Northern Bites (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter, Vol. 2) (7 page)

It turned out Mike and I shared history class together.
He plopped into the seat beside me Tuesday morning. He ran his hand over the surface of his desk. I heard a click followed by scraping. I glanced over. In addition to the jacket, he had a big honking class ring on his finger. The orange oval jewel was set in a gold band. Flashy.

“What’s up, Aurora?”

I did my best not to visibly grimace. “Not much. How are you?” I pasted a smile on my face. I was fine with my role as one of West High’s nobodies, but I’d sooner graduate without becoming known as The Loner Bitch.

“You’re really serious about graduating,”
Mike remarked.

“What do you mean?”

He nodded towards the board, six feet in front of us. “Sitting in the front row, taking notes all hour.”

“Oh,” I said.

I looked down at my spiral notebook, already opened to a new page, dated at the top, my pen laced between my fingers.

He
chuckled. “We should enjoy our last semester while we can, don’t you think? Once we get to college it’s all up hill. Textbooks the size of encyclopedias. Lectures designed to cause serious migraines. Late night cram sessions. Never ending homework. You get the idea.”

I looked at him with more inte
rest. At least he planned on pursuing a higher education. That kind of conversation made me more comfortable.

“Where are you going to college?” I asked.

Mike’s desk moved when he leaned in closer.

“Boise State University. Yep, gonna be a
Bronco.” He dipped down in his seat as he said this, lifting the front legs of his desk several inches off the ground before hitting the floor again. “What about you?”

This used to be my favorite question. I hated telling people I was staying in
-state, like I wasn’t adventurous or smart enough to leave Alaska.

“I’m going to
the University of Alaska Anchorage,” I said without enthusiasm.

I always had to fight back the urge to add that I had been accepted into Notre Dame
, but was no use. I’d only have to come up with lies about why I wasn’t going. In the end, it didn’t impress anyone, anyway. Bottom line: I was an in-state loser.

“You should look into woo-wee,”
Mike said.

“Woo-wee?
”

“
W-U-E, Western Undergraduate Exchange. You can go to participating out-of-state colleges for in-state tuition.” Mike grinned. “That’s what I’m doing. There’re a lot of universities in the WUE program. Colleges in Washington, Idaho, Colorado, California, Arizona, Oregon…even Hawaii.”

If only my problems were financial. If the government hadn’t forced me into a life of servitude, even the WUE colleges wouldn’t be far enough away from home.
Take me east any day.

“Maybe I’ll look into it,” I said
.

“You totally should. I don’t know about you, but I want to get the hell out of dodge come graduation.”

Mike succeeded in making me laugh. I was reminded momentarily of the story Dante shared with me about taking off for Amsterdam after his initiation. He’s lucky the agents gave him a second chance. There’d be no European tour for me. No east coast college experience. Not even a western one in the WUE program. My laughter dried up.

Mr. Young walked in and was bombarded by several students. They were still talking to him after the bell rang.

“Hey, why don’t come to the school dance with me Friday?”

Ugh
, the dreaded proposition. I had to hand it to Mike; he didn’t waste time. Maybe that was a senior year thing.
Carpe diem
and all that jazz.

I laughed
—a genuine amused laugh. “Isn’t this Friday the Sadie Hawkins dance?”

I never got why they always scheduled it around Valentine’s Day. Double embarrassment.

“Yeah,” Mike said, smiling bigger.

“I hate to break it to you, but boys aren’t supposed to do the asking.”

Mike shrugged. “I don’t mind breaking the rules…for you.”

A wave of heat shot through me. I couldn’t tell if I was
flattered, embarrassed, or both. I wanted nothing more than to hightail it out of the room.

I took a steadying breath before answering. “Thank you. That’s really nice, but I’m going to a party Friday night.”

“So, do both,” Mike said without missing a beat.

“That wouldn’t really work.”

“The school dances are pretty lame, anyway,” he said. “So, what’s this party?”

“Nothing special,” I said quickly. “Mostly hanging out, drinking. It’s an older crowd.”

Mike grinned. “I like older crowds.” No doubt he liked drinking, too.

Thankfully Mr. Young shooed the last student away from his desk and began calling roll before I had to think of how to respond to
Mike’s obvious fishing.

I shot out of my desk the moment the bell rang
at the end of class.

“See you later,” I said to
Mike, avoiding eye contact and rushing out of the room. Luckily he didn’t follow me out.

Still, I felt unsettled enough to spend lunch with Noel, Henry,
and Gavin rather than risk Mike walking by an empty room I happened to be studying in.

“Wow, is that Aurora Sky?” Gavin asked when I approached their table in the cafeteria.
He squinted up at me. “I almost forgot you go here.”

Henry elbowed him before flashing me a brilliant smile. “Have a seat. It’s good to see you.”

