CHAPTER 13
According to Khan, revenge is a dish best served cold. That’s all good and well, but it’s really, really hard to plot revenge when you’re starving to death. Or not to death, but . . .
Oh, to heck with it. I was hungry! More specifically, I was thirsty. And you can probably guess what I was craving.
I was back in my room; I couldn’t help but glance toward the kitchen. Only this time it wasn’t the refrigerator I was thinking about. It was my moth—
No, no, no, no, no!
No way was I drinking my mom’s blood! For that matter, no way was I drinking anyone’s blood! I mean, ick!
Except, apparently, I had to eat.
I tried to think of what to do, but the only thing that came to mind was Interview with the Vampire and the whole rat’s blood-drinking thing.
I thought about that, but didn’t much like the idea.
For one, where was I supposed to find a rat? If there were any living near my house, believe me when I say I really didn’t want to know about it.
For another, how was I supposed to get the blood out of the rat? I sure as heck wasn’t biting it. I mean, those things carry all sorts of diseases! And their fur is . . . well, yuck! And I honestly didn’t think I was up to slicing its little throat. I don’t like rats, but that’s just plain mean! Honestly, I’d rather starve to death!
Except I wouldn’t. Not really.
And then it hit me—what about a blood bank?
Since that seemed like a half-decent idea, I shut my door and grabbed up my phone. I’m not supposed to call information (“Twenty-five cents per call! You can use the phone book, young lady!”), but I figured this was an extenuating circumstance.
As it turned out, though, the blood bank was closed. I guess that was probably just as well. I mean, what was I going to tell them? That I had a savings account and wanted to make a withdrawal? That I needed a bag of blood for a school project? That I wanted to make a hemoglobin milksha—
Wait a second.
I mentally reran my thoughts, then realized that I did have an option. Not a perfect option, but I thought it would work.
Especially if I played the birthday card.