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“So great,” Arianna said, finally getting her laughter under control.
“Were you talking about the poem?” Lend asked. “What have you figured out?”
David shook his head. “No, you're officially banned from listening to us. Or thinking about this. Or even thinking about thinking about this, understand?”
“But I--”
“No. I mean it. You and Evie both. This is not your problem anymore. ”
Lend scowled as he got some cereal and sat next to me. Honestly, I had been under so much pressure for so long that it was a relief to turn it over to the adults. I didn't want to think about faeries or crazy burning girls anymore. I, for one, would be following David's rules. It was about time I got to be sixteen.
I pushed the image of Lish's lifeless body out of my mind with a wave of guilt. This wasn't my fight. I'd done my part already.
“Are you ready?” Lend asked.
“Oh yeah. ” I was so ready. Distractions, please. “Are there are a lot of paranormals at the school, too? Vamps?”
Arianna snorted. “Why on earth would a vampire go to high school?”
“Well, then I don't have to deal with you today, so already high school's super. ”
“You'd better get going,” Lend's dad said, looking at the clock.
I followed Lend out to the car, practically skipping.
We pulled up to a sprawling brick building and parked in a crowded lot. I jumped out of the car, waiting impatiently while Lend gathered his backpack and books.
“We'll go to the office first to check you in. ” We entered through glass double doors, and a couple of perky office ladies greeted us. Lend gave them a winning smile. “I've got my absence excuse slip and I'm checking in my guest. I think my dad called?”
“Oh, yes,” said one of the ladies, a plump woman with short, curly red hair. “Been sick, sweetheart?”
“Yup. Pretty bad. ” Lend handed her a paper and she looked over it, then entered something into a computer. She handed me a visitor pass, which I rather reluctantly clipped to the bottom of my shirt. Lame.
“Okay, you're all set. ”
“Thanks. ” I got butterflies in my stomach as we turned and walked through the door into the main hallway.
It was amazing. Seriously, it was incredible. The school was kind of run-?down and dingy, but the kids! Teenagers, everywhere! Deliciously ordinary, completely oblivious teenagers! I had never been around so many at one time. Lend and I cut into the traffic flow and walked down the hall, and I realized that none of them noticed us or cared. They jostled each other, shouted hellos, insulted each other in slang I'd never heard but vowed to try out. And I was there in the middle of it all.
I was normal. It was heaven.
We turned down a side hall and Lend stopped, holding his hands up dramatically. “I give you--my locker. ”
It was a sickly teal, paint chipping off the corners to reveal a previous tan coat. I reached out and put my hand on the cold metal.
“So, is it everything you imagined?” he asked.
“Everything I imagined and more,” I whispered, then busted up laughing. “Seriously, this whole place--it's incredible! I can't believe you get to do this every day!”
“Funny, because most people here, myself included, really wish that we didn't have to. ”
“That's because you have no idea how precious normal is. Now. ” I put my hands on my hips and looked around. “According to Easton Heights, a fistfight over a girl should be breaking out at some point today, followed by a tear-?streaked catfight in the girl's bathroom. Should I keep my eyes open? And, more important, do I join the fight, or just watch?”
Lend laughed. “Umm, yeah, probably not going to happen. We'll go to my classes, eat lunch, go to more class, and you'll realize that high school is mind-?numbingly boring. ”
“Not a chance,” I said, grinning. “It's already awesome. ”
At the end of one of my best days ever, we sat in the car waiting for the line out of the parking lot to move. “So, you like the whole high school thing?” Lend asked.
