Kris was awoken by her alarm. She peered around in search of where the sound could be coming from. Moving a couple of books she found the infernal clock and hit the snooze button, rolled over and looked up at the ceiling. She felt her body shiver as she recalled the night's dreams. Again her night was haunted by Jennifer's last days. It was almost like she didn't want Kris to forget. The alarm again startled Kris out of her musing, forcing her to finally face the day. She shut off the clock this time, then got up to go about her morning activities. Still half asleep she grabbed herself a clean bowl from the dish rack. Why put the dishes away when she was the only one who lived there? She filled the bowl with cereal, added milk, found herself a spoon, then started wandering around the apartment preparing for the day ahead. She looked down at her clothes that still lay on the floor outside of the bathroom in a heap and kicked it into the corner. Today, she decided, she was going to try something different. She set her bowl on a chair and opened the closet to see what she could find. For the most part she only had a few clothes, a blazer for family gatherings, some dress shirts and silk tops along with many t-shirts. She took out a pair of black slacks and set them off to the side. Then she ventured over to her dresser where she hid the clothes she felt the most comfortable in, but didn't like wearing in public. She sifted through the clothes until she could find a clean pair of underwear, bra and socks, then ran out of the room to scoop the shirt she found the other night off the ground next to the futon where she left it. She first bandaged her arm better before pulling on her dress shirt and loosely hung a tie around her neck, then pulled on her slacks not bothering to tuck the shirt in. She grabbed her cereal, looked herself over in the mirror one last time while she finished off the last of the bowl. She briefly fought to fix her hair before dropping the bowl in the kitchen sink and quickly running a toothbrush across her teeth then ran out the door. She didn't get far down the road before running into Tanya. "Hey there sexy!" Tanya called out when she saw her friend walking down the street with her hands in her pockets, "Aren't you looking sharp. I haven't seen you dressed like that in ages. What is the occasion?" Tanya asked giving the girl a nudge. "Nothing special." Kris mused out loud with a shrug, "I just felt like trying something different." "Well it is good to see the old Kris back." Tanya smiled happily, "I liked the 'Charming Kris' better then 'Deep and Depressing Kris.'" "Who said I was out to charm anyone?" Kris asked eyeing her friend suspiciously. "Whenever you dress like that you are out to cause some girl some heart ache." Tanya ascertained with a sly smile, "And you know it." "I have no idea what you are talking about." Kris replied turning away from her friend, "I'm just here to study and that is it." She firmly stood her ground on the issue. "Uh-huh," Tanya nodded not believing a word her friend said, "You just keep trying to convince yourself." Kris glared at Tanya, "I'm telling you the truth. I just felt more comfortable in these clothes. Will you stop thinking I'm up to something when I'm not." Tanya raised her hands in defence, "I'm sorry. I was just joking around." "Well I'm not in the mood right now." Kris snarled. The truth was she was hoping that she would sleep off the feelings from yesterday, however she could not get her mind off Jenn's first kiss and this was causing her a load of problems. She truly thought she was only dressing comfortably, but the more Tanya pushed the more she wondered if the girl was right. Tanya knew her better then she knew herself and that bothered her at times. As they approached the school a small group of girls rushed up to Kris, "There she is! I told you she is cute." One of them squealed. "I love the tie!" Another one chirped. "Kris can you sing for me?" Yet another pleaded. Kris set a hand on her head. What had she gotten herself into? Why did she have to sing in the middle of the hall? She felt overwhelmed by the girls as they surrounded her. One tried to touch her arm and Kris pulled away quickly. "Okay," Tanya got between Kris and the girls, "Kris has a head ache today and needs some space so why don't you try another day." She told them with a mischievous grin. The girls all moaned in disappointment, but they at least understood. They all gave Kris their regards before running off to their individual classes. "You've become very popular, haven't you?" Someone sweet-talked from behind Kris. Kris didn't turn around. Somehow she already knew it was Sarah and she couldn't look the girl in the eye. Not this morning at least. "Well, who's fault is that? I seem to remember some girl begging to hear me sing in a stairwell the other day." Sarah appeared at Kris's side with her arms crossed, "Hey, I didn't beg. I just asked. It isn't my fault you have such a cute voice." She tried to see Kris in the eye, but the girl's eyes where half closed and looking at the ground. Kris started to move toward the school, "Yeah, well... don't ask again, okay?" "Alright, I promise." "So you are the infamous girl she sung to?" Tanya piped all of a sudden. A grin broadened across the girl's face as she looked Sarah over. "Infamous?" Sarah asked curiously, "What do you mean?" Kris tried hard to ignore both of the girls, wishing they would leave her alone. The memory of that kiss was not helping much either and it was beginning to drive her nuts. So Kris decided that for today she would try to avoid any girl that approached her. "Listen, could you not talk to me today. I'm... not feeling well." It was a lame excuse and she knew it, but she couldn't think of anything better, 'Stay