Crave by Melissa Darnell Page A

boring into the back of my dang head, I wanted to growl. Instead I shrugged and tried to act like it didn’t bug me.
    â€œWell, I bet you didn’t know that he was asking about you last week.” Pride flooded her voice. “He said he and the Clann girls at his lunch table had heard you were sick and were worried about you.”
    Whoa. Tristan had noticed I was gone and asked about me? Out of personal interest, or for the Clann?
    Anne snorted. “Oh, please. As if any of those spoiled brats care about anyone outside their elite little circle.”
    Unless their parents had told them all about me, and now they were worried I would attack them in the halls.
    â€œWell, why would he lie about it to me?” Michelle said.
    â€œMaybe because he’d already asked me and I told him to mind his own business,” Anne said.
    I stared at my best friend in surprised horror.
    â€œWell, in so many words,” she added in a mumble.
    â€œWhy didn’t you just tell him how I was doing?” I said.
    â€œBecause I honestly didn’t know, okay? All your grandma would say was that you were sick and they weren’t sure when you’d be back at school, but you weren’t in the hospital. Besides, he’s a mega…mega…” Anne scowled, her nose scrunching as she searched for the word she wanted.
    â€œMegalomaniac?” I offered.
    â€œYeah. That!”
    I sighed. “I’m sorry if I worried you. I really was…sick. In fact, I don’t remember most of last week beyond Monday afternoon. I think I scared Mom and Nanna, too.” There, that was the truth. Mostly.
    Three faces stared at me with open shock once again. I tried not to cringe in reaction. All this unexpected attention today made me want to find a hole to hide in.
    â€œSo what was wrong with you?” Anne said.
    I shrugged and braced for the necessary lie. I would have to tell them it had been the flu. But the bell rang, cutting short the conversation. Thank goodness, too, because I really sucked at lying. And there was no way they would ever believe even half the stuff my family had told me this weekend. Hopefully they would just forget that I’d been out sick and had weird eyes now.
    If I was lucky, maybe I could forget, too.
    Tristan
    My knees bounced beneath the descendants’ table as I ate my lunch and watched the clock on the cafeteria wall. Two hours left until fourth-period algebra.
    I’d made the lunch-chair trade with Dylan permanent, though he wasn’t happy about it. But I’d had to pull rank on him; the view was better from his old seat. Or at least it had been, until the view showed a dark-haired boy, short and wiry, stopping at Savannah’s table.
    Probably one of her friends’ boyfriends.
    Except the guy was standing inches from Savannah and talking to her, not the others.
    My knees stopped bouncing.
    A classmate asking for help on an assignment? No, he looked too old to be a freshman like us.
    I leaned sideways toward my sister. “Who’s that guy?”
    â€œHuh?” Emily looked around then smirked. “Oh, you mean the one talking to a certain—”
    â€œYeah.”
    She got the hint and whispered, “Tell you in a minute.” Then she pretended to return to her lunch. But I noticed her casually scoping out the cafeteria every few seconds.
    The guy braced one hand on Savannah’s table, another hand on the back of her chair, and leaned down toward her.
    I sat up, my hands clenching into fists on my thighs. Back off. Now, I thought to the would-be Romeo, adding a little magical push to the thought. Some humans were too thickheaded to pick up on Clann mental commands. This guy wasn’t, thankfully. His head shot up and he looked toward me.
    I knew I should be acting more casual in case the Clann noticed. But I’d lost control. I glared back at him, willing him to take a silent hint and get lost.
    After a few seconds, he