4.

Kai POV

I wanted this home to be my last, until 18, but at this rate, it might be the fastest one I'll have to leave. Dinner was a struggle last night. The whole time they kept asked me countless questions but all of which I would return with extremely short answers. Eventually they gave up the interrogation on me, and focused their attention on their kid.

Last night I made the conscious choice to unplug the horrible alarm clock. But today, instead of waking up to that, I wake up to the obnoxious knocking on my door by Sandra. I dreaded going to school today. It's not the 'bullies' that bother me, well not just those idiots, but also just having to interact with people in general.

I mean technically the morning wasn't bad. Sandra woke me up and told me she had made me breakfast, which was nice. And after breakfast she even offered to drive me to school, which I took gratefully.

"Hope you have a good day at school," She wished as I stepped out of the car.

"You too," I replied stupidly, internally face palming. She just chuckled and drove off, probably to work or something.

Walking into the school, I didn't know what I expected to be honest. I got a few stares, and a few stifled laughs, but not because I'm the new kid anymore, because I'm Broke Boy. I guess it was too much to hope that the events of yesterday would leave the minds of drama hungry teenagers. Nevertheless, I walk pass them. Clio, Ryder, and a bunch of their friends laughing probably at me, but I continue on making sure my shows how unaffected I am.

Clio and I make eye contact, and she stops laughing. Ryder must have caught wind of her sudden silence, saw me, and possessively grab her face and kiss her mid conversation as a show of dominance, all the while keeping eye contact with me. I just roll my eyes at the sight and keep on walking.

Finally entering my first period class, i sit in my assigned seat, desperately yearning for three o'clock. A few minutes pass, and Clio walks in with Ryder's arm around her waist. He gives her a quick kiss on the lips before walking away.

She soon spots me, and before she even sits, she immediately begins apologizing, "I'm so sorry for everything that happened! I promise I had nothing to do with that. That's not the kind of person Ryder is..." She rambled.

"Stop." I say coldly not even looking at her.

Five minutes before the period ends, breaking the blissful silence, she speaks. "I'm not going to make excuses for him. He did a completely shitty thing that you did not deserve, but I hope you can forgive me. I'm sorry." The bell rang, not seconds later did she picked up her bag, and hastily walk out of the room.

"As if i don't have to suffer for the rest of the day with her in most of my classes," I scoff to myself.

The whole day was basically a repeat of first period. Clio trying to talk to me and apologize for Ryder while I just ignored her. And when lunch period finally came, I decided that the wisest thing to do was to eat under one of the trees. It was literally the best decision i could have made. It was quiet and peaceful. 

The day flew pretty quickly after lunch. Before I knew it I was finally home feeling better than i have in a long time. There was even a small smile on my face. Walking into the house, my good mood kept, I greeted the family. They were all surprised by the chipper attitude that was directed toward them, i just decided to ignore it and go to my room. 

Feeling a buzz in my pocket, i take out my phone and glace at it confused.

New message!

Unknown number:

'Hey Is this Kai?'

'Maybe... who's this ?'

'it is you! hey it's Clio🤗'

'Of course it is. What do you want?'

'I wanted to ask you if you would like to come to a party with me tomorrow?' as a way of apology'

"She's got to be fucking kidding me," I roll my eyes and shook my head in disbelief. "How did she even get my number?"

'Nope.'

'Come on it'll be fun. It's Halloween themed and it's everyone's going'

'Oh yeah sounds even better... I lied.'

'Ryder and his friends won't be there, they have this weekend football training thingy'

'Cool?'

'Please! Just come. I need someone who won't get black out drunk like my friends do to hang out with'

'Fine. I'll think about it'

"I can't believe I'm letting her talk me into this." I face palm. What is it with this girl?

'I promise if you say yes you won't regret it'

"I'm already regretting it and the day hasn't even come yet," I whisper to myself as I toss my phone to the other side of the bed.

As I was just laying on my bed, on the verge of sleep, Sandra walks in.

"Hey sweetie." She greeted with a warm smile taking a seat on the side of the bed closest to me.

"Hi." I sit up holding an awkwardly smile.

