Hi guys!! Welcome back! I personally feel really good about this chapter, so I hope you do too!

Before School

Friday. Finally. Cinder trudged up two flights of stairs to her locker. Her heart jumped a little at seeing kai already there, at his own locker.

Missed you yesterday," he said, giving her a gorgeous smile that made her heart jump.

"Aw, you did?" She said playfully. "I got a job so hopefully soon I can fix my car." She opened her locker and exchanged her books.

"Congratulations, where?"

"At the movie theatre in town."

"Oh, fun!"

"Yeah," Cinder shut her locker and they started walking towards Kai's first period. "Oh, what did we do in French yesterday?"

"Just a translation."

"From the textbook?"

"No, online, I can send you the link."

"Thanks. Oh, do you have my number? I'll give it to you."

They stopped outside Kai's first period and he pulled a pen out of his pocket. He didn't have paper, so Cinder offered the palm of her hand for him to write on, "small, so I don't get in trouble."

His hands were darkened from the summer sun, and his touch sent her heart racing. He let go of her hand.

"Oh, yeah, how's Peony doing?" he asked.

"She's still sick." Cinder fingered the hem of her sleeve. It occurred to her how caring it was of Kai to ask about Peony. "Thanks for asking."

"Of course… I'll see you later," he said, and went into the classroom.

"Bye," Cinder whispered, and left for her own class.

Lunch

"Hey, girlie, where were you yesterday?" Thorne greeted Cinder when she sat down with her lunch tray.

"You are way too enthusiastic for a Monday," she groaned.

"It's Friday."

Cinder opened her milk and took a sip. "I'm pretty sure it's Monday."

"It's definitely Friday," Thorne contested.

"Okay, whatever."

"Did you miss me?"

"No."

"Aw, yes you did. You can't hide it," Thorne teased. "Were you sick or skipping?"

Cinder glared, taking a bite of mystery meat to avoid answering him.

Thorne pestered her with questions and all the random thoughts that came into his head, as usual, like "Are you going to keep talking to me once lunch detention is up?" and "Do you believe in aliens, Cinder?" The latter was followed by a one-sided discussion on why the alien invasion is most definitely going to happen within their lifetimes. Cinder did her best to ignore him, but it wasn't easy.

When the bell rang for the end of lunch, she jumped up and threw away her tray, but Throne followed her. Cinder found Cress under the stairs and they headed to Engineering, Thorne hot on their heels.

"What were you doing yesterday, Cinder?" Cress asked. Cress was sweet that way, always checking up on people.

"I got a job at the movie theatre," Cinder told her.

"The movie theatre?" Thorne exclaimed. "That's awesome! Hey, me and your pretty friend can come visit you at your job!" He said, nudging Cress, who laughed nervously and bit her lip, letting her hair fall in her face. "Cress comes to see me some days at my job."

Cress looked up at him, surprised. He had noticed her? He never said anything.

"You do?" Cinder asked Cress.

"He works near where I live," Cress managed to say, still watching Thorne.

"Where's that?"

"The shop on the corner of Glebe Road."

"Huh." Cinder and Cress reached Engineering, and parted ways with Thorne.

7th Period

At the end of French, Kai and Cinder walked together downstairs. "Oh, did you see the cast list?" he asked as they passed the auditorium.

"No, I didn't. When did it go up?"

He led her to the list posted outside the auditorium.

"This morning. Iko is one of the girls who-"

"Oh, my gosh," Cinder interrupted. "Cress is Belle! I heard her sing, I knew she was good, but I didn't realize she was that good!"

"Oh, I know Cress, she's in my creative writing class. Blonde hair, right?"

"Yeah, blonde. Winter's the feather duster, she'll be amazing at that! Where is Levana?"

"There she is!" Kai pointed. "The wardrobe."

"Ooh, the wardrobe, she must have the best voice for that part that part."

"Yeah, the wardrobe is supposed to be able to sing really loud."

"But I know she wanted to be Belle. Ooh, I bet she's pissed about that."

"She wanted to be Belle?"

"Yeah, Aimery said so."

They both took pictures of the cast list for future reference, and went out to Kai's car.

"I'm so excited to start rehearsing Beauty and the Beast," Kai said as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"Me, too," Cinder agreed. "I'm excited to see what Cress has in store for us."

"Yeah, me too." Kai handed Cinder the aux cord.

"Okay," she said, taking it and plugging her phone in, "This is something I don't usually listen to, but three different people have told me to listen to Hamilton, and I finally gave in to the peer pressure."

Kai gasped. "You listened to Hamilton? I love Hamilton!"

"Yep," Cinder started up the album, and they both sang along. She had to admit, he was good at rapping. He knew every single word, something Cinder was still working on.

They were only on My Shot when they got to Cinder's house. They sat in the car, waiting for the song to end.

Not throwing away my, not throwing away my shot!

Cinder unplugged her phone just as the song came to a dramatic end. She turned to him, unable to keep a smile off her face.

"Thanks for driving-"

He leaned forward and kissed her softly on the lips, once, and then once more. When he pulled away, she stared at him, shocked and overjoyed. A nervous smile crept to his lips. He looked sneaky, like he'd broken a rule.

Cinder's mind caught up with her heart all at once. "See you tomorrow," she whispered, and left. She let herself inside the house and hurried to her bedroom, getting to the window just in time to see Kai drive away.

Her mind kept bringing it back to Kai's kiss, short but sweet, as she settled in her bed and put Once Upon A Time into her computer. She thought about his lips, and his smile, and for a moment considered letting herself get lost in him.

Iko would drill her for details if she found out, but it wasn't something she could put into words, the way he made her feel.

There was the note Levana gave her a week ago, the note that had been the cause of her detention. She had never seen them together, but she knew Levana had a history of being uncivilly cruel towards people - she had always acted hostile towards Winter.

Then there was Peony - did Peony even still like Kai? Cinder hadn't even talked to her in a while. She felt bad getting friendly with Kai when last year, before she even knew him, Peony was the one who was always talking about him.

So what do you think? Please let me know if you like it!