Song: "Broken" by Lovelytheband

[Unedited]

The sound of the loud buzz signaled the end of the game. The crowd in the stands went wild as they cheered for the school's team. I cheered loudly for my brother, Justin, who wiped the sweat off his face with a towel, the biggest grin taking over his face. Basketball was one of the few sports I actually understood.

I always went to my brother's games. I never missed one. Usually my friend Liana would come and cheer him on as well. Unfortunately, she moved to Florida recently. Instead, my other friend, London, stood next to me.

"Hey, do you want to head out to grab a bite to eat after this?" London asked me as we walked down the steps of the bleachers, following the crowd out of the gym. My brother already headed to the locker room so I decided to congratulate him when I saw him at home. He was a year older than me—most of my friends were.

I followed London out to her car and hooked my phone up to the bluetooth in her car in order to play my own music once we got in.

"Have you heard from Liana recently?" London asked me as she pulled the car out of the parking lot. I didn't miss the sadness in my voice. Liana and London were very close, practically sisters, considering they were cousins after all.

"No, not for about a week." I unlocked my phone to look back on my most recent conversation with Liana.

London sighed. "I hope she's okay....How's Justin doing?"

"He acts like he's fine, but I know he really isn't. He misses her." I fiddled with the zipper of my jacket. Usually I would be wearing my leather jacket, but for some reason I couldn't find it. It had been missing for a couple weeks and it really pissed me off.

London stayed quiet, which was really unusual of her. She was generally the talkative one in the group. Although, I understood why she was not her usual self. Our best friend had moved away.

"Have you tried texting or calling her?" I asked.

"Many times," she responded, her voice soft. Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. I didn't know what to say. I wanted to believe that Liana was okay and was just busy, but something deep down told me she wasn't.

• • •

I rested my face in the palm of my hand as I tried to tune out the monotonous voice of my English teacher. I was just a few words away from falling asleep because of his arid lecture about how doing homework reflects how well we'll do in the class. I hated English class with a passion, yet here I was, taking an AP class and somehow not failing. I already finished the homework, but half the class didn't even look at it.

I held my phone on my lap under my desk. I wasn't all that worried about getting caught, the teacher usually didn't really care as long as I completed the homework. My phone vibrated in my hand as a text popped up on my screen. My eyes lit up when I read the name.

'Meet me at Chick-fil-a after school!'

I stared at the text longer than necessary, millions of questions floating in my head. She was here in California? Was London going to be there? Why did she wait to text me until now?

School was almost over, and I kept glancing at the clock. Thankfully it was my last class of the day. The time went by slowly before the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. I walked over to the parking lot and got into my car, leaving as soon as I could.

When I arrived at Chick-fil-a, I parked my car and walked in. Liana wasn't there yet so I decided to pick out a booth. I drummed my black-painted fingernails against the table as I waited. Minutes passed before I noticed Liana's approaching figure. Her eyes lit up and my lips quirked up, revealing a bright grin when she saw me.

I jumped up from my seat and didn't waste any time to pull her into a tight embrace.

"Hey! How've you been?" She asked me.

"I've been alright, you?"

"Busy."

I gave her a skeptical look. I wasn't sure if she was telling the truth. I was hoping that if something was wrong, she would tell me.

I was going to ask her more about the topic, but my landed on the person standing behind her. A very attractive person. The first thing I noticed was his hair. His very unusual and unnatural, orange-colored hair. Next, it was was his very intimidating height and muscular physique. Lastly, I noticed the way he stared at me with a strong intensity.

Liana glanced over her shoulder. "Oh, how rude of me. This is Cyrus."

"Blake," I responded before my eyes zeroed in on the jacket Cyrus had clutched in his hand. More specifically a leather jacket that looked oddly like mine. It even had the same design stitched on the back of it. He looked down at the jacket before taking a small step towards me. For some reason my heart started beating slightly faster when he held the jacket out to me.

"I believe this is yours," he said, his voice sounded deep, almost soft and soothing, completely contrasting his appearance. I could sense he wanted to exert his dominance by his stiff posture and intimidating height. His eyes watched me intently as I reached out to grab it. I tried to avoid making eye contact with him.

