Today is my first day of school. I am excited, but I am also very nervous. I take a long shower and wear my outfit for the day. It consists of a white sleeveless shirt and a black skirt that reaches my knee and pair it with a jean jacket and a pair of black sandals and French braid my hair. I take a look at myself in the mirror and feel satisfied. I go downstairs and greet Raven, who is making breakfast.
"You look amazing, Kiara. You will have boys at your feet." Raven tells me with a grin. I can't help but blush at her words.
"Thanks, Raven." I answer her, and then I see Reed come down the stairs. Calling him hot right now would be an understatement. He is dressed in a tight white t-shirt with skinny black jeans and a black jean jacket. He has that whole bad boy look. He sees me, and his eyes take in my outfit, and he gives me a smirk. I realize that I am openly checking him out. Reed sits beside me, and Raven places a plate full of pancakes in front of him.
"You guys are kind of twinning right now." Raven smiles. I look at my outfit and, then his, and then mine again, and yes, we are twinning with the white shirt and my black skirt and his jean. I continue eating my breakfast, ignoring Reed. A few moments later, Raven goes out of the kitchen, and I can feel Reed's breath near my ear.
"Baby, I know I am hot. You don't have to confirm it for me by openly checking me out." he says with his husky voice, and I can imagine the smirk on his face right now. The nickname makes my stomach go choo- choo train. I turn to face him and see him already looking at me.
"Cocky much?" I scoff. He simply smirks. Soon Ryder comes with Raven, and we all finish our breakfast.
"Come on, guys, you have to be at school in 20 minutes." Raven informs. I get my backpack and wait for the guys to wear their shoes.
"Kiara, don't worry, you will do great at school and never change yourself to fit in. You are perfect just the way you are." Raven tells me and places a small kiss on my forehead. Raven has started treating me like her own daughter. I give her a thankful smile, and we all say our goodbyes and go to Reed's car.
"I call shotgun." I shout and run to the passenger door. Ryder chuckles behind me, and Reed is looking at me with amusement.
"You know you act more like a child than I do, and I am the younger one here." Ryder tells me. I stick my tongue out at him. Soon we start heading to school.
I am nervous. My first day of school here in America. Will I find friends? Will I get to my classes alright? Will I-
"Kiara, you are going to be fine. Stop jittering." Reed interrupts my thoughts. I give him a thankful smile.
I look outside to see that we are at Ryder's block. Even though we go to the same school, middle school comes first before high school. Ryder says goodbye, and before he gets out of the car, I stop him.
"You remember what I told you, right, bud? Just go talk to those kids and let me know about it after school." I tell him with a smile. He smiles and nods and waves a final goodbye before entering the school.
"What was that all about?" Reed asks me on our way to school.
"Ryder told me that he doesn't have a lot of friends and that his classmates don't like him and stuff so, I just gave him a pep talk, that's all."
Reed doesn't answer me, but his lips curl upwards in a smile. He looks at me.
"I am happy that Ryder opened up to you, sparkle. He doesn't open up to people much." he tells me with a smile.
I frown at him for the nickname, but my stomach is doing stuff when he calls me that. He understands why I am frowning and chuckles.
I was able to see the school after a few minutes, and Reed suddenly, stops the car, and I glance outside to see a beautiful park near us. I look at him, confused.
"I am sorry, Kiara, but I have to ask you to walk from here to school. I have a reputation, and I cannot enter with a girl and please don't tell people you live with me. It will not only affect my reputation, but it will also affect yours's too and meet me at the park after school." he finishes.
"You are such a jerk." I tell him and get out and close the door as loud as I can. I am such an idiot to think that he was not much as a jerk as I thought him to be. And he goes and does this.
But I am not a quitter. Even though he might be an idiot, I will make him open up to me. I soon reach the school entrance, and I see Reed near his car talking, or should I say flirting with a couple of girls, and they are literally throwing themselves at him. Literally.
I take a deep breath and enter the school. Here goes nothing. I can see people throwing glances at me and whispering to their friends.
'Who is she?'
'She is pretty,'
'Where is she from?'
I ignore all of them and head to the front office with a student's help. I receive my timetable and my locker number. I am already five minutes late for my first class, which is chemistry. Screw Reed for making me late for class.