"Martin, Mia and I were thinking about going out for ice cream, would you like to come?" Her brown hair shielded her face from view as she looked away with an obvious anxiousness.

"Sure, why not." I shrug giving her a small smile.

I've never given any foster family this much of an effort. But for everything they have already done for me, I just feel the need to actually try.

I see her face morph into the widest smile I have ever see, "Okay, yeah. We're leaving in 5. So please be downstairs soon." She practically jumps from my room excitement.

The car ride over was a bath of silence. Except for the random music playing from the radio, the only other sound was the low hum of the engine. I'm not complaining though. Stepping into the car I expected them to do some kind of corny sing-along. The quiet was comforting. It allowed me to look out of the widow and peacefully watch the trees pass by. Not soon after I realized how nice the neighborhood actually was, we pulled into a parking spot outside of the ice-cream shop.

The ice-cream place is really nice. Above the door we entered through, I saw Brain Freeze hanging in big letters above the door. The inside was spacious. Everything was white; the tables, the walls, and the marble counter top. The thing makes it look so good though, are the splashes of color. Every table seated four, but the padded chairs were each a different color, they were light, pale shades of blue, yellow, pink, and green. The walls weren't bare white. It looked of art. The same colors of the chairs were splattered across the wall as if someone had picked up a thick paintbrush of each color and flung the paint itself.

I can't see one flavor that isn't here. Some that I haven't even heard of are offered. What is a "YouTube Special"? What could that possibly taste like?

Mia ordered the "Diabetic Extravaganza", or so I'm naming it. It was a cotton candy banana slit covered in chocolate sprinkles that came with an edible frozen chocolate spoon. Martin and Sandra both ordered a Hershey ice cream cone. But when it came down to it, there were just so many choices that I opted for the simplest, safest choice. Vanilla.

We all sat down at the closest available table. Problem is it was like dead center of the store so people kept turning their attention to us for seconds at a time. Two parents, a young daughter, and a grown teenage boy who still hangs out with his family? We looked like this picture perfect family. The families you see in the commercials for Old Navy. If only they knew huh?

"So did you find anything out about the soccer team Kai?" Martin is the first to slice through the awkward aroma.

"Yes actually, I emailed the coach, and I'm going to do some kind of 'tryout' tomorrow after school." A pleased expression swept across my face while I continued to look down at my ice cream.

"That's great! I know for sure you'll make the team." Sandra chimes in.

"Thanks." I replied not looking up.

We exchanged little conversations here and there about random topics, and it was still a bit forced, but it was nice. I got so used to the yelling and screaming in past foster homes that I had forgot what it was like to have a civil, calm conversation without it. It's refreshing to have an actual conversation with people other than my social worker. Good thing too, my lack of friends was just about become sad.

We were about to leave when I noticed that Mia's face was a complete and utter chocolatey mess.

"Hold on Mia," I call out to her before she walked out behind Sandra and Martin, "Come here."

She turns and skips back to where I am with a sweet wide smile. "Yeah?"

"You have a little something..." I scratched my head chuckling slightly as I look down at her, "...everywhere." I point to her face.

"Huh?" She sticks out her tongue and attempts to lick all around her face. "Did I get it?"

I try my best to hold in a laugh watching her. "Here. Hold still." I turn to grab a napkin and squat down to wipe the chocolate off of her face.

"Is it all gone now?"

"Yes," I chuckle and pinch her cheeks, "It's all gone."

"Hey! That hurt." She pouts as she rubs her face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday

Walking into school today, since it's a Friday, I kind of expected it to go by fast. Unfortunately, school droned on. The only thing that kept me from throwing myself out of a window was the thought of my try out today. The field is where the real action was. I always thought of it as a family where all of its members worked together to protect what was theirs. The Dad is goalie, protecting the home. The Mom is the striker, attacking those who would dare try to hurt her kids. And the rest of the team are other family members working in perfect harmony.

As soon as the last bell rang, I rushed to the locker room. I pull on the old gray and black uniform from my last school, slip on my shin guards, and slide navy blue Nike knee-high socks over them.

