Ignite (Midnight Fire Series Book One) (3 page)

"Want to help me make dinner?" She lifted
Chloe onto the marble countertop next to the sink. Her mother came
in and kissed her on the cheek.

"How was your first day?"

"Oh, fine." She saw her mother sink a little.
She wanted more details.

"Any friends yet? Any guys? Now that you're
home I’d hope to get some more information out of you."

"Well, there was this one guy," Kira began
telling her mom about Luke and how he had saved her. She could tell
her mother was enjoying the teenage gossip she had missed out on
while Kira had been up north, but she couldn’t bring herself to
speak about Tristan. For now, he would be her secret, the first
real one she had kept from her mother.

Damn you, Kira thought to herself, if you’re
causing me this much trouble now I can only imagine what will
happen if we ever have an entire conversation.

When Kira arrived at school the next day,
Luke was waiting for her outside the entrance. She was happy for
the escort, but wanted to try walking herself to class to test her
memory of the layout. Luke let her lead, which resulted in two
miss-turns and a five minute tardy to class, but she had still
gotten them there on her own, which was something.

In no time, Kira’s morning classes whizzed by
and she was sitting with her newfound friends in the cafeteria,
feeling like she had an actual place in the school.

"Dude, Wonder Woman is definitely hotter than
Catwoman," Luke said to Miles. The two had been in a heated debate
since their teacher had mentioned comic books in chemistry
class.

"No way man, Catwoman is totally badass and
she wears a leather costume. Leather!"

"Okay, Wonder Woman wears a bathing suit, and
has super human stamina, and can fly." Luke’s mouth hung open in
disbelief that they were even still talking about the subject.

"Catwoman has a whip."

"Wonder Woman has an invisible flying
plane."

"Dude, leather plus whip plus hint of evil
wins every time."

Dave decided to chime in with, "Luke, I think
Miles has you there."

"Ladies? Come on, help me out." Luke peered
over with puppy dog eyes and a slight pout graced his lower
lip.

"Speaking as a completely heterosexual
female, I have to say that Catwoman is definitely hotter," Kira
spoke up, hoping to end the completely absurd debate. "Now, here’s
a real question: Batman or Superman? I have to go with Superman
every time."

At that Miles spit out his drink, "You have
got to be kidding me." Kira laughed and let the new debate continue
now with male subjects who were of much more interest to her.

She eventually tuned the conversation out
when Miles and Luke began spitting words at each other, most likely
forgetting to breathe. She looked around the cafeteria, at all of
the different groups, before her eyes eventually wandered out the
window to the person she was secretly searching for. When her view
landed on their table, every single one of the misfits was looking
at her. Jerome, John and Diana held their gazes for a moment until
looking away, but Tristan kept staring.

Kira’s breath caught. She didn’t understand
or want their interest. Well, she secretly wanted Tristan’s, but
not the others. She smiled at Tristan, trying to change his sort of
gloomy stare for a flirtier one. He just looked away, confusing her
more.

Luke nudged her, "Come on, it’s time to go to
class." They walked together, winding through the sunlit hallways,
and sat down quietly until Mr. Bell walked in flustered again. Kira
looked over her shoulder during class to catch all of the misfits
staring at her again. She held Tristan’s eye one more time until
Luke tapped her shoulder to pass her a note. He sufficiently
distracted her with funny notes for the rest of class, but the
hairs on the back of her neck remained standing for the entire
period.

"Luke, why do they keep staring?" Kira asked
as they followed everyone out of the room.

"Don’t worry about it. It’s just because
you’re new. I’m sure it will wear off soon."

It didn’t. Every day for the rest of the week
Kira was under scrutiny. The misfits would only looked away when
she finally turned to meet their gazes. Kira was confused, but more
than anything, annoyed.

"I’m going to confront them," she told Luke
after school let out on Friday afternoon. Her first week was
complete, but she felt like things were only just beginning.

"Kira, leave it alone." He shook his head;
exasperated with the conversation they had had every day this week.
"The more it bothers you, the more they do it. They’re jerks. If
you ignore them, I’m sure they’ll stop."

