Tuesday morning, Mia walked into class feeling a little awkward. Yesterday, she'd skipped school – in a rare moment of success, she'd somehow managed to convince her mom that she was sick. She'd tried to do it again this morning, but her mom said one day was enough. So now, she was back at school, trying her best to pretend that nothing unusual had happened over the weekend.

She was still pretty embarrassed about confronting Rudi, and even Luke's call telling her that Rudi didn't know anything hadn't been enough to make her feel better. Now, she was trying to remember which kids in her class had seen what she'd done. She knew Zev and Luke had been there, of course. And Tala and a couple juniors she vaguely recognized from P.E. – Greg and Kurt, she thought their names were. And of course, Rollin. At least Rollin had graduated last year, so she wouldn't have to actually face him today. Still, that left five people she'd almost definitely be seeing at some point. And those were only the people she remembered. Who knew how many others had been there – or how many heard about it later?

Mia sat down at her desk, hoping the day would be quiet. Maybe if she just kept her head down, not making eye contact with anyone, she could pretend that none of this had ever happened. She was staring down at her desk so hard that she didn't notice right away that the girl in front of her was trying to hand something to her. It wasn't until she whispered Mia's name that she even looked up.

"Pass these back." she told Mia, handing her a small stack of half-sheets of paper.

Mia took one and passed the rest on, not even looking behind her. It took a few seconds for her to realize what she was looking at: the nominees for Homecoming King and Queen. It looked like they'd been narrowed down to three guys and three girls. Mia almost started grinning to herself; it was so normal, it made her little problem this weekend seem almost unreal. At least it put her in a somewhat better mood, even if she really didn't care about something like this.

Mia read the names disinterestedly. For the boys: Eric Milner, Michael Tomlin, and Lucas Volk. Mia's eyes widened at that last name. How did he make the list? He must have more people in his neighborhood that liked him than Mia realized. Or maybe it was the track team. Mia shrugged – either way, she was definitely picking him. She didn't even care if he wanted to be Homecoming King – the look on his face would be worth it. Besides, she didn't even know who those other two were.

The girls were slightly more interesting: Anna Ellington, Tara Pickett, and Summer Ashwood. Well, there was no way Mia was voting for Summer. But what about Anna? Mia slipped her phone out of her pocket.

You want to be Homecoming Queen? she typed.

Not really. Anna replied a minute or so later.

That settled it – if Anna didn't want to do it, Mia would have to pick Tara. Besides, it probably wouldn't be a good idea for both Anna and Luke to win anyway. She circled the name, folded her paper in half, and handed it to the kid who was collecting them.

After they'd gotten the stupid Homecoming stuff out of the way, class started up like usual. Mia still decided to try to keep a low profile today, and kept her attention on her desk most of the time. She made it through two classes this way, and was secretly relieved. She wasn't called on to answer any questions, and it seemed like no one paid any particular attention to her. She was starting to think that maybe this day wouldn't be so bad after all. Now, all she had to do was get through third period math, and everything would be just fine.

Of course, math was going to be the hardest class of the day for her. Not only did she have Mr. Lowell for a teacher, but Rudi was in class with her too. Mia wondered if Rudi would be more or less likely to say something with Mr. Lowell being the teacher. Well, she guessed there was only one way to find out. She sank down into her seat, trying to look both invisible and aloof. Not surprisingly, it was a tough combination to hit. She decided to focus on aloof.

Mr. Lowell walked in the room, and Mia caught her breath almost automatically. She hadn't actually seen him there on Sunday, but there was no doubt in her mind that he'd heard about her being there. How could he not know? He might have even heard her – didn't Zev tell her once that he lived really close to him?

Mr. Lowell looked at her for a minute as he set his briefcase on his desk, but he didn't say anything. Mia got the distinct impression he was trying to tell if she was alright. She found herself giving him a small smile, her embarrassment rising up all over again. Finally, he turned to his desk. Karen Barlow went up to talk to him, and Mia was relieved. Now there was only one other person in this class she had to worry about. The next time the door opened, Rudi Kaelin walked into the room. As soon as she saw Mia sitting there, she came stalking over. Oh, great.

