Fallen by Lauren Kate Read Free Book Online

own meager attempt at rebellion?”
    “Uh, neither, I just don’t—”
    “Like meat?” Arriane steered Luce’s shoulders ninety degrees so that she was looking directly at Daniel, sitting at a table across the room. Luce let out a long exhale. There he was. “Now, does that go for
all
meat?” Arriane sang loudly. “Like you wouldn’t sink your teeth into
him?”
    Luce slugged Arriane and dragged her toward the lunch line. Arriane was cracking up, but Luce knew she was blushing badly, which would be excruciatingly obvious in this fluorescent lighting.
    “Shut up, he totally heard you,” she whispered.
    Part of Luce felt glad to be joking about boys with a friend. Assuming Arriane was her friend.
    She still felt unglued by what had happened this morning when she’d seen Daniel. That pull toward him—she still didn’t understand where it came from, and yet here it was again. She made herself tear her eyes away from his blond hair, from the smooth line of his jaw. She refused to be caught staring. She did
not
want to give him any reason to flip her off a second time.
    “Whatever,” Arriane scoffed. “He’s so focused on that hamburger, he wouldn’t hear the call of Satan.” She gestured at Daniel, who did look intensely focused on chewing his burger. Scratch that, he looked like someone
pretending
to be intensely focused on chewing his hamburger.
    Luce glanced across the table at Daniel’s friend Roland. He was looking straight at her. When he caught her eye, he waggled his eyebrows in a way that Luce couldn’t make sense of but that still creeped her out a little.
    Luce turned back to Arriane. “Why is everyone at this school so weird?”
    “I’m going to choose not to take offense at that,” Arriane said, picking up a plastic tray and handing one to Luce. “And I’m going to move on to explaining the fine art of selecting a cafeteria seat. You see, you never want to sit anywhere near the—Luce, look out!”
    All Luce did was take one step backward, but as soon as she did, she felt the rough shove of two hands on her shoulders. Immediately, she knew she was going down.She reached out in front of her for support, but all her hands found was someone else’s full lunch tray. The whole thing tumbled down right along with her. She landed with a thud on the cafeteria floor, a full cup of borscht in her face.
    When she’d wiped enough mushy beets out of her eyes to see, Luce looked up. The angriest pixie she’d ever seen was standing over her. The girl had spiky bleached hair, at least ten piercings on her face, and a death glare. She bared her teeth at Luce and hissed, “If the sight of you hadn’t just ruined my appetite, I’d make you buy me another lunch.”
    Luce stammered an apology. She tried to get up, but the girl clamped the heel of her black stiletto boot down on Luce’s foot. Pain shot up her leg, and she had to bite her lip so she wouldn’t cry out.
    “Why don’t I just take a rain check,” the girl said.
    “That’s enough, Molly,” Arriane said coolly. She reached down to help Luce to her feet.
    Luce winced. The stiletto was definitely going to leave a bruise.
    Molly squared her hips to face Arriane, and Luce got the feeling this was not the first time they’d locked horns.
    “Fast friends with the newbie, I see,” Molly growled. “This is very bad behavior, A. Aren’t you supposed to be on probation?”
    Luce swallowed. Arriane hadn’t mentioned anythingabout probation, and it didn’t make sense that that would prohibit her from making new friends. But the word was enough to make Arriane clench her fist and throw a fat punch that landed on Molly’s right eye.
    Molly reeled backward, but it was Arriane who caught Luce’s attention. She’d begun convulsing, her arms thrown up and jerking in the air.
    It was the wristband, Luce realized with horror. It was sending some sort of shock through Arriane’s body. Unbelievable. This was cruel and unusual punishment, for sure.