Chapter 1

A New School Year

My alarm clock went off, and started it blast in my ear. I knew exactly what this sound meant. It meant the start of another boring high school year. Lucky enough for me, it would be my last year in Kenbridge High School which is located in Langdon, New Hampshire. I plan to attend college at California College of the Arts. Its one of the best in California, and it offers everything I want to major in.

Why California College of the Arts you may ask. Well it was the college farthest away from this small town that I could get a full paid ridded. I wanted to get as far away from this school as possible. Scratch that, I want to get as far away from this town as possible. There was nothing holding me back from moving away. Well that's not exactly true, there are two things that would ever hold me back and they are my two friends Blake and Craig.

Right now, the school I am attending is, as I said before, called Kenbridge High School. I absolutely hated this school with all my being. This school is so small so the only thing that people actually do is gossip. In a school with a total population, of only 284, what else is there really to do? And the worst part about that is that no one had a secret that everyone else didn't know about.

After a long time thinking of the new school year coming my way; I unwillingly got out of my bed, and slung my legs over the edge. I sat there with my legs dangling just over the cold wooden floor. I had dreaded this day all summer, and now the worst part of the year had finally came. At least I had one thing to look forward to, and that was being a senior. Senior year is supposed to be the best year of high school… Well we'll just have to see about that.

I walked down the hall to my bathroom, and stripped down out of my pajama bottoms, laying them on the vanity top. I slowly got into the shower, and like every other day, the cold water hit my bare back, making my whole body shiver. I waited for the water to adjust to the perfect temperature and started to clean myself. When I was done cleaning myself, I quickly wrapped a towel around myself, trapping in all the warmth around my body. I ran down the hallway to my room to get some cloths on for.

I sniffed around in my closet to find something clean and ended up picking up my black tee shirt with my purple tank. They smelt and looked clean to me so I threw them over onto the top of my bed. I started to look around for some pants, but to my dismay, all of them were stacked into a pile on my floor.

"Ugh, I forgot to do my laundry," I wrote down 'do laundry' onto a stick note and stuck it to my mirror for a reminder.

Now that I have no clean pants, I had to look for something else. I found my plaid mini skirt that went perfectly with my shirt. I looked around for a my long black tee that was cut up at the shoulders and my black tights. I found them and threw them into my black duffle bag. I needed them for dance after school. Yes dancing was one of my many passions. I also love to draw and paint. I like to play about every sport besides basketball and soccer. Oh and not to mention I love to play my instruments. I guess you could say I'm your classic renaissances women.

I got dressed and grabbed my messenger bag that was in the corner next to my bedroom door. I started to make my way down the hallway, and flicked on the light switch just above the staircase so I wouldn't fall.

Like always, no one was home besides myself. My mom was busy in South America at the moment. I think she was going through her mid-life crisis. You know most people just buy an expensive car, but my mom said something about needing to help all the starving children. Personally, I never really got my mother. Don't get me wrong, I think what she's doing is great, but she could be so weird. She was more like my best friend than my actual mother. I had asked if I could go with her to South America, but she said no, because I had school coming up. What about my dad you may be wondering. Well my dad skipped out on my mom and me when I was only six, so I don't ask me where he's at. I haven't seen him since he left so I never expected him to be home .

I grabbed my keys and walked outside to my car in the driveway. I usually take my car to school even though I only live about 5 minutes from the school, but I was way to lazy to walk to school at 7 in the morning. Besides, I always pick up my two friends Blake and Craig. I went only a few blocks to where Craig lives and then a few more blocks to pick up Blake.

I rolled up to Craig's house first and beeped my car horn. He came running out with a bagel in his mouth and a comb stuck in his hair. I laughed at him as he hopped around on one foot trying to get his other shoe on. He opened the door beside me and slid into the front passenger seat.

"You know Blake is going to complain that you took front seat right?" I laughed as he shrugged and looked up.

"Yeah I know," he said with a mouth full of the bagel he was eating.

"Didn't you mother ever teach you to not speak with a full mouth." I scolded him and shook my finger in his face.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you that its impolite to shove you hands in a person's face? It is very rude," he stuck his tongue out at me and I just laughed. He could be so immature; well we can all be immature.

"Whatever, we have to go get Blake before we miss him."

"Myra, we know his route to school so it wouldn't really matter if we miss him or not. Besides we can always follow his route and pick him up." He looked at me with 'duh' written all over his face.

