Torn

Chapter One

Kira slid into a desk at random, a couple of seats from the aisle, glancing down the row at her neighbors. Her last year of high school started today. Finally, things were about to change. In another nine months she would be 18 and no longer a ward of the state, foster homes and strange people would be a thing of the past. She would again have that sense of constancy she never fully appreciated when her parents were alive.

A red-headed girl to her left sneered at Kira derisively, probably thinking that since she was the new girl, she would be perfect to bully. Kira sighed, there was always one in every class, who took out their own life frustrations on hapless victims, new students were prime targets. Kira didn't start fights, but ten years in foster care had shown her how to end them. Bullies had to be put down quickly or else they would terrorize you forever.

"Excuse me, may I borrow your eraser for a second?" a smooth male voice asked from over her left shoulder, so close she could feel breath on the cup of her ear. She turned her head out of instinct and bumped faces with the speaker.

"Sorry, I must have leaned in too close." said the face, breath now whispering across her lips that were mere millimeters from his. He had skin of a light caramel color and sharp green eyes, wavy black hair, the color of a raven's wing framed his face beautifully. Kira blushed profusely when she realized she was doing two strange, socially deviant things, staring at him with her mouth open instead of answering his request and second, she had not moved back from the unexpected face bump, she could still feel breath moving across her lips and chin, they were so close. She quickly moved her face away from his, realizing with some confusion that he could have just as easily moved away from the awkward position.

"S-sure, here you go." Kira stammered quickly, shoving her pencil in to his hand. She turned back around then, trying valiantly to control her galloping heartbeat and flushed face. She had almost no experience with boys and relationships, being a foster kid and moving around so much, relationships were too hard to maintain and so she usually opted to forgo them. Sure, guys had tried to date her, but she had never taken them up on their offers.

"Here's your pencil back." The smooth voice said again over her shoulder, Kira glanced over, saw the end of her pencil and grabbed it. The next few minutes were torture as she wondered what came next, would he try to talk to her again? Would her face ever go back to her normal skin color? As time passed she relaxed, listening to the teacher who was now up front talking to the class.

"Welcome to English IV, seniors. I see a lot of familiar faces in here, and a few that are new to Allport High." The teacher droned on relentlessly. Kira stifled a yawn. She had been through so many different schools, teachers and classrooms, there was really nothing new to hear in this speech.

"I'm Ezra Morgan, I'm from New Orleans." said the guy behind her, she turned, now determined to get a better look at the person who was she almost accidentally kissed. God he was gorgeous. Kira almost started blushing again, thinking about how absolutely stunning he was. He was not a hulk of muscle, but they were clearly defined. His wavy neckline length black hair contrasted with his light caramel skin, making his green eyes shine like a cat's. His whole physique screamed perfection, Kira wondered if he had ever done modeling, he was that attractive. She felt her knees go weak just looking at him.

She suddenly realized everyone was staring at her, staring at Ezra. She blinked in confusion. The teacher's high pitched voice broke through her hormonal brain fog, "Would you introduce yourself please?" The whole class tittered in amusement as Kira stuttered.

"I'm Kira Dawnfall, I'm from Dallas." With a nod the teacher moved on down the line. Kira felt her face burning again. Ezra was staring at her, a slightly amused grin on his perfect lips. Kira looked away in shame, he probably got those cow-eyed looks a lot, shame on her for looking at him like he was a piece of meat.

The rest of her day went by uneventfully, and save for all the homework she had to carry home, painlessly. As she walked the streets of the small town she compared it to the other towns she had lived in. So far it was the smallest with a population of only about 20,000 people. She thought about all the terrible country songs about small Texas towns and giggled to herself. Then her mind turned to Ezra Morgan and her face flushed. Too bad she didn't stand a chance with him, he probably hadn't pulled away this morning because he was a player, the really good looking guys were all players in her experience. She was almost willing to risk her heart to try his lips out just once. Now she kind of regretted pulling away, when in her plain-jane life would she ever have another chance to kiss a guy like that?

Soon she was at the foster home she currently shared with five other kids ranging in age from her, the oldest, to little Kaidy, who was three. Her fosters seemed to be nice people this time, which was a relief. She sighed to herself as she saw Kaidy giggling in the doorway, ready to pounce on her when she got near. She was tired from school, but knew that "No" wasn't an option. She walked to the door, bracing herself for the joy of an exuberant toddler.