She's So Gone

Chapter 2

"Caroline, how are you here right now?!" Jake shouted as he pulled me to the side of the hallway by the army green lockers and engulfed me in a bear hug. 

"Hello to you too," I replied demurely, a smile painted on my lips as my eyes caught sight of Kieran staring us down with death glares. He was still standing in the middle of the hallway with his other friends talking amongst themselves and with other people of the female variety by some of their lockers, probably wondering why Kieran was acting like such a crazy person just staring the new girl down in the middle of the hallway. 

I brushed off his malevolent glare and focused my attention on the person who actually wanted to talk to me, Jake. 

I savored his presence like a sunny day after weeks of rain, it had been so long since I'd seen him in person and I wanted to bask in it. 

"When did you get back?  Why did you come back, actually?"

And there was the kicker, the one thing that I desperately wanted to avoid talking about, especially when it was my first day back and all I wanted to be was happy. 

"Well, mom's been having some medical issues so we moved back and I wanted to surprise you." I told him, dialing my voice back down a bit because I didn't want the whole school to hear my business.

"Oh my god is she okay, what happened?" he asked me, pulling me into one of his signature bear hugs that he reserved for only me. At least, I thought he reserved them for only me, it had been an entire three years since we'd seen each other. A lot could happen in three years.

Speaking of a lot happening in three years...

"So. Puberty hit you like a ton of bricks, didn't it Rogers?"

 Of course I couldn't enjoy my reunion with my best friend without the infamous Kieran Robertson ruining it one way or another.

"We can talk later about it, I'd prefer that some people didn't hear about certain things that are none of their business," I responded to Jake while giving a pointed look to Kieran, quickly escaping the warm and comforting touch that his hug provided me and turned to face the devil himself.

I allowed myself to look at Kieran more closely then, realizing that he'd changed even more than I originally thought since I'd last seen him. 

His features had grown sharper, more intense, almost as if when he looked at you he could see directly into your soul. If only he didn't ruin all those good looks by opening his mouth and speaking.

"Kieran. I would say its nice to see you again, but I'd be lying."

"Ouch. I would say that hurts but I wouldn't expect any less coming from you," he said, the cling on girl wishing she was attached to his side laughing her little air head laugh that was common with the girls around the school. I certainly didn't miss them.  I was just glad he had moved on from staring at me in the middle of the hallway like he'd just seen a ghost. 

"I'll catch up with you later, I have to go to the office before classes to get my schedule," I told Jake, wanting to completely ignore Kieran and all of his infuriatingly good looking yet insufferable ways.

"Sure. You've still got my number right?" he asked me and I had to stop and think about that for a moment before nodding my head. I had his number, but it had been so long since I actually used it.

"We'll definitely have some classes together, text your schedule to me when you get it," he said and I saw Kieran rolling his eyes in my peripheral vision.

He was right, we would have some classes together considering how small the school was. That could only mean one thing.

I'd have classes with Kieran too. How lovely.