They looked preppy in their Calvin Klein jeans and sweatshirts. They dressed nice, unlike Fane who had his whole Neo/Matrix look going on. But unlike a moth, I was drawn to the dark.

“Thanks,” I said, pulling a chair out beside Noel. “Where’s the rest of your
posse?”

“They decided to go out for lunch,” Noel said. She looked clearly pleased to have the hunky vamps to herself.

I couldn’t blame her. I was glad it was just the four of us.

“You and Fane going to Marcus’s party?”
Henry asked.

I tried not to flinch. Fane had done me the kindness of letting Henry, Gavin, and Marcus believe we were together so they’d keep their teeth out of me.

“I’m going,” I answered evenly, studying the tabletop.

Henry and Gavin exchanged a look.

“What are you wearing?” Noel asked. “Red or black?”

She piled small pieces of orange cheese and sliced turkey onto
round crackers from her pre-packaged lunch. Henry and Gavin didn’t have lunches. My sack lunch was made up of the standard peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and a Ziploc filled with chips. Noel and I weren’t exactly paragons of health.

I had fully intended to wear black to Marcus’s party in protest of the dreaded holiday
, but that was before I took the public bus to the mall and fell in love with a short red dress. The top had a scoop neck that practically came off the shoulders. The color accented my pale skin and long dark hair in a way black never could.

I needed to look stunning in case Fane showed up with Valerie, although I don’t know how
we’d explain that one since the only thing warding off potential biters was the fact that Marcus and company thought Fane and I were together. I didn’t know how long he’d agree to put on the charade. Returning my scarf could be his way of signaling the end of that.

“
Red,” I said to Noel. “What about you? I presume you’re wearing black.”

Henry laughed. He had a great smile. “I’d be willing to put money on it.”

“Black’s my color,” Noel said before popping another cracker sandwich into her mouth.

“And you look great in it,” Gavin said.

Noel blushed, which was almost comical. Her color was certainly red at the moment.

Noel turned her attention quickly back to me. “Do you need a ride for the party?”

“That would be great. Do you mind picking me up in front of school? I told my mom I was going to the dance Friday night.”

“N
o problem,” Noel said.

Henry and Gavin pushed their seats back and stood. “See you ladies later.”

“Have fun in history,” Noel said. She, Henry, and Gavin began laughing.

“I hope I didn’t scare them away,” I said after they’d gone.

Noel shook her head. “Nah, they have a presentation to give about the Civil War. Gavin has the visual aids in his car…artifacts from his ‘grandfather.’”

I sighed. “School must be such a
breeze for those guys.”

Noel shrugged.

“What’s up with you and Gavin, anyway?” I asked. “Is he ever going to ask you out or are you friends with biting benefits?” I bit into my sandwich and chewed.

Noel’s face colored. “Gav
in and I are friends. Besides, I haven’t been assigned a vampire.”

I stopped chewing. “Assigned a vampire?”

Noel frowned. “Never mind.”

“Noel, what are you talking about?”

Noel shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. Anyway, now that we’re alone I have something to tell you about Fane.”

Oh
, she was devious changing the subject like that. I planted both arms on the table and leaned in.

“I wasn’t sure if I should tell you this, but Whitney doesn’t think
he’s with Valerie anymore.”

Whitney was one of Noel’s old friends from Denali High and had been one of mine briefly between my car accident and transfer to West. A short frien
dship. But she had called me to report seeing Fane and Valerie lip-locked right after Valerie blackmailed me into breaking up with Fane.

I didn’t know which one of them I had been
angrier at. Valerie for threatening me or Fane for moving on the moment I ended our relationship.

“Well, Whitney should get her facts straight,” I said. “She told me they were back together.”

“Cause they were,” Noel said. “For a day.”

Why would Valerie go to the trouble of pulling Fane and I apart only to hook up with him for one day?

Maybe Fane had realized his error and dumped her a second time. Lovely thought. One that would take some of the edge off St. Vomit’s Day. At this point, even the possibility that Valerie and Fane were history was enough for me.

5

I made it through the week without having to deal with Mike. On Friday morning there were no more seats beside me when Mike arrived in history class. I could sense him hustling to follow me out at the end of the period. Just as I felt him closing in, a girl called out, “Mike, wait up!”

His footsteps slowed, mine
hastened, and I was in the clear. Hopefully Pretty Voice, whoever she was, asked Mike to the dance.

Special thanks went out to Mom for not keeping me lingering in front of school. That afternoon
I saw her waiting in the pick-up lane when I walked out. Ever since I’d mentioned moving out, she’d been either on time or early.

Five hours later the sky
had drained of color and we were back at school. I felt bad making Mom drive out here three times in one day, but she wasn’t exactly Noel’s biggest fan. She’d ask less questions if she thought I was going to a school dance. Even though she knew about vampires, she needed her illusions, one of which consisted of a daughter who did normal things like attend school dances.