On the dance, floor bodies moved (some like they were having convulsions) to the beat of the music. For once this wasn't the typical high school dance where most of the students stood around and talked while a select few danced. Pockets of students were gathered in groups at the sides, but even there, most of the students were actually dancing. Still, the sick and healthy were not co-mingling.

Rie navigated the crowd, occasionally checking that I was still with her, and stopped in front of the snack table. She grabbed a peanut butter cookie and offered me one before swigging a plastic cup of bubbly red punch.

The table had an assortment of cookies I would have gobbled before my illness but none that appealed now. I scanned the table for anything that might satisfy my slight hunger. Fruit, cheeses, crackers and two dips, one of them suspiciously reeking of garlic, were displayed on the table. A woman replenished the meat tray as I ladled creamy orange punch into a cup. Oddly, there was no placement of Synthetic for us Sick students. Probably too macabre.

When I turned around, Rie was scanning the room. Finally, her attention settled on a table against the wall where a girl with spiky, black hair was immersed in conversation with a boy about twice her size. Her eyes didn't stray from the boy until we were upon them.

"Not having a cell phone sucks," Rie said as she sank into the chair beside the boy.

"No kidding," said the boy. "This year's gonna be rough." He took a sip of pop then he seemed to notice me a few feet away. The smile faded from his brown eyes, making them seem a little colder.

"This is our new friend, Ivy," Rie said in an entirely too bubbly voice. "She has had the misfortune of being Cat's roommate."

The boy shook his head. "That's harsh. Nobody deserves that fate." He motioned for me to take a seat. "I'm Blake and this is Jayda."

Jayda wore a serious expression as I slid into the seat next to her. "How long have you been sick?"

Why did my illness always have to come first? For the past eight months, it seemed like I was Ivy the Sick instead of Ivy Alexis Gray. At this point, I would almost prefer "Ivy the Stupid" to "Ivy the Sick."

"Since January, and yes, it's under control." My tone was a little snappier than I intended.

Her face paled as she cringed. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it like that. It's just, I've never met anyone with the virus before you, and now there are like a hundred of you, I mean, the sick, in the school. It's, um, a little...overwhelming, if you know what I mean."

Rie held out her hands in a 'please stop' position, and when Jayda finally stopped speaking, she turned to me. "You will find that Jayda is great about babbling and the whole foot-in-mouth thing, but she also has a heart of gold...and she's had more than one run-in with your roomie. So you both have at least that in common. Lucky you."

"Again, I apologize." Jayda wore a lopsided grin. "So, how's the roommate working out?"

I groaned. "She's horrid. She was nasty to me in the line to pick up schedules, and even more so in our room. I'm hoping they'll let me switch."

Jayda shook her head. "They won't, at least anytime soon. It's that whole 'Let them learn to coexist' crap they want us to swallow. She was my roommate freshman year and I thought I was going to die. Nasty bit--"

"Language, Jayda," Rie said. "You promised you were going to work on that over the summer."

"I didn't promise anything when talking about her." Her attention panned across the dance floor and settled on Cat, who was surrounded by her kittens. "She's gonna get hers later. The queen of mean is about to be dethroned. And I can't wait to see it." She turned back to Rie. "Did you hear what Yesenia's planning to do?"

Rie nodded and then rose from her chair. "I don't know about you guys, but I want to get closer to the action. No offense to any of you, but the good stuff's probably gonna go down closer to her and I want a front seat view."

Blake rolled his eyes. "Said she who didn't want to come in the first place."

"Whatevs. If I have to wear this awful dress, I'm getting something out of it. Let's go."

Blake and Jayda looked at each other and laughed. They took a last sip of their red punch, Jayda puckering as it went down. Once their trash was deposited in the receptacle, they followed Rie, all three mocking the girls who were wearing prom dresses instead of semi-formals. I followed closely behind them. Hopefully, they weren't mocking me internally for the elegance of this dress.

We snaked our way through the crowd, until we were a few feet from the queen bee herself. Cat threw her arms around a suit-clad boy and ran her fingers through his hair. He wriggled out of the embrace, his head shaking as he took a step backward, right into Jayda.

Jayda tumbled forward. Her strapless dress slid downward as she landed on the floor and her face reddened instantly. Rie and I hovered over her to block the crowd's view of her girls, while Blake yelled, "Watch it" to the boy who'd knocked Jayda over.

