• When I got in my car, after Shelly ruined an almost perfect moment, I noticed a piece of paper caught in the window of the driver’s side. I reached hesitantly for it. It was a little note, with someone’s cell phone number on it. There wasn’t a name, only the ten digit number. I flipped the paper over, it had a message:
    Call me at 4
    Aaron
    My eyes flew up to the rear view mirror instantly. Aaron was looking at me with an evil smile spread across his face. He saw my bewildered expression and nodded; to confirm that the note was real and not a joke of some sort. He helped Shelly into the car and drove off.
    I started my own engine and pulled out, heading home. I drove in a daze. What just happened back there? Aaron slipped me his number and wanted me to call him. Was it possible that he wanted to meet up? It would mean the world to me if he did ask me out. Even if it wasn’t a real date--it would soon be anyway. The thought made me smile widely.
    The one thing that kept me going, no matter how annoying Shelly got and no matter how much I wanted to rip her throat out, is that Aaron is mine. Not hers, mine. He always has, always will be.

    My eyes darted to the giant clock one more time. It read 3:57. Three more minutes and I could call him. Or . . . should I wait five minutes, to keep him waiting, to keep him praying for me to call. I had to ask Gwen for advice. My finger pushed a button and I was quickly being connected.
    “Hello?”
    “Hi, Gwen. I need to ask you something like now.” My voice was urgent; I wanted to get an answer as soon as possible because if I should call on time, I didn’t want to be late.
    “What’s up?” Her voice sounded more interested with the conversation now.
    “So, um, Aaron Blackwood, kinda, sort of, gave me his number and told me to call him at four.”
    There was silence on the other end. Maybe she was checking the time.
    “Gwen?”
    She erupted in screams of excitement. They were so loud I had to pull the phone away from my ear so that it wouldn’t lose its ability to hear.
    “Oh my freaking God! Charlotte! That’s such good news! Tell me everything, and I mean everything!”
    “No, no, not now! Its one minute to four. I was wondering if I should call him on time or wait a few minutes.”
    “Wait a few minutes, definitely.” She held a smirk in her voice.
    “How many?” I was so inexperienced with this boy stuff. I must have seemed like an annoyance to Gwen. But that’s what friends are for.
    “I’d say about five.”
    “Okay, thanks Gwen.”
    “No problem, sweet cheeks. Go get him.”
    With that said, we hung up. My eyes flew towards the clock once more, it was exactly four o’clock; five more minutes. Only five minutes.
    I sat statue like still on the couch, barely moving. My hands played with my phone, eager to dial Aaron’s number. Time seemed to tick by ridiculously slow, seconds seemed like minutes, and minutes seemed like hours. This was harder than I thought.
    My index finger tapped into rhythm with the seconds on the clock. It kept time going for me. I counted each individual second . . . one hundred thirty three, one hundred thirty four.
    I breathed in and out evenly, trying to keep calm. This was nothing to over react about. Who knows what Aaron wants me to call him for. It was probably to ask about the math homework. But that look he gave me when I found the note . . . what did it mean? It meant something. I had to stop denying that Aaron’s signals were just mere friend gestures. They were something more, I could tell. Excitement filled my veins, what was he going to say? A part of me really wanted for Aaron to ask me out, even if it was a friend date. Making Shelly boil inside by going somewhere with him would be the best thing in the world! It would be almost equivalent with Aaron and me going out.
    I sought out the clock: four o’ five. Yes! I could call him! Without thinking about what I was going to say, I eagerly dialed his number.
    The phone rang twice and he picked up.
    “Hello? Charlotte?”
    My heart fluttered when he said my name. For some reason it thrilled me more than the other times he spoke it.
    “Yes. Hi, Aaron,” my voice was a tad bit shaky.
    “Oh great, I’m so glad you called. For a minute I thought that you weren’t going to call.”
    I smiled. “Well, I wouldn’t want to miss this opportunity to talk again.”
    “I’ve been looking forward to talking to you again too,” I could detect a smile of his own in his voice.
    There was a moment of awkward silence. I had to say something, anything!
    “What were you going to ask me before Shelly so rudely interrupted us?” My voice sounded flirty, I liked that.
