Blood Forever Read Online Free Page A

would take over the town and cause mass destruction if we didn’t score a goal. Heck, I played the same game the first time around and I can’t even remember what the outcome was.
    It’s funny. I thought I’d be so psyched to get back to school. To go back to my former life and see all my old friends. But so far the first day back had been nothing short of a total nightmare. And not one of those dramatic, freaky nightmares that at least would be interesting. It was more like that movie
Groundhog Day
, where I felt as if I’d already lived it a thousand times before.
    “By the way, I heard Jake Wilder might be stopping by the game tonight,” Amanda adds, giving me a not-so-subtle wink.
    Jake Wilder. Wow. I’d almost forgotten he even existed. It’s hard to believe the resident school Sex God—the one I crushed on hardcore back in the day—was once a very important person in my life. Thinking back, I can’t even remember what I saw in him. I guess he was good looking. And popular. But he couldn’t hold a candle to Magnus. The most wonderful boyfriend in the entire universe.
    Who I’d probably never see again.
    Before heading to school, Rayne and I had made a pact. Tolive a normal, vampire-free life from this point forward. Too much badness had happened, my sister reasoned, because of our dalliances in the otherworld. It was better for all involved if we stayed out of it altogether and lived normal, everyday lives from this point forward.
    But though in my head I knew she was right, my heart was singing a different song. How could I ever waste time going after someone like Jake Wilder, when I knew someone like Magnus existed on the fringes of my reality?
    I get my lunch—some nasty, dried-up chicken nuggets and fries—and follow Amanda over to the table where the rest of my team appears to be debating the various pros and cons of different brands of lip gloss with quite a bit of venom, considering the subject matter.
    “Oh-Em-Gee, are you for real?” Olivia cries in disgust. “That stuff is like liquid glue! The one time I wore it, I almost got stuck to Carter permanently when I kissed him!”
    “As if that’s a bad thing,” Ava shot back with a devious smile on her lips.
    “Please,” cut in Jessica. “I make my own lip gloss. All you need is a little beeswax. A little honey…”
    “So, um, anyone hear about that crazy terrorist attack over in Syria this weekend?” I butt in, after checking my phone for a time-appropriate current event. “Pretty scary, right?”
    The girls turn to look at me as if I have three heads and have just announced that I enjoy waterboarding over the weekends for fun.
    “Um, yeah. Scary,” Olivia says quickly. Then she turns backto Jessica. “So wait. You make your own? But can you tint it that way? I much prefer tinted gloss…”
    Oh God. I rise from my seat and flee the inane conversation, purposely leaving my inedible lunch behind me. Was this really what my friends thought was important? Had I once thought it was important, too? Then I remember the ridiculous amount of lip gloss I’d pawed through this morning in my bathroom drawer trying to find a tube of toothpaste. Evidently so.
    But not anymore. Try as I might, I can’t seem to bring myself to care about lip gloss or field hockey games or cute boys with no personalities. I can’t care about English or math or getting good grades. All these things that once took priority in my so-called normal life now seem flat and dull and ridiculous.
    I have to face it: I’m not that girl anymore. That innocent, naive creature who flitted through life without a care in the world for anything but her own well-being. And I can’t go back to being her, no matter how hard I try. Not when I know what’s out there, under the surface of our world. The battles, the chaos, the intrigue. And most important, the most beautiful, sweet, loving vampire in the entire universe.
    The one who no longer knows I exist.
    I scan the cafeteria,