Cold Blood by Heather Hildenbrand Page A

cried in the lunch room in front of the whole school. I blinked faster. I didn’t even have to look around to know that every single face in the room was fastened on me.
    A tense few seconds passed with no sound, and then gradually the background noise returned and people went back to their conversations. The faces closest to me looked disappointed that nothing more had happened than words exchanged.
    “ Rough day?”
    The tears cleared, and my eyes focused on a girl. She had midnight black hair that was all swept up in a messy-but-chic bun except for her bangs which hung down on one side of her face, completely covering one eye. The exposed eye was darkly lined and had a thin splash of glitter underneath. She wore the strappiest heels I’d ever seen that laced all the way up to just below her knees, and her arms were covered in some sort of lacy material that stopped a few inches above her elbow. The whole thing should have been Goth, but on her it was exotic–and hip. Sam would’ve loved it.
    “ Um, you could say that,” I said, realizing she was still waiting for an answer. I probably should’ve been suspicious that she was even talking to me, but I was too exhausted to be on my guard right now. It would’ve been the perfect time to finish taking me down.
    The dark haired girl nodded and eyed me. She brought a hand up and swept her long bangs out of her eyes in a careless gesture that made me think she’d done it a million times. Within seconds her bangs had reverted right back, concealing her forehead and almost all of one eye. She ignored it and nodded for me join her.
    “ Come on. You can sit with me,” she said.
    “ Oh, uh, thanks, but I think I’m sitting with Logan,” I said. I gestured to Logan, who’d all but disappeared into the background during my face off with Victoria and was now inching his way back to this side of the salad bar.
    “ Hey Logan. You wanna break bread together with new girl?”
    Logan shrugged. “Sure.”
    The girl beamed at me. “I vote for a picnic. You?”
    “ Sounds amazing,” I agreed. I readjusted my backpack higher on my shoulder and followed her out the door.
    We were halfway to the stairs when, without warning, she stopped and turned to face me. I tensed at her sudden movement, but her expression was friendly and easy. “Geez, how rude am I? Not even intro’ing myself properly. I’m Cambria.”
    “ I’m–”
    “ Tara, I know. Oh, sorry I interrupted. I’m horrible about that. But I know who you are. Everyone knows who you are. Dude, you killed like a hundred Werewolves AND that Leo guy.”
    I shifted my tray, unsure how to respond, especially after all of the comments I’d heard so far. “I’m sure I didn’t kill a hundred–”
    “ Okay, maybe it was like twenty, but that’s what kids are saying. Doesn’t matter. Still badass. Especially since you’ve never trained. Which, by the way, is lucky. I mean, do you know how early we have to get up?”
    When she stopped, I wasn’t sure if it was to let me answer her question or to take a breath. Before I could figure her out, she cocked her head to the side, letting her bangs fall away from her face, and stared at me quizzically.
    “ You should eat,” she said firmly, like that was her official diagnosis.
    We headed down the stairs and out the front door, ending up in the courtyard I’d come through that morning with Alex. There were a few groups of kids scattered around, eating and hanging out. I got stares and dirty looks but not all of them were aimed at me. Some were aimed at Cambria and Logan.
    We sat on the grass, under the cover of a hedge trimmed to look like a bear, and I popped the top on my soda. The ground was cold, but not uncomfortable, and the grass was dry, at least. Either way, it was a million times better than eating in the cafeteria.
    “ You’re not eating?” Logan asked Cambria.
    “ Hmm? Of course I am.” She reached into her backpack and pulled out a bag of peanut M&M’s and