    “Oh, um, yeah. That’s right. That’s what I wanted you to call me about.”
    “Okay, tell me.”
    “Charlotte,” it sounded like he cleared his throat “will you like to grab some coffee and a bite to eat later tomorrow after school?”
    He rushed the sentence out, as if he wanted to get it over with. He then blew out a relieved breath.
    I was about to scream with joy! He asked me out! He asked me out! Even though it was a friend date it was worth all the same!
    “Yes! Most definitely, I’d love to.” My voice was high and eager. Maybe it leads on too much. Oh well, he needed to know now.
    “Great. So after school we’ll take my car to this café down the street from the school.”
    “Sounds wonderful.”
    “Okay, see you tomorrow then.”
    “Of course.”
    I was about to hang up when he stopped me.
    “Charlotte?”
    “Yes?”
    “Thanks for calling.” It was so polite of him and so sweet to thank me. It was as if he was honored that I called him.
    “Thank you for asking me to meet up after school.” I didn’t want to call it a date. If I did, perhaps I would be coming on too strong.
    “No problem. Bye.”
    “Bye.”
    I ended the call. I sank back into the couch. Did that just happen? Oh yes it did! I have a date with Aaron tomorrow! A girly squeal escaped my lips.

    Chapter 4
    A wild grin was spread across my face. This was most likely the best thing that ever happened to me! How could things get any better? Well . . . there were a few things I could think of that would make this moment perfect.
    I let my body relax into our expensive yet comfortable couch. What a glorious day it had been. After a few minutes of complete peace and quiet, Violet’s Ferrari revved up into the driveway. I ignored it. Since I found out that Aaron was my destined soul mate, I’ve been avoiding Violet for obvious reasons. There was no way she was going to find out about him and ruin everything.
    She walked confidently through the door, her stilettos slapping onto the tile, which produced annoying clicks that continued down the hall. My eyes were closed and my body perfectly still. Perhaps if I blended in with the background, she wouldn’t see me and how happy I was. My mind started to mix with calmness, I didn’t pay attention to my surroundings unlike I would usually.
    The clicking stopped.
    “What’s with you? Why are you so happy? You go to that wretched human school, how can you be like this?” Her annoyed tone didn’t bother me. After almost a century living with her, you got used to it.
    “Oh nothing,” my answer was small and simple. Maybe she would get the hint that I didn’t want her to butt in.
    “No way, you’re obviously happy about something and I want to know what that something is.”
    I exhaled loudly, why couldn’t she just give up right at the start? My mouth didn’t open to answer; I didn’t want to answer; so I blocked her ranting out. My mind started forming possible scenarios that could happen on my date with Aaron tomorrow. None of them were bad. What could go wrong anyway?
    “So, Charlotte, what’s this I hear about you being happy for no apparent reason?” Lynette’s voice carried out from the side.
    “Well, you know that boy I was talking about the other day? He just asked me out to go to a café after school with him. I think he’s the one; the soul mate I was supposed to have.”
    Once I finished, there was an eerie silence. Something was wrong. To be more specific, two things were frightfully wrong here. First, if it were really Lynette I was just talking to, she would be congratulating me on finding him. Second, Lynette wasn’t coming home until six o’clock. It was four thirty and she never comes home early. She always arrives at six sharp. Horror struck me as soon as I realized what happened.
    It wasn’t Lynette I just Aaron about, it was Violet. She did a perfect imitation of her voice—like we all could. But maybe, just maybe it was truly my mother standing there, not my sister. Yet . . . what were the odds of that?
    My eyes flew open and my head snapped to where ‘Lynette’s’ voice originated. Instead of the smiling Lynette I was so desperately hoping to see, it was a fuming Violet.
    Oh crap, I just gave myself a death sentence.
    I had to think of something fast, something quick.
    “Violet, I was only kidding. You know, false alarm. I don’t really think he’s the one. I’m only going out with him because he seems like he could have good blood to drink.” My voice was a little bit shaky. Come on! Be brave! It’s only Violet.
    Right, only Violet. Yes, but she is pissed beyond belief.
    I pushed myself away from the couch and stood in a defensive pose. A part of me had a feeling that a fight was coming on.
