Chapter 2
11.13.2008-5.14.2009

Murmuring all around me. Did they have to be so damned loud? I was trying to sleep, floating in a cottony abyss of warmth, and there were a lot of voices nearby that were yelling constantly.

“She’s going to be fine, Taylea…”

“I don’t give two shits, Miss Faun! If it wasn’t for this big klutz, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place!”

“Would it have been better if I’d just left her to bleed out on the gym floor?” The only calm voice so far… I could feel the vibrations from Jynxx’s voice as he spoke.

I fought to open my eyes as Taylea went on shrieking like a harpy eating broken glass. “It’s your fault and you’re sitting there holding her like she means something to you. What the hell is up with that?!”

Jynxx sighed heavily and I moved with the rise and fall of his chest. “Taylea… I told you already… My body is hyper-thermic: my blood runs hotter than most people’s. Once Miss Faun stitched her arm and the bleeding stopped, this was the quickest and least harmful way to get her temperature back to normal. She was colder than an ice cube and about the same color.” He chuckled a little under his breath and I felt hot fingers, almost hot enough to scorch my flesh, brush my hair back from my face. “And at least she won’t smell like a hospital since I’ve been sitting with her.”

“You do smell pretty good…” I mumbled, finally managing to open my eyes. Thankfully, the lights were dimmed, not that it would’ve mattered much since my face was leaned right against the very heavily muscled shoulder of Jynxx Davison.

“Kacea!” My friend went to hug me and I recoiled as she brushed against my arm, pressing me tighter to Jynxx than was polite or comfortable.

Taylea frowned and I looked down at my arm, whistling as I saw what looked like a small set of railroad tracks down the center of my tricep. It didn’t hurt much yet, so they must have used a pretty hefty anesthetic. Either that or I’d really been down for the count.

“No more extreme volleyball, okay?” I said to Jynxx with a little smile.

“Call it next time and we won’t have a problem,” he chuckled in reply.

“This idiot almost destroyed your arm. You’ll probably be permanently scarred, and all you do is laugh? What the hell’s wrong with you, Kaysh?” Taylea asked, her pale cheeks coloring with her agitation.

I squeezed my eyes shut and the sudden wave of nausea that threatened to drown me ebbed and receded. “Taylea, it was a damn accident. I dunno what your major malfunction is, but honestly… I’d probably be a lot worse off if it wasn’t for Jynxx. If you can’t get a grip on your jealousy or whatever it is, then leave.” My already thin patience was starting to crack from the pressure of her spastic behavior.

She opened her mouth like she had something to say, then snapped it shut. She got up and stormed out, the door to the Nurse’s Office slamming behind her in her rage. I found myself babbling profuse apologies to both Miss Faun and Jynxx on Taylea’s behalf. What the hell was her problem today?

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I answered it after the sudden vibration nearly gave me a heart attack.

“Hey, Princey. What’s up?”

He sounded relieved. “Good, you’re not dead.” I found myself smirking as he went on. “Heard about your accident. Wanted to know if you still felt up to working tonight.”

I love how he never makes anything into an actual question. “If you put me on bar so I’m not spinning around with trays, I’ll be fine. Had to get some stitches and lost a bit of blood, so waiting on tables’d be a touch difficult.”

I could almost see him nod. “Alright. See you at five, then. Take care, Kacea.”

“Will do, Prince.” The line clicked off and I sighed. “It really never ends,” I said with a groan.

“Prince?” Jynxx asked. “You work at The Palace?”

I covered my face in shame. The Palace was a medieval themed diner and bar. As a waitress, I had to wear a quasi-authentic tavern wench outfit as my uniform. The low-cut top and skirt with ridiculously high slits both contributed largely to a good portion of my tips.

“Yes… I do.”

Jynxx smirked, trying to contain his laughter and failing miserably at it. “I’m sorry,” he managed between snickers. “My buddy Teigan always tries to get us to go there with him.”

That name sounded familiar to me. “Tall, skinny guy with long brown hair?”

“Mhmm.”

“He does come in a lot. Always drinks Bat Bites. Friggin’ Bacardi… Blech!” I made a disgusted face.

“Man, it’s a small world.” Jynxx said with a laugh. “You know Club Luna? We play there a lot. My band and I, that is.”

“When’s your next show?”