I was so held up in my thoughts I didn't see the person in front of me and head straight into that person and fall straight on my butt.
"Owie, that hurt. I think I broke my butt." I mumble to myself. I hear chuckles from above me, and I look up to see a boy with blonde hair and a lean build.
"Broke my butt, that's new." he says, helping me up. I give him a grateful smile rubbing my butt.
"You new here?"
"Yeah, sorry. I am Kiara Tennyson, nice to meet you." I greet with a smile.
"Hey, Kiara. I am Luke lance. Nice to meet you too, and I am sorry about bumping into you. I was not looking where I was going." he tells me with an apologetic smile.
"No, it was completely my fault. I was already late for my first class on my first day so, I was not looking where I was going." I reassure him.
"What is your first class?" He questions and takes my timetable from my hand before I answer.
"Oh, it's chemistry, see it's that class over there." he points to a classroom behind me.
"Thank you so much for your help." I thank him. I was about to head to class when he, stops me.
"Hey, we have the same lunch period. Since you are new here, would you like to sit, with me, and my friends?" He offers. I don't know anyone here and sitting with Reed is not an option, and it would be great to have some friends.
"Sure, I would love to." I tell him and head over to class. I enter the class and everybody stops doing what they are doing and turns towards me.
"Oh, you must be the new student. You can introduce yourselves and go find a place to sit." the teacher tells me. God, I hate the introduction part.
"Hey guys, I am Kiara Tennyson, and I am an exchange student from India. I hope we can all be friends and not rip my head apart." I tell with a chuckle, some people join me.
"Thank you, Ms Tennyson. You can take a seat, and by the way, I am Mr Justin Seville" The teacher introduces himself smiling warmly at me. I look around the class, and I see an empty table behind Reed and another one beside a brunette-haired girl. I go and take a seat beside that girl and smile at her.
"Hey, Kiara. I am Kate, and welcome to hell." I chuckle at her words. She is beautiful with straight, brunette hair which reaches her shoulder, beautiful light brown eyes, and a slim frame. I can tell that she is a carefree, very bold, and strong person.
"Nice to meet you, Kate," I tell her and listen to the class. He doesn't teach much, he just gives some assignments to complete and Kate and I get to know each other. Soon the bell rings, and we say our goodbyes, and I head over to the next class. The rest of the day goes by, and soon it's lunch. I head over to the cafeteria and get food. I see people looking at me, but I ignore it and try to find a seat. I see a familiar blonde waving me to come over.
I go towards Luke, and he is sitting with Kate and another girl and a boy at the table, which is pretty close to Reed's. I head over and take a seat beside Kate, and opposite me is Luke and another boy.
"Hey Kiara, looks like you already met my twin." she says, motioning to Luke. Kate and Luke look nothing alike he has blonde hair, and she has brown hair. He has piercing blue eyes, whereas she has beautiful brown eyes. Luke senses my confusion and answers me.
"Yeah, we look nothing alike she looks like our dad, and I look like our mom." I look over to the other boy who is smiling at me.
"And this idiot specimen here is Noah. He is the clown of our group." Kate introduces the brown-haired boy. He is very tall with curly hair. He looks at Kate and pouts at her putting his hand on his heart in mock hurt. I chuckle at his antics.
"Since they won't introduce me, I will do it myself. I am Ava. Nice to meet you," the girl introduces herself. She is also pretty with brown hair and blue eyes clear as the sky. After all the introductions are over, Luke tells everybody how we met, and I get to know that they have been friends from freshman year. I look around the cafeteria, and I see Reed has a blonde on his lap, and they are making out. I feel my lunch coming back up and a pang at my chest. I don't know why.
"Get a room. It's disgusting." I suddenly blurt out without thinking, and the whole room goes silent. Uh Uh.
