The Heart of Nine

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

His lips are soft and warm and … minty. The kiss is gentle but there’s an urgency in it, almost as if he’s trying to prove himself to me. Standing there in shock I don’t have time to respond before it’s over and he pulls away.

He takes a step back and looks at me with a satisfied look on his face. “Sorry about that but I had to prove my point.”

“Prove your point?” I ask incredulously.

“Well yeah. I mean, I had to prove that I wasn’t joking when I said I liked you.”

“But you didn’t have to kiss me.”

“Right, but I couldn’t think of anything to say so…” He trails off, avoiding my glare.

“So you kiss me and think it’s okay?” I ask in disbelief.

He shrugs casually and says, “Best way to show affection.”

I just stare at him with my mouth hanging open, completely taken aback by his boldness. I mean it may not seem like a big deal, yeah he kissed me big whoop, but it felt so… wrong. And that feeling is carrying on into my attitude towards him.

“Okay, I have to go.” I say, quickly grabbing my stuff and heading towards the door.

“Wait, Mikayla.” He says, running towards me. “You’re not mad at me are you? Please don’t be mad.” He says pleadingly.

I let out a long sigh, “I’m not mad.” I say with what I think is a reassuring smile on my face but may look like a grimace.

He nods in satisfaction and returns my smile. I turn away and head out the door before he can stop me again.

It’s already dark outside when I get to my car. The ride home passes quickly and before I know it I’m driving up the extremely long driveway up to my house.

Lost in my own thoughts, I head into the house and subconsciously ignore everyone downstairs. I’m about to go up the stairs to my room when a smaller-than-me force rams into me almost knocking me over in his haste.

“Oops, sorry Mik.” Aaron says, moving away from me while simultaneously trying to hide whatever he has in his hands behind his back.

All thoughts about Danny are pushed away for the moment as curiosity gets the better of me. Before Aaron can move away I grab him around the waist and turn him around to face me. He lets out a little yelp of surprise and looks up to meet my questioning stare.

When I see that he’s not going to say anything I ask, “Whatcha got there kid?”

He looks up at me innocently, “Where?”

“There, behind your back.”

“There’s nothing behind my back.”

I raise an eyebrow at him in disbelief before reaching behind him and tugging at his arms forcing him to release whatever is in his hands, it falls to the floor with a loud thud.

Moving him aside slightly but motioning for him to remain where he is I reach down to pick up the rather large, and heavy object. Realizing what it is immediately, I face away from him trying really hard not to burst out laughing.

After taking a few deep breaths to control my laughter, I turn back around with what I hope is a serious expression on my face. It takes me a minute to speak, not trusting my voice to actually make coherent words instead of giggles. “Why do you have an old car battery?”

He looks at me eyes wide, he’s been caught.

Before he can say anything, Michael, twin number two, comes bounding down the stairs. I turn to look at him and he has a bunch of wires in his hands. He looks at me, then at the car battery in my hands, then at his twin’s panic stricken face and turns to make a run for it back up the stairs. I drop the battery onto the floor and quickly run after him. From the corner of my eye I see Aaron run the opposite way, making his escape. I yell for Ben to go get him while I try to catch Michael.