That night I sat at the long dining room table and waited as Gabriella began to scoop the fettucini alfredo onto my plate. After spooning out my food, she glared at me and moved on to my mom.

I helped myself to some Ceasar salad and took a piece of garlic bread too. Fettucini alfredo was my favorite and I couldn't wait to dig in. And just as I lifted my fork for my first bite, my cell phone buzzed in my pocket. I took it out and read the text on the screen.

Why haven't you been at skool the last 2 days? Is ur mom still missing? I hope they find her soon!


It was from Natalie. I sighed and began texting back.

It's a long story, but they did find her. Just meet me at the park tonite at 11:30. I'll tell you all about wut happened.


And I would tell her exactly what happened. I wasn't about to lie to my best friend. I pressed send and waited for a response.

Ok. See u then!


She wrote back. I slid my phone back into my pocket and started eating. Once I was finished, I set my plate in the kitchen sink and ran up to my room. Then I began thinking about what I would say to Natalie tonight. I grabbed a piece of notebook paper from my science notebook, which was still in my backpack, and took out a pencil. Then I began writing out what I would say.

Natalie, there's something that you need to know. The truth is, my mom got captured by a vampire named Alexander. He turned her into a vampire and then he captured me and turned me into a vampire. Now, he and my mom are going to get married. Plus, his sister is dating one of my friends, Daniel, who I just found out is a werewolf. She didn't want anyone to know that, but I accidently gave it away. So now she's out to get me.


As I read over what I just wrote, I realized that I sounded completely out of my mind. She would probably think I'd lost it. So I crinkled up the piece of paper and tossed it in to my waste basket. Then I took out another piece and tried again.

Natalie you need to know the truth. And the truth is that my mom's so called boyfriend was the stalker that was after me. He's the one who captured my mom. And now he has us both living in his house with him and his sister, Gabriella. He's convinced my mom that we would make the perfect family and now their getting married. And there's also one more thing. Alexander is a vampire. And he's turned me and my mom into one too.


I read this over a couple times and thought it sounded pretty good. It sounded less crazy than the last one. And if she didn't believe me then I guess I would just have to show her that I'm a vampire. I just hoped she wouldn't freak out and tell anyone.

I would have to swear her to secrecy. Although, I don't think she would tell anybody. Natalie's too good of a friend to do something like that. And I wouldn't tell her about Daniel just yet. First I would let the whole vampire thing soak in.

So I rehearsed what I would say until I memorized it. And by the time I did, it was nine thirty. So for the next two hours I took a short nap and set an alarm on my phone. Then I put it under my pillow so that I would be able to hear it, but no one else could.

And then I fell asleep. When my alarm went off, I woke up and turned it off. Then I grabbed my cell phone and headed out the door.

When I arrived at the park, Natalie was waiting for me restlessly. She was pacing around until she finally saw me walk up.

"Hey! Wow, I haven't seen you in a long time!" she cried. "So what's going on? Did you say they found your mom?" She was full of questions.

"Yeah, they found her. And there's actually more to the story than just that."

"Like what?" she asked curiously.

"Like that her so called boyfriend, Alexander, was the person who was stalking me. He's also the person who captured my mom. And now he's got her convinced to marry him. The wedding's coming up pretty soon. It's in about a month actually." I explained.

"Oh my gosh! That is unbelievable!" she exclaimed.

"Well that's not even the crazy part. The truth is Alexander isn't exactly human. He's a vampire. And he turned me and my mom into a vampire too."

She had a mixed expression of confusion and suprise on her face. "You've got to be kidding me." she finally said.

"It's the honest truth."

"Did Alexander hurt you? Did he, like, slam your head on something? Because you seem delirious."

"If you don't believe me then I'll prove it to you." And within seconds I had dashed around the whole park. When I arrived back in front of her she looked as if she might pass out.

"Oh my gosh!" she sputtered. "This isn't happening! It can't be. This is impossible!" she searched for more words, but couldn't find any. Now she was gasping for breath. And before I knew it she fainted.


"What's happening? Where am I?" Natalie shouted when she finally woke up. She looked around in terror.

"Don't worry, you're fine. Everything is ok." I told her in a soothing voice. Once she fainted, I slung her across my back and ran her back to the forest. Then I took her into the open meadow that Alexander took me when I found out my mom had been turned into a vampire. Now she was laying down on the grass, with her head propped up against a small log.

"Where am I?" she repeated frantically.

