"No, but it could be radioactive or something. I don't know what happens to food when it's ... zapped here."
"I've eaten my sandwiches al my life," Miranda said.
"Yeah, we see what it did to you, too," Del a added, her tone sounding more and more annoyed.
"Go suck a vein," Miranda snapped.
"You got one?" Del a countered, and bared her teeth.
"Please." Kylie looked from one roommate to the other. "I beg you, don't start this again." Only when they both seemed resigned to stop bickering did Kylie revisit the idea of eating. Amazingly, she was starved. Getting one's brain scanned must increase one's appetite. Or maybe it was that her headache had final y taken a hike. Either way, she was hungry enough to take a chance and eat a sandwich that had been conjured up by Miranda's pinky finger.
Picking up the sandwich, Kylie sank her teeth into the soft white bread. "It's good," she told Miranda, as she moved the bite around in her mouth, and tried to keep the peanut butter from sticking to the roof of her mouth. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Miranda said. "And in return, al I'd like is for you to put in a good word for me with Derek-since you don't like him."
Del a made a snorting sound. "You are so blind. Kylie's crazy about him."
Miranda's mouth fel open and she looked at Kylie as if waiting for her to rebuke Del a's claim. But the peanut butter got caught on the roof of her mouth and Kylie couldn't have spoken even if she wanted to. Not that she was overtly ready to speak up. She didn't know how to answer. Frustrated at Kylie's silence, Miranda addressed Del a. "She said she didn't like him."
"She lied." Del a shrugged.
Miranda snapped her head around to Kylie. "Do you like him? If so, just tel me you like him."
"Who does Miss Don't-know-what-I-am like?" Lucas's girlfriend plopped down on the opposite side of the table. Kylie's gaze shot to the werewolf. Strange. She couldn't ever remember having so much anger or dislike being lopped on her in one cold stare. She managed to push the lump of sandwich she'd pried off the roof of her mouth to her cheek. "No one," she said, but it came out muffled.
"Real y?" The werewolf's lips turned up in something that might have been considered a smile if the smirk accompanying it wasn't so evil. "By the way, my name's Fredericka. I thought you'd like to know the name of the girl who wil kick your ass if you even try-"
"Ha. That's funny," Miranda said.
Funny? Kylie shot a look at Miranda and right then the blob of bread, peanut butter, and jam slid halfway down Kylie's throat. She covered her mouth and coughed, which only made the situation worse, because as the golf bal -sized lump of food tried to come up, it lodged between her tonsils. She gasped for air, but got none. Zilch.
"What's funny?" Fredericka's cold stare now focused on Miranda, which might have concerned Kylie if she wasn't slightly preoccupied about not being able to breathe. She started thumping her chest.
Can't breathe.
"You kicking her ass," Miranda shot back.
Hey. I can't breathe here. Kylie reached for her throat, the universal sign of choking.
"I mean, with al the help Kylie would have stopping you and al ."
Seriously, I can't breathe. Oh, friggin' great, she was at a camp ful of bloodsucking, meat-eating creatures, and she was about to die of asphyxiation from a peanut butter and jel y sandwich.
Fredericka leaned forward, getting closer to Miranda. "You think I'm scared of your scrawny little butt?"
Still can't breathe here, guys.
Final y, Del a-you gotta love an attentive vampire-reached around Miranda's shoulders and gave Kylie one extra hard thump between her shoulder blades. The clump of food dislodged from her windpipe. While it hurt going down, at least oxygen started passing.
"Me?" Miranda's voice came out squeaky. "You thought ... I meant ... No, no. I didn't mean help from me." Miranda pointed a finger at Del a. "She might take you on. She's got this whole vampire combative attitude going, but I didn't mean her, either."
"But she's right," Del a said, half her attention on Kylie and the other half on Fredericka. "I'd help Kylie kick your ass in a heartbeat." She curled her lips at the werewolf, showing off her canines.
Fredericka didn't appear concerned. Not that Kylie was certain of anything; she was stil working on getting the needed oxygen to her brain, while giving the drama playing out in front of her a wee bit of attention. Hey, if she was about to get ripped apart by a werewolf, she wanted to know the reasons why.
"Then who are you talking about?" Fredericka leaned across the table and a low growl escaped her throat.
"I mean Kylie's ghosts." Miranda said. "She's got like a dozen or so hanging around, or hadn't you heard?"
What? Kylie coughed-good thing the lump of bread had gone down and not up because she would have choked on it again.
"I don't know about you, but I'm not messing with the dead. Don't you remember last year when Holiday talked about the death angels?"
Death angels? Kylie recal ed Miranda talking about the legend of dancing death angels at the fal s on the bus ride to the camp. She gave up one more cough and then held up her hand. But right before she started talking, she noticed the fear in Fredericka's expression. Not wanting to come off like a scared rabbit confronting a hungry wolf-even though that pretty much described exactly how Kylie felt-she looked Fredericka directly in the eyes. "Stop." Cough. "I don't want to fight you." Cough. "I don't even know why you'd want to fight me. Or my ghosts."
Hey, Kylie was no fool. She ful y intended to take advantage of the fear she spotted in the girl's eyes.
"Just stay away from Lucas," Fredericka warned, but her voice lacked its earlier confidence.
"Me?" Al the crappiness of the day, of the last few weeks, zeroed in on this high and mighty B with an itch, and the scared-rabbit feeling faded.
"You know what?" Kylie snapped. "Maybe you should go tighten the leash you have around your so-cal ed boyfriend's neck, because every time I've spoken to him was because he came up to me. Not the other way around."
"You'd better watch your back," Fredericka said.
"She doesn't have to," Del a said. "Her ghosts do that for her. Didn't you hear about the little incident that happened at our cabin last night?"
Fredericka shot up and took off.
Kylie pressed a hand to the table and stared after her. "What a bitch."