Thicker Than Water (The Briar Creek Vampires Book #2) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse by Jayme Morse

she
replied. Going away with Craig for the weekend would mean that she
could get out of Briar Creek. Maybe she could just stay there and
never come back.
    “Great,” Craig said, leaning in towards her. He
closed his eyes, and gently kissed her lips. Lexi felt her heart
flutter.
    “I’ll see you in class tomorrow,” Craig
whispered in her ear before pulling away and walking out of the
closet.
    Lexi straightened her shirt and peeked out the
door. When she was sure that no one was coming, she stepped out of
the closet and headed to the art room.
    When she got there, the entire class was
working on a still life of a coffee mug, pears, and grapes.
Everyone was chatting loudly, and Ms. Bixby was playing a Taylor
Swift song on the radio. As Lexi was about to take her seat next to
Gerard, the weird kid who she had sat next to yesterday who had
slit his wrists with the box cutters they used in class, a girl
tapped her on the shoulder.
    “Lexi, why don’t you sit with me and my
friends? We’d love to have you at our table!” the girl said
enthusiastically, twirling her auburn hair around her
finger.
    Hesitantly, Lexi followed her. She was afraid
that the girl or one of her friends was going to bring up the car
accident. It was the last thing that she wanted to talk about right
now.
    The girl led her to the table and Lexi sat at
the only empty seat.
    “I’m Jen,” the girl with auburn hair said. She
pointed to the blonde girl sitting next to her. “This is
Michelle.”
    “And I’m Claire,” the girl with jet-black hair
and chestnut-shaped eyes volunteered. “It’s really exciting to meet
you, Lexi!”
    Lexi smiled, unsure of what else to say.
“Exciting” seemed like a really weird choice of words. She wasn’t
sure why anyone would be excited to meet her, unless if maybe
Austin had talked about her before his death. She didn’t think that
was likely, though, since she never talked about him to her friends
back home in New Jersey.
    “So, are you planning to go to the homecoming
dance this weekend?” Jen asked.
    Lexi shrugged. “I didn’t even know that there
was a homecoming dance. Doesn’t homecoming usually happen sometime
after football season warms up? I didn’t realize it was so early in
the school year.”
    “Yeah, we do things differently here, I guess.
But you should totally go! It will be a lot of fun,” Michelle
chimed in.
    “Okay, I‘ll go, I guess,” Lexi replied. She
decided that as lame as it would be to go to homecoming without a
date, it would be a good way to get out of the house and, more
importantly, away from her aunt and uncle for the night.
    “Yay! You have to totally come find us,” Claire
said. “Jen has a date, but Michelle and I will be flying solo, so
you can hang with us.”
    “Okay, cool,” Lexi replied, just as the bell
rang to let everyone know that the period was over.
     
    *
     
    On the way home from school that day, all Lexi
could think about was the gravestone that had been, well, marked
for her. It was creepy to see your own name and a date of death,
which hadn’t even happened yet, on a gravestone. What bothered Lexi
the most was wondering who had put it there.
    Lexi didn’t even notice Greg Lawrence’s truck
in her aunt’s driveway until Mary-Kate said, “Oh, my dad must be
visiting with Violet and Tom.”
    When Lexi went inside, Greg Lawrence was
sitting at the kitchen table with Violet and Tommy. They all looked
up when they saw her.
    “Hi, Lexi,” Greg said. “How are you
feeling?”
    “Fine, thanks,” Lexi replied. “I need to do my
homework. I have loads of it. May I be excused?”
    Violet nodded. “Supper will be a little late
tonight.”
    “I better get going as well,” Greg said. “I
need to get home to check on my wife. She’s been home alone all
day.”
    “Tell her that we send our blessings,” Violet
said. “We hope to see you both soon.”
    “Take care,” Greg said. Before he walked out
the front door, he turned and nodded at Lexi.