Excerpt...uh...Four...right?

Chapter one

“Kiss me.” She whispered as she looked up into his beautiful ocean colored eyes. She ran her hand from his cheek down to his neck and to his shoulder, giving him goose bumps where he finger-tips softly brushed over his skin. As she moved her hand down his arm, she could feel the muscles beneath the thin membrane of his skin, feel the steady pulse of blood through his veins. His harm was strong and toned; hard because of the tension rolling off of his body. She continued to trace down. When she reached his hand, she intertwined her fingers with his.
He lifted their hands up, placing them over his heart. She closed her eyes as he pulled her closer, wrapping an arm around her waist. He leaned down to kiss her full red lips. She kissed him back, shaping her mouth around his.
Kissing him was like nothing she had done before. His kisses were hot and passionate, but soft and tender. They were hard but gentle, pleading but demanding, all at the same time.
But he wasn’t hers. Not. He belonged to no one; a free man for the moment. She however, was not. She had a boyfriend. A boyfriend that wasn’t him, a boyfriend that could never know about her secret life. About her forbidden love for another man. For Cameron.

And then it ended. Another forbidden kiss with Cameron. Amanda turned from him with inhuman speed and began a brisk walk back to her English class.
She entered the room with a blank expression on her face; not uncommon, as she often kept her true emotions hidden from others. Very people knew the real Amanda, and that was how she preferred for it to be.
Amanda quickly approached Mrs. Fruh’s desk and turned in the assignment that she had retrieved from her locker only moments ago. She was careful to control her adrenaline filled body as she went to take her seat. Her boyfriend, Paul, watched her –as he always did- suspicious of nothing, for she was a good actress.
Amanda glanced up as Cameron came into the room. Their eyes met and he winked at her as he took his seat next to hers.
She looked down, hoping to hide the blush that colored her pale face.
Mrs. Fruh called the class to order. Amanda heard the faint tap of heavy paper landing on a hard surface. She glanced down at her desk and snatched up the nicely-folded note-card before Mrs. Fruh could see it.
The nice thing about sitting in the back of the classroom? No one pays much attention to you.
Amanda silently opened up the note.

wow. That was some kiss. Are you ok?
You look a little shaken…. –CY

She sighed and looked over at Cameron. He nodded.


Yeah, I’m fine. Just adrenaline.

Amanda wrote her quick reply, and tossed the note back to him. Then she went back to listening to Mrs. Fruh’s lecture.
Mrs. Fruh was discussing present and past perfect nouns. Nothing new, just review from last year.
Amanda heard the faint tap of paper again. She quickly picked up the note to read it.
Ha-ha. Ok. Love you Amy.

Amanda rolled her eyes and laughed to herself and she wrote her reply.
That’s bullshit Cam, and you
Know it. 
She tossed the note back and heard Cameron snicker as he read what she wrote.
‘Tap’

yeah, you’re probably right. Lol.

She smiled and looked over at him.
“I usually am.” She whispered.

“Miss Brad,” said Mrs. Fruh.
Amanda looked to the front of the class, “Yes ma’am?”
“Do number 12, please.”

Amanda replied without even glancing down at her book.
“The adverb is was, and it’s past perfect.”
“Very good Miss. Brad.”


The bell rang. Amanda sighed and began packing her book-bag. She watched as two feet approached her. She glanced up into the handsome face of her boyfriend, Paul.

“Hey.” Amanda said, forcing a smile to her face.
Paul smiled back, took her hand to help her up, and lightly kissed her forehead.
“hi.” He replied, his lips moving against her skin.









Chapter 2

If only he knew! Amanda thought to herself as she and Paul strode, hand-in-hand, through the crowded hallways of South Hills High School. It’s probably best that he doesn’t though…for his sake. It would only tear him apart, and what with all the cutting his wrists have been through lately… no. This I’ll keep to myself.
He left her at her locker, pausing only to kiss her forehead again. Soon he’d be back to walk her to her next class.
Amanda opened her locker door, grabbed her history book, and turned to take a brief look at herself in the mirror.
She had never really thought pf herself to be pretty, just nice-looking in a completely average way.
Amanda had always been pale- shockingly so- with pale grey eyes and long black hair, which today was curled and hung down to her waist.
She wore a long-sleeved black cotton T-shirt with skinny jeans and converse. It was a normal outfit for her, as she very rarely wore colors- aside from the occasional red or purple- . her makeup was the same as always. A small amount of grey eye-shadow with a thin line of black eyeliner around her eyes; heavy mascara.
Amanda was not Goth, so don’t get the wrong impression of her. She simply liked to keep to herself.
Without thinking about it, she gently brushed her bangs behind her ear.
Amanda sighed as she softly ran her fingers over the black, oddly-shaped bruises on the left side of her face. She hated the marks. Hated them for being there, hated them for the person who had given them to her; hated them for making her special.
She allowed only a single tear to run down her cheek as she remembered the horrible night that she had received them only months ago.
When Amanda closed her locker door, so found Paul leaning against the locker next to hers. He gasped, and she could only imagine why. Paul gently placed his hand under Amanda’s chin and turned her face to the right. With his other hand, he softly traced his fingers over the bruises, being careful not to hurt her.
“What-?”
Amanda pulled away from his grasp and moved her bangs from behind her ear, replacing them over the left side of her face where they belonged, cutting him off before he could finish his question.
“Nothing.” She whispered, the tone of her voice kept him from pressing for more answers.
She smiled at him, standing on her toes, she leaned up and quickly pecked him on the lips.

Paul walked her to her AP History class, where he left her to go to the other end of the school for fourth-period physics.
Amanda sighed as she took her seat.
She closed her eyes and listened to the voices, both vocal and mental, around her. She found that by entering the minds of others, it became easier to drown out her own thoughts; it made life easier, if only for a short time.
Her newly intensified hearing allowed her to hear, not only the various voices in the classroom, but also the ones throughout the campus, along with every individual heartbeat and breath.
Of all the changes she had had to go through along with receiving the bruises, the hearing was one of her favorites. That, the sight, and of course, the speed. The beauty, however, she could live without.