Free Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery by Keren David Page A

vampire stalker. Shaz was right. He
was
after my money . . . and now he’d realised he wasn’t going to get any.
    I couldn’t quite work out how he’d come to that conclusion, but it didn’t matter because he was correct. Obviously. Paranormal guys make really bad boyfriends, anyway, because they’re so hung up on their own problems. Plus they might want to drink your blood.
    I made sure all my stuff was ready in my bag soI could leap out of my seat the minute the class was over. I stood up as soon as the bell rang, pushing my seat back and texting Shaz to tell her to meet me at the entrance. Shaz and Jack were in the top set, doing Triple Science, so I’d been able to carry on my unsuccessful pursuit of Raf away from the beady eyes of my critical friends.
    I didn’t even look at Raf until I’d made it to the classroom door. Then I allowed myself a little glimpse – a casual glance, taking in the whole room. He was still sitting at our desk, staring into space, making no attempt to put his books into his bag.
    And then he brushed his hair away from his face and I saw it. A massive blue-purple bruise, circling Raf’s puffy left eye.

Chapter 9
    Keep an eye on the price tags.
    There was nearly a riot going on at the school gates. A massive crowd was waiting for me, and there was a lot of shrieking – ‘Lia! Lia!’ – and shoving. Shazia was failing to organise the mob. The noise level increased one hundred per cent when I turned up.
    Mr Bright, the school’s site manager, told me to go back and wait in reception.
    â€˜I’m going to disperse the crowd,’ he said. ‘It may take quite a while. Next time you’re issuing invitations, Lottery Girl, do it off school premises.’
    So I was sitting in the school foyer, all by myself for the first time in days, enjoying the quiet stillness of the moment, when Raf came walking past.
    He saw me. I know he did. But he looked away. How
dare
he?
    â€˜Oi!’ I said. ‘Raf!’
    He ignored me completely and strode off down the corridor. I ran after him, and grabbed his arm.
    â€˜Hey!’ I said. ‘I was talking to you.’
    He shook off my hand. He was deadly pale, and his eyes were wild.
    â€˜I can’t talk to you,’ he gasped, and slammed into the nearest door. The disabled toilet. Bugger. I stood as close to the door as I could, and I was sure I could hear something – a kind of moaning noise. . .
    â€˜Lia!’ It was Shaz. ‘Come on! Mr Bright’s got rid of everyone and now it’s just your sister and Daisy and Roo and a few others.’
    â€˜I’ll just be a minute,’ I said. Was he OK? Was he ill? Was there a full moon?
    â€˜What is it?’ asked Shaz.
    I gestured to the loo door and whispered, ‘It’s Raf . . . he’s in there. . .’
    â€˜Oh, for heaven’s sake, Lia,’ snapped Shaz, not bothering to whisper at all. ‘Get a grip.’
    I followed her to the gates, where ‘a few others’ turned out to be about thirty girls from our year. Natasha was standing with three girls from her class – Sophie, Molly and Keira. I’d not seen them with her before, and just looking at their clothes and shiny-straight hair and accessories, I’d have saidthey were out of her league, friend-wise. But they all seemed to be laughing and chatting together like real true BFFs.
    I raised my voice. ‘OK, I’m going to the shopping centre and I’ll buy one thing for everyone. But if you’re not actually my friend’ – I caught the eye of Georgia Gerrard – ‘then you have to carry either my bag or the bag of one of my friends. Until we’ve finished buying everything that we want.’
    â€˜Who’s actually on your friend list?’ shouted Alicia, Georgia’s sidekick.
    â€˜Well, not you, Aliss-ee-ya.’
    â€˜It’s Al
ee
sham,’
    â€˜I
know
, Aliss-ee-ya.