[IC] Tomorrow Gets Easier [Dark Wind and Blitz]

[Blitz]

Terra glided down the street on her longboard. The sun glinted off her shades as it began to set on the horizon. A great explosion of fire, as the day’s light seeped into darkness. Her earphones settled in, the wire hanging freely by her side where her iPod fit snugly in the pocket of her short shorts. She wore a simple white, punk-rockish shirt that she cut a bit to show off her shoulders and flat stomach. It was another warm day in Southern California, and the peaceful breeze caused her hair to flow gently as she kept rolling on idly.

It was the last night before school, and she had snuck out. Typical Terra move. But, she wasn’t going to miss out on a party. Anything to just lose herself. It was Tommy Jones’ party, a football player. One of those kids with sandy blonde hair and smooth blue eyes. A complete asshole. She just liked taking his free beer. Terra knew she was close when she heard the sounds of chatter and the bass booming from a speaker.

When she got there. There was a group of kids near the front of the house. She rolled her eyes as one of them chuckled. It was Eric Atkins, a rich lacrosse douchebag who she may or may not have slept with over the summer. Two others were recognizable lacrosse players, but one of them she didn’t know. Seemed a bit quiet, with a cool gaze.

“Hey, gorgeous.” Eric said with a cockiness oozing all around him. Terra ignored him. He looked mad, and went and pulled one of her headphones out. “Hey!” Terra yelled at him.

“It’s rude to ignore people, you should pull your earphones out when you’re at a social event. Kinda like an unwritten rule.” He said with a smirk. “Fuck you.” Terra spat back at him.

“Been there, done that.” Eric laughed, and his group of friends did too. Like a bunch of hyenas. “How about you come and give me a kiss?”

Terra gave him the finger, put her earphone back in and trotted to the door. Eric grabbed her by the wrist and tugged her hard, causing her to drop her board. “Now, now. Don’t be so hostile.”

She spit in his face, kneed him in the crotch and gave him a hard punch in the face as he dropped. One of his other friends came at her, but she was quick to grab her board and slap him hard in the face with it. He sprawled to the ground too. The others just looked at her in shock.

Terra knew how to defend herself. But she would get herself into big trouble if she kept up at this pace.

“Have a nice night, bitch.” Terra said, pulling a cigarette out. She looked at the quiet one. “Got a light?”

Silas, the boy she had directed the question to, stared back at her for a second before responding. After that display of dominance, he certainly did not want to say the wrong thing to someone like her and end up with a longboard slammed between his legs. His eyes darted to his two passed out companions. Eric, the cockiest of those on his team, obviously had some history with the girl, but he wasn’t so sure about his other teammate.

“Uhh, no. Sorry,” Silas said, looking back to the girl with an innocent smile.

Terra smirked at Silas. He seemed pretty shy. With a smooth motion, she slid the board down so it would lean against her leg. She popped out a lighter from her other pocket. Click. The flame ignited and Terra lifted it to her cigarette. She inhaled nice and deep, then blew the smoke out smoothly, looking over Silas carefully behind her darkened view of the world.

“That’s okay. I like to get guys to do things for me even if I don’t need it. It’s fun.” She laughed lightly. “Well, I’ll see you around cutie.”

She turned and sauntered into the party.

A confused expression came over his face as he watched the girl casually walk away into the party. Had they ever met before? Did she go to his school?

A pained groan came from the floor.

“Jesus Christ…” Eric muttered, standing up. His face looked rather pale, like he was nauseous, but he was visibly enraged at the beating he had just received, from a girl nonetheless. “That little bitch…”

“Who was that?” Silas asked, reaching his hand out to steady Eric as he stumbled for a moment.

“Terra Reyes.” The name escaped his lips with pure hatred. “I had a thing with her over the summer. I should’ve stayed away though. She’s fucking insane is what she is.”

“Does she go to our school?”

Eric nodded and began to walk into the party as well, beckoning from him to follow. “Help Kyle off the ground,” he shouted to a friend before looking back at Silas and handing him a red solo cup.

“You haven’t seen her around before?” Eric asked, taking a gulp from his own cup.

“I guess not,” Silas answered. He looked down at his cup and pondered taking a sip.

“That’s a surprise. She’s pretty damn hard to miss. Talk about thirsty.” Eric took another large gulp from his drink and slammed his cup down on a table with a belch of satisfaction.

“I feel like shit,” he said. A black eye was already beginning to become vividly visible. “She got me right in the balls. Talk about a cheap shot.”

“Yeah,” Silas replied.

Eric paused and then chuckled. “Well, I guess I’ll go try my luck with some other bitch here. I’ll call you if I need a wingman, Silas.”

Silas held the cup up to his lips, pretending to take a sip and nodded at Eric who turned and walked off into the party, disappearing into the crowd. Now, Silas was alone, just like he feared. This was the first real party he had gone to, and even though he had come in a ‘gang’ with all his lacrosse ‘friends,’ he still managed to end up alone. Why didn’t he just stay home? How did people even have fun at these? God, this was just going to get him in trouble. He had told his already suspicious parents that he was just going to spend the night at Eric’s house. What if the cops showed up? His parents would literally hang his ass over the mantle.

Starting to get a pang of social anxiety, Silas left his cup on a table and found his way to a bathroom and shut the door behind him. He half expected a couple to be making out in the bathtub or something, but it was thankfully empty. He locked the door and rubbed his face in front of the mirror with a sigh.

What are you going to do, Silas? he thought to himself. He had a whole night to kill, and he hardly knew any of the people there. God, what a mess… He took a step back and examined himself closely in the mirror. His friends had insisted that he wear his red lacrosse pinny to symbolize his initiation on the team. Other than that, he had on a pair of khaki shorts and the lacrosse player favorite: Sperrys and midcalf socks. His self-confidence wasn’t the highest, but he knew he wasn’t unattractive. Maybe, he could just find a nice girl to talk to for the night.

He laughed at himself. People don’t come to parties to ‘talk.’ He couldn’t just leave, could he? Would that be social suicide? Yeah, he had to stay… At least until some people started clearing out. He just needed to survive until then.

He took a deep, somewhat shaky breath, and unlocked the bathroom door, emerging again into the bustling party outside. He knew he didn’t belong, but he tried his absolute best to try to fit in, to be a typical douche, but to attract minimal attention to himself. As he was working his way toward some seats, a girl had wrapped her hands around his waist, hugging him tightly.

“Do you dance as good as you look?” she asked in an annoyingly high-pitched voice.

Terra watched Silas come out of the bathroom and laughed to herself. He looked completely out of his element. She wondered why, he was getting a lot of looks from different girls. And, well, did he even notice? For all she knew, he might be the most clueless person of all time when it came to these types of situations. It was then, some girl with platinum blonde hair wrapped her little arms around his waist. That annoying voice could make anyone’s good mood become foul. Terra might be new to the state, but over the summer she got to meet a lot of the school students. This girl was Erin May. They were most definitely not on good terms.

Luckily for Silas, Terra had a good mix of regular smoke and weed smoke in her. A nice comfortable balance going for her. She boldly walked up to him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

With a quick glare at Erin she said “Beat it skank. This one is with me.” And with that, she grabbed Silas’ hand and pulled him upstairs.

Erin let go of Silas in a heartbeat with a snort of disgust.

“When you’re done digging through the trash, I’ll be waiting, Silas!” she shouted after them angrily.

Meanwhile, Silas was thoroughly confused. He followed Terra up the stairs into the second-level hallway where Terra released his hand. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked her up and down. It was the girl from before. What was it, Terra?

“Thanks for… saving me,” he said with a nervous laugh, as he remembered how aggressive she was.

Terra smiled as his eyes looked all over her. “Not a problem. She’s annoying as hell. Listening to her talk might be worse than scratching a chalkboard.”

“So, you’re name is Silas. You’ve got a bit of an accent. Are you from Texas or something? Eh, I guess that doesn’t matter so much. The real question is, why is a handsome guy like you hanging out by yourself in a bathroom?”

Silas blinked, surprised, but kept a calm face.

“Am I supposed to bring a friend with me when I piss?” he asked.

“Sure. Not like all others go to the bathroom BEFORE they go to a party. But, I’ll believe you’re the .01% exception to that rule.” She replied sharply, sticking her tongue out at him. Terra then opened up the door, where the smell of weed poured out.

“I think you just need to relax a little. How about it?” She moved into the room.

Silas took a staggering step back when they opened the bedroom door, sending pungent fumes of weed into the hallway. Terra already went inside, but he nervously stood back at the doorway.

“Look, I--I don’t smoke. Especially during lacrosse season,” he explained. “I’ve got to stay focused.”

Terra laughed. “So instead of smoke, you drink. That logic, doe.” The other kids in the room giggled. “Hey, how about you guys leave. I think my friend Silas here needs a one on one to feel comfortable.”

They groaned, but didn’t dare raise a fight to Terra. The group shuffled out, leaving a good amount of weed for the two of them. “Come on Silas. You’ll fit in if you do this, and you’ll be much sexier to the girls here.” She jumped on the bed and grabbed the bowl.

Silas bit his lip as he watched the others file out of the bedroom like zombies. That sent a shiver down his spine. He didn’t want to act like that. He turned inside and looked at Terra, and, for a moment, considered just leaving. But he couldn’t. It was too late, and Terra was just too persuasive. He walked inside but left the door open.

“Do you have a beer?” he asked, sitting down on the bed a couple feet away from her.

She smiled at him. “No, actually I don’t. The funny thing is, I don’t drink. At all, ever.” Terra took a hit from the bowl, holding it deep in her lungs before blowing out the smoke. “That feels so good. Come on, Silas. Try it. It feels like… like you’re completely light. All your worries… Gone.” She whispered the last bit seductively, handing him the bowl.

Silas looked at her sadly and didn’t take the bowl from her hands.

“I’m not going to pry,” he said, “but if you don’t ever drink, then you should understand that I don’t smoke. Logic, right?”

“But drinking is bad for you. This isn’t. Look it up.”

“I never said drinking was good. I just prefer it. Maybe I like to live on the wild side and take a risk,” he said, though he laughed as both of them knew that wasn’t true.

“Eric says your name’s Terra, but I’ve never seen you around,” Silas added quietly, hoping to change the subject.

Terra rolled her eyes, taking off her shades, revealing a pair of unbelievably beautiful blue eyes. They were the mix of her parents, the cold blue of Landon, with the soft emerald of her mother. It made a soft, soothing blue that could wash away anything.

“Yeah. To be blunt, your friend is an asshole, so that was the end of that. I moved here in May from North Carolina. And you don’t seem the party type so… You probably wouldn’t have seen me much.” Terra stopped, but before she let Silas change the subject totally, she held the bowl back up more.

“So Silas. Care to take a risk?”

Before Silas could interject that he too was from North Carolina and go on a tangent about that, Terra immediately had held up the bowl again to his face. But this time, her eyes stared deep into his, nearly hypnotizing him, like Aphrodite did to that young hero in the mythology book he had just finished that week.

“You and I both know the answer to that question,” Silas replied, looking away.

Terra sighed and tossed the bowl away. Instead, she moved in and placed herself dangerously close to Silas on the bed. Her hand softly tracing its way up his arm to his face, gently turning him to look her in the eyes.

“Was that your first kiss, Silas?” She asked.

He shook his head soft enough for Terra’s hand to remain in contact with his face.

“No, I’m not a prude,” he answered boldly. “I’m just… In new territory.”

Terra smiled mischievously. She got up and kicked the door shut and locked it, turning to Silas with a playful look in her eyes.

She walked up to him and sat on his lap, grinding against him light enough to torture him. “In new territory you could hunt… or be the hunted. What will you choose?” Terra said teasingly, getting her nose close enough to lightly graze his own.

Silas tried to stay still and calm as she came onto him. Her eyes were locked onto his, and he knew he was in the hot seat.

“Don’t you think it’d be pretty hard to hunt while you’re stoned?” Silas asked nonchalantly. “It’s a lot easier to shoot an incapacitated animal.”

Terra grinned at him. He had a sense of humor to him after all. But, he simply played into her hands with a comment like that.

“Maybe I want you to take control. Unless you’re too scared.”

“I’m not scared,” he said truthfully. “But… I do have some class, believe it or not.”

“Class is for people who don’t know how to have fun.” Terra then put on a face that looked convincingly offended.

“Are you saying you’re better than me?” Her eyebrows furrowed, and she glared at him.

Silas nearly flinched when she glared at him. He had nearly forgotten about her temper. At least she didn’t have a longboard in her hands. Still though, this wasn’t good…

“No…” Silas said rather lamely.

Terra burst into laughter. She put her finger on his lips. “Silas… I was kidding. So how about you shut up… and relax.” She pressed her lips onto his and made out with him, seeing if he would entertain.

Silas figured it’d be best to play his hand and not resist her. He kissed her back, but there was a feeling in the pit of his stomach which made him a little apprehensive. For a second, he felt himself get lost inside the kiss, and when he realized it, he quickly pulled away for a second.

“Why…?” he said, sounding like he was almost out of breath. “Why me?”

Terra frowned. “Why doesn’t matter. It’s fun, just enjoy it. Stop thinking about it. This isn’t some big gesture.” She started kissing him again.

Something didn’t feel quite right. And out of nowhere, this feeling came over him, which was some terrible concoction of anxiety, fear, and low self-esteem. Running on pure adrenaline, he quickly dropped backwards onto the bed, and as she had been leaning against his chest, she came down with him. While she was still slightly confused, he rolled over on top of her and pinned her arms to her side.

For a second, he glared into her face, looking rather surprised. But in a flash, he got up and darted out the door.

Terra was stunned when he left. She had no idea where that came from, but when he had her pinned underneath him with his face so close to her own. It was indescribable. The electricity that tingled all around her. But, he was gone now.

She sighed and looked at the clock. The party would be dying down soon, and she was bored. Terra grabbed her shades and her board. Within moments she opened up the window and climbed out. Terra just went on home, rolling on her board. Hopefully her father was asleep. Either way she’d be climbing up.

When she got there, she rounded out to the backyard. She carefully climbed up the back onto the slanted roof in front of her window. Terra had smoked a lot of weed and wasn’t in the best climbing shape at all. That’s when the worst thing happened. She slipped a little and dropped her board that rolled and clanged against the roof and fell down with a big crash on the cement below. With great speed, Terra just opened up her window and jumped in, closing it in a hurry.

Landon was sitting at her desk chair, facing away from the window. He had been awake for some time and knew it was just a matter of time before his delinquent daughter snuck back inside. This wasn’t the first time she had done so. He silently swiveled around in the chair to face her.

“You dropped your board,” he said.

Terra froze at the sound of Landon’s voice. Why did he have to be awake, or know that she was out? He always knew! It’s like he had cameras in her room or something. She turned to face her dad, pulling her iPod out.

“Yeah, I was just sitting out there looking at the sky. Ya know? I was just a bit clumsy coming back in.” She lied, lamely. Mentally facepalming herself.

“Mhm. And whose house were you looking at the sky from?” Landon asked.

“Uhh… Ours?” She responded. Terra pulled her iPod out of her pocket, but accidentally pulled her pack of cigarettes out at the same time. Shit! Like an instant reflex she kicked the pack under her bed as if it didn’t happen.

“Good one, Bob Marley. Where’d you get those cigarettes from?” Landon continued to interrogate, his parental reflexes on point.

“I’m holding onto them for a friend. They’re not mine, I swear!”

“Oh, don’t bullshit me,” Landon said, standing up. “You reek of weed and tobacco. Do you think I was fucking born yesterday?”

“No, if you were born yesterday you’d be an infant… Duh?” Terra gave up the lying act and just pulled off her shades, took out the lighter and put them neatly on her bed.

“Very good,” Landon said sarcastically. “Next question: Do you want to go to fucking rehab?”

“Hardly, as if I need to go to rehab. It’s not like I’m overdosing on pills and coughing up vomit anywhere. And I don’t have an alcohol problem. Woohoo, double bonus there. Got any more fun and original questions in our fun little game of twenty questions, dad?”

“That’ll be all,” Landon said, reaching under her bed and grabbing the pack of cigarettes as well as the lighter from her bed. “Maybe one day you’ll learn to be responsible for your actions.”

“And what time did you break out the whiskey today, dad? At noon? I’m super responsible. I’m like the fun fairy of responsibility over here.”

“I was doing this cool new thing called ‘working’ at noon,” Landon replied. “Maybe you should try it!”

Terra rolled her eyes at him. “Oh yeah, I forgot. It’s just okay these days to forget to be a parent, and then wake up from an alcohol-induced stupor after a few months and think everything’s forgiven. Right on.”

Landon narrowed his eyes at her. “I’m sorry I have feelings,” he said. “It’s called a coping mechanism. When’s the last time you’ve ever expressed yourself?”

She ignored him and went under her covers on the bed. “Goodnight, dad. School starts tomorrow. I’m grounded, bla bla bla. See you in the morning. ‘Love you’”

“Good, I’m glad you’ve rehearsed your lines.” Landon stuffed the pack and lighter into his pocket and left her room, going down the stairs to the kitchen where he sat at the table, holding his head in his hands with a sigh of stress and deep pain.

“She’s so much like you, Kaelyn,” he muttered. “I don’t know how I’m gonna keep her under control without you.”

[Gwynbleidd]

“So, Silas,” Eric began with a smirk. “How was your first time out with the guys? How many girls did you hook up with?”

A group of about eight boys were sitting around Eric’s basement. Two of them were on the X-Box having a small argument, one was on the phone trying to calm down his enraged girlfriend, and another was in the bathroom throwing up with a friend keeping a close eye on him. The rest sat around on the various couches and chairs or on the ground, talking or watching the FIFA match on the television. Eric was sitting on a big, black leather recliner chair, and Silas was sitting somewhat uncomfortably on the end of the couch in front of the TV.

“It was pretty fun,” he answered without any particular emotion. “And, uhh… one.”

“Just one?” someone interjected.

“You’d better have banged her if it was just one,” Eric added with a glare.

