Spaces Between Us

First day

Mila Kunis as Kira

I sighed, my mood already ruined by my lack of breakfast this morning. Glaring at my car for no reason at all, I slung my bag onto my shoulder and strode into my new school, determined to get out with only saying twelve words total for the entire day.

I looked back at my car, rolling my eyes at the smoke that was pouring out of the hood, already texting someone to come fix it while I was in class.

I walked around the school until I found the office, too pissed to ask anyone for help. Once I found it, I went to the secretary's desk, not bothering to look at anything else. I would be in here plenty in the coming weeks anyways.

"Kira Kane." Two words. Ten to go. The secretary looked up at me with narrowed eyes and pursed lips, waiting for me to elaborate. I didn't. I kept staring at her until she figured out I wasn't going to say anything else, and she sighed, going through the papers on her desk to find my schedule. When she handed it to me, I turned and walked out of the office, beginning my search for my first class.

I bunched my dark brown hair up in frustration. I've been all around this school and not once have I seen room 349. Conveniently, this school had four different hallways. Each hall had a number on the top of the entrance. I went down the hall marked 300, and the last class on the hall was 326.

I closed my eyes and breathed in so that I wouldn't do anything dumb like punch a wall. Or a student. The possibilities are endless. When I opened my eyes and pushed off of the wall I was leaning on, I noticed a student going through a set of double doors at the end of the hall. Following her, I found that the first door on the left was marked with the numbers 349.

I scowled at the numbers and made my way into the room, plopping down on the first seat I could find. There were only about ten other students in the class with me, which made my nerves calm down a bit. The teacher walked in with a coffee in one hand, and a stack of papers in the other. I turned my head away from him and the rest of the class, looking at the glass wall that faced the rest of the school.

"Would you like to introduce yourself," he looked at the schedule that was thrown onto my desk. "Kira?"

"No." Three words. Nine to go.

He pursed his lips at me but did nothing to force me up front, so I turned back to the wall of windows, pretending I was at home.

The next class went the same as the first, except I managed to not say a single word. By the time I was walking down the hallway towards the lunch room, I was hearing rumors about me that were pretty entertaining. My absolute favorite is that I just got out of jail for beating my stepdad to a bloody pulp, and had to move to a new town to escape the charges. I don't even have a stepdad.

I got my food- a burger and fries- and sat at an empty table in the corner, where I faced everyone to avoid being surprised. About five minutes after I opened my burger, a group of three guys in leather jackets and white shirts came prancing over to me. The tallest one spoke first.

"This is my table." He puffed up his chest and smirked like I was actually going to listen to him, while I grabbed a napkin to wipe the mustard off of the side of my mouth. I shrugged and went back to my food, ignoring the bunch. The guy scoffed and slapped his tray down in front of me, hoping to scare me I guess. I just looked up and cocked an eyebrow at him, daring him to say something else to me.

My bad mood from this morning, not quite worn off yet, was amplified when my brother Kaleb texted me to tell me he couldn't fix my car, which was broken down in the parking lot as we speak.

In my third class, I had to say my name. That's five words. Seven to go.

In my fourth class, my teacher was ruthless in getting me to introduce myself, so I said the bare minimum: "my name is Kira Kane." I fake smiled at the teacher and took my seat, watching her fume.

That's ten words. Two to go.

After school ended, I followed the crowd back to the parking lot, where I found my car. Knowing I would be leaving it here for the night, I got all the stuff out that I thought I would need. Mainly my phone charger, my purse, and my emergency bag. As I shut the door to my car, I noticed someone standing behind me. I sighed and turned to see who it was, crossing my arms over my chest to let them know I didn't want to talk.

The guy looked down at my crossed arms and narrowed his eyes, obviously knowing what I was implying. He looked back up at me and smirked, leaning on the car behind him.

"I noticed you In all of my classes today and I have to say, you're one of the hottest new girls I've seen in a while." I rolled my eyes and began to walk away, but he grabbed my upper arm before I could get very far. I turned back to him infuriated that he touched me and grabbed the hand that held my arm, twisting it behind his back, only letting go when I heard him groan in pain. He massaged his shoulder and looked at me, still keeping the stupid smirk on his face.

"I get it. You like it rough." I scoffed and pushed past him, not being stopped this time.

"Wait! Don't you want to know my name?" I stopped and looked behind me,

"No thanks." That's twelve. My goal is complete. I smiled to myself but quickly pushed it away when I saw some lingering students watch me walk out of the lot.

About an hour and a half later, I arrived home. I could hear the television playing in the other room as I put my bag in a corner and kicked off my shoes. I walked into the living room to see Kaleb playing with Olivia, my two-and-a-half month old daughter. I smiled at the sight of her laying on the floor, staring up at a mirror and some toys, her eyes filled with amazement.

I went to my backpack and took out the three bottles of breastmilk I pumped throughout the day and went to the crockpot in the kitchen to warm up a bottle, while putting the other two bottles in the refrigerator for tomorrow. When the bottle was done heating up, I walked into the living room shaking the milk around. Olivia immediately started fussing when she heard me shaking her bottle, letting me know that it was taking too long for me to pick her up.

Once she was done eating, I burped her and laid her in her swing while I went to shower. When I walked back into the living room, Olivia was sleeping and Kaleb was watching the news. I sat down on the couch beside Kaleb and he smiled at me, then turned back to the show. Once a commercial came on, he focused his attention on me.

"How was school?" I sighed and scooted down on the couch.

"Horrible. I only said twelve words the whole day, so that has to count for something." I smiled at him as he rolled his eyes and looked over at Olivia. "It was my first day away from her ever, so I knew it would be hard. I just didn't know how hard." He nodded in understanding, also looking at his niece.

"Yeah she didn't like school either, she cried the whole time I was trying to work on your car. Speaking of, I called someone to go look at it tonight so it should be good for you to drive back home tomorrow." I thanked him and stood up to greet a fussy Olivia, taking her from her swing and to the couch where I could change her diaper. I grabbed my emergency bag and took out a diaper and some wipes, grabbing a onesie for her pajamas from the pile of laundry on the arm chair next to me.

As soon as she fell asleep again, I took her to her crib in my room and collapsed onto my bed, knowing I would be awake again In the next three hours to feed her.