Taming the Darkness

by Sarah Carter

  “Italy, Spain, England, Russia, and China.”

  Kayla shakes her head. “Holy crap, that’s a lot of places.”

  “We’re scientists,” Mrs. Blakely interjects. “Well, I’m a cultural anthropologist.”

  “And I’m a geneticist,” Mr. Blakely says.

  “Wow,” Kayla exhales.

  Her dad nods. “George and I went to college together. He puts botany to shame.”

  “But our families have known each other for generations,” Jackson says.

  “Jackson,” his mother hisses.

  Confused, Kayla says, “Huh?”

  “Our relatives came here together,” Jackson declares.

  Kayla looks at her parents. “What is he talking about?”

  “Your great, great, great grandparents came to the U.S. together,” her mom says, emphasizing the U.S.

  “Really,” Kayla replies, not sounding very convinced.

  Jackson raises his eyebrows in question. “Yeah, don’t you know anything about your family history?”

  “Sure,” Kayla slowly responds.

  “Who’s hungry?” her dad interjects. “We have lasagna.”

  Their parents immediately start talking to each other again, while Kayla shakes her head in disbelief. This has to be the weirdest dinner she has ever experienced. Nervously, she eats her food in silence. Every time Kayla looks up, she catches Jackson staring at her.

  When dinner is finished, both moms stand up. “We’ll clean up. Kayla, why don’t you and Jackson go and get to know each other better.”

  Looking at his mom, Jackson goes, “Mother…really?”

  Kayla wants to kick him underneath the table. “Yeah, I have homework to do.”

  “Actually, Kayla is doing a report on Thailand. Maybe you can help her,” Kayla’s mom suggests.

  “Mom,” Kayla snaps.

  Mr. Blakely smiles. “That sounds like an excellent idea.”

  The two teens look at each other. “Wonderful,” Kayla mumbles. “Come on.” She stands and walks toward the steps. When she doesn’t hear Jackson behind her, she turns around. He is still sitting at the table, staring at her. “I’m going up to my room,” she declares. “If you’re coming, you need to follow me.”

  Sighing, Jackson puts his napkin on the table and stands. He saunters over to her and waves his hand toward the second floor. They slowly walk upstairs, and Kayla enters her room. Jackson follows her and looks around. “Your room is really clean. Anal retentive much? That doesn’t surprise me.”

  “I like to keep things in order,” Kayla replies. “Easier to find stuff.” She shoves a chair towards him. “There, you can sit down.”

  Jackson grabs the chair, twirls it around, and straddles it. “Read me what you've written on your paper so far.”

  “Hell no, I’m not even close to being finished with it.”

  “So why can’t I hear what you have written?”

  Crossing her arms, Kayla says, “I don’t share my work with anyone, that way I’m less likely to get plagiarized.”

  Jackson snorts. “You think I would copy your work?” he asks, holding his hand to his chest. “Please. I do not need to cheat off of you. Besides, I already wrote the paper.”

  “What? You’ve been here for a week. Today was your first day of school!”

  “They gave me the assignments a few days ago. I finished everything already.”

  Kayla scoffs. “I actually want to get an A on this, so I’m going to take my time.”

  He moves his gaze to her. “You think my paper will be bad?”

  “If you wrote it in two days, probably.”

  Narrowing his eyes, Jackson says, “Want to put a wager on it?”

  “What?”

  “I bet you, that I will get a better grade on this paper.”

  With a grunt, Kayla replies, “That isn’t even a fair bet.”

  “Then you will have no problem taking it.”

  “What would we wager, anyways? You have nothing I want.”

  Jackson smirks. “I bet I can change that.” A heat instantly rises in Kayla’s face. “Oh, look, I made you blush again.”

  “I…what…you are insane,” Kayla sputters out.

  “Take the bet, Kayla. If you’re going to be valedictorian, you should have no problem with this.”

  “Fine, loser will owe the winner one favor. No questions asked.”

  An amused smirk appears on Jackson’s face. “Deal.”

  “You’re going down,” Kayla says with a smile.

