CHAPTER 1
Eight years later...
"Cecilia!" Cecilia Thompson was jerked out of the memory by the sudden squeek of tire slamming on brakes. "Cecilia, come on!" Tisha, my roomate at Cheschire Ranch pulled impatiently on her arm. I opened my eyes, the familiar sight of Mercy High School clouding her view. I groaned. Standing up, I eyed my friend.
"You just had to wake me up?" I mumbled as we walked off the bus. Tisha giggled.
"Sorry your highness." she said, teasing me. I groaned. Every since I moved to Cheschire Ranch, a group home for teens, Tisha had called me your highness when I got an attitude. It really didn't bother me anymore, because over the past few months, we had become close friends. I sighed. Today was not going to be a good day. Trying to hide my distress, I smiled. When we walked past a group of football players, one of them whistled. I looked at Tisha and frowned. Tisha was extremely pretty. Her chocolate colour skin was creamy and smooth. Her black hair reached past her shoulders in layers. Her deep chocolate eyes were round and almond shaped, like my mothers. Her nose was straight and highlighted her full, pouting lips. She had a slim body, but with curves. She was always dressed up. Today she wore a purple shirt that hung over her shoulders, but clung to her waist. Her black pants clung to her ankles, showing off purple flats. A gold chain hung loosely around her neck, and dangling gold ears dropped from her ear lobes. She didn't wear make-up. She didn't need it.
I sighed. I looked nothing like her, although I let her dress me up today. It was, however, the first day of our Junior year. My once dirty blonde hair had darkened to a deep chesnut brown and hung half way to my waist. I had it in a loose ponytail on the side of my neck. I still had a slim body and had curves, but I tried to hide them with baggy shirts. I wore my favorite pair of Levis' with a yello shirt that clung to my rod slim waist but was loose on the top. My Levis' clung to my ankles like Tishas' but instead of flats, I wore white snowboots, my pants tucked into them. My loose ponytail on the side nearly hid the huge hoops that dangled from my ear lobes, accenting my long, slim neck. I wore a slim necklace that dangled dangerously between my breasts and a ton of gold and silver bracelets on my arm. On my hands was the ring that was given to me by the lady who picked me up at the hospital the night after I nearly died. She told me it was my mothers. Intrically carved out of sterlin silver, it held a turquoise gem in the middle surround by emeralds. It was the only thing they found. I stopped. Tisha looked at me then shrugged. She stopped and turned to face me. I clutched my binder closer to my chest.
"You okay?" she asked. I looked at her and swallowed.
"I guess I'm just nervous." It had been a long summer. I had snuck off when ever I could to experiment with the monstrous gift I was burdened with. Everytime, my hands would egnite in blue flames that was so cold, it burned anything it touched. Over the past eight years, I had tried whenever I could to learn to control this burden. I had been able to so far, but when I got mad, I had ot hurry and leave. Flames errupted from my body when I got mad, and I couldn't control it. I was in the process of learning how.
"Can we sit down somewhere?" I took deep breaths, trying to calm my nerves. I felt the familiar prickle of heat start in my chest, and I looked at Tisha. The only person I ever told about my burden was her. She had laughed at me a tfirst, but when I drug her in the room, she got serious.
"You've got to be kidding me Cecilia!" she laughed. I shook my head, hurt that my friend didn't believe me.
"I'm not lying!" I grabbed her wrist and pulled her to our room, shutting the door and locking it. Tisha shifted nervously from one foot to the other.
"What are you doing?" she asked, trying not to seem scared. I held up a finger to silence her.
"I'm going to show you I'm not lying. Do me a favor and slap me please?" I took a step toward her. She backed up hesitantly, then stepped forward and slapped me. My eyes went red with anger and I looked at my hands. Tisha followed my gaze and let out a gasp. Blue fire radiated from my fingertips, seeking something to burn. I lifted my hands in front of me, looking at her. "I told you I wasn't lying. It seems to be started by my anger. I can control it now, but I have to be careful not to get mad." I looked at Tisha, looking for some sign of fear. Her face was relaxed. She grinned.
"That's awesome, but does it hurt? How long have you been able to do it?" I sighed, then gestured for her to sit down. She plopped down on the bottom of our bunk bed. I slept on the top and her on the bottom. The cover was a light lavender, and silk smooth. Mine was yellow. My favorite color. I went to sit beside her, the flames dying. When I was sure they were gone, I sat down.