“Well, no, not exactly…” Silas began. His nerves were beginning to act up again.

“Oh, I know,” Eric said, with his hand on his chin and a nod. “She must’ve been trying to lead you on. Or she was a prude. Did you happen to get her name?”

Silas bit his lip.

“Yeah…” Silas replied tentatively.

“Well, what was it? I need to know so I can avoid her if I ever see her myself.”

“Remember that girl that kicked your ass?” Silas asked, looking away.

“What?” came a voice from the bathroom. “Who kicked Eric’s ass?”

Eric stood up from the recliner quickly.

“You hooked up with Terra?” he asked. “Good God, did she attack you?”

“Terra kicked your ass, Eric?” came a laughing voice from the bathroom.

“Tyler, I will kick your ass in about two seconds,” Eric shouted back before turning back to Silas for his reply.

“No, she didn’t touch me,” Silas answered. “Well, she didn’t touch me to hurt me…”

“Jesus, what did you guys do?”
“Nothing, nothing,” Silas assured him. “She just came onto me and caught me by surprise.”

“Well, what happened?”

“She just made out with me. But then I remembered what you said about her being insane, so I managed to get away pretty quick. That’s when I met up with you again.”

Eric listened and nodded as Silas spoke.

“That’s… weird,” he said. “I mean she’s a total slut, but it’s not like her to come onto just anyone. No offense, Silas, of course.”

“None taken.”

“Anyway… Yeah. Whatever. Maybe she’s into you, man. But I wouldn’t go any farther with someone like her.”

Silas nodded hesitantly. “Yeah, I understand…”

“Anyway, I’m too drunk to analyze this anymore. Has anyone called next on the X-Box?”

Eric moved and sat next to the duo who were playing FIFA, and Silas continued to sit where he was. He was thinking about what had happened that night, about Terra. He was positive she wasn’t into him because she had told him it was nothing special… But if that was the case, why did she take him and try to hook up with him? Well, maybe she was just sluttier than Eric had anticipated. That must’ve been it. He just hoped he wouldn’t see much of her once school began.

---

Just another day, and the end of summer. The dreaded first day of school. Terra’s alarm blared. She may have always snuck out late at night and stayed up at all hours. However, she had a knack for waking up early. One of life’s odd contradictions is what she figured it to be. But, it didn’t make her abuse of her alarm any less as her hand smacked the snooze button before fully turning it off. Terra did her daily routine of showering and then dressed in a pair of short shorts and an EDM white tank top style shirt. She put on her flip flops and grabbed her bag.

When she was downstairs, Terra saw a half empty bottle of whiskey. She sighed, ignoring it for now to grab eggs from the fridge. Terra whipped up bacon, scrambled eggs with a bit of cheese mixed into it, and an english muffin with butter and jelly on top. Terra ate her breakfast silently, while also scribbling a note on a piece of paper.

When she finished, on the white piece of paper it read “Hey Boozy, I left some bacon and eggs in the fridge for you to heat up for breakfast. You can thank me later. I know, I’m awesome. OH, and next time if you don’t want me to make fun of your drunkenness, you shouldn’t leave half empty bottles in the middle of the kitchen. Gotta run to school, bye! XOXO The One and Only Terra Reyes.”

Terra ran upstairs to brush her teeth and grab her sunglasses, and a hat. She didn’t care what the school people said, she was going to wear whatever she damn well pleased. With that, she ran out the front door and hopped on her longboard for the ride to school.

It was a new year, and a new school. She wondered what the teachers would be like. One grumpy old man tried to chase her down the hallway as she longboarded through. Of course, he was too slow with his geriatric-ass to catch up. Terra eventually just picked up her board and trotted confidently into the classroom, sitting down in her seat with her headphones hanging from her ears. Completely in a zone, she didn’t acknowledge a single person around her.

Meanwhile, in the counselling office, the black phone on Katrina Fierro’s desk began to ring, She stopped writing the email at her computer and swivelled in her chair to pick up the phone.

“Counselling department, this is Miss Fierro,” she said in a rehearsed, professional tone.

It was Mrs. Atkins, Eric’s mother. She had some very disturbing news to share with the counsellor.

“Oh my goodness,” she replied, surprised. Katrina pushed some of her beautiful golden hair out of her face. “Did he say who did it?”

She paused and her eyes widened for a second.

“I’m sorry, did you say ‘Reyes’?”

She paused again and a pensive expression came over her face.

“I see. I’ll call her down and talk to her. Thank you for telling me about this Ms. Atkins. Yes. Good-bye.”

She hung up the phone with a sigh. She hadn’t heard that name in such a long time. It brought back so many memories… Oh well. That was years ago, in a completely different state. Plenty of people had that last name, anyway. She had her job to focus on.

She grabbed a pad of green papers that contained a template for excusing a student and pulling them from class. She filled out the information for Terra and gave it to the front desk. A student aid picked it up and came to Terra’s first period class and handed it to the teacher.

“Thank you,” he whispered to the aid before turning to read the slip of paper. “Ms. Reyes? Your counselor has requested to see you immediately.”

Terra didn’t acknowledge her teacher as she couldn’t hear him. Everyone in class could only hear the faint sounds of her earphones blasting “I’m sexy and I know it.” She just looked at her phone and scrolled through it, absent-mindedly.

“Ms. Reyes?” he called out again, not knowing which was her.

Again, not hearing him, Terra just leaned back in her seat and relaxed. She grabbed her hat from her desk and put it on. Tapping her foot to the music and humming.

“Maybe she isn’t in this class…” he said, squinting at the card and making sure the room number was correct.

Someone in the class that had gotten to know of Terra over the summer realized that Terra hadn’t heard. She reached forward and tapped her shoulder and pointed at the teacher.

Terra turned to the girl who tapped her on the shoulder and then looked back to the teacher who had a piece of paper in his hand. She sighed. In trouble already? Not bothering to take her earphones out or anything, she just paused the song and raised her hand.

“I’m Terra, did you say something? I couldn’t hear, sorry.”

“Yes, you didn’t hear me because you have your headphones in. Take those out and go meet with your counselor. She’s called you in.”

She nodded and rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses. “Actually, I couldn’t hear because of the music. I can hear you just fine now. There is a difference.” Terra grabbed her bag and began to walk to the hallway. “I’ll take them off later.” She said before leaving, tipping her cap to him, much to the gasps of shock of other students and the teacher.

Terra made her way to the guidance counseling offices where many different counselors had offices. The slip of paper told her to find Ms. Fierro’s office. She did just that, but of course disregarded the other rules and simply walked into her office without knocking or checking in with the receptionist. She dropped her bag and plopped into the chair in front of the blonde counselor who was much prettier than Terra had anticipated.

“What’s up?” She asked, nonchalantly.

Katrina had been looking through some papers when she heard someone come in and sit down.

“You scared me,” she said, still facing away from Terra. “You should have knocked first.”

She turned to face her. “So, Terra, I heard--”

She stopped suddenly when she saw her face. Her hand flew to her mouth to stifle a gasp of horror.

“Oh my God… You can’t be…?” Her voice was on the verge of cracking. “What is your father’s name?”

Terra looked at Katrina, puzzled. This wasn’t much of a regular counseling visit, and she was pretty sure that counselors don’t just ask random questions on the fly.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business, Ms. Fierro. So, what am I here for, exactly?” Terra stated flatly, taking the earphones out and slipping off her sunglasses.

Katrina would not be deterred.

“Miss Reyes, I need to know your father’s name,” she insisted. “I’m going to have to call him, anyway.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. His name is Landon. Good luck reaching him, he’s probably still sleeping off a hangover.”

Katrina’s heart almost skipped a beat. Her face went pale for a second and she turned to look away from Terra, as more and more memories began to come back to her.

“I see…” Katrina said weakly. “You’ll have to excuse me… I’ve been feeling a little nauseous today.”

A thousand thoughts raced through her head at once, but she forced herself to maintain her composure. She just needed to stay calm, and she would be able to talk with Landon soon enough. There was still a problem she had to deal with.

“Umm…” she turned again to face Terra. “Do you know a boy named Eric Atkins, by any chance?”

Terra watched Katrina carefully. This wasn’t the usual trip to the office, but her next question relieved Terra and also made her laugh a little.

“So that’s what this is about. That was off school grounds, so ya know, no proof, nothing you can do about it from what I know about the law.”

“I’m well aware of that,” Katrina replied. “But his mother called me and he says you’re the one who gave him his black eye. I can’t legally do anything as of right now, but I am warning you. It’s your first year here, right? You’ll only be staying a year, but you don’t want to get a bad reputation here, especially among the counselling department. We’re the only people that can lobby for you when they want you to repeat another year or get you expelled.”

She laughed dryly at Katrina’s statements. “I can’t believe he told his mom, god, what a pussy. Oops, bad language, my fault. Anyway, it’s a bit late for having a bad reputation. It’s not like I really care anyway, as you said I will be gone in a year. I can’t be expelled for any real reasons as of yet, and I won’t be repeating another year because I’m more than intelligent enough to know exactly what overall grade I need to get to pass. By the exact decimal points I might add…”

“That’s what all of them say, my dear. You don’t think I’ve heard that before? A senior was expelled once, had to transfer, got expelled from that school, and transferred again. He graduated two years late. I’m just telling you to be careful, okay? I am legally bound to care about you.”

“And that senior was an idiot, I’m an entirely different person. You haven’t dealt with someone like me before, so don’t go comparing me with someone else. I am careful, always am. Save your legal speech for someone who needs to hear it. You should probably think of something new because ‘I am legally bound to care about you’ sounds more like ‘I don’t care about you’.”

Katrina smirked. “But that isn’t what I said. Perhaps those earphones of yours are affecting your hearing. They say those can make you go deaf, you know. Anyway, I’ll be calling your father as soon as you go. And, if you see him… Tell him Ms. Fierro says hi. You’re dismissed.”

With that she turned and began to look through her files again, ignoring her.

Terra stood up and grabbed her bag. “Good luck reaching that drunken slob of a parent and tell me how it goes. Oh, and… I can only go deaf if I have music on. I swear, all you older types try and bring your pretentious knowledge down and it bites you in the ass.” She sighed.

“Catch ya later Ms. Fierro.” Terra turned and walked out, and went back to her first period class.

As soon as Terra had left, Katrina immediately grabbed her tote bag and reached for her cell phone. She scrolled through her contacts and stopped at Landon’s. Her thumb hovered, trembling, over his name. With a gulp, she tapped his name and typed in a text: “Long time no talk.”

---

Terra sat idly in the third period chemistry class as the teacher droned on.

“Alright class. For the rest of the year, you are going to have a partner and that will be your permanent seating assignment as well. So, partners are…” Terra didn’t really care who it was as the teacher read off names.

“And, Terra Reyes and Silas Slater.” Okay, maybe Terra didn’t really want to be partnered up with Mr. Mysterious. She just eyed him before getting up and sitting next to him after the guy sitting there previously moved.

“I don’t have any other things planned for this class, so I just want you all to get to know each other.” He sat back at his desk and went to work on the computer.

Silas wanted the earth to swallow him whole right then and there. He already cursed his rotten luck when he saw her enter the classroom, but this was at least ten times worse. Damn it… He wouldn’t hear the end of this from the lacrosse team. Silas remained awkwardly silent, not daring to turn to look at her. He wondered if he should even say anything at all.

Terra looked at Silas who looked as stiff as a statue. She smirked. “So are you going to sit with your hands together and your eyes forward like some Buddha statue or are you going to you know, talk to the person you made out with last night? I promise I won’t bite… A lot.” She laughed.

Silas finally turned to face her with a sigh.

“If I recall, I believe you’re the one who made out with me,” he replied.

“It takes two to make out, and you kissed back. But if you want to deny it, be my guest. So Silas. Tell me something about yourself. That’s the purpose of this class activity, right?”

SIlas resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Arguing about a kiss… What were they, seventh graders? Whatever, that didn’t matter. She thankfully changed the subject to something else.

“Well… I’m from North Carolina too,” he offered.

“Oh, well that’s cool. Why’d you move out here? Me and my dad moved here because my mom was a spy and we had to run from the government after she died in a car chase.” Terra said, casually.

Silas raised his eyebrows at her.

“Wait… What?”

Terra smirked. “You heard me. So now you have to tell me.”

Silas scratched his head.

“Uhh… Well my parents moved out here for a change of scenery I guess. It’s really relaxed here,” he answered.

“That’s pretty much what my dad thought too. Even if I didn’t want to go necessarily, I guess he wanted to get as far away from NC as possible so I couldn’t really get in the way. Too many lax bro’s around here for me.”

“You’re gonna have to get used to it then, partner,” he said jokingly with a wink.

Just then the bell rang, signalling the beginning of lunch. Silas stood up and shouldered his backpack.

“Thank God,” he said. “I’m starving.”

Terra stood up next to him. “God, I know it. So how about it? I think I’ll be grabbing lunch with you if you don’t mind. Well, I don’t really care if you mind, I just ask to be polite. You’ll get used to it and catch on sooner or later.” She said and walked with him to the door.

Silas shrugged. He wasn’t planning on going to sit with his lacrosse friends today, so they couldn’t ridicule him and make him feel any worse than he already did. He had planned to read a book in the library or something, but he supposed it wouldn’t hurt to grab something to eat with Terra really quick.

“I guess I’m stuck with you then,” he concluded as they walked down the hall and arrived at the cafeteria. He pulled out his wallet from his shorts’ pocket and checked to make sure he had enough money because they hadn’t been given their student IDs yet. Thankfully, he had enough. He came where the food was served, grabbed a slice of pizza and a small box of fries and paid at the register. He stood at the end, waiting for Terra.

“I think you want to be stuck with me. At least that’s what I think, and I’m pretty good with reading people.” Terra said, she followed him through the line at the cafeteria. She grabbed a burger and some chips and went through the line before catching up with Silas.

“Hmm, that spot looks good.” Terra walked down through the aisle of tables in the cafeteria before finding a vacant spot for both of them to sit. She sat and continued the conversation.

“So why is someone like you on the lacrosse team? You look more like a reader, to be honest.”

Silas sighed. “Yeah, I know,” he agreed. “I mean, I like it now, but I originally joined because of my dad. He’s always wanted me to play sports and he finally got me to do it when he promised he’d get me a new computer.” He laughed.

“Anyway, it’s not that bad. I’m just a bit of a lone wolf, you know?”

Terra laughed. “Now that’s thinking with your head. If you don’t want to do something, get someone to bribe you to do it.” She shrugged. “Makes sense to me, at least. And yeah, I get what you mean. But I wouldn’t say lone wolf. Let’s not get super dramatic over here, Shakespeare.” She stuck her tongue out.

“What? It’s just a term.” Silas laughed and took a bite from his pizza. “So I’m guessing you go to those parties a lot?”

“Right you are, Sherlock. Good investigative skills. I don’t know, I guess I just don’t have much else to do other than party and read textbooks.” She took a bite out of her burger.

“Why? I don’t see how people have fun at parties. They always seem to do something they regret. Like what just happened last night, for instance.”

“The more crazy experiences, the more to talk about, the more to laugh about.” She gave a pointed look to him. “And you regret kissing me? I’m offended.” Terra placed her hand to her heart.

“Well, yeah,” Silas said, looking down. “Not that it’s anything against you. Everything just happened so fast and I was caught off guard.” He reached down and pulled a water bottle from the side pocket of his backpack and took a quick sip.

Terra sighed at his comment. “That’s too bad, because when you got on top of me I was disappointed that you stopped. I guess you could say I regret that part of the night.” She casually took another bite.

“Regret that I didn’t bang you?” he shot back.

She almost choked on her food, but raised her hand up laughing and shaking her head trying to swallow everything down.

“Whoa, jump to conclusions much over there? I don’t go to parties to bang people left and right.”

“Well considering you’ve always had sex with Eric, you already have a pretty promiscuous reputation,” Silas said, taking another swig from his bottle.

Terra burst out into laughter. “Oh my god, hold on a second. Let me get some air.” She held her hand to her mouth giggling uncontrollably before finally regaining her composure.

“Please, it would make my day. Tell me that’s what he tells other people. Wow that’s hilarious. I would never have sex with Eric, ever.”

“Well, he does tell people that. But you didn’t deny anything when he said that yesterday,” Silas reminded her.

“Eric can say whatever he wants. Why should I have to deny something someone else says? If you want to know about me, ask me. Why would you even care if I or anyone was promiscuous anyway? It’s really not a big deal. It’s like ohmygod someone has sex. What are we, like eight years old?” She said rolling her eyes.

“Well, then I’m sure you wouldn’t mind everyone thinking you were in bed with Eric, the guy you’d ‘never sleep with.’”

“You’re right. I wouldn’t. I know I didn’t, and again, even if I did. It wouldn’t matter. You have a hard time grasping concepts, don’t you?”

“I guess I do,” Silas said with a shrug, not bothering to continue any further in the matter. He stood up and threw out his paper plate and the box of fries he had just finished. He came back and sat down again at the table.

“You’re pretty annoying, has anyone ever told you that?” he inquired.

“Excuse me? You’re the one who called me a slut for no reason. And without any truth to back it up. Oh, and you act like it would be a bad thing if I had sex with someone else. Don’t tell me I’m annoying when you’re being an asshole.”

“I guess the lacrosse team is rubbing off on me,” he replied simply. “And you could easily be lying. I guess I don’t know who to believe. It’s up to my own judgement. But it’s not like it’d matter to you what I think anyway, so I guess that’s not important.”

“Do you only get like that when you’re stoned?” he asked, recalling that she had said hooking up with people was what she did for fun.

“One. It’s not up to your judgment. You can believe what you want, but there’s still only one truth here. I didn’t have sex with Eric. But whatever, believe I did. And no, I kiss guys at parties even when I’m not stoned. Girls do that. Guys do that. It doesn’t have to mean anything relationship-wise. Are you always so judgmental?”

“Not judgemental, just curious,” he replied with a sigh. “After all, I wouldn’t know much about what people do at parties, would I? At least I know now. Thanks so much for telling me. I’ll just go make out with a bunch of random girls the next party I go to.”

