mind. Kiera Sheppard.
****
Kiera didn’t want to face school Monday morning, not after everything that happened at
Haden’s party. Feigning sick wouldn’t work, not when she had too much school work to accomplish,
and her problems would still be waiting for her the next day. When Molly dropped her off she hadn’t
asked again about what happened, but it was only a matter of time before her best friend found out,
especially when they went back to school. So, Kiera had told her everything, which only seemed to
reopen the wounds. It was all too real, and although nothing had really happened , the thought of what would have transpired if Reese hadn’t shown up was something Kiera couldn’t wrap her mind
around. No way would she tell her parents, but they had to know something was up by the way she
dashed up the stairs and hid in her room for the rest of the weekend. She worried about Alex finding out, because that was drama she didn’t want, but what if Josh told the truth and they were on the
football team together? Would he tell Alex what happened? If he was smart and sane she would guess
no, but his actions at the party proved otherwise. She honestly just wanted to put it behind her.
“You gonna be okay today?”
Kiera sat in the passenger’s seat of Molly’s beat-up Toyota. They had pulled into the school
parking lot five minutes ago, but neither had moved.
“I’ll be fine.” Kiera said and looked out the window. Students milled around the front of the
school, laughing, talking, and enjoying the last few weeks of school. It wasn’t lost on her that several of them glanced her way and leaned close to each other to murmur things. Had rumors spread
already? No doubt there had been texts, phone calls, and a parade of gossip over the weekend.
“Don’t worry about them. I’m here for you,” Molly said and took Kiera’s hand, giving it a light
squeeze.
They climbed out of the car, and the sensation of others stares boring holes into her slammed
into her. They made their way to the front of the school, but Ian’s voice stopped them. Molly tensed beside her, and Kiera really wished she knew what in the hell was going on with them.
Ian jogged up to them. “Kiera, I tried calling you Sunday to hang out, but you didn’t answer.”
She had successfully avoided everyone, but she wouldn’t be so lucky now.
“Yeah, I saw. Sorry I didn’t call you back. I wasn’t feeling very well.” Ian nodded, but his
focus was on Molly.
“Hey, Molly.” Ian, with his blond hair and brown eyes, was the typical boy next door. His good
looks got him enough female attention, but his book smarts tended to keep him out of the popular
category with the guys. Molly refused to look at him, but Kiera was sick of probing on what was
going on with them. They had gotten into fights before, but never anything like this.
“Yeah, okay. I’ll meet up with you guys in English Comp.”
“I’ll go with you,” Molly said tightly.
“Can we talk, Molly? Please.” There was a pleading tone in Ian’s voice.
Before either could anything else to her Kiera headed for the main doors. A look over her
shoulder showed Molly waving her hands furiously between her and Ian, but Kiera couldn’t make out
what they said. Kiera kept her head down and walked faster. Before she entered the school the sound
of heavy bass sounded from the parking lot. Her heart picked up because she knew exactly whose car
that music came from. Kiera turned around but tried to not make it look obvious as she watched
Reese’s Trans-Am skidded into the driveway. The original paint was white, but the car had to be
from the seventies and now peeled in certain spots. She’d heard enough rumors about him to know he
was fixing it up. The tires were big and new, and she could barely make out the bird decal on the
hood. She didn’t know much about cars, but she knew he looked good driving it.
The car came to a stop, and the engine was cut. He