  “That’s what you think,” Jackson replies as he stands up. “I’m going to let you get back to your paper. I don’t want to influence you or anything.”

  Kayla doesn’t say anything as she watches him leave the room. “You are so going to lose,” she mutters under her breath. Spinning around, she turns on her computer.

  An hour later, Kayla hears her mom yell, “Kayla, come say good-bye to George, Emma, and Jackson.”

  Begrudgingly, Kayla goes downstairs. Everyone is standing by the front door. She waves at Mr. and Mrs. Blakely. “Bye, it was nice meeting you.”

  “You too, dear,” Mr. Blakely says. “We’ll have to do this again.”

  Awesome, Kayla thinks to herself. “That’s sounds great.”

  “All right, bye,” Mrs. Blakely says. She turns to her son. “Jackson, say good-bye to Kayla.”

  With a sinister grin, Jackson says, “Good-bye, Kayla. See you tomorrow.”

  “Yeah,” Kayla replies, losing her smile.

  Their parents don’t seem to notice the tension as they say their farewells. When her mom closes the door, she states, “Well, that was pleasant.”

  “Uh-huh,” Kayla retorts sarcastically. She turns and goes back up to her room, but not before seeing the weird look her mom throws her way.

  Chapter 2

  “I can’t believe he acted that way last night,” Tracy says as they walk into school. “Who knew he was such an ass?”

  “I don’t think he was an ass. Cocky, that’s for sure. I mean, he did warn me that he was a jerk.”

  Tracy nods her head and then looks at her friend. “He’s still hot, though.”

  Kayla laughs. “Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

  They turn the corner and stop. Jackson is leaning against the wall reading a paper. His designer jeans, T-shirt, and vest look really good on him. “Wow,” Tracy says.

  “Yeah,” Kayla exhales. Shaking her head out of her stupor, she starts to walk. It takes effort, but Kayla keeps her eyes forward and doesn’t look at him. As she walks past him, she suddenly feels a sharp snap on her butt. Kayla grabs it and gasps. Whipping around, she glares at Jackson.

  “It’s rude not to say good morning to people,” he quips with a smirk.

  Stuttering, she says, “Did you…did you seriously just slap my ass?”

  “Mmhmm,” he hums. “I think I did.”

  “What…I mean…how dare you!”

  Jackson crosses his arms. “Really? Are you really angry with me for that?”

  “Yeah, she doesn’t like guys, and she’s definitely never been touched by one,” a voice says.

  They all turn to see Jude standing behind them.

  “Jude, you have no idea what you’re talking about,” Kayla says.

  “Really, Kayla? Then answer me this. Have you ever kissed a guy?”

  Kayla’s face instantly reddens with anger. “Jude, you are such a douche! You know what the answer is.”

  “So the answer is no,” he retorts with a smirk.

  Before Kayla can respond, Jackson pulls her into his arms and crushes his lips against hers. A spark ignites within her, and she forms her body to his. They kiss each other for a few seconds, and she realizes he tastes sweet. When he finally pulls away she stumbles backward. Jackson looks at Jude. “I think she does fine in that department.”

  “Ewww, that was gross,” Jude sneers. “I think I threw up a little. I would sanitize my mouth if I were you.”

  Jack
son steps up to Jude, towering over him. “Didn’t you get a clue yesterday? You don’t want to piss me off.”

  Taking a step back, Jude gulps. “So you’re going to have your boyfriend beat me up now?”

  Both Kayla and Jackson snap, “We’re not dating!” at the same time.

  “Jinx,” Tracy chirps behind them.

  “Whatever,” Jude says with a sigh. “Good luck; she’ll make your life miserable.”

  Kayla jumps at Jude and tries to kick him. Jackson picks her up before she succeeds. “No,” she protests. “Let me down, I will kick his ass!”

  “Let me teach you how to fight first, so you can really make it count,” Jackson says in her ear. She feels him chuckle against her. It makes her want to giggle, but she keeps a straight face…barely.

  Jude glares at her. “Losers.” He turns and walks away.

  “You should have let me kick him,” Kayla states as Jackson sets her down. “That would have made my day.”

