Chapter Two

The young man stumbled a little, completely unprepared of his little sister opening the door so quickly. When he righted himself, he barely had time to prepare his stance when Selena threw herself into his arms.

"Whoa! Selena!" He laughed at her enthusiasm at seeing him. "I missed you too, but next time a little warning."

She couldn't get a good look at Selena's brother, but she did see the boy behind him. A good looking one at that. He looked no older than sixteen. He had short blond hair that was slightly tamed and had on a plain black shirt with blue jeans with really worn out white Nike's.

"Hey, aren't you glad to see me too?" he asked Selena looking falsely offended.

She let go of her brother and replied, "Not really, but...hi Evan." No throwing herself at him or even a simple hug.

He dropped his arms with a sigh. "I didn't really think so." Then he chuckled.

"Oh Jared, Evan, I want you to meet my best friend Mila!" She turned towards her with a beaming smile.

She slowly got up from the couch and started to feel really shy all the sudden and her heart started pounding within her chest, meeting new people always made her nervous.

"In a minute sis, I got to go and pay the driver and get our bags." Jared said as he turned away in a hurry to do just that.

Evan on the other hand just walked right in and stood right in front of her. He then thrust out a hand for her to shake. "Hi, I'm Evan." He said smoothly.

"Hello...I'm Mila." She shyly stated in her nervousness.

He gave her a slow smile. He just stared at her as he held her hand in his, barely even shaking it.

Selena scowled and slapped his arm. "Stop that!" she hissed, not liking the way he was looking at her friend. Not that she liked him or anything, it was just she didn't want Mila associating with someone like Evan, regardless of him being her brother's best friend.

"What? I wasn't doing anything." He scooted back quickly laughing as she tried to hit him again.

Selena glared at him. Mila heard the door shut and turned to the sound. She couldn't help but stare at Jared as he came in dropping the suitcases to the floor with a grunt. She just couldn't help it at all. She had never seen anyone who looked so handsome or so beautiful. Her heart did funny things and her breath became shallow and a little hard to breathe.

She just stood there staring at him. He had short wavy jet-black hair that looked soft to the touch, his skin looked so smooth and tanned that was slightly more golden from the summer's sun. He was finely built as if he jogged daily and maybe even did pushups. He was slim waisted with fine defined muscles, like a swimmer's body. He stood around six foot one and by looking at him he wasn't done growing. He was going to be tall that was for sure. She didn't realize that while she was checking him out that he was doing the exact same thing to her.

He just stood there in front of the door, staring at her as if in a daze. She was the most gorgeous thing he had ever seen. With her chestnut hair in glossy waves cascading down her back, her green eyes expressive like bright emeralds and her peach colored skin slightly glowed from the near perfection of it. She was young, he could tell that much, and the older she got the more goddess like she was going to be. He hadn't moved since he dropped the bags and Selena looked back and forth between the two of them and smiled hugely.

Evan on the other hand didn't look pleased at all.

"What is this, a staring contest or something?" he asked much too loudly and with an edge to his tone.

She snapped out of her trance and went beet red with embarrassment. She quickly looked away and sat down on the couch without saying a word, staring straight at the T.V. Jared just kept looking at her and slowly started moving towards his sister and Evan. Selena couldn't help but keep smiling.

"Jared, this is my best friend Mila." She said sweetly walking with him to the other side of the couch standing in Mila's way.

"Hello." He put out his hand making Mila look up at him. She slid her hand into his gently.

"Hello." She whispered.

As soon as their hands touched an electric wave hit her and she almost jerked back. He took a hold on it and held on, almost as if he didn't want to let go of her. She snatched her hand back quickly and tried to slow the hammering of her heart. What was wrong with her? She was acting like a dumb fool. Some first impression she made; they must think she was a complete dimwit. She took her attention back to the T.V. and tried to ignore everyone as best as she could.

"Jared, your room is ready for you, mom spent all last weekend getting it prepared." Selena rolled her eyes at that.

He looked at his sister for the first time in two years. "Look at you, last time I seen you, you were only this high." He put his hand to his mid chest to empathize what he was referring too. "Now you're up to my neck."

She just smiled at him. Evan sat down hard on the couch right next to Mila, then put his arm around the edge behind her. "So, what's there to eat in this place?" he asked as he leaned forward and took a few grapes then popped them all into his mouth.

"Shouldn't you be going home? I'm sure your mother might want to see her son after a two-year absence." Selena commented irritably.

Jared frowned at Evan's arm that was behind Mila but didn't say anything about it. Mila was oblivious to everything as she couldn't seem to keep her mind off how stupid she was being.

"Naw, I'm good, she doesn't really care that I'm back." he said nonchalantly.

Mila looked at him with that statement with a frown. "Why is that?" she asked.

He looked at her and smiled. "Oh hello, thought you forgot about me there for a moment."

She went beet red again and refused to look up at Jared.

"Let's just say I'm not what she wants in a son." he said sarcastically making Jared burst out laughing with that. Selena looked away trying hard not to laugh herself.

Jared's laugh was a wonderful sound she thought, and she couldn't help but look back at him with wonder. Evan started laughing too and she couldn't help but smile at his. It was soothing and yet almost infectious.

"Why are you all laughing? Is there a joke that I don't know about?" she asked a bit wary of their behavior.

"Do you remember what we were talking about before the end of school today?" Selena asked her.

She thought on that for a moment and then her eyes widen in dread. Selena nodded her head at her with a wicked little smile. "Well, now is the perfect chance to ask him."

She was going to kill her. She had no intention of ever asking Jared about the rumors and just by looking at him she wholeheartedly had faith that he didn't do any such thing to a teacher. Even though it didn't explain where he had been for the past two years. Mila swallowed as her face seemed to be in permanent red from her embarrassment.

"Ask who what?" Evan asked curiously.

"Nope, I'm not saying anything, Mila has too." Selena made it even worse.