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us if you were running late? You don’t understand what can happen to a young girl out alone at night."

Kira rolled her eyes and appeased her mother by listening to the lecture that began. She’d lived in New York, Kira thought, she understood the dangers of being alone in an unfamiliar place. She didn’t bother to mention she had been abandoned by her tour guide after he ditched her in the church steeple they had broken into, which was why she had trouble finding her car.

Eventually, her mother cooled down and started breathing again. After which, Kira quickly said goodnight, made her exit, and snuck into her sister's room to kiss her sleeping forehead. When she made it to her own room, Kira breathed a sigh of relief that her father had remained silent because he usually asked all the questions she didn’t want to give answers to. He was very good at reading people and almost always knew when she was hiding something.

After a shower and some chocolates from her secret candy stash, Kira settled into bed and turned on her reading lamp. She gently eased Tristan’s notebook open, and looked over the drawings she had gazed at earlier that day.

Again, Kira noticed the expressions he was able to convey, and she tried to think on why he chose those people on the benches in those three drawings that truly caught her eye. A homeless man? Had Tristan been homeless, or did he just sympathize with a man who had lost everything? An older woman? He could have a grandmother he missed, or old women could remind him of the age his mother should be. Kira thought back to his question. Did she believe he could have been alive during the war? Could he sympathize with the old because he would never be there? And what of the young couple in love? Was that why he pulled away? He was jealous of those in love because he believed he was not deserving of it?

Kira sighed. All she had were questions. Ever since she moved back to Charleston, everything about her life had become questions with no answers. She flipped past the bench drawings, past some blank pages, and tried to see if he drew anything else in that book she hadn’t seen.

After skipping through fifty blank pages, Kira was about ready to give up and go to bed when she turned one more page, and her own face was staring back at her. Her hair took up most of the small piece of paper, and within the mass of curls was the most perfect drawing of herself she had ever seen. The fire in her eyes sparkled. She was smiling in a laugh, and even her freckles were in the right location. Kira looked alive in the picture—and happy. Beyond all the minute details he drew to perfection, her emotion ran off the page. She looked like the sun radiating warmth to the viewer. Was this a drawing of how he pictured her? Kira never thought she had looked so happy or pretty in her life, but maybe Tristan had thought so.

Kira turned to the next page and saw a close-up of her eyes, turned again and it was her lips. One more turn and she saw herself standing by the wharf staring out at Fort Sumter with a breeze in her hair and her skirt flowing in the wind. Kira realized that he must have been observing her for a little while today before he finally snuck up on her to say hello. Why was he so afraid to talk to her? Everyone in school was intimidated by his good looks and standoffish attitude, by his dark slacks and typical black T-shirt, and by his friends. He was a bonafide bad boy. Every girl secretly loved it and every boy was secretly jealous of it, but Kira was starting to realize that it wasn’t who he was at all. What bad boy secretly draws pictures of old ladies and young couples? Tristan was more of a tortured artist than anything else.

She sighed and turned the page again, but the blank paper returned. There were only four secret pages devoted to her, and Kira tore each one out before dropping the small notebook back into her bag to give to Tristan at school. She wanted him to know she had discovered his secret and that she wasn’t going down without a fight.

 

 

Chapter Five

 

"Hello, gorgeous." Luke sat down next to Kira in the cafeteria with his typical greeting. "Where were you this weekend? I didn’t get a single phone call. Don’t tell me you have a new best friend that you’re sneaking around with." He looked at her with pouted puppy eyes.

"You know, now that I think of it, I do have a new best friend. It’s called my Civil War term paper." She rolled her eyes and shoved her notebook full of ideas at him.

"Kira, Kira, Kira. When will you learn? Term papers are to be completed during the last week of the term, not two months before it’s over." He opened her notebook and skimmed some of her notes. "But let me know when you decide what to do cause I will definitely steal one of these discarded theses."

Kira grabbed her research back from him quickly. "We’ll see," she said slyly, making a joke but knowing full well she would help him out if he actually needed it.

"Hi y’all." Emma waved while Dave carried both of their lunch trays over. Kira assumed the fuchsia dress Emma wore was new, and that Dave had been forced to play the chivalrous boyfriend. From the back of the cafeteria, Kira could barely see Miles walking over behind the mound of books he held in his arms. In fact, all that she saw were the black rims of his glasses pressed against his forehead.

"How are you guys just sitting and laughing?" he said when he dropped what looked like twenty pounds worth of library books on the table. "Are you not at all worried about college?" Kira had noticed the fear of not getting into Harvard or another Ivy League school had made Miles go a tad insane.

"Relax, man," Dave chimed in before slapping Miles on the back.

"Yeah, seriously. Go buy some lunch and take a minute to chill out. The books will be here when you get back." Luke pushed Miles toward the lunch line. As soon as he was out of hearing distance, Luke turned to everyone else and said, "We should totally hide these."

