"Are you sitting with them again? Really?" My best friend, Peyton, had been pretty good about not judging my choice of company over the last few weeks, but I knew I was starting to get on her nerves.

"What can I say?" I said, biting my lip. "Lowell's kinda cute." That wasn't a lie; from an objective view, Lowell could technically be seen as an attractive male human. If you had a thing for pretty boys who played guitar and did daredevil stunts at competitions, he could have been seen as downright hot, but I'd always been more into the clean-cut, slightly more muscular, hero-type guy. Like Major.

Just the thought of Major made my heart beat a little faster. We'd been friends for a while, but a few months ago, I'd started to feel a little woozy when he was around. Like heart-beating-in-my-ears, I-really-want-to-kiss-you woozy.

That was before the boat party. To this day, nobody at school knows I was there that night. Everyone who did know is dead, except Blaine. Every day, whenever I had to shovel a chewy morsel of brain into my mouth, I regretted letting Marcy, a young medical student I'd become friends with while doing internships and applying for courses, convince me to go to the party. I found it impossible, however, to blame her for anything. It felt wrong to blame anything on a dead girl.

Dragging myself out of my morbid memories, I turned to Peyton. "I'll sit with you guys again tomorrow. Okay?"

She pursed her lips. "Fine. You know, if you like him, just make a move already. Or move on." She was very frank when it came to the affairs of the heart. She had a ton of boys falling at her feet and she could simply take her pick. She had no time for games.

"By next week. I promise." I wasn't sure if it was the brain I'd had for breakfast, but I felt a little queasy as I said that.

"That's my girl." Peyton smiled proudly and squeezed my shoulder before leaving to sit with Major and the rest of our friends.

When I slid into the seat next to Lowell, I flashed him a big smile. I still wasn't sure whether showing teeth was a good idea when I had such a pale face and dark-rimmed eyes, but at least he smiled back. "How's your album going?" I asked. Carson, Holly and Eliza were in a deep discussion about nearby rock climbing locations and Ren was listening, chowing on his burger like it was the last meal on the planet.

Lowell put an arm around me and pulled me close for a half-hug. "Excellently."

"What do you mean by 'excellently'? Have you finished writing your first song yet?"

He laughed. "Oh, Olivia." The British accent added a few points to his hotness score, but he was still nothing compared to Major. "I'm still struggling with the last verse. Want to come over this afternoon and hear it? Maybe you could help me. It needs a fresh pair of ears."

"My ears would love to," I responded. I was meant to pop by Meat Cute that afternoon to fetch my next few days' supply of brains and would undoubtedly need to deliver a progress report to Blaine, but this was one excuse for having to leave that he might actually accept.

The rest of the school day went on as per usual. Senior year was no joke and I really had to buckle down to maintain my 4.0 GPA to secure my place in medical school.

After dropping off my little brother Evan at home, I drove to Meat Cute. The grumpy lady behind the counter, Cissie, let me into the back where Julian Dupont, Blaine's head lackey was waiting for me with a stack of tupperwares. "I'm not giving you a cooler again," he said, resting a huge hand on top of my meals for the next week.

"Don't worry, I got one in the car." I'd found it in the garage, but it was huge, heavy and ancient. I held up a large opaque plastic bag. "This will do until I get to the car."

Holding a container knowing it contained a human brain still made me shiver, but it was nothing compared to the hunger I'd started to feel during the last few periods at school. "Blaine said he wants to speak with you," Julian said before I could skedaddle. "He's in the freezer."

I sighed. I was forced to work for the man because he supplied my brains, but that didn't mean I had to pretend I enjoyed dealing with that slimeball. I pushed open the door of the freezer to find him standing with his back to me, dressed in his usual grey suit.

"How's it going, Liv?" he asked as he turned on the heels of his fancy shoes to face me.

"Wonderful, " I replied sharply. "Aside from the whole 'being dead' thing, I've never felt better. Life is great." I tried not to look at the dead bodies hanging around us. My greatest fear was recognising one of them.

"You know what I mean. The stuntkids. They must have something planned for this weekend."

"Now that you mention it, they did say something about going rock climbing," I said with a shrug. "A little way out of town. They're camping out there too."

"What do you mean, 'they'? You'll be going too," Blaine said, frowning slightly. His voice was quiet. Dangerous.

"But I haven't been invited," I said. "Besides, I can't afford to go away for a whole weekend. I have too much school work, and my parents will never let me-"

"You will go." He'd stepped closer and even though he wasn't the biggest man I knew, he was a head taller than me. The way he looked at me made my skin crawl. He owned me, and he knew it.

I gave in. "I... I'll find a way to be there." I swallowed. "Now, I really must be going. Lowell, one of the guys in the group, has asked me to come over."

Blaine smiled a cold, thin-lipped smile. I shivered, not only because we were standing inside a freezer. "Good girl."