Jayda gripped the top of her bodice and pulled, but gained no traction. She would have to stand up. Her face grew crimson as she rose from the floor. All eyes were on her. She yanked the dress up, saying, "Show's over, pervs."

"I don't think any of them could see around us," Rie said, stepping away from her friend.

"I'm sorry," a silky voice said. The boy in the suit outstretched his hand.

"Don't apologize to that, Zane." Cat laughed. Her arm slithered around his waist.

At the mention of his name-Really, how many Zanes can a school have?-my attention flicked to the boy. Sure enough, it was the boy from the parking lot. Maybe it was the way he scowled at Cat's remark and shrugged out of her boa constrictor coil or how his eyes almost seemed to shine under the disco ball, but he was even more gorgeous than I originally thought. How was that possible?

The clearing of a throat and the feeling I'd been caught staring crashed me back to reality.

"So, I see you found one of Diarrhea's hand-me-downs." Her eyes were cold, her mouth was pressed into a straight line, and if looks could kill, I'd be dead a thousand times over. Her gaze fell from my face all the way to my feet. She smirked. "I can't decide who wore it worse."

Rie took a deep breath, but her heart still beat fast. "I honestly feel sorry for you, Cat. I hope you receive the same mercy you've shown others." With that she spun around, interlinking one arm with a simmering Jayda and her other with mine, while Cat gaped at us.

Zane rushed after us, settling in front of Jayda. "Hey, I really am sorry, and I don't know what's gotten into her." He looked back at Cat.

Jayda rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it's okay. But your girlfriend's always been a witch to just about everyone here. Funny, you're only now noticing it."

We stalked off to the bathroom. Blake waited outside the door as we walked inside.

A group of girls in little black dresses were hogging the mirrors. They hushed upon our entry. Two by two they left the bathroom and Jayda worked her way to the mirror. She readjusted her bodice so it was perfectly aligned and raked fingers through her hair.

When the bathroom was empty of other girls, I asked Rie and Jayda about Zane.

Jayda looked at my reflection and laughed. In a singsong voice, she said, "Someone has a crush."

Rie gave a soft giggle then matched Jayda's tune. "Don't we all?" When they finished laughing, she continued, "He's been Cat's boyfriend off and on since freshman year, he's the son of oil tycoon Marc Williams, and he is Mr. Super Jock. Except he's smart."

A look of incredulity crossed Jayda's face as she reapplied her lipstick. "But not that smart. He's put up with Cat's crap for far too long."

But were they together now and did Zane share his father's hatred for the sick? I saw him recoil from Cat's touch. Was it because of the disease or had he grown tired of her antics? God knew I was tired of her and I'd only known her for a few minutes.

Not that it mattered. It wasn't like he knew of my existence. I wasn't going to pine over someone who seemed such a hopeless cause.

"Yeah, if she's his type, then I'm so not," I said.

Jayda gasped. "Omigod. It's 10:30!"

Ummm...okay? What was the time's significance?

"The Roses!" Rie grabbed my arm and practically dragged me toward the food table where the same group of girls from the bathroom was gathered in front of it. They all looked alike: similar colored and styled dresses, hair swept into messy updos, and flawless makeup. Yes, there was individuality amongst them, but it was drowned by the way they seemed to move and speak as one. They were a group group, not just a few friends who hung out together and talked about how some boys were jerks. And I knew without a doubt it was a group to which I'd never belong. I didn't feel a sense of missed opportunity, either. Groupthink and groupspeak never had appealed to me and I didn't think it ever would.

Smiling and surrounded by her two kittens, Cat sashayed over to the Roses. As she leaned to give the one in the middle a hug, the other girl bristled. The girl's friends did the same. Was it that Cat was that toxic, or did they fear her virus?

Cat released the girl. "So, Yesenia, are we ready to vote for leader?"

Yesenia gulped. Her dark brown eyes cast downward. With a deep breath, she blurted, "There will be a vote tonight, but the Roses have decided that you will no longer be a member."

Cat's smile morphed into a straight line. She cocked her head. "What?"

Another deep breath from Yesenia, and she almost seemed to puff up like a balloon. "You're no longer a Rose, pure and simple."

Cat gasped. Her hands balled into fists. The kittens took a step away from her. "And why is that?"

"You're just not a good fit for us anymore." Yesenia cringed as she said it.

