Secrets of the Moon

by Kristy Centeno

  “Okay.”

  Kenny stood up and walked away toward his own table where he engaged in a conversation with Jack. I felt Kyran’s eyes on me more than once during that hour but I refused to acknowledge him. Perhaps I was acting like a child throwing a tantrum, but I had no idea how to handle the multiple emotions flowing through me, so the best I could do was to ignore Kyran and every foreign feeling I had. Unfortunately, none of my efforts were working much. Having to sit next to Mr. Serious himself, and share an entire table with him, helped even less. Every time he moved, coughed, shook his head, or turned to look at me, I noticed.

  Unfortunately, that one hour of class was the longest of my life, and I knew every other class after would be equal to that one. I was regretting having to go to Math because it was the one hour where Kyran, Angela, and I shared not only the lecture, but our seating arrangements would make it impossible for me to completely ignore the both of them. I just didn’t want to sit next to Angela and Kyran and watch them interact while I sat in the middle in mute silence and deep disappointment.

  CHAPTER NINE

  When time for Math came, I collected myself as much as possible and exited the classroom before Kyran could follow. I all but ran to class, and the minute Angela saw me, she gave me a look that could have fried me on the spot. I stood by the table, unwilling to sit, while she kept staring me down as if I had done something wrong.

  “What?” I asked, irritated.

  “Nothing.” She practically growled out the word.

  “Then why are you looking at me like that?”

  “No reason, just sit down.” Her rude tone set off something in me.

  “Look, I’m in no mood for your bull this morning. So unless I have done something to deserve this nasty attitude from you, let me sit down and get on with my day. I don’t know what I did to have you staring me down like some stinking bug you want to step on, so if you’re angry at me just say it. Say what you mean and quit glaring at me, because I’m sick and tired of it!”

  Her mouth opened a fraction of an inch, and she lowered her eyes toward her feet. She wasn’t expecting my outburst and quite frankly neither was I. I’d never raised my voice to her before, but the combination of her nasty glares and the fact that she kissed Kyran brought out an eruption neither of us were expecting. Angela was so angry her eyes appeared as if they were ready to pop out, and her face turned as red as a tomato.

  “You want me to say exactly what I want to, Marjorie? Fine. I hate you for putting me in this wheelchair. You did this. And while you walk again on two healthy legs flaunting your beautiful face to every boy in school, I’ll forever be sitting in this damn chair. It’s not fair that my legs don’t work and yours do. It’s not fair that you get to have all the fun while I’m stuck here, like this! It’s not fair that you get all the attention while everyone just feels pity for me!”

  Her words felt like a slap in the face.

  Suddenly, that rhyme that goes “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” sounded like a load of crap to me. Words did hurt, and those words caused me to experience a type of pain I had never known before. My heart constricted with each word she spat. I lowered my eyes as I picked up my bag from the floor so she couldn’t see the turmoil behind them.

  Fully aware of the people staring at us, I hurried to raise my eyes to her, matching her angry look with one of indifference. I was hurt, but I didn’t want her to see it. I should have known that was the way she felt about me. For the past few days she’d been acting weird. Now I knew why.

  “I don’t have to take this from you.” I turned to leave but collided instead with the solid wall of Kyran’s chest. Oh God, he’d heard everything. “Looks like you two will be sharing a table all on your own from now on.” I stepped around him to make my escape. My eyes became heavy with unshed tears as I practically flew out the room and down the hallway.

  The second I left the room Angela’s voice called out for me, but I ignored her. Kyran also called out, but I refused to stop. Tears of frustration began to descend down my cheeks as I kept walking at a fast pace down the empty hall. All I truly wanted at that point was to leave the school and Angela’s hurtful words behind. They hurt because they were as close to the truth as I could admit. The accident was my fault, and because of that she was in a wheelchair while I, by some divine intervention, was spared.

  “Marjorie!” Kyran’s voice startled me.

  He was right behind me and I hadn’t even heard him follow me out of the classroom. I turned to glare at him, hoping he’d just leave me alone. When he made no attempt to leave, I walked away from him. I pushed the exit door open and headed outside. I had no idea where I was going but I wanted to be away from the building and every human being inside. I headed for the parking lot, wishing I had my own car so I could speed away as fast as possible.

  “Marjorie.” His voice sounded like a caress. “Please wait!”

  His pleading words stop my progress instantly. I was halfway through the parking lot already but I turned to wait for him as he slowly walked over to me.

  My chest rose and shook from the effort it took to stop the tears from spilling out. I didn’t want to let all my emotions out in front of him but the closer he got, the less successful my plan became.

  When he circled his arms around me, I buried my face in his chest and released the waterworks. Suddenly, after the long months of holding in the emotional baggage I constantly carried with me my tears came out in a rushing torrent. The financial strain I’d placed on my parents’ shoulders, Angela’s disability, and the added weight of working hard to gain the trust of all those I’d let down were finally released in a river of tears as he held me in a loving embrace.

  Kyran’s arms held me tenderly against him, comforting me as I hadn’t been in a long time. One of his hands stroked loose strands of my hair as the other one remained fixed on my lower back, holding my body close to his, the warmth emanating from his warmer than usual frame encasing me in a welcoming heat. The fact that I was supposed to be mad at him was completely forgotten.

