Don't Let Him Get You

Chapter 6

Kiara had just fallen asleep when Lillian and Ronan came home. Lillian had been busy with multiple surgeries and Ronan had been going over old cases, some of which had not been closed yet. They found the dinner Kiara made along with a note. While sitting for dinner, Lillian mentioned a message she received from Asher. "Asher asked me today if Kiara was related to Luke. Apparently, she is in his homeroom."

Ronan stopped eating and raised his eyebrows. "That's a big coincidence. What did you tell him?"

"I told him the truth but that he should keep quiet about it. Kiara is already worried about being new, she doesn't need teachers and students giving her sideways glances."

Ronan nodded his head in agreement. He was still trying to wrap his head around the coincidence of Asher Alder, an old friend of her father's, being Kiara's homeroom teacher. It was a good thing at the same time because that meant he could keep an eye on her and make sure she was settling in well. "Do you think he'll tell Kiara that he knew her parents? It wouldn't be that bad because she is bound to run into many people who knew them."

Lillian thought it over for a moment. Of course, Kiara had the right to know about everything that happened and all the people her parents knew, but she was hesitant to have all that bad history trudged up once again. "I think he should leave it for now, just until she is settled more. I don't want too much weight put on her. Especially if it has to do with her parents."

"Don't you think she'll feel worse if we keep everything from her? Or, what if waiting and telling her makes everything worse because she'll be settled in and then we dump all of this on her?" Ronan was frustrated because he wanted to protect Kiara but at the same time, he felt she had the right to know.

Lillian knew he made a good point— waiting could just make it all worse. "What if we tell her this weekend? We'll have a nice breakfast on Saturday and tell her then. Everything out in the open." Ronan seemed to like this idea. "But let's see what she remembers first and we'll fill in the blanks."

Ronan agreed to the idea and the rest of the night was spent in silence.

**

Kiara was sitting beside Dani in English, trying to concentrate on what Mr. Barbara was saying. Unfortunately for Kiara, English had not been one of the classes where she was ahead. Dani was doodling on her page, sometimes taking notes but not efficiently. Kiara on the other hand was frantically trying to write down his every word, but it was proving difficult when he spoke so quickly and jumped from one thought to another. Kiara's hand was put out of its misery when the bell finally rang.

"I thought he would never stop talking," Dani whispered to Kiara as they packed their things.

Kiara laughed. "I was hoping he would so I could finish writing a sentence." They left the classroom and were walking down the hall. Even though they didn't have the next class together, the rooms were in the same direction.

"I've had him for two years now and figured out that there is no point in trying to write down everything he says. Just write down a few words that you think are important, the rest is usually in the slides, the handouts or the textbook."

Kiara looked down at the textbook she was carrying. At the beginning of class Mr. Barbara had taken them all to the library to grab two books, one was the textbook and the other was a short novel. The textbook was thick and heavy and from the looks of the other textbooks Kiara saw in the library and the Biology textbook she already had, all the textbooks were like this. "I am going to be a hunchback by the end of the year."

"Or you'll be really great at limbo!" Dani said before she waved at Kiara and walked into her Psychology class and Kiara into Chemistry a few doors down. There were already a few students in the room and Kiara decided she would sit in the middle at one of the lab desks. The teacher was standing at the front writing a few things on the white board, which Kiara began to copy into her notebook. The bell rang and the last of the students rushed in.