Broken (a novella)

3

"Morning, Kylo," Rey said happily, sliding into her seat next to him in biology the next day. Hux wasn't there yet, so Kylo had been sitting in his desk staring into space. It was easier than listening to the tedious conversations of airheaded teenagers around him. He was so absorbed in thinking about recent events, including Snoke's proposal that he didn't even notice her voice.

"Kylo," Rey repeated. He reached across the aisle and shook him gently by the shoulder. Her touch was electric, and Kylo whirled around, totally in shock that she had touched him. But not because he did not appreciate being touched. Her gentle hand reminded him of his mother's. He hadn't been touched by a female in a very, very long time and it unnerved him. When his eyes locked with hers, she looked confused. It was his reaction that had done it. He was sure of it. She looked startled.

Her eyes reminded of a deer he'd seen once when Han had taken him camping with Uncle Chewie in middle school. He had been alone in the woods because he'd wandered away from the trail when Han and Chewie were talking about something and had failed to notice that he'd gone off to explore. He'd stumbled into a clearing, and had alerted a deer drinking from a stream. It had been a doe, belly swollen and pregnant with at least one fawn, maybe even two. She had looked up, straight into his innocent eyes, not afraid but startled. Perhaps she had never seen a human before, but she did not run. Instead, she looked at him intently, stamping her foot angrily, and stood her ground. Her beautiful brown eyes had taken his breath away.

He realized that this was exactly the effect Rey's eyes had on him. They took his breath away. When the morning sun came in through the window, igniting the few red strands in her brunette hair, the effect was even more striking. He swallowed, struggling for something to say, even though he was sure she had said something to him first. "What?" he asked quickly, his voice cracking like a little kid's.

Rey smiled, unfazed by his momentary lapse in concentration. "Good morning," she repeated. "How was your night?"

He didn't smile, but his eyes lightened a bit. "Well. Yourself?"

"Good," she replied. "My foster parents keep the house really cold at night, so I was snuggling with my dog in an attempt to keep warm."

"You have a dog?" Kylo asked. He'd always wanted a dog, but Han wouldn't have it. "What kind? What's its name?"

"He's a dachshund named BB-8."

"BB-8? That's a weird name."

"Well," she explained, playing with her hair absentmindedly as she spoke, "when I was little, I had a dog named Bartholomew. Only I couldn't pronounce his name, so I just called him BB. Since then, as I moved to different foster homes, I managed to convince my family to get a dog if they didn't have one, and I always named them BB. This is the eighth one, so she's BB-8."

It seemed so sad to Kylo that she'd had eight dogs, one at each foster home. And that she'd had eight foster homes, if not more. She could never have real parents that way. Not in the sense that Kylo did, even though he had problems with his parents.

"Kylo," said a sharp voice. Somehow, Hux had entered the room without Kylo noticing and had taken his seat. "Stop talking to her. She's no one. I have things to tell you."

Shooting Rey an apologetic look, Kylo turned his attention to his best friend. "Snoke tells me you went to see him last night," Hux whispered as Rey looked on in a confused way.

Kylo nodded. "She doesn't know anything, Hux. That's what I was telling him."

Hux nodded approvingly. "You managed to sell any of your weed yet?"

Kylo shook his head. "I got a few deals coming up. People quit calling me for some reason."

"Or maybe you're just lazy," Hux growled. "Or maybe it's that girl. I saw how you were looking at her when you walked in. I've never seen you look at anyone like that in your entire life."