worry about me. Harmony.

  I took a taxi to the airport and boarded the first plane I could to America. I had spent my whole life hiding from everyone but now it was ready to escape and see if my dreams were possible. It was time to go into the spotlight.

  Katarina knew exactly what had happened and briefly considered following Harmony but she knew it was pointless. Instead she confronted Oakley and dragged him away from the handball game he was playing.

  “You told her didn’t you?” she hissed. A triumphant expression crossed his face as he realised who she was talking about.

  “I kissed her,” he bragged. Anger and surprise rose in Katarina. She slapped Oakley before she realised what she was doing. He looked surprised and she took a couple of deep breaths to calm down.

  “Then you know that I told you the truth about her,” she said.

  “Harmony Hansen is a half vampire?” he said. Werewolves had the ability to sense vampire creatures through contact.

  “Yes,” Katarina said.

  “I suspected before you said anything,” Oakley said. “Her father was changed before she was conceived.

  “Do you see the problem then, Oakley,” she said. “Harmony has fled.”

  “We’ve been watching Harmony,” Oakley said. “She has no idea what she is.” Katarina clenched her hands into fists and tried to remind herself that she needed his help.

  “You know that it only takes one drop of human blood to trigger the change,” Katarina hissed at him.

  She can hardly leave the country,” Oakley reminded Kat and for a moment she was satisfied. But then she remembered something. The colour drained from her face as she suddenly fell to the ground.

  “Katarina?” Oakley asked.

  “She has money,” Kat said. “She’s saved every cent she’s made since she was thirteen.” It was Oakley’s turn to drop to the ground.

  “We’re screwed,” Oakley said and Katarina could only nod in agreement.

  One Year Later

  It was an accident. I was on my way to audition for a movie when I ran into her, literally. My tooth cut her lip and a tiny drop of blood made its way into my mouth and that was when I felt myself begin to change. I felt so confident that I almost strutted to the front of the room where the audition was taking place.

  “Harmony Hansen,” I said. “I’m here to audition for the role of Charlotte Wilde.” I had only had time to have a quick glance through the script. The movie was a lesbian love story and there was a possibly of a TV show if the movie did well. Even though I’d barely read the lines the night before, I spoke them perfectly. We were a quarter of the way through the script when the Director stopped me.

  “We’ve seen enough,” the Director said as he made notes. “We’ve auditioned a hundred girls over the past few weeks. A few were good but until today we hadn’t seen any extraordinary performances.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked as I crossed my fingers behind my back.

  “You’ve got the part, Harmony,” he said. It was only sheer willpower that kept me from cheering as his assistant handed me some paperwork.

  “Rehearsals start in two weeks,” she said. “Shooting commences two weeks after that. If you come in tomorrow, we’ll introduce you to the other female lead and the rest of the cast.” I wrote the time I had to be at the studio the next day on my hand before leaving.

  As soon as I was on the street, I began cheering but I knew that my successful audition, in part, was due to the changes that I was experiencing. Oakley told me that my father was a vampire and I somehow knew that I was becoming one too. There was no way I was going to question what was happening to me especially when my dreams were finally coming true…

  Secret Crush

  Trying to forget someone you love is like

  trying to remember someone you never knew

  Anonymous

  I felt her approach me from behind and wrap her arms around my waist.

  “I love you,” a soft voice whispered in my ear. I slowly turned around until we were nose to nose.

  “Kiss me,” I murmured as she slowly leaned in to me. Our lips touched and I caressed her face. I never wanted this moment to end, I thought as my hands trailed down her waist and I felt her smile against my lips.

  “Tyronne,” a female voice called. “What are you doing?” The voice was coming from afar and not the girl who stood in front of me. I blinked and the girl of my dream was gone. A second blink brought me back to reality where I was sitting on a sun bed by the pool with my best friend Katherine staring at me.

  2011

  “You were dreaming about her again, weren’t you?” Katherine demanded. “Tyronne, you need to just ask her out!” The girl Katherine was referring to was her best friend, Penelope Gilbert. I’d been in love with Penny forever. In fact, it was exactly three years, two months, five days and eleven hours since I’d first laid eyes on the love of my life. Meanwhile, Katherine had spent three years trying to set us up but it seemed that Penny always had a boyfriend.

