“Pancakes are ready downstairs.” Her mom says and walks past them to go down the stairs. Kallos can feel the tears forming in her eyes. She has to blink rapidly so they wouldn’t fall. As her dad walks her to her bed, she looks at him.
“Does Mom hate me?” He looks down at her and shakes his head.
“No, Sweetie. You just scared her, that’s all. She can never hate you. You know, you don’t have to go to school today.”
“No, I need to go. I’ll be down in a bit.” He nods at her and heads to the door. He stops, but doesn’t turn around. “I love you, Kallos.” Then he shuts the door behind him.
As soon as she hears the door shut, she starts to cry. Just yesterday, they were all happy, and now they can barely look at her. She wipes her tears away and goes to her dresser. She finds her favorite long sleeved, light pink shirt and her tight, black pants. She goes to her closet and grabs her short black boots. If she has to be kissing two tall boys, she is going to need some height. Oh man, she has never kissed a guy and now she's supposed to kiss two. She is trying not to think about that; the only thing she can think of is the smell of food. She heads downstairs and into the kitchen. She can see her mother’s back. She is doing the morning dishes. Kallos glances at the table and can see chocolate chip pancakes. Her mouth starts to water; they are her favorite. She must have made a noise because her mom spins around to face her. She gives her a half smile, and Kallos feels her heart starting to break.
“Here’s your breakfast.” Mom hands her a plate with three pancakes and two over easy eggs.
“Thank you, Mom.” She smiles at her and takes the food. She sits at the table and starts to take a bite when the pain returns. She is trying not to scream, so she gasps and her mom looks at her. She can see so much worry on her mom’s face.
“Kallos, are you okay?” She thinks she hears her mom say. With the pain comes a pounding in her head; it is hard to think of anything. “Sweetie?” Kallos tries to smile and nods her head. That just makes the pounding increase. “Good. Here’s your milk.” She hands Kallos a very tall glass of the ice cold liquid.
“Thanks Mom.” Her mom grins down at Kallos and then starts to clean up. Kallos can only eat one pancake because she is still in pain. She can tell by the look on her mom’s face when she hands her a full plate that she is worried. Kallos gets up and hugs her mom tightly and kisses her cheek. “I love you Mom.” She notices that her mom has some tears in her eyes.
“I love you too baby.” They hug one last time, and then she pushes Kallos away. “Your dad is waiting for you. Have a good day.” Kallos waves at her mom who waves back. As Kallos walks toward the front door, she can see her dad leaning against the doorframe.
“Are you sure you want to go?” That’s her dad; he is always concerned. Kallos rolls her eyes and nods. “Then, let’s go.” Her mind takes her to what she has to do today, and wonders if she should talk to her mom about it. When they are in the car, she has another sharp pain; she shuts her eyes and she moans. “Kallos?” she can hear her dad say.
“I’m fine.” It seems that the pain is getting stronger, and it is lasting longer than before. She can feel the car being parked. “Can you give me a minute?”
“Yes, Sweetie.” He pauses for a second, “you have two young boys waiting for you.” She opens her eyes and can see Sean and Ian standing outside her car door. They look worried. She puts up one finger to tell them one minute, and they nod in sync. All of a sudden the pain is gone. Thank goodness, she really doesn’t know how much more she can take. Kallos looks over at her dad, and he is glaring at the boys. She wonders how much her parents really know. Did they know that one of these boys is her soul mate? They already know about the change.
“Feeling better?” He asks without looking at her.
“Yeah.” That makes him turn his attention to her. Kallos smiles, “I love you, Daddy.” He smiles, leans in, and kisses her forehead.
“I love you too KD.” Then he opens his door and gets out. She goes to open hers but it is already open; a hand is in front of Kallos and she takes it. She is gently helped out of the car, and is holding Sean’s hand and his other wraps around her waist. He looks upset. She smiles at him and he touches her face.
