Braced to Bite by Serena Robar Page A

course not, but that fact is also in all the movies. So why wouldn’t it be true?”
    She made a good point. After all, I thought everything I saw in movies about vampires was true too until I actually became one.
    “How come you have a sunburn? Was it that sunny outside today?”
    “Oh sure, you believe the reflection thing but don’t bat an eyelid about vampires going out during the day. I received this while walking from our car to the mall and maybe the fluorescent lights inside too.”
    She whistled low. “You’re gonna need a pretty strong SPF. What did you get?”
    “I picked up a 45 for my face and body. I hope it doesn’t clog my pores.”
    “Look, I have a prescription SPF 60 from my dermatologist. I’ll bring that over. It won’t clog your pores. Just use the 45 on your body, but maybe you should wear a lot of layers of clothes that cover more skin.”
    She looked pointedly at my sweater, which had long since slipped off my shoulder to reveal the tank-top strap and a lot of clavicle.
    “Fine, I’ll cover up more. Thanks for the sunscreen. I’m so glad I have bronzing powder to give me a little color. I hate the pale look.” I glanced at Piper, her alabaster skin looking even paler against her jet-black-with-burgundy-undertones hair. “No offense.”
    She just snorted at me and started pacing around the room like a caged animal. After a couple of minutes playing with my new makeup and watching her pick up, examine and replace half of my things I exploded. “What are you doing?”
    “I’m bored, okay? Watching you put on makeup is not my idea of a good time,” Piper said.
    I was surprised. Rachel, Marci and I could put on makeup and chat about fashion for hours without getting bored.
    “What do you want to do?” I asked.
    “I don’t know, just not this. Have you eaten today?” she asked out of the blue.
    “No, I fed last night. Why do you … Hey! I get it now. I’m not a token freak show that’s going to entertain you with my dark vampire feats, ya know. Is that why you’re here? Because now that I’m a nightstalker I’m interesting enough to hang with but when I was just a cheerleader you didn’t want to be friends anymore?”
    Wow. Where did that come from?
    “No, that’s not why I asked! I just, just …” She stumbled over what she wanted to say. “I just didn’t want to be your next meal, okay?”
    I blinked at her in surprise. Was Piper afraid of me?
    “And I never stopped being friends with you because you became a cheerleader. You stopped being friends with me .” Her tone resonated with hurt and resentment. Was I really the one who severed our friendship when I became a cheerleader?
    “I’m not going to feed on you, Piper. Not today, not ever. I promise.” As for the other issue, I just didn’t know where to start.
    “It used to be so much easier, when we were little,” she said softly.
    I thought back to all the times we played games, watched hours of television and entertained ourselves with make-believe. Once we hit middle school, we drifted apart. We didn’t hang out during school and stopped running over to each other’s house after hours.
    “Yeah, I know. But I gotta say, Piper, I’m glad you’re here with me now. I mean, I don’t know what I would do without someone to talk to about this whole thing.”
    And I meant it. I don’t think Marci and Rachel would ever begin to understand what had happened to me, but Piper seemed to accept me. Even if she was a little freaked out.
    “I’m sorry I said I was afraid you were going to feed on me. I know you wouldn’t really do that. I guess there’s so much about being a vampire I don’t know or understand that I was starting to freak out. I mean, here you are acting like you always do, playing with your makeup and hair, but you aren’t supposed to be you anymore. You’re a vampire. It’s just weird you don’t act anything like a vampire is supposed to act like, you know?”
    “Yeah, tell me about