Free This Totally Bites! by Ruth Ames Page A

worked up the nerve to talk to Milo in ballet class!” I was practically shouting now.
    A hurt look crossed Gabby’s face, and I bit my bottom lip. I hadn’t meant to bring up boys, or to sound so mean.
    “Whatever,” Gabby spat.
“You’ll
never admit that you like Henry Green. But then again, if he found out you thought you were a
you-know-what,
he’d never like
you!”
    I gasped. How had this happened so quickly? Gabby and I had gone from being BFF to saying awful things to each other. I wanted to reverse everything, to reach out and hug her and apologize. But it felt like it was too late.
    The rain was coming down harder now. All around us people were opening their umbrellas, but Gabby and I stood still, getting drenched.
    “I don’t care,” I said firmly, meaning it. “I don’t care what you think, Gabby.”
    Gabby set her jaw. “I feel the same way, Emma-Rose.”
    Emma-Rose.
The name was a punch in the gut. Gabby never called me that. I was always “Em” to her. I fought down the lump in my throat.
    “Fine,” I snapped, my voice catching. “I guess I won’t come over, then.”
    “Fine!” Gabby snapped back, her own eyes looking bright with tears — though it could have been the rain.
    “Fine,” I repeated, just for good measure.
    Then I whipped around so fast that I almost knocked into someone’s umbrella. I started back across the street, toward home. I was shaking. In allour seven years of friendship, Gabby and I had never fought this way.
    “Oh, and you can forget about me helping you set up before the dance!” Gabby shouted after me.
    “I don’t need you, anyway!” I shouted back. Then I broke into a run, my feet slamming into the pavement as the rain pounded down on me. I ran with all the vampire strength I could summon. I was winded and soaked when I reached my building.
    And then I realized something that made the lump in my throat grow bigger: Gabby was the only one who’d known — and, up until a few minutes ago, cared — about my secret. Caitlin and Padma would probably side with Gabby if asked to choose. My new student council friends would freak if I told them what I really was. My parents were no help. And Great-aunt Margo was too busy turning into a bat, attacking helpless animals, or hiding from the sun to talk to me.
    I took a deep breath and walked into my building.
    I was on my own.

Chapter Nine
    “Hello, dah-link!”
    Stepping inside my apartment, I nearly had a heart attack at the sight of Great-aunt Margo. She was striding toward me, carrying one of her luxurious leather suitcases in one hand and a large black umbrella in the other.
    I froze, rainwater dripping off me and onto the foyer rug. All thoughts of Gabby and the fight fled my mind.
    It was the first time I’d seen my great-aunt since that stormy Monday night. My eyes swept over her, searching for signs of the fearsome bat. Her face was as pale as ever, except for her bright red mouth and her navy blue eyes. Her dark hair was piled on topof her head, and she wore a chic black trench coat and high-heeled black boots.
    No wings. No fangs. For now.
    “Vy do you look so frightened, my dear?” Great-aunt Margo laughed, flashing her very white teeth. “It is only me!”
    She really doesn’t know,
I thought, amazed.
She doesn’t know that I know …
    “I … I … you …” I cleared my throat. “Are you going back to Romania?” was all I could manage, pointing to her suitcase.
    I felt a mix of worry and relief. On the one hand, she was leaving, right when I could ask her everything! At the same time, I sort of wanted her to disappear, taking along with her all the problems she had brought me.
    “Not yet, dah-link,” Great-aunt Margo replied, walking right up to me. I cowered but she didn’t seem to notice. She kissed my cheek, and her lips felt like ice. “I am just going to a spa for a few days,” she explained. “In Pennsylvania.”
    I’d never thought of it before, but
Pennsylvania
sounds a lot