“Kallos,” he whispers, then pulls her into him. His head comes down to her shoulder, and she feels him take in a deep breath. She feels another hand on her back. Kallos lifts her head and can see Ian, and he looks just as upset. “You’re in pain.” She hears Sean ask from her shoulder.
“Yeah! It started this morning.” She looks around and notices that her dad is already at the front doors. He looks over his shoulder at her and winks. “Sean, can Ian and I have some time alone?” Kallos whispers.
His head comes up; he looks her in the eyes and nods. Sean takes the hand that he is holding and brings it to his lips and kisses it lightly. He gives her hand one last squeeze and then walks away. Kallos watches him walk all the way to the doors; he never looked back.
****
Sean is hurt that Kallos wants to be alone with Ian. He knows that Ian is going to brag about this and Sean just might hit him. Last night after he got off the phone with Kallos, his brother came home. Ian's eyes weren't black anymore, and Sean doesn’t want to find out what he did to change them. Now, he has to release his anger somewhere. He walks to his locker, but a red head is blocking it. Great, he doesn't want to deal with Mary. They were together for a few months, and he broke up with her. It isn’t fair that he couldn't give her his heart.
“Hey, Mary,” he says, and she slowly turns around. She is truly beautiful. Her bright green eye, pale skin, and bright red hair makes her stand out. Too bad there weren’t sparks when he was with her.
“You used to call me Red,” she says and pouts. When they dated, that is what he would call her, but it doesn’t feel right. All he can think about is Kallos and her sparkling blue eyes.
“Can I get to my locker?” Mary glares at Sean.
“I heard something about you” she says and puts her hand on his face. He stares down at her and her smile widens.
“What have you heard?” He can only guess it's about Kallos. Mary is very jealous and has shown it in the past. His only concern is for Kallos; his ex is crazy and powerful.
She moves closer to him and wraps his arms around his waist. “That you and the new girl are together.” She looks up at him and bats her eyes. “Yesterday I saw your brother kissing her.” What? Ian kissed Kallos. He looks at Mary, and she is grinning from ear to ear. She moves her hand from his face to his shirt.
“Please let go of me Mary.” He tries to move away, but she holds on tighter.
“I will get you back. You are mine, not the new girl’s.” She glares at him, and he pulls her hand away from his shirt.
“I don't think that is going to happen,” Sean says calmly; he doesn't want to hurt her. She quickly looks down. At one point, he did care about her. He knows that she is in love with him, and he wishes he could take it from her.
“Why not?” Mary asks and looks up to meet his eyes. He can see in her eyes how he has hurt her. Her pale cheeks are streaking with her tears that are falling from her obvious heartache.
He takes a deep breath and grabs her hands. “Any guy would be lucky to have you. But I am not that guy.” He can see the tears in her eyes, and he brings her hand to his lips. “I'm sorry that I hurt you.” She nods and takes her hands back. Then she turns around and walks away from him. He finally gets into his locker.
“I don't think I have ever seen you that nice before.” Sean glances over his shoulder and sees Kellee.
“Well, I feel bad.” He grabs what he needs and turns around.
“Right and it has nothing to do with Kallos?” He really hasn't talked to Kellee before. She is more Ian's friend, and they don't share well.
“I am a nice guy,” Sean says, and she starts to laugh. He doesn't blame her. He has been a jerk to almost everyone. “Look, I know that I have been a jerk to you, and I'm sorry.”
Kellee's mouth drops open, and he smiles.
She clears her throat. “Jerk is too nice of a word. But thank you for telling me you're sorry.” She smiles at him and walks away. He heads to his homeroom.
****
Kallos can see Ian watching her from the corner of her eye. She looks over at him and he grins. “I met Aphrodite,” she says. He comes to her and takes her hands in his.
“That means that your change is coming.” Ian says; he is standing in front of her. When he is this close to her, she can’t breathe. She forces herself to take a deep breath.
“She told me a way to relieve the pain.” He looks away, and she can tell that he is remembering the pain.
“How?” His eyes pin her with his baby blues.
“I have to find my soul mate.” She says as she is looking in his eyes. His eyebrows rise, and he moves closer. She can feel her heart beating faster, and she knows that heat has risen to her face.
