Free Into The Void (Vampire Hunter Book 4) by S.C. Reynolds Page B

college options.”
    It actually made me want to laugh. Sure, I was worried about my future,
but college was the last thing on my mind.
    Henry and I parted ways to go to homeroom. As soon as I was alone in the
hallway, my anxiety went through the roof. A few kids said hi to me, but for
the most part everyone was busy chatting with their friends. A whole year gone
from school and I didn’t seem to have any
friends any more.
    You didn’t return anyone’s phone
calls over the summer, I reminded myself. Of course my old friends had
given up on me.
    I slid into a seat in the back of Mr. Ramsey’s classroom. Homeroom was
only half an hour. I actually wished I had gotten assigned to Ms. Draper. Then
I wouldn’t have to worry about socializing.
    I knew almost everyone coming into the room. Jennifer, a girl I’d been
friendly with my sophomore year, took the seat next to me. “It’s nice to have
you back!” she said cheerily.
    “Thanks! It’s great to be back. Did you have a good summer?” I started to
relax a little as Jennifer told me about her family vacation in Canada. She was
really cool and didn’t ask one question about my supposed coma.
    The final warning bell sounded which meant that the students had one more
minute to get to homeroom; otherwise you had to go to the principal’s office
for a tardy. After three tardies it was a mandatory
meeting with the principal and your parents.
    Just a mere second before the final bell sounded, who should slide into
the room but my absolute favorite person. NOT. I stifled a groan as Bunny
plopped down in a seat in the front row. She didn’t have another choice;
everyone who had gotten to the room early (like me) had chosen a seat in the
back.
    “You’ve met her?” Jennifer asked, seeing my annoyed expression.
    “Unfortunately,” I replied.
    Jennifer snorted. “She’s…something all right.”
    “Please don’t tell me all the boys are fooled by her? She’s so fake!”
    “I’ve found the best thing to do is fight fire with fire. Whenever she
starts flirting with my boyfriend, Jack, I act super-duper sweet to her. Like
over the top. And Jack just thinks we’re best friends.” She rolled her eyes.
    I giggled. “Guys can be really clueless sometimes.”
    “Sometimes?” Jennifer raised an eyebrow comically.
    I laughed. This wasn’t going so badly. If I could just talk to Jennifer
every morning then I could ignore Bunny and homeroom might actually be bearable.
    Mr. Ramsey cleared his throat for everyone to be quiet. “Welcome back,
students. I hope you all had a wonderful summer vacation.”
    There were a few mumbled responses.
    “This year,” he continued, “we’ll have assigned seats for homeroom based
on alphabetical order of your last name.”
    Everyone groaned. So
much for getting to sit with Jennifer.
    Mr. Ramsey instructed us to get our backpacks and come stand at the front
of the classroom. Then he started reading the names from a list and pointing at
desks.
    By the time he got to the last names beginning with S, he was filling the
back of the room. If he called me soon I’d get a prime spot on the last row. This might not be so bad.
    No such luck. When Mr. Ramsey read Aurora
Stone from his paper, he was pointing to the first seat of the third row.
Which was also dead center in front of his desk. Wonderful.
    Just when I didn’t think it could get any worse, Mr. Ramsey read the name Bunny Sutter and motioned towards the
desk behind mine. For the second time, I stifled a groan.
    “Hey doll?” Bunny said with her big fake grin. “You’ll have to tell me
your name again? I keep wanting to say Allison but I just know that’s not
right?” Bunny giggled.
    I remembered what Jennifer had said. Fight fire with fire. “No, worries,
doll,” I said in a sugary sweet voice. “My name’s Aurora. And I just have to
say your hair looks amazing today.” It didn’t. She was wearing a big poufy bun
with strands hanging down. It looked like she was getting