Free Vampire Addiction by Eva Pohler

question.”
    “But I didn’t finish answering yours.”
    “That’s okay.”
    He held her hand. His was cold and made her shiver.
    “Why do your parents ignore you?” he asked.
    She hadn’t expected tears to flood her eyes. She bit hard on her lip. “I suppose they’re busy.”
    “Is that it?” He caressed her hand with his.
    “They don’t have to be busy,” she said. “They have family money. They don’t need to work. If they wanted to spend time with me, they could.”
    “So why don’t they?”
    Because they don’t love me , she thought. She couldn’t say it out loud.
    “And why don’t they love you?” he asked.
    Because I’m not what they wanted. Because I’m not lovable. Because I read too much. Because I’m boring. Because, because , she broke down in tears.
    He held her in his arms and said, “This is what I meant. You take it personally, but it’s not your fault. Maybe they don’t know how to be parents. Maybe no one showed them.”
    She threw her arms around his neck and cried her eyes out. He held her close and let her cry. The wind blew through their hair, the lights twinkled from both the city and the sky, and the quiet night held them.

Chapter Twelve: The American School
     
    Gertie awoke the next morning to Mamá’s voice calling through the bedroom door. She stretched and yawned. Then she bolted upright.
    She couldn’t recall how she had gotten back to the apartment.
    Swiftly, she stole from the room to the hall bathroom and studied her reflection in the mirror. No bites on her neck. None on her wrists. The last thing she could recall was crying on Jeno’s shoulder. Apparently he hadn’t bitten her. So why couldn’t she remember what had happened next?
    Everyone in the house was excited about going to school. Gertie hadn’t realized before that morning that Klaus, Nikita, and Phoebe would be attending with her, and that they would be new students, too.
    “Families that host international students get preferential treatment in admissions,” Klaus said at the breakfast table.
    Nikita gave Klaus a dirty look.
    “What?” he asked. “What did I say?”
    Nikita turned to Gertie. “Mamá is hoping the new school will be better for Phoebe.”
    Gertie’s mouth dropped open. She felt a little like the old man Jeno had mentioned—part of a mutually beneficial relationship. The Angelis family had needed Gertie. So much for wanting to educate a young, impressionable American about Greece.
    She supposed she couldn’t blame Mamá and Babá for wanting the best for their children.
    A car horn blasted from the street.
    “That’s Hector,” Mamá said. “Better hurry, glyká ta paidiá mou.” She rushed around the table and gave each one of them a kiss on the cheek.
    “Hector is driving us to school?” Gertie whispered to Nikita as they crossed the living area to the front door. “My mother said a bus would take me.”
    “Come on,” she said.
    This time, Klaus took the front seat beside Hector, and the three girls squeezed into the back. Hector said good morning to no one in particular. Gertie wondered if his greeting had been meant for her, too, or if he still wasn’t speaking to her.
    When they arrived, everyone was directed to the theater for a school-wide assembly, but they were organized by grade, so Phoebe had to go up front with the third-graders, and Hector and Klaus to the back with the seniors. Nikita and Gertie were near the back, too, with the juniors. Gertie was glad to have Nikita there with her. She hadn’t expected such a large student body at an American school in Athens.
    “You think Phoebe is okay by herself?” she whispered to Nikita.
    Nikita frowned. “I’m praying for her.”
    Gertie was surprised to see that the student body was internationally diverse, and, as the first speaker addressed the students and faculty, she came to realize that, even though this was an American school, it served students from countries all over the world.
    “There’s a