Ignite (Midnight Fire #1)

Chapter Two

When Kira arrived at school the next day, Luke was waiting for her outside the entrance. She was happy for the escort but wanted to try walking herself to class to test her memory of the layout. Luke let her lead, which resulted in two miss-turns and a five-minute tardy to class, but she had still gotten them there on her own, which was something.

In no time, Kira’s morning classes whizzed by, and she was sitting with her newfound friends in the cafeteria, feeling like she had an actual place in the school.

"Dude, Wonder Woman is definitely hotter than Catwoman," Luke said to Miles. The two had been in a heated debate since their teacher had mentioned comic books in chemistry class.

"No way man, Catwoman is totally badass and she wears a leather costume. Leather!"

"Okay, Wonder Woman wears a bathing suit, has super human stamina, and can fly," Luke argued, mouth hanging open in disbelief that they were even still talking about the subject.

"Catwoman has a whip."

"Wonder Woman has an invisible flying plane."

"Dude, leather plus whip plus hint of evil wins every time."

Dave decided to chime in with, "Luke, I think Miles has you there."

"Ladies? Come on, help me out." Luke peered over with puppy-dog eyes. A slight pout graced his lower lip.

"Speaking as a completely heterosexual female, I have to say that Catwoman is definitely hotter," Kira spoke up, hoping to end the completely absurd debate. "Now, here’s a real question—Batman or Superman? I have to go with Superman every time."

At that, Miles spit out his drink. "You have got to be kidding me."

Kira laughed and let the new debate continue now with male subjects who were of much more interest to her. But when Miles and Luke began spitting words at each other, most likely forgetting to breathe, she tuned them out.

Letting her gaze wander over all of the different groups around the cafeteria, Kira eventually allowed her eyes to slip out the window to the one person she was secretly searching for. But when her view landed on the misfits' table in search of Tristan, all four of them were looking at her. Jerome, John, and Diana held their gazes for a moment before looking away, but Tristan continued staring.

Kira’s breath caught. She didn’t understand or want their interest. Well, she secretly wanted Tristan’s but not the others. She smiled at him, trying to change his sort of gloomy stare for a flirtier one. But he just looked away, confusing her more.

Luke nudged her, pulling her gaze from the window. "Come on, it’s time to go to class."

They walked together, winding through the sunlit hallways, and sat down quietly until Mr. Bell walked in, flustered. Hastily, he started to lecture.  

During class, Kira looked over her shoulder to catch all of the misfits staring at her once more. She held Tristan’s eyes again, only breaking contact when Luke tapped her shoulder to pass her a note. He sufficiently distracted her with funny notes for the rest of class, but the hairs on the back of her neck remained standing for the entire period.

"Luke, why do they keep staring?" Kira asked as they followed everyone out of the room.

"Don’t worry about it. It’s just because you’re new. I’m sure it will wear off soon."

But despite his reassurance, it didn’t.

Every day for the rest of the week, Kira was under scrutiny. The misfits would only look away when she finally turned to meet their gazes. Kira was confused, but more than anything, annoyed.