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micro-balcony and knocked on the glass.
    The room was completely dark. It seemed rather late for Erika to be out, so I knocked again, this time a little louder. A small light went on inside the room. Probably a bedside lamp, if I had to guess. And then the curtains shifted just a little. A moment after that they were whipped wide open.
    “Haley!” Erika exclaimed. “What are you doing out there?” She quickly opened the window.
    “Just hanging out,” I said. I hadn’t really thought about how I was going to explain the fact that I was perching off the side of her house.
    “How did you get up here?” she asked, looking all around for a ladder or a rope or something.
    “Uh…” I stammered. “I had a ladder, but it fell,” I said, pretending to look down at the ground. “It’s right there.” I pointed into the dark.
    “Well get in here,” Erika said, grabbing my jacket and hauling me into her bedroom. “I don’t really think those window boxes are supposed to be weight bearing.”
    I wasn’t really putting my weight on the window box. I was more hovering than sitting. But I couldn’t exactly tell Erika that. She was pretty strong for her size. I practically flew through the window and we both landed on the carpet in a heap.
    “Oof,” Erika said. “That’s going to leave a bruise.”
    “Sorry.” I immediately sprang to my feet. Erika smelled like freshly cut lemons and clean skin. “Thanks for inviting me in. I hope I didn’t scare you.”
    “You scared me a little bit,” she admitted as she got to her feet. “And not just from climbing up the side of my house like a lunatic. I’ve been worried about you. It’s like you fell off the planet. Did you drop out of school or what?”
    “Oh. Um…” I had completely forgotten about high school. It was like the whole concept had vanished from my head. And then I remembered that I hadn’t really spoken to Erika since Dorian had lured me out of the Winter Formal dance with the promise of a flask full of blood. “I’ve been going through some stuff,” I told her.
    “With your uncle?” she wanted to know. “Or your mom?”
    “Just kind of with me,” I hedged. I didn’t want to make up a story about my uncle and end up having a well-intending parent call child services. “But I’m probably just going to get my GED. I don’t think I’ll be going back to high school.”
    “This isn’t because of Tommy. Is it?” Erika asked. “He is such a sleaze. I can’t even believe Sheila is going out with him.”
    Despite my mad longing for Dorian, I still felt a twinge of pain hearing that piece of news. “They are?” I couldn’t help but ask.
    “Sorry.” Erika grimaced. “I didn’t realize you didn’t know.”
    “That’s okay,” I assured her. “They probably deserve each other.”
    Erika shook her head with dismay. “Sheila is such an idiot. I mean, she knows Tommy is a scumbag. Why doesn’t she understand that in a couple of months he’s going to turn around and treat her the exact same way?”
    “Beats me.” I shrugged.
    Chewing her lip, Erika said, “My mom says it’s because people always think they’re the exception and not the rule.”
    “I guess that would explain smokers,” I said. When Erika shot me a confused look I added, “No one ever thinks they are the one who is going to get cancer.”
    As I was speaking, Erika flipped a lock of her long black hair over her shoulder causing the subtle fragrance of her to waft up my nostrils. Even though I had recently dined on the seedy man in the alley, I felt my stomach growl. It would be so easy to just wrench Erika’s head over to one side and sink my fangs into her slender neck.
    “So… Not that I’m not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?” she asked. “I mean it’s like…” she glanced over at her digital clock. “It’s almost three in the morning?”
    I suddenly realized that Erika was looking uncomfortable, clutching her hands together and