Team Human Read Online Free PDF Page A

with us because he liked us and that he was not shy, but she was too nice to think badly of him. Mind you, it would be hard for Cathy to believe in the badness of someone pointing a gun at her and demanding money. She put Francis’s note-taking down to his desire to learn how to fit it in at Craunston High.
    â€œWe all live in the same city, but how often do we interact?” Cathy had asked me earnestly. “How many conversations have you had with vampires in your life?”
    Before Francis it had been none, which was exactly how I liked it. Vampires are trouble. Think about it: These days, all vampire transitions are voluntary. What kind of person would take the risk of becoming a vampire? There’d have to be something wrong with you. Because the process can either kill you outright or turn you into a drooling, mindless monster (which would lead to you being put down almost instantly), or, if you’re superlucky, you become a vampire.
    Let’s examine what a prize that is one more time: no more direct sunlight ever again, no more laughter. You get eternity, but you don’t have the sense of humor to enjoy it! Also, vampires don’t eat food. You never get to eat chocolate again. Ever.
    I’d rather die.
    All the vampire wannabes and vamposeurs mystify me. Who would choose the possibility of immortality over chocolate?
    My eyes moved involuntarily to a poster hanging on the wall, a picture of an unsuccessful vampire transition. There were cage bars across a zombie girl’s snarling face and empty eyes, and the caption read HE WON’T LOVE YOU FOR YOUR MIND THEN. VAMPIRISM. THINK TWICE.
    Most PSAs drive me nuts and are kind of stupid. But the “Say ‘Not Tonight’ to a Bite” campaign? I was with them a hundred percent.
    I heard the bell for our next class, which, sadly and once again, we all had together. Well, not Anna, apparently. She remained behind her pile of books. I wished I could join her.
    Francis and Cathy walked side by side. Almost every head turned to gaze in longing at Francis and in envy at Cathy. The fact that he was asking her at what age she’d started walking and if she could remember the process would probably have undercut their envy.
    I couldn’t leave them alone. Kristin had not responded to my many messages, and I had to figure out how to get rid of him on my own before Anna left our group forever and Cathy got her heart broken. It felt like I didn’t have much time.
    Cathy and Francis’s tragic farewell at the end of the day confirmed my worries.
    We stood by the vampire’s locker as he pulled out his astronaut suit. Just me, Cathy, Francis, and about three dozen vampire groupies.
    Before he put on his helmet, he said, “I must return to my shade. Au revoir , my dear.”
    As if we didn’t know where he was going. I wondered if the rest of his shade were as snooty and annoying as him. My bet was they were. Vampires band together in little fake families. So presumably they picked Francis because they liked him.
    The thought of more than one Francis was appalling. Also, “my dear”? That’s what your grandma calls you.
    â€œYour shade?” I repeated innocently. I’d been playing the vampire ignoramus all week. To annoy him, you know, without being obviously rude.
    â€œYes, shade,” Cathy said. “You know that. Like a clan, though not really,” she added when Francis looked disapproving and the vampire groupies started tittering. “Coven?” There was more laughter. When Cathy is nervous, she starts to lose all her nouns. Coven? Clan? She knows no one calls a group of vampires clans or covens. “Oh, no, n-n-n-not coven. I’m not saying that vampires are witches. They’re just a different kind of people and instead of living in families, like we do, they, um, they live in shades.”
    â€œI thought they were called nests,” I said, enjoying the sharp intake of