As an exchange student from Scotland, a whole new world opens up to Darren Green when he moves to the United States. He'll live with a host family, start at a new school, and he'll have to make new friends. However, what won't be a part of this new...
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THE LIBERATING SOUND OF THE last school bell of the day had played and Darren had just said goodbye to Nova when he saw Liam. His host brother caught sight of him too.
"Hey, Darren!" he said, walking up to him. "I have practice right now, so I can't take you home." He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb at his teammates. "Aimee can take you."
"Where is she?" Darren asked. He looked around, but most people just walked by them to enjoy the freedom of after-school hours. Aimee wasn't one of them.
"She's always a bit slow," Liam said. "Has to talk with the girls, or whatever." He rolled his eyes. "She'll be here in a second, just wait here, okay? She knows she has to pick you up, so she'll be looking for you too."
"Okay," Darren said, the relief audible in his voice. "Good luck in practice."
Liam patted his new brother on the back and ran over to his friends, leaving Darren behind. When he stood in the emptying lot for more than ten seconds, he decided to find a place to sit where he could wait on Aimee. He saw a rock not too far away, which would have been perfect had there not already been someone sitting on it.
Someone from the female species with light, almost white hair.
Hesitantly, he walked up to her. "Dakota?"
She jumped and started coughing. "Darren?" she asked, looking up between coughs.
"... yes."
It was really her, and she looked just like she had on the day of the football game, with her hair loose, her skin pale despite the sun working extra hard, and her outfit bright. Between her fingers, she held a cigarette. "Has anyone ever told you you can't scare someone who's smoking?" she asked. "We're already dying, but we don't need your help by startling us and letting us choke."
Darren took a step back. "Sorry."
She got up and straightened her skin-tight skirt. "No worries," she said. "I'm being dramatic, it's just what I do." She sighed, let her cigarette drop to the floor and put it out with her foot. "How long have you been here? I was waiting for you."
"Not that long," he said. "School is only just out."
"Good," she said.
"Why weren't you in school?" he asked. "You haven't come in today, and you weren't here yesterday." He shared English with Dakota, but her seat had been empty, and Marley had made him aware of her absence the day before.
"Had some stuff to take care off," she said. "It's not that important, really, just a boring story. And I don't want to bore you." She tilted her head. "Why do you look so scared?"
He realized that all his muscles were tense, so he changed his body posture and tried to relax his body. It was just Dakota, the mysterious girl who disappeared for two days but had returned saying she was looking for him, but it was still just Dakota. "I'm not..." he said, but he trailed off.