Oh no, why do I have such a big mouth? The whole room stares at me like I have grown two heads. I don't really think people in this school talk bad about the bad boy. Well looks like I am screwed. The girl previously sitting on Reed's lap approaches me along with two other girls. She comes to our table and stares right at me. "You know, for being the new girl, you have got some guts to blurt out stuff like that to my baby." She smirks, gesturing to Reed, who looks pretty amused at this situation. I mentally gag at that part. "I like you. Would you like to join my group and become popular? Because you are the only girl who had some guts to talk out loud like that." she offers. Can someone explain what is happening right now? Because this is not at all what I expected. I slowly get up
So you are an exchange student right, who are you living with?" Kate questions me. It's lunch now, and we are all sitting at our usual table. Shoot, not the question I was expecting. What do I do, what do I do? "Um.. uh.. so the thing is...you see.." "Hey, guys, whatcha doing?" Noah interrupts. I have never been more happier for the interruption. I could kiss you right now, Noah. "Oh, we were just simply asking Kiara who she is living with." Ava tells Noah. "Well, forget that. Do you know what happened in English class today?" Noah asks them. I roll my eyes at him. Let's just say that our class was interesting due to the class clown that is Noah. "Don't tell me you did one of your famous pranks on the teacher, and you cancelled English class." Ava says with fake enthusiasm while waving her hands. "Uh, how did you know? Are you stalking me? ohhhh don't tell me that Kiara is actually a spy working for you. Do you
It is another day in school. Noah and I are sitting in English class, we are waiting for Mr William to come. Sir comes inside after a few minutes, places a cup of coffee on the table and leaves, telling us that he will be back in five minutes.I turn to Noah and see him looking at the coffee cup with a grin that screams PRANK. Oh no, not again.“Noah, no, whatever you are thinking, don’t do it. You don’t want to add another detention to your record, do you?” I try to persuade him.He looks at me, the grin on his face never leaving. He simply gets up, goes to the table and does a 360-degree check to make sure no one is watching him. He lifts the coffee cup and takes a chewing gum out of his pocket, chews on it for a few seconds, and sticks the chewed gum on the table and places the cup on top of it and presses it firmly. He tries to move the cup, and it doesn’t even budge. I can actually see the steam from the coffee. Mr Willia
It is finally the weekend. I am so happy that the weekend has arrived. I don’t have much homework since it is only the first week of school. I would love to invite my friends over. But they don't know that I live with Reed.“Youngblood say you want itSay you want meSay you want meOut of your lifeAnd I am just a dead man walking tonight.”I was singing youngblood by 5 seconds of summer and dancing in my room with my hairbrush. Then I suddenly see a flash go off. I immediately stop my dancing and look towards my door to see Reed running away.I chase him, my concert forgot, and I hear him laugh while running down the stairs. I am going to kill him. I run down the stairs, and I see him running behind the counter. I thank God because I can run fast. I climb over the counter, and before he escapes, I jump on him to stop his running.Reed
I am on my way to church with Reed driving me. I hope I see Andrew again today.“Text me when it’s over, and I will pick you up,” Reed informs.“Sure, bye,” I say with a smile and head inside. I see Andrew sitting in his usual place at the last bench. I smile.I take my place beside him and say a small word of prayer before smiling at him. He smiles back. Soon the service comes to an end, and I send Reed a text informing him to pick me. I turn to Andrew to talk to him and find him already looking at me.“Umm, I just... um you know want to say thank you for what you did back there.” he thanks me with a shy smile. I raise my eyebrow, clueless on why he is thanking me. Suddenly, everything becomes clear... The backpack. I wonder why it looked familiar. It is the same backpack I got Andrew, for Christmas. So, these people have been bullying Andrew all this time. I feel terrible that I didn’t even recognize Andre
Now Reed, Noah, Kate, Luke and I are sitting in history class. Ms Brown is teaching us about, I have no idea since I am not even listening. What is the point of studying the past if the information is not even useful in the future? What? While we are guessing how many tomatoes we have to add for soup, we will be thinking about Hitler?Noah was trying to float the feather before him with a stick while muttering, ‘wingardium leviosa.’ I roll my eyes.“Mr Anderson.” Ms Brown calls Noah. But Noah did not hear her and, she tries two more times.“Mr ANDERSON.” she finally snaps. Noah gets startled and falls off the chair, and the class erupts into laughter. Noah clumsily stands up and straightens his shirt.“Wingardium leviosa?" he asks, and I chuckle but disguise it as a cough.“Pardon,” Ms Brown asks. Noah clears his throat and answers“Um, sorry. Yes, Ms Brown?”“I w
“KIARAAA,” Ava shouts, running towards me, and a few people look at her weirdly. I motion towards Ava and me and say, “she is not my friend, and I don’t know her,” to the students.She comes over to me and smacks my head while shouting, “Don’t believe her, she is my best friend”. I glare at her while I rub my head.“Kiara, we have our last football match this Friday, and you are coming,” Ava says enthusiastically. Oh yeah, our junior year is coming to an end, then we have our summer vacation. I might go back to India to meet everyone.“I have to ask my host. I will ask them and let you know,” I inform Ava.“Fine, so on Saturday morning, we are all going to Kate's house, and if you want, I can pick you up,” she tells me.Oh no, if she picks me up, I will have to give her my address and then she will know that I am living with Reed, and it will be a problem.