"I can tell from your voice that you don’t
believe what you just said. Do you know what’s going on?" Kira made
Luke stop walking before they reached her car, which was only a few
steps away. She wanted to delve deeper into what Luke was obviously
hiding from her.

"Nothing, it’s just who they are." He turned
away, not able to meet her eyes, and continued his stroll.

"Well, we’ll see next Monday. If I catch them
staring again, I’m going to talk to them. I’m not really one to
stand idle when I’m annoyed."

"I’m starting to realize that," Luke said in
a resigned voice and leaned against the trunk of her small car. "Do
what you want to. I doubt I could stop you anyway."

Kira laughed, "I think this is the beginning
of a beautiful friendship, Luke. We are definitely starting to
understand each other." He put an arm around her shoulders, pulling
her against the car, and smiled. The playful mood finally returned
to their conversation, the way it always did.

"Hey, you have to come to the beach with us
tomorrow. Apparently, it’s a school tradition. The entire senior
class goes to Folly Beach and has a sort of picnic-type event."

"Sounds great." Kira jumped from his grasp
and dug through her purse for her car keys. When she found them,
they said their goodbyes, and Kira stepped into her car for a
mellow Friday night with the family.

The next morning, Kira was jarred awake by a
booming alarm, dragging her out of that perfect place between being
asleep and being awake, when everything seemed so serene. She
flopped her hand on the clock to shut it off, stretched out her
back, and rolled over to see sunbeams cast through the yellow
sheers on her window. Beautiful, she thought, still trying to hold
on to that limbo.

After a few minutes, she was finally awake
enough to stand and to start preparing for the beach. She flung the
curtains aside, felt the sun warm through her, and headed towards
the closet to find the perfect bikini and cover-up combo. The white
bedazzled two-piece might be too flashy and her new brown one
didn’t really go with her hair, so Kira decided on her new Kelly
Green bikini that would definitely flatter her hair and maybe even
her eyes. She threw on her favorite beach cover-up, a pink and
green polka dotted strapless dress she picked up last summer, and
flip flops to prevent from seeming too fancy. After a look in the
mirror, Kira decided it was New York chic meets low-key beachy.

She had told Luke she would bring a picnic
basket, eager to let some new people taste her food. After making a
killer pasta salad and cold cut sandwiches with her special
sauce—that was a hint of mayo, a hint of mustard and a little
something secret—she was ready to go. Kira walked outside to wait
for Luke to pick her up, and was shocked to see a huge pick-up
truck careen around the corner with Dave and Miles lounging next to
surf boards in the bed of the truck. Kira opened the paint-flaked
passenger side door to a giggle-fest between Luke and Emma, and
hopped in beside them.

"What is going on in here?" She asked,
"something I should be telling Dave about?"

"Nothing, nothing," Emma finally calmed down
enough to breathe, but her face was red from laughing so hard, "one
of those things that’s only funny if you saw it."

"What? Come on, I have to know."

"For a minute, in the rearview mirror," Luke
coughed to keep the new round of laughs at bay, "it looked like
Miles and Dave were making out." He and Emma broke down again.

"Do I need to drive?" Kira said in a jokingly
condescending voice.

"No, no, I got this." Luke composed himself
and revved the engine.

The drive to Folly Beach didn’t take long,
especially with Kira, Luke and Emma singing country at the top of
their lungs, while Miles and Dave stuck their heads through the
back window to occasionally join in as back-up singers.

When they arrived, Kira was amazed at the
quintessential surf town she had never known existed just a short
drive outside of Charleston. Beach shacks and inexpensive hotels
lined the shore, while surf shops and local restaurants called in
most of the crowd.

They parked and practically ran down the
rickety wooden boardwalk that led them through the dunes and onto
the sand. The long flat beach was already lined with students from
their high school. Some held not so discreet brown paper bags with
bottle rims poking out, while others had coolers masking mixed
drinks. Dave, Miles and Luke dragged their surfboards along the
beach behind Emma who was scouting a location. Kira followed,
soaking in the view of fluffed clouds softening the bright blue
sky, all fading into the deeper blue waters of the ocean in front
of her. She let the sun warm her skin, and itched to lie down on a
towel and not move for hours. A little in the distance, jetting
past breaking waves into the deep ocean, she saw the famous Folly
Beach Pier.

