Chapter One
"Damn!" Maya mutters under her breath.
Maya hated when she accidentally slipped and cussed. She hated the obligatory quarter she forced herself to put into her swear jar. Hell she hated her swear jar! (But it was necessary, trust me it was necessary) She really it hated when she was a new student, in a new school, in a new town, in a new state, in a new country. The combination of all these things at once was just too much and Maya just couldn't take it anymore. She believes that she at least deserved that one cuss word. Maya sighed, she knew that she would be adding another quarter to her swear jar tonight. Shit now she was truly miserable.
And now to add to Maya's misery she had to get up in a room full of strangers and talk about herself. She supposed she should be used to it now. She was a military brat, comfortable adapting to the many new locations she was forced to live in, but she was also miserable. She felt that she was allowed to be miserable. She had no friends, her dad was distant, her mom was so out of reach she was untrackable, she had no true place to call home, etc..
Stop it, Maya thinks to herself. This year she was going to be optimistic. Yea she was in a new school once again, but it was only mid-semester, so all of the cliques and friendships weren't fully formed yet. Maybe this time, her last year in high school, she wouldn't feel so isolated. Maybe she wouldn't be nicknamed the 'new girl' the entire year. Hopefully. She was in Michigan, a place she had never been to before. Plus she loved the aatmosphere of her new school, J.Parker Academy. So with these thouhts in her head and with new optimism Maya decides to stand up and head to the front of the classroom with the least amount of attitude possible.
Atta girl!
Maya stops in the middle of the aisle swinging her bag as she does so, knocking several books and papers off of the desks of the students near her. She feels her face grow warm but can't help it. Because that thought wasn't hers. But somehow it was speaking directly to her; in her head. Yes her head! But that was crazy.
Yes that's completely crazy so stop standing in the middle of the classroom like an idiot.
There it goes again! Maya thinks triumphantly, then realizes how ridiculous it is to be triumphant that she's hearing voices. So shaking her head and trying to appear nonchalant Maya heads slowly to the front of the classroom.
When she reaches the front of the room she reluctantly turns around and faces the class and looks at the goofy smile that graces the face of her new Social Studies teacher, Mr. Egg (yes as in poultry.) He nods, giving her the universal sign of teachers everywhere that means, its okay honey go ahead, I know your scared shitless but somehow my goofy smile will make it all better. Dang it Maya thinks, another quarter for the swear jar. This day just keeps getting worse.
"Go ahead honey," (see all teachers are alike) Mr. Egg tells her .
"Okay," Maya begins, " my name is Maya Moone, I'm the new student. Yea I cant believe I'm new either when I've known you all for a full morning- Okay attempt at humor failed... Alrite so I'm a senior, 17 years old soon to be eighteen. I was born in the Phillipines although both of my parents are Black and from the U.S. go figure. I'm a military brat. I live with my father who's finally retiring from the military this year so I'm stuck here. This school will be my seventh school and fourth country in the last three years so I'm really looking forward to graduation. Any questions?"
Maya realizes that she made this speech in a slightly hurried voice with an unfocused stare into the distance but she cant make herself care.
Well you should, it was a nice speech, it could have been so much better...
Maya looks up this time not as startled as before, but still a little weirded out. And stares directly into the most beautiful pair of hazel eyes shes ever seen. And the beauty does not stop there, Maya realizes.
Even sitting down he looks oversized; well over six feet tall with long muscular limbs Maya feels as though he could easily dwarf her full height of 5feet 9inches. His head full of curly chocolate brown hair and deep dimples in both cheeks give him a boyish appearance. But he is still one of the most attractive guys Maya has ever seen. His tan confuses her for a moment, he's not orange like the Jersey Shore douchbags, but hes almost as dark as her own honey brown complexion, but she would bet her entire bank account he was white. Howerver, despite this stranger's overall attractiveness, Maya was still struck dumb over his eyes which had gone from a light brown to moss green. They were captivating.
Mr. Egg clears his throat," Thank you Ms. Moone please return to the rest of the class, help yourself to any seat."
Embarrassed by how sidetracked she has become staring at "hazel eyed giant" Maya suddenly notices the smirk that appears on his face just when she hears-
It's not polite to stare Ms. Moone
Maya suddenly heads towards the empty seat that is right next to him. When she reaches it without any interruptions she hurries and takes the seat. She turns towards him, completely isolating both of them from the rest of the room.
"How the hell are you doing that?" Maya asks her stranger, swear jar completely forgotten.
Oh shit, Taylor thinks to himself panicking. How could she possibly know that that was his voice she was hearing. Most people just thought it was their conscious speaking to them and generally ignored him. But not Maya.
He knew she was trouble the minute she sashayed into the room. And yes he meant sashay, a word he had never before used until he watched Maya walk.
For one thing she was very hard to miss once she did sashay into a room. She was very tall, almost six feet, and she was one of those tall girls who loved to wear heels, confident in her height. She also had the most beautiful skin Taylor had ever seen. She was a warm caramel brown with a splash of honey, the tan he's tried to achieve many times over countless summers. Her hair was the exact same shade and she wore it in a high ponytail that reached her neck with bangs that constantly got caught in her eyelashes. Which brought constant attention to her eyes which were extremely large and extremely dark, appearing almost black. Her lashes and brows were just as dark and made her eyes pop. Her lips were full and she had a beautiful smile.
But Taylor being as honest as he was could admit that it wasn't just Maya's pretty face that caught his attention. She was wearing an orange sundress that complimented her skin and her curves. She was slender but she did have curves. Taylor was very surprised by that fact, but he didn't object to it at all.
But her looks didn't give off the smoke signals. It was her mind that was trouble. Usually it took a lot of effort for him to read the minds of other people. He was very adept at reading their moods though and could project his own thoughts into their minds, making them believe that it was their own subconscious.
The moment Maya walked into the room though, he could hear most of her thoughts. He was shocked by some of them. She seemed so calm, confident, and aloof on the surface, but her mind told the story of a loner who has a cussing problem. She was intriguing. He was intrigued.
Tayor was also worried. She could her his thoughts without him consciously projecting them on her. That meant that he shared an intense mind connection with her that he doesn't share with anyone but his grandmother. Which meant that his grandmother's prediction wasn't completely bogus. And looking into Maya's intensely dark eyes he starts to believe that it could possibly come true.
"Oh shit." This time Taylor says it out loud.