"You have a point there, but I still don't want to have him walk. I mean just look at how you came out of the house. " I stepped on the gas and got to Blake's house right as he was coming out. I rolled down my window.

"Do you want a ride little boy?"

"Hey stranger long time no see. Where have you been all summer? It seems like forever that you've been gone." A smile appeared on my face. Now that he mentioned it, it has been all summer since I have seen him and Craig.

"Oh, I went to Italy with my mom to visit some family members for the summer. Now come on get in," he got in the back seat behind my seat.

"Myra, you really need to pick me up first sometimes, because Craig is always getting the front seat." Blake started pouting in the rear view mirror.

"I would, but Craig lives closer to me than you do, so it just makes it easier for me." Blake shifted his head to the side and stuck his nose in the air.

"You just favor him over me don't you?" I laughed at his question.

"Blake you know that is not true," I smiled a looked back towards the road.

"So what do you have planed for after school," Craig asked from beside me.

"Umm, I don't really know I did not plan anything yet, the day has just begun." I looked straight out to the road in front of us.

"Oh I have an idea, why don't you and Blake come over for a sleep over." Blake stuck his head out in between the two front seats to get into the conversation.

"Yeah that would be awesome, but didn't your mom tell you that you couldn't have boys over the house while she is gone? " Craig was right, but its Craig and Blake. My mom would not mind if I had them over.

"Yeah, but it would not matter since you two are together." Blake and Craig smiled and gave each other a quick kiss on the lips. I refrained from saying "aw", because I knew how embarrassed Craig gets whenever I would do that.

When we finally rolled up to the school, there were only a few people. I got out of my car with Craig and Blake.

"Bye Myra," Blake and Craig said in unison. I said goodbye and waved as they walked off. I have always been amazed at of they could keep their relationship a secret. Well never mind I can see that, because I am the only other one that knows about them besides themselves. It was still nearly impossible to do that, but they proved everything wrong.

I let out an annoyingly loud sigh. I hated being so early to school, because Craig and Blake always had to do something in the morning before school. Which left me no one to talk to except the nerds, and they were the type of nerd with the pocket dispenser. You know the ones you usually see in movies. Therefore, instead of waiting outside like everyone else, I decided to trudge into the school.

I took all the time in the world to find out what I was going to have this year. You could say that I wasn't excited at all about this. I went into the office and the secretary handed me a white piece of paper with my name on it and the words school schedule on top. I walked out and went to find my locker. I looked in and all my books were already there. I look at them and saw a very familiar book. I looked at it and saw that it was my English book from last year. What the hell, I stormed into the office.

"Why do I have English again? I took it last year, I am sure that I don't need to take this class again." I raised my voice, but not enough to be a yell. The secretary behind the desk looked up at me.

"Well, Myra your grades last year weren't very acceptable. In fact, you failed the class last year with a 47%. Therefore, if you want to graduate this year, you must now make up the credit that you did not receive last year."

"But why does it have to be Ms. Davis? Why can't I have another teacher?" I whined in frustration. Ms. Davis was a mean old teacher who thought that writing 20 words 10 times was fun. I mean really. Who honestly thinks that doing that is fun; you must be crazy if you do. I heard some mumbling that broke my train of thought.

"You don't have Miss Davis anymore. She retired during the summer." The secretary kept a calm voice the whole time through my over exaggerated shouting.

"Oh," there was a long awkward pause. Man now I feel a little bad, but yet I don't because I don't want to take a class over, and no one can blame me for that. "I am sorry for shouting at you. Do you know who I have now? Well if you don't mind telling me that is," My voice was in a gentle tone now.

"You now have Mr. James," she pronounced his name with a French accent. She turned around and got back to her work.

"Who is he," I asked the secretary while her back was facing me.

"He just came straight out of college. I have known him for years. He is going to be a very dedicated teacher and I assure you that you will not fail his class this year.

"Thank you, oh and I really am sorry for earlier." She waved her hand at me. I turned and walked out of the door. I went right back to my locker and opened it. I took out my books that I needed for my first two periods. The bell rang and I looked at my schedule and saw that my first period class, which coincidently was English, was down on the third floor and I was on the fourth.

"Shit!" I mumbled to myself. I ran down the hallway and down the stairs; I skipped some of the stairs as I went down them. I rushed down the hallway on the third floor and burst through the door of classroom 312. The late bell just rang as I slammed my way through. I put my hands on my knees as I doubled over trying to regain my breath.

