Page 3 (1/2)

The bed next to Noelle’s

First, no one but Noelle was allowed to speak to Ava like that Ever She loved Ava more than she loved herself Maybe because Ava was the one person in the world she trusted The one person in the world who always told her the truth, straight up, nothing held back The one person in the world who thought Noelle was perfect, just the way she was

Second, it was iht fro That way, no one would dare try to shank theirl’s nylon went skidding across the floor, panties flying in every direction Another kick, and the girl followed "Say soain, and your balls will take the same path as you and your underwear Feelvoice, balancing her bag on the now vacant bed "I think the person in question is feirl with the sauys Her hand fluttered up to her heart, baby bird delicate "I thought you were a dude It’s the , the "person in question" juonna cut my balls with, bitch? They frisked you saot nothin’"

Question of the day: was now the tiled in?

Nah, she thought next The girl was a crier On the bus, the black and very gorgeous instructor, Ghost, had gotten in her face and called her a carbon-based waste of space, and her freaking botto to watch Noelle hadn’t cried since her father paid his s and destroy her pain receptors while she was still awake, and she sure as shit wasn’t going to cry when someone called her silly nauard her froe the facts At twelve, she’d been strapped to a gurney and cut open like a melon

All because she’d been abducted a feeeks before, her captors wanting to cash in on her ransom To prove how serious they were, they’d sent her parents video of her being beaten, screa for help So, when her dad had gotten her back, he’d gone a little nutso

That little receptor-frying procedure had taken endless, torture-filled days, with needles shoved into her tendons, muscles, and so what seeht into her bloodstream

Anytime she’d passed out, the doctors had woken her up with chemical injections to the heart Adrenaline, and crap like that She’d had to tell the hurt, after all, so they’d knohere to concentrate their efforts

Well, everything had hurt Until the very end, when she’d stopped feeling anything at all

"Just going to stand there, coward?" the girl huffed at her

Coward? Oh, hell, no Noelle was a lot of things--spoiled, soeous--but never a coward She had survived a hell ht she’ll do is run The second is tattle

Was that enough to get Noelle kicked out?

Avait because her friend, who knew her better than anyone else in the world, whipped her cell phone from her pocket, pressed a few buttons, leaned over, and said, "Lookie, Noelle Lookie at what Ava’s got," to distract her

"As if that’ll--ohhh, a pretty!" A holophoto of Noelle had crystallized above the small device

Usually Ava only snapped her picture when she was at her worst Black eye--booain Nasty cold--hello, darling Ava But in this one, Noelle was leaning against a doorjamb, hands stuffed in her pockets, her expression far away, as if she were lost in thought

"When did you take this?" she asked, unable to find the o"

"And you’re just noingto you," Mustache Girl snarled I’ll call her MG for short, sheto Ava, "I look so s nuclear physics Or maybe quantum mechanics Oh, oh, I know Paradox theory"

"Nah I’d just asked you if you’d eatenfor a response and wandered away to find a new rollaway

"Send it to onna be my new screen saver For reals"

The photo disappeared, and Ava stashed the phone back in her pocket "I’ll send it to you the day you share the butterscotch candies you’re having delivered here"

Always the negotiator, her Ava "Sorry, darling, but I’m not--ah, wait I feel you, oh, devious one" Butterscotch was Ava’s biggest weakness "I’ll have the her friend happy was one of her top priorities in life "Until then …" Where had their conversation left off before they were so rudely interrupted? Oh, yeah "Are you retarded? This place is a duet I’ve lived in worse"

True They’dout to prove her parents’ disapproval edly) burned her forround Ava had been desperate to lose her drunken mom’s attention, as well as the attention of the nasty h their trailer

They’d needed each other, and so they had clung to each other Hell, they still did There was nothing Noelle wouldn’t do for her beloved Ava Coure out here to hide the body Lie, cheat, steal? Done, done, and done Eagerly, happily Ava was the best thing that had ever happened to her, and Noelle took care of as hers

And yeah, they razzed each other A lot Matching "dim wits" with little Ava, as Noelle’s brothers used to say, was fun Torturing her was even more fun But at the end of the day, if anyone else even looked at Ava funny, Noelle went lethally insane

Speaking of funny looks "Did you see the way that Hector guy eyed azine for newly discovered fungus?"

"Yeah, but did you see his otten wardrobe over her shoulder before unpacking her own

"How could I miss them? His I’ve-tasted-human-heart-and-liked-it black T-shirt was strained to the point of lunacy"

"Vocab lesson time You mean lewdness As in, indecent"

"Stuff your lesson I lance and e to touch, the desire to lick, the need to claim

None of which she understood! Claim? Not in this lifetime