Josie Griffin Is Not a Vampire Read Online Free Page B

asked.
    The blond guy signaled with a slight nod of his head. I turned my attention to him and nearly fell off my chair. I don’t think I’d ever seen a more beautiful boy. It was as if the sun shone from behind his skin. His hair was a mix of every blond you could imagine from the dusty yellow of corn husks to the white of fresh snow and hiseyes were gold. He also had the most perfect nose I’d ever seen. It was strong and straight with the nostrils slightly flared as if he was drinking in all the scents the world had to offer. Somehow his face almost looked familiar—those deep set eyes and chiseled cheeks, as if I’d seen him a hundred times before, but I couldn’t quite place him.
    “This is the world we were born into,” he said. “It’s not something we can change, so we have to accept it and deal with it the best we can.”
    “Easy for you to say, Helios,” Tarren muttered.
    He turned to her and flared his nostrils more. He looked like a statue of an ancient warrior about to go into battle. “What makes you think it’s easier for me?”
    Tarren shrugged. “Not all of us were born with that golden cherry-thingie. Whaddya call it? That thing he drives?”
    “Chariot,” Avis told her.
    “That was one of my great-great-grandfathers,” Helios said drily. “I drive an Infiniti.”
    “Whatever it is,” Tarren said. “I’m stuck on the Southside with a drunk for a father and a mother who flits in and out while I’m forced to go to some crappy school, but Helios here glides around Carmel to his fancy private school. I think I have more of a right to be pissed off than he does.”
    I sat back. I knew I should keep my mouth shut. Tarren might have been little and she might have talked weird, but she could kick somebody’s butt and I didn’twant it to be mine. But, I couldn’t do it. “Money doesn’t necessarily make life easier,” I said.
    Tarren glared at me. “Spoken like a true princess.”
    I snorted. “Hardly.”
    Charles chimed in. “I think the point is we’re all entitled to feel anger or frustration, no matter how much money we have or don’t have. Rich, poor, or in between we all have problems that are worthy of consideration.”
    I glanced over at the blond guy, expecting a nod of appreciation or something, but he ignored me.
    “Let’s move on,” Charles said. “How about you, Johann?” He turned to creepy peeper guy. I felt a little bad for making fun of how he said my name, since his was pronounced Yohann. He was probably some poor foreign kid whose family left a war-torn country and I was giving him a hard time. Maybe my dad was right. Maybe I did need therapy.
    “What can I say?” Johann sighed like a weary old man. “I’m bored. I’d like some excitement in my life.” He shook his head and I felt his pain. Who wouldn’t like a little more to do in this town?
    I must have been nodding in agreement because Charles looked at me and said, “Do you feel that way as well, Josie?”
    “I, uh, um, yeah, I guess so,” I sputtered.
    “Tell us a little bit about yourself,” Charles said. “What brings you here today?”
    Uh-oh,
I thought. I can happily listen to other peopletalk about their lives for hours. I can write about anything under the sun. I can even defend a position if I think it needs defending. But talking about myself? Out loud? No thank you, I’d rather pass.

chapter 4
    c harles wouldn’t let me off the hook, so I took a deep breath. Over and over I had had to relive how I’d completely lost it on Kevin’s car. By now my explanation had become rote and mechanical and included just the barest of details. “I got angry and bashed in someone’s windshield.”
    Everyone stared at me, waiting.
    “It was my boyfriend.”
    They continued staring. I squirmed under the heat of Helios’s eyes.
    “He was cheating on me,” I added but that didn’t break the silent let’s-all-look-at-Josie game.
    “With my best friend, okay? I caught them and it pissed me