Terra looked at him coolly and smiled. “Go ahead. I’ll probably make out with a random guy. Not really understanding all your sarcasm.”

“Only intelligent people get sarcasm, I guess,” Silas shot back, standing up from the bench and grabbing his backpack. “Anyway, I’m going over to the library. You can come if you want. Or not. I don’t really care.” He was hoping she wouldn’t as he really wanted to finish the Bronze Bow.

“Err, are you that stupid? I caught your sarcasm. Most people wouldn’t. God, do I have to explain everything to you? The problem with your sarcasm is you’re insulting something you don’t know anything about. Which is well… You know, stupid. And I won’t be coming to the library. I’ll be busy fucking Eric in the janitor’s closet. Cool?” She got up and left.

“Tell him I’ll be coming to practice,” he called to her as she left. With a chuckle and a slight feeling of relief, he continued on to the library. He might be stuck with her for the rest of the year, but it didn’t mean he had to be with her all the time. And it seemed Eric had been mistaken. Maybe she didn’t have a thing for him after all, thankfully.

[Blitz]

Two hours earlier, Landon had gotten up and eaten the breakfast Terra had left for him and read her snotty note. Shaking his head in disappointment, he crumpled up the note and tossed it in the trash. She wouldn’t ever understand, would she?

He ate his breakfast quietly while glancing every now and then at the newspaper he had left on the table from the day before. All of a sudden, he heard a vibration on the table as his phone received a new text message. Curiously, Landon put the paper down and picked up the phone. A name flashed across the screen, a name he hadn’t seen in years…

“Long time no talk,” it read.

A bunch of forgotten emotions began to well up inside his chest. What had gotten Katrina to send him a text so randomly? He screwed his eyes shut and tried to put a stopper on his overflowing feelings, and with a deep breath, he typed back a response: “A very long time.”

Within a minute, Katrina was typing a response.

---

Terra strolled down the street, rolling on her longboard as relaxed as she always seemed to be. She hopped up onto the sidewalk and curved herself toward the walkway up to the front door. The brown haired girl kicked up the board into her hands and pulled out her key. She turned it into the lock and pushed the door open to step inside.

“Boozie, I’m home!” Tera yelled out, smirking to herself. She tossed her backpack onto the middle of the floor and kicked her converse off too. Leaving everything in a scattered mess because she knew Landon was a bit of an OCD mess when it came to throwing stuff all about.

She walked into the kitchen and grabbed an orange juice carton from the fridge, drinking it straight out without pouring it into a glass.

“You home, booze hound?”

Landon was just coming down the stairs. He was dressed up in a button-down shirt and khaki pants. He came into the kitchen just as he was buttoning up the last few buttons.

“Yes, I’m home, Smokie,” he answered. “But I’m on my way out.”

He reached down and pulled up his fly and grabbed his black leather shoes he had left on the ground. He sat at the table and began to put them on and tie up their laces.

“Why don’t you go clean up that mess you made by the front door?” he said.

Terra rolled her eyes at Landon’s comment. She didn’t feel like giving the whole weed is more healthy than alcohol talk because it was tired. Even if it was true. Her eyes just glanced at his outfit, especially considering the time of day. Terra’s eyebrow kinked up looking at him.

“Yeah, I’ll do it later.” She started, ignoring his request right away. “Look at you. Actually doing something lively on a Friday night? Got a hot date? What’s her name?” Terra barraged him with the twenty questions. “Don’t tell me she’s a prostitute.”

“She’s actually an old friend of mine from college if you must know,” Landon answered, ignoring her rather bothersome comments. He stood up after he finished tying his shoes and grabbed his phone and his car keys.

“I’ll be gone for the whole night,” he said. “Consider this a fair warning: I don’t want anything crazy going on here. If I come back to see my house looking like the end of Project X, I swear to God, I won’t be responsible for what happens next.”

The sassy girl took another chug of orange juice from the carton in front of him, casually. Nodding her head up and down slightly as she drank. She put the carton down and let out a big, obnoxious, ‘Ah’ of refreshment. “Are you ever?” Terra said straight-faced.

“Don’t worry. The house can’t possibly look any worse than it is.”

“That’s due in part to my idiot daughter who never cleans up after herself. But hey, who’s doing the math?” Landon asked. “Not that you even know any math.”

He chuckled and tousled her hair. “Just kidding, Junior,” he said condescendingly. “I’m sure you’re very enlightened what with all that weed you smoke.”

Terra pulled her head away from his hand and frowned at him. “More enlightened than you think. Especially when you throw all that ‘you don’t understand having a job’ crap, or me not knowing math. But, I do know that modern medicine is advancing to the point where the average human lifespan will be 100. But I read this article which said Social Security is supposed to run out by the year 2025, which means people are going to have to stay at their jobs until they're 80. So I don't want to commit to anything too soon.”*

She flipped her hair like the saucy diva she is and placed the carton of juice back into the fridge, just to turn a cold gaze at her father.

Landon shrugged. “Well I’m glad you have your priorities straight, honey.”

He took a quick look around to make sure he had everything he needed.

“I’ll be back tomorrow,” he said, not giving a specific time. “Try not to burn the house down.”

With that he gave her a smile and walked out the front door, getting into his car, and driving away.

Terra immediately grabbed her phone the moment Landon walked out the door. She sat on the staircase and texted a few important people to get the house rocking. First, was her dealer Marco. Second, was a 21 year old named Jacob who would provide her with alcohol at any call. Then a summer girlfriend she made, Stacy who had an in some way or another to most of the kids in school.

She looked at her phone contacts for a second, getting to one name. Eric. A big evil grin came over her face as she sent out a quick text to him. “Hey. Big party at my house, everyone’s gonna be there. Consider this a truce and a make-up or whatever. Just bring your friends.” She closed her phone shut it. This was going to be insane.

---

It was 9:30 PM and the party was already rocking. Early by a true partier’s standards, but it was a big hit. Terra managed to get her house stocked full of enough alcohol to knock out a blue whale. Her friend Stacy managed to get almost all the popular girls of the class which attracted most of the boys. Terra didn’t really care even if it caused some hated enemies to come to her home, she knew that this would get her in the good graces of most of them.

Terra had a comfortable buzz, and a pleasant high from taking a few hits of a blunt. She walked around with a red solo cup in hand, grinded up against a few guys here and there when moving from room to room, makeshift dance floor to makeshift dance floor. There had to be over 200 kids at her house, and that would only get higher as the night went on.

But, Eric hadn’t shown up yet. Either he wouldn’t or he would. She believed he would, but since it was her to text him he would wait to be fashionably late just to be a little bit of an ass. Terra felt she had a comfortable grasp of Eric’s tactics with women. Until then, she just took another sip and went to chat with a group of people.

Just then, the front door burst open and Eric came in followed by a bunch of other boys from the lacrosse team.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the party has arrived!” he bellowed, and a few other partygoers shouted back in response.

Silas was the last of the bunch to straggle through the front door. This party felt even more uncomfortable than the last, as its hostess was none other than Terra herself. Of course, Eric didn’t tell him it was at her house until the last minute, when it was too late to deny going. On the bright side, maybe Silas would get a chance to get more comfortable to going to parties. Hopefully.

Eric turned and approached Silas, clapping him on the shoulder.

“Keep an eye out for you-know-who,” he said in a low voice, but loud enough to be audible over the oud music.

Terra stepped up behind Eric and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Who is you know who?” She asked, with a bit of a smirk on her face. “I didn’t know you liked reading Harry Potter.” She commented in her typical smart-ass tone.

Both Silas and Eric turned in shock to see Terra standing there, looking as pompous as ever.

“We weren’t talking about Voldemort, you ass,” Eric said. “We were talking about…” His voice suddenly faltered as his couldn’t think of someone.

“Erin,” Silas cut in. “From the last party, remember?”

Eric nodded. “Yeah, that bitch with the annoying voice. I don’t want her coming onto my man Silas, here.” He looked around for a second and pretended to see something in the crowd.

“Oh, there she is! Silas, we’d better get out of here quick, huh? Let’s look for something to drink.” Without giving a proper goodbye to Terra, the two of them rushed off into the party without another word.

Terra laughed really hard when they sprinted off into the party. She knew she’d given them a nice scare. Especially not believing anything they said for even one second. She waited around, talked to some people for a half hour until going off in search.

Eventually she found Eric and Silas being wingman 1 and wingman 2 with two blonde girls in the corner of her family room. Terra decided it was the perfect moment to swoop in. Stepping in with them. “Hey Katie, hey Sarah! These two losers aren’t bothering you are they?” The girls giggled a little with Terra and just shook their heads. Her eyes shifted to Silas, giving him a look of trouble. But, her motives were not entirely predictable.

“I’d hate to take one of them away from you. But, Silas is new here. I’m sure you could show him a good time.” Terra grabbed Eric by the hand, deciding to play upon jealousy, pulling him slowly to where others were dancing.

Her voice soft and sensuous. “How about a dance? I think I owe you that, hm?” She looked at him with a seductive, devious look.

Silas was about to interject something to stop Terra from taking Eric, but he shot him a look that said “better me than you” as he was pulled away.

“My mom called the school, you know,” Eric said with a laugh, crossing his arms after touching a small, black bruise around his eye.

“I know. I should kick your ass again for telling your mom who it was, but hey. I’m a forgiving person.” She grabbed his arms and placed them on her waist, then wrapping her own around his neck to get close to him.

“You should be forgiving too, you did act like an asshole to me.” She shrugged.

“I forgive you, I guess,” Eric replied, dancing with her hesitantly, suspicious of her motives. “And I wasn’t being an asshole. You’re just a little too… what’s the word? Insane? Yeah.”

Terra laughed at that. “I’m insane? Well, I’m not the one who lies about having sex with me. I think I deserve some points for that. Maybe you just can’t handle me and the real thing?”

“You don’t get any points,” Eric shot back. “Because, if I remember correctly, you also told some people that we had sex, isn’t that correct? I guess you can’t handle me either.”

Eric stopped for a second and changed the subject. “What’s up with you and Silas?” he asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

Guys were stupid. Changing the subject as soon as they didn’t like where it was going. “Not denying and claiming are two different things, but whatever. As for me and Silas. Well, what’s there to tell? I thought he was cute. I was drunk, we were drinking. We made out. Typical party thing, no?”

“Yes, but Silas said you came straight for him. Do you have a thing for him?”

“I can’t have a thing for someone I just met.”

“I’d hope not. Just stay away from him. He’s not interested in you. Like at all. He thinks you’re a total slut and he thinks that a total turn-off.” he spat. “He’s an intellectual. He’s not attracted to people like you.”

Terra laughs. “Did Silas say that or did you? Sounds like you prepared that in your head for a long time. Besides. Maybe I’m into Silas because he’s more like me than you think? I bet you didn’t know that I got the highest PSAT score in the class…”

“He didn’t say that,” Eric admitted. “But you make him really uncomfortable. I’m just inferring.”

He laughed when she said Silas was like her and that she had the highest PSAT score in the class.

“Wow, stop the presses!” he yelled. “Look out, Harvard, Terra Reyes got the high PSAT score in our class!”

“Inferring me as a slut. When I’m a virgin… Weird, much? And, I don’t think that’s worth stopping the presses as much as say, how awful you are at calculus.”

Ignoring her math comment, Eric just laughed harder, taking his hands off her.

“Virgin?!” he repeated. “Are you kidding me? Look at you! You’re a new student and you’re already labeled as the school slut, and you know that!”

He laughed again and began to walk away toward Silas and the two blondes. “I’m done with your bullshit,” he yelled back, still laughing.

Terra waved him away, getting one last dig in. “Labels are labels, and only thick dumbasses like yourself can’t find the truth. If I was a slut I’d have sex with you. Go have fun with your own bullshit, tell your mom I said Hi!”

Eric approached the trio. It seemed everything was going okay without him being there. Both of the girls were smiling at what Silas was saying, and Silas himself didn’t seem all to anxious.

“Hey guys,” he said, coming up to them. “Sorry about that. Just needed a little chat with our hostess here.”

He came up to Silas and gave him a nod. Silas nodded back, somewhat understanding what he was trying to say. Maybe he had succeeded in keeping Terra away from them at last.

“I’m so thirsty,” Katie said, placing a hand to her throat.

“Of course you are,” Sarah replied. “Your Instagram posts are just begging for attention.”

“You bitch,” Katie laughed. “I meant I want some booze.”

Sarah nodded. “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind some either… Silas?”

Silas looked at her.

“Would you be a doll and grab some drinks for the four of us?”

“Yeah, sure,” Silas said. He started off into the party, but Eric grabbed his wrist real quick.

“Voldemort isn’t dead,” he said with a straight face.

Silas looked at him blankly. “What? Oh! Oh, right. I know.”

With that, Silas went off into the party in search of some drinks. We was a little worried about drinking, as he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to evade it this time. Oh well, at least it was better than smoking, at least to him. He’d only drink a little anyway.

He came into the kitchen and approached the refrigerator. Before he opened it, he spied a picture that was pinned to a magnetic bulletin board on the front. It was a picture of Terra, much younger than she was now, and a man and a woman that looked a lot like her. He assumed they were her parents. Not giving it much more thought, he opened up the fridge and grabbed four But Lite cans, holding them in his hands and one cradled in his arm. He shut the door with his foot and turned around, heading back to where Eric, Katie, and Sarah were.

Terra was getting bored of all the people in her house, quickly. Something about the entire situation just didn’t ring fun with her anymore. That, and a lot of the conversations felt fake and entirely unoriginal. And she completely regretted inviting Eric. He was such a jerk and it started to get under her skin. Especially when much of what he said to kids in school and all the labels that spread around about her just weren’t true.

So, she walked around, finally finding one of her favorite books sitting on the counter of the kitchen. Julius Caesar by Shakespeare. Terra grabbed the short play and walked away from everyone around her. She noticed Silas going to the other room, but she tapped him on the shoulder.

“I’m a slut, huh? Tell that to Eric and his friends. Everyone else too? Well, fuck you. I’m going to make chemistry a living hell for you.” She stormed off upstairs.

The music seemed to die down a bit and get drowned out the further she moved away from it. That was to be expected, and she was very thankful. Terra avoided a few kids making out here and there before finally going into Landon’s room and opening up a window to go sit out on the ledge. She sat against the house wall and opened up the book and started at the first page.

Silas stopped dead in his tracks. The condensation from the cold beer bottles felt like sweat again his skin. Oh god. This was not good, not good at all. What had Eric told her exactly? He wanted to avoid her, but her making chemistry a living hell for him was not at all worth it. Damn it. There was only one way to get out of this and the thought almost made him nauseous.

He came back to Eric and the blonde girls, with a somewhat overexaggerated smile.

“Thanks, Silas!” Katie said, plucking two cans from him and handing one to her friend. Silas gave the other one to Eric and the three of them sat down on a couch. Silas, however, remained standing.

“Pop a squat, Silas,” Eric said.

“In a second,” he said, looking away. “I think I left my phone in the kitchen. I’ll be right back.”

Keeping his beer can with him, he hurried back into the kitchen and tried to remember where Terra was headed. She had a book in her hand, which was strange. Having no clue, he decided to check outside first. He slipped out of the front door without being spotted by Eric, who didn’t mind at all being left alone with the blondes, and he came out on the front lawn, where a few people were milling around.

He looked around, but couldn’t find her. He was about to head back inside, when he caught a glimpse of a shadowy silhouette above. His eyes adjusted slightly, and he saw it was Terra, sitting on the edge of her window from a second-floor window, reading a book.

While Silas thought that was strange, he didn’t particularly care. He rushed back inside the house and came up the stairs, trying to envision which room would have a window that faced the front lawn. Guessing correctly, he shoved the door open louder than he would’ve liked.

Terra completely zoned out into the words written on the pages of the book. Turning from one page to the next. It was the beginning of a story about honor, friendship, betrayal, and so many other things. But one that stood out was the differences between the public self and the private self.

She could no longer hear the music. Simply her mind played out the world of Julius Caesar and his rise, unknowing of the plot that awaited him.

Inside of Landon’s room, the room was mostly clean. Maybe some clothes here or there, but one thing stood out was an out of place newspaper underneath a desk.

Silas stepped inside and looked around. It certainly wasn’t Terra’s, it didn’t have her feel to it. Was it her brother’s? Her dad’s? He took a deep breath and came up to the open window, whose drapes were flowing silently in the soft evening breeze. The loud music of the party seemed far away now. He came up to it slowly and lifted the drapes away to reveal Terra, engrossed in a book whose title he couldn’t see.

“Terra.”

Terra jumped slightly from surprise, being ripped out of her zone from the voice coming next to her. She turned her gaze over to Silas by the open window.

“What do you want?”

Silas raised an eyebrow at her somewhat annoyed tone.

“I want you to not make chemistry hell for me,” he said bluntly.

“It’s a little late for an apology, isn’t it?”

“An apology?” Silas asked, somewhat confused. “For what?”

“For calling me a slut. It’s a huge turn off. Bla bla bla.” She re-opened the book and kept reading.

“I never said that,” he argued.

Terra scoffed, and turned to glare at him. “That’s what they say. So it must be true, no?” She said coldly, perhaps the lesson would smack Silas in the face.

Silas frowned. “Is that what Eric told you?” he inquired.

“Did Eric tell you I was a slut and had sex with him?” She inquired back, mockingly.

“Well, yeah,” Silas answered hesitantly. “But, I don’t see why that’s important…”

A small silence grew and he came closer to her.

“What’re you reading?” he asked.

Terra sighed, and folded the book over so he could see the title. “It’s important. Sucks to have someone accuse you of something not true. Doesn’t it?”

Silas read the title aloud: “Julius Caesar… By Shakespeare? You read Shakespeare?” He had to admit, he wasn’t expecting someone like her to well… be interested in things like that.

“So… You guys didn’t have sex?” he inferred.

“Of course not. Never have, never will. And, yes, I read Shakespeare. I love Shakespeare. I also like Faulkner. As I Lay Dying is absolutely incredible. What he does with different perspectives and the thoughts of characters is just so interesting.” She rambled, smiling a little.