All of us are heading towards the after-party. We reach the destination, and even before getting out of the car, I can hear the music from the house.I go inside with my friends, and instantly I can smell the alcohol. I see my classmates either drinking or dancing. I spot Reed among the crowd and give him a small smile.Suddenly someone places a cup in my hand. I look up and see Luke.“What is this”? I ask him“Alcohol,” he states in a duh tone.“I don’t drink, Luke,” I deadpan. His eyes widen.“So, you have never had a drink before?” he questions. I shake my head.“Ok, wait here, I will get you coke or Pepsi,” he tells me and leaves.“So, how are you liking it so far?” Ava asks once she approaches me.“It's fine, I guess,” I shrug.“Ava, come on, let's dance,” Noah invites, asking for her hand.Ava blushes
Five years later. Here lies beloved An- "Kiara," I hear my brother's voice. He comes to me and pulls me into a side hug. "He is still alive, Kiara, here." He says, motioning to his heart. It's been five years since that dreadful day. Keith said his last goodbye and left me alone in this world. The doctors were able to keep his heart alive and performed Andrew's surgery. His heart did fail during the surgery, and they replaced Andrew's heart with Keith’s. Here Lies Beloved And Loved Keith Tennyson January 6, 1998- June 15, 2019. He is buried near my parent's graves. He will be at peace with them in heaven now. After the heart monitor went flat. I was frozen in place. Somebody dragged me outside the room while the doctors tried to bring him back to life. He lost a lot of blood, and his brain took a lot of damage. I didn't cry.
Trigger for abuse"What happened?" I ask, trying to act rationally. Ryder suddenly comes and hugs me. I sit down on the chair and take him in my lap, and he is sobbing and sniffling."What happened, buddy?" I stroke his hair, trying to calm him down."A...Andrew w..ent downstairs to.. to make some popc..corn for me and.. I.. and.. I.. suddenly heard a loud noise from the kitchen..I.. I ran downstairs and found him unconscious with a broken bowl near his feet," Ryder informs me, his voice breaking.I try to calm him down while Raven takes care of things with Andrew. Ten minutes later, Raven comes with a water bottle."What happened?""He is awake, and the doctors took him to take a CT scan. He told the doctor that he had chest pains. He also told him about what happened during prom. The doctors will inform us what is wrong with him after taking a look at his scan results," I simply nod. This day has really taken a toll on my mental and physic
"- got into a serious accident, and is admitted to the hospital," my heart stops for a moment, and I drop the phone. Raven rushes towards me, and she picks the phone and answers it."Yes, we will be there as soon as possible,""Come on, Kiara. Everything is going to be fine," she assures, pulling me into a hug. My mind is blank, and my heart is numb. I can't cry.Everything that happened after that is a blur. I remember Raven, Reed, and I drove towards the hospital. Reed had me on his lap, and he was mumbling reassuring words to me."He is currently in the ICU, and the doctors are trying their best. We will know about his condition after the surgery,""How?" I question the nurse."A truck went out of control and came at full speed and hit the passenger side. The driver only sustained a few injuries and nothing major,"Three times I had to hear about people close to me getting into an accident. Finally, the tears start falling. I start
"That is amazing, Reed,” Blake breaks the silence.“Yeah, you will have our full support if that is what you want,” Raven informs, hugging her son."Those love birds need to talk, so come on, everyone," Raven leaves the room, pulling all the others along with her. Keith points his fingers towards Reed to make sure that we know that he is watching us. I roll my eyes."Are you mad, Kiara?" Reed asks me once everyone leaves."No, I am not mad. Not mad. Not mad at all, Nuh-uh. You don't think I am mad, do you? Because I am not. Don't think that I am mad,""So, I will take it that you are mad," Reed concludes."No. Not mad at you. Just at our fates," I sigh and sit down on the couch. He sits beside me and pulls me into a side hug. I lay my head on his chest."If you don't want me to go, I won't sparkle," he tells me, stroking my hair."This is your life, Reed. Don't think about me. Do what you want to. I will accep
