Free Ignite (Midnight Fire Series Book One) by Kaitlyn Davis

line. As soon as he was out of
hearing distance, Luke turned to everyone else and said, "we should
totally hide these."
    "Oh lord, leave him alone." Kira put her arms
around the books and protectively pulled them over towards her,
Emma and Dave. Basically, as far from Luke as they could go. When
Miles returned, he seemed calmer but still turned the conversation
towards college applications. Kira knew all of that was irrelevant
for her and couldn’t help but let her eyes shift to gaze out the
window. For the first time in a while, not a single one of the
misfits was looking at her. In fact, Kira studied them for a few
minutes and they seemed completely disinterested in everything
going on inside of the school. She needed to grab Tristan when he
was alone to confront him about what had happened and give him back
his drawings, but how to get him away from his friends?
    "Earth to Kira. Come in Kira," Luke was
waving his hand in front of her face. She snapped out of her
thoughts and rejoined the conversation.
    "What? Sorry, I’ve had a lot going on."
    "Just asked what you would be up to next
year."
    "Oh, gap year to work in a restaurant
hopefully, then I’ll be applying to culinary school and I’ll be
just as crazy as Miles is now." Miles finally cracked a smile at
her statement and they continued lunch with ease.
    As she walked to English with Luke, Kira knew
this would be her only chance to catch Tristan alone. But, when Mr.
Bell walked through the door, Tristan came rushing in and sat down
on the opposite side of the room. And when the class was over,
Tristan ran out before Kira could even begin to stand and walk over
to him. For the next two days, the same thing happened. Kira was
always one step behind and couldn’t trap Tristan alone for the two
minutes she needed to get her point across. On Wednesday, after her
third try at chasing him down, Kira pulled Emma aside at the end of
the day and sat down with her on one of the benches outside of the
school.
    "So, I need to get some advice. Can I give
you the short version of my weekend?" Kira asked once they’d
settled.
    "Oo, this sounds juicy," Emma said and Kira
noticed that she seemed very excited for some gossip to live
vicariously through.
    "Okay, well, on Saturday I went to Charleston
to start working on my history paper, just like I told you all in
the cafeteria. What I didn’t mention was that I ran into Tristan,
we snuck into a church steeple and ended up making out for a
while." Kira finished quickly and let out the breath she had been
holding. She peered at Emma carefully, hoping to see no judgment
coming from her friend’s eyes.
    "Whoa, I was not expecting that. Way to go,
Kira," Emma put her hand out for a discreet low five, and Kira
happily slapped her hand down. "Now back up, give me a little more
detail and tell me what the heck the problem is."
    "I basically ran into him early in the day,
and then he said he would be my tour guide and show me all the
Charleston hot spots. We ended up having a great time and Tristan
told me he wanted to show me his favorite place in the city, which
happened to be the top of church steeple, so we snuck up. We ended
up talking, which turned into fighting, and fighting turned into
kissing, and kissing turned into Tristan freaking out, running away
and abandoning me in the church."
    Kira sighed and thought about how much to
reveal about why Tristan ran away. She could tell Emma was trying
to wait patiently, but her foot was tapping against the sidewalk
with enthusiasm at the new turn of events. "I’m not completely sure
why he left, but I think it has something to do with his friends.
And now at school he’s avoiding me. I know I need to catch him
alone, which is where you come in." Kira looked at Emma
hopefully—she needed a plan and fast.
    "And the only class you have together is
English, right?" Kira nodded. "With Luke?" Kira nodded again. "I’m
going to need to do some thinking for a minute, a little scheming
time." Now