"Oh lord, leave him alone." Kira put her arms around the books and protectively pulled them over toward her, Emma, and Dave. Basically, as far from Luke as they could go. When Miles returned, he seemed calmer but still turned the conversation to college applications. Kira knew all of that was irrelevant for her and couldn’t help but let her eyes shift to gaze out the window. For the first time in a while, not a single one of the misfits was looking at her. In fact, Kira studied them for a few minutes and they seemed completely disinterested in everything going on inside of the school. She needed to grab Tristan when he was alone to confront him about what had happened and give him back his drawings, but how to get him away from his friends?

"Earth to Kira. Come in, Kira." Luke waved his hand in front of her face. She snapped out of her thoughts and rejoined the conversation.

"What? Sorry, I’ve had a lot going on."

"Just asked what you would be up to next year."

"Oh, a gap year to work in a restaurant hopefully, then I’ll be applying to culinary school, and I’ll be just as crazy as Miles is now." Miles finally cracked a smile at her statement and they continued lunch with ease.

As she walked to English with Luke, Kira knew this would be her only chance to catch Tristan alone. But at the same time Mr. Bell walked through the door, Tristan came rushing in and sat down on the opposite side of the room. And when the class was over, Tristan ran out before Kira could even begin to stand and walk over to him.

For the next two days, the same thing happened. Kira was always one step behind and couldn’t trap Tristan alone for the two minutes she needed to get her point across.

On Wednesday, after her third try at chasing him down, Kira pulled Emma aside at the end of the day and sat down with her on one of the benches outside of the school.

"So, I need to get some advice. Can I give you the short version of my weekend?" Kira asked once they’d settled.

"Ooh, this sounds juicy," Emma said, and Kira noticed that she seemed very excited for some gossip to live vicariously through.

"Okay, well, on Saturday I went to Charleston to start working on my history paper, just like I told you all in the cafeteria. What I didn’t mention was that I ran into Tristan. We snuck into a church steeple and ended up making out for a while." Kira finished quickly and let out the breath she had been holding. She peered at Emma carefully, hoping to see no judgment coming from her friend’s eyes.

"Whoa, I was not expecting that. Way to go, Kira." Emma put her hand out for a discreet low-five, and Kira happily slapped her hand down. "Now back up, give me a little more detail, and tell me what the heck the problem is."

"I basically ran into him early in the day, and then he said he would be my tour guide and show me all the Charleston hot spots. We ended up having a great time, and Tristan told me he wanted to show me his favorite place in the city, which happened to be the top of a church steeple, so we snuck up. We ended up talking, which turned into fighting, and fighting turned into kissing, and kissing turned into Tristan freaking out, running away and abandoning me in the church."

Kira sighed and thought about how much to reveal about why Tristan ran away. She could tell Emma was trying to wait patiently, but her foot tapped against the sidewalk with enthusiasm at the new turn of events.

"I’m not completely sure why he left," Kira continued, "but I think it has something to do with his friends. And now at school he’s avoiding me. I know I need to catch him alone, which is where you come in." She looked at Emma hopefully, needing a plan—and fast.

"And the only class you have together is English, right?" Emma asked.

Kira nodded.

"With Luke?"

Kira nodded again.

Emma chewed her lip. "I’m going to need to do some thinking for a minute, a little scheming time."

Now it was Kira’s turn to try to wait patiently while Emma sat with a furrowed brow and her chin resting on her hand. Kira looked out at the school parking lot, which had completely emptied during their conversation, and she was grateful to not have to worry about eavesdroppers. The last thing she needed was to be the talk of the school and to let her secret afternoon become public knowledge. Kira ran her sweaty palms down the length of her pants, trying to calm herself.

"I have it." Emma’s entire face brightened as she turned to Kira with a gleam in her eye. Kira was instantly overjoyed to have Emma on her side, especially when she looked so mischievous. "Today, in my English class, we got into groups of two to read lines from Romeo and Juliet, something about how hearing it gives it more meaning or whatever. Anyway, you’ll only have about five or so minutes, but if you can trap Tristan and force him to be your partner it might give you the time you need."

"Emma, you’re a genius!" Kira grabbed the girl’s shoulders, shaking them with glee. "I totally forgot when Mr. Bell made that announcement at the end of class."

"Too distracted by your lover?" Emma asked with a teasing grin. Kira tried to laugh it off, but the caught-in-the-act look was all over her face. "Seriously though, I need some details. Was he a good kisser?"

Kira had a quick flashback to being backed up against the wall in his arms. "Yes," she said while biting her lip to keep from smiling too widely.

"Can I get some more details on that please? A little play-by-play maybe? I can promise you, every girl in the school wishes she was in my shoes right now, well more likely yours, but still."

Kira laughed and started