Cat's messy bun shook with the rest of her body. "But I've been a Rose every year. My mom was a leader, as were both my grandmothers. My cousins! My sister! This is my legacy."

"We've decided that you no longer reflect the ideals of our group and that it's in our best interest to sever our ties with you."

That is when Cat's nostrils flared and she went for her jugular. It is also when the glass of punch in Yesenia's hand landed on Cat's dress. Macabre drops of the red punch dripped onto the hardwood floor.

The kittens pulled her backward, while the other Roses did the same with Yesenia. A boy screamed, "Fight," and soon the bulk of Summerhaven's student population converged upon the spot.

A tiny woman elbowed her way through the crowd. "What's going on here?" she asked Cat.

"It was a misunderstanding, Miss Carter, that's all." She smoothed her dress. "Yesenia and I will work it out later."

Miss Carter looked from Cat to the Roses. "Cool it now, or it'll be a long year for all of you. Do you need to be sent back to the dorm?"

Color returned to Yesenia's face. She massaged her neck. "We'll keep our distance from each other. It won't happen again, ma'am. If you'd please excuse me."

Once Miss Carter nodded her approval, Yesenia stepped away from Cat. The Roses followed her, but they parted ways at the dance floor. Yesenia continued on to the bathroom, while Cat apologized profusely to the teacher.

When Miss Carter seemed placated and was out of earshot, Cat said to her kittens, "They're not going to remove me as leader. I'll drain every one of them before that happens." With a napkin given to her by one of the kittens, she squeezed the remainder of the punch from her dress. "I need to change, but it won't take me long." Her eyes met mine, and I quickly looked away. "I've got plenty more where this one came from."

The kittens headed for the dance floor as Cat walked toward the exit, her head held high. Jayda was the first to laugh.

"I have waited three years for that! Un-freaking-believable. Wish I had my cell phone so I could have recorded every second of it. I'd play it every day for the rest of the year."

Rie joined in the mockery. "My great-great-grandmother and every cousin forty times removed has been Leader. This is my legacy."

Jayda doubled over with laughter and I couldn't help but join in. Once she regained her composure, with her hands gripping her sides, she said, "I know, right? When is she going to learn that her family name can't carry her everywhere? Outside San Antonio, her name's nothing. They don't give a sh-" she looked at a disapproving Rie "crap that her daddy is the mayor."

Blake said, "I'll bet five bucks that Angie and Cobra drop her like used toilet paper by the weekend."

Angie and Cobra? Those were the kittens' names? Yikes.

I finally spoke up. "I hope they stay her friends. It's gonna totally suck if I have to spend any more time with Cat than absolutely necessary."

Blake combed his fingers through his sandy blond hair and smiled. "I respectfully withdraw my bet due to the unintentional pain it might inflict upon Ivy."

We all danced as a group until a slow song came on. Blake reached for Jayda's hand, and her face lit up. Rie and I stood to the side and watched as they awkwardly moved to the music. After Blake stepped on her toes for the umpteenth time before the first verse ended, Jayda kept her distance but remained on the floor with him, with a smile glued to her face.

A tap at the shoulder interrupted my cooing at Blake and Jayda's blossoming relationship.

"Wanna dance?" a rich, baritone voice asked before I could flip around, my eyes coming up to his shoulders.

My gaze slowly went up his purple button-down shirt, to the gray tie around his neck, to his warm honey eyes that crinkled at the creases. His hair was black as night and his skin was caramel. His snail-paced heartbeat clued me into the fact that caramel was the paler version of his skin color. This gorgeous specimen of a boy was like me. He was Sick.

I looked at a very approving Rie, then back to him. I couldn't help but smile. "Sure."

I followed him just a few feet away and, as his arms encircled my waist, he whispered, "My name's Alejandro by the way, and you are?"

I gave him my name and followed his lead on the dance floor. We talked about how long we'd been sick-the better part of a year for him-and where we were from-he was from a town near the south Texas border, and we mourned the loss of our devices.

For being Sick, he actually seemed halfway decent. There was a lot more to him than his face, fangs, and fantastic physical form.

But I wasn't his prey, either.

We continued dancing into the next song. Occasionally I would glimpse Blake and Jayda and I'd beam a smile at them.

Alejandro leaned in to my ear after I gave them a casual wave. "How can you stand being so close to them?"

My smile twisted into a grimace. "It isn't easy, but I think the trick might be to stay full. The hunger's still there, but they're my friends. I don't want to ruin that."

