Monsters Are Forever

9. Problems at School

 When Carmine walked into the cafeteria, she saw Anna sitting alone at a table near the back. As she made her way over, she couldn't help but notice that Anna was looking strangely nervous. But Mia had assured them both that she'd already taken care of the Rudi problem, so why would Anna be worried about anything? Carmine wondered if there was something going on with her that she didn't know about yet.

"Everything ok?" she asked as she sat down.

"Yeah, fine." Anna said, instantly turning away from whatever she'd been looking at. Carmine stared at her for a second.

She didn't exactly believe Anna, especially with the way she jumped like that when Carmine sat down. Still, Carmine decided not to push it; things were going really well so far this year. Sure, Mia had had some problems with Rudi earlier, but that was all taken care of. And really, unless this problem was something normal for once, Carmine decided she didn't want to know.

"So anything interesting going on lately?" Carmine asked, mostly for conversation. Anna froze for a second, suddenly looking very guilty.

"Other than that Mia and Rudi thing." Carmine said quickly. She didn't want to think about anything like that.

"No – everything's fine." Anna said just as fast. Carmine just stared at her. Ok, something was definitely going on.

When Luke sat down in the seat next to Anna a few minutes later, she managed to look even worse. What was going on here?

She exchanged glances with Luke. He gave a kind of shrug before turning pointedly to his lunch, and she figured she was definitely going to have to ask them both about this later. She'd talk to Luke in track today and Anna most likely in history tomorrow. She knew getting people alone was the only way to get any information out of anyone around here.

They sat in somewhat awkward silence for a minute until Zev and Conner finally sat down. Once there were a few more people there, Anna relaxed a bit. Carmine was just glad she wasn't going to be sitting all alone next to a couple who were apparently either fighting or about to start. Her relief lasted all the way until Mia finally got to the table.

She sat down next to Zev as usual, and Carmine could tell instantly that something was wrong. She was even more pale than usual, and Carmine was pretty sure her hands were shaking just a little. She glanced absentmindedly at the doors and started immediately tapping her fingernails rapidly on the tabletop.

"Are you ok?" Anna asked.

Carmine wasn't sure if she was glad Anna noticed it too, or not. Part of her had been kind of hoping she was just being paranoid, but apparently that wasn't it.

Mia looked startled, as if she barely realized Anna was sitting across from her.

"What? Yeah – fine." Mia said before resuming her tapping.

Carmine just stared at her – she'd never seen Mia so agitated before. Even when they went out with her last week, she was still looking better than this.

Mia started watching something intently across the room, and Carmine followed her gaze. At first, it looked like Mia was just glancing nervously across at Rudi. But Carmine thought Mia'd already taken care of that problem. And when Carmine looked back at Mia again, she saw that her gaze had shifted just slightly. It took Carmine a minute to realize Mia was watching a kid on the other side of the cafeteria – a freshman, probably. He was sitting alone, eating a sandwich and reading. Carmine glanced back at her friend and saw the hint of a grin starting to spread itself across her face: Mia was sizing him up! She must really be desperate if she was looking for someone at school.