  Tears streamed down my face for several long seconds as I relived the set of events that built a bridge between me one of my best friends. Moments of embarrassment and hurt were washed down by tears of guilt and shame. Through all of that, Kyran kept his muscled arms around my small frame, and not for a second did he step away from me or stop his lips from planting soft kisses on the top of my head and sides of my face. When I felt I could talk without bursting into tears again, I moved away from him slightly so that I could look into his gorgeous silver eyes.

  “You should get back to class.” I really didn’t want him to leave me alone. I enjoyed being around him, but my problems where mine alone.

  “What about you?” he asked.

  “I’m not going back. I don’t want to be here.” My hands dropped to the sides as I took a step back.

  “Where do you want to be?”

  “Anywhere but here.”

  “Good, let’s go then.”

  “Go? Where?”

  “Anywhere but here.”

  Grabbing my hand, he pulled me toward where he’d left the blue Corvette parked earlier. I made no resistance as he led me away. Within moments, the doors were opened and we were both seated inside. Kyran started the car and we buckled our seatbelts. Then he pulled away from the campus parking lot and we were headed toward an unknown destination.

  I made myself comfortable in the small sports car as he drove away, my head reclining against the seat, my eyes automatically closing in order for me to enjoy the ride as I tried to forget that nasty episode with Angela. Kyran turned on the CD player and it started to play a song by the Lycans, my new favorite band. The soft rock melody all but lured me to sleep.

  My eyes remained closed for what seemed like a long time and they only popped open when I noticed the lack of movement. As I opened my eyes, I realized Kyran’s car was parked in front of a massive four-car garage. To the far left
side of it stood the biggest house I had ever seen in my entire life. It was a beautiful two-story Victorian style house with windows on every wall.

  “Where are we?”

  “My house.”

  “It’s huge!” I couldn’t help but exclaim.

  “I’m glad you like it.”

  “If it’s this beautiful on the outside, I can’t imagine how it looks on the inside.”

  “Do you want to go see for yourself?”

  “Isn’t your family home?” By this point I wasn’t really sure whether I wanted to be alone with him or not.

  “No. Alexis, Gage, and Josephine are at school. Marquis and Simone aren’t in town, they left Saturday on business and they won’t be back for another few days.”

  “Oh, so we’ll be alone?”

  “If you don’t want to go inside we can go somewhere else. I only brought you here because this is where I feel the most comfortable.” He sounded honest, so I took the risk.

  What’s the worst that could happen? “No. It’s fine.”

  He nodded and we both climbed out of the car. My eyes were captivated by the wooden frame house before me and I couldn’t stop staring at the porch that circled around the first floor of the house, or the garden to the side which would make any palace jealous, or the flawless look of the exterior, which led me to believe the Rousseau’s took great care of their property. Unlike Kenny Marshall’s house, this was a home; you could tell people lived in it.

  Kyran led the way to the front door and I quietly followed. In just a few seconds he had the door unlocked and gestured for me to go in. The moment I stepped inside, my eyes wandered around, not knowing what to look at first. Before us stood a massive carpeted staircase which split at the next level into two separate, slightly smaller staircases that led in opposite directions, one to the left, and the other to the right. To the right of the foyer, a small hallway led toward the kitchen; I could see the wooden cabinets from where I stood but nothing else was prominent. I would have to actually step inside the kitchen to see it clearly.

  To my left, about twenty or so feet away, were two doors. One was closed and the other was slightly ajar. From within the open door, I could see a couch, and an end table with a lamp. It was dark inside, so there wasn’t much for me to see unless I stepped inside.

  On either side of the main staircase stood one door; both were closed.

  “Shall I give you a tour?” he asked with a smile.

  “Yes, please.”

  “Where do you want to start?”

  “Anywhere.”

  “All right, follow me.”

  The closed door to my left was the first one he opened. It led to an enormous looking office. Built-in bookcases aligned all but one wall. If I had to guess how many books occupied the shelves, I would say it had to be somewhere in the thousands. A huge desk stood in the middle of the room with all sorts of office gadgets surrounding it. One medium size couch and four chairs were the only other furniture besides the desk.

  “Wow! This is amazing.”

  Next, we walked into the room next to the office, which was a seating area. Inside the room there were two couches and one loveseat. One wall was filled with a sixty-inch plasma TV and a large surround sound system. Built-in shelves adorned the wall next to the TV, and from what I could see it was full of all sorts of video game consoles, video games, DVDs, and CDs.

  The next room we hit was the kitchen. It was huge and absolutely gorgeous, like something taken out of a Better Homes magazine. The countertops were all built-in granite. On the floor were black and white tiles. A rectangular-shaped island the size of a dining table was situated in the middle of the room. Chrome kitchen gadgets were handily arranged on the countertops. In a corner of the huge kitchen stood a massive mahogany dining table that could seat up to ten people.

  “Boy, I bet whoever cooks in here has a lot of fun.”

  “Simone and Josephine do most of the cooking, and occasionally we pitch in.”