"Thanks a lot." Rudi sneered at Mia.

Mia didn't say anything; she just stared at Rudi, trying to figure out why she was even there. Hadn't she done enough already? Why didn't she just sit down and leave Mia alone for once? Did she really have to make everything worse all the time?

"Now because of your little outburst at my house, I'm under curfew."

"You are?" Mia could hardly believe it – this was great news! It was almost enough to make Mia wish she'd done it earlier. Except for the fact that she was still mortified, of course.

"Yes. I am." Rudi practically growled. "Now, thanks to you, I have to go home the instant school's out. And if I'm caught again doing anything, I'll be doing community service 'til I die."

"Really?" Mia fought the urge to wish Rudi a long life.

"I don't know why you had to lie like that – we both know I wasn't even there."

"Yes, you were."

Mia might know it was impossible for Rudi to have been out, but she'd still seen her. And she wasn't about to back down now. At this point, it'd just make her look like she was a liar in addition to being possibly crazy.

"You know I wasn't." Rudi snapped.

"So where were you?" Mia asked. She wasn't really expecting Rudi to admit she'd been in the woods with the rest of the werewolves, but wouldn't it have been nice?

"I was with my family." Rudi told her. "And Luke's dad knows it – that's the only reason I got off as light as I did."

"Well, if you weren't stalking me, you wouldn't have gotten in trouble in the first place." Mia told her. Rudi just sneered at her.

"And tell your friend that I don't care if she stays with Luke."

"Why's that?" Mia asked, trying not to show her surprise. Rudi was backing off of all of them now?

"Because I'm in enough trouble as it is. And if Luke's dad hears about that..."

"He doesn't know?" Mia asked.

By now, even Mia had realized that the cop she'd seen outside had been Luke's dad. She thought about seeing if she could casually mention it to him, but thought better of it. If Rudi was really going to leave Anna alone, there was no reason to bring it up to him. Besides, now she had something to blackmail Rudi with – something that would ensure she really did stay away from all of them.

"No. He doesn't." Rudi said, setting her jaw.

"So you're really just going to leave us all alone?" Mia almost couldn't believe it.

"As long as you stop saying I'm stalking you." Rudi told her.

"Deal." Mia said instantly. It was probably the easiest decision of her life. "As long as I don't see you again."

"You know you won't."

The bell rang and Karen took her seat. Mr. Lowell quickly scanned the room. He took one look at Mia and Rudi and his eyes narrowed. Mia found herself wondering if she was going to be getting in trouble for her weekend comments about Rudi after all.

"Miss Kaelin, please take your seat." Mr. Lowell said curtly.

"Yes, sir." Rudi said unhappily, moving to her spot across the room.

"Miss Chihara, can I see you for a minute?"

Mia got slowly out of her seat and made her way to the front of the room.

"I'm very sorry about what happened this weekend." Mr. Lowell told her quietly. So he did know.

"I'm sorry." Mia told him.

The last thing she needed was for one of her teachers to start thinking she was just trying to cause trouble, especially for someone who was like him. She wasn't exactly sure what he could do to her if he decided to, and she really didn't want to find out.

"You don't have to apologize." Mr. Lowell told her. "I'm sorry I didn't realize how out of hand this had been getting."

Mia didn't say anything. She thought back to all the trouble she'd had this year – it never occurred to her that any of her teachers might have actually noticed something was wrong. And while it was true she'd been more than a little agitated at school the past couple of months, that had been more a lack of blood problem than a bullying problem. But there was no way she was going to tell him that.

"If Rudi bothers you again, please let me know."

"Thank you." Mia said. She started to feel embarrassed all over again.

"And if you need anything, just ask – school-related or otherwise."

"Thank you." Mia said again.

Mr. Lowell gave a short nod. He looked like there was still something else he wanted to say. But after an instant the look was gone and Mia went back to her desk.

"Now, are there any questions on the homework?" Mr. Lowell asked the class as she sank into her chair.

In the seat next to her, Luke leaned over.

"What was that about?" he asked quietly. But Mia just shook her head.