While reading New Moon:

“You…don’t…want me?” I tried out the words, confused by the way they sounded, placed in that order...

“How sad,” Lizzie muttered.

‘How pathetic,” scoffed Brian.

“What a strange Vampire,” Meenah muttered. “Pretending you’re human is fun.”

Lizzie glared at her.

“What?” asked Meenah, looking sheepish. “It’s true.”

“Freak,” Brian muttered. I went on reading, trying to ignore them.

…“That’s everything, I suppose. We won’t bother you again…”

Meenah sighed. “It still smells like garlic in here.”

“Will you shut up?” Brian asked. “She’s trying to read, you ridiculously dense being.”

Meenah stuck her tongue out at him in a ridiculously childish gesture. “Well it does. I don‘t like garlic.”

“Deal with it,” he muttered.

“Deal with it? Deal with it?” she screamed, outraged. “How about I fill your house with bug bombs and tell you to go deal with it? Deal with it. Please.”

Lizzie watched the exchange mutely, trying not to laugh.

“Well it’s not like it’ll kill you.”

Meenah twisted up her face like she was going to cry. “Oh, sure, let’s fill the vampire’s house with garlic because it won’t kill her. Sure, let’s all make fun of her because she’s dead! I may be dead, but I still havefeelings. I‘m still a semi-human supernatural creature!”

“Whoa,” Lizzie muttered. She didn’t like to think of Meenah as dead; it lead to awkward discussions.

“Right,” Meenah said. “Sorry.” I sighed. They were making reading exceedingly difficult.

I’m trying to read, I thought to them.

“Does this discussion involve you?” Brian demanded.

“Uh, it kind of does,” Lizzie said quietly.

“Shut up, Lizzie!” Brian and Meenah yelled in unison, then glared at each other.

I hate it when I agree with him, Meenah thought.

I hate it when I agree with it, Brian thought.

Play nice, I commanded them, trying to find my spot again.

“Why is it called cheesecake?” Meenah asked after a second of silence.

“What?” Lizzie asked, surprised. “That has nothing to do with anything!”

“Well, why is it cheesecake? It’s made like pie. Shouldn’t it be cheese-pie?”

I sighed, gave up trying to read, marked my page, and grabbed my laptop. Their discussion was too good to forget.