An empty spot seemed to open up in her chest. A spot Kylie knew used to be occupied by Sara.
She clicked open the e-mail from Sara, praying it wasn't bad news, as in: her cancer came back, or she thought she was pregnant again, or she'd decided to go into a convent and become a nun. With Sara, anything was possible.
Hey ... Got my hair cut. Thought you might want to see it. Don't laugh. I'm feeling spunky now that I survived cancer. I'll bet your friend Miranda will approve. Call me when you have a chance.
Knowing Della and Miranda were waiting, Kylie clicked open the picture for just a peek. When the image of Sara with short, spiked pink hair filled the screen, a smiled slipped across Kylie's lips.
She heard shuffling behind her. "I'm coming," she said, thinking any minute Della would complain.Kylie grabbed her phone and wallet, but right as she stood up, another e-mail came in. It was from her mom, who was supposed to have gotten back to the States on the red-eye flight. Obviously, she'd made it home.
"Really? I don't see you moving," Della said.
Okay, Mom's e-mail would have to wait, too.
Meeting the girls at the door, Kylie glanced at her two best friends and she felt a wave of sadness. Not for what was, but for what might be.
"Promise me something," Kylie said.
"What?" they asked in unison.
"When we graduate from here we won't lose track of each other. We should all go to the same college.
And I'm completely serious. Holiday was talking about getting some college forms and we should send them out to the same colleges. And we could get an apartment together."
"We could become lesbians and have threesomes," Della said, and chuckled.
"Sorry," Miranda said, and snickered. "I've already seen you naked and it did nothing for me."
"It was the little bitty tits, wasn't it?" Della asked, grinning.
They laughed all the way to breakfast.
* * *
Derek and Lucas didn't show up for breakfast and that was just fine with Kylie. Less drama must be good for the appetite, because she actually ate her runny eggs and burnt bacon in record time. Her phone rang just when she was about to push her tray back. When she saw her stepdad's number, she decided to call him back a little later. She didn't think she could take his heartbreak over her mom this early.
Her phone chimed with an incoming text. Couldn't be her dad, the man didn't text. Kylie waited a second before checking to see who it was from. Three words popped up.
Miss you. Lucas.
Miss you, too, she thought, but didn't type it in. Emotion whispered across her chest.
The sound of another tray being placed on the table brought Kylie's gaze up.
Steve, the hot shape-shifter who'd left a hickey right below Della's left collarbone, sat down beside the little vamp.
Della sat completely still, frozen, and stared daggers at her uneaten breakfast. If looks could kill, that breakfast would be pushing up daisies.
"Hey," Steve said.
"You have to leave," Della said without looking at him.
"Why?" he asked.
Della hesitated. "Because I'm shadowing Kylie and don't need any distractions."
That was the lamest excuse Kylie had ever heard and Steve's expression said he knew it, too.
"So I'm distracting to you, huh?" he said, leaned against her, and half smiled.
"Leave!" She looked up, her eyes glowing a pissed-off green.
The half smile faded from his eyes, and he popped up, took his tray, and went and sat at the shapeshifter table.
"That wasn't nice," Kylie said."I know," Della said. "I don't know why he did it."
"I was talking about you." Kylie leaned forward and shot her a frown.
"Yeah, and it was a lie, too," Perry added, sitting two seats down. "I'm the one on shadowing duty right now."
Della made a face and stood up. "Are you finished eating?"
A few minutes later they walked outside for the announcement of Campmate hour-Della on one side and Miranda and Perry on the other. Kylie found herself looking around for Derek or Lucas. Still both noshows. But then she felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck. Looking back, she saw Derek standing about eight feet behind her. His green gaze met hers and Kylie remembered the kiss from the dream again.
"Okay," Chris said, drawing Kylie's attention forward. "First up today we have..." He pulled a piece of paper from his top hat-which always looked silly to Kylie, but it was obviously his thing.
She couldn't help but wonder if Chris had wanted to be a magician when he was a kid. Reading the paper, the head vampire moved his eyes around the crowd. Kylie's heart thumped when his gaze came close to her and started slowing down. Not again! Who was it this time?
Then his eyes moved past Kylie, past Miranda, and stopped. For some crazy reason, Kylie got a bad feeling. The sneaky smile on Chris's lips told her she was right, too.
"Perry, my ol' friend," Chris said. "You get the pleasure of spending an hour with Nikki."
Chapter Twenty-two
The bad feeling wasn't just right on the mark, it was an understatement. This wasn't just bad, it was really awful.
Kylie's gaze shot away from Perry's shocked expression to Miranda. The little witch stood rock-hard stiff. The only thing that moved on her was her eyes as she scanned the crowd, obviously looking for Nikki.
And when Miranda's eyes stop moving-meaning she'd found the culprit-her gaze filled with jealousy. And just like that, there was another body part on the witch moving: her pinky.
"No," Kylie blurted out, but it was too late. Nikki the cute blonde disappeared, and standing in her exact spot was a very shocked, very angry-looking kangaroo.
Oh, but Miranda wasn't finished yet. Her pinky continued to wiggle.
Kylie gasped as pimples started popping out of the poor five-foot marsupial. Kylie could hear Miranda's favorite threat ring in her mind. I'll give you the worst case of pimples you've ever seen.
Miranda was right. Kylie had never seen pimples so bad. Of course, she'd never seen a kangaroo with pimples, period.
Everyone in the crowd started howling with laughter. Even though Nikki had brought this on herself, Kylie felt sorry for her. And frankly, if Miranda wasn't green with jealousy, she wouldn't think it was so funny either.
Kylie grabbed Miranda by the arm, leaned in, and whispered, "She was wrong to do this, but ...
change her back. Change her back right now before you forget how to break the curse!"
Miranda frowned, but Kylie saw the logic whittle its way into the girl's brain. She bit her lip, pointed her pinky, muttered a few things, and poof, Nikki magically appeared-no longer a kangaroo, but now a very embarrassed and angry shape-shifter.