Crave (Harlequin Teen)

too much. I’d have to check on her every now and then to make sure the charms continued to protect her. But I couldn’t keep feeling like this.
    “She’s just a girl,” I muttered to the leaves, the clouds, to no one at all. “A girl. Nothing more.”
    Savannah
    I was tense throughout the morning, bracing myself for another encounter with the boys from algebra. Though I didn’t have math class today, it seemed inevitable that I would run into them at some point during the day. I thought I saw one of them in the main hallway before first period. He looked at me, took a couple steps in my direction, then frowned and headed the other way.
    Lunchtime was even worse.
    “Are you okay?” Anne leaned over and whispered while Michelle and Carrie worked together on homework.
    “Sure! Why?” I pasted on a smile.
    One of her eyebrows arched. “You haven’t eaten anything. And you’re paler than usual. Which means you’re white as a sheet today.”
    I gave up trying to fake a smile. “Just a little…nervous.”
    “Worried about running into the Warty Boys again?”
    Warty Boys? I looked at her, letting my confusion show on my face.
    “You know, the toads from algebra. The creeps that were bugging you before class.”
    “Oh. Yeah. Think they’ll be as…weird today?”
    “Only one way to find out. We’ll walk past them after lunch and see how they react.”
    My stomach cramped. “Maybe being around them again so soon isn’t such a good idea.”
    “Why?”
    I hesitated. I couldn’t tell her the truth, at least not all of it. But not telling her anything made me feel so alone here on campus. Couldn’t I tell her just a little without breaking any rules?
    I decided to take a risk. “Promise you won’t laugh too loudly.”
    She nodded.
    “I think it’s because…because I made eye contact with them after lunch.”
    “You think, just because they looked into your eyes, you did something to them? Like you hypnotized them, or something?”
    “Um…yeah.”
    She snickered. “Oh, sure. Because I do that all the time, too. All us girls do. One look in any girl’s eyes, and poof! All the boys are gaze dazed.”
    Irritated, I forgot and glared at her, making eye contact in the process.
    Within seconds, she shivered and looked away. “Huh. Okay, maybe you have a point.”
    I didn’t know whether to feel smug about winning the argument or sick to my stomach. Part of me had really hoped I was wrong about yesterday and that my friends would prove it by acting normal after I made eye contact with them today. But they didn’t. They just kept getting weirded out.
    Anne cleared her throat. “Have you made eye contact with anyone else and had strange reactions?”
    “You mean other than you guys?” I gestured at everyone at our table. Carrie glanced up from the biology book she was using to tutor Michelle, then went back to their studying.
    Anne nodded.
    I tried to remember, but there was no telling how often I’d made eye contact with people since getting sick last week. “I don’t know. Maybe Greg Stanwick? I can’t remember now.”
    The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. I shuffled after the others to the trash cans, taking my time dumping my tray and adding it to the stack at the dishwasher’s window.
    “Maybe we should go out the other exit,” I suggested, my chest growing tighter by the second.
    “Come on. We’ll go together.” Anne linked her arm through mine. The contrast between her tan and my milky-white skin was awful, but at least the contact was reassuring, a reminder that I wasn’t totally alone.
    We stepped out into the spring sunlight and its blast of warmth, which actually felt good. I’d been a little chilled indoors all morning, so stepping outside was like thawing at first.
    But even being wrapped in bright sunshine and warmth couldn’t make my muscles loosen up. The picnic tables were only yards away from the cafeteria building.
    Too soon, I saw the three algebra guys from yesterday.
    “Hello, boys,” Anne called out, making several heads pop up.
    “Anne, shut up! ” I muttered, trying to steer us closer to the cafeteria wall and away from the tables. If Anne would only cooperate a little, we could sneak by without being seen. But she was hardheaded as ever and literally dug in her heels.
    “Oh, hey, Anne,” one of the algebra boys replied. Then he frowned and rubbed his forehead. “Huh. I could’ve sworn I wanted to ask you something. I guess I’ll remember it