Oh, hi. Sorry, guys I don't even remember the last time I uploaded, but I am now so please review and tell me what you think and maybe I will be inspired and upload faster. So please upload I hate when people say this, but If I get ten reviews on this chapter I'll upload another chapter within the week.

Zita

I'd fallen asleep on Cruz and Lia's couch soon after I put the boys to bed. I probably would've stayed asleep and not even notice the fact that it was storming out, but the shrill shriek of the phone woke me up at around one AM.

"Zita?" Lia's voice asked on the other end.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"We have to go down to the police station. Cruz just hit somebody with his car."

"What?" I shrieked, goose bumps rising on my arm.

"We don't know what happened. It's raining and the person was in the middle of the road, Cruz didn't see them. We don't know where they went. Cruz sprinted around the car but couldn't find anything." Lia breathed fast, almost in tears.

"I'm sure everything is okay if you can't find the person right, they probably just scared and left."

"Yeah,yeah, okay. Well Cruz is on the phone with your father right now. Are you going to be okay for another couple hours."

"Yeah, go get this settled."

I hung up and I threw my phone on the couch. I sighed and glanced out the giant glass window that stretched along the back wall of the living room and saw the trees swaying and the lightning cracking.

I hated storms. When I was little and just moved in with my adoptive family I would hide in different places whenever a storm would hit and not come out until somebody found me. Over the years I had managed to come out of my hiding places and face the storm head on, but I was still afraid of them. I refused to show my fear of storms, but the people who knew me the best still could see that they scared me.

Instead of hiding places during storms I ignored them by plugging my ear buds into my head and blasting my iPod. I got up and got my iPod out of my backpack and listened to the playlists that I always listened to during the storm titled "Rio's Mix".

Rio was my older brother that was murdered. I found the CD when I was eight in a box of his stuff in Cruz's room. I listened to it on repeat for almost a week in my CD player when I was supposed to be sleeping.

I remember Rio always played that C.D. whenever our birth dad was in one of his drunken rages. Rio would drown out the yelling and crashing of objects by blasting music in his room and we listened to it as we sat on his bed, me cowering into his chest.

The music was all either rap or punk rock. There was your basic 2pac and Eminem to Blink 182 and Weezer. It wasn't the music I usually listened too, but I will always hold a place for those songs in my heart.

I closed my eyes and listened to the music and felt myself drifting to sleep.

"Zita," I felt myself being shaken.

` I opened my eyes, the music had stopped and the sun was up.

I looked up at my brother, whose hair was sticking up all over the place and stubble covered his face.

"What time is it?" I asked him.

"Time for you to go to school," Cruz answered.

I sat up on the couch, "What happened last night."

He sighed and sat at the foot of the couch, "I hit a kid with my car and then we couldn't find the kid."

"So what did the police do?"

He shrugged, "They really can't do anything. They checked to see if anybody had been checked into the hospital and they checked the area around where the accident happen. Lia keeps on telling me that maybe it was a deer."

"But you don't think that."

He shook his head, "I saw him. Like I saw his face and I saw his eyes grow in fear."

"So if you saw this kid would you recognize him?"

He shrugged, "I don't know."

He was silent for a second and then he muttered, "The police think if I did hit a kid it was somebody who didn't want to be found. Like somebody running from the law or somebody trying to hide from somebody else."

"And that's why they ran, because they didn't want to go to the hospital."

He ran his hands down his face, clearly stressed, "I'm still freaking out though. Like what if I hit the kid and he ran away because he hit his head or something."

"Well how did he get away so fast if he was messed up in the head? He clearly knew that he would be going to the hospital."

"Why the fuck was a kid out in the middle of the road during a storm in the first place?"

I shrugged, "Like you said, maybe he's running from something."

Cruz sunk into the couch and let out a long breath, "Or trying to find something."

I didn't go for a run that morning, which pretty much meant that I wouldn't be awake all day. Running was my coffee and seeing Rio's grave eased my mind.

Kylee was waiting by locker when I got to school just before the bell rang.

"Wow, you look rough," Were the first words out of her mouth.

"Thanks, nice to see you too," I muttered twisting in my com.

She chuckled, "Long night?"

I nodded, "I stayed at Cruz's and babysat the boys and then I got a call in the middle of the night saying that Cruz hit a kid."

"He what?" She almost yelled.

"Tone it down, will ya? This can't really get out."

"Okay, tell me everything."

I filled her in on the events that had taken place the night before and had to hold her back from screaming it to the whole school.

"So, what's gonna happen?"

I shrugged, "They can't really do anything unless the kid turns up."

"So, the police think this kid is like a murderer or something?"

I shrugged as we started walking to Peterson's classroom.

To our surprise, Mrs. Peterson wasn't sitting in her desk. Instead, a young blonde guy wearing a navy sweater vest with a green plaid shirt and a white tie with skinny khaki pants tucked into Nike high tops, was swiveling in her chair.