“Friday night there’s gonna be a huge show. Like, six bands or so are gonna play.”

The end-of-the-day bell rang and we both laughed. “Count me in!”

I collected my books from my locker and, after a moment of technical difficulty in getting my seatbelt on, I was headed to work.

~*~

I changed and clocked in. Prince, a tall Nordic looking man with eyes as icy as the Adriatic, eyed the stitches on my arm with disappointment.

“And how didst thou come by such a grievous wound, my lady?”

“My apologies, milord! ‘Twas a roguish minstrel what thought to get grabby. Thou shouldst have seen what ill befell him by my hand, good sir.” I added the last with a wink, the almost Irish accent coming to me easily. Did I mention we had to talk like the Dark Ages, too?

Prince smirked and patted my head. “Nice cover story, ya klutz.” I stuck my tongue out at him and he smirked, saying more loudly, “Perhaps when thou art of non-jailbait age, fair Kacea.”

I rolled my eyes and headed behind the bar, grabbing a knife and some lemons. I prepped them for garnishes and waved a lemon wedge threateningly at Prince. “Get thee gone, knave! Lest I squirt the juices from yon foul fruits into thine eyes…”

He nearly cackled at that and went back to his post by the door, looking every bit like a Viking invader with his long blond hair, light chain mail, and a very convincing broadsword with intricate carvings up and down the length of it. Prince wasn’t just the owner; he was the head of security, too.

You wouldn’t think that such a cheeseball idea would do so well, but the place was packed five or six nights a week. During the summer, it was full every night. Even now, at five on a Tuesday evening, a lot of our regulars had already filed in for dinner.

The Derringer triplets - John, Josh, and Joe - occupied their usual booth. John, the oldest by a whopping fifteen minutes, threw me a wave and a smile that melted most girls into their socks. I grinned and waved back, then set to making my first few drinks.

~*~

The night seemed like it would remain uneventful until about eight o’clock rolled around and some of my biggest fears were realized. Jynxx, Teigan, and three other guys I didn’t recognize came through the door en masse, all of them taking seats at the bar. I had the sudden urge to crawl under a rock and die. I knew that mentioning where I worked had been a bad idea…

The five of them were grinning from ear to ear and I dropped my gaze to the floor briefly, taking a deep breath to collect myself. When I lifted my eyes again, I caught Prince’s concerned look and slapped a smile on my face.

“Jynxx… I am so going to kick your ass for this…” I said quietly, the simpering smile still pasted to my lips.

One of his friends, his eyes the same artificial crimson as his curly hair, laughed and slapped Jynxx on the back. “She’s a feisty one, Jynxxie!” His voice was light, but the look he settled on me was filled with heat and dark, dangerous things.

It set me on edge and my mind worked quickly to seek out something else for my eyes to focus on. I noticed that the three other guys were all wearing glowing bracelets that warned the bartender that they were underage. I already knew that Jynxx was. We were juniors in high school, for crying out loud. If the establishment wasn’t a restaurant as well, neither of us would have even been allowed into the building.

“So, what would you guys like to drink?” I asked, careful to avoid direct eye contact with the guy with the red hair.

Teigan smiled at me, the calm he always seemed to exude making my stomach stop doing agitated cartwheels and bringing my heart rate down from near-coronary levels. “You know mine already, I believe.” His voice was smooth and cultured and he always made me smile, no matter how miserable my day had been before I’d gotten to work.

I nodded to him, smiling in spite of myself and throwing his Bat Bite together without even needing to look at the bottles I poured into the glass. I set it down on the bar in front of him and looked to the others. “I can make almost any drink without booze, and we do just have sodas.. Um…” I tapped my chin with a finger as I pondered for a second. “I can do milkshakes back here, or smoothies… Just about anything you could want, so long as there’s no alcohol in it because I dun wanna lose my job.”

Jynxx laughed as I rambled off the potential virgin-drink menu. “I’ll take a cherry limeade.”

The guy with the red hair piped in, almost dissipating my ease in a second, “I’ll take a Shirley Temple, since we have the same hairstyle and all.”

I set to it almost robotically, having been working behind the bar since I was fifteen… Not to mention at my own house for as long as I could remember. Having parents who knew people could get you just about anything you wanted, not to mention easily obtaining a job that should have been illegal for me… even now. Jynxx and his red-haired friend were sipping their drinks eagerly when I finally got to their other two friends.