Silas was quiet.

“I… Didn’t think you were into that kind of stuff,” he said at last, somewhat intrigued. “I mean, it’s not weird that you’re up here reading, but I was expecting you to be nose-deep in Celebrity Stalker’s Weekly or something.”

He took a deep breath and pulled his legs over the edge of the windowsill, sitting next to her.

“I’m sorry,” he said finally.

She laughed a bit at his comment. “Reading up on Kim Kardashian’s ass is so yesterday, bruh.” Terra mocked the lacrosse language with a smirk, accepting his apology.

“I guess I’m sorry too. We got off on the wrong foot.”

Silas looked up at the night sky, trying to pick out stars. It was hard to see them as they lived in a pretty well-developed area, but the western sky was much more starry because that’s where the ocean was. He picked out a few constellations in his mind, mentally connecting the dots between the points of light and then finished the picture with his imagination. He always thought it was amazing how the ancients could think up such elaborate pictures in the sky. If he hadn’t studied constellations beforehand, he’d be too overwhelmed by all the stars to pick out pictures in them.

With a sigh, he got back up and headed inside the room. He held up the beer can to his face and finally pulled the tab open. He held it to his lips for a second before taking a small sip. Surprisingly, it had a texture similar to soda, but with that undeniable alcoholic tinge.

He pulled it away from his mouth, and his eyes caught sight of the newspaper clipping he had seen before. A little curious, he squatted down and picked it up, flipping it over.

What he saw almost made him drop his can.

It was a clipping from the obituaries. The first thing he saw was a picture that looked unnervingly like Terra, but he quickly saw that it wasn’t her.

“Kaelyn Marie Skye Reyes…” he whispered quietly. Then, he remembered the woman from the picture on the refrigerator. This was Terra’s mother. His heart beating fast, he began to read through the text.

It was a drunk driving accident.

Immediately the taste in his mouth turned sour. He understood why Terra didn’t drink.

He was speechless. He just stood there, looking at the paper in disbelief.

Little did Silas know that Terra hadn’t remained out on the ledge for much too long after he decided to get up and come back inside. She simply flipped through a few more pages and then went to return as well. Terra made no sound at all, sitting at the window watching as Silas drank his beer and picked up the newspaper. Her heart ached at that moment, feeling it break all over again. A fresh wound about a year old. Terra watched his face carefully, studying every single expression of his face. She held in the tears as he almost pulled back the beer and cringed.

That’s when Terra dropped down from the window sill and landed softly onto the floor of Landon’s room. But still loud enough for Silas to hear her.

“I guess you know a little more about me now…” She said softly, walking up to him and taking the newspaper from his hand. Terra gently folded it and opened up a drawer and slid it inside, closing the drawer.

She hugged Silas. Nestling her head in between his neck and shoulder, letting out a deep sigh.

Silas hugged her back with his free hand. Each heartbeat was filled with pain and sympathy for Terra.

“I—I’m so sorry,” he stammered. “I didn’t know… I don’t think I was supposed to see that…”

He pulled away from her embrace for a second and placed the can down on the desk. He turned and looked back at her, studying her face closely.

“You… You look so much like her,” he managed to squeak out.

Terra took a deep breath when he stammered and then told her she looked like her mother. It was a strained breath, like a whimper. Trying so hard to keep herself collected. Not to break down.

“I’ve been told… Yeah…” She turned her head away from him.

Silas rubbed his arm, weighing the consequences of a decision he was turning over in his mind. Finally, he reached forward and took hold of her wrists, gently.

“Don’t get the wrong message from this, but…”

He looked away for a second and then came up to her face. His nose was pressing against her, but he hesitated for a second. They stood there, staring into each other’s eyes. Silas couldn’t do it, though.

“You have pretty eyes,” he said, trying very hard not to laugh at his own lameness.

Terra laughed lightly with a roll of her eyes. “We need to work on your girl-skills.” She leaned in and did what he chose not to do, locking her lips with his. Ignoring the entire world around them.

Silas kissed her back this time, choosing to not heed the voice of Eric in his head, telling him to stay away. Maybe Terra was only so crazy and unstable because she just had a pretty traumatic experience. For once, Silas saw things from her point of view.

He pulled her closer into him so that their torsos were touching. His heart was beating quickly, and he was sure Terra could feel it. But he didn’t care.

Terra kissed him passionately, alternating with his top and bottom lip. She bit his bottom lip lightly and tugged it out before rushing back for an intense kiss. She moved his hands down to grip the bottom part of her shirt, then lifted her arms.

Silas felt her lifting his arms, which in turn began to lift her shirt off. Deciding to live in the moment, Silas let her do it, and he lifted her white tank top over her head, revealing her lacy black bra. He wasn’t going to say anything, but he was afraid of doing or saying something stupid that would give away that fact that he hadn’t even been very far with a girl in the first place. She probably already knew that though.

“I don’t know how to take a bra off,” he blurted out without thinking. His hand flew to his mouth in a second and is cheeks turned bright red. Shit.

Terra giggled and smiled at him. She re-assured him by grabbing the bottom of his shirt and taking it off of him. Her fingers tracing softly down his chest to his abs, then getting close enough to kiss him again. Terra whispered softly to him.

“I haven’t done this before either… so. Don’t worry about it.” She pulled him down on top of her on the bed.

Just as Terra’s back hit the bed, the door flew open with a painful thud.

Silas immediately broke away from the kiss and expected to see Eric standing in the doorway with his arms crossed. But what he saw was even worse.

Two people stood at the door. One was a man who looked familiar, but in the heat of the moment, Silas couldn’t connect the dots. The other personage was unexpected. Ms. Fierro, the school counselor, stood behind the man, looking at the two in shock.

Terra pushed Silas off of her, and quickly grabbed her shirt to cover herself a little bit. “Dad! What are you doing home?!”

Dad? Shit. Silas looked like he was going to be sick. He too made an attempt to cover himself with his shirt.

“To test my trust in you,” the man replied calmly. “Which I now know I can’t do anymore. Not that it’s much of a surprise anyway. I told all the other kids to leave or I’d call the police. You’re lucky as hell that I didn’t.”

There was an awkward silence.

“Who’s your friend?” Landon asked in an ominously calm tone, stepping inside the room.

Terra pulled her shirt on over her head. “His name is Silas… And you’ll probably be seeing more of him because he’s my chemistry partner. I think you’ll actually uhh… like him?” She almost wanted to slap herself, even if it was true. This was not the time.

Landon chuckled and turned to Silas, examining him closely. “What kind of girls are you into Silas?” he asked, jokingly. “If you’re into girls like my daughter, then I’m a little worried for you. Unless…” He turned to Terra.

“You didn’t do this to him yourself, did you?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“He’s drunk. I took advantage of him.” Terra took the entire blame on herself. “That was it and there’s nothing more --” She spotted Katrina. “Who is that? Ms. Fierro? You were out with Ms. Fierro!? So this is why you wanted to know my Dad’s name. So you could fuck him. Awesome.”

Landon looked back at Katrina, who looked really uncomfortable.

“No,” he said, turning back to Terra with a frown. “I told you. She’s an old friend of mine from college and we got dinner to catch up. Stop being so forward about everything. If anyone was fucking tonight, it was you two!”

He turned to Silas and sighed.

“Did you come here alone?” he asked.

Silas quickly pulled the shirt over his head and stood up from the bed.

“My friend drove me here,” he said quietly, still feeling embarrassed.

Landon rubbed his temples. “Well I already kicked everyone out. Why don’t you just spend the night on the couch and call your friend in the morning?”

Silas was incredulous. “R-Really?” he asked. “Are you sure?”

Landon nodded. “It’s not your fault. It’s my daughter that I’m mad at.” He turned to glare at Terra for a moment. “You go to your room, now,” he told her sternly.

“Silas, was it? You head on downstairs. I’ll try to make sure Terra doesn’t come down and try to do something to you while you’re sleeping.”

Terra encouraged Silas to go down with a nod and a look that read something like ‘I’ll handle this.’ She just got up and grabbed her book.

“What are you going to do… ground me?”

“I need some time to think of an elaborate punishment for you,” Landon answered.

Silas looked at Terra with a nodded and a quick smile as if to thank her for taking the blame. He hurried past Landon, who let him pass, and Ms. Fierro awkwardly and he went down the stairs.

“Terra, why did you blatantly disobey what I told you?” Landon said.

She shrugged. “You never stop drinking when I ask you to. So I figured you wouldn’t give a fuck. That’s kind of your thing for the past year.” Terra said coldly, with determined venom in her words.

Katrina looked over at Landon when Terra said this. Drinking? Landon was drinking now?

“That’s enough,” Landon said, with frustration laden in his voice. “Go to your room, now. I need to talk to Katrina for a little bit.”

Terra walked by him and bumped his shoulder purposefully. “Yeah, you can tell her one thing…”

She turned to look over her shoulder. “She’ll never be my mother.”

[Blitz]

Earlier that evening…
In his car, Landon continued driving and followed the street into the downtown Gilded Coast, a rather small town in comparison to nearby San Diego and other cities in southern California. Nonetheless, it was still a convenient little town, with a fair amount of retail, restaurants, and a few tourist attractions like hotels and stereotypical surf shops for those who came to visit the town for the beautiful beach only a few minutes away. Landon had planned to meet Katrina at a popular Italian restaurant named Capello’s that served common but surprisingly delicious Italian dishes.

Katrina was waiting for Landon, sitting alone outside at a picnic table with a red and white checkered tablecloth draped over it. Her blue eyes were calmly scanning over the menu, but it was evident that she was very tense. Her left leg was crossed over her right and her posture was very rigid. Her long blonde hair was down and a little wavier than her normally straightened hair. She was wearing a black tank top, white shorts, and a pair of sandals—perfect for the temperate end-of-summer weather. When she saw Landon approaching her down the sidewalk, she placed her menu down on the table and stood up quickly with a big smile. It had been so long since she last saw him. He looked more or less the same, just, for lack of a better word, older. Maybe it was how he dressed. Landon saw her too and returned the smile.

She hurried over to him and give him a hug.

“Landon! It’s so good to see you!” she said cheerfully, squeezing him close.

“It’s good to see you too,” Landon replied, smiling down at her. She pulled away from the hug and led him to their table, where they sat across from each other.

“So how have you been?” Katrina asked, leaning forward with interest. “God, it’s been so long. What have I missed?”

Obviously, Katrina had missed a great deal, but Landon couldn’t think of anything appropriate to say right then, so he simply replied, “Not much, what about you?”

Katrina giggled and flipped her loose hair out of her face.

“Well, as you know, I got a job at McCormick as a counselor!” she told him excitedly. “It’s such a coincidence that we both moved out here, isn’t it?”

“It sure is,” Landon agreed. He grabbed a menu and began to look through the options. He had been to Capello’s only a few times before, so he needed to refresh his memory a bit. As he looked over the items, he sensed that there was an air of awkwardness between the two of them. Landon turned the page over, and Katrina finally spoke up.

“How are you holding up?” she asked in a weak voice.

Landon stopped reading momentarily and his eyes shifted up to look at Katrina’s soft face. With a sigh, he placed the menu down and shook his head.

“Fine,” he answered tiredly.

Katrina knew about Kaelyn. She had attended her funeral just last year in North Carolina. It was such a tragedy. She had never seen Landon so broken. It was painful to see him like that. After that, however, the two of them didn’t keep in touch very much. It was pure coincidence that they decided to move to that small California town, albeit at different times. Katrina obviously had no idea until she saw Terra, the spitting image of Kaelyn. (Terra did now show up to Kaelyn’s funeral. She knew Landon had a daughter but had never seen her.) She was shocked at first and filled with disbelief, but after a short text conversation with Landon, she learned that he was indeed in the same town as her.

“What about your daughter…?”

Landon rubbed his forward at the mention of his daughter.

“It’s obviously affected her,” he replied. “But she’s so hard to read, Katrina. I think she copes by doing all these drugs and being rebellious.”

“Maybe that’s her coping mechanism,” Katrina offered, recalling her psychology knowledge.

“Maybe,” Landon agreed. “But then I remember she’s the daughter of Kaelyn, who was exactly the same at that age. So then I don’t know how she copes with it.”

Katrina had no more insight to offer, as she didn’t know Terra well enough.

“She looks a lot like her mother…” she said. She still remembered her confused awe when she first saw Landon’s daughter.

“Everyone says that,” Landon agreed.

“I bet it’s painful to look at her.”

“Sometimes it is.”

A peppy waiter came by the table at that moment and asked for their drink orders. Katrina ordered a water, and Landon ordered a beer.

“Would you like to place your orders now, too?” the waiter asked.

Landon and Katrina looked at each other, and Landon shrugged apathetically.

“Sure, we’ll order now,” Katrina said. The waiter pulled a pen from his pocket and held it at his notebook. “I’ll take the spaghetti and meatballs.”

The waiter wrote down the order and turned to look at Landon, who, during that time, had been quickly skimming through the menu again.

“Uhh…” he said hesitantly. “I’ll try the buffalo chicken calzone.”

“Good choice,” the waiter replied as he scrawled down the order. “Food should be out in a few minutes.”

Once he collected the menus and left, Katrina turned to Landon with an empathetic smile.

“I’m always here for you,” she assured him.

Landon looked at her sparkling blue eyes and smiled tenderly, appreciating the support from his old sweetheart.

“Thank you.”

---

After a very delicious Italian dinner and sharing a guilty plate of tiramisu, the left the restaurant after about two hours of discussing their lives and problems. They decided to saunter around the town and have some more lighthearted chatter and enjoy themselves a bit. They walked into a few stores and eventually ended up walking to the boardwalk, where there usually were a lot of teens hanging around, up to no good.

Although, tonight, the boardwalk was eerily more dead than usual. A few visiting families milled around here and there with an ice cream cone in hand or a beach chair. A small, local band was playing on a small stage to an audience of about twenty or so people, mostly families with small children and elderly couples.

“Where are all the kids?” Landon wondered aloud, looking around. There was almost always a couple making out in a secluded corner, a gang of preppy girls walking around on their phones and gossiping about the boys who lazed on the benches or on the beach. In addition to that, a group of stoners, including Terra on many occasions, would be smoking something on the roof of some building.

Katrina shrugged as she had no idea, but almost on cue, two teenagers, about seventeen years old, came out of a surf shop. They were probably just let of their part-time shift, as one of them was still wearing a hat that read “WaveRunners.”

“How big is it?” one of them was saying.

“It’s pretty big,” the one wearing the hat answered. “That chick who moved here this summer is throwing it. I heard she really knows how to make her guests have a good time.”

Landon stopped and looked at the duo, who got into a car in a nearby parking lot and drove off toward the neighborhoods.

“Did you hear that?” Landon said suspiciously, turning to Katrina.

“Doesn’t she know you’re coming back?”

“I told her I’d be back tomorrow to test her,” he explained.

Katrina thought for a moment. “I don’t think you can trust her,” she concluded.

Landon nodded.

“Well, I have a bunch of teenagers to kick out of my house. Why don’t you head home? We can meet up again later this week… if you want.”

Katrina shook her head. “I… I want to come with you,” she said. “I want to see your daughter again. And, well… I want to keep talking with you.”

Landon looked at her for a moment, trying to read her. He nodded finally and turned back the way they came.

“Just follow my car,” he told her.

---

When they arrived at Landon’s house after a few minutes, it was utterly obvious there was some kind of soiree going on. Cars lined the edges of the streets, the house was completely lit up, muffled music thumped from within, and the sounds of laughing teens inside and outside the house filled the quiet night.

Landon got out of his car, and Katrina hers, and Landon glared at the house. A few teenagers caught sight of Landon and immediately knew something was wrong, so they fled right then and there, hoping the cops wouldn’t be called. Landon, looking powerful and stern, with Katrina behind him, walked into the house and without missing a beat shouted in a deep, loud voice: “You all have thirty seconds to get the fuck out of my house before I get the cops over here and personally give each and every one of you a citation.”

That was enough to get a few people moving. With some “Oh shit!”s, a few darted out the front door without a trace, but still others gawked at Landon in disbelief.

“One!” he bellowed.

They didn’t move.

Landon pulled out his phone and dialed 911, leaving it on the screen for the partygoers to see.

“Two!”

That was enough. In a somewhat boisterous crowd, every person fought to get out of the house so quick that the place was empty by the time Landon had reached seven.

The damage was no as bad as it could’ve been, thank God. A few beer cans littered the floor, but it looked like nothing in the house itself had been damaged. Still, there was one person Landon needed to find… Where was Terra?

The ground floor was silent, so the two of them assumed she must’ve been upstairs. Fearing what was going on up there, Landon found himself rushing up the stairs and barging into Terra’s room—but it was empty. There was only one room left. Landon hurried over to his own room where he shoved open the door to find Terra in her bra and a shirtless boy on top of her, who turned to look at him.

Immediately, Terra pushed the boy off herself and held covered her body with her shirt.

¨Dad! What are you doing home?!” she demanded.

[Blitz]

Terra strided down the hallway. A flare of anger in each of her steps. Her boots slamming down angrily as she fumed to herself. How could she be this stupid? Everything inside of her seethed with wild, unrestrained fury. How could he go out with her? Her own school counselor? She didn’t care if she was an old friend or not. Seeing someone else with her father, Landon, was strange and it didn’t make her feel comfortable. Being lied to pissed her off too. She knew well enough he was right not to trust her, but how could she trust him now?

She went down the stairs, and figured she would wait for Landon’s “punishment” or whatever his drunken ass could think of. Terra made her way into the kitchen where Silas was lacing up his shoes at the table. She frowned and folded her arms.

“Well… this sucks.” She said bluntly.

Silas looked up at her in surprise. He hadn’t expected her to follow him downstairs, not with her dad so mad at her.

“In more ways than one,” he agreed. “I didn’t know your dad and Ms. Fierro were friends.”

