Bloodchild by Andrew Neiderman Read Free Book Online Page B

glimpse of Teddy being carried off to the locker room.
    "Oh, what a game. What a game!" Colleen's girlfriend Audra exclaimed. Even with the animation in her round, ebullient face, her normally wide brown eyes opened to their limits, her soft, thin lips twisted like a string of strawberry licorice, Audra Carson's statement sounded like an understatement. It was the greatest, most exciting game Colleen had ever seen, and not only because she was romantically involved with the quarterback. The lead had seesawed back and forth continually, until the score remained tied for the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Teddy's excellent efforts had been matched by those of the talented Liberty quarterback. It had really been a contest in which both boys had to reach back and call up every bit of skill they had.
    Colleen couldn't help but watch the Liberty players retreat from the field. Some looked back enviously at the Centerville crowd and players. She saw that some even wore smiles, probably imagining what it would have been like had the situation been reversed. The Liberty quarterback departed with his head down, his teammates already beseeching him not to feel sorry but to feel proud of the effort he had made.
    She turned back just as Teddy was carried into the locker room, and then she followed Audra into the aisle, proceeding to the parking lot, where she would wait for him.
    "You're so lucky, so lucky to have him for a boyfriend," Audra said, turning back. Colleen smiled at Audra's unabashed revelation of her feelings. She liked her just for this reason: Audra was refreshingly innocent and open. She was a trusting and warm seventeen-year-old girl who sometimes seemed so oblivious to the way other girls mocked and abused her, it was as if she were from another planet. Colleen often felt the need to protect her. She was indeed Audra's only true friend, but Audra had been the first to welcome her to the school, and welcome her warmly.
    With Audra, Colleen didn't feel the undercurrent of jealousy, jealousy that sometimes took form in vicious ways, that she sensed in other girls at the school. Audra was a pure spirit, vulnerable but full of forgiveness. Colleen couldn't help but like her.
    And she liked Audra's mother too. Her father had left them when Audra was just ten, and they had embraced religion, but in a much different, if not strange, manner. They didn't become ardent churchgoers. If anything, Audra's mother, Lucy, seemed to eschew organized religion, as if all churches and all clergy were undercover organizations and agents working for the devil. Their home had become their church, and although they didn't discuss and promote it the way some ardent believers and clergy would, they had a confident belief that God spoke directly to them. There was no need for intermediaries.
    They read the Bible together daily, and they had a clear and trusting faith that seemed childish at times. Audra wore her thick silver cross like a shield, sometimes fingering it in private prayer. Others were turned off by this ostentatious religious activity, but Colleen felt comfortable in their home; she felt welcome and sincerely wanted.
    She sensed that Lucy Carson was happy and even grateful for Colleen's friendship with Audra, a friendship that was often hard to defend; for her other friends—even Teddy—couldn't understand why she wanted to be friends with such an unsophisticated and, in many ways, strange girl.
    "Do you want to come with us to the Beast Burger?" she asked Audra. It wouldn't be the first time she had brought her along with her and Teddy. He had forgiven her for it before, and she was positive he would forgive her for it now, because he would be so elated, nothing she did would make him unhappy.
    "Will you be upset if I don't? I promised my mother I would go with her shopping for shoes tonight," Audra said. The five-foot four-inch girl wore an expression of sincere concern.
    Colleen shook her head and smiled.
    "I'll see you in