Betrayed in Blood

Chapter Fourteen

Camilla's eyes darted up from her phone as André entered the chemistry lab only seconds before the late bell rang.

"That's a new record," she noted, chuckling. "Five seconds before the late bell, and you've only been here for three days."

"That's still early," he defends.

"No, it's not!" Camilla argued with another laugh.

"I was five seconds early." He laughed with her, plopping his bag and himself down at the other end of the table.

Before Camilla could retort in response to his ridiculous reasoning, Meagan tapped her on the shoulder and whispered in her ear, "I need you for a sec."

Camilla left André at their table and met Meagan across the room with Michelle. "What do you need?"

"It's about the newspaper," Michelle stated, spinning in her chair to face her best friend.

"What about it?"

"We've been thinking about a name," Meagan said. "See, the other newspaper is called the Edwardsville Paper, but since our mascot is a tiger, we decided to call it the Tiger Times."

"I decided on the name, actually," Michelle boasted, flicking her blonde hair.

Camilla laughed at her, noting, "That's a great name, but who all is writing it?"

"I'm the founder, duh," Meagan informed, batting her eyes, "and I'm going to write it most of the time. Then, we picked Cassady Adair to write anytime I can't."

Michelle butted in, saying, "And I'll be doing the interviewing. From what we know, the Edwardsville Paper has the founder, Zoey Larson, the interviewer, Leah Miller, and the other writer and cameraman, Dylan Something. I dunno his last name, but it's not important."

"So we have all the same people. Cassady can be our camerawoman too. She said she knows how to work a camera."

"That's great guys," Camilla said. "Is Jared not helping, though?"

At that, the girls busted out laughing. "Jared? Seriously!?" Michelle asked.

"That guy couldn't pass English to save his life," Meagan pointed out, "and you think he could write a whole newspaper article? Even if it's to defend you, he couldn't do it."

"C'mon, guys," Camilla reasoned, "you didn't tell him all that stuff, right?"

"It's true, girl," Michelle stated.

"That probably upset him a little, don't you think?"

Meagan scoffed and waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, he's fine. If he can't handle that, he should work harder to actually pass English class."

"Why, Camilla?" Michelle asked with a hint of mischief in her voice. "Why don't you want him to be upset?"

'Not this again,' Camilla thought. 'No matter how sly you think you are, your intentions are clear as day, Michelle. It's pathetic, really, but I guess you're much too oblivious to notice your own unintelligence.'

She concealed her intrusive thoughts, though, and retorted, "Because he's my friend, and I care about my friends. I'd defend any of my friends if someone said that about you."

"Sure you would," Michelle responded, dragging out her statement, but Camilla chose to ignore her implication and wandered back to the table with André.

"What was all that about?" he asked, and Camilla tensed up.

During the two days since André's arrival, he and Camilla had become much closer, as well as with her friends. Jared, true to what Michelle had suggested before, stayed distant and cold toward André, but her other friends on the football team welcomed him. He even planned to play at the game that Friday because, according to the coach, he was going to be responsible for their much-needed comeback.