well, just think about it. Okay?"

I shrugged slightly with a small smile on my face, "Alright, I will, but that doesn't mean I'll be there."

"Perfect! It's on Saturday night at Carol Redford's house. You know where that is right?"

I remembered first coming to this town three weeks ago and seeing the massive Redford Mansion. Her dad owned oil companies. Very large oil companies.

"Yeah Miss, I know where it is."

She nodded with a big close lipped smile and ran over to another table, no doubt to spread the good news and cheer.

I proceeded to eat alone with my thoughts of the past to keep me company, or to haunt me. It's just however you want to look at it.

School flew by with history after lunch, and then anatomy after that, then an elective I cared nothing for. Home was in my sights and I wanted nothing more than to be there in our comfy little apartment on the outskirts of town.

My mom would probably be at work, which was as a receptionist for Carol Redford's dad, Michael Redford. She probably wouldn't be getting off until three, so that meant a house to myself for two hours.

After hearing the final bell of the day, I packed up my backpack and got set to take the trek home. I walked through the emptying hallways at a leisurely pace. I got my iPod out of my pocket, put the ear buds in, turned on my tunes, and got ready for my walk, until I ran right into someone.

I fell right on my ass with an 'oomph'. As I sat there shaking my head and rubbing my butt, a hand reached out to pick me up.

I grabbed it easily and with our combined strength, I got my lazy butt up, "Thanks." I was dusting myself off and straightening out my backpack when I heard him, "No problem."

My eyes widened slightly. The voice was too pure, too musical to be normal. I looked up at my savior and the gears in my head went on overdrive. He stood before me, an inch taller than my 5'10". His hair was orange, not a light orange or a reddish orange but a deep orange. His features were delicate, almost feminine, but it added to his persona. He was handsome, beautiful even. His skin was pale and the contours of his muscles were lean and healthy, but his eyes threw me. They weren't cat-like. The pupils weren't slits like the rest of them, and his eyes were an ordinary brown. I didn't know what to think. If he were one of them, I would've already been back with Ayrick. I wouldn't have been here for three weeks.

I scratched my head in confusion and fear, "Yeah I guess it wasn't."

He studied me curiously. It must've been my intense scrutiny of him that set him off, unless he really was one of them, then he would be smelling my fear and alarm at the moment. Either way, I was staying away from this guy.

He smiled crookedly, "I'm Max. Max Wellman. Are you new here?"

I gave a half-assed smile while my instincts were screaming at me to get the fuck out of there, "Not really, I've been here a while," I started walking around him towards the doors leading to my freedom, "Sorry about running into you, but I really gotta go. Nice to meet ya!"

He just watched me with a curious expression and I gave him a brief flash of my teeth in hopes it'd look like a smile.

I began my walk home through the park and through the woods until I came to our apartment complex. The entire way I had been thinking about Max. Maybe he was ridiculously good looking, or maybe he was a vampire, but he didn't realize it was me. I knew that every vampire in the Vampire Kourt knew my name by this point and that they were all on the lookout for me. I knew I had to tell my mom, and I knew she would flip, but I just didn't know about this guy. He seemed nice enough, but so did Ayrick.