Sofia: Phoenix Rising - Fire Within! Book 1
Chapter Three

Wow, if this day could not get any stranger... Oh, wait, it does! I pull my teal blue Mazda3 into the driveway, noting that mom and dad are still at work. Pushing the driver’s side door open with a shove of my hands, I pull myself out of my car and shuffle around to the back-passenger door, opening it so I can grab my bookbag and purse from the back seat and with a tired sigh shut the door behind me. As I turn away from my car to head towards the house, I stop midstride.

I had just glanced across the forlorn yard at the empty house next door out of habit and to my surprise, I see it is no longer sitting empty. There is a bright yellow moving truck sitting in the driveway and people are unloading items from the back end of the truck. As I watch curiously, someone strolls out of the garage. Now standing in the middle of a once deserted driveway is none other than Mr. Ash Dritan himself! Turning on my heel, I try to move quickly away from where I am standing but it is too late, his gaze has landed upon me. “Hey, hey you!”

I turn back because I can hear his voice and it seems to be coming from directly behind me. “Oh, hi.” I jump back, startled because he is indeed right behind me. Being 5’4, I am not short, short, but I do unfortunately have to tilt my head back to be able to look at his face and then bam, in the blink of an eye, I’m sucked into his gaze. The color of his eyes are such an intense color of blue that it is hard to describe them, as if the ocean and the sky have crashed into one another, if that makes any sense and they appear to glitter with mischief as though they a keeping a secret locked away within them.

“You attend the high school, right?” He removes sunglasses from the breast pocket of his black leather jacket, sliding them on his face so he isn’t squinting in the glare of the sun. As I mentioned before, it is two weeks until Halloween and the air is a bit chilly because of the snow fall that occurred earlier today. For me the weather is hoodie weather, a warmly autumnal fifty-five degrees, but for him, I bet he is freezing, and I doubt that leather jacket is keeping him very warm… The jacket does give him a bad boy appearance though, which of course only makes him more intriguing, causing a sigh to slip past my lips and a flutter in my heart.

Sucking my bottom lip in, I bite it to stop any more random noises that might want to accidentally escape my mouth as I take in the rest of his appearance. He has black combat boots, faded blue jeans, torn at one of the knees and clinging quite nicely to his muscularly toned thighs. I can only imagine what the jeans do for his back side, that thought causes a smile to form upon my lips and I hope like hell that he hasn’t figured out what I’m thinking about.

Ash still has the same black shirt on, but his leather jacket hides the form-fitting shirt from view. My eyes continue to travel upward and take in the strong outline of his jaw, which he happens to be clenching just now, as though he wants to say something to me, but not sure how to approach the topic. My gaze runs past his sunglasses, but I notice that one eyebrow is raised as though he knows I am looking him over. A small smile slips past my lips once more at this knowledge, but I continue my assessment just the same. Finally, my eyes fall to his silky jet-black hair, so soft in appearance that my fingers are itching to run through the raven locks.

“Yeah, you’re the new guy, right? Ash, isn’t it?”

Ash nods at me, “yeah, and you’re Sofia, right?” I return his nod, surprised that he knows my name. My turn to arch an eyebrow. “Homeroom. Mr. Davis rattled off everyone’s names during attendance. I have a talent for remembering a beautiful Sheila’s name.” He is grinning from ear to ear at this statement.

Is he flirting with me? I stare in stunned silence; mouth having fallen open slightly at his claim. No one has ever called me beautiful before and I really do not know how to take his compliment. My defense mechanisms kick in and I deflect his comment with a question of my own, “Does that line really work? I mean seriously, do girls actually fall for that?” His grin doesn’t waiver from his face as he continues to look at me and it has me squirming where I stand. No. If anything, it only widens causing me to roll my eyes dramatically and a humored huff to fall from my lips. A car horn blaring from the opposite yard to where my back is located causes me to jump, placing a hand on my chest trying to calm my heart rate that went into overdrive at the sudden disruption.

For the most part, while growing up, I stayed to myself. I had acquaintances but I have only ever had one friend in the entirety of the twelve hundred people who attend Buckeye High, in the middle of nowhere, Ohio. Not that I am upset by this fact because I’d rather have one true friend than a bunch of people who call me their friend but don’t really know anything about me.

I still remember when Lori’s parents pulled into the house to the right of mine if standing in my driveway looking at my home. It was the summer before second grade had started. I had been playing in the front yard when Mr. and Mrs. Brim pulled into the empty driveway of their new house. Lori’s grey eyes connect with my gold ones. We smiled and waved to each other as Lori jumped out of the back seat of her parents’ tan and white Ford Bronco and I knew right then and there that we were going to be best friends from there on out.

That was ten years ago!

Lori finally lifts her hands off the steering wheel, allowing the horn to fall silent as she smiles widely at me but once the horn is no more, it causes a quiet to descend around us, making me feel awkward as my head swivels between her and Ash. Oh lord, I see dawning realization flicker in her eyes as she notices who is standing beside me. I can see her eyes light up with excitement, she then claps her hands together a few times before deciding to skip across the yards like a five-year-old to meet up with us.

Okay so I must say that Lori has always been way more outgoing than me. Even though I say we are ‘nobodies’ at school, that is a lie because she could hang out with anyone she wished to. She is a cheerleader, and loves sports, very athletic, but for some reason, she has always chosen to hang out with me over anybody else we go to school with and in doing so, has inadvertently chosen to make herself a nobody like me. However, unlike me, she is not shy in the slightest and jumps right into conversation with Ash. I hate her for this ability, but don’t worry, she knows this because I have said it to her face.

I close my eyes and shake my head as she bumps shoulders with me. Please do not embarrass me! I think silently as I open my eyes back up and lock my gaze upon hers, trying to convey this message to her. Her smile could not get any wider than it is at this moment as though she knows exactly what I am thinking just now. “Hi,” Lori says jubilantly, “my name is Lori Brim.” She sticks her hand out and he automatically complies by gripping it, shaking it, and saying hello at the same time.

Tilting her head sideways, her white-blonde hair swaying across her back as she does so. She is two inches shorter than me, so she has to step back a bit to be able to look him in the face. Lori scrunches her face up a little because he is wearing his sunglasses, but that does not deter her from chatting further. “Do I know you? You seem very familiar to me for some reason.”

“Um, no. I don’t think so mate. I’ve not been state side since I was five, when my parents brought me to the east coast on holiday.” I can’t read his eyes because of the stupid sunglasses, but for some sneaking reason, I feel as though he is lying about having been here before. My intuition is hardly ever wrong, but I don’t know why he would feel the need to lie to two complete strangers.

Lori shrugs her shoulders, not giving the question a second thought. Instead, she turns her grey eyes to me, “hey, can I study with you for a while? My parents had to go out of town and won’t be back until super late tonight?” I nod, giving her a smile because I know what she is really asking; ‘can you feed me.’ At the motion of my head, Lori looks back to Ash, “well, it was nice to meet you. I’m sure we’ll see you around.” She then takes my hand in hers and proceeds to drag me away from him, leaving me incapable of doing anything more than waving my hand in goodbye to him.

He stands where we leave him even after we are on my front porch, just about to walk inside. I look back to see him still there, as if he is frozen to the spot. I watch him for a second and can visibly see him shake his head as if coming out of a thought. Damn he’s gorgeous!