Free Requiem for Blood by Alexandra Hope Page A

shoulders. “It's a rec center, I can be here whenever I like. And I like to swim.”
    “Your swim is over,” said Olivia. “Why haven't you left yet?”
    The words had been flowing out of her mouth without so much as a filter, as if they weren't her own. He looked at her, not at all hurt, but taken aback by her acrid tone.
    “I'm here for the same reason you're here I guess....for the blood drive.”
    Olivia eyes fluttered, astounded. When the words slipped out, they had lost all taste of bitterness. “A b-blood drive?” she stammered. Olivia had rarely ever been rendered to the point of stuttering or stammering, but she was truly stunned by what he had said.
    “OK, I guess you had no idea,” said Troy, slipping his damp feet into his shoes.
    She remained quiet, thinking over his words. A blood drive. It made sense, when he said it, that her mother would use the recreation center to host a blood drive and allow hundreds of unsuspecting people to give up their blood for a cause they couldn't begin to fathom. She wondered if that's how her mother had been procuring blood all along and then she felt a stinging in her chest, begging her to ask but challenging her mother was one thing Olivia knew never to do. Even a question as innocent as that could be seen as treason in her mother's eyes.
    When she didn't answer he spoke up.
    “I don't mean to be in your business. I just saw you and wanted to return something you left at the beach,” he pulled out the pocket knife, “Don't know why you would have something like this but I figured I'd hold onto it in case I ran into you again. So here.”
    She grumbled out a ‘thank you’ and snatched it from him.
    She lingered at the door, debating on whether to go in to get away from the boy. Footsteps were coming down the hallway quickly but luckily for her, Troy waved her a goodbye and walked off, meeting with the owner of the footsteps. She only heard the beginning of their conversation before she slipped away.
    “Excuse me, are you here for the blood drive?” asked a girl who was nearly the same age as him, maybe a year older. Her voice was a beam of enthusiasm as she hooked her arm within his. Her skin was fair, strands of pale blond hair tucked behind her ears where several piercings adorned the cartilage in a cascade of silver metal. He could feel the frailty in her arms, her skin stretched over her bones grotesquely. Her lips quirked upward and parted, exposing whites as her blue eyes met his. He furrowed his eyebrows together as he felt a wave of discomfort washing over him. She released her arm and lowered her voice, “Oh, I'm sorry. I just get so excited when hot guys come in.”
    Olivia wondered how Felicity had gotten to the recreation center but didn't dwell on the thought as she disappeared into another part of the center. Although Felicity could sense the uneasiness of the boy, she couldn't be at fault since he was in fact attractive. It was just hard for him to take those words, even from his girlfriend.
    “Oh, yeah....thanks...” he said and then lightened his tone. “It's the hair.”
    Her laughter broke the quiet of the hallway. “I think it's those eyes,” she said. “I feel like I've seen them before.”
    No matter how many girls swooned over him, Troy could never get used to the effect he had over them. Of course, he felt more comfortable in his skin than he did two years before and as any eighteen year old guy, he indulged in the stroking of his ego but still it felt odd. At age fifteen, he towered over his father at over six feet and had started to feel the sting of being cast out by his peers, even some who had called him friend just a year before. It was then that he learned how replaceable people were in his life. They would rather join a clique where it was cool to make fun of those who they could easily put down then to have even one true friend. Troy's sudden growth spurt left him lanky and awkward, a target of mockery and a reason to be