"You don't know the story of me being place in the system do you?" she shook her head. " I thought so. When I was eight, actualy I had just turned eight that day, I was having a slumber party with my best friend, Shiela. It was just me and her. And my mom of course, but she had already went to bed. We were sitting on my bed, and all of a sudden, a horrible pain in my chest made me loose my breath. Pain shot through my head. I looked up and my eyes glazed over. I couldn't see anything but fire. I grabbed my head, but it felt like my hands were on fire, so I looked at them. My hands were engulfed in blue flames. The flames started to lick up my arms, and I looked up to find Shiela. She wasn't anywhere, but I heard screaming. I knew it was too late to try and save them, the house was already engulfed in flames. I curled into a ball until I was entirely surrounded in blue flames. I heard sirens every where, they found me like that almost half an hour later. They said I shouldn't have lived, I didn't even have a burn on me. I lost my best friend and my mom because of this." I held up my hands and blue flames roared from my fingertips. A tear leaked down from my eyes. I looked at her to find her eyes watery and her hand over her mouth.. I pulled the flames back into my body and buried my face in my hands, letting the sobs take over. Hesitantly, Tisha laid her hand on my shoudler.
"I'm so sorry Cecilia. Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." she promised.
She never had told anyone. I looked at Tisha and nodded. Standing up, we shook it off and walked on. Coming to her class, Tisha turned back to me. "Are you sure you'll be okay? If you need me, just text and I'll be there as soon as I can." she hugged me adn walked into her classroom. I turned and walked to my class. Unfortunately, I had to walk back past the group of football players.
One of them hollered, "Hey baby, come here." I ignored him and kept walking. I heard footsteps behind me and stopped, whirling around and nearly stumbling into one of the guys. He was much taller than me, but only by a few inches. He looked down at me with baby blue eyes. His hair was nearly black, which highlighted his olive coloured skin. He had a straight nose that led to a sensual full mouth. I swallowed.
"Sorry." I mumbled, turning back around. He grabbed my arm as I started to walk away. I turned back to face him. I could hear the hoots his friends were giving him and sent them a glare. They held up their hands in surrender. "Can I help you?" I asked, matter-of-factly. He stared at me. I looked down at his hand meaningly, which he withdrawn imediately. "Thank you." I turned to walk away, again.
"No, wait!" he called, walking beside me. I looked at him from the corner of my eye.
"Yes?" I stopped, leaning back against the brick wall. I looked at the slim watch that dangled from my wrist. I had plenty of time to get to class, the bell hadn't even rung for school to start. I sighed and looked up at him.
"I just wanted to apologise for my friends rude behavior." he looked down at me, a smile starting to curve his mouth. My heart skipped a beat, and for a moment I thought I would burst into the burning mass of blur fire. My heart-rate turned back to normal and I took a deep breath, exhaling loudly.
"It's okay. I just wish he wouldn't act like such of a jerk. If he wanted to talk to me all he had to do was ask." The guy chuckled.
"I doubt that's going to happen. Don't worry about him." he smiled again. "I'm Tanner by the way. Tanner Jenkins." he extended his hand then took it back when I stared at it dumbly. I cleared my throat.
"I'm Cecilia. Cecilia Thompson." I smiled up at him, the frowned. "I'm sorry, but I have to get to class." Tanners' smile faded.
"Would you mind if I walked you?" I started to shrug, but then caught sight of his friend starting to walk over to where we were standing.
"Um...I guess that would be fine." I turned and started to walk away, my binder settled loosely in the crook of my elbow. He smiled then turned to wave at his friends. His smile faded as his friend approached.
"Uh-oh." he mumbled, laying his hand on my elbow. I looked up to find his friend smiling down at me. I glared. Tanner moved to stand beside me, his hand still resting on my elbow. I sighed.
"Yes?" I asked, politely. His smile widened, cocky. He looked at Tanner, then back at me.
"Hey, sexy." he drawled out, giving me a slow once over. " I was just wonderin' if I could get your number." He smiled again and looked back at his friends, who hooted. I glared, turning to look at Tanner. I felt the familiar tingle of heat in my chest as the anger burned inside me. Tanner seemed to understand. He looked at his friend. "Not now, Josh." He started to pull me away, but Joshs' hand came to my other elbow. Tanner looked at his friend. They were about equal in size, but it looked like Tanner could easily take him. I looked at Tanner helplessly, hoping he would do something. I had just met him and I already trusted him. He glared at Josh. "Get you hands off of her." he growled, pulling me to stand behind him. I cringed when I heard Josh laugh.