“I didn’t really either. Except I kinda heard about her. Probably should have met her at the funeral…” Terra’s voice trailed off to a faint whisper as she walked up to the window and just looked out. She turned her head over to Silas.

“Wanna take a walk?”

Silas stood up from the chair and tested his shoes to make sure they were fitting tight.

“What about your dad…?” he questioned.

Terra turned away from Silas and walked over to the front door. She turned the handle and opened it as quietly as possible, feeling the cool but warm breeze hit her face. Turning her head over her shoulder, Terra looked at Silas with the light glimmering off of her green eyes. “He’s not going anywhere right now. I’m going to have to come back anyway so why not?”

The brown haired girl stepped out into the night and kept walking, regardless of whether Silas followed or not.

Silas stood in the kitchen for a moment and helplessly watched Terra exit the front door, knowing full that doing so would only further enrage her dad. With a shaky sigh, Silas reluctantly followed Terra out the front door, closing it silently behind him with minimal creaking. He turned away from the door quickly and caught up to Terra quickly, walking quietly beside her on the concrete sidewalk.

“So…” he said awkwardly.

“Shut up,” Terra said quickly. “Not every silence has to be filled with words. It’s a nice night, why should we distract our eyes from it.” She looked up at the stars and kept walking.

Back in the house, Landon approached Terra’s bedroom’s closed door. He had asked Katrina to wait in his room because he didn’t want her to see him possibly get angry. Thankfully, that would never happen, as once Landon pushed open the door, he was confronted with an empty room. The window was closed, so she didn’t escape. The only thing that made sense was that she never even went there.

“Great,” he muttered. Without giving a word to Katrina, he quickly went down the stairs and saw that the rest of the house was deserted too, with no trace of Silas either.

“Damn kids,” he said, rubbing his forehead. “It’s gonna be a late night.”

With a sigh, he turned and headed back upstairs.

After some long walking underneath the night sky. Terra glanced over and saw a baseball field, she smiled a bit and usually knew what was probably close by. Her eyes darted over and found a playground with a swingset nearby. She turned to go underneath the orange light of the street lamp. “Come on, follow me.”
She continued on ahead and ultimately turned with a soft smile, standing on the sand of the sandbox.

“Reminds you of being a kid doesn’t it? It’s the only place I feel like a kid at heart, ya know?” She asked Silas. Feeling oddly sentimental. Terra walked over and sat on the swing. Her fingers curling around the chains hanging by her sides.

Silas followed her lead and took a seat on the swing to her right. He swung back and forth idly using his feet to keep him grounded. He was curiously squinting up at the sky above, trying to see if he could pick out any more stars than were already visible. When Terra asked him something, he turned to her with a shrug.

“I guess so,” Silas replied. “Embarrassingly, I still go to parks with my friends when they come to my house. They’re fun to just hang at… Or to read, if you’re alone.” He picked up his feet from the dark mulch and began to swing more now, using his feet to gain more momentum.

Terra picked up her pace on the swing, swinging up a little further and a little higher. “Nothing embarrassing about it.” She commented. “Everyone has their place they like to hang at. Why should we suffer boring people who only have fun grinding up on people in sweaty, dark basements.” The words came out and caused her to laugh a bit.

She played around a bit and kicked at Silas, sticking her tongue out at him as she passed by on the swing. “Even more fun when you have someone to hang with.”

Silas smiled and kicked back at her on the swing, but eventually, the returned to their respective swinging paths. For a few moments, Silas didn’t think. It was easy to get lose in simple, repetitive muscle motions, like swinging. It was relaxing and considerably meditative too.

“I don’t know if I’m cut out for the party life,” Silas said finally. “Even these little high school parties are too much for me… I mean you were able to tell right away that I didn’t belong.”

She nodded slowly. “Yeah, you had that look on your face. And the vibe. I don’t know. I guess maybe I’m better at reading others than most. Landon said my mother was pretty good at it, maybe she passed it on to me.” Terra looked at him while swinging.

“Besides! A party is only as fun as the company you have while you’re partying. And you’re definitely not quite the stereotypical lax bro.”

“I guess not,” Silas agreed. “I’m not much of a douche. At least, I hope not… But, I mean, Eric and everyone have been pretty good friends to me. Maybe they’re a little bit fake, but we all still look out for each other, I guess.”

He paused and turned to look at Terra while he swang.

“So, what’s the real story between you and him, anyway?’ he asked.

Terra smirked at him. “Maybe you two should get married.” But then she got a little more serious when he asked her his question.

“We dated for two months. I don’t know. We never had sex. Things got heavy at times. He was a bit of an asshole, sure. But, I don’t know. I guess I wasn’t ready for a relationship and freaked out on him. There’s no chance of getting back together, that’s for sure.”

“What did you see in him?” he wondered.

“He was sweet, kind, and fun to be with. Completely the opposite with his friends than when he was alone with me. I guess I just figured out that I couldn’t trust him.” She shrugged.

Silas thought about that for a moment. It wasn’t an unfamiliar idea to him that guys acted completely different when they were around their friends and when they were alone with their girlfriends. He supposed he understood in a way, probably because he was a guy and they all thought alike.

“I’m sorry things didn’t work out better,” he offered honestly.

Terra nodded and smiled over to him. “Thanks…” She looked up to the sky at the bright stars and luminous moon. Always a breathtaking sight.

“It’s not that I don’t want a guy to act the way he does with his friends. It’s that he changed his tone, and his friends changed with me around. I don’t want someone to change for me, if that makes sense. Makes me think you have something to hide, like perhaps Eric talked about me like a piece of ass behind my back?”

Silas shrugged. He understood Terra’s point of view.

“Well, that certainly seems like something he’d do,” Silas answered. “But I wouldn’t know. I didn’t know him then.”

With a grunt, Silas jumped off the swing. He flew a couple yards, leaned too far forward, and ended up falling to his hands and knees after trying to catch himself on his feet.

“Shit,” he grumbled, standing up and brushing the moist mulch from his knees and forearms. A small scrape was forming on his upper shin on his left leg.

Terra stopped swinging and started cracking up in fits of laughter. She covered her mouth with her hands but couldn’t contain herself entirely. Muffled giggles squeaking through her hands.

“Why would you even try that?”

Silas frowned at her laughing and wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.

“I’ve pulled it off before, that’s why,” he answered bluntly. He made his way back to his seat which was still swinging slightly and he sat down on it heavily.

“It’s kind of embarrassing, really…” he said quietly. “That that was the farthest I’ve ever gone with a girl.”

“That was the farthest I’ve gone with a guy. Nothing to be embarrassed about. We’re literally not even out of high school yet.” She said to him.

Silas raised his eyebrows.

“What about Eric?”

“I thought I told you… He’s never had me out of my shirt before, and actually thinking about having sex.”

“But I thought things got heavy at times?”

“Heavy, make out. Under the shirt touching, that stuff. You’re really as far as he got. Why are you so worried about what me and Eric did?”

“I’m just curious,” he replied simply, looking down at his feet, deep in thought.

“Well take your curious mind and start thinking about the right things.” Terra moved next to him and turned his head to hers. She looked into his eyes for a short moment before closing hers and crashing her lips up against his.

Feeling his heart flutter with excitement, Silas kissed her back, and for that moment, when time froze, everything was just… right. Perfect. He felt like the image of them, kissing each other on the swingset, was the perfect cover for some cheesy romance novel. Except, this wasn’t just a cheesy romance… Maybe it was something much more.

Silas pulled back from this kiss but continued to stare Terra in the face. It was difficult to tell what exactly the expression on his face was saying. Was he worried? Happy? Confused?

“Do you like me or something?”

[Gwynbleidd]

Terra felt comfortable up close with Silas. Kissing like this, in the quiet of night. Under the starry, dark sky. Not a single cloud. It was as though they were in their own world. The swingset and the playground. A bubble of childhood memories and innocence wrapped around them. She smiled at Silas when he looked at her, breaking off the kiss. She nodded her head.

“I wouldn’t kiss you if I didn’t like you, now shush.” Terra pulled him back in to continue the kiss.

Silas kissed her back, enjoying every sensation that rush through his body. After a few more seconds, he pulled away again, looking down slightly.

“Don’t you think… We’re a little too different?”

She sighed and looked into his eyes. “We don’t have to be like twins to like kissing each other, Silas. Besides, do you think this is a relationship? I’ll be on the monkey bars when you decide you’re done over thinking things.”

Terra got up from the swing and trotted off to the monkey bars. She got up on the steps, but didn’t hang on the bars like any other person. She instead slipped her foot into a side hole and pushed herself up on top of the structure so she could sit on top of the bars pretty high off of the ground. Enjoying seeing everything around her.

Silas bit his lip and remained on his swing. He thought about what she had said. Sure, maybe he was overthinking it a little, but that’s what he did best. He was analytical. He couldn’t help it. It’s not that he thought they were in a relationship, but he didn’t want to keep ‘having a thing’ with her in the future if they didn’t even get along very well. He hardly even knew her.

“Don’t you ever feel something for someone else?” he called up to her from his seat. “Like with actual feelings?”

“I felt feelings for my mom. But she’s dead.” Terra stated bluntly, staring out into the blackness before turning her eyes down to him. Looking angered, but a deep reservoir of fragmented emotion bottled up inside leaking out slightly through cracked but shoddily patched up seams.

“I’m not some fucking heartless bitch.”

Further up the road, Katrina was walking on the sidewalk alone. She and Landon had decided to split up and search for the two teens in case they didn’t have any intentions of coming back to the house. Unfortunately, neither of them had made any progress. The neighborhood wasn’t sprawling, but it would be easy to avoid someone by cutting through yards or hiding in the trees if you had to. Katrina rubbed her arm nervously, wondering if she’d have any luck.

As if on cue, she heard the sound of voices further ahead. Across the way from a baseball field, there was a small playground. Sitting atop the monkey bars was one figure, which Katrina made out to be Terra. Another less visible figure sat on one of the swings. She assumed that must’ve been Silas.

Quietly, she approached the park just as Silas was saying something to Terra.

“You sometimes seem like one,” he was saying.

“Seem like what?” Katrina cut in, loud enough for both of the teens to hear.

Silas turned his head quickly in surprise and stood up from the swing.

Terra almost leaped off the bars to smack Silas in the face, but she sharply turned her head at the familiar voice of her school counselor, Katrina. She shrugged and just swung her legs idly against the cool breeze of the night. It didn’t really matter. “Like a heartless bitch.” The words rolled coldly off of Terra’s tongue as she stared at Katrina.

“I guess that makes sense for the girl who didn’t even go to her mom’s funeral.” She rambled to herself, but audible enough for them to hear. “Were you two busy banging before you found us? Took a long enough time.”

Katrina shook her head, not bothering to actually answer her sarcastic but somewhat hurtful question.

“We split up to look for you two,” Katrina said.

“We’re sorry,” Silas blurted out. He didn’t want to get in any more trouble than he was.

“I’m not.” Terra put in quick.

Katrina crossed her arms and looked at the two of them, first at Silas, then up to Terra, who looked rather angry. They were certainly an odd couple, not to say that they were a couple. She was just surprised that they hung out and, well, were hooking up. She had talked to both of them before and she knew they were very different.

“Be that as it may…” Katrina continued. “We should probably head back now.”

She pulled out her phone and typed a quick text to Landon informing him that she had found them.

Silas stood where he was and glanced nervously toward Terra, wondering what her next move would be.

Terra hopped off of the bars and looked over to Silas. “You can get him back home, or whatever. I’m just going to keep walking.” She shot over at Katrina, and then turned her back to walk off toward the woods. Knowing a path somewhere there near the railroad tracks. She didn’t have anything else to say at the moment. Her hands curling up into fists, squeezing tightly. Containing her anger as she moved away from them. Wanting to get as far as possible. Otherwise, she would burst on Katrina and say a whole bunch of nasty things she didn’t mean.

Silas wanted to stop Terra once she started to leave, but he didn’t dare touch her, not after what he had just said to her. She would’ve given him the same treatment she gave Eric. He turned to Katrina and gave her an expression of helplessness.

“Mr. Slater.” Silas shuddered when she called him that. It made her seem more like a teacher. “Do you remember the way back to Landon’s house?”

He nodded without saying anything.

“Why don’t you head back on your own and get to bed. I’m sure it’s been a… long night for you.”

“Are you going after Terra?” he asked.

Katrina nodded. “I can’t just let her go. Tell Landon I’ll be back soon.”

Silas shook his head and walked past her in the direction of Landon’s house.

“Good luck,” he told her as he left.

Katrina smirked. She’d certainly need it. She gave one last glance in Silas’s direction to make sure he was heading the right way, and then she turned and jogged off to where Terra had gone. The light forest was navigable for her, but she began to worry about getting lost. However, the trees became less thick and a clear appeared in the distance. Curious, Katrina stepped out onto a railroad track that cut through the small forest.

“That’s weird…” she muttered to herself. “Is this track still in use?”

Knowing she wouldn’t get the answer to her question, she looked both left and right and saw Terra’s figure in the distance to her right.

“Terra!” she called out, jogging up to her. “Wait!”

Terra had been walking for a few minutes before anyone caught up to her. She easily cut through the forest. She knew it as if this place had been her hometown, having explored much of it during her free-time over the summer. The dark haired girl sighed and stopped walking, finally looking over at Katrina. She crossed her arms and just stared at her. “Well, you found me Ms. Fierro.”

She kicked at some pebbles by her feet. “So what are you going to say. Some informative lecture on your past experiences. Wisdom or experience that only older people would know. Come on, let me in on your big adult secrets that make you so much wiser. I’m stubborn like my mother or something Landon would say. Do you have something original to say?”

Katrina sighed at her and smiled softly.

“Did you know I played on the same soccer team as your mom?” she asked.

Terra knew very little about Katrina other than she was a friend of Landon’s in the past. Her eyes sparked with curiosity at her words. “Really?.. I mean. No… I didn’t know that.”

Katrina nodded. Her eyes seemed distance as she remembered all the memories she shared with Kaelyn not just on the field but off it too, at the parties.

“She was probably my closest friend in college,” she explained. “But anyway, that’s not the point… I’m going to tell you something that Landon has probably never told you before…”

Katrina’s mind went back in time to the rainy, fateful day.

“Your mother and Landon…” she began. “Well, they had a complicated relationship, to say the least. They had been sweethearts over the summer, but it’s my understanding that she was too afraid to let people in to actually start dating your father exclusively. After the summer, they might never have met again, but by fate’s hand they both ended up attending the same college in Florida, which I attended as well. Even after they found out that they attended the same college, their relationship remained complicated. I think Landon was fed up with your mother’s instability, so he blocked her out of his life…”

She took a shaky breath.

“Or so he tried. That’s when we met. We really hit it off. We cared about each other, we really did. So we dated. But your mother wouldn’t be stopped. I still don’t know exactly what happened, but the two of them ended up having sex while we were dating.”

Her tone revealed the deep pain that this had caused her.

“Landon had every intention of keeping this secret. Cheating was one thing he did not want to ever do. It tore him up. However, Kaelyn… She…” Katrina’s voice trailed off as she searched for the right words.

“She was really confused and sad and angry. That day she started taking these… pills. They were apparently antidepressants, but they were way more powerful than that. They turned her into an emotionless machine. She was completely brutal at practice that day, and I noticed that she was acting particularly aggressive toward me. When I asked her what her problem was, she told me what she did with Landon.”

Katrina paused at this part, but then slowly continued.

“We faught. It was a pretty brutal cat fight, and it ended with her shouting some bad words. She went back to her dorm, and as far as I was concerned, she was dead to me. I went to see Landon and I pretty much told him that we couldn’t date anymore until he figured himself out. After that, I went back to my dorm and tried to quell my sadness by watching movies and eating ice cream and crying by myself…”

“That’s when I got the call,” she said finally. “Your mother had gone back to her dorm and overdosed on those antidepressants. She almost died… and she would have if it wasn’t for your father. He came and found her and called an ambulance at the right time. He saved her.”

Katrina let that sink in for a second, and she wiped her eyes.

“Anyway, what I’m trying to say is: your father cares about you. Even if it doesn’t seem like he does. He has… a strange way of showing love.”

Terra had a hard time following everything Katrina said. Wide eyed with shock. Stunned by how deep her relationship was with her mother and her father. She had no idea that Katrina knew them so well, and potentially could have even been Landon’s sweetheart. It was so much to take in, and in such a short time. Terra didn’t know what to say, so she simply looked into Katrina’s eyes. Feeling every bit of emotion that seeped through from her looks and the dramatic pauses and breaks in her speech. Her eyes began to feel watery, hearing it all. Tears just about forming, ready to drip and trace down her cheeks. Terra quickly rubbed her hand against her face as if getting rid of an itch. No longer looking at Katrina. Instead, staring off to the side, listening but not letting out any perceived weakness.

She nodded at last when Katrina finished. “I’m sorry.” Terra stated at first. “I’m sorry that I was mean to you. I guess it’s not much of an excuse to say that I didn’t know how close you were to my mother or f- Landon. I don’t know what I’m saying, I just didn’t really like you being anywhere close to my own business, because it’s mine. And my father’s?” Terra said, questioning it, not knowing if that made any sense. “I still don’t know you though… or like you… I’m still a little high.” She commented, quickly smiling it off with a light laugh.

“Do you love my dad? I don’t mean like the ‘of course’ bullshit. I mean the do you want to, yeah…” Terra’s gaze studied her carefully.

Katrina blushed at her sudden question. She saw her sharp eyes and knew she couldn’t lie her way out of this. Still, she smiled at the young girl.

“There’s more ways to loving someone than just sex,’ she said with a smile. “Does that answer your question?”

“Sure. But, I know Landon couldn’t keep his hands off of my mom. Nearing 40 and they both didn’t seem to… ya know. Cool down? Let’s say Landon doesn’t need viagra or any of that stuff.” Terra rambled on, clearly still high. ”Oh wow I just said that out loud, didn’t I? Hmm… So you still love my dad. Yeah. I don’t know if I want to see you hanging out with him anymore.”

Katrina sighed.