    She started to shake her head angrily. “No, stop lying. It is him, isn’t it? You found him. So this is why you’ve been so damn happy for the past few days! You knew you had found him!” She dropped her bag and started to slowly advance towards me. “You weren’t going to tell me were you?”
    “I-I,” I stammered, but she didn’t give me time to finish.
    “No! Shut up! Were you just going to kill me in my sleep? Get rid of me so you could live your happily ever after? Well tough luck, you lil b***h! I am not going down without a fight!”
    She launched herself at me; together we crashed into the wall. Her hand grabbed a fist full of hair and yanked hard. It necessarily hurt, but it was enough for me to let out a yelp. She jabbed her knee into my stomach with incredible force, now that hurt.
    I punched her in the face. The force of the contact shoved her off of me. The sound of her jaw fracturing rippled through the air.
    “Violet, listen to me! There’s a reason why I didn’t tell you and this is it!”
    She snorted in disgust, “Yeah, sure. Quit all your stupid talk. You just wanted him all for yourself!”
    Violet sprinted towards me, but I quickly moved out of the way. Her body collided with the wall with a threatening bang. She turned back to me and charged again. Again, I swiftly moved out of the way. How long was she going to keep this charade up? She stood about five feet away. Her expression was so menacing, as if it was meant to scare me. After living with her and putting up with all her crap, you get used to it easily. I straightened myself and stood tall, making sure to meet her eyes.
    “Violet, it doesn’t matter if I was going to tell you or not. You are supposed to find him, by yourself! It’s not the other twin’s job to look and then simply say ‘hey, guess what? I found our soul mate!’ What the hell would be the point of that? This is about life and death and especially love. Besides . . . what would you know about any sort of affection? You’ve never cared for anyone except yourself not even Lynette or George.”
    I could tell that I was slowly starting to seep through the cracks on her armor. That was good; maybe I could talk her out of competing for Aaron. But what were the odds of that? Violet’s eyes went blank.
    “So, are you saying that I’m incapable of loving anyone?” Her voice was a little bit shaky. It was starting to work.
    A loud sigh escaped my lips. “Yes, I am.”
    Her green eyes flickered back up to me, the fire raging within, her mouth turned in a nasty snarl.
    “Wrong answer.”
    She started to run towards me, but I met her halfway, extending my foot. Violet’s stomach hit the base of my foot and ricocheted off and into the fireplace. Soot fell and softly landed on her hair, face, and clothes. She was angrier now, more than before. If there’s one thing you shouldn’t mess with, it’s Violet’s wardrobe.
    “Now you’ve gone too far. First you don’t tell me about the boy, then you say I’m incapable of love and now . . .” She paused, letting the rage boil inside of her. “You’ve. Ruined. My. Favorite. Outfit.”
    She made a move for me put two arms caught her around the waist, leaving her in mid air. We both looked at who my rescuer was: George.
    “What in the world are you two ladies fighting about?”
    Violet looked at him, then me and snickered. She raised her head, jutted her bottom lip out and did a believable performance of water works. It was like watching a little annoying five year old telling a lie for some form of sympathy.
    “Oh daddy!” Daddy? Never as a little child did Violet use that word to reference George. She was sucking up, well played. “It was horrible! Charlotte had found the person that one of us is supposed to be together with forever and she didn’t tell me!”
    Her voice was dreadfully whiny and as she spoke I merely rolled me eyes. George couldn’t possibly believe this? He knew me better than that. Also, he knew the vampire twin legacy just as well. He eyed Violet then me.
    “Charlotte? Is this true?”
    NO FREAKING WAY! I couldn’t believe this was happening! How could he? Does he really believe her? That’s unfair! That’s so uncalled for! It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! Never had I been this angry at him, but . . . why would he do this to me and take sides?
    “Well yes! Hey, do you honestly expect me to go running and tell her that I’ve found Aaron and think that she won’t do anything about it? No! It’s every girl for herself here and as of right now I am playing for myself! No teams, no alliances, no nothing! Why would I help a selfish b***h who just tried to kill me? Truthfully, I don’t want to stick out my neck for someone I don’t even like!”
    Both George and Violet stared at me, shock painted on their faces. I never talked back. I was always the good girl. George blinked and looked at my sister, still in his grasp.