Take My Hand

"Is everything alright in here?" She asked, probably sensing the tension in the room. I couldn't blame her. You could cut the tension with a knife, it was so apparent.

"Yeah, fine." I replied, quickly. Maybe a little too quickly. Before my mother could say anything else, I asked, "Who's on the phone?"

"Oh, it's one of your friends. Georgia, I think. You're going to a sleepover on her birthday. You're not doing anything that day, I thought it would be rude to turn her down on her birthday, so I accepted the invitation for you."

I sighed and groaned inwardly. I seriously didn't want to go to that party, but now there is definitely no way out of this. I'd much rather spend time with Brendon alone, but it doesn't look like it going to happen now. My mother passed me the phone, breaking me out of my trance of thoughts about Brendon. I made my way to my room as both my parents followed behind to reach their room, probably to catch up on some sleep. "Hey, Georgia."

"Hi, Belle!" I heard Georgia's irritatingly high pitch scream down the phone. "I haven't talked to you for awhile now. I'm so glad you can come to my sleepover. It's going to be so much fun! Riley, Aisleyne and Rebecca are coming too, as you know. I can't wait!" I basically just let Georgia scream down the phone at me as I lay on my bed, not really listening to a word she was saying, I made a little noise like a sigh or a moan every now and then to let her know I was still there.

"Uh-huh...yeah...yeah....I know." I mumbled as I flicked through pages of a random magazine that was lying on my vanity set. I sat down at my stool and shoved the magazine aside. Instead of flicking through the pages in the magazine, I examined my appearance in the mirror. Christ, my hair looked like crap. As I tried to make my hair look half decent by running my hand through it multiple times, I noticed the tree outside my bedroom window shaking rapidly by looking at the reflection in the mirror. The shadows in my room, began to quaver like the tree did. I knew it wasn't windy outside, since the other trees outside my house weren't shaking like the one beside my window. I jumped up abruptly, letting out a gasp and a quiet scream.

"Belle? Are you okay?" I heard Georgia's voice on the other end of the phone, suddenly remembering that I was supposed to be talking to her. Instead of answering her, I stood paralyzed staring at my window. Managing to find some confidence in myself, I began to take tiny steps towards the window. Miniature steps. I really should buy a lock for my window. Who knows who could climb into my bedroom at night? I was terribly scared for what it was outside, but when I saw his face all trace of fear vanished. There Brendon stood on top of the porch roof with a smug grin on his face. "Belle!"

I quickly put the phone to my ear before Georgia could hang up on me. "Oh, sorry Georgia. Zoned out," I explained. Brendon opened the window himself and climbed through.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Georgia questioned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Georgia, I've got to go," I said, quickly.

"Hey, Belle," Brendon smiled once he had closed the window. He began to walk closer to me.

"Who was that?" Georgia asked, curiously. Uh-oh. I tried searching my brain for an excuse or lie in other words. Nothing came to my head, that was believable, so I attempted to drag the thinking time out.

"Who was who?" I asked.

"I heard a male voice."

"Oh, it's just on the TV." Lie.

"But, I heard them mention your name. What are you watching?"

"Uh...Beauty and the Beast!" I screamed down the phone, thinking of the lie quickly. I covered my mouth, remembering that my parents were in the other room asleep. Brendon chuckled slightly to himself at me, as he placed himself on my bed.

"I see. Well, I guess I'll leave you to that. I'll see you in school tomorrow, maybe? You weren't in today."

"No, I wasn't feeling too well. I'll be in tomorrow most probably."

"Okay, then. Toodles."

"See ya," I pressed 'end' on the phone and placed it on my desk. I turned to look at Brendon smiling at me, widely.

"What are you smiling about?" I asked him as I placed myself next to him on the bed.

"You're such a bad liar," he replied, continuing to smile. I smacked his arm, aggressively, but he still continued to smile.

"It's not that funny, I already know I'm a bad liar," I informed. "Isn't being a bad liar a good thing though?"

"I suppose so," Brendon agreed as he lay flat on my bed. He pulled me up beside him and made me lie down with him, so he could wrap his arm around me. I listened to the steady beat of his heart, while my head lay upon his chest, my ear pressed up against him. It was soothing, just listening to his breathing and his heart beat. I slapped his stomach without raising my head, making him flinch slightly. "What was that for?"

"Don't ever scare me again," I replied, calmly.

"What are you talking about?"

"When you came up the tree. It scared me because I didn't know who it was."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize," He apologized, sincerely. He began to play with my hair softly, after I had let out a rather large yawn. Even though I had slept till noon today, I still felt as if I could sleep for America. "How did the rest of your day go?" Brendon asked.

"Not so good. First off, when I got home, my mother had found out about me bunking school, so I had to put up with all of her crap for at least half an hour. Apparently the school called, to say that I wasn't in. Those bitches. Secondly, I got all of this father and vampire business sorted out. I know most of the story now. Long story short, my dad did something bad now he owes them money. He knows I know about the vampires now. Oh yeah, I'm not supposed to be seeing you, right now but what they don't know can't hurt them."

"Weren't you not allowed to see me in the first place?" Brendon asked.

"Yeah, but even my dad has forbidden me from seeing you now. You see, I told him you were a vampire and-"

"You did what!?" Brendon exclaimed.

"Shh shh! Calm down, he promised me he wouldn't tell anyone. Trust me, he wont."

"Even so, I didn't want you to tell anyone." He whined, his voice slightly quieter now.

"Brendon, it's fine. Everything is going to be okay, okay? I wont tell anyone else, I promise," I whispered into his ear, then gave him a reassuring kiss on the lips. He nodded, to show that he was okay. "Alright then. Last but not least, I've been forced to go to Georgia's birthday sleepover. Isn't that exciting!" I laughed, sarcastically.

Brendon didn't laugh. His face was solid. "This isn't going to be good," Brendon pointed out.

"Obviously, it's not going to be good. You're not going to be there. Instead, I'm gonna be around a bunch of plastics," I joked.

"No, it's not that. It's not going to be bad as in, you're not going to enjoy yourself, bad. Something bad is going to happen there. I just have this weird feeling."

"Don't say that, Brendon. You're scaring me." I admitted, raising my head to look at him. I pushed myself up onto my knees, so that I was staring down at him. "What are you talking about, Brendon?"

"Never mind. I think I'm just being paranoid. Lie back down," Brendon ordered, pulling me back down gently. What he had said terrified me, but I obeyed him never the less. What could possibly go wrong a Georgia's house? Many possibilities ran through my head, some absurd and some that just weren't dramatic at all. I ignored the thoughts running around my head and concentrated on the present rather than the future. I snuggled into Brendon, closing my eyes, falling into a calm dreamless sleep.