Diary of a Runaway (BOOK #3)

You've Changed

Ava

  I stood in front of the mirror for the millionth time in the billionth outfit. Never in my life did I think I would have to "start" school again. Come back hitting hard in a killer outfit that would surely impress everyone.

But yet here I was. William and I faced a long discussion the night before about how we both needed to go to school, not for the education, but for inside information. High school was full of gossip and teenagers driven by insanity. Maybe they would know what the hell was going on around here.

"There's also the fact that you've been gone for months," William stated.

I glared over at him. "God knows they won't let me forget it. As soon as I walk in, I bet you they will be all over me with questions and rumors. I don't even want to think about how far they'll go."

"If they even care."

Liv stood at the doorway now, leaning heavily on the frame. She wore a black v-neck and jeans with her Tiffany necklace wrapped around her throat and Tory Burch flats on her feet. Her hair sat in waves down her back and a light smile spread on her lips.

"You ready?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Are you?"

She rolled her eyes. "As ready as I'll ever be. It's been a rough few weeks."

I hugged my arms around myself, settling on the dress and jacket combo I currently wore. "Tell me about it. How are you doing, by the way? You look good."

"I'm fine," she said, her voice uneven. "Bernard gave me the okay to go so I guess I'm good on that front. Whatever's happening to me...I don't know. Maybe it's for the better. Human me sucked and vampire me wasn't any better."

I walked back into the closet not wanting her to my face."How about your mom? Have you seen her again?"

"Not after that little spat." She wiped her hands on her pants like they were covered in sweat. "Look, whatever happens today, I want you to know that I am on your side. I... I've changed. I'm not going to turn my back on you. No one here knows what we've been through. They don't know the truth about us. They're going to make stuff up just to make sense of all this, and I just want you to know I'll be right there to go all Liv on their asses."

I grabbed her hand and squeezed it, feeling the slight pulse of human warmth that now ran through her veins. "And I promise to do just the same. You're my best friend. And we're in this together."

†††

William pulled into the lot—Angelina, Jane, Liv, and me as passengers. Angelina insisted on getting a "modern high school experience". Victor had to tell her it wasn't going to be like an eighties movie, to which she rolled her eyes. I didn't know why Jane came along, but I had a feeling it had something to do with Luke.

Speaking of Luke.

He came over to us as soon as we stepped out of the car. Evidently his dad still hadn't come home, but there was a massive amount of messages left from the school about Luke's absence.

"I deleted them all," he had told us the night before. "And my dad doesn't usually take calls from numbers he doesn't know."

"How about you?" Jane asked him. "Doesn't he call you?"

Luke's face fell but he just shrugged.

I swallowed wishing I knew more about Luke, wishing I'd learned more about him over the course of the years instead of ignoring his presence based off my own fear.