"Kendra!", my mom yells from upstairs, "Come up here now!"

"I have to go, Victor. I'll call you later." I hang up my phone, forever wishing that I lived in South Carolina with him, and not in Iowa, the land of corn. I rush upstairs to find my mom hunched a pot of boiling water.

"You didn't do your chores." she states. I look at the clock and see that it is only 5 o' clock.

"I'm sorry. I got distracted." She flinches. I step toward her, worried. "Are you okay?"

"Stop changing the subject." she says, flinching again, "You were talking to that boy again."

"Victor? Yah, we were talking about school."

"He doesn't go to your school!" she yells, suddenly outraged, "You keep lying!"

"Um. I met him at camp. The advanced music one." I say while taking a step back, confused. "We kept in touch."

"You keep lying!" She yells, "And know your talking about who-knows-what with some boy you met!"

"I'm not lying!" I yell, fed up with the accusations, "We were talking about school!"

"Liar!" she screams, turning around, with the pot of boiling water still in her hands.

"No!" I scream, "I'm not!"

Her eyes bulged open in rage, and before I realize what is happening, she grabs the pot with both hands and swings it at me, making contact with the left side of my face. The water pours all over my arm and leg. I fall to the ground in shock and pain. I feel nauseous as I see my skin melting and blistering from the burns.

"I can't stand you!" she yells. "Go pack your stuff. You get one suitcase. I need you out of my house." She storms off to her room as I sit on the floor. I pick myself off the floor and limp downstairs. So many questions flood to my head, but I am too terrified to ask her. I walk past my younger brother, whose eyes widen at the state of my skin.

"What..." he stammers.

"Mom." I sob out. "She is sending me away. Can you help me pack!"

His eyes fill with tears, but he says nothing. We both saw this day coming. Our mom has been always angry as a side-affect of her migraine medicine. I always take the anger to protect Jason. Sometimes the punishments were easy to take, sometimes they weren't. He grabbed the biggest suitcase and dropped it in my room. He goes to my closet and grabs me secret stash of Tylenol and hands me some. He then grabs a baggy sweatshirt and sweatpants for me to cover my burns with. After I change, we start packing as many sets of clothes we can fit in the suitcase. I pack my toiletries, and grab all of my contacts. Jason grabs some picture I have laying around my room and grabs a couple books. I grab even more books, because reading is my escape. As we are packing the last of my things, our mom bursts into my room. My brother jumps back and I stand in front of him.

"The taxi is on its way. Your plane leaves in two hours. I have to call your aunt and tell her your are staying with her."

She walks out and I turn to my brother. I see that he is now crying and he pulls me into a hug. He then grabs my suitcase and brings it upstairs. I grab my phone and turn to look in the mirror and sob. My entire bottom-left of my face is burned raw and has dried blood and blisters covering the surface of my skin. I look away before I puke. I look around my room one last time and walk upstairs. Jason is standing with my suitcase and my glasses. He also has my wallet and some extra money, his parting gift to me.

"Your phone number will be turned off tomorrow. It gives you enough time to call your aunt when the plane lands." With that, she walks away.

Jason pulls me into another hug and helps me put my suitcase in the taxi.

"I'll say goodbye to dad for you." he says. "I'll try to visit soon. Stay safe."

"I will. Good-bye." I say, starting to tear up.

"Bye." he says, also tearing up. He watches as the taxi takes me away.

The taxi ride gives my mind some time to catch up with what just happened. I send Victor a text saying something happened and that I wouldn't be able to text him. I hope I run into him soon. My aunt lives in South Carolina near Victor, but I don't want him to see me until the burns have healed.

The taxi arrives at the airport and I check in and board the plane. I fall asleep, knowing that it will be awhile before we land. I wake up as we are stopping and prepare myself to see my favorite aunt.

I step off the plane, scanning the area for the nearest bathroom. I walk into the one at the end of the hallway and call my aunt.

"Hello? Kendra, is that you?" I hear from the phone.

"Yah. I wanted to call you and tell you the plane landed."

"Okay. I am by the luggage pick-up."

" 'kay. I'll be there in a minute."

I shut off my phone and look at the wreck I had become in the last few hours. My eyes, normally a sparkling brown, full of life, were now dull and dead looking. My slightly wavy hair was a tangled mess, laying flat on my head. My face is blotchy red from crying and it is barely recognizable from the burns. I comb out my hair with my fingers and pull it into a braid. The good thing about having caramel colored hair is that it always looks good in a braid. I step out of the bathroom and walk towards the luggage pick-up. I stare at the ground when I first spot my aunt, not sure how she is feeling about me staying with her. All of the sudden, I feel arms pulling me into a hug. I look up to see my aunt's eyes and she bursts into tears and gives me another hug.

