Death's Dilemma (DHAD #2) Read Online Free

usually lose.” She laughed. “And afterwards, everyone goes to someone’s house to burn the float we worked on. It’s really just an excuse for a party, but it’s fun, or so I’m told. Then, the next day is the dance.”
    “We didn’t have so much luck at the last one. And where did this come from? Sure sounds like something that would need much more planning in advance.”
    “Well, we’ve only been here a few months, and I guess they didn’t have enough people volunteering, so I volunteered us.”
    “I don’t like the sound of any of this. How long have you known about this dance coming up?”
    “Cendall, there are signs all over. Look around once in a while.”
    “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m too busy watching your ass, along with Chad, it appears,” I laughed as we both turned and saw her recent crush approaching.
    “Hey you guys want to sit outside today?” he asked like we hadn’t just caught him staring at Lacie’s ass. She blushed, and we agreed.
    “He’s sort of cute,” I said as he walked away and headed towards the tables outside the cafeteria.
    “I guess. Most of the girls here think he’s cute, and I can see why. He’s nice, tan, and tall, and those hazel eyes are gorgeous, but I don’t know. Just never felt like that about him. I’ve actually started talking to someone else.”
    “Maybe you should tell him that.”
    “Yeah, but it’s nice having a full table at lunch.” She smiled.
    “What do you feel like eating today?” I asked as we stood in line.
    “No idea. Nothing smells good.”
    “Does it ever?”
    “Cheesy breadstick day does.” And she was right. That was the only time this menu didn’t make me cringe.
    “What will you be having?” asked the lunch maid who had a hair net that clung to her eyebrows.
    “Fries.”
    “Same here,” Lacie said. The lady handed them to us, and we headed to the stone tables outside. Myah, Cameron, and Chad were already waiting.
    “Hey guys!” Myah waved like we didn’t see her. She was, what I guess you could call, Lacie’s and my first friend at this school. She’d given us the tour on day one, and since then, she hadn’t left Lacie’s side. I sometimes wondered how she survived before us. At first, I questioned her motives as she seriously never left us alone, but one touch of her skin, and I didn’t fear any longer as her life flashed before my eyes.
    She’d grown up in California in a modern, metrosexual, free-loving town. When she came here two years ago with her hipster clothes, she was immediately cast as an oddball, and the girls picked on her. I secretly thought it was out of jealously, but I kept that to myself as I didn’t really have time for high school politics. But if I ran a school and a Mexican bombshell came in, drawing all the boys’ attention, I’d probably be jealous too. Not that Myah noticed, of course. In her eyes, she was a plain Jane. A plain Jane that was all legs and standing at nearly six feet. Her light, golden-cocoa skin and honey brown eyes made her stand out. Hell, she’d even gotten some boys to join the swim team, even though they had to get in those little purple speedos. I told her my theories of why the team suddenly had 20 more boys when she joined the team this year, but she wasn’t having it. And it really was a waste of their time. When she was at practice, practice was all she did. She wouldn’t so much as glance their way, giving only the final lap her attention.
    Lacie made me go to one of her meets once, and if mermaids existed, I would swear she was one. She swam faster than her competitors by not just seconds but sometimes a full minute. It was sort of sad when her life flashed before my eyes and I could see that, up until we arrived, all she did was focus on school. It wasn’t until her senior year that she decided she wanted to try having friends again. She had a group of girls she hung out with all throughout middle school, but in her move, they had lost touch. I caught