"You don't have a school bag?" I ask, searching through my cupboard.

Harriet shakes her head as she inspects her nails.
"Here, borrow my old one."
I hand her a blue polka dot bag that was a little scuffed in places.
Harriet wrinkles her nose, but takes the bag anyway.
I notice she has nothing to put in it so I give her one of my notebooks and a few pens.
"Thanks" she mumbles.
Harriet watches me as I choose something to wear.
"You um, want to borrow something?"
Harriet perks up and joins me in searching the wardrobe.
"Thanks Tasmin, can I borrow this?"
She holds up a dark blue tea dress against herself, smiling as she looks in the mirror.
"Yeah sure, you can keep it if you want."
Harriet gives me her classic wide grin, her normally pale grey eyes appearing more green.
"Thanks, I love it."
I choose my usual white t-shirt and jean shorts feeling glad that Harriet picked the weird dress that Mum always hounds me to wear. She can have it now.

A quick glance in the mirror tells me that my hair is in dire need of some fixing. I walk to the bathroom to get my hairbrush, running it through my hair in front of the mirror.

A sharp pain reacts to the bristles as the brush nudges my neck. I lift my hair and turn around to see an x shaped red bruise on the nape of my neck. Hesitantly, I run my fingers over it, feeling it pulse at the center.

"Ouch."

I quickly flinch my hand away as a deep throbbing ache spreads down my spine.

"You ok in there?"

Harriet's concerned voice calls from outside the bathroom.

"I'm fine,"I shakily reply. Worriedly staring at the strange bruise on my neck, I decide to leave my hair down today. Whatever the hell it is, I don't want anyone to seeing it.

I walk out taking deep breaths to see Harriet admiring herself in the mirror.

"Time for breakfast?" she asks sweetly, doing a twirl.

I nod, telling her she looks nice.
Harriet proudly walks downstairs in her new frock, making my mum clap and smile.
"Oh Harriet you look positively delightful! I always try to get Tasmin to wear that dress."
I roll my eyes as I start to make pancakes.

...........Harriet's POV............

Tasmin keeps touching the spot behind her head where I fed last night. She winces in pain as she rubs it, I feel the pain too on the tip of my tongue. I relish it.

Tasmin's a light sleeper, she barely sleeps at all. In a vital need to feed, I accidentally let the glamour slip, exposing my true form. I must feed less urgently, or find other ways of doing it.

I'm snapped out of my thoughts when the bus screeches to a halt outside Westfield high school.

It looks like a shithole.

Windows cracked, walls covered in moss and a  muddy patch of grass they call a field.

Think about why you came here

forcing a smile on my face, I notice Tasmin's friends approaching her from the canteen holding fizzy drinks and Popsicles.

The tall caramel skinned girl with brown eyes hands Tasmin a fanta, seemingly oblivious to my presence. "Hey Taz"

Beckoning me over, Tasmin introduces me to her friends

"Guys this is Harriet, she's my cousin who's staying with us for a while."

The three of them smile politely to me, the girl with big hazel eyes and a spiky blonde haircut tells me her name is Alex as she offers me a chocolate Popsicle, asking where i'm from.

"Queenstown"

She smirks, shrugging off her schoolbag.

"Oh so you must used to lakes then."

I laugh along with her, fighting the urge to roll my eyes. That's the third time I've heard that bad joke since I arrived at this pathetic town.

I unwrap the Popsicle, almost gagging at the sickly sweet smell. How do these people eat this garbage?

We walk along the patchy field, I decide to figure out the hierarchy of Tasmin's group.

Obviously, Alex is the talker, if not the 'ring leader' She blathers away about her online boyfriend and complains about homework. Ugh mundane.

the short, petite girl with round glasses I learn is called Daisy laughs a lot, the tall brown eyed one Jade, takes a lot of selfies and Tasmin just quietly listens from behind, occasionally joining in.

I notice her eyeing a lanky guy with black tousled hair, casually leaning against a tree.

Tasmin had a funny little smile on her face and her cheeks were rosy.

