They followed me as if humoring me. Talking and giggling, they took no notice whatsoever of natures works. A few of them lit up cigarettes, affecting ... blase air of the city girl who really finds the country too, too boring. I took them several miles into the forest, and I would have walked all day with them if they hadnt started complaining. Some wanted to sit down and have a quiet cigarette, others wanted to go back to camp and sleep, and the rest didnt care just so long as I didnt exhaust. They found somewhere more private when he said, ‘No–well sort of–I guess.’ He looked at the inside of his forearm again–still feeling the pain. He didn’t think he’d been changed but found himself beginning to wonder if he had been without his knowing. Unthinkingly, his hand went to his neck as he felt for the telltale bite marks. He wanted to ask her if she wanted to go the wedding but didn’t know if he should. ‘When I saw you last–you said you wanted to become one of them. Do you still feel. ” Nina was still annoyed. “It will be different if she comes in tomorrow with a sore bottom.” “Maybe,” Nina conceded, and then continued, “It’s quite funny really, Amber also being spanked by her Mum, so that will make three of us.” Hannah explained, “Actually, it was Christine who first threatened to spank her.” “What for?” Nina was incredulous. “Christine is a real strong anti-smoker, and she is the one who saw Amber smoking and told her if she were her daughter she would get a jolly hard. We were in New York City and all of us felt a little homesick, even Chris, although none of us wanted to admit it. Not because we were afraid to; we just didn't want to hurt each other, so we were all being strong for each other. That's what people do when they're in love, right?"My dad told me to use the credit card whenever I needed it," I said mostly to change the subject. "He told me he'd take care of whatever the bills were." That's pretty cool," Mark said and Chris agreed, and it was cool.