"When your mom called me saying she was kicking you out, I was so confused. Then she said you were marked and I was even more confused. She didn't tell me what had happened. And you don't have to tell me now, let's get you to a doctor." She picked up my suitcase and wrapped her other arm around me as we walked to her car. Now it was my turn to burst into tears. I was so happy she is here and she is being so nice. I am so happy I got sent to her.

"I know a really good doctor who I want you to see. He will make sure you get the right stuff the first time and he will probably give you something to help the pain. Okay?"

I nod, not trusting my voice to stay steady. We pull into the parking lot of a hospital and walk in. My aunt walks to the front counter and requests a doctor named Sean Green. A couple minutes later a young doctor walks in and gives my aunt a hug.

"Susan! It's so great to see you! How can I help you?" The doctor asks.

"It's nice to see you too. I am afraid that my niece has some pretty nasty burns that need attention." She replies, looking at me.

"Of course. Anything for the great Susan." He says with a wink. He motions for us to follow him to an examination room. I sit on the table and move my hair to the side.

"Darling," he says, "can you look up at me?"

I look up, not even realizing I was staring at my knees.

"Is the burn only on your face?" He asks with a concerned face.

"No." I say quietly. "It's also on my left arm and leg."

He opens up a cupboard and hands me a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. He then shows me to the bathroom and asks me to come back when I am ready. I change quickly, not wanting to keep them waiting. I walk back and sit down again. Dr. Green's face becomes very concerned.

"Doll, how did you get these burns?" He asks, " Some of them are second degree. These are pretty bad."

I start to tear up, ashamed of what had happened. I feel a hand on my shoulder and look up to see my aunt supporting me.

"My… mom…" I stammer," She.. she hit me with.. With a pot of boiling water."

I start sobbing. Both the doc and my aunt seem stunned. They look at each other and share a silent conversation. They seem to agree on whatever they were talking about, because they both nod.

"I'm going to give you something for the burns and the pain, but also something so that it doesn't leave a scar." He says.

I look up surprised.

"I didn't know that was possible." I say quietly.

Both of the share a smile. Dr. Green walks us to the door and he wishes us a good night.

"I set up the guest bedroom for you." My aunt says as we get into the car.

"Thank you." I say, truly meaning it.

"No problem at all." She says as we pull into her driveway. We walk in and she helps me bring in my belongings.

"I'm staying home tomorrow with you and Anna." Anna is my little cousin. "Sleep in as long as you would like, you have had a long day. Good-night."

"Good-night. Thank you." I say as she leaves.

"It is no problem at all. See you tomorrow" She shuts of the lights as she leaves and I drift off to sleep.

I wake up to the sound of birds chirping. That's weird, I can never hear the bird at home. Then it hits me. I'm not at home. I was kicked out. I look at the clock on the wall and it reads 9 o'clock. I change and walk downstairs. My aunt looks up from her book and gives me a small smile.

"Hey." she says," Your cousin is at a friends. Do you want something to eat?"

I shake my head. "No, but can I go for a walk? I need to think."

She hesitates, but nods. "Sure, but please check in every once in awhile."

I nod and step out the door. I see a wooded area and walk to it. I walk on a trail for about an hour. Then I see a huge tree with branches big enough to hold my weight. I climb to one of the top branches and sit and close my eyes and think. After a little while, I hear a noise and my head snaps up. On the tree across from me a see a blond girl my age.

"Hey!" She says with a smile.

Startled, I try to cover up my burns with my hair, but I end up losing my balance and falling off my branch. My cheerleading training kicks in and a grab the branch and use my momentum to flip myself back onto the branch.

"Oh!" The girl says with wide eyes. "I'm so sorry! And you don't have to cover your face, it's okay."

"It's okay." I say, "I shouldn't have freaked out like that."

"I'm Sang."

"Kendra"

We start talking for awhile, mostly about her because I would answer most questions.

"Sang!" I hear a male voice yell. "The guys are almost here."

Sang smiles at this. "Hey. Do you want to meet some people? I think they will like you."

"Um." I stammer. " I guess so."

We climb down the trees and I walk with her towards the neighborhood. We get out of the woods to find a boy waiting for us. He looks momentarily surprised, but recovers his composure quickly.

"Hi." he says reaching out a hand. "I'm Kota."

"Hi. I'm Kendra." I shake his hand and shift my hair so that it covers some of my burns.

"We are all going to my house. Do you want to come?"

"Sure. Thank you." We start walking towards one of the houses and I look up to find him looking at me.

"Have we met before?" He asks, " I swear I have seen your face before."

"Uh. Probably not." I say, " I just moved here."

He nods and opens his door for us to walk in. He turns to Sang and says "I'm gonna text the guys and say we have a guest."