I took a hold of the smooth material of my jacket, running my fingers across the stitchings. The leather jacket belonged to my mother, who died from cancer when I was seven. I always liked to wear it because it made me feel like a part of her was still with me.

"I thought I lost it," I murmured, suddenly feeling slightly confused. "How did you get this?"

I didn't miss the look Liana gave him. What the hell was going on?

After a while he finally replied, "I found it...on the ground at school." He didn't sound convincing at all, and I could immediately tell he was lying.

"You go to my school? How come I've never seen you before?" I knew that if I saw him at school, I wouldn't forget. Not many people have that same hair or the same intense, golden eyes..

"Yeah, I just moved here," he replied as we took a seat in the booth that I was saving.

"Really? From where?"

"Uh...Europe?" It sounded more like he was unsure than anything. Before I could say anything, Liana slid out of the booth.

"I'm going to go and order, what do you guys want?"

When we finished giving her our orders, she left. I mentally cursed my best friend for leaving me alone with her strange friend. I didn't understand why he was even here. I thought I was going to be catching up with her. How did she even know him?

Liana caught my eyes from the line, and I shot her a glare. She sent me a wink. What was this girl doing? I looked away from her and back at Cyrus. My heart pounded into my chest as my brown eyes locked with his strange ones. It was as if bright flames were dancing within them.

I glanced away from his stare.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," I muttered under my breath, shifting in my seat uncomfortably under his gaze. I've learned to ignore people's staring, but his stare was much worse and I didn't even know why.

I didn't miss the slight tilt of his lips as he looked down, his fingers reaching for the salt shaker. I fiddled with my phone until Liana came back with our drinks.

"Your lemonade," she said while placing it in front of me. I thanked her while she handed Cyrus his soda.

"So what have I missed?" She asked while taking a seat next to me and began sipping her milkshake.

"Nothing really, aside from that weird thing going on between your brother and that new girl, Lily. London invited her to sit with us during lunch, but whenever Preston comes over, she runs away. He's also started skipping school and has been getting into trouble."

Liana frowned. Her brother was usually a good kid. He never skipped school or got into fights, not until recently. I didn't know why and London would brush it off when I asked. Sometimes I felt like there was something neither Liana nor London was telling me. Something big.

We continued small talk as we waited for our food. Once our food was brought to us, we ate in silence. I couldn't help but keep glancing at Cyrus's strange hair.

"Is your hair naturally like that?" I finally asked. He paused mid-bite and looked a little surprised that I actually said something to him.

"What?" He asked looking completely lost.

"Your hair." I waved my fork at him. "Is it natural?"

I felt stupid for asking, but some small part of me didn't believe it all came from a bottle. It looked too real even though it looked unnatural at the same time.

His hair was raven black and was styled up, but still looked messy. The bright orange highlights contrasted against the darkness of his silky strands. The color of his hair matched his mesmerizing, fiery golden eyes. Everything about him screamed 'unnatural' and 'attractive' all at the same time.

"Yeah, it's all natural." He leaned back in his seat and gestured to himself a slight tilt of his lips. "This is all natural."

The glint in his eyes screamed arrogance and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I hate guys who think they are the shit. It wasn't attractive at all. I had my fair share of assholes, which was really why I chose not to get involved in any kind of relationship until I met someone who I thought deserved my attention and knew I could trust.

"I highly doubt that," I replied while going back to eating.

I was really hoping that Cyrus was lying about going to my school because I was really hoping not to see him again. I didn't like the aura he brought with him, and I definitely did not like his creepy staring. My hand found its way to my leather jacket. I wanted to know the real reason why he had my jacket, not some bullshit made up story.

-

Yes, the last scene took place in Queen of Kings. I thought it would've been great to include because this is where it all starts. 

I'm really excited to be writing this book. It's going to be a little different for me because I've always written about werewolves.

Please feel free to vote and comment, I love reading comments. And if you want to send a cover you can message me.

For those who are reading QOK, I posted a new chapter for it yesterday, so if you haven't read it you can go do that if you want.

Yay, it's Christmas Eve and I have no life yippee.

~Kira