It All Started Here

Chapter Nine

Kara:

            Kara had a plan.

            All week long, she’d been dreading this stupid assembly. The school already sent letters to all the parents telling them about Braden and the assembly. They even made it a mandatory assembly.

            After the first period announcements, the students were going to be sent to the auditorium. That’s when Kara was going to make a break for it. With all the chaos of students trying to get to the auditorium, there was no way the teachers would notice what she was doing. If one of them did, she’d lie and say she needed to use the bathroom first or something.

            She tapped her foot under her desk as she waited for Mr. Saylor to finish the announcements. Why was he taking so long? Why didn’t he just shut up?

            “Students are now dismissed to the auditorium for the assembly,” Mr. Saylor finally announced.

            About time! Kara thought as she jumped up and practically ran for the door. That’s where she hit the first snag in her plan. All the students were bottlenecked at the door, and she had to wait. By then, Shirelle and Megan were already behind her. That was just a small problem though. She’d just tell them the same lie she was going to tell the teachers. Finally they made it out the door, but her relief was cut short when Roman appeared next to her.

            “Watch it,” Shirelle said when he pushed her aside.

            Roman ignored Shirelle’s impatient sigh and threaded his arm through Kara’s.

            “What are you doing?” Kara said.

            “I know this isn’t going to be easy for you,” he said.

            Besides Ethan, Roman and Mina were the only ones who knew the truth about her mom. That was only because they’d been there when she made her tearful confession to Ethan. If she had her way, no one but Ethan would know.

            “Roman, I--”

            “Kara, I know you’re not with Ethan right now, but you’re still one of my best friends,” he said. “I’m not letting you do this alone.”

            There was no time for her to protest. Roman’s arm was tight around hers, and before she knew it he was pulling them inside the auditorium. With Roman sitting on one side of her and Megan on the other, Kara was trapped. Shirelle sat next to Megan, giving Kara and Roman a frown that faded when Jax appeared in their row.

            “Hey, Beautiful,” Jax said, leaning down to give Shirelle a quick kiss. Then he turned to the girl sitting next to her. “Are you gonna let me have your seat, or you want me to sit in your lap?”

            “You can sit in my lap,” Shirelle offered, and he grinned at her.

            Kara felt sick to her stomach. She couldn’t deal with this right now. Was this really what she and Ethan looked like to everyone else?

            “Yep,” Jax said, already dropping in the seat the girl gave up to him.

            “What?” Shirelle frowned.

            “Nothing,” Jax said, reaching for her hand.

            Instead of telling him to stay the hell out of her mind, Kara just slammed the door of it shut as hard as she could.