"Aww, that's cute. Protect your little girlfriend. I was just playin round with her. No need to take it offensively. Besides, if I wanted to tap that, I would." I glared at him from behind Tanner. Tanner went stiff, and the heat in my chest got hotter. I felt the familiar heat at my fingertips, but managed to control them, not letting them show. I started to speak up, but Tanner interrupted me.
"You might want to walk away right now, Josh." Tanner growled, his voice low. Josh wasn't laughing now, but they stood toe-to-toe. They looked to be about the same height, but I couldn't really tell. I backed up against the wall again. Josh glared at Tanner.
"Or what? You gonna hit me because I made a smart remark about some girl you don't even know?" A vibration in my pocket made me jump. My phone vibrated again. I plucked it out, flipping it open. Tisha had probably sensed my distress.
Tish34: u ok? I sighed and quickly replied.
Cece78: no. I nd u. hurry. I waited a moment before the familiar vibration occurred again.
Tish34: Im comin. where u at?
Cece78: outside of F-wing. hurry, im bout 2 burst. I flipped my phone shut and looked up to see Josh swing a punch at Tanner. He ducked then came back up swinging his fists. I heard the sickening crunch of bone. I slid down and covered my face with my hands, my binder already on the ground. I looked up to see Tisha running around the corner.
"Cecilia? Oh my god, Cece are you okay?" she looked at Tanner, who stood over Josh glareing.
"I told you not to mess with me. You better be glad it was your nose this time." At the sound of my name, he whirled around to find me sitting on the ground, arms around my knees. My teeth were biting into my lower lip. The heat was so intense now, I could barely stand it. Tisha laid her hand on my arm then drew it back automatically. "Ow!" I looked at her surprised. She nodded. She looked at Tanner.
"You, run and get alot of water, and I mean alot. I don't have time to explain, but since you're involved now, I'm going to have to tell you what's going on." Tanner nodded and took off. Josh had stood up by now and was glaring down at me. "This ain't over *edit your post and this will go away*. You can tell your damn boyfriend I said his *edit your post and this will go away* is mine." He walked away. Tanner came back carrying a bunch of bottled waters. He looked at Tisha who was standing beside me now. I got up, my legs shaking with the restraint of trying trying to keep the fire inside.
"We need to get her somewhere she can be alone. And somewhere she can change." Tanner nodded then looked confused.
"Change?" he asked, looking at my outfit. "She looks fine to me."
Tisha sighed and said, "You'll see why." We headed to the parking lot, where his truck was parked. Tisha made sure nobody could see me before nodding. I let the fire go, watching Tanners face. Shock registered first, the confusion, finally, amazement. The flames started to die down when Tisha dumped two bottles of water on me, finishing putting the fire out. I laughed.
"That's cold." I shook my head, now soaked wet. Tanner just stood there, immoble. Tisha turned to him.
"You can never tell anyone what you saw here today, do you hear me? She been through enough as it is." she left that as it was, turning back to me. "Now, we need to get you out of those wet clothes." she pulled her gym bag out, and took the same outfit I had on out. I laughed.
"How did you know?"
"I had a feeling." she turned to Tanner. He turned around automatically. I sighed and slipped my shoes off. They were thankfully unwet. My pants came next, but I slipped the dry ones on before tending to my shirt, which now clung to my body like a second skin. I had it off before I heard the voices. Tanner turned around to warn us then froze. I was naked waist up except for my bra. His eyes went wide as he saw the scar that raced from my left hip to my right shoulder. The look on his face bewildered me and I knew I'd have explain what has happened to me. I frowned and clutched the dry shirt to my chest trying ot hide the scar. He cleared his throat and turned around, letting me finish. I slipped the shirt on quickly, then my shoes came next. I walked to stand beside him as two guys past us, looking at us suspiciously. I looked at Tanner, who I trusted now, like I trusted Tisha. He looked down at me and smiled. Not just any smile, but one that reflected in his eyes. I knew then and there I had just made another friend for life. One that didn't care if I was some freak who could burst into flames if she got to mad. I smiled back, taking his hand and Tishas' . We turned and walked back to the school.
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