Blood Relatives

15. Keep It Low-Profile

"You did really good." Mia told Carmine at lunch on Monday, before the boys showed up. She'd said the same thing the night before, but it was still good to hear.

"Thanks." Carmine said. "I guess it's not so bad once you get used to it." Once you start ignoring the fact that they're people, she added silently.

"My first time didn't go nearly that smoothly." Mia told her. "But it gets better. And we'll go again in a couple days."

"Ok." Carmine said. "How often do we have to do this anyway?"

"Two or three times a week."

"What are you girls talking about?" Zev asked, setting his tray down on the table. Carmine jumped. She didn't even realize he was there. And Conner was right on his heels.

"Oh – well, nothing." Mia said, shifting her eyes away. Zev looked at her for a minute.

"I don't want to know, do I?" he asked.

"No." Mia told him. Then, turning back to Carmine, she added. "We don't talk about that."

"I don't care what you do, but I don't really need all the gory details." Zev shrugged.

"So how is it going? You...adjusting ok?" Conner asked her.

"She's doing great." Mia answered before Carmine had the chance. "I think she's going to be fine."

Zev nodded, but his face was still neutral. Conner looked like he wanted to ask something else. But he saw the look on Zev's face too, and he decided to wait. Carmine was sure that whatever question he had would come out during art. And she was right. She walked into art, grabbed her supplies, and took her seat. Conner was there minutes later, sitting beside her.

"So, how are you feeling?" Conner asked. He had a strange look on his face that Carmine couldn't quite identify.

"I'm fine." she told him. "Why?"

"Well, you just had a pretty big weekend."

"Yeah..." Carmine said slowly. It was still kind of weird to think about. Carmine started to turn back to her own paper when she realized Conner was still staring at her. She narrowed her eyes. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Sorry," Conner said, dropping his eyes and focusing intently on his painting. But it only took a minute before he was glancing sideways at her again.

"You know, I never looked at you like that when I found out about you." Carmine said, a little snappishly.

"Yes you did!" Conner said, eyes wide. "You remember when we met you that night at the mall? You were staring at Zev like he was an alien or something!"

"Ok, fine." Carmine said, blushing.

"And I didn't mean to stare at you like that." Conner said quietly. "It's just that you're the first person I've ever met to go from being human to...not."

Carmine glanced around, making sure no one was listening. It was weird – she'd done that same thing dozens of times over the past couple of years, but always when discussing her friends. This was the first time she'd had to worry about being the focus of possible unwanted attention herself. She had to admit, she didn't like the feeling.

"It's not that big a deal. I'm still the same person." she mumbled, suddenly not wanting to talk about it.

"I know. It's just that there's been some...mixed feelings about it." Conner said, almost as quiet as Carmine had been. Carmine jumped a little. She kind of only meant to say that to herself – it didn't occur to her that he'd be able to hear it. Guess she really had been the one in the group with the worst hearing. Well, if Conner really could hear that well, at least it meant she could have this conversation without having to worry about being overheard by other students.