Immortal Love Book #3. Lost

1. "A fresh start, again"

I looked at the schedule for the January Term for twenty minutes straight. I had been doing that every morning for the last couple of weeks, hoping that staring at it would tell me what the right thing to do was. I ended up registering for classes, but I still wasn't sure what to do. I had a big decision to make. I could continue with my attempt at a normal life, or I could go on a completely different path and become one of The Rulers of The Academy. They were drastically different options, and I had no clue which one was the right one.

The reason, I believed, for being so indecisive was the uncertainty of Alexander's proposition. I knew exactly how the rest of my life would look like if I chose to stick to college. And even if I didn't know for sure how my life would look like as a journalist, I still had a pretty good idea. But Alexander's proposition came with no warranties nor security. It was a leap of faith, and it involved my life completely changing. I couldn't even process how my life as a vampire would be, let alone how it would be if I were ruling The Academy. It was too much to process, and I had been trying for a while.

"Stella! Your boyfriend is on TV again!" Sophie screamed from downstairs. I rolled my eyes.

I had made the mistake of taking Sophie to my apartment in New York for a week, and there my friends told her all about how they saw me practically throwing myself at Alexander on registration day. Our interaction didn't go unnoticed that day, and I was still paying the consequences.

"Stella! Dinner!" this time it was my mother the one yelling.

I took Sophie with me to New York for one week and promised to stay in Santa Mon for another once I brought her back. It also coincidently happened to be around the holidays, and my birthday, so it was perfect timing. Christmas was tomorrow —Saturday—, and my birthday was December 29th —Wednesday—, so I would be celebrating Christmas, my birthday, and then New Year's Eve here in Santa Mon. My classes started on January 3rd, so I'd go back to New York next Saturday to have a full day of mentally preparing for the beginning of the semester.

"Stella!" I realized I had distracted myself once again by my sister's screaming. I went downstairs to see my mother and sister sitting at the dining table. I sat next to them.

"Why did you take so long?" my mother asked. I shrugged.

"I was unpacking." I lied. I didn't want to tell my family that I had been all afternoon debating whether or not to turn into a vampire and rule The Academy.

I thought of what they would think of me if I told them. I knew my mother would absolutely freak out. She didn't hate vampires as much as she did before Dennis saved Sophie's life that one time, but she was still very cautious and aware of their threat. I didn't think she'd like the idea of me becoming the vampire queen and ruling The Academy next to Alexander Ericson. Sophie, on the other hand, seemed to like Alexander for me, which was weird. Maybe it had something to do with how hot Alexander was, and how he had every straight woman over 15 completely in love with him since he started appearing on television.

"Stella, what's on your mind?" my mother asked. I shook my head. I needed to get myself to stop thinking about it for more than two seconds.

"Just school stuff, mom. I'm sorry." I said. In front of me was a plate of vegetables with chicken. I took a carrot with my fork and ate it.

Dinner was silent. I had the feeling that they both knew something I didn't, but I didn't have the energy to dig deeper. I just wanted to go to bed and shut my brain off for a couple of hours. As soon as dinner was over, I stood up and started loading the dishwasher. My mother leaned on the door frame and looked at me for a second.

"We're going to Kimmel's later." my mother said. I nodded. "You should come with us. Everyone will be there." she said. Right, it was Christmas Eve. I had almost forgotten about that, with everything I had going on in my head.