Phoenix

Chapter 10

They had kissed many times that night, each time more drunk than the next, by the end of the night everyone had pretty much kissed everyone of the opposite gender. Kris had seen minutes with Riz, Michael, Justin (again), and even Jak, and the same with all the other girls. The adults found them 2 hours later all but Anu and Jael passed out drunk, and had called everyone's parents', leaving Michael, Jael, and Kris grounded for the week-end.

On Saturday, they let Kris have Justin over because they had to work on their science project, and Jael and Dorian both had chess tournaments, and Mike was going to the chess tournaments with Jael and Dorian and staying the whole day, while Sierra had a softball game and Amy was going to be a softball mom and support her with Ian, meaning Michael was going to sneak out to his friend's house, and Kris and Justin had the house to themselves.

About 1, Kris was in a Marauders' t-shirt and some ripped jeans when Justin rang the doorbell, and she remembered that he was supposed to be coming over. She opened the door and smiled awkwardly, then grew flustered as she checked him out. He looked good today, with jeans that were not hanging off his butt like so many boys' jeans' these days, a long black trench coat on, with a dark gray striped scarp hanging loose around his neck, his hands in his pockets. He looked like he had just stepped out of a British model magazine, and in his arms was a strawberry cake. 

He nodded and gave a half smile, his eyes' hesitant and bashful, "Hey, uh, I brought some cake to apologize for last night. We were the guests and shouldn't have engaged in such..... immature activities while at a dinner you were hosting, especially in front of your 13 year old sister. I'm sorry." She stared at him speechless, he was being so polite and sweet right now, his cheeks slightly red as he gazed at her. 

Kris shook her head and replied, "No, its not your fault, Michael and I were the hosts', and Jael was our responsibility, it was irresponsible of us, and no fault of your own. Thank you for the cake." He smiled relief obvious in his eyes', and just stood there as if waiting for something, then it hit her. She moved aside and said blushing, "Oh, sorry.... come in." He dipped his head, and walked in, as she shut the door and the biting wind out.

"Is it alright if I leave my belongings here?" he asked gesturing to the coat rack, she smiled and nodded.

"Hey, let me go put the cake in the kitchen, then we can start on the project, my room is upstairs second door on the left. I'll be right back," then she walked to the kitchen before she made an even bigger fool of herself. She placed the cake on the counter and then walked upstairs.

Inside her room, Justin was staring at her photo collage on the wall with a small smile, as his eyes' ran over the photos. He turned to her the minute she stepped into the room, "Is that your sister?" he asked pointing to Jael. Kris looked at the picture, it had been taken when she was 13 and Jael had been 10, they were standing on the dock with lifejackets on, her arms wrapped around Jael, both of them smiling. Kris smiled softly, remembering that trip, it was before Dorian had gone into his emo phase, and before Sierra and Ian had been fostered, Mike had taken them all fishing, and her, Michael and Dorian had slipped a fish into his sleeping bag while he was sleeping, it had been hilarious.

"Yeah, my sister Jael, she's 13. You have any siblings?" she asked, then sat in her desk chair, and nodded at him, "You can sit on the bed." He smiled and sat down.

"Yeah, Chyriah, she's 10, and Andrew, he's 8." She cocked her head to the side slightly, a amused smile gracing her lips, as she gazed at him.

"How come you and your brother have normal names' and your sister got the exotic one?" He smiled, laughter dancing in his eyes' turning them a shallow ocean blue.

"My dad and mom had a deal, she got to name all the girls and he got to name all the boys, guess who was the more creative one?" She laughed, Justin wasn't that bad. 

"What about you? Any other siblings besides Jael?" A cloud crossed over her face, and she remembered, he was responsible for almost killing one, her brother, yet as she stared into those alluring blue eyes', she couldn't see it, she couldn't see a killer in them, only kindness and mischief.

"Yeah, two sisters and three brothers." His eyes' widened.

"Five other siblings? Your parents were busy?" She smiled, and rolled her eyes'. "What happened to them?" She frowned as flashes of blood, and the echoes of screams resounded from the recesses of her memories, the ones she tried to suppress. "Kris?" he asked hesitantly, concern bright in his eyes'. 

She blinked a few times, shook her head and smiled weakly, "I... don't want to talk about it." He nodded, and smiled sympathetically, his eyes' saying 'I'm sorry.' She could feel his empathy, and wondered what happened to his parents, but didn't ask, she shouldn't ask questions if she herself wasn't going to answer. Why the hell did she tell him about her siblings? She was blowing her cover. "So, what's our topic?" 

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"Okay, so the strawberries are next," he stated smiling. They're project was on human biology and particular the responses of the saliva glands and taste buds in the mouth, they had already tested on her, and now they were testing on him. She gave him a strawberry. He bit in smearing it all over his mouth as he said, "Mmm!" and smiled causing her to laugh. "So, what have you put together so far for the intro?" he asked.

"Not much, Taste buds are the anatomical structures that mediate the sense of taste. They comprise of taste cells and nerve fibers within specialized epithelial structures. Taste cells are traditionally described by histologic methods as basal, dark, intermediate, and light cells, with the nerve fibers surrounding and infiltrating the taste buds. Thats all I have so far, speaking of, spit the strawberry out into the cup and we'll examine the cells in class on Monday." 

He spit it out and saluted her while grinning goofily, "Yes ma'am." She smiled.

"Soldier!" she yelled like a drill sergeant, then took a nerf gun out from behind her grinning, "Prepare for assault!" With reflexes that impressed her, he ducked behind the chair, as she shot at him. Then he stood with a towel coiled around his wrist, and grinned, impressing her yet again, he whipped the towel back and forth swatting down each of the bullets, advancing one step forward, as she took one back with every bullet shot and swatted down. She hated human weapons. Just then she dropped the gun and ran, down the hall and out of the house. He was right behind her and gaining, and thats when she let herself go. Kris ran supernaturally fast, pushing herself to her limit, something she hadn't done in 7 years. Looking behind her, she saw he was right behind her, staring at her with determination and suspicion. Turning the corner, she slowed to a speed on the border of supernatural, but still doable for a human, and ran into the park, not before flicking a branch from a low hanging tree his way. A yelp from Justin notified her of her success.

"I am going to kill you Kris!" he yelled from behind her.