Monsters Are Forever

2. Senior Year

The first day of school, Carmine actually felt pretty great. Finally, she was a senior; one more year before she would be done with this school and all the weirdness that seemed to come along with it. As far as Carmine was concerned, graduation couldn't come soon enough.

"You brought lunch today?" Luke asked, sitting down next to her.

Luke was currently dating Anna – one of Carmine's two best friends. But she'd also known him since she was about nine, and he was on the track team with her, which made him kind of a friend in his own right.

"Yeah – my mom made me bring something." Carmine shrugged disinterestedly. Her mom didn't know that Carmine didn't eat anymore, and it wasn't something she was sure she could really explain. It was easier to just take something and not argue about it.

"What'd you bring?" he asked.

"Sandwich. Want it?" She usually ended up giving it to whichever of the boys asked first.

"What kind?"

"Ham and cheese." Carmine shrugged. It was the same thing she brought basically every day since she stopped caring sometime last year.

"Sure." Luke said, taking it from her. As he unwrapped it, he glanced back at her.

"Wheat?" he asked.

"Same as always."

Carmine's mom was just enough of a health food nut to insist that they never buy white bread. It used to annoy Carmine – back when she still ate.

At least at school, all of Carmine's friends knew what she was. Actually, as it turned out, no one in their group was human anymore. Last year, she had been the only human in the group, but that had changed in the middle of November. Now, she was like Anna and Mia – a vampire. She had to admit, it was a little weird, but she was finally starting to get used to it. Actually, it wasn't as bad as she'd thought it would be.

And of course none of the boys were human either. Luke, Zev, and Conner were all werewolves – born that way, apparently. Carmine had to admit, she'd been surprised when she first found out sophomore year. She'd been so into mythology when she was younger that it sort of hurt her sense of pride to be in their class for years and still not know about them. But their whole neighborhood was like that – and very good at hiding it. Carmine figured the girls would have never known at all if Mia hadn't walked into the woods one night during a full moon.

As the rest of the group sat down, Carmine was only mildly surprised to see that she had the same lunch period as all her friends again this year. Last year, one of Luke's group had helped to arrange their schedules for them to make it happen. And even though that particular girl was now incredibly suspicious of all six of them, it looked like she'd done it again for them this year. Carmine wondered if Luke had had something to do with that; he seemed to have a lot more say with that group than he let on.

"So why did Rudi help with the lunches again?" Carmine asked. She was half expecting Luke to announce he'd used whatever clout he had with the rest of the werewolves to pressure her into it.

"Probably to keep an eye on us." Conner said darkly, before Luke had a chance to say anything. Mia shifted uncomfortably.

"You ok?" Zev asked her.

"I just don't like Rudi." she mumbled.

"Yeah, I can see why." he nodded.

"What's that mean?" Mia asked sharply. She looked suddenly worried.

"Well, she was nothing but annoying last year." Zev shrugged.

"She'll be better this year." Luke said confidently.

"I really doubt it." Mia mumbled.

Carmine didn't want to say anything, but she kind of agreed with Mia. Last year Rudi had decided to blackmail Zev. Then, after the group had finally gotten rid of the incubus Carmine had managed to lead into the school, Rudi had been there to see half the group looking less than their best. Needless to say, she'd been suspicious; she couldn't see how the six of them had managed to get rid of a demon without Carmine and her friends finding out exactly what the boys were. Would she really let that go?

Still, she hadn't actually seen anything that had happened, and she didn't know about the girls being anything other than human. It wasn't much, but it meant that all she really had were suspicions. And all six members of Carmine's group were determined to keep it that way. Fortunately, Carmine figured all the weirdness was behind them; they'd be able to lay low this year, and all their problems with Rudi would sort themselves out.