Riley Clark Must Die by S. K. Gregory

When I joined the Riley Clark Must Die club, not its official name, I did have my doubts. Doubts that a high school club could get the job done, and doubts that any of them could get anywhere near Riley now that he was a minor celebrity. Half of them looked like they barely saw daylight themselves.
Maybe I should back up a bit, before you think I'm some psycho who joined a club in order to kill a fellow student.
First of all, I'm not a psycho, my parents had me tested. And second, Riley is no ordinary student. He is a vampire.
The first of his kind at Baker High, but when vampires let the world know that they existed eighteen months ago, it was only a matter of time.
Before he was turned, Riley was a total nerd, not even a blip on my radar or anyone else's for that matter. Then he made his announcement and everyone went nuts.
No one seemed to care that he had broken the law. Vampires signed an agreement that they would not make more of their kind. Of course no one cared that he was a vicious monster either. They just saw a way to fame, fortune and eternal youth - it was maddening. 
So I joined the club, because I, unlike my friends, am not prepared to let a dangerous predator roam the halls.
Jake Marsh cleared his throat. "Shall we get under way?"
I nodded, along with the three other students in the room. I barely knew their names. 
"Thanks for joining us, Cleo, at...chess club," Jake said, shooting a glance at the door to check no one was listening.
"Do you want to tell us a bit about yourself and why you're here at...chess club."
I hate public speaking. I just wanted to get to the plan already.
Sighing, I stood up. "My name is Cleo. I'm here in chess club because I want to find a way to kill Riley Clark."
Jake leapt out of his chair, swearing. He checked the door, then paced at the front of the room.
"You can't say that out loud. What if someone heard you?"
"There's no one around. Chill out. Are you guys serious about doing this or not?" I asked. If this was just a place to gripe about vampires, I wasn't interested. 
"Of course we're serious," the skinny kid with acne said. "Why are you here?"
"I want to stop a vampire from walking the halls. If he broke the rules to get bit, what's to stop him from biting others?"
"Most of your friends would love that," Jake said.
"Yeah, well, they're idiots."
Jake looked surprised at my outburst but I didn't care what he thought of me. I wanted things to go back to normal around here and that couldn't happen with that bloodsucker on the loose.
"What's the plan?" I asked.
One of the boys raised his hand. "Yes, Tyler?" Jake asked, sounding exasperated. 
"Um, we don't actually have a plan."
"I knew it,"  I muttered. I grabbed my bag to leave. 
"Wait a minute," Jake said. "I do have a plan. But it involves you, Cleo."
"Why me?"
"Riley used to be our friend, before all this."
That surprised me. Not that they were friends, I could see that, but that they wanted to kill him so much they started a club. What did he do to them?
"Before he decided to be cool!" the boy in red shorts muttered. 
"The point I'm trying to make is - Riley had a crush on you."
I resisted the urge to say ew. "How does that help?"
"Well, it means that you might be able to get close to him, to lure him somewhere where we can kill him."
It wasn't a terrible plan, although I didn't like the idea of playing bait.
"He won't be easy to take down, he's strong, fast. He could kill you all in the blink of an eye."
Jake seemed to take offense at that but it was the truth.
 "We could set a trap," Red Shorts said.
The others nodded.
"I could rig something to stake him with," Jake said.
Folding my arms, I considered our chances. No one else was going to do anything. This might be our only shot.
"Okay, let's do it. Let's kill Riley Clark."

This is the first chapter in an upcoming YA book.

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