“How do you find your soul mate?” He asks as he inches toward her. They are still looking in each other’s eyes.
“Um, she said I would know when I kissed him.” All of a sudden, his lips are on hers. Ian’s lips are soft and molding perfectly to her. His hands go around her back, and he pulls her closer to him. Kallos wraps her arms around his neck. Her whole body is heating up and something inside of her wants to hold on to him forever. Her mark starts to warm and then cool. This is her first kiss, and it is perfect. Just when she thinks she may explode, he pulls away slowly, and when she opens her eyes, she doesn't see him looking at her. His eyes are still closed from their kiss. She can see that he is breathing heavily. Could he be the one? “Ian?” she asks. He opens his eyes and looks at her. Just then, the bell rings. He looks at the school and shakes his head.
Ian clears his throat. “We better get to class.” Then he leaves her and walks to the school. Kallos is left alone and breathless. It seems that people like to leave her out here. She rushes after Ian, but he is gone. She walks to her homeroom confused and flustered at what just transpired.
The first thing she sees is Karissa and Mary talking to Ian. The only desk left in the entire classroom is in the front of the room. Karissa, Mary and Ian are in the back of the room in a deep conversation. Mary narrows her glare at her; which she tries to ignore. Karissa smiles and waves; Kallos does the same. Then she glances at Ian; he isn’t looking at her. She cannot comprehend how less than two minutes ago they were kissing and now he is acting as if she doesn't exist.
Unexpectedly, the pain returns, and it is unbearable. Kallos wheezes out a breath and puts her head down on her desk. She can hear someone mumbling, and then she feels a hand on her shoulder. The unbearable pain goes back to the dull pain. She looks at the hand and smiles. Ian squeezes her shoulder and then let’s go. She turns and watches as Ian walks back to his desk. She looks around and no one is looking at her. Well, that’s a good thing. She reaches in her bag and grabs her math book; she really needs to finish some problems. Today they aren't given free time, so she gets to do her math and gets all of her homework done for tomorrow.
When the bell rings, Ian is waiting for her at the door, but he isn’t alone. Nikki has both of her hands on each side of his face. Kallos' mark starts to burn as her body is heating up to a boil. She doesn't know what is wrong with her. She has no reason to feel jealous when she isn't sure who her soul mate is. She decides to keep walking to her next class and to ignore them this seems like the best course of action in this situation.
When Kallos gets closer, Nikki leans into him, and Ian puts his hand out to stop her. Kallos just tells herself to keep walking. When Kallos tries to walk past them, he grabs her hand. Nikki glares at her.
“What’s so special about her? You and Sean act like she’s a freaking goddess.” Nikki stomps her foot and pushes out her lip. “Ian, I miss you,” she says as she bats her eyelashes and rubs his chest. Kallos has to hold in a laugh.
“You got to be kidding me, that doesn’t work. Does it?” Kallos looks back at Ian and he was holding back his smile; Kallos rolls her eyes.
“Nikki, Kallos is a goddess to us,” he says as he winks at Kallos. Well, now she knows the kiss didn’t totally freak him out. “And I am sorry that you miss me.” With that he pulls Kallos out the door. They are walking to her locker hand in hand.
“So, you and Nikki?” Kallos asks, as she lets go of his hand and puts her bag in her locker.
“Yeah, but she cheated on me. Plus she wasn’t my type.” Kallos isn't looking at him, so he turns her around. “I’m sorry that I freaked out after our kiss.” He says with a half-smile. “It was just so—,” She cuts him off. She can’t bear to hear anything bad. Maybe she should have told him that she has never kissed anyone before.
“I know! I’m sorry it was bad. I never kissed anyone before.” Kallos hangs her head. She is so embarrassed. He shakes her to get her attention. She looks up at him, and he looks like he is going to laugh.
“Bad? You think that was bad? It was perfect … you were perfect. My beauty, I am honored that I am your first kiss.” He leans down and kisses her cheek. “See you at lunch,” he says before he really kisses her. She is starting to like being kissed.