"You are a very lucky student," an unfamiliar voice said from the front of the room. I looked up and it seemed as if a truck had just slammed in my chest. In simple words, the man I was looking at was utterly gorgeous. I could not help but stare at him and the rest of his body. He had the most vibrant blue eyes that I had ever seen. His silky black hair fell in front of them, and just below his eyes; there were the most kissable looking lips that anyone could only imagine. His body was lean and even under his cloths you could tell that he had nice muscles. My breathing became heavier not from running but from the sight of him.

He spoke again, "I wouldn't have any pleasure in giving you a detention if you were late."

"What," I asked breathless. "Since when did students get detention for being late only once for class? Usually its 3 lates and then a detention, and I'm a senior. Since when did a senior student get detentions for being late? Don't we get any privileges anymore?"

"Since your principle made it a rule, and now seniors don't receive any slack. They are actually going to be stricter on you seniors since you are the oldest in the school, and are supposed to set an example. The school wants to prepare the seniors for the real world. I tired fighting against it, but since I am a new teacher, my word does not really count. It also doesn't help much that the other teachers agreed with the principle." He ran his long fingers through his black hair. He looked drop dead gorgeous when he did that, and it made my heart sick into the pit of my stomach. I shuck my head, get a hold of yourself Myra. He's a teacher, and you're a student.

I looked for an empty seat in the back of the class, but there weren't any left. "Um, excuse me, but there aren't anymore seats left."

"Um let us see," he looked around for a seat, but found none. " Oh here we go, there is one right here." I blush a bright shade red when I saw that the only seat available was the one right beside his desk. This seat was meant for the students with behavior problems, but the class was filled to capacity. Which means I now have to sit there. Right next to Mr. James. This was going to be interesting. I quickly walked to my seat as the others watched, which made me kind of feel self-conscious.

"Okay then, since I am new here, we are going to go down the rows and introduce ourselves to the class and tell every one something that you enjoy or want to be, okay? Now let's start with you." He pointed at me and twitched his finger upwards indicating for me to stand up. I stood up out of my seat. I looked at the teacher and he nudged his head in the direction of the other students.

"Umm," I cleared my throat. "Hi, I'm Myra Nicolette De Luca. I full Italian." I scratched the back of my head. "Umm, I hope to be a painter or a writer when I get older, and I want to visit France. But first I have to learn the language before I go." I looked over at the teacher and he had a sweet smile across his face.

"That's a very lovely name." He smiled at me. "Do you know how to speak Italian?"

"Ciao mi chiamo Myra Nicolette De IL Luca, ed il suo nome è?"

"What does that mean?" His face gave off a confused expression.

I smiled a bit, "It means, 'hello my name is Myra Nicolette De Luca, and your name is?'"

"Well I'll tell you what, if you teach me how to speak Italian, I'll teach you how to speak French." I felt the heat rushing under the skin of my cheeks.

"Deal," A boy junior in the back of the class raised his hand up high in the air.

"Okay, well I see we have a question for you Miss De Luca." Mr. James nodded his head for the student to ask his question.

"Um, isn't French and Italian basically the same?"

"That is a very common misconception that people usually make. Yes Italian and French share some common words, but they are not 'basically' the same." I put emphases on the word basically since it was the word he used. "Most languages are based off of Latin, therefore making languages share some common words."

"Very nice explanation and very good background detail. Now if no one else has anymore questions, you may sit back down." He and I both looked around at the class. There was no one else who raised his or her hand.

I sat back down as the others began to introduce themselves. I did not listen to a word any of them were saying. My eyes were focused on Mr. James' face the whole time. I never took my eyes off his gorgeous features. My eyes wondered up and down his figure, and I took in everything about his physical appearance.

'Wow Myra, you are starting to sound a little obsessed, but I can't blame you. He is so hot.'

What the, am I starting to go crazy?

'No silly, I am just your conscious, and I giving you my opinion.'

And what opinion might that be? Wow I can't believe I am having a conversation with myself.

'Everyone does it now stop complaining. My opinion is that you need to hook up with him.'

Wait what, he- he's a teacher. What are you insane.

'Hun, you are calling yourself what if he is a teacher, you are turning 18. Which means you are not underage anymore.'

Okay, we are so not having this conversation right now. Now go away.