“Since Jynxx seems to suck at introducing people, I’m Kacea. We go to school together. Who are you guys?” I made a point of including the red-haired guy in the sweep of my eyes, even though I was making a point not to address him outright.

“I’m Kenshin,” the tall, lanky blond with a deep tan said simply. His icy green eyes were stunning set against his dark skin, and it threw me for a second as our gazes met. “I’ll take a chocolate milkshake, please. Large.”

I nodded, tilting my head curiously at the boy next to him. His gaze was fixed very steadily on his hands which were twisting almost nervously in his lap. “Conner,” he said, his eyes darting up to meet mine for the barest of seconds before they returned to his hands. “Um… an orange raspberry smoothie would be awesome.”

“Sure thing, Conner.” I couldn’t resist a smile for the guy. He musta been wicked shy to be so nervous.

The red-haired kid leaned dramatically across the bar and took my hand in his, lifting it to his lips, his eyes never leaving mine. “My name is Gavin, milady. Remember it well, as you shall most likely be screaming it later.”

My cheeks burned immediately, but the darkness that flooded my eyes had nothing to do with embarrassment and everything to do with anger. Conner visibly flinched as if the atmosphere itself had changed and he could feel it. Before I could even open my mouth to say anything, Jynxx smacked Gavin hard on the back of the head.

“Alright, Gav. I think that’s more than enough.”

Teigan nodded, finishing his drink and taking the glass of Sprite I handed him without question. He always followed his booze with a Sprite… “I agree. That was rather crass, don’t you think? You’re lucky she didn’t beat you with one of the empty bottles back there.”

Rather than getting the hint and backing off, Gavin leaned in closer, the smell of cherries and grenadine on his breath almost overwhelming. “I like it when they play hard to get…”

I lifted the nozzle filled with Sprite, pointing it menacingly at Gavin‘s face. “If you don’t wanna wear this, I’d suggest taking two giant friggin’ steps back… milord.”

He chuckled then, and that pissed me off. I was a nanosecond away from squeezing the trigger when Prince came over, looking imperious and threatening. “Everything alright, milady Kacea?”

I took a deep cleansing breath, the full force of the anger in my eyes still locked on Gavin. “Aye, milord. All is well.” His eyes told me that he didn’t believe me, but he’d take my word for it. He went back to standing by the door, greeting customers that came in and bidding others farewell as they left.

The milkshake and smoothie took a bit longer, but it gave me time to cool down as I kept my hands busy. I gave Conner a little wink as I handed him his orange raspberry and went to take care of a few other customers.

I flitted about from conversation to conversation for a bit, having to head out to the floor and wait tables while one of the main waitresses, this total badass named Perfection, went on her break. As I came back from the kitchen with four plates balanced on a much larger serving plate, Jynxx came up to me, the other four guys trailing slightly behind.

“We’re getting ready to head out. I just wanted to say bye before we left.” he said with a little smile.

I beamed in return. “I go on my break in ten minutes if you wanna hang around for a bit. I can give ya a lift home once I’m done if they drove.”

Jynxx tossed his keys over his shoulder to Teigan without even looking. The slender young man caught them in his long fingers and nodded with a little smirk directed at me. They all waved goodbye and I couldn‘t help feeling slightly relieved that Gavin was gone. The others seemed nice enough, but there was something about that one… Something scary and not right at all.

~*~
Author’s Notes: Thanks to Jamith for reviewing! Glad you like it so far! Also thanks to everyone else who’s been reading! Now you all just need to leave me a review and let me know what you think of the revamp! XD!
See? One chapter a month is easy enough to accomplish! However, this is kind of filler, with an introduction of some important characters. That means I’ll try to get another chapter out this month, hopefully full of actiony bits. You’ll notice that I’ve made a lot of changes in regards to where in the story people are introduced. If you’ve read the original, that is.
If you’re taking the time to read through not only the chapter, but also my notes, you can definitely take a few seconds and leave me a review! Pwease & sankyuu? =^.^=

Songs That’ll Get Stuck In Your Head:
“Ghost Town” - Shiny Toy Guns
“Hot n Cold” - Katy Perry
“Pretty” - Kidneythieves
“You Are So Beautiful” - Escape the Fate
“I Almost Told You That I Loved You” - Papa Roach