*****

Tina offers to drive me to class, and this time I accept.

"Does anybody else know about you?" She asks as she turns the first corner.

"You're the only human I've told," I say, hoping she won't pick up on the distinction.

"Really? Not even Stephanie?" She asked, her eyes lightly up.

I shake my head.

"Wow. Thank you. So. . ." she trails off, and I wonder what she's going to say next.

"You're going to hang out with Stephanie tonight, right? I heard you on the phone last night." She asked.

I feel both foolish and guilty, but I had made plans with the brunette to celebrate the start of the holiday break.

"Umm, yeah. . ." I reply sheepishly.

Tina laughs and pats my leg, though the laugh sounds slightly forced.

"Relax. I don't have a claim on you and I don't own you. Maybe one day. . . But for right now, I'm just glad I have you as I do. You've trusted me with a secret no one else knows, and you've been there for me when I've really needed you."

But I hadn't been there when she'd been kidnapped, I berate myself.

"How can I be jealous of her?" She said that in a low voice, I wonder if she is trying to convince me or herself.

"What are you doing for the holidays?" Tina asks as she changes the subject.

"I'm headed down south to spend it with my family,"

I tell her, hoping she's not planning on me spending the entire holiday with her. Not, that that would be any hardship, but I really am looking forward to seeing my mom, and having some home cooked meals. My dad is another story. . .

"Oh. . . Okay. Will you be back soon?"

I can hear the disappointment in her voice. While I feel bad for letting her down, there isn't much I can do about it.

"I'll be gone for about a week, coming back just after New Year's."

Part of me hates to leave her for that long, worried about her well-being, but I haven't seen my family since the summer.

Tina sucks in her bottom lip as she pulls into the parking lot.

"I don't want to be a pain. . . but. . . um. . . Do think your parents will mind. . . if. . ."

I know what she is asking, and am fairly certain my mom won't mind, but I want to be sure first.

"I'll see what they say, but what about your mom? Won't she be lonely?"

I don't want Tina's mom to go without being with her family.

"I'm sure she won't mind, if you're there to ask her. She really likes you. I'm just afraid of being away from you for that long." Her voice has gained a tremulous quality to it.

"What if Dan comes back?"

"She can't hurt you anymore. I promise."

But I promise to see what I can do. I guess Tina is still healing after all. Thankfully, I still can't sense any of Lydia Scott's switches.

Richard sees me getting out of Tina's car, and while he frowns at her for a moment, when he walks over, he greets her cordially enough.

"I don't know how or what you did, but thank you, Nick." He grabs my hand, and shakes it in a tight grip that last week would have crushed my hand, but this week, mine seems just as firm.

"Friends?" He asked..

"Friends," I reply, glad to turn this long-term enemy into an ally. And to think, all I had to do was get special abilities, steal his girlfriend, shame him, and then set him up with the head cheerleading snob. Easy!

We go our separate ways, and I head to my first class. Stacy saw me after I'm done with my final, and strolls up to me.

"So, are we still on for tonight?"

She asks, and despite how identical she looks and sounds like her sister Stephanie, I know she's not her; it takes me a second to realize what she means though.

With a teasing smile, I asked, "I have plans with Stephanie tonight. Why, what's up, Stacy?"

My smile grew wider at the shocked look on her face. I'm glad I'd put that "switch" in Stephanie, which let me tell them both apart.

"How did you do that? Even our parents have a hard time telling us apart. . . unless we're naked." I can't help but grin at her consternation.

"Naked, huh? That might be fun. What's different then?"

I have to admit, my curiosity was piqued. Physically they had both appeared the same, but then again, I hadn't seen them naked together. . . Just the thought of that causes a rise in my pants.

Her confusion turns to a sly grin before she answers.

"I guess you'll just have to find out. See you tonight Nick."

She gives my ass a squeeze as she walks by. I turn around and watch her nice ass sway as she leaves. Is it just me or does it seem like her hips have a little extra sway in them?

I wonder what I'd set myself up for tonight, and a smile splits my lips, and I shake my head in wonder.

My last final is after lunch, so I go back to the library, to see if I can come up with any more ideas for defeating the demons. I start Google-ing for ways that aliens are defeated in popular sci-fi. I don't think I can create a virus that'll kill them, computer or biological, and I don't have some genius pre-teen boy to lead a fleet against them. Somehow I doubt that nukes will be strong enough, and in the end, I walk to lunch and then my last class with no better ideas, than I'd walked in with.

I'm going to have to talk it over with Vage, but she'd left me alone again last night, and I don't know why. Is she jealous over Stephanie and Tina? She hadn't talked to me yesterday, both when she'd helped me save Tina from Dan, and when she'd stayed in the shadows, making it hard to even see her. She also hadn't been in that blue room the other night, when she pulled me to wherever she is. I'm worried that my mistake with her 'in heat' switch, might have something to do with it as well. What must she think of me? Probably, that I'm a brutish human, barely better than the demons, and not worth saving.

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