richellemead-vampireacademy01-vampireacademy-110824015328-phpapp02

"I can't go," I said. "I promised her she wouldn't be alone.”
The nurse was tall, even for a Moroi, with kind brown eyes. "She won't be. I'll stay with her.”
I regarded her skeptically.
"I promise."
Back in my room, I had my own crash. The fear and excitement had worn me out too, and for
an instant, I wished I could have a normal life and a normal best friend. Immediately, I cast that
thought out. No one was normal, not really. And I'd never have a better friend than Lissa…but
man, it was so hard sometimes.
I slept heavily until morning. I went to my first class tentatively, nervous that word about last
night had gotten around. As it turned out, people were talking about last night, but their
attention was still focused on the queen and the reception. They knew nothing about the rabbit.
As hard as it was to believe, I'd nearly forgotten about that other stuff. Still, it suddenly seemed
like a small thing compared to someone causing a bloody explosion in Lissa's room.
Yet, as the day went on, I noticed something weird. People stopped looking at Lissa so much.
The started looking at me. Whatever. Ignoring them, I hunted around and found Lissa finishing
up with a feeder. That funny feeling I always got came over me as I watched her mouth work
against the feeder's neck, drinking his blood. A trickle of it ran down his throat, standing out
against his pale skin. Feeders, though human, were nearly as pale as Moroi from all the blood
loss. He didn't seem to notice; he was long gone on the high of the bite. Drowning in jealousy, I
decided I needed therapy.
"You okay?" I asked her later, on our way to class. She wore long sleeves, purposefully
obscuring her wrists.
"Yeah…I still can't stop thinking about that rabbit…It was so horrible. I keep seeing it in my
head. And then what I did." She squeezed her eyes shut, just for a moment, and then opened
them again. "People are talking about us.”