away from me or I might kiss you.' just didn't have the right ring to it. Sarah put her hand on Kris's forehead testing the girl's temperature, "You feel fine to me." She established smiling. The feeling of Sarah's hand against Kris's skin caused a shiver rush through her body and quickly pulled away from the girl, "Don't" was all she could muster. Tanya laughed from behind her, "You two seem rather close." She coughed through chuckles. "Tanya will you cut it out?" Kris pleaded, her head was feeling like it was about to split and the one things she didn't need right now is a fight between two of her friends, "She is just a new friend. Nothing more." "Is that so?" Tanya looked Kris in the eye, "You certain there isn't anything more?" "More?" Sarah stared bewildered at the two girls, "What do you mean?" She asked innocently. Tanya blinked at the girl in disbelief, "You really don't know?" "Will you shut up!" Kris snapped and stormed off towards the school. Kris could not believe Tanya, 'What was she thinking she was doing?' Kris thought to herself, 'Trying to destroy her first new friendship since Jennifer's death?' She grumbled to herself as she stomped down the halls. Kris entered the class and flopped her desk. She panted, trying to control her emotions. Already she could feel this was going to be a long day. She sensed someone approaching and stop at her desk. She looked up to see Jason standing overhead and let out a deep sigh. "I'm really not in the mood today so if you could say whatever it is that is on your mind quickly so we can all get on with our lives, that would be great." She started to pull out her note pad and pencils as she spoke. Jason just stood there stumped. "Nice tie." He said coldly, then turned and left Kris alone. Kris let go of the breath she was holding. She couldn't believe what she just did and was even more surprised by what Jason said. She opened her eyes and saw Sarah standing in the door watching Jason, she gave Kris a small smile as their eyes met for the first time that day, then walked to her desk. Again Kris felt her heart begin to race, so she quickly looked down at her sketchbook and tried to clear her mind of anything, but the pencil in her hand. Art class could not have gone by faster. The entire time she was plagued by the dreams she had the other night and the longing to be held again. She found it hard not to glance at Sarah from time to time during class. She felt an urge to draw the girl. To memorize her features, however stopped herself. The hour dragged on with Kris battling with her senses. Soon enough the bell rang and all Kris could think was "One down 3 more to go." She looked at a copy of her schedule that she stuck in her binder to see what was next and hit her head on her desk. Sarah hugged her sketchbook as she cautiously approached Kris who was rolling her head back and forth on her desk. "Are you alright?" She asked. Kris stopped rolling her head so she could look in the girl's direction, just not enough to see her face. "Oh, I'm just fine. I'd be better if we didn't have gym class next." She let out another deep sigh. All she needed today is to have to see a bunch of girls changing. This was wreaking havoc on her nerves and she couldn't say a thing about it because she was afraid of what everyone would think. Sarah watched as everyone began to shuffle out of the room toward the gym. "I know what you mean. I hate gym class too." Kris sat up and looked at the girl, thinking. 'How could you know how I feel? It's not like you are the one cursed after all.' was what she wanted to say. Sarah looked down at Kris, "Well, we'd better get going or we'll be late." She picked up her backpack and started towards the door. Kris slowly gathered her things and walked behind the girl. Kris thought to herself, 'Maybe if I walk really slow then most of the other girls will already be changed and I can slip in and out quickly.' She slowed her pace even more dropping by her locker to grab her change of clothes she left in there the day before, then started on her way towards the gym again. There were two entrances to the gym, one lead to the girls' change room and the other to the boys'. A pair of double doors with glass windows lead to a hall. In the middle of the hall was a door to the change room and at the end of the hall stood another pair of doors to the gym. Kris stood at the first pair of doors and watched as girls came out of the change room and entered the gym. Only when she felt it was safe did she venture into the hall and into the change room. Inside she could hear a couple of girls still changing on the other side of a row of lockers. Kris quickly found a locker and started to strip off her shirt. She looked around to make sure no one was around, tore off her shirt and pulled on the sweater as fast as she could so no one would get a look at her scarred body. Since the sweatshirt was long she didn't feel as rushed changing her pants. She then shoved everything into a locker and locked it before running out of the room and back into the hall. She leaned against the wall for a moment catching her breath. She wasn't feeling too well, the fog beginning to circle around her again. Just then Sarah stepped out of the change room and noticed Kris standing against the wall. "When did you get changed?" She asked slightly confused. "I didn't even see you in the locker room." Kris pushed herself off of the wall and steadied herself, "I'm just fast is all." She gave a weak smile and entered the gym. Inside most of the girls were already stretching. The gym teacher was a small lady with long brown hair pulled back into a pony tail. She was wearing baggy green jogging clothes as were most of the girls. The teacher called out for Kris and Sarah to join them. After a few minor stretches