Hey guys this chapter is kind of important because it touches the surface of Kira's past... so hope you like it. xx

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Kira's P.O.V.

My heart tightly compressed in my chest and the air suddenly became thicker around me.

"Don't ... just... don't." Hearing his name sent my feelings over the edge. Taking a step back I held my hands up in front of his chest gesturing him to stay away. "You don't know anything... So, stop..." I wanted to run away from there but running away will only make things worse.

"You never came back for sophomore and you should have seen him when he started junior, he was a mess, then he... just like you... he disappeared." Considering the fact that he was a year older than us, Caleb wouldn't have known the gossip in their grade.

"You have no idea what happened, do you?" I gulped to prevent myself from letting out a sob.

"All I know is he... became someone that no one expected him to be, he dropped out of football and I heard he started doing drugs and he hardly came to school." Caleb's solemn expression kept me calm, if I was the person I used to be before I met my real family, I wouldn't have given him a chance to explain his reasons to confront me, I would have told him to leave me alone and made his life miserable. However, I decided to change that person I was before and give Caleb a chance to explain.

"I understand what you're trying to say BUT, you honestly don't know what you're saying, Caleb." I let out a bitter chuckle. "And if you really want to be my friend like you said, you will never bring Aden up ever again and I also trust you to NOT tell people about me and Shane being cousins." I let out a frustrated sigh. "And just to make it clear... He's not waiting for me, he left me..."

I somehow managed to choke out the last words and with that, I brushed past Caleb in a hurry making my way towards the girl's toilet. I wasn't the type of a person who liked to cry, period. But, when it came to any situation related to Aden, I couldn't obtain my 'nothing can get to me' persona.

At one point, my whole world revolved around him, he taught me how to love, how to trust and to experience being loved by someone. I believed every lie he fed me. I believed it when he told me he'd never leave me, but that was the biggest lie he had ever told.

My thoughts were abruptly distrusted when my petite body collided with a slim yet tall figure. I looked up to find loose sheets of papers swaying among the thin air that glided through the deserted corridor when the door behind me flung open.

"I'm so sorry." I followed the trail of the sound only to find a blond girl scurrying as she picked the papers off the floor. Slowly, I squatted down to help the girl pick up her papers so that we both can be on our way. This act of kindness was still somehow semi-new to me, I decided to change as a person because of Aunty P, she was all about helping the poor because, when she was young, she didn't have the luxury that she provided us with, now I can clearly understand that helping an orphan or someone poor isn't about pity, it's about giving them a better opportunity.

This act of her kindness allowed me to explore the reasons behind why people took an orphan like me into their foster homes. However, that did not explain what I experienced when I was 9 and living in New York with 5 foster siblings in a compact house. That monster of a foster father took the sister away from me that I always wanted; she was my guardian angel, at least she was until she lied about not leaving me and, just like everyone else, she left...

"I'm so sorry about this." I looked up to find Lacey staring down at me. I lazily stood up to face her but she was still 4 – 5 inches taller than me.

"It's okay, don't worry." I tried shoving my disturbing thoughts about my past away at the back of my brain.

"Um... it's... um... I'm Lacey." Her timid grey eyes were filled with embarrassment behind her black rectangular glasses. She tightly held on to her binders and books with arms crossed over each other.

"I'm..." She immediately interrupted me with a smile.

"I know who you are." It took me half a second to throw out all the thoughts that were related to my past and jump back to reality.

"OH MY GOD" My eyes nearly leaped out of my skull when I remembered what Saira and I witnessed this morning. I couldn't restrain myself from laughing at her face which definitely didn't contain her rosy cheeks to turn scarlet red.

"I..um..I.." She avoided any type of eye contact with me.

"It's okay, I always thought Shane would be the last person to be there, considering the fact he knows that I and Devon always scare people like that... Once we caught Mr. Lans and Mrs. Olpen there. Since then, we have been one of the top students there and we didn't even ask them for that." I chuckled at the thought of Mrs.Olpen's face when she realized she got caught.

"No way, Mr. Lans is my History teacher." That information seemed to have calmed Lacey down from getting a heart attack of embarrassment.

"Trust me. But at least I finally got to meet the girl that my brother's been going crazy over." My comment seemed to have brought back the redness in her cheeks.

"Er... I ... I heard so much about you from him, I also wanted to meet you... you know..."

"Yeah me too but not like that though..." I teased.

"Okay look, don't be embarrassed because I don't take things seriously. It's okay." I then realized that Caleb had finally caught up with me.

"Oh, this is Caleb. He's new here ... Brody's brother, you know him right? And this is Lacey, Shane's girl." I motioned towards each other. My anger towards Caleb seemed to have disappeared and as long as he doesn't bring my past up, I will be absolutely fine with him.

They both shyly greeted each other and soon after, a very familiar scorching noise of the bell blasted through the corridor indicating the end of freedom.

"You're coming to Vera's welcome back party right?" I asked Lacey as both doors from each end of the corridor opened revealing a flock of sheep pacing their way to their next lesson.

"Ahh, yeah I got the invitation..."

"That's good; I'll see you there then." With a smile, I left Lacey at her spot.

"I'm sorry..." Caleb's expression held honesty and decency.

"Just pretend you never knew me, okay?" We walked in silence to our next lesson which I hated with a passion. Math.

I took my seat at the back of the class next to Maya leaving an empty seat on the other side of me which was soon filled by Caleb.

"Shouldn't you be in advanced classes?" I whispered.

"I'm not that smart..." Caleb smirked.

"Why did you sacrifice half of your brain to become sexy?" I teased feeling more relaxed than before.

"Beauty is pain..." His comment made me smile.

"What are you, a Malibu Barbie?"

"Nope, just a sexier version of Kane..." He wiggled his eyebrows at me.

"Ohh please..." I leaned back in my chair.

"You know you want me..." He copied my position.

"In your dreams..." I sighed trying to pretend to be listening to Mr. Gonzalez rant on about Pythagora's theorem.

"You don't wanna know what you do in my dreams..." I snapped my neck towards him only to find him gawking at me.

"EW." I scrunched my nose up at his remark. "When did you turn into a sex god...?"

"Well, I guess people change right?" I didn't miss the subliminal message he was trying to get across. He was right, people can change if they want to, some get to decide and some get forced, I wondered which route he had to take to become the person he is today.

The day dragged by with my thoughts lingering around Aden and, before I knew it, Shane and I were on our way home. I had my headphones but even still, thoughts of Aden still weighed heavily in my mind.

I was mad at him at first for doing what he did, however, as time went by, Aunty P taught me to let go of emotions that made my heart heavy and numb. She's a true inspiration and an angel in my life, I wouldn't have ever met my real family if it wasn't for her who hunted me down when I was 15.

At first, I thought she wanted to adopt me out of guilt of what her sister, my 'mother' did to me or out of pity. I soon came to the realisation that families don't need a reason to do anything good for you. She loves me as much as she loves Shane and I am grateful for that.

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Edited by DarkRose4581