Love Beyond Labels

Chapter One

Halfway through the Miller family's morning prayer, Davina flinched. Her eyes flew open.

She glanced at her wrist for the disturbance.

Her younger brother's hoodie had brushed against her arm.

As if sensing her gaze, he turned to her with an apology in his dark brown eyes. She nodded and he closed his eyes to continue the prayer their mother was leading.

Davina glanced at him, suppressing her self loathing feelings that threatened to rise at his ease to return to their earlier activity after his attention was broken. Such could not be said for her; as soon as her eyes opened, her head had flooded with so many thoughts that demanded her attention.

She pressed her eyes shut and tried to listen to her mother's words.

Stop it, Davina. It's not David's fault.

Images of David and her parents accepting and accomodating her flashed through her mind. A small smile rose to her face and her mind cleared. The words her mother spoke began to make sense.

The remaining half hour of prayer flew by and Davina went up to her room to get ready for school.

As she came out of the shower, the sound of her soft ringtone filled the air and her best friend's face flashed across the screen.

"Hey, girl. I'll be there in fifteen minutes, you ready yet?" Jaiyana asked.

When Davina had moved newly to the state, her parents had scoured earnestly for schools that would take her in. Having been homeschooled all her life, Davina's parents thought that she needed to experience communication in a social setting. When she got to her school in the middle of tenth grade, it seemed that all the cliques were taken. If she had gone home that first day without even talking to anyone, the looks on her parents' face would have crushed her. So when Jaiyana West came to her with a smile and an outstretched hand, she had taken the offer without hesitation, glad that someone deemed her worthy to be a friend.

"You are ten minutes earlier than the time you normally call. Is there a problem?"

Jaiyana sighed. "I can't keep anything from you, can I? Paulina called me a few minutes ago. Her boyfriend broke up with her. I need to see her before class."

Davina frowned at the disturbance in her schedule even though Jaiyana could not see her. "Because you're a love shrink."

"Don't call me a love shrink!"

Davina couldn't tell whether Jaiyana was offended or amused through the phone.

"I'm sorry. When Ann called you a love shrink, you laughed."

Jaiyana let out a laugh. "I'm not offended, Davina. I'll see you in ten."

Davina ended the call before Jaiyana did. She was used to their conversations ending without Jaiyana saying goodbye. The last time she had ended a call with her physics lab partner without saying goodbye, the girl had marched up to Davina and gave her a piece of her mind for being rude. Davina's confusion fueled her partner's anger and it took Jaiyana's patient explanation to the both of them to clear out matters. Her lab partner had dutifully apologized but that didn't dispel the rumors of her abnormality that circulated the school.

"Davina. Breakfast," David said from outside the room.

She dressed and hurried down the stairs to the kitchen where her family sat.

"You're earlier than usual," her father commented with amusement. Her family always made light-hearted humor of her organized schedule.

"Jaiyana has a patient," Davina said.