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Kira lifted herself from her seated position on the makeshift tomb and walked over to gather her things. When she left the classroom, Luke was waiting for her by the door.

"So…that was interesting," he said with shrugged shoulders and hands buried in his jeans pockets. Kira remained silent as they walked step for step down the hall. "I personally thought you were captivating as Juliet. Great idea to put a hand to your chest then forehead and pretend to faint when you saw Romeo had died. Classic move."

Kira smiled and shoved him away from her for making fun. "I’m not an actress, and I never said I was," she said in her defense.

"Trust me, I know." Luke jumped away from the shove he had already anticipated. "Want to talk about it?"

"What?" She tried to hide the frown on her face, and pulled her purple sweater tighter around her torso.

"Whatever it was you and Tristan got in trouble for fighting about," he prodded. Kira knew it hurt Luke that she was starting to keep secrets from him—that there might be something she would rather talk to Tristan about.

"I was just thanking him for saving me in that surfboard accident. I never really got the chance before." Kira wanted to let Luke know the truth but knew she couldn’t, no matter how much she hated to shut him out. He had been there as her friend since she walked through the doors of this school a month ago, and she really didn’t want to hurt him. For a moment, Kira had thought she would tell him about Tristan, but she remembered Bethany and knew Luke would never understand. He was too emotionally involved to put himself in her shoes.

"I bet he didn’t want to hear any of it."

Kira shrugged. "Something like that."

"Cheer up." Luke put an arm around her. "Want to skip class and buy some ice cream? I wouldn’t mind playing hooky for the rest of the day." She smiled at the mischievous look in his eye.

"And how are we supposed to do that?" she asked, knowing the campus security would definitely report two students ditching class.

"Follow me you must, young padawan," Luke said, quoting Star Wars and attempting to use a Yoda voice. He started running down the hallway, and she ran after him, knowing they were already late to class and had nothing left to lose. He stopped at the hallway intersection in front of the main exit and peered around the corner.

Out of nowhere, Luke produced a straw and a small rolled up piece of paper, sending the most perfect spitball she had ever seen—well, the only spitball she had ever seen—into the head of a security guard down the hall. She covered her mouth to stop from laughing as Luke sailed another one into his head. The security guard spun around angrily, and Kira and Luke snuck into an open janitors closet. They heard the guard's heavy steps as he ran down one hall, paused and made a wrong turn down the hallway leading away from them.

"Go, go, go." Luke pushed her out of the closet and they ran for the door. Once they made it through the exit, Kira forced Luke to keep running, and she bit back her own laughter until they made it to the parking lot.

"Ice cream, my lady?" Luke pretended to bow and offered his arm. Kira accepted.

They marched over to his car and sat down safely inside before erupting into a fit of laughter that only stopped when they both had tears streaming down their cheeks. Luke revved the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. They left the school completely behind them.

Kira couldn’t think of a more perfect ending to the day, or of a more perfect friend for that matter. She smiled to herself, glanced at Luke when she caught him looking at her, and turned up the music to take on lead vocals.

 

 

Chapter Six

 

A week later, Kira opened her locker to see a portrait of herself leaning against her textbooks. She grabbed the small paper that held a close-up of her face, with a dusting of light curls around the edges, and knew it was a message from Tristan. She turned the paper over to read the note scribbled in cursive on the back.

"Meet me in the auditorium at lunchtime."

She noticed he didn’t even sign his name, like he knew she had been waiting for a sign from him. She, of course, had been waiting. But still, the arrogance of assuming he was the only guy who would leave her a note! Kira didn’t care though, because just like in Charleston, Tristan had been the one to break the silence, which meant he really couldn’t resist her either.

"What’s that?" Emma had snuck behind Kira without her noticing.

Kira turned, clutching at her chest. "Good lord, you just gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry," Emma said without really meaning it as she tried to peer closer at the paper Kira had quickly stuffed inside her binder. She didn’t want to share Tristan’s drawing, but she would definitely tell Emma what it said.

"Let’s just say our little scheme worked, and I won’t be at lunch today." Kira tried to play it cool and not give away how excited she was.

"Ooh, scandalous. Was that a love note?" Emma looked dreamy eyed.

"I don’t know, but I’m willing to try to find out," Kira said before slamming her locker closed and following Emma to class where the gossip was quickly overtaken by the need to pay attention to their teacher’s lecture on differential equations.

When lunch rolled around, Kira dodged the crowd and went in the opposite direction toward the auditorium on the complete other side of the school. She arrived before Tristan and walked past the rows of chairs up toward the stage where the set for the December musical White Christmas was being prepared. Her school in New York only allowed secular performances, and she did kind of like that people got into the Christmas spirit here. Of course, it was the middle of October, so really only the drama crew had reached the point of singing Christmas carols, but she could anticipate how crazy school would be right after Thanksgiving.

In the middle of the stage, a half-painted Christmas tree stood surrounded by boxes cutout like presents, but not decorated. There was a piano in the corner and a costume rack held forties style dresses and suits for the actors. Kira scrambled on stage and walked around the yards of fake pine and tinsel that already covered it.