  “She’s dating that guy from the cricket team, isn’t she?” I muttered. Katherine grinned and informed me:

  “She broke up with him last night because she caught him with that girl in our German class. But his loss is your gain.” I rolled my eyes as I reached for my water bottle.

  “Kat, I’m not going to pursue her when she’s just dumped her boyfriend of a year,” I said. “They were really close.”

  “You could do the whole comfort thing and slowly fall in love angle,” Katherine mused. I rolled my eyes again.

  “Are you joking, there’s no way I’m going to ask her out while she’s hurting over some other guy,” I said. Katherine groaned.

  “Anyway, it’s about time Penny realised how perfect you are, you’d be the best boyfriend ever. Why doesn’t Penny realise how perfect you are?” she asked.

  “Well, if I’m so perfect, Kat why don’t you ask me out?” I asked and Katherine stuck her tongue out at me.

  “You do realise that now is your opportunity to ask her out, before she’s off the market again,” Katherine stated.

  “Who should he ask out?” a voice piped from around the corner and Penny appeared.

  “Piper Jackson, from his maths class,” Katherine replied immediately. “She’s cute.”

  “Piper’s gay,” Penny said as she sat down next to Katherine.

  “But how does she really know that’s she gay if she’s never been with a guy?” I asked.

  “How are you?” Katherine asked Penny. I breathed a sigh of relief that Kat had changed the subject.

  “I’m much better,” Penny replied. “Guess what! Henry White asked me out on a date and I said yes!” The blood drained from my face as I stared helplessly at Penny.

  “You only broke up with Dean yesterday,” Katherine said, it seemed that Katherine was able to recover from this shock announcement faster than I could.

  “So?” Penny replied.

  “Are you sure you’re ready to go on a date so soon,” I said. Penny glanced at me.

  “Dean is a loser,” she said. “Going on a date with someone as lovely as Henry is the perfect way to distract me.”

  “As your best friend, Penny, I’m telling you this is a bad idea,” Katherine said. Penny swiftly rose to her feet, her brown eyes flashing with anger.

  “As my best friend you should be supporting me without questioning my decisions. I thought you’d be pleased for me,” Penny hissed as she spun around and stormed out of the pool area slamming the gate behind her.

  “Too soon you said but on the bright side, at least Henry has a history of short relationships,” Katherine said. I glared at her not bothering to reply. I got to my feet and grabbed my towel. Slipping my feet into my shoes, I headed for the gate.

  “Don’t leave, Tyronne,” Katherine begged. “It was just a joke.” I ignored her until I reached the gate.

  “You know how much Penny means to me,” I said. “But it doesn’t matter because she’ll never know.
” I opened the gate and continued on my way.

  Henry White had liked Penelope Gilbert for six months but had been unable to do anything about his feelings because she was dating that idiot, Dean. Henry had asked Penny out the day after she dumped Dean for two reasons. The first was that he truly liked Penny. The second was that he knew Penny’s friend, Tyronne Hastings had a crush on her. As Henry walked to Penny’s house, he congratulated himself on getting in first. He switched the flowers he’d picked from his mother’s garden to his other hand and rang Penny’s doorbell. She answered it so quickly that Henry wondered if she had been waiting on the other side.

  “These are for you,” he said, holding out the red roses.

  “Thank you,” she smiled and her whole face lit up, highlighting her natural beauty. Penny had large brown eyes that matched her long curly hair perfectly. Her long hair swished as she turned to go into the kitchen and Henry longed to run his fingers through its soft waves.

  “I’ll just put these into some water and then we can go,” Penny said as she opened a cupboard and pulled out a vase.

  “Take your time,” Henry said. “The movie’s not starting till seven and its only quarter to now.” Penny smiled at Henry as she grabbed her purse and phone.

  “What movie are we seeing?” she asked they walked out of the house and locked the door. Henry grinned.

  “I Am Number Four,” he said and Penny glanced at him to see if he was serious.

  “Isn’t that kind of an action movie?” she asked as they walked down the front path and continued up the street.

  “Yes it is, I was going