disclaimer: i don't own dark guardian series
this is my story and i love you for reading it(:
-i tired to make kalya less needy of lucas this time, more adult-ish. also! had to change her birthday to make sense with the story. and her mothers profession, although i don't know if what her mom does is ever mentioned-

Chapter 4:

Being friends with Lucas was...surprisingly easy. He was easy to talk to. After I showed him the library, the cafeteria, and the gym, we started walking back to room 109. I glanced at Lucas now. Why was I so drawn to him? Our personalities, from what I had seen so far, fit together effortlessly. He had laughed at my bad attempts at joking, and surprisingly, shared my sarcastic sense of humor. From giving him the little tour, I also learned that Lucas shared my passion of nature. Nature had me thinking about the National Forest.

I asked him how Lindsey was. I missed her; we had developed a strong bond over the summer.

Lucas told me that Lindsey was fine and slowly started to move the conversation to the sherpa topic.

"Lindsey told me she invited you back over the school year. Why didn't you say yes? Couldn't survive the wild?" He teased.

"Hah, no! My parents thought that it might be too overwhelming for me because of..." I trailed off. I wasn't sure if I was ready to reveal what had happened in my past yet.

"Your biological parents." I stopped walking abruptly.

"What? You know?" He nodded slowly. "Who told you? Does Lindsey-?"

"Yeah, she does." Lucas suddenly looked uncomfortable. "The group elders told all the sherpas about your situation so we wouldn't say something insensitive by mistake."

I wasn't sure what to feel. Relieved? That Lucas knew, that I wouldn't have to tell him in the future? Or Angry at the elders? Or embarrassed about the entire situation. It was my secret. My past. I wasn't ready for them to know.

"Oh." Was all I ended up verbalising.

We lapsed into uncomfortable silence for a few more yards down the hall. I jumped when Lucas suddenly spoke, "Kayla, can I ask you something?" Oh god, I knew it was coming. He'll think I'm an idiot. How does a five year old not recall...anything about her former life? He'll want to know the last thing I remember, why I came back to the forest in the first place. I mean, who wants to return to the scene of the crime? Fucking great!

"Sure." I somehow managed to squeak out the reply. Great, my face was flushing. How would I answer? Maybe I'll say something like, 'Mind your own business you goddamned pig!' Yeah, pig seemed like a good one.

"When's your birthday?"

"Huh?" That was it? No embarrassing questions? No need to know prying?

"You know, your date of birth?" Lucas grinned and looked at me expectantly. Answer him you fool!

"Oh, it's October 8th. About two weeks away." From the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Lucas wince. I shrugged it off; it was probably just my imagination.

We reached the dreaded room 109. I could hear Mrs. Jones faintly, chatting away with useless babble on the other side of the door, and the horrible squeak of chalk. Ugh! Great, now I get to present myself after my embarrassing fall. I wondered how bad it would be. Someone would laugh, someone always laughs. My stomach started to churn. Maybe I didn't have to go back in. Maybe I could just sit out here for the rest of the year.

As if he sensed my nervousness, Lucas bent down to my ear and whispered, "Don't worry about it, I'll give anyone who stares a detention." My head snapped around and I stared into Lucas's joking eyes. I had forgotten he was a TA.

"Hah-Hah. That was so funny I might just throw up from laughing." Lucas winked, winked!, at me and threw open the door. Oh boy, this was going to be one interesting class.

~~OO~~

I waved at Taylor, who didn't see me, she was much to busy flirting with Brady Mitchell, and exited the bus. I passed my useless car on the way in from the front door, and discreetly gave it the finger.

"Mom, Dad?" I called as soon as I unlocked the door.

My adoptive parents are generally easy to startle. But, startling them was one of the worst possible things you could ever do. I thought back to my 7th grade birthday sleepover. It started off fine, until my friends decided they wanted a snack. I honestly thought we weren't making that much noise. Well, my dad didn't seem to agree. His police officer abilities overtook him and he had come barging down the stairs with a baseball bat yelling, 'Keep away from my girls, keep away from my girls! And don't you dare steal the coffee machine!' Let's just say, I had been known as "coffee grind girl" for the rest of the year. My adoptive mom on the other hand, was an animal loving freak, to put it nicely. She was a veterinarian and had a special license to treat and rescue animals, as long as they weren't exotic, in our basement. I remembered "Kim the Komodo Dragon" and silently thanked the new restriction. However, every lost bird, cat, or dog from our neighborhood had stayed in our basement at least once. I had, thankfully, gotten used to it.

"Down here, sweetie!" I heard her now. I hiked down the basement stairs and flipped on the light.

