Read Online Cold Blood by Heather Hildenbrand - Free Book Online

decision.
    Cambria’s eyes widened. “Seriously? Nothing?”
    “ I can’t,” I said. “I would get into a lot of trouble if I did and not from school. I – well, I – sort of got kicked out of my last school for fighting.”
    “ You got expelled?” Logan’s eyes were wide in disbelief.
    Cambria laughed, eyes dancing in amusement. “I knew we were meant to be best friends. You’re already my kind of girl.”
    “ And what kind of girl is that? Violent?” Logan asked.
    “ Not boring,” Cambria shot back. “Go on,” she said, looking at me.
    “ My mom would kill me. Trust me, she’s waiting for a good reason. And worse, Grandma would be disappointed. And I don’t think I could go home anyway. They’d just ship me off somewhere else.”
    Logan and Cambria both nodded in understanding and let the subject drop.
    I picked at my food until I was sure I wouldn’t be able to force anything else down. “Can I ask you guys something?”
    They nodded.
    “ Why are you being nice to me? Everyone else here hates me and has no problem letting me know it. And I’ve already seen them looking at you the same way for being with me. I’m not saying I don’t appreciate it, but why bother?”
    “ You don’t strike me as the type who cares what other people think,” Cambria said.
    “ I’m not,” I said. “But I’d hate to see you guys getting dumped on for being seen with me. I would understand if you want to walk away.”
    Cambria shook her head. “And where would the fun in that be? Logan?”
    “ No fun at all,” he agreed, smiling.
    Cambria glanced at him and then back at me, smiling. “If you haven’t noticed already, Logan and I are officially what you would call misfits. Logan doesn’t fit in anywhere. He’s too much of a hottie to blend with the geeks and the cool kids all figured out that he’s too smart to sink to their shallow standards. So he’s got nowhere to go. And me, well, I’m too stubborn to conform. Or at least that’s what my transcript says. They don’t know I read that, though.”
    She winked at me, and I couldn’t help but laugh. It wasn’t loud or long but it was still laughter and it felt good to let it out.
    “ Don’t let her noble speech fool you,” Logan said. “Cambria likes to stir the pot, and you being here has already kicked it up a notch. Besides, anything that pisses off Victoria is right up her alley.”
    Cambria shrugged, neither confirming nor denying Logan’s words, and looked back at me. “And the way it’s looking, you’re no better off than we are, socially speaking. So, you’re stuck with us. Might as well make the best of it.”
     
     
     

 
    Chapter Six
     
     
    The bell rang, and everyone gathered up their trash and headed for the doors. I noticed not all of the kids were heading for our building.
    “ Where are they going?” I asked, pointing to two girls walking in the opposite direction we were.
    “ Sophomores are in Ashton Hall, over there,” said Cambria, pointing. “Freshman are there, and those two are senior buildings. They get so much more room than we do.” She sounded wistful, and I wondered what could possibly make a school building so much nicer by having fewer kids to fill it up.
    “ So all the junior classes are in this building?” I asked.
    Cambria nodded. “Lexington Hall.”
    I stopped walking. “Wait, what?” I knew that name. It was Victoria’s name.
    “ You heard me right. Named after Victoria’s great-great somebody.” Cambria shook her head. “You’d think with all that dough they could get that girl some class – or some sense.”
    I didn’t say anything. I was thinking about the comment Victoria had made in the lunch room, about having money. But she obviously had money, and I didn’t, so what was she talking about.
    I hooked my bag over my shoulder, dumped my trash into a receptacle cleverly hidden between shrubs, and fell into step between Logan and Cambria.
    “ What class do you have next?” Logan