I nudge her shoulder, "you like him don't you?"

Immediately, her eyes widen, cheeks a strong shade of red. She giggles nervously.

"No no I was just watching," She squeaks.

"You're a bad liar," I laugh. "Why don't you go over and talk to him?"

I start to pull Tasmin in his direction, she immediately holds her ground, shaking her head and refusing to move.

I get the attention of her friends though, they watch amused. Alex beckons the guy over.

"His name is Ash," Tasmin whispers to me.

I can tell why she likes him, but nothing is special about this human.

Ash is the definition of mysterious bad boy. Sleek in black, complete with intricate tattoos on his hands and mystifying blue eyes.

Tasmin hides behind jade, peeking over her shoulder. I let her stay there. An idea cunningly forming in my head.

Ash approaches me immediately. Well, he had to. I'm wearing a glamour of illusion making me appear different to him, more appealing. I look over my shoulder to see if Tasmin is watching, she is.

I stick my hand out, he reaches out to shake it.

"I'm Myers, Harriet Myers."

As soon as Ash touched my skin, I knew he was was hooked. His pupils grew bigger, stuttering as he tried to introduce himself, nervously running his fingers through his inky black hair.

"Im-Im Ash Williams"

I give Ash the sultry eye, playing with my hair as I smiled up at him.

"I'm glad I met you," I purr.

Making my eyes widen, I put on an act of surprise, as if i just remembered something.

"Oh Ash" I gush, "I meant to introduce you to my cousin Tasmin."

Tasmin timidly steps out from behind Jade, shyly smiling up at Ash.

The so called 'bad boy' was like putty in my hands as I gently tug his leather sleeve over to meet Tasmin

"Uh hey." Ash distractedly talks to her, shooting confused glances to me.

The conversation looked awkward, I cringe as Tasmin tells Ash she sits two rows behind him in Spanish class. Doesn't matter anyway, Ash is under my seductive spell.

I sashay smoothly over to Tasmin, hooking my arm in hers, I steer her away from Ash, giving him a wink as he dumbfoundedly watches us walk away.

"Harriet what are you doing? We were talking."

Tasmin throws me a look that could shrivel flowers.

I laugh, putting on my best performance.

"Oh Tasmin, don't be so naive, you can't just tell him your life story then go your separate ways! The secret of pulling any guy is leaving him wanting more."

Harriet quietens down, her face thoughtful.

"I guess that makes sense." She muses.

I nod, flashing a reassuring grin.

I deserve an Oscar.  

The bell rings suddenly, Alex groans as we make our way to class.

"Ugh I have math first with pedo Mr Clark. What about you Harriet? Are you sharing timetables with Taz?"

I nod, linking arms with Tasmin.

"Yes, we have English now, see you guys at lunch break."

Tasmin steers me towards a shoddy looking classroom, complete with a shabby looking teacher. We take our seats by the window in the middle of the room.

Peering over her giant square glasses, Ms peters squints at me from behind her desk.

"It appears we have a new student today, young lady would you care to introduce yourself?"

For such a small women, Ms peters voice does boom across the room. I stand up quickly, and walk to the front of the classroom.

Casting a glamour of self assurance and charisma on myself, I lift my chin as I begin to introduce myself.

"For those of you that don't know me, I'm Harriet Myers, and for those of you that do... hi!" I look Ash from the back of the classroom and earn a chuckle from him, and a laugh from the rest of the group of bored teenagers.

"Well." I clasp my hands together, "I'm from Queenstown so yes, I am familiar with Lakes."

As expected, a laugh. Why do people find that so funny?"

"Tasmin's my second cousin and I'm going to be here for one month, so I hope you enjoy my company while I'm here!" I grin happily as I make my way back to my seat, while Ash and his friends clapped and hooted.

Tasmin leans over, a look of disbelief on her face.

"How did you do that Harriet? you are already liked here and it hasn't even been a day!"

I smugly smirk as I open up a fresh page in my notebook.

"Must be something in the water."