Odds were good the bestie had circled back around to our runaway, thinking they had gotten away with their little rebellion. The questions now became—what did they have planned?
“Split up?” She scanned the area. “Or search together?”
“Two of us are conspicuous.” I checked my phone to refresh my memory of the girls. “This also places us in public together.”
Dangerous for word of our partnership, let alone our friendship, to get out. This might be a human school full of human students, but Low Society families enrolled their fledging necromancers here too. That’s how I ended up sporting mandatory Hornet tees in gym class for four years.
A fresh shudder rippled down the length of my spine.
Gym class.
Ugh.
High school was the absolute worst.
I would have gladly homeschooled, but Mom wanted at least one of her daughters to have the authentic experience. I never told her being poor, smarter than my classmates, and uninterested in losing my virginity to a slobbery boy in the back of his mom’s car had earned me the nickname Nerdelaide and crushed any hope of a social life.
“Meet me behind the bleachers on the away team’s side.”
Jerking my attention back to Cass, I narrowed my eyes on her. “No funny business.”
“I said behind, not under.”
Cackling, she sashayed off toward the home team’s side, attracting far more attention than I could have if I stripped naked and streaked across the field.
Setting out for the opposite side, I scanned the sea of faces for one of the girls.
A warning tingle stung the base of my neck, alerting me to the presence of a vampire, and I slowed my stride to give me a moment to pick them out of the crowd. No one had the decency to flash fang or wear a cape, so I didn’t get far in narrowing down my search. There were too many people, and vampire parents had as much right to be here as anyone.
Shrugging off the sensation, I dodged teen couples and adults alike as I passed the concession stand. The line was long, but the food smelled amazing. Some of the dads who volunteered to grill cooked like pros. I might have skipped the football games, but I dated a guy who played baseball for a hot minute. The only reason I stuck around as long as I did was the free—and excellent—food left over after the games.
Eventually, the guy caught me sticking burgers in my pockets to take home instead of eating them with the team, and when he attempted to blackmail me into getting horizontal with him to buy his silence, I kicked him in the junk. The next day, he got his revenge by telling everyone I was so poor I dug food out of the trash can.
The guy was a waste of oxygen, clearly, but the food… Goddess, the food! Oh, how I missed the way his dad buttered and toasted the buns on the nights he worked concession.
“Adelaide?”
Fixing a smile on my face, I pivoted toward the voice. “Yes?”
“You don’t remember me?” A red-cheeked woman laughed. “We had homeroom together for years.”
“Ah. Yes. Right.” I snapped my fingers like I remembered instead of blanking. “How have you been?”
“Oh, you know how it is. You graduate, get married, start having kids. Where does the time go?”
No, not really. “Do you have a kid on the team?”
“We’re not that old.” She made sure to include me in her statement. “I teach sophomore math. I’m here to support the team.” She made a fist and raised it overhead. “Go Hornets!”
“Yeah.” I mimicked her. “Go team, go!”
“I haven’t seen you since graduation.” She glanced to either side of me. “What are you doing here?”
“I saw the lights and got nostalgic,” I lied. “I thought I might buy a burger or pom-poms or something.”
“The spirit booth is just over there.” She pointed to a gathering of women. “I’m working it tonight.”
“Oh great.” I eased past her before she hauled me to vomit money in her booth. “See you later.”
“I can’t believe I forgot to ask.” She pressed a hand to her heart. “How is your sister?”
Aside from kindergarten and half of first grade, Hadley hadn’t attended public school. No classmates remembered her, aside from her being the sick kid, but she rode with Mom to pick me up whenever she felt up to it. She smiled and waved, glad to see other kids, but I always had to hear the next day that my little sister was a freak.
Probably why I got into so many fights in school.
Which explained why bounty hunting felt like a natural fit for me careerwise.
Oh well.
“Hadley is…” I cleared my throat and stuck to the script Boaz and I agreed on, “…great.”
“I’m glad to hear she’s doing better.”
The tingle that announced yet another vampire left me antsy to get away from her.
“I should go.” I hooked a thumb toward the stands. “Find a good spot on the bleachers.”
“You do that.” She beamed. “Come see me at halftime about those pom-poms.”
“I’ll do that.”
Winking, she leaned in. “They’re half off then.”
“I…” I gritted my teeth at the subtle reminder of my poverty. “Thanks.”
“Oh, there you are.” Cass strolled up from behind the woman whose name I had yet to recall, captured my face between her palms, and kissed me long and slow. “I was getting worried.”
“Cass,” I hissed, ready to spit nails. “Knock it off.”
Hand to her throat, the woman backed away. “I’ll just let you two get back to…”
“You do that.” Cass flicked her hand. “Go on.”
The woman scurried away, thoroughly scandalized, and I glowered at Cass until she dropped her hands.
“It got rid of her, didn’t it?”
“You didn’t have to put on a show for that.”
“No,” she allowed, “but I do love performing for a crowd, and she was being rude.”
The weight of curious eyes on my shoulders hunched them. “I hate you.”
“Don’t be such a prude.”
