Ninth Grade Slays Read Online Free PDF

several other popular juniors at the back. After Henry and Joss grabbed trays of hot lunch, Vlad followed them to Greg’s table with bagged lunch in hand, where Greg introduced them to his friends.
    â€œHey, guys, this is my brother, Henry, and my cousin, Joss. And this is Vlad. They’re off limits. The only one who gets to shove them inside lockers is me.” Greg punched Henry playfully in the arm and smiled at Vlad. “How’s the first day going?”
    Vlad shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”
    Vlad had always envied Henry for having such a wonderful family. Henry’s parents were thoughtful and generous—even if they did annoy Henry from time to time. Matilda, Henry’s mother, baked cookies and other sweet treats every time she knew Vlad was coming over. His father, Peter, had made it a regular habit when he was handing Greg and Henry their allowances to slip Vlad some cash as well. And Greg was tons of fun to hang out with. Vlad couldn’t imagine why Henry chose his and Nelly’s house to escape to, with all those cool people around. Still, Vlad could stay at Henry’s only so often, as being near Henry’s parents reminded him how much he missed his own.
    One of the boys across the table snatched Vlad’s cup-cake. Before Vlad could say Stop! the boy took a bite and the blood capsules inside must have burst into his mouth because he turned green. Vlad looked quickly to Henry, whose jaw had hit the table. No one but Henry and Nelly knew Vlad’s secret, and now a high schooler had discovered how Vlad had been sneaking blood into the school for nourishment. Vlad looked back at the boy, whose eyes had grown very wide. It looked like he was going to scream.
    But instead, he threw up.
    Vlad and Henry locked eyes again and then Greg said, “Point of order, gentlemen. Don’t take food from Vlad. His aunt can’t cook.”
    The table erupted in laughter.
    Vlad breathed a sigh of relief, and after the group moved to a new table, he finished his blood-mixed-with-strawberry-jam sandwich quietly.
    After lunch and three more hours of first-day notes, new people, getting lost, and noticing that Meredith shared only one of his classes, but Henry was in three, and Joss was in five, Vlad arrived at his locker at the end of the day triumphant, but exhausted. He’d survived the first day of his freshman year virtually unscathed.
    He pulled his backpack out of his locker and glanced down the hall for any sign of Henry. Unfortunately, leather-clad shoulders obstructed his view.
    Bill turned and, despite Vlad’s effort to shrink inside his locker, saw Vlad. He tapped Tom on the shoulder, and they locked on to Vlad with their menacing eyes. They both wore leather jackets—probably an attempt to appear tough to any of the older bullies who might try anything with the two hotheaded freshmen. To Vlad’s dismay, they sauntered closer. Bill slammed Vlad’s locker shut. Vlad watched as the strap of his backpack got caught in the locker door, like a snake that had wormed its way through an incredibly tight space and then gotten stuck. Vlad looked from Bill to Tom, who was cracking his knuckles loudly. “Hey, goth boy. We didn’t get to finish our little chat earlier.”
    He was dead. After his luck at getting away this morning, after having survived almost his entire first day of his freshman year, Vlad was going to die. He could picture his tombstone now: HERE LIES VLADIMIR TOD, BEATEN TO DEATH BY THE TWO MISSING LINKS.
    â€œHey, Vlad. What’s going on?” Joss leaned against the locker next to his and raised his eyebrows.
    Vlad glanced at Joss. What was this guy, a trained bodyguard? Some kind of heroic stalker? Not that it was a bad thing to know that someone had your back, but still . . . it was mildly embarrassing to know that he had to be rescued, like some loser in distress.
    He wanted to tell Joss to run, to get out of there while he still