'Whatever.'

When the bell rang, I felt like smashing it. I went to grab my messenger bad; but before I could get out of my seat, I saw a shadow appear over my desk.

"Miss De Luca, I don't think it was very nice of you to ignore all the students as they were introducing themselves." Heat coursed underneath the skin of my cheeks. Did he really notice me staring at him. I looked up at the blaring blue eyes; he was leaning over my desk.

"Oh s-sorry," I stuttered tripping over my words. I was surprised at how close his face was to mine. I could feel his sweet breath on my face. I could not quite put a name to the smell. To me it rather smelt kind of like the mango, kiwi icebreakers, but even better than that.

"Well, next time just try to pay attention to the other students while they are talking. Alright," I nodded and got up from my desk and was about to walk out the door, but he started to talk. "Oh and Myra," I stopped and turned to face him.

"Yes?" He smiled at me and my knees went weak. Man did I love that smile of his.

"Try not to be late in the future." I nodded my head and turned around to walk out the door.

I went to my next period and then the next one. All my classes were just slugging by, taking their good old time. It was finally lunch time, and I had lunch with Craig and Blake. I was very happy about that.

I walked into the lunch room and saw that Craig and Blake were already waiting for me.

"Hey Myra, we saved you a spot in line." Craig waved me over to get in front of him.

-"Hey guys, so how are your classes going?"

Craig and Blake smiled, but Blake answered. "We have almost every class with each other."

"That is great. What class don't you have together," I asked looking at both of them.

"Sixth hour. I have art and Blake has Gym." A smile appeared on my face.

"That sucks, but that means I have one class with you Craig."

"Cool," we got our lunches and made our way to our old table, and started to eat. Lunch passed very fast. In fact the whole day went by in a blur. Before I knew it, it was almost time to go home. As if heaven was shining on me, the last bell rang. I got up from my desk and walk out the classroom door to my looker.

The best part about where my locker was located was that I had to pass Mr. James's classroom to get there. As I got closer to his room, all the butterflies began to flutter around in my stomach. I got closer and closer to that door. Then I heard a huge crash; and the next thing I know, I was laying on the hard tile floor. I could not see because I had my eyes shut, but I could feel the hard tile underneath my back and head. I heard a familiar voice telling everyone to give me some room. The soft voice whispered in my ear.

"Myra, are you okay?" I did not open my eyes, because I could feel something wet and thick on them. "Someone go tell the nurse to get ready for her!" The soft voice turned commanding and loud. I felt someone's hands pull and lock mine around their neck. The tile floor left my back and what replaced it were two strong, warm arms. I did not feel myself move, but shortly after being picked up, I felt my back hit an uncomfortable paper covered bed. I did not want to leave the arms that were carrying me, but I knew from the paper that I was now in the nurse's office. I had my arms still latched around the person's neck. After a second, I felt big hands grab mine and softly remove them from his neck.

"Miss De Luca, can you hear me?" I nodded my head slightly. Just the motion of that little movement made my head throb with pain. My eyes closed tighter hoping that the throbbing would stop. "She probably has a huge headache judging from the slight bleeding on her forehead and how hard she must have fallen on the tile. Let me just clean her up and I give her some painkillers. She'll most likely be able to go home after a few minutes after the medicine takes affect." I heard her walk away and over to the cabinets. A few opened and close, I heard her high heels clash against the tile floor.

"When she feels like opening her eyes make sure she takes these." The nurse was talking to Mr. James and I think she gave him the medicine because I didn't hear her place them down anywhere.

"You don't mind if I stay here until she is able to go do you? I would like to know if she's okay before I leave."

"No not at all. Stay as long as you'd like." I lay there just listening to them talk. My head still throbbed with pain. After a few moments when the pain started to ease, I slowly opened my eyes, and the light blinded me

"Hey." Mr. James was leaning over me, and he blocked most of the light, which help a lot. I smiled up at him, and he smile back at me.

"Hey." My face blushed as his bright blue eyes stared into my green ones. His hand moved my red hair to the side of my face. I sat up to quickly and my head started to spin. I fell right back into the bed with a hard thud. That did not really help my headache at all.

"Are you okay?" He asked his voice filled with concern. I squeezed my eyes shut trying to make the throbbing go away.

"Yeah," I let out a faint laugh that didn't sound to convincing. "I just got up a little too quickly." He chuckled a little bit. I tried getting up again, this time I took my time. I slung my legs over the edge of the bed.

