Eternity Read Online Free PDF Page B

couldn’t
play it fast enough to get all the notes in, so it ended up
sounding pretty bad. I never bothered to do it again.”
    Jack walked
into the cafeteria then. He looked much calmer than he had before,
though his anxiety hadn’t disappeared completely. He saw me at a
table with a bunch of guys and frowned, and then he sat down next
to Kyle, who had been sitting alone. He looked quite determined to
ignore me.
    I quickly
finished my meal and excused myself. I walked over to Jack, who
didn’t see me approach since he had been determinately not looking
in my direction.
    “Jack, we need
to talk,” I said when he noticed me.
    “I’m eating,”
he said. “Maybe later.” He turned back to his food and commented on
it to Kyle. I sighed and left. He was right; there was always
later.
    “Juliet!” I
heard from behind me once I was in the hallway. I turned, hoping it
was Jack, but it was Michael.
    “Um, I was
wondering if you had a date for the ball? I know we just met and
all, but I’m not going with anybody and I was wondering if you
would go with me?” He was talking fast and was clearly nervous. He
looked kind of cute, but I wasn’t really interested. I didn’t feel
anything special when I was around him.
    “If you don’t
mind I think I’ll go by myself,” I answered, as politely as I
could. “I haven’t really had a chance to meet very many people
yet.”
    “Oh, okay,” he
said. He looked disappointed, but not offended. “Well, I’ll see you
there then. Save a dance for me?”
    I smiled. “I
can do that.”
    After he had
walked away I walked back to the cafeteria. Instead of trying to
talk to Jack again I went to the staircase at the side of the room
and went down to the basement, if it could be called such. I wanted
to see the pool, since I liked to swim, though I hardly ever had
the chance to do so. The stairs led directly to the pool, which
appeared to be the average size and depth, though the atmosphere
made it look more like a decoration than an actual swimming pool.
Everything seemed to be covered in patterned tiles that were mostly
turquoise and gold in color, and there were statues of mermaids
frolicking along the side of the pool. The water was exactly level
to the floor around it, which gave the impression that one could
step off the side and onto the water instead of into it, like it
was made of glass. There were doors that led to showers and
changing rooms on one side, and a door at the back that led to the
gym and weight room.
    There were two
people swimming laps in the water, so I didn’t linger. I went back
upstairs and to the north wing common room. There were a couple of
vampires there watching television. They both looked a lot older
than most of the other students, and they sat very still. One of
them looked up at me as I walked by. She was beautiful, and I felt
like her bright blue eyes were looking directly into my soul,
though the blank expression on her face didn’t change. It was
unsettling, so I hurried by and went to my room.
    Vampires were
the exception to the rule at Winterwood Academy. While everyone
else got letters, the vampires had to apply to get into the school.
This wasn’t because they were dangerous, because they really
weren’t. They were more closely regulated within their own ranks
than any other type of people. The reason was because they weren’t
born; they were made, so they didn’t age. The rest of us went to
the school at the age of sixteen, but vampires were all sorts of
ages, and only came to the school to further their education and
learn things about the magical world that they couldn’t learn
anywhere else. They made up the smallest portion of students at the
school, which was why a lot of the new students were staying in
their wing before we were sorted into our appropriate groups.
    The rest of the
day passed by rather uneventfully. I met no one else and spent most
of the time by myself exploring the school and the grounds, trying
to become