"You're in the forest. Just calm down. You're perfectly safe."

She looked me in the eye, "You!" she scrambled to get up. "What did you do to me?!?"

"Me? I didn't do anything! You fainted." I explained. I rushed over to her to try and help her calm down.

"Get away from me!" She pushed me away with all of her strength. Then, on instinct, I bared my teeth in self-defense. She looked at me, astonished and frightened.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it!" I tried to tell her.

"Just leave me alone!" She turned to run away, but someone, or something, stopped her. She ran straight into a massive, russet colored wolf. "Ah!" she screamed in terror. Then she shielded her face with her arms and began whimpering for breath.

"Daniel?" I asked the animal. He quickly transformed back into his human form.

"Hi. Sorry to scare you." he apologized to Natalie. Then he looked at me nervously. He probably just realized that he had given away his secret to Natalie.

"It's fine. I already told her about Alexander and everything. I was going to tell her about you later, but I guess she just found out." I reassured him.

"Oh, ok. My name's Daniel by the way." he introduced himself. He stuck his hand out for her to shake, but she just eyed it and backed away.

"That's Natalie. She's my best friend." I told him.

"Used to be your best friend." she corrected me.

"Natalie," I sighed.

"I'm out of here!" She darted out of sight and I frowned in disappointment.

"Sorry." Daniel said.

"No, it's not your fault. She's just in a state of shock. But she'll come around later." I replied.

"Alright. Well I was just running with my pack. They're probably wondering why I shifted to my human form. I'm gonna shift back now and catch up with them. Bye." He waved and transformed into a werewolf right before my eyes. Then he was off. I decided to try and text Natalie.

Sorry. I know ur really shocked, but don't get mad at me! It's not my fault.


I hit send and waited for her to reply. When she finally did I flipped open my phone and read her text.

Ur not 4given.


After going home that night, I sat awake in my bed all night. By the time I finally did fall asleep, it was four in the morning.

"Wake up!" my mom chirped. When I didn't listen, she nudged me awake. I yawned and stretched my arms above my head.

"I'm up, I'm up." I complained.

"Well you better get ready. You have school today." She walked out of my room, shutting my door behind me.

"Ugh," I groaned. I had barely gotten any sleep the previous night. I looked at my clock; six fifteen in the morning. Great, now I'd have to deal with Natalie today.

I scanned my dresser for clothes and finally picked out an aqua t-shirt from Aeropostale and a pair of American Eagle jeans. Then I quickly brushed through my hair and tied it up in a loose pony-tail. I brushed my teeth, leaving me with a minty after-taste. Then I grabbed my backpack and headed downstairs.

I walked into the kitchen and poured myself a bowl of Cinamon Toast Crunch. I grabbed a spoon and began eating.

"Are you ready to finally go back to school?" my mom asked me as she strolled over to the kitchen table.

"I guess. What made you decide to send me back anyways?"

"Well, first Alexander and I wanted to make sure that you wouldn't loose control of your thirst, but you've been eating like a normal human, so we decided it would be fine to send you to school."

"Well how else would I eat?" I asked.

"Haven't you realized that the rest of us don't exactly eat normal food?" I thought back to last night at dinner. Now that I thought about it, I didn't see any of them touch their food. "We only make dinner every night for you. Vampires don't need to eat. They just need to drink blood. And I know it sounds gross, but once you try it, you'll love it." she tried to convince me.

"I don't think so. Human food is fine with me." I replied. Then I got up and put my empty bowl in the sink. "So where and when does my bus come?" I asked.

"I'll actually be driving you from now on. There isn't a bus stop close to our house. And you know that school starts at seven thirty, so we'll leave around seven fifteen."

"Ok." I looked at the digital clock on the microwave. It was now seven o'clock. I listened to my iPod for ten minutes and then slid my black Uggs on.

I put my arms through the sleeves of my jacket and zipped it up. Then I waited for my mom in the garage. Once she was ready, she walked into the garage and we both climbed into her brand new silver Volvo, a pre-wedding gift from Alexander.

She started up the car and pulled out of the garage. Then she backed out of our long driveway and onto the small street leading up to our house. Once we were on my school's street, my stomach tightened. It would be weird going back to school and not being able to sit with Natalie at lunch or talk to her.

"We're here!" my mom squealed. "Have a good day at school, honey!" I opened my door and climbed out of the car. Then I made my way through the crowd of high school students, to the front door...