How strange it was just to wake up in the morning. There was something creeping beneath the layer of my skin, in my pulse, racing through my body. I felt so much stronger, and that scared me.

 As I sat watching the dust motes dancing their way through the cracks of the window, the sound of light footsteps approached the door.

 "Good morning, sunshine," my mom said pleasantly as she entered the room. A huge smile stitched across my face, but then there was something I seemed to come to.

 "What's wrong, honey?" she asked, reading my face.

 "Well, it's just that, 'sunshine' sounds too ironic for a vampire," I told her with a weak shrug.

 "Oh, Vivienne," Mom breathed.

 "No, that's okay, mom..." I tried to restore the situation. "That's okay."

 "Viv, you're still human," she insisted.

 "Yeah, with fangs," I murmured. And for a moment, Mom also seemed to run out of wit to respond.

 "Anyway, can I get out of the hospital now?" I asked.

 "Of course, kiddo," she said, "But I have to make some medical forms before I can check you out. And I hope this would cheer you up. Alyssa and Cammie are coming to see you soon."

 "Oh!" I burst. For a moment I didn't know how I should feel about that.

 "You'll be fine, honey. Just make sure you have your breakfast, alright?" she pointed to a plate of soft jelly sandwiches and a glass of milk on the table.

 "Right," I nodded. When Mom got back to her work again, I ate my breakfast. Then I grabbed my toiletry bag which she brought for me and headed for a fresh cleaning of the day. Maybe if I pretended like nothing happened, everything would be okay.

 Then I heard the sound of my visitors walking toward the door.

 I rushed out of the bathroom. I was already on the bed as fast as a drop of a hat. And this also scared the hell out of me, but I had no time to thin-slice everything. Time to fake ill for now. Then my two best friends burst into the room. But they both let out an exaggerated gasp.

 "Oh wow!" Alyssa breathed. "Vivienne, is that how you look when you get sick?"

 I giggled nervously as I looked at them from my hospital bed. Alyssa bounced forward to my bedside and wrapped her arms around me. Nothing came at first as I returned her the hug, but then a strong smell of incredible bliss enveloped me. And it wasn't the smell of those flowers they had brought for me either, but it was the scent of what flowing beneath their skin, the rattling sound of blood in their veins. It seemed to whisper invitingly to something deep inside me. I quickly pulled away in a jolt of surprise.

 "What?" Alyssa asked, looking concerned with my reaction. "Did I hurt you, Viv?"

 "No...Um...You...You're tickling me," I lied and let out a nervous laugh.

 "Como ti senti, Viv?" Cammie came to ask in her perfect Italian accent. Then Alyssa jabbed her in the ribs.

 "Cam, you're not speaking in English," Alyssa reminded her. Cammie frowned for a minute and then banged her forehead with her palm.

 "Oh sorry! I forgot to switch back," she said.

 "Cammie just started babbling the language all day today," Alyssa told me, "I think she wants to impress our hottest newbie."

 We all know Cammie has a knack for languages. And she travels a lot, so her main purpose is to sleep with girls from different countries as if she's a humping ambassador or something.

 "Nah," Cam said, "I prefer girls who like bottoming more. She doesn't look like my type."

 Fighting the urge to give Cammie a dirty look, I turned to Alyssa.

 "Who are you talking about?"

 "Octavia," they both answered at the same time. I almost winced at the name. I hadn't thought about the girl since last night. Now reminding of her again made my heart skip. I meant how could I forget someone who violated my now unvirgin mouth?

 "The rumor has it that she's from Italy," Alyssa sighed contently. "I bet she's probably a Roman goddess in disguise."

 I grimaced. They were half right about the disguise. If only they knew.

 "So are you coming to see me or to talk about Octavia?" I said rather crossly.

 "Oh, sorry, we got carried away," Cammie breathed. "Well, then I need to ask you a few questions about that night."

 Damn.

 I just prayed she didn't pick the thing I had feared most.

 "What happened to you?"

 My mind suddenly turned into a totally blank slate as I looked at my best friends. What should I say?

 "Oh...I had...uh...something called...called," I struggled to think harder and then recalled the stuff I had read somewhere in my Anthropology book. "Life Shock!"

 "Life Shock?" Alyssa echoed my words, her face crumpled in confusion.

 "What the heck is Life Shock? I've never heard of that symptom before," Cammie said suspiciously.

 I just wanted to smack myself. How could I have not chosen a better lie than this? Like a seizure or some practical disease. But if my best friends found Life Shock bizarre enough, imagine how freaked they would be with 'Awakening'.

 Then the door opened and my mom entered.

 "Life Shock is a psychological reaction when a person hasn't mentally prepared to deal with extreme stress or unpleasant situations."

 We all turned to look at her as she walked toward us, "And the symptom is that a person vomits, faints, or become hysterical." When mom finished, she looked at me and winked with an understanding smile.

 "Yes!" I said in support. "Something like that."

 I puffed out the air of relief. Mom was my heaven-sent. I hoped the part about becoming hysterical would convince my best friends.

 "How are you girls?" mom asked the two of them.

 "We are great, Ms. Petrovna," Cammie said.

 "I believe my daughter must have given you a lot of trauma,"

 "Oh, we were just worried about her," Alyssa said. "Other than that, it's nothing very memorable."

 "I'm glad that no Life Shock had gotten any of you," mom said and then she pretended to check on the medical pad even she knew so well how I was.

 "May I know what caused all the bleeding?" Cammie asked my mom with a concerning look, but I actually went numb with too much stress. This time, I didn't see any alternative lie about the growth of my fangs.

 "She just had a severe gum bleed, that's all," mom simply said the truth.

 "Oh," Cammie breathed with a nod and didn't push it any further. I found myself breathing again. That was close.

 "So, how long does Vivienne have to stay in the hospital?" Alyssa asked.

 "Oh dear, that's nothing to worry, she'll be out soon," mom said with a warm smile.

 "That's just perfect," Alyssa clapped her hands, "because we are planning to throw a birthday party for her. I hope you don't mind." I shot her daggers because the one who did mind was me.

 "Of course, not at all," Mom replied in a pleasant voice. "I hope you will enjoy the day together. Okay, now I guess you girls must have something to catch up, so see you around later."

 We waved at mom as she left the room.

 "You have to invite our savior, Viv," Alyssa turned to me.

 "Who?" I asked.

 "Oh, Viv, who else do you think besides Octavia?" Alyssa rolled her eyes at me.

 "She means just out of gratitude or something like that," Cammie said as if I needed a translation. "Besides, that girl kicks butt."

 "And mathematically Octavia is worth more than a thousand girls combined together," Alyssa added. She does math and physics without a calculator, but now I had to figure out what was wrong with her genius calculation today.

 "But this is my birthday!" I crossed my arms over my chest. "So I want to have it under some conditions."

 "What conditions?" Alyssa asked.

 "No firework. No rock band music, especially no Michelangelo's David on my cake," I demanded. "And we only celebrate with just the small circle of us."

 "Okay, as long as you invite Octavia," Alyssa reassured me although she didn't look so pleased about that.

 "Great," I said, exhaling disappointingly to myself. "To answer to your prayer, I already did."