  “That’s good, because I’ve seen how you guys eat, and honestly, it might take forever to cook a meal to satisfy your appetites.”

  Kyran chuckled and although the sound was slightly surprising, it was welcome nonetheless. He smiled or laughed so very little, I thought he didn’t even know how to.

  “Where to now?”

  “There’s still plenty to see. We have an indoor pool, the garage, the laundry room, the bedrooms upstairs, and the bathrooms.”

  An indoor pool? “How many bathrooms do you have?”

  “There’s one on the first floor, and three on the second floor. One in the master bedroom, which is Marquis and Simone’s room, one in the hallway next to Josephine’s room, and one in my room.”

  “Why do you get to have a room with your own bathroom?”

  “I’m special.” His smile widened when my eyes did. “No, ah, when we first moved here I had first pick of the bedrooms. So I chose the second largest one.”

  “Oh, smart move.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I want to see it.” What girl wouldn’t jump at that opportunity?

  “Sure, follow me.”

  Leaving the kitchen behind, we headed up the staircase. Once we reached the point where the main staircase split into two smaller ones, Kyran turned and followed the one to the left. Quietly, as if he didn’t know what to say, he led me down the hallway while I followed and marveled at the beauty of the house.

  “I enjoy my privacy, so my bedroom is the most isolated one in the house. It’s located to the back.”

  As we continued to walk down the hallway, I noticed several old-looking painted portraits of men, women, and children. Most of them were very elaborate and seemed to capture the essence of the real people behind them.

  “Who’re they?” I asked, pointing to a portrait of a woman that was a female version of Kyran and Alexis.

  “Those are the Rousseau’s, our long line of blood relatives.”

  “They’re all here?” Could this hallway be long enough to hold that many paintings?

  Both walls were decorated with these portraits and I was fascinated when I noticed Kyran and his siblings bore similarities to most of the people in the portraits. The resemblance was obvious: silver eyes, chestnut-colored hair. Tall and handsome figures stared back at me through unblinking eyes. Gage and Josephine’s black hair and blue eyes were also visible on some of the family members’ portraits.

  “Some are. Our lineage dates back several hundred years, but many family members are obviously missing, either because they died or disappeared, or were never painted.”

  “Your family keeps track of their ancestors’ members?”

  “Yes.”

  “These paintings look like they belong in a museum.”

  I followed him to the last door of the hallway and held my breath as he opened it. The huge canopy bed was the first thing that caught my attention. In the far corner of the room, across from the bed, I could see two large French doors that opened onto a balcony. Two nightstands decorated the sides of the bed, and a large oak dresser sat near the door. The wall that faced the bed had a small plasma TV mounted on it, and a relatively small entertainment system accompanied it. A small black desk was crammed into a corner; on top lay a laptop computer. The room was twice as big as mine, and if Marquis and Simone’s bedroom was larger than this one, then geez, how big was it? Two other doors aside from the one I stepped in through were located at the far end of the room, each facing the other. I assumed one was the closet and the other his personal bathroom.

  “Make yourself comfortable.”

  The first thing that greeted me once I was all the way in the bedroom was Kyran’s unique aroma, which seemed to linger on every surface.

  “Wow, your choice of décor is very interesting.” Because of the dark clothing he always wore, I assumed his bedroom would be dark, mysterious, and Gothic-looking, but it wasn’t.

  He grabbed my bag and laid it on a leather chair that sat at a corner of his
room facing the bed; he laid his backpack next to it.

  “Go ahead and sit,” he said while motioning toward the bed.

  I found myself hesitating. Should I sit on his bed? It was the first time I’d visited a guy’s bedroom and of course I was a little nervous. But if he noticed me sitting stiffly against the headboard he didn’t let it show.

  He picked up a remote control lying on top of the nightstand to his left and switched the TV on. Like me, he sat back against the headboard. However, he appeared as calmed and collected as I’d ever seen him. After channel surfing for several long seconds, he turned his face to the side to look at me. I took advantage of the opportunity to ask him something that had been on my mind more times than I cared to admit.

  “Can I ask you a question, Kyran?”

  “You can ask anything you want, but I might not give you the answer you were hoping for.”

  I asked anyway. “What’s the deal with you, really? Why do you always act as if everyone around you is nonexistent?”

  He arched his eyebrows. Kyran didn’t answer right away. His eyes were intently watching me but he gave no indication of whether or not he was going to answer me.

  Finally he said, “I’m not trying to be rude on purpose, but…I can’t help it sometimes.”

  “How exactly does that work?”

  “It’s hard to explain, Marjorie. Getting close to people has always been a big problem for me. After so many years of this ongoing difficulty, I guess I just gave up trying.”

  “You seem to do fine around me, most times anyway.”

  He looked away. “It’s different with you, Marjorie.”

  “Different how?”

  “Just different.” He shrugged. “I guess I can’t really explain myself.”

  “You always have a problem explaining yourself.”

  He smiled, although the action lacked mirth. “From the first time I saw you, the attraction was there,” he finally admitted. “It’s the first time I’ve felt attraction toward someone in a long time.”

  My heart started to race at his admission.