um … happy birthday.” One side of his mouth lifts up in a half-smile. “I love you, Ian.” That gets his full smile and gets Kallos another kiss. It's still a little strange for her to say she loves him, but she loves the way is sounds when it's going to Ian and Sean.
“Oh, Kallos, I love you. Now let’s get going; you have to talk to your parents.” Ian and Kallos walk hand-in-hand to the school. He lets go right before they enter.
“Kallos, we aren’t going to hide us,” Ian suddenly says as they are walking up to their lockers, and she turns to look at him.
“What do you mean …’hide us’?” She arches an eyebrow.
“I mean Sean and Ian aren’t going to hide being with you. I don’t care what people think, and I already know that Sean doesn’t care either. I just hope you can handle it. Some people won’t say anything, but others will.” Kallos hasn’t thought about what people will think. She has two boyfriends, and she can’t believe she does. She never had a boy look at her until this week, and now she has two boyfriends. She doesn’t want to hide that she is with them either, but it scares her to think what people will say.
“I don’t want to hide us either.” She says.
“Good, because I wouldn’t be happy if we did,” Sean said behind them. Just hearing his voice makes her react. Kallos can feel her skin heat up and her mark tingle. She turns around and sees both of them; the first thing she thinks is how lucky she is. They aren't just beautiful they are caring.
“Kallos is going to go and talk to her dad before class,” Ian said as he grabs his things.
“Well, his office is on my way to class, so I can walk you there,” Sean grins at her.
“Okay, that sounds good. I’ll see you in a little bit, Ian.” Kallos is standing in between Sean and Ian, and she wonders if she is supposed to kiss Ian or not. There are a lot of people around, and Kallos knows that if she does, there will be rumors. Kallos realizes that she doesn't care what anyone besides Sean and Ian thinks. She leans in to Ian and kisses him on the lips. It's a short, sweet kiss. She can't miss how his body relaxes against hers for those few seconds. When she is pulling away, he smiles down at her, and she is smiles back. “Bye,” she whispers.
****
“See you soon,” Ian watches Kallos and Sean walking away. He can't believe that he is in love with her. He knows that she is his soul mate, but he never thought he would love her the way he does. He knew the first time he met her, when she smashed her beautiful head into his forehead. Ian loves how shy she is and how she doesn't realize how beautiful she is. He knows she doesn't think she deserves him and Sean, but the truth is she deserves more. Kallos should have whatever she wants in life, and he knows that won't include both him and his brother. There will be a time when she will pick one of them; Ian prays it's him.
As he is walking to his classroom, he sees Karissa. He hasn't talked to her since he saw her with Kallos. Ian thinks about walking past her, but he can't. They have been best friends for a while, and he doesn't want to lose that. Kallos is one of the only people who truly know about him and his family. She looks up and gives him a half-hearted smile; he continues to walk to her.
“Hey, Karissa,” Ian can see her flinch when he uses her full name. She looks down at her feet, but he doesn't miss the hurt that he’s caused reflected on her face.
“Can we talk?” She mumbles.
“Yeah. I think we should” She glances up at Ian and nods. He decides she should be the one to talk first.
“I'm sorry I freaked out at Kallos. But I do have a good reason for it,” Karissa said when they are almost to the classroom. “You can't tell me that you are okay with sharing her with your brother. I know you two, and you guys barely get along.”
“Kris, we are both her soul mates. I have to deal with Sean if I want to be with Kallos.” She takes a chance and looks him in