  “I will get him later, trust me,” Jackson says.

  Turning around, Kayla looks at him. “Why did you interfere anyway? Are you out to torture me as well?”

  “I will be the only one torturing you. Not him. Anyway, if I’m going to win the bet, I need you to bring your A game. Can’t have you distracted by that idiot.”

  Kayla snorts. “Touché.”

  “Je ne savais pas que vous parlait francais,” Jackson says.

  Furrowing her eyebrows, Kayla asks, “What?”

  Tracy chimes in, “Non, elle ne parle pas francais.”

  “Stop speaking French!” Kayla snaps.

  “You don’t speak it,” Jackson states.

  Putting her hand on her friend’s shoulder, Tracy whispers, “He was just asking if you spoke French.”

  “No,” Kayla mumbles. “Foreign languages are the one thing I suck at.”

  “You don’t speak any?” Jackson asks, surprised.

  Kayla stares at him for a moment before looking away. “I took a little bit of Spanish, but I was horrible at it.”

  “What are you going to do when you get to college?” Jackson inquires.

  “Hire a really good tutor,” Kayla says with a sigh. “Please, don’t remind me. I took enough Spanish to keep me in the running for top GPA, but I only did two years.”

  The warning bell rings and Tracy yelps. “I have to get to class. Bye! Don’t kill him, okay?” She waves and darts down the hallway.

  “Should we get to class?” Jackson asks, gesturing down the hallway.

  “Sure,” Kayla murmurs.

  Jackson falls into step next to her as they walk down the hall. “How are you going to be valedictorian if you don’t speak a foreign language?”

  “Shut up, Jackson. It’s the only major academic weakness I have.”

  “The only one?”

  Clenching her hands into fists, Kayla says, “You know what I meant.”

  They enter their classroom in silence and take their seats. Jackson turns to her. “I’m absolutely floored.”

  “I don’t care what you think,” Kayla growls. A minute goes by before she mumbles, “So you speak French, fluently?”

  “Among other languages, yes.”

  With a dead stare, Kayla says, “Do I even want to know how many languages you speak?”

  “Six fluently, plus broken Japanese.”

  “What?” Kayla yells. The rest of the students turn and look at her. She takes a deep breath and then leans in. “How in the world do you know six different languages?”

  “I've been taught since I was three. I did live in five different countries, well, six if you count the United States.”

  “Wow, that’s amazing.”

  “I know,” Jackson quips with a devious smile.

  Her wonder turns into anger and Kayla says, “At least you’re good at one thing.”

  “I thought I was a pretty good kisser too,” he whispers, leaning closer to her.

  Heat pours into her face as she blushes. “Shut up.” He laughs in response as the bell rings.

  “All right, class, let’s get started,” her teacher says.

  Class drags for Kayla as she continues to think about the kiss she shared with Jackson. Part of her can’t wait for a second kiss, but the other part makes her want to scream because Jackson annoys her so much. Halfway through class, Jackson throws a folded note onto her desk.

  She opens it and then rolls her eyes. It says:

  Если вам нужна помощь с иностранных языков, я помогу вам. 你只需要选择一门语言。Prometto di non fare gioco di te. Todo lo que tienes que hacer es preguntar.

  Tearing out a piece of her own paper, she writes back:

  Funny, funny, I am laughing sooo hard……

  Kayla folds it up and, when the teacher isn’t looking, tosses it over to Jackson. He snatches it and holds it under his desk. She glares at him as he reads it. His shoulders shake from laughing. Jackson winks at her. She really wants to flip him off but decides against it.

  At the end of class, she quickly stands up and follows Jackson out the door. “What in the world did that note say?” she asks.

  “Get a translator,” Jackson replies smugly.

  “It’s in four different languages!”

  He shrugs. “Not my problem.”

  “I think you are the only one in school who could even possibly translate this!”

  Jackson turns to her. “It’s called the Internet.”

  “Fine, I’ll be late to class. I’m going to the library.”

  With a snort, Jackson just looks at her. “Do whatever you feel the need to do.”

