AURORA
Gabe slung his arm over my shoulder and whispered into my ear, “Who were you talking to, babe?”“Just greeting the new kid.” I smiled at him and put a fry in my mouth. “He’s funny, I think we could be friends.”Gabe laughed, “You try to be friends with everyone, babe.”I tilted my head and said, “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”“You’re just too nice sometimes." He pinched my cheek with a pout.I rolled my eyes at him and continued eating, letting my ears tune into the other conversations so that I didn’t have to hear another lecture from Gabe about being too nice.My third class of the day was Mr. Hammond's chemistry class, one of my favorite teachers. He makes chemistry fun and he jokes around a lot, he kind of reminds me of Bill Nye – the way that you kind of think of him as a goofy uncle figure.I walked in with a skip in my step, excited to see one of my favorite teachers, when I was pleasantly surprised to find the new kid Kiran already seated at the back corner table.Our eyes met and I didn’t even think before walking over to him, “Mind a partner? I figure you would want to partner with someone you already know instead of a stranger.”He leaned forward slightly and asked me, “Isn’t that how friends are made? Talking to people you don’t know yet?” There was a line between his brows as he slightly squinted his eyes while he asked.I like his sense of humor, it’s refreshing, and not a lot of people here are sarcastic in humor.I laughed, “Very true, in that case, I’ll just be right here in case you need an escape from whoever ends up sitting next to you “ I pointed to the table in front of him and sat down directly in front of him.More people began to enter the classroom. And I turned on the stool to talk to Kiran, “You know another way to make friends and meet people?” He lifted an eyebrow at me so I whispered, “Go to a party.”He rolled his eyes and inhaled deeply before looking down. “Why are you so hellbent on me going to this party? I don’t even know who’s throwing it.”“Gabe is.”He laughed again and I got to see him smile, I couldn’t help but smile back at him. He mumbled to himself, “Yeah, I’m definitely not going,” then he looked at me and whispered, “but thanks for the invite,” and tapped his hand twice on the table between us. What does he have against Gabe?“Hey now, Gabe is a good guy. Sure, he can be a little rough around the edges, but there’s good in there.”
He only stared at me blankly. I stared back, adjusting my posture during our staring contest, silently challenging him.“No.” He looked back down and began writing something in his notebook.I only smiled and shook my head. There were only a couple of seats left open in the classroom, one of them being next to Kiran. I had a feeling that he didn’t want to be at the table with the last remaining seat – it’s like being picked last for basketball in gym. It’s not a good feeling.A big, burly student in a letterman jacket came in and glanced around the classroom for an empty seat. I knew this guy from Gabe – his name is Jackson, and he slacks a lot in his classes. I knew that Kiran would be doing all the work and Jackson would take credit at the end of the day if they were to partner, and Kiran seemed like the kind of person who wouldn’t appreciate that.“Last chance,” I said to Kiran while I played with the pencil between my fingers.I could see him clench his teeth and he practically snarled as he forced out, “Okay, fine.”I grabbed my bag and hurried back towards him, apologizing to the girl next to me as she mumbled with a frown on her brows, “Oh, come on!”I leaned down to her and whispered, “He’s your cousin, you can handle him,” referring to the incoming Jackson.She grumbled and I hurried to sit next to Kiran with a smile. I was pleased with myself but hoped I wasn’t acting smug at all.The seat that I had been in was now taken by the big jock Jackson, who folded his arms on the table before laying his head down. I peeked over at Kiran who was looking at him and slowly shaking his head.I leaned closer to him and whispered, “You’re welcome.”He gave me a look that said ‘knock it off.’ I guess I was acting smug. Dammit, Aurora, you know better than that! I mumbled a quick apology to him and took out my stuff for class and placed it on the table.I noticed in my peripheral vision that Kiran was looking at me, so I looked back at him and noticed a look of incredulity on his face.He dropped his head towards the table as he looked at me and asked, “Did you just apologize?”I shrugged, “I was acting smug, so yes, I did.”He smiled at me again, and I had to look away before he saw me blush. He has a charming smile.“Alright, class, let’s begin. My name is Mr. Hammond,” the teacher spoke up and wrote his name on the board for us, “Today we will begin our class by opening our books to page 32, and there we will find the difference between physical properties and chemical properties of matter – that is where we will begin.”Since Kiran was new, he didn’t have his own book, so I placed mine in the center of the desk for us to share. He whispered a thank you to me and I grinned at him in response.I really wanted him to come to Gabe’s party and meet some people – I really think he would get along with some of the people here! He was funny, in a dry humor kind of way, which I thought was refreshing, and I think a lot of other people will find it nice as well.There was one point in class where Kiran was turned away from me, and I took it as an opportunity to sneak a piece of paper inside his jacket pocket with the address of the party, time to arrive, and my cell number in case he gets lost."When do you get your headphones back?" He casually asked halfway through class and my heart skipped a beat thinking he caught me putting the note in his pocket."At the end of the day. Anything that gets confiscated here gets held for the rest of the day.""That sucks," he mumbled."No worries," I smiled, "I always have a backup," I pulled my jacket sleeve down slightly to show him the buds in my palm. He raised a brow at me so I unzipped my jacket to show him the wire that was threaded from my pocket and up through my sleeve to my hand so that every time I rest my head on my hand I can listen to my music. I rested my head on my hand with my ear near the buds so that I could hear the music and smirked at him."Clever.""Thank you."KIRAN The first day of school was over and I headed home. Mom and I only have one car, and since her work is only a few blocks from our apartment and my school is both further and starts earlier, we agreed that I should use the car to get to and from the school, then all other times it can be for moms use. I didn't want to be the new kid who gets dropped off by his mommy every single day - I would die of humiliation, especially since I have my own license, there was just no point in making my mom get up at 6 AM every day. Why should we both have to suffer? "How was your first day?" She asked before I could even shut the door. I shrugged and frowned as I said to her, "Take a guess." She pursed her lips and narrowed her brown eyes at me as she thought about it, "A typical first day for a new kid where you ignored everyone?" "Bingo!" I pointed at her and reached into my pocket to get the car keys out. I
