She was pulling on a second glove. I saw the snow starting outside my window. It was a short walk.“You got everything?” Maybe I should’ve gone w...th the gloves and boots, but I slung into a leather jacket and stepped into my sneakers.“Ready to go!” she cheered. I frowned.“Grab your bag,” I told her. “And don’t leave your textbooks.”“I can come back later. No sense lugging around ... OK.” She must’ve seen my need for sleep. That’s the only way I was stern enough to get her to pack up. I offered. The rod was bolted to the platform and extended to just the right length where the ring sat at the height of Tessa and Fleur's joined mouths. The handler tightly tied both Tessa's and Fleur's elbows and wrists together behind their backs before covering them in single sleeves that he laced shut. Their arms were folded upward at their elbows, so that the tips of the single sleeves could be pulled up toward their necks, where they were secured with a wide leather collar. The position was now. But now that loneliness seemed to help her, as she focused on the newkid, wondering.The first time she noticed something odd about the new kid had been threemonths ago, when one day, out of the blue, she looked at the new kid, andstared crying.A sense of grief, of sadness so great she simply couldn't contain itoverwhelmed her, and all she could do was cry.This feeling stayed with her whenever she was around the new kid for thenext couple of days, and then vanished.Odder, she found herself. He bent down to kiss her lips of cherries. She leaned into his body melting hers with him. They lingered before actually lips touching. Looking deep into one another’s eyes. Willing the other to kiss first. Raven was sure River Hawk was aware of her heart pounding. She felt his body stiffen. His arms encircling her into his hard body.They stood in a moment in time, the sun setting. The breeze blowing her hair so as to cover them both. Passions igniting. Then the kiss, the passionate kiss of new.