"Unless, Mrs. Peterson has found the cure to turning back time and got a sex change I don't think that's her," Kylee whispered to me.

I just rolled my eyes and slid into my seat. Not to my surprise, Zion wasn't there when the bell rang.

The sub stood up, "Okay! I'm not Mrs. Peterson."

I was expected for somebody to make a comment, but then realized that Zion would probably be the only one who would and his desk was still empty.

He went on, "I'm Mr. Trainer. Mrs. Peterson had an accident yesterday and ended up breaking her hip. She'll be out for quite some time and I'm going to fill in for her while she's gone."

Nobody knew what to do, we all started looking at each other.

Kylee caught my eye and mouthed, "Hot."

I just shook my head and rolled my eyes at her.

Mr. Trainer went on, "So, first things first. Let me tell you about myself."

He pulled himself up to sit on Mrs. Peterson's desk and started kicking his feet back and forth, "I grew up on the north side of Milwaukee, dropped out of school when I was sixteen, and started dealing drugs and breaking into cars."

Everybody stared wide eyed at him in shock. I didn't expect that coming from a gringo who happened to be a high school teacher.

"So, when I was twenty I met a girl. She was going to college with my best friend's girlfriend. We met at a party and she made me want to become a better person, just like that. I stopped dealing and got a job at bakery and started night school."

"I got my diploma when I was nineteen and then applied for college in Chicago, where my girlfriend was going to college and got accepted at DePaul University. I decided I wanted to major in chemistry, and then my girlfriend convinced me to become a teacher. And here I stand in front of twenty terrified faces looking at an ex drug dealer as their teacher."

We all tore our eyes off of him and looked at each other, once again.

Kylee had a pissed off look on her face and mouthed, "Girlfriend."

I shook my head again and mouthed, "TJ."

She shrugged and scooted closer to TJ.

"So, you're probably wondering why the heck I just told you all that. Well, I decided I wanted to be open with my students and I wanted to show you guys that sometimes it takes some person to come into your life and change you. Mine happened to be my girlfriend and I'm hoping I will be somebody's person in this room."

We all gawked once more and he smiled, "I also like to make a memorable introduction."

It started storming right in the middle of practice and coach let us go early. Kylee and the rest of the senior girls couldn't stop talking about our new chemistry teacher after practice and took forever in the locker room. I left before any of them and quickly rushed to my car.

It was pouring out and I could barely see five feet ahead of me. I started sprinting to my car, my head down.

"Zita!" I heard somebody yell.

It was a male's voice and I expected it to be Coach.

I looked around and saw a SUV with the hood up and Carson was yelling my name while standing in front of the car.

I hesitated, but rushed over there.

"Hey!" Carson said awkwardly.

I nodded.

"Um, my car's dead and all my friends left. Do you think you could give me a lift home. I mean if it's not too much."

I stared at him for awhile and then realized how stupid I was acting, "Yeah, come on."

I started running towards my car again and he followed after me. I unlocked my black Toyota Corolla and we slid in out of the rain.

I got a good look at Carson while he was digging in his backpack for something, his blonde hair that was usually styled perfectly was plastered to his head with rain water and looked dark brown. He was wearing a hoodie and a pair of work out shorts.

"Thanks for this, coach cancelled practice and I decided to stay and lift. Then my car decided not to start and I saw you."

I gave him a friendly smile and started the car, "Where do you live?"

He told me and I pulled out of the parking lot.

"So, have you thought about coming to my party on Friday?"

I shrugged, "Not really."

He smiled at my honesty making his dimples pop. He was hot, but he knew it.

"I think it would be cool if you showed up. You know, come right after your game. TJ is freakin' out that Kylee won't come."

"Well, I know for a fact Kylee wouldn't miss a party."

He smiled and I felt his eyes on me, "And you would?"

I shrugged, "I've done it for the last three years of high school, I can do it for this one."

He clicked his tongue, "I get what you're doing."

I looked at him and raised my eye brows, "What?"

"You're playing hard to get."

I laughed, "I'm not playing anything, Carson."

He smirked, "That's what they all say."

I sighed, "Why are you taking an interest to me all of a sudden. I mean we've never spoken, we've hardly ever made eye contact."

He tilted his head to the side, "I never really noticed you before, no offense."

"Not many people have," I muttered.

He shook his head, "I mean I saw you around and I always thought you we're cute, but I never knew your name," he stopped himself, "Well I knew your name, but I didn't know your personality."

I raised my eyebrows, "And you know my personality now?"

"Yesterday , in chemistry when your freak of a partner was saying those things about you, you just blushed and that's about it. I would've punched him out, I thought about doing it for you, but then I completely respect you for keeping a level head."

I shrugged and he pointed to his house as we turned onto his street. It was huge and it was surrounded by more big houses.

I smiled and shook my head, "Trust me, I've been through worse than Zion Ezra's immature comments."

His blue eyes flashed a shade darker and he asked, "Like what?"

I shrugged and for some reason said, "How about I tell you at your party on Friday."