"Here take these, they'll help you with your headache." I took the pills and the glass of water from his hand. I shoved the pills down my throat and then the water. I stood up, and immediately Mr. James put his arm around my waist and my arm around his shoulder.

"Umm, thanks."

"No problem." His smile widens. When I started walking his hand tightened around my waist. "So do you need a ride home?" His face filled with hope. I was not sure if I could make it back to my house, but it would feel too awkward riding with Mr. James.

"No, I have my car here. I will just drive home. I only live about 5 minutes away." He shook his head obviously disappointed with my answer.

"I don't think you should be driving home in the condition you are in right now. Besides I need to make it up to you, I did hit you with the door." I looked at him and he had a sweet smirk on his face.

"What am I going to do about my car?"

"I can always pick you up tomorrow for school and then you could drive it home. Would that be okay for you?"

"Okay." A huge smile spread across his face. He helped me walk outside to where his car was. "Nice car." He had a nice shiny black convertible. He leaned me against his car and opened the door for me. He slowly lowered me into the passenger's seat. I honestly did not think that I need that much help, but I loved the feel of his hands against my skin. He closed my door and then walked over the drivers. He started the ignition and did the other stuff. We drove out of the parking lot and into the street.

"So where do you live?" He asked, not taking his eyes off the road.

"Oh just turn left up here at the light. My house is the white one with tan and gray stones." I started to drift asleep on the way there. I was so tired that I could hardly keep my eyes open. The painkiller must be taking full affect now.

"Are you okay?" I nodded my head slightly.

"Damn, this is your house?" He stared at the huge house in front of him.

"Yes this is my house," I closed my eyes. I was so hoping that he wouldn't one of those guys who gawk over my house. It's not like I'm the only one with a big house here. Even though I live in a very small town, the reason why there weren't a whole lot of people was because the houses were so big. It's not like I'm even that rich. My mom and I just inherited it from my grandparents when they passed away a few years back. Before this I used to live in a one floor 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, kitchen, and living room house.

I heard the car door open and close, and then a few seconds later I heard mine open. I still had my eyes closed, but I knew who had opened it. Suddenly I felt his hand wrap underneath my body and scoped me up into the air. I started to squirm in his arms.

"Myra stop squirming or you'll make me drop you." I gripped tightly to his arms.

"Mr. James, I don't like to be picked up. Well not conscious anyway." He let out a small laugh but didn't put me on the ground.

"Do you have a key to get in?" I reached into my book bag and pulled out the key. After he took it I clung back to his arms. He laid me down on something soft and laid my head on his lap. This position was so comfortable that I found myself falling asleep. I slept for I don't know how long.

"Myra, are you awake?" I slowly opened my eyes and saw myself looking up at him.

"Hey."

"Hey. When are your parents going to get home?"

"My mother won't be home again until March 12th."

"Where is she? I can't believe that she would leave for that long."

"She's in Africa helping people in poverty."

"Oh, well then what about your father?"

I turned my head to look away from him. "My father left my mom and I when I was only six." I did not like talking about my father. It was because of him that my mom was never home. I grew up with no one, well no adult figure. I didn't have a normal childhood because I had to grow up so quickly. My throat tightened with the anger that built up in my body.

"I'm sorry, I can see that I am upsetting you?" I looked back up at him.

"You didn't upset me. I just don't talking about my father. As you can imagine, I have deep hatred for the man. I get angry towards the thought of him, because I think of everything that has happened, and things that didn't happen when he left. Besides there is nothing to really talk about when it comes to my dad, since he hasn't been in my life for well over 11 years. I never got to really know him or what it was like to grow up with a father." I let out a light yawn and my eyelids started to drifted down a little over my eyes. I was sure that Mr. James could take the hint that my body was giving him.

"I think you need to get some rest, it had been a long day for you. I'll pick you up tomorrow at 6:30, Okay?" I really didn't want him to leave me here all alone, and I was so comfortable in the position that I was in at the moment. I wanted to drag out this moment for as long as I could, but I knew that I couldn't stay this way.

"Yeah I guess that's fine with me. " My words came out in a soft whisper. Mr. James grabbed the pillow and blanket that was lying on the lounge chair. He replaced his lap with the pillow and lay the blanket over my small frame. "Bye," he whispered silently as I drifted off to sleep