Artemisia High

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Tick tock tick tock tick tock — BRrrrrrringgg!

Students rushed out of the classroom as the teacher yelled at them to wait. She threw her papers on her desk in frustration.

Cinder didn't want to stick around any longer, so she left. She made her way to her locker as fast as she could. She didn't know when Kai was going to show up to take her to his house, but she didn't want to be in a crowd of obsessive admirers when it happened.

"Hey girl!" Iko said. Cinder jumped at her sister's unexpected arrival. "Peony's in the bathroom, so you don't have to rush."

Shoot.

"Uh, I can't go with you guys. I have tutoring."

"Oh. You didn't mention that when I asked you about your plans earlier today."

"I forgot."

Truthfully, she didn't tell Peony and Iko what was really happening because she didn't want them to know. She didn't even want it to be happening in the first place.

"Hey. I'm ready," Peony said. Cinder didn't jump this time, but she was still startled.

"Cinder has tutoring or something," Iko told Peony.

"Oh. I thought you said—"

"I know what I said. I just forgot."

"You never forget, Cinder," Peony said. "That's one of your best qualities."

"That's not true. Just the other day I forgot my—my—See? I forgot what I forgot."

"If you say so..." Peony said.

"Let's go, then," Iko told Peony. "Bye, Cinder! We'll see you at home, okay?"

"Okay."

Just when Cinder thought she was out of the clear, another figure decided to startle her.

"Hey," Kai said. "Ready?"

"Uh, yeah. Let me just get the last of my things."

Cinder tried to stuff her belongings in her backpack as quickly as possible, but that resulted in her dropping things. Heavy things that make lots of noise.

"Sorry, sorry, my mistake," Cinder said to Kai as she picked up the stuff on the floor.

Like clockwork, Iko and Peony whipped their heads around to see the commotion.

"Let me help you," Kai said before crouching down. He began grabbing things off the floor and putting them in her bag.

While Kai was distracted, Cinder glanced over at her two sisters. She held up a finger to her mouth to tell them not to speak, but they obviously didn't listen.

They walked over to where they were. Kai didn't seem to notice two sets of legs right beside him. Peony and Iko went back and forth about who should speak first before Iko finally decided she would.

"Hi!" she said with a smile plastered on her face. Kai glanced to the side and mumbled a "hey" before returning his attention to the things on the ground.