  “Ugh, you’re infuriating!”

  “Then I haven’t lost my touch. For someone who thinks she is so smart, you really lack in some areas.”

  “You jerk!” Kayla yells, punching him in the arm.

  Jackson stops and looks down at her. “Did a breeze just pass us or was that your attempt at violence?”

  “I should kick you.”

  Jackson laughs. “I need to teach you how to fight effectively.”

  “What are you, like, a black belt or something?”

  “There isn’t a belt system in Kung Fu.”

  Kayla’s eyebrows go up. “That is kind of cool.”

  “Don’t be fooled; I’m going to own your valedictorian position by the end of the school year.”

  “No, you won’t,” Kayla snaps, starting to walk again.

  She can hear Jackson laughing behind her, but she keeps going. When Kayla gets to class, she approaches her teacher. “Mr. Finley, what are we doing in class today?”

  “Giving you time to work on your papers since they’re due in two days.”

  “Would you mind if I did some research in the library? I wanted to look more into the religions of the country,” Kayla asks sweetly.

  Mr. Finley nods. “Of course, that’s fine. I’ll write you a pass.” He walks over to his desk and pulls out a pad of paper. Out of the corner of her eye, Kayla sees Jackson walk in. He sits in his seat and stares at her. She turns her gaze away from him. Mr. Finley finally stands and hands her the slip. “Here you go, Kayla.”

  “Thanks,” she chirps, spinning on her heel. She walks out of the class without even glancing at Jackson.

  When she gets to the library, she goes straight for the computers and logs onto the Internet to locate a translator. Kayla sighs at the thought of translating Jackson’s note line by line. She sits and stares at the paper for a few minutes. “How in the world am I supposed to even type these characters on the computer?”

  She starts with the last two lines since the English language includes the same characters as the foreign language on the page. The third line of the note says: I promise to not to make fun of you. “Okay, that’s Italian,” she mumbles. “One language down.”

  Next, she types in the fourth sentence. Translating from Spanish to English, it reads: All you have to do is ask. “Ask what?” she mumbles, irr
itated. Putting her head into her palm, Kayla sighs. “Okay, that’s Russian and what I can only assume is Chinese. How am I supposed to translate that?” She literally stares at the paper for ten minutes. “This is impossible. I need to scan it or something.”

  “Having any luck yet?” she hears from behind her.

  Startled, Kayla jumps in her seat. Spinning around, she fumes at Jackson. “Stalking isn’t an attractive quality.”

  “Only when it isn’t wanted,” Jackson snips, sitting down next to her. “So how much have you figured out?”

  “That you aren’t going to make fun of me and that all I have to do is ask. Ask what?”

  He points to the paper. “What the first two lines say.”

  “Why are you even in here?” Kayla snaps.

  “To make sure you’re working on your paper.”

  “How did you even get out of class?”

  “I handed in my essay and said I wanted to come and check out the library.”

  Narrowing her eyes, Kayla inquires, “He looked at your paper and accepted it?”

  “Yup, he even read part of it and said…gosh…what were his words…‘I am very impressed.’”

  “Are you going to torment me for the rest of my life?”

  With a serious expression, Jackson replies, “Not that I want to, but probably.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Nothing,” Jackson mutters. “How much more research do you have to do for your paper?”

  Kayla turns to the computer. “Not a whole lot. I came in here to figure out what this says.”

  Picking up the piece of paper, Jackson reads, “If you want help with foreign languages, I can help you. All you need to do is select a language. I promise to not make fun of you. All you have to do is ask.”

  “Oh,” Kayla whispers. “Thanks.”

  Jackson hands her the note back but doesn’t say anything.

  “That’s nice of you,” she says.

  “If we’re going to go toe-to-toe academically, I can’t have such an advantage over you. It’s not fair.”

  Kayla groans. “Way to take a nice moment and make a snarky comment.”

  “I love that word…snarky. I wasn’t trying to have a nice moment. I was just being honest,” Jackson states matter-of-factly. Kayla starts to say something but then stops. Jackson leans forward. “What were you going to say?”