Twice Bitten (New Moon #1)

by Belle Harper

I wasn’t stupid. I had been called to the school office. The new English teacher, Mr. Becker, had told me that someone was here to see me. He was one of those weird teachers, you know, that spoke like they knew the Queen of England but dressed like they came straight from Woodstock and just put on a blazer to blend in. But I ignored that as he had been very helpful. At least now I was starting to make a decent grade. But I knew better. No one should be here to see me—I have no family, no friends. The only person it could be was the cops or even worse, my case manager. How could she have found me? I had crossed two state lines to get as far away as I could from her and my last foster home. I looked to see if security still lingered around the front doors to the school. This wasn’t a great school, and the security was lazy and uncaring. It was all clear as I suspected, but I had to run past the office to get outside the building. I held the strap tight to my chest and sprinted. I glanced into the office window as I flew past. I saw a uniformed officer standing next to a much shorter woman, who wore her blonde hair up in a bun. She turned toward me, and as soon as her eyes met mine, I picked up speed. She wasn’t my case manager, but I knew she was one. Fuck that. I am not going back into the system. I held my hands out in front of me as I slammed into the huge door. With a shove, it slammed against the brick wall outside, just as I heard a male shout my name.