Blood Like Poison For the Love of a Vampire - By M. Leighton Page 0,24

wait or to stay or to do anything except leave, but I didn't. Instead, I stood quietly by and watched him walk away.

He hadn't taken more than six or seven steps, however, when he quickly turned on his heel and came back to the window.

He leaned his head through the opening and crooked his finger at me. When I leaned down to him, thinking he was going to tell me something, he pulled me in for a quick kiss. He left again after that and I smiled as I watched him go, feeling much more satisfied with his exit.

My smile widened when I heard a faint whistling drift through the window on the gentle night breeze. I felt like whistling, too. Or singing. Or flying.

********

Monday's post-weekend conversation still revolved around Trinity's brutal rejection of Savannah Grant at Caster's party. I thought it was telling that no one seemed to want to rehash Savannah's brave rebuttal, only Trinity's vicious attack.

As I looked at the faces of the brainwashed followers that hung on Trinity's every word, I saw, probably for the first time, the true weight of what I'd done by turning a blind eye to her antics all these years.

There was no one to defend the people that Trinity walked all over, no one to call her out about her cruelty and nastiness. There was no one to stand up to her, no one willing to risk the distasteful consequences.

A bold voice sounded in my head, telling me that I should've done something, that someone had to. But then another voice spoke up, this one whiny and selfish, reminding me that few others had their entire future riding on it like I did either. I needed to be a part of the squad. I needed cheerleading. I couldn't be the one who stood up to her.

Ignoring both voices, I headed for class.

"T, wait up!"

"Ugh," I murmured under my breath.

Drew. I'd forgotten all about him.

I turned and saw him jogging to catch up to me. When he reached me, I plastered a smile on my face, as natural a smile as I could muster.

"Hey."

"Where were you all weekend? I tried to call you," he said, frowning. "Did you get my messages?"

"Sorry, I haven't even had a chance to check them yet," I confessed, which was partially true. More to the point, I hadn't taken the time to check them. I'd wanted to put it off as long as possible. "Dad was home. You know how that goes," I said, rolling my eyes dramatically.

"Oh, yeah," Drew said, curling his lip sympathetically. "So, what are you doing tonight after practice?"

Bo's face flashed through my head. I was hoping to hear from him, but even as the thought ran through my mind, I felt guilty, like I was betraying Drew. Even though I knew in my head and in my heart that it was over, I'd been remiss in not letting Drew in on that little fact. I'd been so consumed with Bo, Drew just hadn't crossed my mind, and that wasn't right. He deserved better than that.

I didn't want to make up an excuse. He might see right through that. But I also didn't want to keep going on as if nothing was wrong. Thankfully, the bell rang, saving me from having to make any kind of decision until later.

Drew bent to kiss me and I gave him a quick peck and dashed off, calling over my shoulder, "I gotta go. I'm gonna be late."

As I settled into my desk in Calculus, I was sort of amazed at how much Bo had affected me in a few short days. He took up a surprising amount of my available brain space and was apparently working his way into my heart space as well, pushing out people I'd thought were firmly entrenched there.

I used to really like Drew and, until Bo's arrival, I had thought things were going well. I mean, it's not like I saw us getting married or anything, but I figured we'd probably date for the rest of the year. I had no idea how weak my feelings for him really were until Bo came along. I felt like Bo had taken my life by storm and now nothing was the same. Somewhere deep down, I knew it never