Vampire Kisses (gxg)

Chapter 3

Math class came and went like a movie put on twice speed. The bell rang and Penelope made her way to the lunchroom for fourth period. Unfortunately, it was still raining outside. She, Chris, and their other friend Heidi would have to eat inside, instead of in the courtyard.

She still felt remnants of the disappointment and confusion from religion class. Why had Victoria stood at over an arm's distance, and left their conversation even though there was still three minutes until the next bell?

Penelope was sure that she was making up stories in her head. Chances were, she was a bit overstimulated and on edge from starting to go to school again, especially if she had been homeschooled for the three years that she had been gone.

She arrived in the lunchroom, and dropped her bag at the table that she shared with Chris and Heidi. Heidi was a lunchtime addition - in the mornings, no matter the weather, she was in the library grabbing books. Their bags were there, but they were nowhere to be found. Probably getting food.

She wove through brick pillars and made her way into the small cove in the lunchroom where they got their food.

The little cove was set up in a self serve buffet fashion. There were heated containers of food in front of a grooved metal rack on which students would place their trays on. There were freezers with drinks - sweet tea, diet sodas, and juices. There were also baskets of fresh and not-so-fresh fruit.

She slid her tray down the metal rack, adding mashed potatoes, chicken fingers, and green bean casserole to her plate. She grabbed a small container of sweet tea to the side of her tray, and carefully tried to balance it so that the tray would weigh equally on both sides.

If there was one thing she was thankful about going to a private school for, it was the food. The food was always good - the mashed potatoes creamy and buttery, the pizza firm and crusty, and nothing was ever cold. She had seen photos of what the local schools had, and all of it looked like toxic waste to her.

Sometimes, Penelope felt as though the reason she was enrolled in private school was not for the education, but for the food. Her parents liked eating out at the best restaurants in town.

If there was anything she wasn't thankful for, though, it was the stagnant pool of students. She had gone from sixth to twelfth grade with very little new students joining the Academy, or any students leaving. She didn't get along with most of them. Over the years, her pool of possible friends had closed. And now, in twelfth grade, there was no chance of someone else joining. Or so she thought.

Though Victoria had not joined the school, she had returned to it. She was a new variable in a previously stable experiment. Unknown, uncharted, and possibly even perilous to interact with.

At least with the other students, she knew what she was getting in to. With Victoria, it had been several years since they had talked. Who knew whether she still liked the same things they once did - Percy Jackson, Wicca, tea, and Pinterest?

Penelope returned to her seat. In the time that she had left, Chris and Heidi had returned. Heidi was Vietnamese, with straight black hair that fell partially over her black, perfectly circular glasses. Her nose was buried in some sort of arcane book.

"What are you reading?" Penelope asked as she sat down.

"Dracula," she said.

"How gothic."

"Do you mean boring? Because its anything but boring. There is a cowboy in this," Heidi said, defensively. Heidi loved books. It was likely because characters were her only friends growing up - she was meticulously bullied in the public school. That was why her parents placed her at Valley of Death Academy in ninth grade.