they were told that they would be going outside for the day and the teacher began to lead the group of girls out the door and into the cool autumn breeze. The cool air felt good against Kris's face. She closed her eyes and let the wind ruffle her hair and wash away most of the feelings that had been bothering her for the day. Maybe this was what she really needed. To get out and get some fresh air. She opened her eyes to see everyone gathering around the teacher at one of the soccer fields. The teacher already had a cart of soccer balls ready on the field and she started to pull them out and toss them to each of the girls. Kris found a spot on the edge of the field and sat down. She watched the girls run around chasing their soccer ball. "You're Kris, right?" She heard the teacher call out to her while she pointing at her. Kris only nodded, 'Why does everyone seem to know me?' she thought to herself. "Here!" The teacher threw a ball at the girl. Kris brought up both hands and caught the ball. She looked at it then back at the teacher. "Come on." The teacher signalled for her to join the group. Kris stood up not taking her eyes off the ball. She turned her eyes to the teacher and stared at her in such a way that the lady couldn't help, but stop and watch the small girl with curiosity. Kris tossed the ball high up into the air. The ball slowly turned in the air and started to come back down. Suddenly Kris jumped into the air, spun around in mid air and kicked the ball with all her might. The teacher watched the ball fly past her and into the goal. She looked back in time to see the girl land on one foot and continue to spin until she stopped with her back to the teacher, then, almost with no effort at all, turned the spin into a stride and walked away towards a small set of stairs that lead to a back door of the school. Most of the class stood in awe and those who didn't see asked the others what just happened. The teacher dropped the ball she was holding and called out to the girls to continue what they were doing as she ran after Kris, "Wait!" She called out. Kris stopped in place, but did not turn around. The teacher stopped a few feet from the girl, "Why don't you join us? I know you're good at sports so you can't use that as an excuse" "I don't like sports." Kris said flatly, "Will that work?" The teacher put her hands on her hips, "That's not what I've heard. Didn't you win a set of track and field ribbons in your junior high school? High jump, triple jump and 100 metres, am I right?" Kris slowly turned around to face the woman, "Who really cares." She enumerated with a sigh not really caring. She had heard people constantly remind her about how good she was at sports over and over again that it was getting on her nerves. She never wanted to be part of track or soccer or gymnastics. She just happened to be good at it so every teacher would pull her into everything under the sun and her parents never let her quit no matter how much she complained. It made her sick. Kris looked at the ground, "That was years ago and I don't play sports anymore so don't bother trying to get me interested." The truth is she used to love track and field. She liked to climb on the balancing beam and walk back and forth. She enjoyed the feeling she got when she ran as fast as she could. However that was only because Jennifer was there cheering her on. It just wasn't the same without her around, so Kris decided she wouldn't play any more sports, "You can fail me if you like, but I'm only here for the arts and don't really care if I fail gym. It is not like I really need it." with that she turned around and continued towards the stairs. Kris sat on the cold stairs and watched the teacher go back to the class. A couple times she saw the lady look over at her, probably trying to think how to convince her to join the group, but Kris was not going to move from this spot until the bell rang. She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against the cold steel railing and tried to focus on regaining her composure so she could face the second half of the school day. Now that she has gym class under control all she had to worry about is how she is going to avoid everyone during lunch hour. She was startled out of her thoughts by the sound of someone sitting down next to her. Kris slowly opened her eyes to see Sarah sitting only a few feet away on the step below the one Kris sat on. She was leaning back so her elbows rested on the top stair, her eyes were shut as she looked up at the sun. Kris was the first to break the silence, "Did she send you to convince me to join in?" she asked coldly. Sarah did not move. "Nope, I told her is was my time of the month so she let me go." A small smile formed in the corner of the girl's mouth. Kris watched the girl with amusement. For the first time today Kris really looked at the girl. She had her hair pulled in a tight pony tail like the first day they met and was wearing a set of bright pink jogging clothes. Sarah finally opened her eyes and looked over at Kris "You feeling any better?" She asked with concern in her eyes. Kris curled her knees up close to her chest and rocked on her toes. "It all depends on what you consider better. I live..." She said softly. Sarah leaned forward and tried to look at Kris's face, but the girl's eyes kept darting from Sarah and back to the ground. Kris found it hard to keep her eyes in one place. Finally, Sarah spoke, "Did I do something wrong?" She inquired, hurt by Kris's avoidance. Kris raised her head and looked at the sky. She wasn't sure how to put things into words. "No, I'm just having a weird day is all." She hoped that would be the end of the questions. She just couldn't explain how she was feeling right now. All the strange feelings that she thought were