Rise of the Moon (Moonlit Series Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

academic level, no less.
    Things were better now. I liked to think I’d grown a backbone, again, thanks to them –and Maddie, of course. And all that hard work had paid off tremendously. My final semester at school was by far the easiest. I started the morning off with gym and music and ended with English and a spare.
    “Aren’t you excited?” Maddie asked. We sat beside each other on the bus, neither one of us having our own car –though I did have my license.
    “For school?” I rolled my eyes. “No.”
    “Come on. We’re in grade twelve, and you, of all people, can’t complain. You’ve only got this semester. Lucky,” she nudged me. When I showed no real response, she grinned and lifted my pant leg. “Well, even if you’re not excited, at least you shaved your legs.”
    “Seriously?” I raised an eyebrow, slapping her hand away. “A girl’s not allowed to shave her legs now?”
    “You’re telling me that you shaved your legs to wear full length denim on the first day of your final year in high school because you’re not excited?” she gave me a look that said she knew me better than that. And I’d be the first to admit that she was right. “Besides… it’s way too hot for jeans. Aren’t you dying?”
    She was right again. If I could rewind to this morning, I’d change into –at the very least –a pair of capris. I was never quite fond of my thighs, though I did wear shorts and bikinis in the summer. Wasn’t quite fond of my love handles either, hence the high-rise jean. I wasn’t fat, by any means, but the only good ‘muffin top’ came off an actual muffin.
    “Hey Maddie,” Philip called out from the back of the bus. The two of us glanced back over our shoulders to see him and Cole sitting in the very back seat. They didn’t have cars either. Marissa did, but I’d never seen her give a ride to her brother.
    “I’ll be back,” she grinned, touching my arm quickly before standing up and going to the back of the bus. I watched her as she went, catching Cole’s eye momentarily. He sneered at me, and I rolled my eyes.
    Just one more semester.
    I glanced at my phone to check the time. The bus route to the high school was a long one for me and my sister. It picked us up in the village and drove the long way around to pick up kids out in the country –including Maddie –and took us to the nearest elementary school, which was several country blocks away from where I lived. There, we were shuffled from that bus to another that would take us to our high school. A few of the kids from the village had decided to go to rivaling schools, so they got on other buses. Essentially there were three schools they could choose to go to: Eiden Composite School, Hightown District High School, and Reidman High. Hightown was the closest school, a fifteen minute drive north of where I lived. Eiden was the largest, and only twenty minutes west of my house. Reidman was the furthest away, being twenty-five minutes south.
    As the bus pulled up in front of the school, she came back to my side. I stood up, and the two of us filed off the bus with the other students, grades nine through twelve. My little sister had sat near the front of the bus with her own friends, and through the rectangular windows I watched her hop off the last step and head to her first grade ten class. Maddie stretched as our feet touched the pavement, waving to Philip and the other guys as they walked away.
    “Ah, sweet, sweet high school,” she sighed, looking up at the large building. “Three floors of kids we’ll never speak to again as soon as this year ends.”
    “I can live with that,” I grinned.
    “You say that, but you’re pretty popular right now. I’m pretty sure more people know your name than mine at this point,” she laughed.
    “I think that’s mostly due to my sister,” I said. “Her friends adore me.”
    “She’s taking mechanics this year, right?” Maddie asked.
    “Yeah,” I nodded. “I think she’ll