Bloodstream (#2 Blood Series)

Chapter 8

Haley's POV:

My feelings towards school have varied over the years from joy to boredom to frustration to interest to hate. But nowadays the dominating feeling on my mind is awkwardness. I feel uncomfortable in my own skin when I'm around Nathan and due to my previous misjudgment I'm around him a lot even though neither of us want to be. When we were still together Nathan and I chose to sit next to one another in almost every class we have together. Now I'm stuck sitting next to him in English, history and biology. In the rest of the classes I sit next to Andrea to whom I haven't really spoken since I got back. Everywhere I look there is a situation I handled poorly. I'm really starting to despise myself for being so socially awkward.

After most breakups a little awkwardness can be expected but the breakup of a Seer and a demon is far from usual. Nathan and I bring breaking up and the after stages of it to a whole new level. For crying out loud, when we broke up I ended up first stabbing him and then rushing him to medical care and after that I just left him there on the parking lot. If they did give out awards for the Worst Human Being I'd definitely be a strong candidate.

After suffering through English sitting next to Nathan and wishing I could take it all back I hurry out of the classroom. Nathan and I have an unspoken agreement that in every class that we have together I will leave the room first and he'll wait a second so we won't have to be near one another. For me this is a necessity so I'll be able to keep going with my day. If I linger near him even a second longer than I have to it feels like something big and heavy is set on my chest with no other purpose than to bring me down. Breathing while sitting so close but so far away from him is torture enough so as soon as I'm able to I sprint away.

I'm currently in P.E. class. I hate P.E. and now I hate it even more. The girls' annoying gym teacher has come back from maternity leave and she is fixed on getting all of the girls to run a marathon by the end of this school year. In our school boys and girls usually have separate P.E. although for the past year or so that girls' teacher has been gone we've been in the boys' P.E. class with the awesome and laid back Mr T because our principal is too cheap to hire us a substitute. But now Ms Perky (or whatever her name is) is back in action and I can't say I missed her. At all.

While we girls are doomed to run until we die and maybe even then some the boys are just having a fun lesson playing basketball and enjoying the unusually warm mid-April day. I long to join the boys' team but after catching a glimpse of Nathan playing shirtless I'm suddenly very happy with Ms Perky's deadly lesson. I would just end up looking like an idiot, standing on the field and drooling after Nathan who is simply too beautiful to be true.

After I've run Ms Perky's heinous track for a while I suddenly see a flash of two men in cheap official looking suits until the image disappears and the most horrible headache starts. I start to slow down but my crazy teacher keeps on chanting us to keep on running faster and faster so I'm not able to stop.

Another flash. I hear a man say: "We hit where it hurts. Cut off their money."

I see another man shaking his head. "Won't work. I'm betting they have more hidden goods than we can even begin to guess. My connections will give us a limitless weaponry in a war against them. It might also be smart of us to reach out to their enemies. As they say enemy of my enemy is a friend of mine..."