"Mom, why were you working, in the dark?" I watched my mom give a slight start, and turn around to face me, holding against her, a very cute kitten.

"Say hello to Bruno! He's the Sweeney's cat. They're going away to Disney and he needed a temporary home." That still didn't explain the dark but I let it slide. I bounded over to him.

"Awh! Mom, he's adorable!" I grabbed Bruno out of my mother's hands and held his little face up to mine.

"Mrrrruph-ow."

I let out a startled giggle and scolded the kitten, "That was a pitiful meow! You should be ashamed!" I placed Bruno on the floor and watched him pad over to my mom and start playing with her big toe. It was adorable. I always had a soft spot for animals.

"Sweetie, what do you think about going back to the pound tonight? They called me after you left for school and said they had some new dogs in who needed a nice home."

I blinked. More animals? I surveyed the basement, and I suddenly noticed the five empty cages that had previously been filled. I guested toward them, my mouth ajar.

"What happened?"

My mother's voice got a lower, "Kibbles, Brandy, and Jimble all went back with Rachel. She came home from her mother's funeral in Texas about an hour ago. Weezer is at my station in the vet's office, his paw was bothering him again, and I left him there for Rose to operate on." Rose was my mom's assistant. "And Jasper was adopted out."

"What? Who adopted him? Where is he?" I shrieked. Jasper had been my favorite. He was just a puppy and completely adorable. I had broken my rule, and even allowed him to sleep in my bed with me.

"I'm sorry, Kayla. The adopting agency called and I just couldn't say no. Jasper's gone to a very nice home." I knew my face looked crestfallen. "Sweetie, you know we can't permanently keep any of these animals. You know that."

I did know that. Too bad it didn't stop me from missing them. I jerked my head in what might be considered a nod, and trudged back upstairs.

"Be ready to leave for the pound at five!" Was the last thing I heard before I loudly closed my door. I glanced at the clock: 3:47. That gave me just enough time to get my homework done. I grabbed my bag and settled down for a long hour and thirteen minutes.

An hour and twenty minutes later, I was seated in the passenger seat in my mom's super cool minivan on the way to the pound. What was it with parents and minivans? Even with my mom's horribly slow driving, we made it there before they closed.

I recognized the portly woman behind the counter, even though I had never learned her name. Her gaze flitted over me and landed on my mom.

"Terri!" The woman sounded like a damned hamster. I didn't even know they made voices that high and that...rodent-like. Hah, maybe I'll just name her Hamster, I thought dryly. It certainly didn't help her case that she was dressed in all brown with her, mousy hair in a bun, resembling a large ear. "My god! It's been ages! Ages!" Whoa, Hamster sure was getting excited.

Thankfully, my mom grabbed the reins of the conversation. "This is my daughter Kayla." Mother shot me a look that I knew well. It was the 'just smile and be polite look.' I did just that. I even extended my hand for her to shake. Hamster's hands were just like I envisioned. Moist and clammy.

When she turned back to attack my mom with her excitement, I wiped my hand on my pant leg.

"Terri! Terri, we have new dogs for you to see. They are cute! So CUTE!"

"That's great, ok, we're just going to go back and take a quick peak. Come on sweetie." I cringed at my mom's use of "sweetie" here. I was almost seventeen! Which was four years too much for her to do that.

Leaving Hamster behind, I followed her into the musky room. Ew. It smelt like a combination of sweat and bad breathe. I waved my hand in front of my face, trying to clear the air and looked into the first cage. A very small, very old dog looked back. I looked for a few more seconds and apparently wasn't interesting enough, because the old dog took off for the back coner of the cage and sat down with a 'humph.'

I looked into the cage next to his and felt nauseous. Seeing all these perfectly normal dogs in cages, locked away, made me sick. I was grateful my mom had the tools and knowledge to rescue them, but that still didn't make visiting the pound any easier. Just when I was about to ask my mom to go sit in the car, I heard Hamster calling out.

"Terri! TERRI!" I spun around, my breath caught in my throat. What the hell, Hamster! I thought cruelly. This woman clearly did not understand the brush off.

"Mom." I whined. I'm not normally a whiner, but this was ridiculous. I didn't even want to be here in the first place. The dog in the cage next to my mom let out a moaning bark and my stomach turned over again.

"I know, Kayla. But Mitty means well." Mitty? That was fitting. Like a rodent in a maze, Mitty scrambled through the various dog cages and, panting, came to stop before us.

"Terri! There's a dog that just came in. Poor thing was hit by a car no later then ten minutes ago. You must see! The guy who brought him in says he's part wolf!"

pleaaase review! tell me what you think, i need feedback! do you like where the story is headed? anything i should watch out for?
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