“We’ll see about that. But let’s head back, I’m exhausted and I know your being high isn’t the only reason you’re rambling like you are.”

She wiped her eyes again and took a step back, signalling toward the woods which they had come from.

“Landon and… Silas are waiting for you.”

“You’re right. You turned out to be a bit cooler than I thought you were when I met you in your office.” Terra commented. “And I guess I’m feeling off my game of being a heartless bitch tonight. Oh well.” She shrugged and stepped toward the tracks and looked at her.

“Come on, follow me. I know my way around here.” And so, Terra went on with Katrina next to her.

---

Silas was sitting on the couch, completely alone in Landon’s house. He took advantage of this time alone to replay tonight’s events in his head. That was probably the most action he had ever had in one night than his whole life. He felt somewhat relieved now, finally alone, and having resolved some confusion with Eric about where he was via text. Silas then realized how sleepy he was, and he found his eyes were beginning to shut on their own.

He was about to lay down to sleep when the front door opened. He immediately sat bolt upright at the sound, and Landon appeared in the hallway, looking at him.

“Where’s Terra?” he asked.

“Ms. Fierro went after her,” he explained.

Landon furrowed his brow at him.

“You mean she ran away again?”

Silas shook his head. “Not exactly. She just sorta refused to come back and walked off… I’m sure Ms. Fierro will figure it out though.”

Landon released a loud sigh and sat down on an armchair next to the couch.

“I sure hope so…” he muttered.

Silas looked at Terra’s father uncomfortably, not knowing what to say.

“So, um…” he began. “How exactly do you know Ms. Fierro?”

Landon looked up from rubbing his face to get a better look at Silas.

“We dated in college,” he explained.

“Oh,” said Silas to acknowledge his response. He looked down at his feet, not knowing what to say.

Landon continued to observe Silas, until he noticed something. On the left leg of his shorts, two lacrosse sticks crossed each other to form an X shape. His eyes widened with interest.

“You play lacrosse?”

“Huh?” Silas said looking up. He followed his gaze and saw he was looking at his shorts. He looked at his shorts too and saw what he had seen.

“Oh, yeah, I play lacrosse for school,” Silas said. “I’m an attacker.”

“I played goalie back in the day,” Landon said. “How long have you been playing for?”

Silas noticed Landon’s interest in lacrosse. Maybe this was what Terra was talking about earlier.

“I just started playing this year,” he replied. “I like it. I’m having a good time.”

“I betcha being on the team gets you a lot of girls,” Landon said with a laugh. “I know it did for me… That must be why Terra was all over you.”

Silas’s face turned red when he reminded him of that. He didn’t know why she had kissed him and done all that, but he was more than sure that it wasn’t solely because he played lacrosse. He wouldn’t think.

“Uh, yeah, I guess,” Silas said with a nervous laugh.

“Are you guys dating?”

Landon stood up from his chair and walked into the kitchen. Silas heard the fridge being opened and a few glass bottles being clunked together. Landon came back into the room with two beer bottles in hand.

“Want one?” he said, offering a bottle to Silas.

“Uh, no thanks?”

Landon merely shrugged and sat back down, taking a sip from the bottle he had already opened. He looked intently at Silas as he awaited an answer.

“And we’re not dating,” Silas said. “I’m sorry, but your daughter is some kind of crazy. I don’t think she has feelings.”

With this, Landon burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. Silas looked at him, confused about what was so funny. Once Landon was able to breathe normally again, he took a shaky sip from his bottle.

“You remind me of me,” he explained. “When I was having a thing with Terra’s mother.”

Silas frowned. Was he implying that they’d end up getting married or something? He knew Terra was a lot like her mother, but he himself was nothing like Landon.

“I guess you’re pretty tired,” Landon said. “I can see it on your face. I’ll leave you be then.” He chuckled and stood up from his chair and walked into the kitchen where he sat and waited. Meanwhile, Silas exhaled shakily and laid his head down to sleep.

The walk back was quiet. Terra felt like there was nothing much more to say to Katrina at the moment. And she was sure Katrina was probably tired out from telling such an emotional story. Truth was, Terra’s high was wearing off and the night had left her exhausted. From fighting with Silas, to kissing Silas. To being mad with her dad, and then talking with Katrina. It was all a bit much.

Once she walked inside, Terra saw Silas passed out on the couch and smiled lightly. She went into the kitchen, and grabbed a bag of Lays chips because she may or may not have been having a slight case of munchies. Only looking at Landon, not in the mood for any sharp or witty remarks.

Katrina walked in with Terra and followed her into the kitchen, also smiling at Silas’s sleeping form. She stood behind Terra as she grabbed her bag of chips and there was an awkwardness that hung in the air like smoke.

“I’m gonna head home, Landon,” she said at last. “Thanks for a fun night.”

Landon looked up at her and smiled. He set down his beer bottle and approached her to hug her.

Katrina caught sight of his beer bottles and her heart sank. That would be a problem they would confront later. She hugged him back, and when she let go of the embrace, she turned to look at Terra.

“See you at school on Monday,” she said quietly before turning to leave.

Landon watched Katrina leave the house and sat back down in his chair with a sigh.

“You didn’t tell me your boyfriend played lacrosse,” he offered with a small smile.

Terra gave Katrina a small wave as she said goodbye. She looked over at Landon, and simply hopped up to sit on the counter and eat her chips. Nodding in response as she crunched away at her food.

“Oh. Yeah. He also reads a lot.” She commented off hand. “And he’s not my boyfriend. What you saw earlier was just… spur of the moment. I don’t know. Party mistake?... And you didn’t tell me Katrina knew mom so well. Some other interesting things too.” Terra gave him a knowing look.

Landon glanced up at her in stunned surprise.

“What do you mean?” he breathed.

“I know about you and Katrina’s “thing”. How you almost didn’t end up with mom. And pills…” Terra’s words were a bit over the place, and she couldn’t find the right ones to say. She sighed, frustrated. Trying not to get emotional.

Landon shivered when she mentioned the pills. Kaelyn and he had discarded those damned things as soon as they started dating again.

“I can’t believe Katrina told you all that,” Landon said, shaking his head. “You didn’t need to know that. Some things are better left unsaid.”

“I like to know things about my mother… Good. Bad. She came out of it all. Tells me she was tough and found a way… I don’t know. It’s just nice to hear about her from someone other than you. I’d say Katrina is hurting just as bad.”

“I know…” Landon said quietly. “I know she is… I don’t know if she still has feelings for me or not. I’m just… so thankful that she accepted our relationship once we worked things out. She even let me dance with your mother when Katrina was my date for the winter formal. She’s a good sport.”

“Yeah… Well. I don’t know how I feel about you dating her. If that’s what you’re thinking about.” Terra turned her head away and bit down on a chip particularly hard.

“Not to say that I am,” Landon said carefully, “but why would you be opposed to that, young lady?”

“I just am.” Terra said. “It hasn’t even been a year.” She hopped off the counter and tried to leave the room.

“People need to move on, Terra!” Landon shouted after her. “You should too.”

She came back and appeared in the doorway. Terra shot her eyes at his beer bottles and made sure he knew she was looking at them. “I’m tired, dad. Maybe you should take your own advice, and not drink so much.”

Landon opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn’t find the words. That was the first time she had called him ‘dad’ since she Kaelyn had died. It tugged on his heartstrings.

“We’ve gone over this before,” Landon said calmly. “I know how to cope. You, on the other hand, choose to hide your emotions and you pray that maybe they’ll just go away if you ignore them long enough. Well here’s the truth. They won’t go away. You need to face them head on, and you can’t let them turn you into a rebellious delinquent. I’m tired of all this, Terra. I can only handle so much on my own.”

“Over the summer. I needed help on my AP work for my psychology class. And, you majored in it in college,” Terra started, seemingly unrelated. “All I wanted was some help. Multiple times actually. I could’ve used some advice and help from someone on that. Just like, maybe I could’ve used some advice about a failed two month relationship I had with a guy that ended horribly. The night we broke up I came back here and I had to wake you up from a drunken stupor. I was ready to just, I don’t know. Cry? Scream? I brought you back up to your room and tucked you in. You know what you said to me? ‘Can you grab me a beer?’ That’s what you said to me. That’s what you’ve been saying. Other than ‘I don’t have time’ or this and that. I can only handle so much on my own too! Mom’s not here to help me with these things, and you’re too swallowed up in alcohol to give a shit. Did you forget you had a daughter? Maybe I try to forget about them and make my emotions go away because…” Her eyes very visibly travel up and down Landon. “I don’t want to turn out like you.” She sighed and pressed her head up against the doorframe, closing her eyes tight to hold tears back.

Landon stared at her. Her words stung at him like a swarm of angry bees. Their venom seeped into his veins. He could feel all the frustration, the pain, the anger that Terra had to experience over the last year in that moment.

“This… is the only way I know how to deal with the pain, Terra,” he said, standing up. “If you can think of any better way, please, I’d love to hear it.”

“I know what it’s like to lose a mother…” he breathed, gripping the neck of his alcohol bottle. “And now, I know what it’s like to lose the love of my life. Forever. Do you have any idea what that feels like Terra? Can you even imagine?”

Terra lifted her head off the frame. Her eyes clenched tight as she kept her head turned away from him. She clenched her fist. Eyes holding back floods of tears. “My 17th birthday. My mom is getting me some surprise gift… And she gets killed by some drunk driver, and now every birthday for the rest of my life I’m going to be thinking about it… Yeah… I think I know how it feels.” She choked up on her last words.

Landon shook his head. He just didn’t understand why they had such a hard time understanding each other. It was extremely frustrating and contributed to part of his emotion in that moment.

“You sometimes act like it was my fault,” Landon said.

“... If she wasn’t getting me a gift she’d be alive. It’s my fault… isn’t it?” Terra looked up at him, water building within her eyes. And… the first tear Landon had seen in a year fell down her cheek.

Landon watched the tear roll down her cheek and eventually drip off the side of her chin onto the floor.

“It’s not your fault,” Landon assured her, feeling empathy. He took a step toward her slowly.

“It’s nobody’s fault. Not even that driver… You know I’m not very close to God, but I still think everything happens for a reason. If there is a heaven, I think Kaelyn’s heart breaks every time she sees us argue like this. She wouldn’t want either of us to feel guilty about something that was an accident.”

When Landon got closer, she stuck her arms out towards him and shaked her head. The tears began streaming down her face more as she struggled to hold them back. Sniffling. Hands shaking. Lips quivering. “Don’t touch me… I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“Terra… please,” Landon whispered, barely audible. “Don’t do this to yourself...”

He took another step closer, holding his arms to her desperately.

“We can get through this together…”

“... I. I…” Terra’s words were broken with sorrow. Hardly able to talk. “I’m sorry I didn’t go to the funeral… Dad. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.” Her tears were pouring out more. Harder to restrain.

“I just miss mom…” She sobbed out, now crying too hard to speak. Terra fell to Landon and buried her head into his shoulder, shaking with sadness.

Landon pulled her in close to him, trying to make her feel safe and protected. He was her father and this was his job. It had always been his job.

“I miss her too, Terra,” he said. His voice was shaky and tears silently rolled down his cheeks as he held her close to him. “I miss her too…”

[Blitz]

Terra leans back in her chair. She idly kicks her shoes to together, and twiddles her thumb. Nervous. She isn’t used to being quite in this position. Knowing intimate things about a school counselor. The weekend seemed to be a big blur to her now. Her father had worked some things out and had a heart to heart, but Terra didn’t believe he would actually stop drinking. She knew not to get her hopes too high.

“Yeah, and well we agreed for me to see a therapist. I saw him once on sunday. He suggested some pills like Effexor, but L-. My Dad is a bit iffy on pills. I can understand why.” She said, rambling on about how things were at home to Katrina.

“So. Are you going to be a permanent thing? Like. You and my dad. I’m still not used to it.” She asked.

Katrina laughed and looked away from Terra for a moment.

“We… We’re not a ‘thing,’ Terra,” she said, turning back to her with a soft smile. “At least, not that I’m aware of. I think right now your father is mostly concerned with finding someone to… grieve with.” Katrina pondered if that was the right word for it.

“What about you and Mr. Slater?” she asked, now realizing that it felt weird to be close with a student too. “Are you two a ‘permanent thing’? What was that all about?”

Terra shook her head and smiled. “I don’t really know. I’m not ready to have a relationship, I mean let’s be honest.” She started to laugh. “It was a party, he was drunk. I wasn’t in the right state of mind either. It just happened and got a bit out of control. We were fighting right before that so I don’t even know how that happened the way it did.” Terra waved her hands in the air. “Ugh… Emotions. Boys. I don’t get it anymore. I don’t know if I ever did.” She chuckled to herself.

Looking back to Katrina. “Well, I’d say me and him are friends? At least I hope. For the time being until I find some way to screw that up.”

Katrina chuckled at her comment about boys. She could definitely relate to that. Terra’s father was a prime example, but certainly not the only example. She looked Terra right in the eyes, reading her closely.

“Well, you’re doing an okay job at it,” Katrina commented. “I can already tell you’re trying to protect him. Mr. Slater doesn’t seem like the type of boy to binge drink on the weekends, does he? In fact, he didn’t look even buzzed. So then, care to explain what really happened?”

Terra squinted her eyes at Katrina. Knowing that she definitely caught on to her little lies. Well, it was, nope, it wasn’t even sort of true. Katrina had her cornered pretty well. She sighed. “You’re pretty good. Almost as good as my mom was. She always called me or dad out on our shit.” A small smile appeared on her face as she looked to the ground.

“Alright, so we got into a bit of a fight earlier in the night. I think he came to find me. Found me outside on the window. The side roof. And, I was reading Julius Caesar and he came to join me. Kinda mulled everything over. He looked like his beer went bad. But I kind of saw it in his eyes. He knows why I don’t drink now, so things got really personal. Why do we just make out with the nearest person when we’re at our most vulnerable?”

Katrina laughed.

“See? Was that so hard to share?”

She cleared her throat and began to shuffle through a couple of papers on her desk.

“Well, I’m glad you came to see me, Terra,” she said, still looking around. Finally, she found Terra’s schedule in a binder and checked the time.

“You’re just in time for chemistry. Try not to skip, okay?”

Terra rolled her eyes at Katrina. “Yeah yeah, whatever.” She said, grabbing her bag and flipping it over her shoulder.

“I’ll try, but no promises. Mr. Harrison has the most monotone voice of all time. No offense to mechanical voices and Stephen Hawking, but yeah. That’s what it’s like.” She turns and leaves the room, going out into the hallway to find her locker and get her things for chemistry.

---

Silas had arrived to chemistry early as usual. He barely had enough time to finish all his homework with such a busy weekend. He had waken up extra early the morning after he spent the night at Terra’s house and called Eric to come pick him up. Of course, he had to explain everything to him, but Silas carefully left some not-so-needed parts out, like Terra and him having that weird, vulnerable makeout sesh.

He groaned in his desk. Just thinking about the weekend gave him a headache. Eric and the team were already talking about another party that Friday. How on earth did they keep up with such a lifestyle?

He pulled the hood of his hoodie over his head and laid his head down on the desk, trying to fit in a quick nap before class officially started.

After grabbing her things from her locker, Terra quickly came running to the class. She wasn’t late, she actually managed to get in just in time. Sure, kids were already seated but Mr. Harrison wasn’t ready to begin until the clock was EXACTLY the time to begin. On time by like 10 seconds. Terra walked over to the lacrosse players. giving a look to Eric who obviously stared at her in his paranoid suspicion. She just ignored him and sat right next to Silas. Placing her books down on her desk loud enough for him to hear in his mini-nap.

“Good morning!” Terra said, with excessive enthusiasm. Completely bounced back from the weekend. The party scene might not always be her scene, but she definitely had the non-stop energy to recover and do it again at any time.

His face hidden from sight, Silas grimaced at the sound of books slamming next to him, followed by Terra’s enthusiastic salutation.

“Bad morning,” Silas replied, his voice muffled as he didn’t raise his head up from his desk.

“Some party,” someone on the lacrosse team said sarcastically to Terra. “Didn’t you know your dad was gonna come home?”

“Everyone else enjoyed the party, Gary. Just because you can’t get yourself laid even when you’re on the Lacrosse team doesn’t mean you should blame my dad for coming home when he said he’d be back another time. Sucks to suck, doesn’t it?” She shrugged, some other girls and guys chuckled at her comment.

She turned back to Silas. “Maybe you need to just have a more positive attitude about mornings.”

Silas finally lifted up his head and rubbed his eyes, having not slept at all in those few minutes.

He was about to say something when Mr. Harrison began his lecture on thermodynamics. Thankfully, this was a topic with which Silas was already quite familiar, so he could risk not paying attention.

He turned to Terra and whispered, “Sorry for leaving so early.”

“Sorry it didn’t end quite the way we might have intended.” She teased him. “But, it was probably for the better.” Terra opened her book and scanned through the contents of the chapter.

Silas’s face turned red and he looked back at his desk without giving a proper reply to her. What was her deal anyway?

“Well, I was just so black-out drunk after all,” Silas said quietly.

“Yeah, Ms. Fierro knows you weren’t even buzzed. So that story won’t fly anymore.” Terra flipped the page. Looking down word for word as Mr. Harrison spoke.

“When I’m not grounded, wanna hang out?” She blurted out, looking at him. Quickly wiping the stupid grin from her face. “Well, we’ll chill anyway. Rules never bottled me up before.”

Silas was about to reply when Eric, who was two seats away from Silas on the opposite side from Terra, looked at him, shaking his head. Silas smiled and shrugged back at him before turning back to Terra.

“I’ve got lacrosse workouts almost every day,” Silas replied, giving her a wink that Eric could not see from his angle. “But we’ll see if I can work you into my schedule.”

Terra smirked and nodded her head. “Yeah, I’m sure something could happen. We’ll see when you’re not busy.” She wrote something on a piece of paper and tossed it to him.

It read. “Lunch in the locker room? We might be alone ;)”.