KIRAN Mom gave me the car tonight to get to-and-from this party that she insisted I go to. She said it was a great opportunity to make friends and that the new kid never gets invited to things on their first day. I wanted to find a gym to work out at and work on my technique, but I am still yet to find a decent gym that I can do any kickboxing in. No place I've seen so far has a boxing ring or decent equipment for practicing. Pulling up to the address that Aurora gave me, everyone was parked in the grass out front of the house, or rather, mansion would be more appropriate, all scattered around. I decided to reduce the risk of anything happening to the car by parking across the street and by the sidewalk instead. There were scarce any neighbors here and every house had numerous acres of space - I'm sure no one will mind my parking here. I questioned before getting out of the car if I should really be here. I gripped the stee
AURORA Gabe was being rude, and I couldn't help feeling a tad bit embarrassed. I was incredibly grateful that Kiran was being as kind as to stop drinking so that he could help me get these kids home. Some of them would pass out and have to crash here at Gabe’s house, but there was a good number of people who know their limit and will ask for a ride home before they pass out, throw up, or both. "I'm sorry about him," I felt the need to apologize for Gabe’s behavior, "He's really a good guy." "Yeah, so you've said," he mumbled while watching Gabe’s retreating figure with distaste. "I really appreciate you not drinking to help me out, but really, there won't be that many who need to be taken home, and I'm sure I can handle it myself. So drink, have fun, mingle, meet," I was making big hand motions to the room we were in and saw Kiran smirking at me. I have to admit that my heart leaped when he had called me cute and I had to hide my face
KIRAN I was simply minding my own business and enjoying watching Aurora and her friends dance when a drunk redhead named Rebecca came over and began talking before she threw herself on me. As much as I tried to pull away from her kisses, my restraint just made her go harder, I eventually gave up and decided to push through it until she needed some oxygen. It was the sound of a big thud on the ground that shocked her away from me. It sounded like someone had fallen over the railing on the second floor of the house and collided with the ground on the first floor. We both looked over, along with everyone else in the room, and saw Aurora and Gabe standing together, Aurora's friends were nearby with widened eyes and looks of fear as they stared at the couple. Gabe's body was blocking Aurora's face, but I could see her blonde hair and grey cardigan. What did I miss? Whose ass do I need to kick? The redhead's pale lips moved into a grin as she looked
AURORA Stacy is usually the first girl to get shit faced at these parties, and I was slightly surprised to hear that Kiran had already taken one girl home because she was too far gone, but I was thankful that he was helping me out and I wasn't on my own dealing with them anymore. I won't ask him to do this every time, but it's refreshing having someone even offer their help in the first place. As much as I adore and love Jen and Dani, they're more partners than me, so I usually end up driving them home as well. Most of the time, I don't mind it, but something Kiran had said was ringing in my ears. He had asked, "When do you get to have your own fun?" I think Kiran's idea of fun was something along the lines of this party - drinking and just hanging out, letting loose without a worry in the world. My answer to that question: Never. I have always been the one to look out for other people. The only person who ever really looke
KIRAN Some people had come to talk to me and engage in casual conversation while Aurora was gone taking people home, but none of them I thought I could consider becoming a close friend. It was true that some people were nice and personable, but there were some ugly things at this party as well. I noticed that the girls who hung around the jocks were becoming intoxicated quicker than the rest of the partiers. Maybe these girls are just drinking more than others? No, I had kept an eye on the brunette in a red top and jeans and she had only one cup. What was going on? As Aurora left the house and the door behind her shut, one of the jocks who was hanging out casually by the front door came over to gave and his friends and pulled a baggie out of his letterman jacket. The guys all gathered around the glass table, one of them pulling out a credit card of sorts and splitting the contents of the package. Fucking hell, they're snorting coke behind Aurora's bac
AURORA It was the first Monday of the new school year, and the third period was about to start after lunch when I caught up with Kiran in our chemistry class. I was almost late for our first class this morning after getting distracted by my music and I didn't get the chance to talk to him then. "Hey," I grinned at him. "Hey," he said coolly. "So, I thought about what you said and I want to hang out tonight." Kiran looked confused for a moment and looked off into the distance as if he were trying to remember, "Did I ask you out?" I chuckled, "No, not like that. It's a clear day out, not a single cloud in the sky. I want to show you how I have fun." Curious, Kiran lifted a brow at me and analyzed my features before agreeing, "Okay." My last period of the day is as an office aid, and I usually spend that time catching up on homework, but today I decided to do a little digging while the principal was in the bathroom and fin
AURORA We pulled up to the parking lot of Kiran's apartment building and I parked the car in an empty spot that faces the building. We sat in silence for a while, unsure of what to say. I was expecting him to get out of the car as soon as it stopped, but he just sat there, tense. I noticed in the corner of my eye that he turned his head to me, so I turned mine to look back at him. The look on his face was quizzical and his lips were tense, so I asked, "What?" "You're always smiling, always the designated driver at parties, I'm sure you probably console every crying person you come across and give screaming kids hugs... not once have I seen you show a weakness." I lifted my eyebrows, "Thank you," a small grin appeared on my lips. "It's not a good thing, Aurora." My smile fell and he went on, "You can't keep trying to help people, who's helping you?" "You sound like Gabe," I chuckled weakly and looked straight ahe