"Kira, come on," Emma waved her over to the
small square of sand the group had claimed. She quickly moved
through the maze of towels to meet her friends.

"Sorry," she said while sitting down on the
towel they had laid out for her. "Who wants food?"

"Me!" Her friends chorused in unison. Kira
opened up the picnic basket she had packed and handed out the
sandwiches. After leaning her elbows back on the squishy sand to
look at the view, she sighed, "Man, this is the life."

"I’ll second that. This sandwich is
incredible. What did you put in this? Drugs? I can’t stop eating,"
Luke marveled and Miles seconded with a grunt, since his mouth was
completely full.

"I was talking about the view and the
weather, not the food, stupid. The sun feels so great, especially
after the first week of school. The tension is literally melting
from my body," Kira laid back down on her towel to soak it all in.
The sun had always been her favorite thing. Feeling the heat and
warmth it radiated always gave her a sense of inner-peace. She had
spent many afternoons in Central Park while living up north, but
nothing could compare to the feel of the sand scratching your toes,
the sun prickling your skin and the surf rolling in your ears.

And then Kira felt it, that tingle at the
base of her neck that told her something was wrong. She opened her
eyes to look around, and saw that Jerome, John and Diana were
walking onto the beach. They looked away when she saw and Kira
finally broke. In school it was one thing, but ruining her perfect
moment of relaxation went way too far. She stared at them while
they walked along the shore and took careful glances in her
direction. When they sat down, yards to her left, Kira turned away.
Experimenting, she looked back and met each of their eyes, catching
them in the staring act yet again.

"This is ridiculous." Kira stood, dusted the
sand off of her legs, and marched over towards the misfits before
her friends even had time to realize she’d left. Four eyes watched
her carefully as she swiftly dodged people and came to a stop at
the edge of the bright blue towel Tristan lounged on.

"Okay, what is your problem with me?" She
flung her arms wide, searching for some answer that made sense.

"You exist," Diana spoke coldly. Kira was
shocked and she flinched. It wasn’t the response she had
expected.

"And what about my existence is so terrible
that I can’t turn around without you guys all staring at me?"

"Not terrible, intriguing," Tristan spoke up
before Diana could, his head tilted as he pondered her. Kira
couldn’t imagine what about her had caught their interest so much,
and she was beginning to not even like Tristan’s watchful eye. But,
then again, she couldn’t help noticing the outline of a six-pack
etched in his pale skin and how the sun made his eyes look even
bluer. It wasn’t so bad.

"You’re completely ignorant of everything,"
Jerome said to her in a deep, rumbling voice, "it’s…alluring." She
didn’t like how he looked at her with a glimmer of malice in his
eye. And even staring at Tristan shirtless wasn’t enough to keep
her there much longer.

"Look, I lived in Manhattan for five years.
I’m hardly ignorant compared to almost everyone else who goes to
our school, and I’m tired of this. Get over whatever it is you
think you know about me, and leave me alone." Kira walked away,
hoping she had gained an upper hand and that they would stop. When
she turned her head back around, they were gazing at the ocean,
hoisting up surfboards and ignoring her. She smiled, glad she had
faced them, but also confused. What had Jerome been talking about?
Why would he think she was ignorant when he had never even spoken
to her before?

"Kira!" She stopped her unhappy thoughts and
turned to Luke, who looked concerned. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I’d just had enough, like I told you
before." He nodded.

"Come on, I’m making you surf with me and
Dave. Go grab Miles’ board and meet us out there."

She quickly took off her cover-up and lifted
the heavy board from the sand. "Thanks Miles," she yelled after she
turned and started walking towards the water. When she stepped into
the waves, she instantly knew this would be a much more enjoyable
swim than those she went on in the Hamptons. Instead of walking
into freezing cold and almost paralyzing waters, this ocean was
bathwater warm. Kira smiled at the change, already starting to
appreciate the permanent move down south, and headed out towards
her new friends who she felt like she had known for a lifetime.