Silas read the note and quickly crumpled it up and shoved it into his pocket. He wanted to facepalm. He was nearly at the end of The Bronze Bow and was really looking forward to finishing it. He then just realized how nerdy that was and almost laughed at himself. This was daring, especially for Silas who was a good kid, but they could very easily pull it off, given that there was a locker room dedicated completely to sports players, which were abandoned during the day.

Silas nodded back at her, though the nervousness was already becoming apparent on his face. To try to calm his adrenaline rush, he tried to focus on the lecture for the rest of the class until the bell rang, signaling the end of class, and the start of their mission.

[Blitz]

Soon enough, class had ended. Working chemistry as partners was not as hard as Terra first imagined it being with Silas. They may have had their fights and troubles to begin this odd friendship or whatever it was. But, they definitely handled fire like pros. Well, Silas was a bit troubled by Terra playing around with the gas and the flame. But, that’s just part of life. She still did all her work correctly, and helped record the numbers. After it was finished, the bell rang and lunch was ready.

Terra quickly breezed past Eric and the other lacrosse bro’s and cruised into the lunchroom. She might be meeting up with Silas, but she still wanted a snack. Quickly grabbing two bags of chips and a gatorade, she made her way out of the lunchroom. Scoping out the hallways like a true ninja, Terra slipped past multiple teachers and the principal. Last but not least, she happened to see Katrina in the hallway near the gym lockers. She muttered underneath her breath because she knew she’d have to come this way and she’d be caught. But, Ms. Fierro was busy talking to another teacher. Watching them carefully, when both their eyes were distracted from that hallway jump, Terra silently ran as fast as she could to the other side. Finding her way into the lacrosse locker room. Sitting on the bench, waiting for Silas.

Silas, on the other hand, was not expecting Terra to bolt out of the classroom so quickly. He thought they were going to go to the locker room together, but clearly her stomach spoke to her more loudly than her judgement. And sympathy, because Silas was totally having an anxiety attack about going into the lacrosse locker rooms.

First, he followed Terra’s lead and headed to the cafeteria. He looked around at all the food items, but he didn’t feel hungry. He actually felt quite nauseous, but he knew he needed to eat because he wouldn’t get to have anything until after lacrosse practice that afternoon. So, he tentatively picked a bag of chips and a wrapped sandwich and paid for them quickly before stuffing them into his backpack. As he turned to head for the door, he heard someone call his name.

“Hey, Silas!”

Silas froze in his tracks and turned to see Eric walking toward him with his own lunch in hand. Silas frowned and cursed his rotten luck. Why can’t anything ever go smoothly? Although, he supposed he was glad Terra wasn’t with him at that moment.

“What’s up?” Silas asked, turning to face him.

“You wanna come sit with us?” Eric asked casually, nodding toward a nearby table of lacrosse players and some slutty-looking girls. Silas glanced at the table with a pained expression and turned back to Eric.

“Sorry, Eric, I can’t,” Silas replied. “I need to meet a teacher for some extra math help. I’m already lost on this whole ‘calculus’ concept.” He laughed.

Eric looked at him suspiciously for a second, but then smiled.

“I know right? Screw that calculus shit, though. But, at least you care about your grades, so I can respect that,” he said. Silas nodded and smiled.

“Yeah,” Silas said. “I’ll catch up with you at practice.”

Finally, he managed to get away unscathed. That was a close one. However, his mission was far from over. He still had the extremely risky task of getting into that locker room without being noticed by the other teachers that seemed to wander the hallways like security goons.

He poked his head out of the cafeteria doors, and the halls seemed clear. Silas made his way quietly, his mind on alert. Finally, the doors of the locker room came into sight, and he hadn’t even seen a teacher on the way. Maybe it was his lucky day.

“Where are you going, Mr. Slater?”

...Or not.

Silas whirled around to see Ms. Fierro looking intently at him. It was a painful reminder that she still worked at the school, a reminder that Silas could’ve done without.

“Miss Fiero, I--” Silas began to try to explain himself.

“You know the athletic locker rooms are off-limits during the day, don’t you?”

Silas’s face turned crimson.

“Miss Fierro, it’s just, I left some of my gear in there on Friday and I need to make sure it’s still in there.”

Katrina stared at him intently, but she concluded with a sigh that she had probably already given him enough of a scare.

“All right then, Silas,” she said, turning and beginning to walk away. “Sorry for interrogating you.”

“It’s okay,” Silas laughed nervously before he turned and quickly went into the locker room to see Terra there, sitting on the bench. She had been waiting for him, obviously.

“Sorry for taking a little longer than expected,” he said shakily, still visibly nervous from his last two encounters. He smiled and sat down next to her with a shaky sigh and opened up his backpack to take the food out.

“So, what made you decide to ask me to eat lunch in here?” he asked, taking a bite out of the egg-salad sandwich.

Terra nodded and then shook her head at Silas’ apology. “You don’t have to apologize for yourself. I’m not your parents. Or your girlfriend.” She said simply and took a crunch out of one of her chips. “You had to get past Eric and Mrs. Fierro. While I slipped by Mrs. Fierro too. She’s everywhere lately. I feel like she’s watching me and is getting paid by my father.” She laughed a little at the ridiculousness of the idea.

“And, I don’t know.” Terra shrugged, eating more of her chips and watching him eat. Comfortably sitting with each other in the calmness and isolation of the locker room. It was nice. “Figure it’s nice and quiet. Kind of pleasant. Not too many people chatting loudly or being obnoxious. It’s just you and me.” She took another bite that emphasized that last sentence.

Getting up and throwing the first empty bag into the trash, she took a sip from the fountain. Bent over and giving Silas an interesting view. Terra quickly wiped her mouth and then turned around to look at Silas devilishly. She strutted towards him with a little bit of a sway. Sitting on his lap and using one hand to grab his sandwich to place it back down next to them. Another hand curling into his hair as she rested her forehead against his. Dangerously close.

“Of course… There were other reasons too.” She smirked and closed her eyes to kiss him on the lips.

Silas couldn’t help but stare when Terra leaned over to get a drink from the water fountain. He looked over momentarily and her bag and saw she had bought a Gatorade. So she was teasing. Well, she was certainly doing a good job.

When Silas looked back up to her, she was walking toward him with a lot sway in her step, and she admitted that there were “other reasons” for which she wanted to be alone with Silas in the locker room. And with that, she leaned in to kiss him after sitting on his lap and getting very close to his face. Naturally, Silas’s heart began to speed up, but he tried to control his nerves. A split second before Silas kissed her back, he realized that he should’ve guessed this was going to happen, mostly because of that winky face she left on her note.

He kissed her back passionately and kept his hands on her back. He was enjoying the kiss for a second before he pulled away, breathless.

“Wait,” he said after a quick gasp for air. “Are we… having a thing right now?” He looked into her eyes but was smiling stupidly.

Terra was pleasantly surprised that Silas was so receptive to her kiss. He proved to be very passionate and that had caused her to squeal a little against his mouth. It felt like forever, the amount of time they were there in that small moment. But, of course Silas had to have one of his stop moments. Terra breathed along with him heavily. She just rolled her eyes, smiled and laughed. “Yes, we’re having a thing right now, Silas. Now stop talking about the moment and start living in it.” She pulled his head back to hers.

Her lips crashed against his with heated passion. That of young love. She moaned against his mouth, the vibration sending an electric chill through his body and hers as well.

Silas felt that electric chill and he loved it. Not being able to control his analytical tendencies, he absently thought that this must be what lust felt like. Or maybe… something else? Hah, of course not. That was just… absurd. They were simply two teens “having a thing”... Or perhaps “friends with benefits” would be a good term for it too. There was nothing sentimental about it, at all.

But something about that thought was worrying to Silas. He didn’t want to just hook up with someone repeatedly for no reason but to hook up…

Still though, he continued to make out with Terra there on the bench for a good minute or two, but his mind kept wandering. Finally, he mentally commanded himself to stop overthinking the situation and to live a little. Maybe it’ll help him fit in a little more.

So, that’s exactly what Silas did. In the spur of the moment, he broke away from the kiss and reached down at the edges of Terra’s shirt.

“Remind me again… Where we left off,” he said quietly, beginning to lift up the shirt, exposing part of her stomach.

Terra happily continued locking lips with Silas. Right in the middle of school where no one could see them. But, the idea of getting caught only added to the moment. She felt right about this, finally someone who could be her ‘no strings attached’ buddy. And, Silas was just a good guy she could easily be friends with too. It was a good trade off in her mind. Physical with the rest of talking and emotional needs. Just no lovey dovey stuff.

She felt absolutely electric as they kept kissing. A hard shiver went through her body when his fingers traced against her to the edge of her shirt and slowly lifted it up. Terra was surprised, but she quickly grinned and lifted her arms up for him to take her shirt off, revealing a bit of a sexy red bra. Once it was off she grabbed it from him and tossed it to the side. Moving her hands to the bottom of his shirt, also lifting up. “Your turn.” Terra smirked.

Silas grinned and lifted up his hands as well while Terra slowly and seductively took his shirt off too. Once it was off, he turned back to her and did something else spontaneous. He lifted her up slightly by the waist and he swung his legs on top of the bench and laid back so she was now sitting on top of him. He reached up and pulled her in to lie on top of him and continue the kissing.

Terra squealed a little but began to giggle when he grabbed her by the waist and swung her over the top of him. The warmth of their skin touching together providing a new intensity to their moment. Interchanging the lips she kissed. Whenever she alternated to Silas’ bottom lip, Terra bit down gently and tugged his lower lip out before passionately making out with him again. Her fingers lightly scratched up his sides as they kissed.

Silas tried not to smile as they kissed to avoid knocking their teeth together. He was really enjoying the moment, but he felt compelled to interrupt it again. Partially because he couldn’t control his impulses, but mostly because he knew it made Terra want him a little more.

He pulled away from the kiss and looked up at her.

“Wait, sorry,” he said, smiling sheepishly at Terra. “I have to confess something before we go any further...”

She almost growled at him when he stopped, instead biting at his lip harder and groaning before releasing as he stopped their kisses. Terra had a bit of an annoyed look as she looked at him, before her eyes settled and she smiled lightly.

“What is it, Silas?”

“That was my first kiss,” he admitted, referring to the night they first met. His eyes darted away from hers for a moment, feeling slightly bad about having lied to her. Slowly, though, he turned to look at her again and offered a small smile.

“But… you haven’t said anything about my kissing, so I assume I’m pretty good, huh?” He laughed quietly, but his cheeks flushed slightly.

“What?” Terra’s eyes widened a little bit, looking at him. Studying him closely. “That first night… Yeah.” She talked to herself for a second before gazing at him again. The brown haired girl began to laugh, giggling softly. Her hands cupped his cheeks. “You’re a great kisser. A natural. We’ll find out if you’re a natural at other things, and I guess we’ll find out whether I am too.” She winked seductively at him and slowly lowered her lips to his.

Then, Terra sat up. Straddling him. Her hands moved behind her back towards the clasp of her bra…

Time seemed to freeze for Silas at that moment. Terra seemed to stay there with her hands reaching behind herself for an eternity, and all Silas was aware of in that moment was his beating heart…. and the loud squeaking noise of the locker room door being pushed open.

“Terra!” A woman’s voice shouted in complete incredulity. Katrina stood in the doorway with her hand over her mouth and her eyes wide in disbelief. “You stop this instant!”

Silas groaned loudly as he had seen the door open through his peripheral vision. “Oh my god I think my heart just did,” he muttered to himself, inaudibly.

Terra jumped up in absolute surprised. Startled. Her heart racing. Beating so fast she thought it would leap out of her chest. She got off of Silas and grabbed her shirt quickly to cover herself a little bit. There should have been a look of terror, but instead, the disbelief turned into a smile. She couldn’t help but giggle at Silas’ words and it slowly built into a loud laugh. This was the second time this had happened. It was too funny. Hopefully Silas wouldn’t laugh or else she’d just keep dying of laughter.

Katrina walked swiftly into the locker room and glared at Terra.

“What on earth is so funny, Terra?” she asked. It was obvious she was more frustrated than angry at her.

Silas sat up on the bench and pulled his shirt on without a word. He didn’t even care at this point. He should’ve known the consequences.

“Do you know what the penalty for sneaking girls into the locker room is?” Katrina said, almost at a shout. “Suspension, expulsion even!”

Silas groaned and rubbed his face in his hands. Why did Terra have to be having a laughing fit right then?

“Why?” she asked, but in a lower, more pleading tone. “Why did you two do this? At school nonetheless!”

She waved her arm out, trying to stop laughing and to signal to Katrina that she needed a minute or so to gather herself. Finally, catching her breath and relaxing herself, Terra stood straight. Putting her shirt back on. “I found it funny that this is the second time this has happened… That’s about it really.”

Terra sighed and crossed her arms. “We did it because I put him up to it. Seriously, this time. It was all my fault. He’s a guy. We both know they can’t control themselves. And we’re attracted to each other. That’s how it goes. It was stupid…”

Silas looked at Terra painfully as she took the blame again. No, he wouldn’t let her do this for him a second time.

“No, Miss Fierro,” he said, stepping forward. “She’s just trying to protect me again.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the note Terra herself had passed him in chemistry. He unwrinkled it and shower it to her.

“It was me. I asked her to come in here with me,” he said flatly.

Katrina took the note and read it over. A small smile cracked on her lips.

“Silas, honey, I know you don’t dot your i’s with hearts. This is obviously Terra’s handwriting.” She crumpled it up again and threw it out. “But nice try. I admire your… Well I guess we can call it chivalry.”

Katrina paused and crossed her arms with her eyes shut.

“This is a serious offense...” Katrina muttered.

“Why don’t you give us a detention and be done with it?” Terra asked, very serious.

Katrina’s eyes flew open and she stared at the girl.

“Detention? Are you kidding? I just found you on the verge of a sexual act inside the boys locker room, in which students are forbidden during the day!”

“Yeah, and if you weren’t snooping around and spying on us it wouldn’t have happened.” Terra shot back, not really being serious. Just purposefully being a bitch.

Katrina shook her head. “Probable cause, Terra.” She nodded to Silas who hung his head. “I caught this one trying to enter the locker room. Did you get your gear by the way, Silas?” Obviously, the last part was rhetorical.

Finally, Terra lifted her head up and gave Katrina a death stare. Cold. Almost lifeless. Like a splitting image of her mother at her worst. “Are you seriously going to get us in trouble for this? A detention is enough. For now. You’d put his or my future in jeopardy over fucking human attraction? It’s fucking basic. You act like sex is a crime. It’s certainly not meant for your nosey ass to broadcast it to your superiors and get us expelled and also get us bad with our peers. I can’t think of a word for the person who would be sick enough to do that to someone.” The words were venomous. But, certainly a lot of truth in them.

Katrina stared back at Terra wide-eyed. Her words were effective, but what struck her most was her stare. It was so cold, she was instantly reminded of Kaelyn on the soccer field when she was on those pills. It was… unsettling. Terra was right… but still…. She couldn’t just let students have sex left and right at school!

“Terra, look….” she began. She stopped and thought about it for a second, weighing the consequences of her decision. Finally, with a loud sigh, she turned around to face the door.

“This is your last warning,” Katrina said quietly. It was evident in her soft voice that she really did not want to find them like that for a third time. “I am not against human attraction or whatever you want to call it, but I have to follow the code of this school, or I will lose my job….”

She began to walk out. “I will see you both in room 202 on Saturday morning, 9:00am sharp.”

“I understand. Thanks Ms. Fierro. It may not count for much, but I appreciate it. And, I promise not to do something like this on school grounds again. At least not while I’m still a senior.” Terra lightened up and even made a joke. Always finding a soft spot in a serious talk.

Ms. Fierro didn’t respond. She just silently walked out of the locker rooms with her head down.

Silas turned to Terra but didn’t say anything for a moment.

“Sorry.” It came out almost like a whisper.

“It’s nothing to apologize for. We both. I don’t know. We got caught in the moment…” Terra smiled at him. “And it was a nice moment. But, now we have to get back to the real world.” She shrugged, starting to walk out.

Silas grabbed his backpack and stood up quickly.

“Wait, we need an excuse, Terra,” he called after her. “I can’t just tell my parents I’m going in for detention… Should I just tell them I’m going to hang out with you or something?”

“You can if you want. I don’t really have a choice or a need for an excuse. Ms. Fierro dated my father in college so he’s going to find out one way or the other.”

She was right, unfortunately. He supposed having your dad be friends with a counselor had its perks as well as its disadvantages. Oh well, like Terra said, they needed to get back to the real world. They had barely left the locker rooms when the bell rang throughout the halls.

Silas turned to Terra quickly, realizing she’d walk away any moment.

“Terra, I…” he faltered for a second. But he shook his head and grabbed her wrists quickly, planting a small kiss on her lips before pulling away and looking down.

“I’ll see you later,” he mumbled and before he gave her a chance to respond, he turned and hurried down the hall toward his fifth period class

Terra looked into Silas’ eyes, surprised, when he grabbed her wrists. Closing her eyes quick as he kissed her lips once more. She was lost for words and couldn’t say anything before he left.

It was a strange feeling that he left her with. Terra shook her head and tried not to think about it, walking off to her next class.

[Blitz]

Beep beep, beep beep, beep beep!

Once Silas’s phone had struck 8:30am, the terribly annoying alarm sound rang out next to his bed like a damn foghorn. No matter how scholarly Silas was, he despised waking up early, especially on the weekends. It was wasn’t his thing. He groaned loudly from his sheets and picked up his phone, squinting against its bright light.

“I’ve got a couple minutes…” he muttered before hitting the snooze button and dropping his head immediately back down.

Unfortunately, not five minutes later, the alarm blared again.

“Shut the fuck up!”

Resisting the very strong urge to hurl the device across the room, Silas picked up his phone again and finally turned the alarm off. He sat up tiredly in his bed with his head hung and remained there for a few seconds. Of course, his perception of time was totally warped, and he suddenly snapped back into reality, thinking he had fallen back asleep. He quickly snatched up his phone and saw the time was still 8:36. With a half-sigh half-groan, he got up from his bed.