locked away kept stirring in her mind, "It is hard to explain." She stated with a tired sigh. "Oh," Sarah continued to look at Kris for a long while before turning back to watching the other girls chasing the ball around the field. Kris felt herself glancing at Sarah from time to time. Sort of doing mental snap shots. She learned how to do this trick years ago. She would look at a part of someone for a brief moment then turn away before the person noticed and slowly she would form a full picture in her mind to come back to later. In a way it was an odd game she would find herself playing from time to time. Sometimes if she had a pad of paper with her she would try to sketch the person without them knowing about it. She found this was not very easy because you couldn't let your target know they were being watched and at the same time had to move quickly before they moved or walked away. Right now Kris was just content with filing away every detail about the girl that sat beside her. She started low, with the feet, and worked her way towards the face. She always made this the last part, because not only was it the most detailed and the part Kris wanted to remember the most, it was more likely that she would get caught taking a glimpse if their eyes met. Kris worked her way up to Sarah's body towards her face finding herself stopping at the girl's lips. She found herself unable to move on. Once again struggling with that strange urge from deep within. She wanted nothing more than to reach out and brush the back of her hand against Sarah's soft cheek and taste her lips. Kris couldn't pull her eyes away. She kept staring and licking her lips. Sarah noticed that Kris was watching her. She turned to look at the girl, "Is something wrong? Do I have something on my face?" She reached out to touch her face to see if she could find what it was that the other girl was staring at. Kris felt herself take a deep breath and swallow hard. Her heart was hammering in her chest. Abruptly she stood up, rubbing her head, "I'm sorry, I'm not feeling too good." She ran off towards the gym and stormed into the locker room. She fought with her locker and pulled it open. Took off her clothes and shoved them into the locker, quickly headed for the shower and turned on the water. She let the water pelt off her face, she felt dirty for some reason and needed to wash that feeling away. She could not believe she was being so childish. They only met the other day and here she was battling over wanting a kiss. She hit her head on the wall under the shower forcing the feelings to return to their cage deep inside of her heart. Kris heard the bell ring and knew that meant the others would be running back soon. So she quickly rushed to her locker. Dried off and tried to get her clothes on before anyone arrived. She only got her pants on when the other girls started to enter the room. She was fumbling with her belt when Sarah came in. She stopped when she saw Kris and, for the first time, noticed the girl's bare upper body. Kris paused for a moment, then threw her dress shirt over herself and tie around her neck before stuffing her things into her back pack and pushed past Sarah, who was still standing near the door. Shoved her way out of the locker room not really caring anymore that her top was not buttoned up. Sarah quickly chased after the girl, "Kris, wait!" She called down the hall. Kris didn't know why she stopped. She wanted nothing more than to hide. She clenched at the front of her shirt feeling exposed. Wishing that she had at the very least worn a bra, however she never felt her chest was big enough to warrant wearing one. Sarah called out again. "Just wait for a moment." The girl ducked back in the locker room and a moment later came running out in her school clothes. She stopped beside Kris and smiled. "Thanks." Kris looked at the girl, she couldn't for the life of her, figure out why she bothered to wait, "Don't you need to take a shower after gym class?" she asked coldly. Sarah laughed "All I did was sit around, remember?" She reached out and flicked one of Kris's curly wet bangs that hung in the girl's eyes,"but it looked like you needed one. Feeling any better now?" She said with a chuckle, "You took off so fast that I was wondering where you ran off too." Kris pushed through the double doors out into the main school hall. "I thought the shower would help, but it didn't really." She looked at Sarah again as they walked down the hall, "Why do you want to stay around me? I mean I'm no- AAHHHHH" She suddenly screamed as a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, under her shirt and grabbed her breasts . Almost as soon as the attack began, it ended and the girl Kris remembered saving the day before ran out from behind her. The girl was about Kris's height with short cut hair and parted down the middle. She smiled at Kris and then disappeared down the hall. Kris leaned over with her hands on her knees trying hard to regain her breath. She looked up at where the girl disappeared to, "What the bloody hell was that all about?" She panted "The Kris Carty Fan club strikes!" Sarah tried hard not to laugh. Kris looked up at the girl. "You are kidding, right?" Sarah laughed, "Did you forget about that group of girls from this morning? I've heard that you have gained a few followers already and it is only the second day." Kris did not look amused, "They wouldn't be fans of me if they knew what I was really like." Sarah smiled "You're right, They would run in fear if they knew how kind and friendly you can be." She said with a chuckle. Kris glared at the girl, "I don't have time to deal with this today." She stormed away off, buttoning up her shirt as she went. ******* To be Continued....
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