"Okay. I'll walk Kendra upstairs." Sang says.

We sit in Kota's room for a while. Then I hear a bunch of footsteps and see a group of guys walk up. My jaw drops, they are all stunning.

"This must be the new girl." Says the one with long blond hair. He smirks. "She's hot."

"Luke!" Sang yells. I can feel my cheeks getting red. One of the taller guys punches Luke in the shoulder.

"Sorry about him." He says. "I'm North."

The guys all start introducing themselves. Luke, North, Nathan, Gabriel, Silas, and Kota.

"There is still three more in our group." Kota says. " Two of them can't make it and one is late."

They all settle around the room and start asking a ton of question about why I moved and which house I like in now, about which school I was going to and where I used to live.

"I used to live in Iowa. I live in the greenish house on the other side of the woods, and I don't know which school yet." I answer. We all talk for a little longer. Then we hear a door open.

"Finally." Kota says. "He is really late."

I gasp when I see the boy walk through the door. His eyes widen at the sight of me.

"Kendra?" He asks.

"Victor?"

I jump up as he runs over and sweeps me into a hug. I rest my head on his chest as I feel the tears coming. I missed him so much.

"Wait. You know her?" Kota asks.

Victor pulls me so that I am sitting by him on the floor. "Yah. his is the girl from camp."

"I thought she looked familiar, but she looks different from the pictures."

Victor turns to look at me. He scans over me and his face contorts in anger as his eyes see the burns. I look down ashamed. I feel his fingers under my chin and I force myself to look up.

"Tiny," he says using the nickname he gave me for being the smallest person at the camp, "What happened to you?" I feel the tears running down my cheeks as everyone looks at me.

"We didn't ask about the marks because we thought they were birthmarks." says Sang.

"They aren't?" asks Nathan. I shake my head and see that half of them had their jaws dropped. Luke and North both had their fists clenched in anger.

"My mom…" I choke out, "she um… She hit me with a pan of boiling water. Then she sent me away so she didn't have to deal with it." Victor pulls me into his arms.

"Well." he says," I am glad you ended up here." The others nod in agreement. "We probably won't go to the same school, but you can come over to hang out. We are here a lot."

"You are welcome here any time." says Kota.

"Yah and I live across the street." says Sang. "Finally a girl that is actually nice." The boys chuckle and I smile.

Maybe this won't so bad after all.

When the sun started to set I say that I should probably head home. I had only checked in with my aunt over lunch and I didn't want to worry he. Victor and Sang walked me to the door and told me to meet at Sang's tomorrow for lunch. Victor said he would walk over with me around 11. I said good-bye and went to find my aunt. I find her sitting at a table with her laptop.

"I'm back." I say, "Sorry I was out so late."

She smiles. "It's alright. I'm glad you made some friends." She motions for me to sit next to her. "I've been thinking about school and I think I want you to go to the same one as Anna. It's a special private school, though. They already offered you a scholarship, but I wanted to ask you first"

"Sure." I say, "I like a challenge."

"Good. Since you will be new, you will have physical training starting at six everyday. After you lunch, you will then start your intelligence training." My jaw drops. She smirks and continues. "You will be in a group with 10 other girls. The teacher will explain to you what makes this school so important. The uniforms will arrive tomorrow and school will start in 2 months. I'm so excited for you. This is a great opportunity." She talks about the school some more while we eat dinner. When she lets me go to bed, it is already late.

"What have I gotten myself into." I mumble as I drift to sleep.

Owen and Sean called in their team shortly after Kendra left. When the boys and Sang arrived, they saw their leaders sitting with the Academy Board. They sat down as they began to speak.

One of the people on the board spoke first. "As you know, your team is one of the largest in the Academy. This opens up a lot of jobs." He looks around the room before he continues. "A multitude of important jobs have just been opened up, and we want your team on the job. Unfortunately, you are one element short. To solve this, Owen and Sean will start training 10 new recruits, 10 new girls, and your team will pick one that will work well with the team."

"We already have a girl." states North, gesturing to Sang.

"I understand that, but the jobs need 2 girls. Their training will start Monday. 5 girls were chosen for their intellect, 5 for their physical abilities. You can't let them know who is who, so they will have a competitive drive. This will help us see how they will perform under pressure. Besides Owen and Sean, no one can know who the recruits are. We want unbiased choices. That is all. Meeting adjourned." With that, the Board left. The team all looked at each other with shocked expressions.

"Well." says Sang," This will be fun." This lightens the mood and everyone chuckles.

"Let's hope we get a good group." say Sean.

"Yes. Until later. Have good weekends everybody. Be prepared for school." says Owen. Everyone exited the room until it was just Sean and Owen.

"I hope they know what they are doing." says Sean.

"They usually do." says Owen.