/ attached pic of Leslie /❤

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"She wasn't doing a thing that I could see, except standing there, leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together."

- J. D. Salinger

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/ k i a r a /

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I adjusted my hold on the crate which was stacked with beer cans. Panting slightly, I called out to Rhys in the semi dark night air,

"Where's your flashlight?"

I carefully dodged an outgrowth of tree roots and looked up when Rhys replied.

"Won't be necessary. We're here."

A faint flickering of camp lights became visible in the distance. We were late. The main bonfire had been lit and was burning away on the far side of the enclosure. Catchy, pop music floated around.

It was a small patch of barren land on the outskirts of the city. Closer up, there were groups of teenagers scattered across the arena in a large, uneven circle.

"Kia! Rhys! Over here!" I followed Ameera's shouts to one part of the circle where besides our usuals, Ameera had managed to include Taylor and a red head, who I assumed was his girlfriend, in the group.

They were seated on wooden crates, boxes and tree stumps.

"Dibs!" Rhys yelled and plopped down on the last unoccupied wooden crate, which looked pretty unsteady.

I groaned. Vanessa, ever the sympathetic one said, "I guess you'll have to sit on his lap, there's no more boxes.."

I started towards Rhys, but a part of the crate he sat on gave way, making him jiggle. "Oops"

"Or you could borrow a box but I don't think the snobby juniors will lend us anything." Blake piped in.

JoJo was definitely not an option. He and Avril would probably be making bedroom eyes at each other the entire night.

I pouted. At the exact same time that I met his eyes, Sidney donned a flirty smile and opened his arms. "Come into my arms, squirrel."

"Squirrel?"

I ignored Vanessa's questioning eyes. "No way."

"He's okay Kia. I'm sure he won't try anything funny." Avril reassured. "Right Johnson?"

"No promises.." He began but cracked a grin when Avril shot him a look. "Come on Kiara, I don't bite."

I plunked down the beer can box where it was fairly in everyone's reach and deliberated.

"Wait. Do you have a boyfriend? Is that why you're hesitating?" Avril asked unsurely.

"No- no boyfriend." I pushed the word outside my head and jogged over to Sidney. He had an unreadable look on.

"110 pounds of muscles. I do planks. Think you can handle it De Barros?" I challenged.

He laughed. "Just sit already."

I shrugged. "You've been warned." The moment I sat down on his lap, Jimmy Rogers, who hosted all the games of the bonfire party every year, walked to the centre of the circle.

"Here comes Silvana High's self proclaimed compere." I mumbled.

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/ s i d n e y /

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I discreetly inhaled her sweet scent. She smelled like jasmines, just the way she did back then. Strands of her black hair stuck to my face as she quietly chuckled at the antics of the compere.

Kiara. When the memories of that December night flooded back to me at the Lexington House, I was finally able to tell why that name and that face struck me so familiar.

Along with the memory, the same gnawing guilt resurfaced and I resolved to keep a distance from the girl.

I snorted. Fucking resolve didn't last a day.

"You said something?" She leaned into my left arm slightly, turning to look at me.

"What's 'Semper Fidelis' ?" I asked. I knew perfectly well what it meant. I had googled it earlier today when I saw it tattooed over her defined waist. She wasn't kidding about the planks.

Kiara tensed and tugged at her grey sweatshirt, pulling it lower down her waist.

"When did- where did you see that?"

My eyes trailed towards her deepening neckline before I forced them to look at her narrowed eyes.

"I saw some ink on your waist back at the beach."

"Oh. 'Semper Fidelis' means 'Always Faithful'. It's a Latin phrase." She said in a low voice, with a hint of scorn. Her eyes hardened, like she was trying to hold back some emotion.

I tried to read her face whilst wondering what it meant to her.

Before I could ask her any more questions, Jimmy Rogers announced, "And next we have today's YouTube star, senior Kiara Hartville-" He waved at Kiara and the crowd followed with hoots.

Kiara groaned and fell back against me.

"and ah, girls you'll are going to love this, against her is a jaw droppingly hot new male student-"

"Jaw droppingly hot? That is not cute bro" I muttered and her chuckle vibrated against my chest.

"who is starting school with us tomorrow!" Jimmy waved at someone on the opposite end of the circle. A racket of cheers went up.