Entering the field made me feel pretty self-conscious. Everyone standing here looked very capable, but I'm sure there's a reason the coach begged me, for days, to tryout. I wave to the coach and I could see the smile plastered on his face as he waves back. Everyone else just stared at me with judgmental looks, making snide remarks under their breaths. I ignored the looks and confidently walked to where the coach was.

"Hey Coach." I nod at him.

"You ready kid?" He asks. I nod again. "Everyone gather around!"

"What's going on Coach?" A dirty blonde haired kid approaching questioned, sizing me up.

"Guys, this is Kai Hero. He just transferred to this school, as most of you must know, and he's going to try out for the team today." The players looked at each other in disbelief and confusion.

"Coach it's the middle of the season. Look at him, he doesn't look like he could be a good enough reason to waste our practice time." A voice from inside the crowd said, I didn't see who.

"Look. This is not a democracy. If I say he is to try out, he is to tryout. Whether he makes it on the team or not is still to be determined." None of them tried to hide their groans of disapproval.

After running a few drills, it was time for the main event. The scrimmage. The show I put on during the drills must have not been enough to make them believe in me, because neither team wanted to pick me. Not that I'm surprised though. They did spend the entire time, during the drills, calling me names and trying to trip me. And since I'm still sort-of new, I had to force myself to walk away from situations that made me want to break a couple noses. This scrimmage, I think, should change their minds.

"Don't fuck up... Broke Boy." The blonde kid from before whispered to me before shoving past my shoulder. I turned around with a deadly scowl held on my face, and faked like I was going to punch him. He flinched, but tried to play it off by walking away.

Just as I expected, as soon they saw what I was actually capable of, they turned their attitudes around and played more cooperatively with me. But the teams were ties with 10 seconds left. My feet slammed against the turf grass as I sprinted across the field behind the ball, working my way to the goal. Dodging people left and right, I dribbled a few feet and passed the ball to someone on my team in the middle. They shot the ball, but it was blocked by the opposing teams goalie. All concept of time slowed. I took a few deep breaths to prepare myself. The goalie threw the ball to someone in my direction. I knew I had to intercept it. The ball flew in slow motion, inching towards me. I took a few, calm, steps, turned my back to ball. I took a nice deep breath with my eyes closed, and when I opened them time sped up again. I suddenly jumped in the air and flipped backwards for a scissor kick. I felt and heard the impact between the ball and my left foot. Everyone on the field stopped and watch the ball as it flew back to the goal. It soared high and fast, but in the last possible second the goalie caught the ball just before it made contact with the net.

Besides my epic fail on an attempt of a goal in the last seconds of the scrimmage, everything else fell into place. I was given a spot on the starting team, and this time, none of the guys had anything bad to say. I got accepting smiles and pats of the back exiting the locker room. Walking in the direction of the bleachers to leave the field, I saw someone sitting at the top. Not recognizing the person, I continued on my way. But as soon as they spoke I knew who it was.

"Kai." Clio called out. I kept walking.

"What are you stalking me now?" I say roughly readjusting my bag on my shoulder.

"What? No, I just came here to study or do homework."

"Mmmhhh so this is just a coincidence?" I turn around crossing my arms.

She steps down from the steps, in front of me. "Yes that's actually what it is. But I'm glad I found you. Tomorrow is the party, are you coming?"

"I don't know," I say shrugging my shoulders with a straight face.

"Please?" She sticks out her lower lip in a pout and bats her eyelashes.

I internally groan and roll my eyes. "Fine. I'll go, but only for an hour."

"Deal." She turns and walks away with a satisfied smile. I walk in the opposite direction to the parking lot. Less than two minutes after Sandra arrives to bring me home.

Saturday

~Clio POV~

I woke up with a refreshing glow. Excitement spread through my veins as I thought about the Halloween party. This party has always been the highlight of the school year. The house vibrating from loud bass music. The horny teenagers dry humping in the hallways and on the lawn. The stink of alcohol and sweat. It's just the whole teenage experience, but I'm sad Ryder won't be here.

*BZZ BZZ*

"Speak of the devil." I say to myself.

'Hey baby, I miss you'

'I miss you so much more'

'I can't help but think of you. I wish we were together right now.'

