"Someone else pickedme? Then she pointed to a student in the front row. It was Matt.
"Ugh." I sighed. I felt as double-crossed as Charlie Brown when Lucy pulls the football away from him.
The classroom door opened and in walked Trevor Mitchell holding several boxes of chalk.
"Thank you, Trevor," Mrs.Naper said, her cheeks blushing as red as her lipstick as she took the chalk from the handsome jock.
"He's in this class?" I asked Becky. "I should have changed my schedule while I had the chance!"
My nemesis checked me out as he sauntered down the aisle toward me. When he reached my desk, he leaned in. "Hi,partner"he said with a wink.
My heart fell to the coldMasonite floor.
"Say it isn't so!"
I envied my best friend. She was assigned to her boyfriend and I was going to be stuck with Trevor, Forced to ask him questions that I didn't care to know the answers to. And in return, he'd pry into my private life. Why couldn't I be like Becky and have a boyfriend who attended school with me during the day, instead of being homeschooled at night? Though I'd dreamed of dating a vampire, it sure had its dark side. For a moment, I resented the whole nocturnal thing.
And even worse, I was going to have face time with Trevor Mitchell. I should just surrender my grade to Mrs.Naper and accept my F now.
"So remember," Mrs.Naper continued, "Junior-year grades are important. It's time to start thinking about your future. It's important that you take this assignment seriously."
Great.Not only has Trevor tormented me since kindergarten, but now, if I failed this assignment, he could screw up my whole future.
I made a quick escape from Trevor after the bell rang, but I wasn't so lucky at lunch. I was lying in the grass, shaded from the blazing sun by my sunglasses and a maple tree, when I sensed someone next to me.
I could smell the inviting aroma of just-cookedfrench fries .
"Hey, Becky", I said, undisturbed. "Did you bring me my fries?"
"No, but I brought you something else, Monster Girl", I heard a male's voice say, "Me."
I yanked off my shades. Trevor was stretched out next to me, resting on his elbow.
"Get away," I ordered.
"I figured this was a good position to start off the interview part of the assignment in," he said. "I can guar-iuteethat you get an A. He held a fry in front of my lips, as if about to feed me.
I batted it away and the greasy fry flew out of his land. "I can guarantee that you never see the light of day again."
He leaned into me, his blond locks only inches from my jet-black ones. "I want to explore all sides of you."
I almost gagged at his cheesy pick-up line and wedged my combat boot between us.
But he only took that as a sign of passion and held on to my shoe. "I knew you'd miss me. It's been all summer since I've seen you. I thought maybe you moved."
"I should have."
I yanked my foot away from him and scooted back. His fries spilled onto the grass, but he wasn't bothered. Trevor could buy the whole cafeteria if he wanted.
"Just think," he said. "You could have spent the summer with me, relaxing by the beach, rather than tending to a bat's nest. But you never did have good taste."
Matt and Becky approached carrying twosandwiches and holding my fries.
Since the Snow Ball dance where Trevor wasouted as the one spreading rumors about Alexander's family being vampires and Matt began dating Becky, the soccer-snob twosome's relationship had become strained. They weren't the best buds they used to be, but Matt and Trevor acknowledged each other.
"Trevor was just leaving," I said. My nemesis rose and brushed off the dirt my boot had left on his freshly laundered designer polo shirt.
"So we're on for tonight, partner?" Trevor asked. "You can pick me up after practice. We don't want to wait until the last minute to begin."