CHAPTER SIX
Ian is walking to his next class when someone grabs him, and pulls him into the bathroom. He gets shoved against the back of the door, and he looks into bluish gray eyes. Ian can feel the darkness creeping into his very core.
“You kissed her! We made a deal!” Sean yells at him.
“I had too.” Ian wanted to say more, but his words are cut off by Sean's arm pushing against his throat.
“You had to! Ian, you’re a jerk! You have almost everyone fooled with your good boy act. I can see what you are becoming. I’ve been there, and it is a dangerous road, Brother.” Sean moves his arm away from Ian's throat. Now, Ian can feel the darkness taking over him, also. He watched his brother go through this, and he was hoping he wouldn’t get what his mother has. Too bad he isn't more like his dad. Ian shoves Sean away. There used to be a time when Ian couldn't move Sean away. Now he is stronger; it's his mother’s genes.
“Kallos met Aphrodite last night!” Sean's eyes widen; he knows what that means; her time is coming. The last time Aphrodite showed herself, Acidalia was taken within days.
“We haven't had any time with her yet. I thought we would be with her longer,” Sean looks at the ground. Ian can see the sadness in his eyes. He is feeling the same; he wanted more time with Kallos before she changes.
“You never know; she might make it. Aphrodite said that there is a way that Kallos won’t feel all the pain.” Ian can remember how painful the change is and how he thought his insides were being torn out. He thought he was dying and even prayed that he would. He wouldn’t even wish that on his worst enemy.
“Well, whatever it is, then we’ll do it,” Sean says and moves away from Ian.
“She has to find her soul mate, and I think she already did,” Ian says, knowing that Sean isn't going to be too happy about it. But the truth is Ian is terrified. Ian has never felt so much in one kiss, and when he kissed Kallos, he thought the earth was shattering around them.
“She hasn’t kissed him yet.” Sean asks and winks at Ian.
“We'll see, Brother, we will see,” Ian says and walks out of the bathroom.
****
Kallos walks into Mr. Nelson’s class on cloud nine. She looks around and sees Kellee and Karissa sitting in the back. There is a desk open, so she goes to it. As she is sitting down, both girls look at her and grin.
“What?” she asks.
“So you and Ian are a couple now?” Kellee asks and Karissa doesn't give her anytime to answer.
“You sure don’t waste any time do you?” Karissa mumbles.
“Hmm…Obviously not.” Kallos still needs to kiss Sean, and the thought of that makes her blood boil.
“We saw you two kissing this morning before school. It looked pretty intense.” Kellee says and Karissa is nodding
her head in agreement. Great, Kallos wonders who else saw.
“It’s all over the school now?” Kallos looks at the two girls and narrows her eyes.
“We didn’t say anything. Gosh, Ian is my best friend, and I would never gossip about him no matter what. I want to know if you are going to hurt him?” That explains why Karissa is always talking to him.
“I don’t want to hurt Ian. He’s a sweetie,” Kallos says.
“Good” Karissa says as the Mr. Nelson tells them to stop talking. Kallos opens up her math book and tries to listen to what he is saying, but her brain is somewhere else. She can't stop thinking about her and Ian's kiss. What if Sean's kiss really did set her on fire?
When lunch comes, Kallos is a little happy but mostly scared. Yesterday, the boys brought her to part of the cafeteria where no one else was sitting. More posters plaster the light blue walls. She wonders if they are going to do that again, or will it be just Sean? She is just about to walk into the cafeteria when she sees him. His gray eyes meet hers, as he smiles warmly at her approach.
“Hey, Babe!” She smiles back at Sean. “Ian had to go home, so it’s just us” he says and winks. She knows that this will be the time when she will kiss him. He doesn’t take her hand instead he puts his hand on the middle of her back to escort her in. As they walk through the cafeteria, she notices that most of the kids are looking at them. She keeps her head up and walks to the lunch line.
Kallos (Kallos Series) Page 5
