"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 giving up some of the more intimate details about the romance of the location and how they were yelling one moment then caught up in it the next. Emma hung on her every word and sighed romantically at the appropriate moments. It was the perfect ten minutes to Kira, who had been thinking too many deep thoughts recently. She just wished she had thought to supply some chocolate or peanut butter. One thing was certain though, next time she needed to watch romantic movies like The Notebook, Emma would definitely be the one to call. She needed another person besides her mother who could appreciate the “I want to cry because this is so heartbreakingly romantic” sort of movie.
Eventually, Kira drove away from the school and found her way back home, just in time to make dinner. She sat her little sister on the counter as she prepared the chicken picatta and heard all about Chloe’s day with her imaginary friend Beth. Sometimes Kira wished she was still in those days of make-believe, but despite how nerve-racking the past few weeks had been, she knew she was on the verge of figuring it all out. She just needed a bit more patience.
The next day, all Kira could think about was how to put her plan into action. She barely spoke to her friends at lunch and was silent during her walk to English with Luke. Just as they were about to turn into the classroom, she stopped moving.
"Hey, Luke?" He turned when he heard her speak. "I forgot something in my locker. I’ll meet you inside."
He nodded and continued into the classroom.
She tried to walk at a normal pace, but quickly sped to her hiding spot and peered around the corner of a locker to keep a lookout on the classroom door. For a moment she was worried that Tristan would be the one to sneak up on her, but Kira soon saw Mr. Bell enter the classroom, and Tristan was close behind.
After he disappeared inside, Kira made her way to the door, hoping that an open seat was left next to Tristan and that all of this planning wasn’t for nothing. Luke sat at the front of the classroom with an open seat next to him, and Tristan was two feet from her next to the other open seat. She flashed an apologetic look at Luke and sat down, trying to look guilty at being late instead of smug at having everything go smoothly.
Tristan didn’t glance at her, but she thought she saw his arm muscles tighten in anger when she sat down a few inches from him. Kira tried to act innocent and pulled out some paper to jot down notes during the first half of class. Really, she was losing all of her patience waiting for Mr. Bell to end the lecture and start with the acting lessons. If he didn’t do it soon, she knew her chance to trap Tristan for a few minutes would be lost. She couldn’t really pull the “I left something in my locker” act again. Kira knew Luke would be suspicious.
Finally, Mr. Bell walked down the aisles assigning pairs, and Kira let out a silent breath of relief when she and Tristan were paired together.
"Okay, everyone, now that we’ve finished reading the play, I want you all to practice reading Shakespeare out loud. He was a playwright after all, his words were meant to be spoken. I think the balcony scene will do since I paired you all in coed groups. You are all hormonal teenagers, right?"
The class responded with a laugh, and everyone opened their books to act 2, scene 2. Tristan turned to Kira with what she could only call a pained expression and tried his best to read some of the most romantic lines ever written in a completely melancholic voice.
"'But soft what light through yonder window breaks. It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise fair sun and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief that thou her maid art far more fair than she.'"
Kira couldn’t help but laugh at him as he speedily grumbled out the lines without even an ounce of passion. "You know this is supposed to be a love scene, right?"
He looked up at her with contempt while she tried to swallow her smile. "Oh, really? I hadn’t noticed."
He looked back down at the page and continued to read aloud in his monotone voice, totally ignoring her, which just prompted her to continue.
"Look, Tristan, there’s no point hiding the fact that you like me, from me I mean. I flipped through your notebook again after I saw that you’d left it behind. I saw the drawings you made of me." He looked up at her then, and Kira handed his small moleskin back to him, happy to at least have that out of the way. For some reason, she thought he was looking at her like she was an unruly child who wouldn't follow instructions. Where he got that from, she had no idea, but he continued with his speech so she continued talking over him.
"They were really great, actually—pretty flattering." She smiled, hoping he would look at her again, but he didn’t. "Anyway, I think we should talk about what happened, not here obviously, but somewhere where we can meet in private." They both chose that moment to look around, and Kira saw they had the attention of both Luke and Tristan’s friends. Yeah, the classroom was definitely not the right place to have this conversation, and she kind of hoped talking would lead to other things like it had last time…
He finished reading his lines. "Hey, Juliet, it’s your turn." He smirked.
"Oh, right." She looked down at her book. "'O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art though Romeo.'" She tried to copy his apathetic style of reading and was secretly overjoyed when he laughed at her.
"I get it, I sounded like an idiot." She just continued giving him the same silent treatment he had given her. "Okay, here’s the truth, Kira. We can’t talk here, and we shouldn’t even be talking now, or maybe ever."
"You told me that already." She stopped reading.
"Yet, you seem to have trouble understanding it. English is your first language, right?" She rolled her eyes at the joke. "Like I said before, we just can’t ever be."
"I understand what you’re saying, but I also know you don’t mean it." She leaned closer to him to prevent from being overheard.
"I do," he said, forcing the point.
