Chapter Three- New Surroundings

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This chapter is dedicated to Lazydaisy75! Thank you for voting and being awesome! Time to move on to the story.

Kira opened the door and stared out into the tangled mess of trees. She wanted to know what was out there, and her mom gave her the until four o'clock to go explore. She needed something to do for the next 3 months, for it was summer now. As Kira stepped into the mouth of the forest, she heard the crisp, clear crunch of the forest floor. Even though it wasn't Autumn, dead leaves were littered throughout the forest. Chirping birds were heard in the distance, calling Kira to come explore. Kira couldn't stand it any longer; she joined the birds in the forest.

As Kira walked under the trees, sunlight poked through, trying to reach her. The ground was now softer, filled with growing moss. Kira sighed, thinking about the future. What would happen in school? Would this year be the same as any other year, or would she make friends? Kira was lost in thought, until a sea of light hit her. She squinted, looking around.

Apparently, Kira had wandered into a clearing in the middle of the forest. There was no civilization around, and Kira loved it. She sat down on the ground and leaned against the tree with the sunlight warming her. It was wonderful. Kira pulled out her book to continue reading. She flipped page after page as the sun set lower and lower. It was almost completely behind a mountain in the distance when Kira finally finished her book. She closed it, just now realizing how late it was. Kira jumped up and tried to sprint back home, but she couldn't remember the way; Kira was too lost in thought at the time. She started to panic, still running for safety, when she turned up right behind her house. The panic started to go away, and Kira stopped for a moment to catch her breath. She didn't know how she ended up back here after wandering around for so long. The curiosity started to eat at her, but she pushed it away for another time.

Kira walked into the house to find her mother sitting at the counter biting her nails. Her mother heard the screen door shut and the next thing Kira knew, her mother was pulling her into a bear hug with tears dripping down Kira's shoulder. Her mother pulled away, with worrisome etched on her face.

"Your father and I were worried sick about you! Do you realize how late it is?" Her mother's worrisome turned into anger. "We almost called the cops! We thought we lost you!" She was having very mixed emotions about this. One minute, her mom was screaming her head off, and the next, she was bawling. Kira felt horrible for worrying her mother like that.

"I'm so sorry mom, I didn't realize how late it was. I was caught up in a book, and-"

"YOU WERE CAUGHT UP IN A BOOK! YOU WERE OUT THERE FOR HOURS, AND YOU DIDN'T EVER REALIZE THAT THE SUN WAS SETTING IN THE SKY!" Kira's mother basically had smoke coming out of her ears, but her father whispered something to her which made her calm down.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you, but you scared me. I didn't know where you were or..." She trailed off, but shook herself and started again.

"Tomorrow you are going out by yourself to look around," Kira was surprised. This was a twist, since her parents were just yelling at her. They were being a lot less protective than usual. "But we need a way to keep contact with you, so we decided to get you a phone." No way. Kira was finally getting a phone! She couldn't believe it!

"Dad and my numbers are already in there, the emergency button calls 911, and you can add your friends numbers." They all knew that Kira didn't have any friends to give her number to, but she didn't mind.

"Also, there's a GPS tracker in there so we know where you are at all times," Kira's shoulders slumped; she knew there was a catch, but her parents were taking a huge step out of their comfort zone, and Kira appreciated it.

"Thanks guys!" Kira pulled them into a hug. Tomorrow she was going out by herself!

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Kira walked around the quiet town. It was only eight in the morning, so it would be busier later. Now, only a couple people walked around, drinking coffee from the local coffee store. She walked in and ordered a hot chocolate. Kira sat down in the morning sun, finishing her hot beverage. She thought over everything she wanted to do in the town. She would need to stop by the book store since she just finished her latest book. The first time she went in, they seemed to have some great books. She would try to go to the petting zoo, she loved animals.

Once Kira finished her hot chocolate, she walked over to the book store. Kira could see loads of books, and the front of the store had a bunch of new releases. She skimmed over them, not seeing anything to her interest, and walked over to the teens section. They had every book that Kira has ever heard of, plus more. It was love at first sight. Kira pulled out shelves of books and started reading. She was about halfway through her pile of books and had picked out six interesting books to buy when someone knocked over the pile onto her lap.

"Hey!" Kira exclaimed. She didn't like people messing with her books.

"I'm sorry! I didn't see you there." In front of Kira was a girl about her age. She was really pretty, with long, bouncy, golden hair and big blue eyes. "My name's Lucina, but you can call me Lucy or Luce." Lucina seemed very bubbly.

"Hi, I'm Kira," she said softly. Kira surprised herself by talking back to Lucina. Usually she never talked to anyone. Maybe this was different because Lucina started up the conversation, which no one ever did with Kira.

"Well, Kira," Lucina said, winking, "I'm going to take a guess and say you're new around here. I would've seen you before either in school or in the bookstore. There is only one public school district around here, . Do you mind if I show you around?" Kira debated for a minute. Her mother wouldn't want her talking to strangers, let alone take a tour with them, but then again, she was interacting with people, which she has never done before.

"Okay," Kira wanted to know Lucina better, she seemed like a great person.

"Awesome! Let's go, I know all the great places around here!" Lucina tugged at Kira's arm, pulling her out the door. Lucina screamed back inside, "Mom! I'm showing my new friend around town! I'll be home around two!" Kira smiled. A friend is something she never had, but always wanted. Maybe Tennessee was the place where she belonged.

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Hey guys! I hope you had a great Christmas! Just to let you know, none of the places I mentioned exist, or the book a couple chapters earlier (or at least from what I know they don't). Please let me know what you think of the book so I know if I should continue or not. I like the book, I just want to know if you do, so please comment and vote! Also please comment if you see any mistakes. Thank you so much for over 100 reads!

-20jkelly :-)

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