"Not sure I can be friends with any of them. Synthetic doesn't do it for me." His attention flicked to a cluster of the Roses gathered at the side of the dance floor. Apparently even the popular girls struggled to land dance partners.

"It's nasty, but maybe they'll have donors for us."

"I doubt it," he said, "though one can hope."

A smile stretched across his face and he pulled me closer to him. "Enough about them. A bunch of us are meeting in the courtyard at two. Would you like to join us?"

What on earth were a bunch of Sick teenagers going to be doing at two in the morning? Nothing good could come of it, and I could almost hear Mom's voice whispering it to me.

Alejandro must have detected some skepticism in my body language. "We're just getting together, nothing heinous about it. It's B.Y.O.B."

For some reason, I didn't think the second "B" stood for a bottle of Synthetic. Or beer.

"Okay, I'll try, but we can't mess this up. I seriously want an education and if we screw it up here, they won't give us this opportunity again. We won't get in anywhere."

My comment elicited an incredulous look from him. "No one's gonna mess this up. Most of the Healthy know each other, while we're from all over. Why can't we get to know each other, too?"

He had a point, and I said as much. I reiterated that I would try to go, but wasn't making any promises. With Cat as my roommate there was an excellent chance she'd find a way to lock me in the room if she got wind of the meetup.

Speaking of the devil...where was Cat?

I scanned the dance floor for her, but she was nowhere to be found.

As the ballad came to an end and the techno music pulsed through the speakers, Alejandro bent to kiss my hand. "Thank you for the dance, Ivy. I should probably fill up on some Synthetic." He made a disgusted face. "See you later."

He headed toward the door, and I whipped around to join Rie at the table, but I crashed into a familiar charcoal suit.

Zane turned around, and my breath caught as I tried to force an apology from my mouth. The words wouldn't come out no matter how hard I tried. I just stood there, looking stupid.

His lips curled into a smile. "You're Rie and Jayda's friend."

My brain was still stuck on how freaking gorgeous he was, but I nodded as though some puppeteer had taken control of my actions. "Sorry for bumping into you."

I noticed Angie and Cobra lurking to the side and I backed away.

"It's a dance. It happens. As you probably saw earlier, usually I'm the one running into people."

I couldn't help but laugh, but it was short-lived as the kittens' attention was on me and they clearly were unimpressed.

"Have a good evening." I didn't wait for his response before I bolted toward Rie who was waiting patiently at the table with a mostly-drank glass of red punch in her hand.

"That was interesting," I said as I slinked into the seat beside her.

"Wow, Ivy! That boy was hot!" Rie set the empty glass on the table. "What's his name? Did he ask you out? I want all the deets and if that answer is 'no,' I'm totally calling dibs. Well, if you aren't interested in him, that is."

"His name is Alejandro, we might meet up later, but--" I cut myself off there.

Normally if a friend of mine was interested in a guy, I'd back off, no questions asked. I didn't know Alejandro well enough to know how I felt about him. Yes, he was nice. Yes, he was gorgeous. Yes, we had the Sickness in common (and that was a huge plus working in his favor). If Rie were Sick, I'd back off in a healthy person's heartbeat. But as it was, I couldn't back off. Would Rie be safe? I couldn't be so sure she wouldn't end up as Alejandro's midnight snack. Until then, I'd have to scope him out.

"But?" Rie asked, a slight trace of annoyance in her voice.

"Let me figure it out. I like him. I just don't know if I 'like him' like him. But if I don't, I will put in the most glowing of words for you." I punctuated it with a smile, which she reciprocated.

"Deal." She stood up. "Let's dance."

We found Blake and Jayda on the dance floor and danced until the last song was played and the adults shooed us out of the Amherst Building. As we walked back to the dorm, a crowd of students was gathered near the water fountain.

"Someone get a teacher!" a male voice yelled. "Yesenia's been attacked."

_______________________

Author's Note: Thank you for still being here. I hope you're enjoying the story. If you like it, please consider voting for it and adding it to your reading list so you'll be aware of updates. I *always* love hearing feedback, especially so I can improve (my main reason for posting my work here). I am starting rewrites of two of my stories tomorrow and they will become my writing priority until they are finished. My hope is to crank out one chapter of Sick per week. Hopefully I'll have an update for you next Friday. Thanks again.