Silas’s room was a rather messy one. It wasn’t too big but held enough space for his bed, a desk, a decent-sized closet, a dresser, and two windows. The rest of the space was filled up by scattered papers, various articles of clothing, empty water and Gatorade bottles, pens, lacrosse gear, and electrical wires, which he always had to be careful not to trip on.

Rubbing his eyes, he shuffled into the bathroom and took a speedy shower, quickly got dressed, and came downstairs. He wondered if he needed to bring anything to detention. Probably nothing, but he decided to bring his backpack and a copy of Brave New World to keep him from getting too bored.

“Good morning, sweetie.”

Silas looked up to see his mom sitting at the kitchen table, looking down at him.

“Are you going somewhere?”

Silas stood up and shouldered his backpack. He quickly checked the time and looked back to is mom with a smile.

“Yeah, I’m going to a friend’s house to do some homework.”

“Oh, is it one of your lacrosse friends?”

Silas laughed at that thought.

“No, it’s a new student. Her name is Terra. She’s from North Carolina too.” Silas felt a tug in his stomach when he mentioned her name.

“That’s very nice of you to hang out with the new girl,” Cheyenne Slater replied with a quaint smile. “How is she doing adjusting to the new school and everything?”

Silas looked away from a moment and remember how quickly Terra managed to cram over 200 kids into her house for a party.

“She’s doing pretty good,” Silas answered honestly, but with a smirk. “Where’s dad?”

“At the firm, as usual. You just missed him. I’m about to get ready for work too.”

Silas nodded and went to the refrigerator.

“Want me to make you something?” she asked.

“No, I’m in a hurry,” Silas said, quickly grabbing two apples that had been chilling in a drawer. He stuck one inside his backpack and held the other in his mouth while he got the rest of his things ready and went to the door.

“Don’t wait up!” he shouted before running out.

Silas was thankful now more than ever that he lived so close to the high school. It was just a short, 5-minute walk away, give or take. His clock just struck 9:00 when he opened the door to room 202, inside which sat only Ms. Fierro.

“Umm, hi,” he said awkwardly to get her attention. She was sitting at the desk, reading a magazine and looked up to regard him.

“Hello Mr. Slater,” she said emotionlessly. “Please take a seat while we wait for someone who I can only assume is running fashionably late.”

Silas double-checked to make sure Terra wasn’t there, and sat down uncomfortably in one of the first-row desks, looking down silently.

Her very first Saturday morning detention. Terra was a bit impressed with the whole idea, and angry. Not that she didn’t deserve it, she knew she did. Even if she made good points to Katrina, she also knew that there were some things someone just should not do while in school. Almost having sex was one of them.

Terra didn’t doubt that her father would find out somehow. She knew Katrina had to end up calling him up and letting him know. Sure enough, she did. It was a return to a bunch of yelling and arguing the moment she had gotten back home from school. True to form, she ignored him the best she could and returned his yells. There was never a time Terra ever let Landon scream just by himself. But, when she did, she did it to purposefully to annoy him.

This morning, Terra knew she had to get up by herself. No help from Landon. She took a shower, ate breakfast and put on a sweater and a pair of short shorts. Grabbing her signature flat brim and sunglasses, she went upstairs to brush her teeth.

Once that was all settled, she was ready to leave. But, to get a little revenge, although it wasn’t really revenge. It was more like her way of playing daughter pranks on her father. Terra went into Landon’s room and changed his alarm from 12:30 to 9:10AM. Clicking the buttons to set it didn’t take long. It was seconds later that she was out the door and headed to the school.

She skateboarded all the way there, listening to her music. Not caring about rules, Terra continued to skate down the hallway to detention, knowing Katrina would hear her loud ruckus. Once she finally made it to the door, Terra kicked her board up. She opened the door and had her iPod on such full blast that she couldn’t hear Katrina, or Silas. But, they could hear her music.

Terra smirked when she looked at Ms. Fierro. Her eyes went from her to the clock, and once it turned to 9:01, then she stepped in. Walking to her seat, popping her earbuds out and then sitting down at last.

Katrina and Silas collectively stared at Terra as she stood in the doorway, although Katrina more glared at her. Finally she walked in, and demonstrated to everyone that she was, indeed, one minute late.

“Good morning, Terra,” Katrina said calmly, with her hands now folded on top of her desk.

“Yeah, whatever.” Terra flipped her hair over her shoulder with extreme attitude. Looking at the clock. She did her best to act apathetic about the whole thing.

Katrina frowned and checked her watch.

“All right, you’re both free to go at 11am, okay? Until then, just… don’t cause me a headache.”

Silas glanced over to Terra anxiously but looked away again.

“Um… Hi, Terra,” Silas said quietly, still looking away.

Terra smiled at his shy boy struggles.

“You need to relax, Silas. Are you afraid of me or something?”

Silas shook his head with a laugh.

“What, no? Well, maybe a little, I guess. I mean, not to say that you’re scary or anything,” he laughed nervously and Katrina looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. “It’s just, you know, I don’t know.” He laughed again and realized he had just rambled complete nonsense. He stopped laughing and looked down.

“Uhh… Yeah.”

Terra watched him ramble on and on, laughing nervously. She cocked her head to the side inquisitively. Even catching Katrina’s raised eyebrow. Either she wanted them to shut up, or they both were enjoying Silas’ lack of experience with girls. Still, Terra thought it was one of the most charming and cute things she’d seen in a while.

She smiled. “Thanks for that, Silas. I think. Uhh, yeah.” Terra mocked him playfully, exaggerating her head movements to look down and twiddle her thumbs before breaking out into a light laugh.

“You’re cute, ya know that? And sweet. And handsome…” She leaned over a little bit.

“And a great kisser…” Terra whispered.

Katrina dropped her magazine on the desk.

“Hey, watch it over there, Miss Attraction,” she said, staring at Terra with a scowl. “I can hear everything you’re saying. I don’t want to have to give you detention again. Or worse. Seriously guys, c’mon. I don’t want to be here either. As soon as it’s 11, you two can go… make out behind a dumpster or whatever it is you teens do now.”

Silas looked over at Terra, surprised she had said that about him. Was she serious? He got that uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach again, and he quickly diverted his attention by reaching into his backpack and pulling out Brave New World and his second apple.

Terra stuck her tongue out at Katrina. Despite being a senior in high school, she intended to be a complete child at the moment. She folded her arms and let out a loud “Hmph.” Turning her head to the side in defiance, with a noticeable smirk.

Soon, the silence built up in the room. Terra turned her head back up to the front to look at Ms. Fierro. “So, Kat-... Miss Fieeeerrroooo,” She said, exaggerating her name for fun, “How much do you still love my dad?”

Katrina opened her mouth in shock.

“Terra,” she gasped. “What on earth made you think of such a question? I mean, I still love your father. I really do care about him, of course.”

“Oh come on, Miss F. Don’t talk around the question like you don’t know I have a reason to talk about it or ask you about it. Be honest. I mean, looking at you. Thinking about you when you were in college. The sex must have been pretty great. Right?”

Katrina stood up from her desk suddenly.

“What is with you and always having your mind on sex?” she exclaimed.

“I’m a seventeen year old girl about ready to head to college. There’s these things called hormones for us ‘crazy teenagers’ that you adults like to talk about. I’m pretty sure you were just like me in a lot of ways.” Terra shrugged at Katrina’s comments.

Katrina smirked, sitting back down in her chair with a tired sigh.

“Not as much as your mother was,” she said flatly.

Silas looked up from his book when he heard this, glancing to Katrina then to Terra, somewhat confused. But he decided not to say anything.

“I guess you’re right though,” Katrina supposed. “But even your mother had… some self control.”

“I’ve never even had sex yet… Miss Fierro…”

Katrina shook her head and held up her hand to her.

“Enough about sex!” she said quickly. “You’re starting to give me that headache I warned you about earlier. Just… do something quietly or change the subject. I’m your counselor, but I really don’t need to know your entire sex life unless it was horribly traumatic.”

She shrugged. “Well, you said self-control. I was just trying to prove a point that my mom was probably more wild than me. She was, because I would know.” Terra stated flatly. But, she continued on. “In that case… how about a fun counseling question. Were you jealous of her?”

Katrina inhaled deeply and looked upwards as if toward Kaelyn’s spirit. She flipped her hair a little bit and ran her fingers in it.

“I can’t say I wasn’t jealous at all,” Katrina admitted, still looking upwards. “But as you would know, your father and her were a picture-perfect couple, and not in a cheesy way. I sometimes think they were simply made for each other.”

Terra nodded. She hoped to get under her skin, but Katrina was well put together. Probably why she was a counselor after all. So, she decided to give her a break.

“What kind of counseling advice do you give to kids whose mothers died in car crashes on their own birthday. With alcoholic fathers who forget that they’re fathers?” She asked her extremely specific question.

“We already discussed this,” she said in a quieter voice, looking at Silas. Thankfully, he looked too engrossed in the book to care.

“You said your father was going to some classes, right?”

“Yes. I’d rather someone just lock him in a room and force him to go cold turkey for a week.”

Katrina shook her head.

“He’d crave it more than ever after an experience like that. Someone like him… has to be eased off it. After all, it’s not like he’s an abusive father; or a terrible one at that.”

“Not abusive, sure. Terrible? Well what do you mean? He certainly hasn’t been a ‘present’ dad for most of the past year. And, I’d tell you stories about him asking for beers rather than listening or giving me advice about things that were affecting me. But, you’d just be too busy taking his side. Because, he’s an adult. He knows everything…” Terra spat out, sarcastically. Clearly getting incensed just thinking about it.

“I am not taking his side,” Katrina replied. “I’m just pointing out that he could be so much worse. He could be abusing worse substances. The trauma of losing his wife could have literally driven him insane. He could’ve just abandoned you if he wanted to.”

“I know that, but it’s easy for you to say that. You don’t have your father telling you that he doesn’t want to look at you! Yes, he was so drunk one night that he couldn’t even look at me. I don’t care if I look like my mother, it’s not a fucking excuse…”

“Well, he has a problem,” Katrina stated simply. “A problem that can be solved, too. Besides, Terra, that isn’t how he really is. Think about him before the accident. I’m sure you two were much closer then.”

“We were. And I think he would like it that way, but he isn’t going to get a ‘good’ daughter until he actually shows some desire to change.”

Katrina looked at Terra closely for a moment, reading her.

“So you’re only acting crazy to get back at him for having an addiction?”

“Sure, if that’s how your psycho-analyst mind sees it. Go with that observation.”

Katrina shrugged.

“You pretty much just admitted to it,” she stated simply. “At any rate, I’m done having this discussion with you. There’s only so many Advil I can take at once.”

“I went behind my dad’s back and got Effexor from my doctor.” Terra stated. She unzipped her bag and pulled out the familiar black container of pills. Red label plastered around it. She put it on the desk for Katrina to see.

“I tried one. I felt numb. Uhh… Do you mind just taking them and I don’t know. They scare me and I don’t want my father to know…”

Silas looked up at her surprisedly, and Katrina had stifled a gasp with her hand over her mouth.

“Did you take that before or after I told you about your mother?” she breathed.

“I didn’t take them because you told me about how my mother took them, okay? I took them because I wanted to get a grip on myself… I just didn’t realize that they make you. I don’t know. Cold?”

Katrina stood up and grabbed the box of pills from Terra’s desk. She scrutinized the label with a look of nausea on her face before taking it back to her desk and putting it into her purse.

“Those aren’t meant for people to take,” Katrina sighed. “They’re way too potent.”

---

After that heavy conversation, the rest of the detention was mainly quiet but not all that awkward. Finally, after what seemed like the longest two hours, the time was 11:00am. They were free to go.

Katrina checked her watched at this time and stood up.

“Well, you two, I hope you learned your lesson,” she said. “Which was…?” She looked mainly at Terra intently.

“Don’t almost have sex in a locker room.” Terra shrugged. Before finally being serious. “Okay, fine. Self-control. Don’t be a slave to our passions, blah blah.”

Katrina smiled. “Actually, I was just looking for the locker room answer, but now I know you maybe learned something after all. All right. You can go. I don’t want to catch you two like that a third time, okay?”

Silas shut his book with an exhale and packed it inside his backpack. He stood up and smiled to Katrina.

“Thanks again, Miss Fierro,” he said quietly.

Terra rolled her eyes and just gave Katrina a little wave before turning for the door. “Me and Silas will be underneath the bleachers this afternoon.” She teased and continued out of the library. Out into the hallway, waiting for Silas to catch up to her.

She knew he wanted to follow her.

Indeed he did. Silas came out of the room looking around and caught sight of Terra. With a smile he came up to her and walked beside her.

“So, um, my parents are at work right now, and I live like five minutes away…” he told her. “We can hang out there… I mean, if you’re not busy or anything. I might need some help on that chem lab.”

She wanted to facepalm that was probably the least subtle way anyone could ask a girl over to their house. He basically could have just asked her to make out. Terra just started to laugh and took off her sunglasses for the first time all day so he could see the soft glint in her eyes as she laughed.

“Sure, I’ll come over.”

Silas couldn’t help but grin stupidly at her when she accepted his offer. He was almost tempted to fist pump and go ‘Yeah!’, though he resisted. So, he lead her back to his house in the late morning sun and showed her into the kitchen where he walked over to the fridge.

“Want something for lunch?” he asked, staring inside and rummaging around.

Terra looked around Silas’ house. It was nice. Very homey feeling to it. She paused as he looked through the fridge. Like stalking her prey, she quietly walked up behind him and then jumped on his back trying to get a piggy back ride. Nibbling at his neck and kissing him.

Silas yelped in surprise when Terra snuck up on him and jumped on his back. Not wanting to topple backwards, he grabbed her legs and fell into her piggy back trap as she continued to nibble at and kiss his neck.

“So is that a no on lunch?” he asked, trying to keep his face clear from her lips.

Terra sucked on his neck with the intention of giving him a hickey. She laughed against his skin when he brought up lunch. Her hat had fallen off at this point. “Mm, I’m thinking this is lunch.” She said with a smirk.

Silas tried to get his neck away from her.

“Hey, I don’t want a big, black, ugly hickey for my parent’s and Katrina to see,” he said to her. “If you keep it up I will drop you off my back in a heartbeat.”

“Then why don’t you try and take control of the situation, shy boy?” Terra nibbled his ear, teasing him. Challenging him to do something.

Silas sighed.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

With that, he dropped her legs and pried the arms around him off.

Terra squealed in surprise. She didn’t fall by herself because she grabbed him by the back of his shirt as she fell. Causing them both to hit the ground. Silas’d end up on top of her when they fell to the floor.

Silas yelled in surprise as well and before he knew it he was on top of her on the wooden floor, his face right over hers.

“Sorry,” he laughed embarrassedly. “Are you hurt?”

“Right here…” Terra pouted and pointed to her lips. “Can you help make it better?”

Silas furrowed his brows.

“You do realize kissing a wound won’t actually make it any better,” he said with a cunning smirk.

“It’s about the mental healing, babe. So, shut up and kiss me.” She smirked back at him.

Silas’s heart fluttered when she called him babe.

“I do actually need help on the chem lab, y’know,” he said before lowering his head to kiss her lightly on the lips.

Terra gripped his hair and kissed him hard on the lips. “I know…” She alternated one of his lips. “We’ll take care of it… when… we can…” She said, breathing for air whenever she could in the midst of their make-out session.

Silas kissed her back for a few more seconds before breaking away and getting off her to stand up.

“Well, if we’re going to procrastinate, we should at least do so on my bed or something,” he said, scratching his head, wondering if that was subtle enough.

She laughed at his words and got up after him. Slipping her hand into his and squeezing tight, she looked into his eyes. “Lead the way, sir.” Terra said with a smirk.

Silas grinned and lead her up the stairs into his bedroom, where he released her hand in horror, realizing how messy it was.

“Whoa, sorry… about… all this…” he said as he desperately tried to pick up a couple pairs of boxers and and lacrosse gear and throw them into his closet.

Terra quickly ran over behind Silas and grabbed him. She turned him around and passionately, as though she couldn’t control herself, made out with him.

“It’s about to get a lot messier in here…” She whispered, closing her eyes for another kiss.

Silas got another rush of adrenaline when she started to kiss him again, this time like never before. He could hardly keep up with her, but he loved every second of it. He reached down and grabbed her shirt again, knowing that this time it would stay off.

He pulled it off her gently and dropped it to the ground and continued to kiss her. He led her backwards with his body and finally pushed her onto his bed, where he was now on top again.

“I like your crazy bras,” he laughed between a kiss.

“Do you have a condom?” Terra asked between their kisses.

Silas stopped kissing her immediately.

“What?” he asked with a frown, looking down at her incredulously. “A condom? Are you kidding me?”

“Silas, you are this close to getting lucky. Don’t blow it.” Terra smiled and kissed him on the lips gently.

“Yeah, but I wasn’t exactly anticipating this,” he admitted, now feeling bad. “Besides… don’t you kinda want to… you know, take it slow? We’re both sorta new to this.” He looked at her and smiled softly, hoping he’d convinced her.

“Fuck, Silas… Why do you have to make me feel bad about it now? You probably think I’m a slut, now.” Terra frowned and pulled herself away from him.

“No, no, no...” Silas said, trying to keep her steady. “I don’t think you’re not a slut… I actually was about to ask you the same thing, in the heat of the moment.”

He reached down and pulled his shirt off before turning back to stare into her beautiful eyes.

“There’s no rush this time,” he whispered.

Terra relaxed and smiled. Gazing back into his eyes and taking a deep breath. She leaned up a little towards him to give him a light kiss before giving a little space. Her hands moved to her back, reaching for the clasp of her orange, revealing bra.

She gave him a light smirk and unclasped it…

Silas froze and his face turned into an expression of grief

“Wait. My mom comes home for lunch around this time,” he breathed, looking at the door. After a few seconds of waiting, he broke into laughter and turned back to her.

“I’m kidding. No one’s going to come in this time…”

*fade to black*