Chapter 93: Invader

My friends were waiting for me just inside the main school door, as usual, though it only took me a moment to realize Pain wasn't with them.

"Feeling better?" Beth's brown eyes shone with concern. "My mom gets migraines. They're awful."

Right. "Yeah, thanks," I said, feeling the heat rise to my face as I reinforced the lie. "I'll be okay."

"By the way," Alison hooked her arm in mine and started leading me to our lockers, "Benjamin says hi." She winked at me with a smirk.

I groaned. "Did he bug you guys?"

Alison shrugged. "Not so much," she said. "He actually seems nice."

"Really smart, too." Simon grinned at me, pushing his glasses up his narrow nose, skinny shoulders hunched forward under the weight of his overloaded backpack. "Knows a ton about chemistry."

Tell me my friends weren't falling for this guy? That would really, really suck.

"I don't like him at all." I was so shocked by the angry grunt from Blood I stopped in my tracks. Gone was his usual smooth and laid back atti