CANDOR ➳ LEO VALDEZ [1] o.h.

i. and so it begins

CHAPTER ONE
and so it begins.

"It'll be a second chance, kid." Candor mocked under her breath, moving her delicate hands for emphasis as the child services man had done. "A fresh start." She snorted. There was nothing fresh about this start.

First of all, a fresh start only comes when the person chooses to begin again, which Candor held no intention of doing. She still planned to skip class, break a few hearts and be a bitch to anyone who looked at her funny.

Then there was the fact that instead of standing on the white marble steps before the school's dormitory where she could kick her feet up, Candor found herself in front of an ugly yellow bus that reminded her of her kindergarten days. Alongside the teen stood a teetering old woman who seemed to hate her job as a social security worker for her face was pinched and etched with frowning lines, plus a short, stocky man who was the trips chaperone and had the oddity to lean over and sniff her. Candor knew she didn't smell; she hadn't taken, er, stolen, that bottle of Chanel No. 5 for nothing.

Candor rolled her shoulders as she fidgeted with her maroon leather jacket. She figured Nevada would have been warmer, so she'd only asked for the police officer to hand her this white tee, combat boots, and leggings before the rest of her belongs were stuffed into a carry–on and held out of her "gripping hands," as the ox of a woman beside her had said. "Thinking they can just do whatever." Candor had held back the retort that the things in the luggage were hers and she shouldn't have been denied her given rights, but settled for the black purse that was now clutched tightly in her right hand.

Apparently, all the other students were already piled into the vehicle, and so Candor was sentenced to climb the dirty god–forsaken stairs with Coach Hedge. Candor pierced her lips and swung a strawberry curl from her cheek before stomping up then and down the aisle towards an empty seat she'd targeted along the back of the bus. She wanted to be alone for the whole of this trip wrapped in a self–pitying world all of her own.

They hadn't even started their ride to the Grand Canyon, and yet most of the kids were either sleeping —which Candor found annoying since they weren't the ones who'd been in a holding cell for three nights because their group home didn't want them to ever come back, and then in turn been on a plane across country at 3 am that morning — listening to music on their smartphones, or staring out the window. At what? Candor had no idea; they were still parked in front of the main building at their school.

Candor crashed down into the uncomfortable cushion of her seat and tucked her legs up against the bench in front of her before plucking a fashion magazine from her purse. She strategically opened the glossy pages and positioned it so it obstructed her view of everyone on this bus . . . except the gaping ogle coming from a Latino boy across the aisle of her. His jaw was hung slack on his babyish face and black curls created a mop of hair that seemed to be in dire need of a haircut. Candor stared back indifferently, even as his face lit up with a grin when their eyes locked. His smile reminded the girl of an elf which seemed appropriate since his ears pointed at the tops.

Quirking an eyebrow, Candor faced forward again and tried her hardest to ignore the fire–filled gawk that fanned her way. Candor could tell that the look the boy was giving her was more than the usual gazes she excepted to get for being the new girl. Not that Candor didn't love the attention, but she would rather have been hit on by that boy who'd given her a literal blinding smile when she walked down the aisle.

When the bus lurched forward, the kid sprung with it but instead went towards her. Candor startled as the hyped energy that hummed throughout him became almost tangible. It was definitely ADHD, something Candor herself took pills for, and she was about to offer one to her new peer when he said the most idiotic thing Candor thought she would ever hear from a fifteen year old male.