Feudlings by Wendy Knight Read Free Book Online Page B

scowl at him for a minute, trying to figure out where this would lead. “Absolutely,” she answered in a fierce whisper, and Hunter nodded once, then dismissed her as he faced the front of the class. Ari glanced at Nevaeh in confusion but Nevaeh shrugged, looking just as baffled as Ari.
    “Arianna Delacour?”
    Sighing, Ari said, “Here,” and raised her hand.
    Ari didn’t mind calculus. She liked math. She liked school, period. It made her feel normal. Monsters didn’t do school, so she couldn’t be a monster, could she?
    When the bell rang Ari got up, throwing her things into her bag.
    “Your next class is on my way so I’ll walk you. Oh, and I drew you a map from there to third period.” Nevaeh handed her a piece of paper with all sorts of random lines and squiggles and arrows.
    “Thank you,” Ari said in surprise, taking the map. If she was the crying kind, she might have teared up a little.
    “No problem. My class is clear down on the first floor in the far corner, and I’d never make it up here to help you. So, the map,” Nevaeh explained as she grabbed her bag and started toward the door. She led Ari out into the halls, which Ari finally had the chance to notice were painted a neutral beige, and weren’t lined with lockers like some of her other schools had been. Students flooded out of classrooms as the girls headed down the winding circular staircase.
    Nevaeh pointed in a general southerly direction, saying, “Okay, your next class is down one more floor and then follow my map and you’ll be just fine.” She had stopped in front of a door right by the stairs.
    “Okay. Thank you.” Ari realized with a start that she was sad to see Nevaeh go. She had to remind herself that making friends would hurt her. Even so, she couldn’t help but look forward to her chemistry class at the end of the day. Just a little.

Chapter Four
     
    Second period was much like the first, but without Hunter there to grill her and without Nevaeh there to snap out random insanities at anyone caught staring at Ari. Ari slouched in her chair, flipping her pencil across her knuckles as the rest of the class played some name game that she had no interest in participating in.
    After the bell rang, she started down the stairs, trying to decipher Nevaeh’s map. It took a second to figure out that it was useless. “Nevaeh, you didn’t put a legend on this thing.” Ari sighed as she crumpled it up and tossed it in the trash. Unsure what else to do, she wandered for a while. She tried to make sense of the room number system, couldn’t, and stopped in utter confusion in a square corridor with two hallways branching off to either side. Dropping her hands to her hips, she stared at the right hall and then the left, waiting for divine inspiration to light one up and lead the way. It didn’t happen.
    “Ari, right?” She heard a voice behind her and turned slowly, locking gazes with the most incredible blue eyes in the history of blue eyes. They were what Ari could only call metallic, dark as midnight and bright as noon all at the same time and they nearly stopped her heart before she pointed out to herself that they must be contacts. Breathe, she told herself . “Yeah.” Her voice cracked just a little.
    “I’m Shane Delyle.” He stepped toward her, and she tore her gaze from his eyes and took in the rest of him.
    Ahh, now she could see why he had the whole female population wrapped around his finger. Besides the amazing blue eyes, his black wavy hair fell rebelliously across his forehead, and his high cheekbones and full lips could make a supermodel jealous. And his broad shoulders, well, they sure didn’t belong on a high school boy. Plus, he had to be at least four inches taller than her, something she hadn’t encountered since she was in, like, fourth grade.
    “So you would be my other knight in shining armor then,” Ari said.
    “You already met Hunter,” Shane noted, and since it was a statement and not a question,