"Mistletoe?" Tristan called from behind. She turned in time to see him jump deftly onto the stage.

"I hadn’t noticed." Kira tried to play it cool. Tristan pulled a strand of green plastic leaves from his pocket with a smirk. "I knew there had to be a reason you wanted to meet here. But you’ll have to catch me first." Kira teased and started backing away.

His smirk turned into the half-smile she loved and a little dimple sprouted on his cheek. Tristan strode confidently forward, and when he got a little closer, Kira jumped behind the fake tree to use it as a defensive wall, moving left when he did and right when he did. She laughed when his frustration grew and jumped out from behind the tree to try to leap off the stage, moving the chase into different territory. But strong arms gripped around her waist, lifted her off the ground, and swung her around in circles.

"You’re mine now," he whispered into her ear, and Kira couldn’t decide if the shiver that raced down her back was full of excitement or fear. He let her feet drop to the ground, and she turned in the circle of his arms.

"Changed your mind about that we-can-never-be nonsense?" She smiled in victory.

"Not completely, but you are doing a great job convincing me." Tristan lifted the corner of his mouth again and she laid her hand on his cheek, capturing the dimple in her palm, before sliding it up into his hair, pushing his ebony bangs back so she could see his eyes better.

"You have to tell me something first," Kira said, pausing. Tristan nodded, looking at her with concern and she almost thought a hint of dread. Kira bit her lip, thinking about how to phrase her question. "What happened when you looked at me before, in class I mean? I swear I couldn’t move and then something happened to me that I didn’t understand. And I know you know." She held his face still, making sure he didn’t look away to hide his secrets again.

Tristan hesitated for a moment. His face was frozen in a grimace—the expression of someone with nowhere left to run.

"I do know." He sighed, and Kira thought it sounded as though a weight that had been holding him in place had suddenly been lifted free. "There’s something about me… about who, no what, I am that you need to know, and Luke will have to fill you in on the rest. I’m so tired of hiding, Kira." Anguish was written all over his face, and she let her hand fall to his chest, to his heart, trying to give him some comfort in what he was going to admit. "I’m—"

A clapping sound interrupted Tristan, causing both of them to spin, searching for the source. It came from the back row of the auditorium where Diana, John, and Jerome sat with grins on their faces. When Kira and Tristan finally noticed them, the three intruders stood and strode down the aisle slowly, with complete confidence, clapping at a leisurely pace and staring only at Tristan.

Fear trickled down Kira's spine. She didn’t understand what was going on or the more than venomous looks on his friends’ faces.

"Well done, Tristan. You had even me believing that performance." Diana gracefully jumped on stage in one smooth motion that shocked Kira. Jerome and John stopped clapping and followed suit.

"Don’t listen to a word they say, and please stay behind me," Tristan whispered to Kira as he turned around to face his friends. "This isn’t what it seems," he told his friends in a confident voice Kira hoped he wasn’t faking.

"And what is it?" Jerome’s deep voice seemed to reverberate off the walls.

"I brought her here to talk and that’s it." Tristan angled himself in front of Kira, as his friends closed in on them.

"To talk? And what, if I may ask, do you possibly have to talk about?" Diana sneered and walked closer to Tristan, stopping barely a foot away from him. John and Jerome came up beside her, and Kira hoped she was forgotten as they continued to stare at Tristan.

"You may not ask," Tristan replied coldly.

"Then I demand," Diana hissed.

Tristan tensed in front of her. A few seconds of strained silence passed before he suddenly started laughing very obviously in Diana’s face. Kira thought he had gone mad. Surely there was nothing funny about this situation, and she watched as his friends’ faces darkened with anger.

"Demand? Diana, you get ahead of yourself. You know you can’t threaten me." Tristan used his height to look down at her, proving his dominance.

"Maybe I can’t alone, but even you can’t take on three-to-one odds." Diana angled herself back, so she, Jerome, and John looked like one solid, impenetrable wall.

John and Jerome shuffled their feet, getting ready to move at a seconds notice. Kira hoped it wouldn't become a fight. She had no idea Tristan’s friends would react so harshly to seeing them together. For a moment, she wondered if she had done the right thing in trying to pursue him. Maybe it would have been better for him to draw her in secret and for her to move on, never knowing what could have been. But Kira knew it was too late for those thoughts.

The fight she expected didn’t start. Instead, John placed his hand on Diana’s shoulder. "Perhaps we should let him explain," he questioned, relieving some tension.

Diana nodded, not breaking her gaze. "Can you explain, Tristan? Why are you here with this girl when we said we would kill her together or not at all? When we said we would wait and watch to see how much she knew?"

Kill? Kira sucked in her breath. They thought he meant to kill her? They had all planned to kill her?

"I was greedy, I admit," Tristan began.

Kira could hardly believe her ears. He couldn’t have meant to kill her. They had met here because he wanted to be with her, or that’s what she'd thought at least. Kira backed up a few feet, away