'Aww. This weekend needs to hurry up, I need to see you'

'Right? I'm so lost without you'

Messages like these are one of the reasons I love Ryder so much. He's so sweet and loving. I just wish he was like this in front of everyone else too.

For the party this year I decided to go as a ninja. A black one piece with red surrounding the oval cut where the cleavage was and long black sleeves with red strings that wrapped around it from shoulder to wrist. Black high waisted spandex short shorts with a thick red waist band attached to a red leg wrap. I finished off the look by putting on a pair of four inch sexy black lace up chunky heel booties and a slide up black mask that covered only my mouth and nose. I left my hair down with is natural wave, draping over my shoulders.

I guess I lost track of time, because when I looked over to my clock, after finishing a smokey eye eyeshadow, it was just hitting five 'till eight. And now that I think about it, I haven't heard from Kai all day. I'm not even sure if he's going to the party. It's whatever. We aren't even friends. I don't know what made me want to invite him anyway.

"So what if he's a little gorgeous, and a little tall, and little bit extremely good at sports." I mutter almost silently.

I hop into my gorgeous shiny red Ferrari and drive off to the party. I pull up to exactly what I expected; the same old light blue, two story family home with a lawn swarmed with bustling, drunk teenagers. I can even smell the alcohol and weed from street. I breathe in the anticipation and walk in.

After pushing past the people in the hall, I see my friends talking in the kitchen and make my way over to them. As I get closer, I see people already taking body shots. Believe it or not the party had barely even started. Not that I'm not used to this though. I love my friends, but we go out every weekend without fail. I just want a reason to stay home and relax.

"Clio you look sooo hot! The guys here are going to be all over you. Too bad Ryder isn't here to stop them." Ava giggles excitedly. Ava is beautiful. She has long, mid back length, wavy platinum blonde hair and black roots. A square shaped face with pouty lips and a strong nose. And she has small green eyes. She is also my best friend. This girl of 5'2" is the one person I trust more than anything, or anyone else, in the whole world.

"Oh my god stop!!" I playfully push her shoulder.

"I'm just kidding. We know you guys are in love." She gags.

I roll my eyes and ignore her, "C'mon," I say pulling her to the dance floor just after taking a shot.

Ava and I start dancing, taking shots, and having fun, but for some reason, after about every ten minutes, I check my phone for messages from Kai. After reminding myself that I shouldn't be wasting my fun by checking on him, I walk to the bathroom and feel my phone vibrate in my pocket.

'Outside.'

I roll my eyes and walk outside before going to the bathroom. I see Kai standing there with his hands in his pockets, rocking back and forth on the edge of the lawn.

I walk down the pale stone path to the curb, where he stood, and analyzed his outfit.

"You gonna take a picture?" He asks with a blank expression and a slight scowl.

I must have been staring too long. Damn it.

"Th-this is a Halloween party. What are you wearing?"

He looks at down at his outfit and shrugs half-heartedly. "Well then, um, I guess I'm a shadow."

I burst out laughing, holding my stomach and doubling over. "A-a shadow?... I can't breathe!"

"Well, I'm going." He turns and starts walking away.

"No, stop." I say through short breaths trying to calm down. I grab hold his hand for a second to stop him from going any further. "I'm sorry, just come in."

Kai POV

I thought about it for a second and decided that, since I was already here, I should just go in. I followed Clio up the short steps into the house. All around me were drunk teens and a fog of smoke that settled just above my head. And although the music was loud enough to burst both ear drums, I could still here the muffled moan from the upstairs.

"Here," Clio handed me a red SOLO cup with clear liquid. Probably Vodka.

I look at the cup in her hand, shake my head, and continue looking around with my hands still in my pockets. "No thanks. I don't drink."

"It's water," She shoves it at my chest, "just hold it so no one tries to give you anything."

I was a bit shocked. She just hit me in the chest with a cup. I quickly shook the look of surprise off and replaced it with indifference as I took the cup, and followed her to the kitchen, where we both sat across from each other at the island.

"So why did you decide to come?"

"I had nothing better to do."

