King Hall (Forever Evermore, #1)
Scarlett Dawn
About the Author
Scarlett Dawn is drawn to all things quirky and offbeat. She believes there are no boundaries for an imaginative soul. Her love of the written word started at an early age, when her grandmother would take her to bookstores every weekend. Dreams came alive within the books she found there, and now she is thrilled to share her stories with others who have fallen under the spell of taking fantastical journeys. Scarlett resides in the Midwest with her husband, three children, and two dogs.
You can interact with Scarlett Dawn on her Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorScarlettDawn
Acknowledgements
My husband: Thank you for being the ground to my sky.
Kid 1: Thank you for making me laugh.
Kid 2: Thank you for making me see.
Kid 3: Thank you for making me believe.
While this story would never have been accomplished without the patience and support of my family, I want to give a special thank you to Kate Cuthbert for pushing me to write the best story possible. Thank you to my copy editor, Nicolene Hale, who is utterly amazing at her work and deserves a bear hug for putting up with my hectic schedule. Also, to all of my beta readers/crits, I blow kisses in your direction and say thank you: Andreea (I’ll take a “Damn you” any time), Charles (behave, kee kat), Charlotte (the sexiest shorts stayed), Kelly (kind enough to offer), Mahita (never too harsh), Ainslie (a good poke in the ribs never hurt anyone), and King Mark (*wonders what our combined warning should be*). To everyone else who has been my cheerleader in this journey, I thank you! Enormous hugs all around!
To my grandmother,
You raised me.
You embraced me.
You gave me wings.
You are the essence of true beauty.
Love forever,
S.D.
Chapter One
August 1, 2012
Sex Education.
No matter your age (sixteen or nineteen), or what school you attended (Commoner or Mystical), this class was still “are you kidding me” worthy. Knowing this as fact wasn’t difficult because I had endured Com schools from kindergarten through to my high school graduation. Even so, because of my switch to a Mys school, and because Law dictated Mysticals weren’t adults until they were twenty-two, I was currently one of the few sophomores at King Hall University slinking down on my seat as Mr. Busk — or, Mr. Beak, as I “intellectually” called him — strolled in front of me, dropping two condoms on my desktop.
Mine wasn’t the only lucky desk he added this stunning addition to. He placed two condoms on everyone’s desk. To add insult to injury, Mrs. Fowler — I had no mental nickname for her because I actually liked her — lifted a basket and began placing an extra-enormous banana and a normal sized banana on each person’s desk.
Rambling to the front of the room, Mrs. Fowler sat the basket on her desk and dug into it. She cleared her throat, lifting an extra-large banana high into the air. “Mysticals are naturally more endowed than Commoners.” With her other hand, she raised a regular sized banana, holding them side-by-side. Point made.
“In review of last year, and in case you go against our teachings,” the entire class got the hairy eyeball, “abstinence, if you’ve already forgotten,” a look at the bananas in her hands, “you need to be prepared for the variation of sizes.” She used the huge banana to point at the regular one. “Just because it’s smaller doesn’t mean you won’t contract a germ.” Her glare encompassed everyone. With restrained silence weighing heavily, Mrs. Fowler’s hand flicked: a silent order to commence the condom application.
I bit my lip to keep from laughing, since Mys were known for their…friendliness. Plus, she had called it a germ. While diseases couldn’t touch us in any serious way, a Com STD did give us flu-like symptoms for two weeks if one was contracted from them, instead of the lifelong consequences (or possible death) Coms would face.
Last year, we even had the pleasure to view the videos, and snapshots, of these Com diseases. Fun times were had by all. I hadn’t eaten for two days straight after those horrific shots. Did parents seriously know their “kid’s” teachers were showing X-rated pictures with disgusting and disturbing things wrong with Com private parts?
I was betting “no”.
Elly sat to my right, lifting her smaller banana, her white eyebrows raised. “You really think Coms are this size?”
My lips twitched. “Sometimes smaller.”
Elly’s already raised brows shot to her identical white hairline. “How do you know that?” She paused before her mouth widened into an ‘O’. “Lily, you’ve been holding out on me!” Of course, this comment earned attention from others and she leaned closer. “Who was he?”
I slunk down further while most stared. “Just some Com I saw at a party once. I didn’t do anything with him. He was busy doing it with someone else.” I barely held back a sigh of relief as my classmates went back to their project when they heard I didn’t have anything impressive to say.
Elly’s short white curls hung over one of her eyes, and she brushed it away impatiently, flashing her pink-painted fingernails. She waggled the regular banana. “They’re really smaller than this?”