The distance between the two ends of the circle made it difficult to recognize any faces on the other side. A silhouette of a tall figure became apparent at a distance.

"Today's YouTube star?" Kiara scrunched her eyebrows and asked the group.

"Your tiff with Tiffany has gone viral." Taylor's girl said to her with a smirk in her voice.

"Dude that hit was sick" Rhys laughed shaking his head.

"Not forgetting your epic fall in the cafeteria." The Asian girl whose name I couldn't remember, snickered.

"Crap. Of course it's on YouTube by now." Kiara grumbled and stood up. I had half a mind to pull her back but the people were getting hyped.

"Are you sure his last name is Rogers? He's acting like a Fallon." Avril joked. She caught my unimpressed eye roll and stuck her tongue out.

His 'games' were your basic Never Have I Ever, Truth/Dare etcetera. The entertaining part was the questionnaire- handwritten by Jimmy himself. They were pretty nasty, I'll give him that.

Till now, one girl had to squeeze a bottle of mayonnaise in her shirt, a junior was dared to eat 20 Indian chillies, a jock had to tie his shoelaces together and chase his girlfriend and two sophomores were forced to name their condom brand.

I gestured to Kiara to lean in closer and whispered in her ear, "Whatever you do squirrel, don't-"

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/ l e s l e y /

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Kiara Hartville.

I sucked a sharp breath at her name. My ears pulsed, muting every other sound. Even after 8 months spent away from her, she made me feel this way somehow.

The voices came back and Jimmy Rogers caught me in a hug. "Welcome back to Silvana High my man! Long time no see."

"Hey bro." I barely registered any faces as my body moved forward on its own accord. I steered through the maze of people searching for her face.

She drew me in like a magnet. My heart missed a beat when my gaze landed upon her.

A veil of satin black hair that I had to push back every time I wanted to look into her hazel eyes. She had stubborn, high cheekbones and an equally determined chin. Pillowy lips that were even softer than they looked and a button nose, that crumpled whenever she was in deep thought.

I was caught in a trance, staring at her like a fool until she stood up and my eyes landed on the person she was sitting with. Or rather, sitting on.

Sidney fvcking De Barros.

And like a needle to a balloon my little reminiscing episode popped as the memories resurfaced.

I balled my fist.

Ara leaned closer to him and Sidney whispered in her ear.

I had a sudden, blinding urge to punch him as the images from that night replayed in my mind, until I forced them out.

I shouldn't be feeling this way. Not after everything.

I took a calming breath and reminded myself of the mess I had made.

And the reason why I had to come back.

I had given her the power to hurt me and she had. But this time, I would be more careful. I pulled on the blank facade that I'd taught myself so well, eliminating every emotion from my face and stepped into the light.

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/ k i a r a /

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I continued towards a silhouette of the guy.

I put my palm up to shield my eyes from the blaring lights which made it difficult to see ahead.

I made it further to the centre and in the dimmer light the silhouette morphed into the figure of a man I thought I lost.

I half thought I was seeing a ghost, until I heard a string of curses from multiple people behind me, barely audible amidst the music and cheers.

My eyes went wide as saucers. I stood stock still, caught in the middle of shock and denial, until the voice that had once sang me to sleep, the voice I had fallen for, called out,

"Ara"

And suddenly, I could hear nothing. Blood started pounding in my ears and the rest of the world kind of just evaporated.

A hailstorm of emotions buzzed through me and my eyes took in the sight like they had missed the view. My gaze landed on his eyes and my head physically reared back when I saw how empty they were.

Empty of life, of the faintest ray of affection we had once shared.

And like a bucket of ice cold water, reality slapped me like a motherfucker.

My mind flashed back to that night and traces of the desperation that I had felt when I jumped on the first plane and landed in a foreign city came cutting through my veins. How desperately my eyes had searched for him in the bar packed with sweaty bodies. And how I wished they hadn't found him. Because what I saw broke my heart into jagged bits that were hurting me even today.

After eight months of no show, Leslie Jordans was back.

The sudden bout of elation and the sickening blow of reality that followed made me dizzy.

Black spots danced in my vision and I remembered the first time his eyes had locked with mine before everything became black.

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And now the story begins.

I demand your views on this one! ;)