"Oh really?" she tried to push him now. "It didn’t seem that way when you kissed me."
"Kira, forget that ever happened, okay?"
"Or what? You don’t scare me."
"I should," he said and shot Kira a lethal look.
His eyes changed color to the lightest blue she could imagine, and they held her captive. Not in the romantic way, but as though she were a prisoner held paralyzed. His eyes were ice cold, making her shiver as though she had been dropped in an arctic pool, and slowly his pupils began to expand, overtaking his irises.
Kira was scared, but more than that, she felt like he knew it and didn’t care. Try as she might, she couldn't look away—completely stuck. Slowly, a feeling of warmth spread to her hands, burning hot, a sense of power that fought the fear tightening her stomach in knots.
Whipping her gaze to the floor, Kira breathed heavy as she finally broke his stare. Her fingertips still tingled with the heat that had coursed through her, allowing her to break his gaze. Kira leaned back against her chair, away from him, and touched her fingers to her cheek.
They burned into her skin.
"What the hell was that?" she asked unsteadily, still not looking up. The heat emanating from her hand absorbed all of Kira’s thoughts.
"Me," he said with the venom gone from his voice. She looked at him again and caught the unbearably sad expression in his eyes before he looked away.
Or me? she thought, feeling the warmth finally ebb.
"Rewriting Shakespeare, are we?" Mr. Bell walked between them, and Kira couldn’t help but let a guilty look cross her face. They most certainly had not been following the assignment, but she wanted to hug Mr. Bell for breaking the silence and pausing her thoughts. "Tristan, you seem to have a hard time following the classroom rules." Tristan looked at Mr. Bell defiantly, and Kira felt a little sorry that she had caused the whole thing. "What were you and Mrs. Dawson talking about so passionately? It definitely was not Romeo and Juliet."
"Screw you," Tristan replied. Every student in the classroom inhaled in shock. She couldn’t tell if he said it just to be defiant or to hide their conversation from his friends.
"Well, Mr. Kent." Tristan looked up at the use of his last name. "Perhaps you and Miss Dawson would like to show everyone how it’s done. Tomb scene. Front of the class. Now."
Kira stood and practically pulled Tristan from his seat to stop him from getting both of them punished with extra homework.
As they walked to the front of the class, he whispered to her, "Think you can be quiet and play dead for a few minutes?"
When they reached the front, she turned to face him and, with his body hiding her face from the rest of the class, said defiantly, "Think you can pretend to not enjoy kissing me for your friends?"
"Think you can for Luke?" He smirked and moved aside.
Damn him, she thought, he always has to have the last word.
"You can start with Romeo’s monologue," Mr. Bell prodded, and Tristan began to read.
Kira listened intently for the cue that meant he would lean down to give her a quick kiss in front of the classroom. As she listened, she realized he was much better at reading than he let on. His voice was full of passion as he paused at the appropriate moments and rushed through some lines as though the words were his own. Kira lay still on the front table with closed eyes, but was sure he had captivated the entire classroom as he read Romeo’s lines. And she felt herself fall for him a little bit more the longer he spoke.
"'Eyes, look your last.'"
Even through closed lids, his gaze sent a thrill down her spine.
"'Arms, take your last embrace.'"
His body gently settled on top of her own. He seemed to speak only to her ear.
"'And lips,'" he whispered, running his thumb along the edge of her lower lip, something the script definitely didn’t call for. "'Oh you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss, a dateless bargain to engrossing death.'"
He lifted himself off of her to continue reading. Kira heard him utter the last few lines and recognized the swish of his clothes as he lifted his arm to swallow invisible poison.
"'Oh true apothecary, thy drugs are quick,'" he spoke with a stalled voice. His hands fell on either side of her face and the desk creaked as he leaned slowly down. From the brush of warm air, she knew that his lips were only an inch away.
"'Thus with a kiss I die.'"
For what seemed like a millennium, Kira lay still, waiting, until finally, in the softest kiss she could ever imagine, his lips landed on hers and remained there for a few seconds longer than they should have. Her lips curved into a smile and his did the same. Unfortunately, he then pretended to fall off the desk and die.
Shoot, Kira thought, listening to the engrossed silence of the class, how the heck am I supposed to follow that?
Mr. Bell spoke for the other characters, until she knew it was her time to wake. Kira opened her eyes slowly and sat up to speak her lines to the friar. She tried to look appropriately shocked when she was told of Romeo’s death but heard some people snicker at her failed attempt. And just when Kira was supposed to have her own monologue, the bell thankfully rang and saved her from the embarrassing experience.
Kira looked down at Tristan and almost believed him dead, until he jumped up, winked at her, and fled from the classroom. Kira sat for a moment longer, trying to guess who had come out of that exchange with the upper hand, wondering if Tristan would agree to talk things over in private.
More importantly, she felt her own cheek, trying to recall the overwhelming warmth that spread from her hand to that very spot. Kira had no idea what had happened, and she didn’t know who to ask for answers.
With a heavy sigh, 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.