Crave (Harlequin Teen)

control over her team. And everyone knew how the descendants’ parents had a habit of taking over everything their kids were involved in.
    Whatever the reason, the Charmers was a Clann-free zone. And that was reason enough for me to want to be a part of it in any way I could. If I could handle watching others dance without feeling miserable all the time.
    After a few minutes of lying on the bed feeling restless, I gave in to the urge, dug the application out of my backpack and read over it. And felt my jaw drop.
    I’d expected one of those simple forms that asked the usual boring questions about me…name, address, phone number, my hobbies and interests, maybe job skills or a short essay or two.
    What I found was something way different. And challenging in an intriguing kind of way.
    The packet was six pages long and filled with things like, “Suggest a good-luck game-day note for the volleyball teams,” “Create a costume design using a long-sleeve unitard for the base, and only adding costume parts that can be quickly taken off or put on in between dance routines” and “Suggest a Charmers Spring Show theme, then design coordinating stage decoration.”
    I had plenty of ideas for the application. But I had only four days to get it all on paper in some kind of way that wouldn’t look like a kindergartner did it.
    I came back to the kitchen, where Nanna was busy prepping some of the freshly cut herbs for use in her various teas. I held up the application and winced. “Uh, you know how you offered to help?”
     
    Nanna was true to her word. With her help, I managed to finish my application notebook just in time for Friday’s deadline. But it was close, with a few late nights thrown in at the end to make sure I got it done in time. And I was pretty sure I’d never get out the glue and glitter from under my fingernails.
    Mrs. Daniels had said in the packet’s directions that she was looking for creativity. Well, she’d gotten it. I’d done every thing possible to demonstrate my creativity in that notebook, from shaping it like the Charmers knee-high white boots to using glitter paint and including paper dolls complete with changeable costume designs. The paper dolls were Mom’s idea; hopefully the director would think they were creative instead of childish or crazy.
    My name and pre-drill class number were on the cover, so I felt safe leaving the completed notebook on the director’s desk after school on Friday.
    Then all I could do was wait until Monday’s pre-drill class.
    Where I found a list of three names posted on the dance-room door under the heading Next Year’s Charmers Managers. Two girls’ names I didn’t recognize topped the list.
    And my name was at the bottom.
    I should have been excited. After all, Nanna’s and my hard work on the application notebook had won me a spot on the Charmers team, one that the vampire council shouldn’t have a problem with. And being a Charmers manager might even turn out to be fun.
    But in that moment, I didn’t feel much of anything. I’d become a Charmers manager. Right now, all that meant was that I’d have something to do with my free time next year.
     
    The weekend after school ended, I met the other two Charmers managers for the first time at the sophomore Charmers summer kick-off party. All thirteen new Charmers plus the managers had crowded into a small, two-story lake house owned by Bethany Brookes’s parents on Lake Jacksonville.
    I had only been to parties with my best friends and had no clue how to make small talk with strangers. But after introducing themselves, the other two managers, Keisha and Vicki, seemed as uncomfortable to be there as I was. Somehow, that made me feel a little less out of place.
    When everyone trooped outside to the private pier, I was worried that I’d be the only one to sit in the shady area where the shoreline trees overhung the pier and lake house. All the dancers chose to strip down to their bikinis and roast themselves on towels by the water. But Vicki and Keisha sat beside me in the shade, too. And like me, they also opted to keep on their T-shirts and shorts over their swimsuits. Thank goodness. What with my natural paleness and tendency to burn at least once every summer, no way would I be baring any more skin here. Besides, I wouldn’t want to accidentally blind anyone today. Everyone else looked like they spent their lives in a tanning bed.
    While Keisha and Vicki chatted about their families, I