Clio responds with a short nod. We sit in silence for a few minutes. The awkward silence was killing me.

"So what do you do for fun around here?" I say before taking a sip of the water.

She stared at me with a bewildered look for a few seconds. "WOAH! He speaks." She started clapping in a congratulatory manner. I turned a my head, and saw people look over a bit startled. When they realized nothing had happened they moved to mind their own business'.

She giggles a little before answering the question. "There's a bunch to do around here. We hang out at lake houses, go swimming, and watch the school's football games." Her eyes lit up at the mention of football. She's probably thinking about her boyfriend, the asshole.

I stay silent, giving her a look, urging her to go on.

"Football is the biggest, most celebrated, sport in our school. Every year we bring home the championship and have the biggest party. Do you play?"

"No," I scoff. "I prefer the real 'football'."

"Oh yeah, you play soccer. From what I hear, our soccer team is really good, but since football is so highly praised here, all of the other sports are basically forgotten." She shrugs.

"And since football is 'soooo great'," I start sarcastically, "Cheer must be just as amazing, right?"

"Um, it's nothing special." She looks down and plays with her fingers and an almost pained expression. It almost seems as though she doesn't actually like cheerleading.

But if we keep making small talk like this, i'm going to die of boredom. I look to my left and an immediate lightbulb lit above my head.

"Go grab your girl-friends and I'll grab some guys."

"Why?" I heard her say before walking away.

I walk around a corner of the house and spot a group of guys who I think go to my school. Without thinking, I approach them.

"Hey guys, I'm Kai. You guys wanna play a game of suck and blow?"

They each exchange quick looks of shock and start laughing. "Sorry, dude. Uh... we like pussy."

"Ugh," I roll my eyes, "not with me dipshit. Some of the hottest girls of Christle Prep." As soon as they heard that, their whole mood changed.

I instruct them to follow me if they want to play, and they do. After a quick search in a large crowd of people I see Clio jumping and waving her arm, trying to get me attention.

"Hey, I did my part, did you do yours?" I ask her

"Yes. They're right here." She points to group of pretty girls. "Now what's the plan? And please don't tell me this is your way into tricking us into satisfying your orgy fantasy," She says poking out one hip and crossing her arms.

I burst out laughing, not able to hold it in. "That is definitely not one of my fantasies, and we're just going to play suck a blow."

"Oh, Come on! You have to know how bad that sounds" She yells over the music.

"Shut up and introduce me to your friends."

"Okay, this is Ava, Lola, Emily, Rebecca and Jamie." I nod at them. But before Clio could introduce me, one of her friends call me that dreadful name : "Broke Boy".

"Ava!" Clio shouts.

"What?" The girl Ava, I'm guessing, says innocently. She was short, blonde, and cute, but nothing about her said innocent. I just sighed, rolled my eyes, and frustratedly ran my fingers through my hair.

"Actually, I prefer Kai." I give her a cold glare that makes her visibly gulp.

"Anyway girls, meet the... the guys." I say stuttering. I realize now that when I went up the them I never bothered to learn their names. Oops.

As if it were timed, all of the guys said 'hey' at the same time. It was a bit cringe for my taste, but most of the girl seemed to enjoy it.

"So the game we're playing, 'Suck and Blow', might sound kind of perverted, but it's really not. The game is basically all of us sitting in a circle on the floor with one card. The point of the game is to suck on the card until the next person gets a hold of it by sucking on it. There are only two rules : you can only use your mouths to pass the card, and if the card is dropped you have to kiss the person your facing." They each held a pleased look on there faces.

Every room that we searched through upstairs were filled with teens doing drugs, or drinking, or having sex, or just plain knocked out. After a minute or two we came across a room with a brown desk and hundreds of books sitting on the selves of the wall. We decided this would be good enough.

I sat down in front of the desk and everyone else sat down, making a circle. To my right was Ava, and to my left was Rebecca, I think. Clio sat across from me. She crossed her ankles and leaned back leisurely.

"I just want to make it clear that I will be playing this game, but I will NOT be kissing ANYONE. The closest thing you'll get from me is a kiss on your hand." We all laughed at Clio's ridiculous public service announcement.

