richellemead-vampireacademy01-vampireacademy-110824015328-phpapp02

"I like him okay—which is about as much as you like him. And I don't think you should get hot
and sweaty with people you only like 'okay'“
Lissa widened her eyes in pretend astonishment. "Is this Rose Hathaway talking? Have you
reformed? Or do you have someone you like 'more than okay'?”
"Hey" I said uncomfortably, "I'm just looking out for you. That, and I never noticed how boring
Aaron is before.”
She scoffed. "You think everyone's boring.”
"Christian isn't.”
It slipped out before I could stop it. She quit smiling. "He's a jerk. He just stopped talking to me
for no reason one day" She crossed her arms. "And don't you hate him anyway?”
"I can still hate him and think he's interesting.”
But I was also starting to think that I might have made a big mistake about Christian. He was
creepy and dark and liked to set people on fire, true. On the other hand, he was smart and
funny—in a twisted way—and somehow had a calming effect on Lissa.
But I'd messed it all up. I'd let my anger and jealousy get the best of me and ended up
separating them. If I'd let him go to her in the garden that night, maybe she wouldn't have
gotten upset and cut herself. Maybe they'd be together now, away from all the school politics.
Fate must have been thinking the same thing, because five minutes after I left Lissa, I passed
Christian walking across the quad. Our eyes locked for a moment before we passed each other.
I nearly kept walking. Nearly. Taking a deep breath, I came to a stop.
"Wait…Christian." I called out to him. Damn, I was so late for training. Dimitri was going to
kill me.
Christian spun around to face me, hands stuffed in the pockets of his long black coat, his
posture slumped and uncaring.
"Yeah?”