“Kia, come on, honey, we are going to be late,” I hear Raven’s voice outside my bedroom.“Coming,” I shout, applying some finishing touches to my outfit. I grab my graduation cap and gown and rush outside.“You look lovely,” Raven compliments my outfit. I am wearing a light blue dress with flower decorations, and I braided my hair into two french braids.I thank her and take a seat beside Keith. He frowns. I raise my eyebrows in a questioning manner."Here, your dress is missing this," he says and pins a brooch."This is moms favourite brooch," I say, trying not to cry."Yeah, I figured you might need it for your special day," he smiles. I hug him and admire the brooch."Everyone here? I need answers from four boys and a girl," Blake shouts from the driver's seat."Here," we all shout, laughing.We soon reach school, and Reed, Andrew and I head towards our assigned seats. We meet
"What the hell are you guys doing here?""What? we are her best friends, so obviously, we will be here to wish her when she becomes an adult,""Mom, it was a big mistake to give them the keys,""Hey, that was rude,""No one asked you,""I wanted it to be only the two of us,""Just because you guys are dating doesn't mean you get special privileges,""Of course I do,""She will choose us over you any day,""You wanna bet?""The loser has to be the winner's slave for a whole day,""SHHHHHHHHHHH, she is waking up,"I cover my ears with my pillow to stop the whispers."Sparkle, wake up," someone whispers near my ear. I throw a pillow at that person to stop the voices."Oof, I forgot she is grumpy w
"ANDREW," I shout over the sound of the music and run to him. Reed follows behind.Noah, Luke, and Reed help carry Andrew outside. We place him on a bench, and I sprinkle water on his face. After three more times, he slowly wakes up."What happened?" he asks groggily. I release a breath I didn't know I had been holding."You fainted," Kate informs, hugging him. I sit down, feeling relieved. Reed comes and hugs me. I hug him back, holding him tight."Andrew, why did you clutch your chest. Do you feel any pain?" I ask him, worried."No, Kiara. I was too excited, so I didn't eat the whole day. I also have a gastric problem. If I don't eat for a long period, I will faint. Nothing new" he smiles sheepishly."Don't ever scare us like that," I hug him."Come on, they are announcing prom king and queen," Andrew says excitedly and goes to leave when Kate stops him."Where do you think you are going? You sit here and get some air.
“Kate, I will cut off your limbs if you take me to another store to look for a dress that I don’t even need,” I warn Kate.“But Kiara. What if you accidentally spill juice on the dress? What if someone steps on your dress, and it rips? What if a crow decides to dirty your dress? What if there is an alien invasion, and you get caught because you cannot run in that dress? What if som-”“What the heck are you even talking about?” I look at my best friend incredulously.“All of that might come true. I can’t lose you to an alien. What if you get eaten?” she cries.“I think you are spending too much time with Noah,” Ava pipes in, taking a bite of her ice cream.“Kate, all that you mentioned is not going to happen. I will be extra careful if that makes you happy, ok?” I assure her.“Come on. We still need to buy you heels,” Ava drags me.
I wake up to bright sunlight entering my room. Why has my alarm not gone off yet? The sleep I am getting is really suspicious. I take a look at my clock and see it’s thirty minutes past six.Ah. I can sleep some more. I doze off again.'Don't you think it’s quite unusual to be this bright at six-thirty in the morning?' I hear winter's sleepy voice.'It's too early to hear your voice. Let me sleep,' I cover my ears with my pillow.'I can say the same about you but, I think the clock is not working because the sun is too bright to be this early in the morning,''Fine, stop nagging. I will check my phone,' I roll over my bed and accidentally fall.I open my phone to see that the time is 8:10. I rub my eyes thoroughly to see if I am mistaken. But the time still shows 8:10. School starts at 8."AHHHHH, I am terribly late," I shriek, trying to stand up. My legs get tangled in my blanket, and I fall again."Could this day