Some kid named Ben started the game. Surprisingly, the card went through two full circulations before it dropped. Unfortunately, it dropped in between Ava and I. A small sense of dread filled my body. She might be attractive, but she is so annoying. Calling me "Broke Boy" so often.

"Looks like you lucked out, Broke Boy." Ava said grabbing the collar of my shirts and pulling me into a kiss.

She had this taste of strawberry, but somehow perfectly mixed with kiwi. I've kissed my fair share of girls, but like I thought before, she is not innocent. She took full control of the kiss, and for some reason it was actually hot. Finally, I do something risky before we were suppose to finish. I raise my hand and grab the back of neck, creating more of an access to her mouth before slipping my tongue in. Without fail she responds by doing the same.

Suddenly, the sound of someone clearing their throat brought us back to the game. I shook my head and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, then turn my attention back to everyone who was just staring at us.

"Were you guys even able to breathe while you were sucking each others faces off," Rebecca asked giggling. That joke earned a laugh from everyone, and even a throaty chuckle from me.

"Broke Boy's got some lips on him," Ava says reapplying her lipstick.

"It's Kai." I state harshly rolling my eyes.

"It's whatever I want it to be. Broke. Boy. Anyway, you should find me if you want to do this again. You may be broke, but I can make you rich in kisses." She winks at me and exits the room.

Was that suppose to be clever or something?

Soon enough, everyone else started leaving too. I watched everyone walk through the door, and was about to get up too when I saw someone shift on the floor.

"Sorry about Ava she's probably just drunk. Or high. Or both." Clio laughs nervously while awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck.

"You need to stop apologizing for everyone." I lay my back on the floor and put my arms behind my head.

"Who knew saying sorry was such a problem." She moved next to me and copied my actions.

"It isn't a problem. But you shouldn't be making excuses for them."

She stays silent.

"Thank you..." I say breaking the silence. I turn my head to face her.

She adjusts her body to lay on her side, facing me and propping her head up on her hand. "For what?" She asks raising an eyebrow.

I shrug."Tonight was fun... I guess."

I swiftly stand up, and dust off my black jeans. She sits up and stares at me.

"Leaving so soon?" She asks. I hold out my hand as an offer to help her up, and she takes it. She stands and dusts herself off as I did.

"Soon? It's twelve A.M."

"These parties usually don't end until like 3, 4 or 5 in the morning."

"Yeah, well, I'd prefer sleeping in my own bed."

"Well... anyway thanks for coming." She smiles at me as we both walk out of the room. She walked through the door first. I watched as her hair bounced in unison to the confident sway of her hips.

We walked in a comfortable silence to the front door of the house. She stood at the frame of the door and waved goodbye to me, with what seemed like a disappointed expression. Probably because I left before her friends had the chance to pull some prank to embarrass me again. I give her a two finger salute and a tight smile before walking off of the crowded lawn of the party.

'Tonight was fun' I thought to myself. I can't believe I was able to enjoy such a trivial teenage experience.

I put in my headphones and play music as I walk back to my 'home'. As soon as I get there, I head straight to my bed. The second my head touched the cotton, my consciousness was taken over by a hidden drowsiness.

Clio POV

To my right, a girl sat upon a boys lap as they made out. I looked away, too disgusted to even process the fact that they were basically fucking with clothes on right next to me. I saw Ava in front of me. She was in the middle of the dance floor, dancing with some guy she definitely wasn't going to remember tomorrow.

I sat here on the couch and let my mind wonder. A thought of Ryder came and passed as I was curious as to what he was doing. But then an image of Kai plagued my mind. I saw his face. I saw his arms under the fitted black shirt he wore tonight. I kind of wish he could've stayed longer. As the responsible friend, I have to watch Ava until she passes out and then bring her home. Looking at her right now, it doesn't look like I would be leaving anytime soon. So I'm all by myself.

In an attempt to save myself from pending boredom I take out my phone. I looked down to see 30 unanswered messages from Ryder and 62 missed calls. I unlock my phone and go through the messages.

"What the fuck!" Someone shouts rubbing the side of their head where my phone hit them.

My question exactly.