Painfully Ordinary Special Edition

Painfully Ordinary

Special
Edition

Stephanie Amox

MITCHELL MORRIS

All rights reserved. Without limiting the
rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in
any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and
the above publisher of this book.

Ebook
ISBN: 9781937629366

Copyright 2010 by Stephanie
Amox

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and
incidents
are either
the product of the author's
imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked
status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of
fiction, which
have been used
without permission. The
publication/use of these trademarks
is not authorized,
associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners
.

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. If you would like to share this book with another person,
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. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it,
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respecting the author's
work
Painfully Ordinary SE.

Acknowledgements

I am deeply
overwhelmed at the number of people who have contacted me regarding how much
they enjoyed
Painfully Ordinary
. When
I originally started writing the story, I never dreamed it would gain such a
diverse following.

In thanks
for all the support from our fans, my publisher and I really wanted everyone to
have the opportunity to read the book the way it
was
originally written
.

I think it
will give everyone a better insight into Talon and how he
is
affected
by the events surrounding him. It will also allow the readers to
learn a little more about Marne and
Johr’s
history.

As always,
I can’t bring these stories to life on my own. It takes the unending support
from my family, my publisher’s faith in The Lumina Saga and the greatest editor
I could ask for. Any editor, who can work with my crazy ideas and stubbornness,
is a saint.

I
am frequently asked
if Caitlin and Talon’s story will
continue. I’m happy to say “Yes!” There will be a third book in the
Lumina
Saga
which
should release sometime in
December 2012. As far as any books past that – well, who knows? I will continue
to write about Caitlin and Talon (and crew) as long as they have a story worth
telling. You can always see the most up to date information on the Facebook
pages for the various books (
Painfully
Ordinary, Family
Secrets
and New Beginnings
).

I hope you enjoy reading this special edition as
much as I enjoyed writing it.

Chapter 1

Beginnings

The strange
woman glided through the dark to the edge of the bed and stared into my eyes. Her
long, straight, chestnut-colored hair flowed around her face, as she moved with
the grace, beauty, and strength of a Native-American princess. Wearing a fluid,
white dress, she made me conscious of the oversized T-shirt and cheer shorts I
had worn to bed. Truthfully, she could have made Aphrodite feel frumpy. Her
eyes were a breathtaking shade of violet, and while gorgeous, they definitely were
not soothing. I clutched the covers to my chin with shaking hands and shuddered
as she stood, openly assessing me. This was not her first visit. Other times,
she stood just outside my open bedroom door looking in. As time passed, she
became more aggressive. Well, maybe aggressive isn’t the right word—perhaps she
just got bolder. I couldn’t figure out who she was or what she wanted from me. What
terrified me most is that she never said a word. I grew paranoid about doors
being open while I slept—as if closing the door to my room could shut the door
on my dreams. Suddenly, I noticed the shadowy silhouette of a man standing in
the far corner of my room. Had he come with the strange woman? Somehow, his
presence was far more malevolent. I pulled the covers tight over my head, and
when I finally emerged, he was gone.
“Ciro”
whispered through the inky darkness of my room. Sleep eluded me for quite some
time after that experience.

“Caitlin…” Mom
said in a singsong voice.

Ugh. Was it
morning already? One thing for certain, the nightmares were getting worse. If
this kept up, I was going to be completely sleep deprived. I had faced the same
dream almost every night for the last few months. They were getting creepier by
the day—or night—whichever the case might have been. I kept waiting for
something even more ominous to happen, and found myself peeking around corners
everywhere I went.

I tried
talking to Mom about the dreams a couple of times, but each time I brought them
up, she would bite her bottom lip and look away. Then she’d turn back to me
with a smile and say, “Oh, Caiti, it was just a dream. You are being so
dramatic,” and change the subject.

But I knew
better.

She only
chewed on her lip like that when she
was really stressed
about something. I got the impression she wasn’t comfortable talking about the
woman in my dream. I didn’t know why, but it was so frustrating.

Now, don’t
get me wrong. I absolutely adored my crazy mom. She could be my best friend and
fiercest protector. I guess if I were honest with myself, I’d have to say we do
have a few things in common. People will sometimes mistake her for my older
sister instead of my mom. It is so irritating, but of course, I
know
she loves it.

“Caiti…get up!
You are going to be late!” Mom yelled from the foot of the stairs.

“Okay, Okay,
I’m up, I’m up
.”
I grumbled.

I rolled
over on my side and sat up, throwing my legs over the side of my bed, and whimpering.
Pushing my tangled hair back from my face, I glanced up at the large tank that
sat on top of my dresser and watched my turtle happily jetting around his tank.
At least Faffy was happy to be up this morning.

Standing, I stretched,
and dragged myself into the bathroom, which, thanks to my mom’s willingness to
reassign the guest bathroom, I no longer had to share with my little brother. My
phone vibrated on the bathroom counter, and I grabbed it before it fell into
the sink. The incoming text was from my best friend, Leah—the one person
outside my family who really gets me.

r
u up yet???

ya
, what’s up?

Can u get
2
school early?

Idk… ill try.
im
not rdy yet

hurry
up i have BIG news

Ack!

I unplugged
my straightening iron. My hair, thick and curly, hung halfway down my back. It would
take forever to straighten, and there was
no
way
I’d have enough time if I
was
going to get to school early. I dug through the pile of
clean clothes in my papasan chair. Mom was always nagging me about how much
easier it would be to find things if I just put them away. Whatever—that’s way
too much work.

Settling on
a pair of jeans and a shirt from my favorite hockey team, I snatched my bag and
phone off my dresser and ran down the stairs. I could put my makeup on during
the drive to school.

“That was
fast.” Mom said.

I shrugged. “Leah
needs me.”

My mom laughed
as my little brother’s head popped up from his breakfast, his cheeks reddening slightly
at the mention of Leah’s name. He shoved the last bite of his sausage biscuit
into his mouth and jumped off the barstool.

“I’b rebbyy,”
he said around a mouthful of sausage.

The majority
of the ride to Brady’s school and then to mine, was punctuated with the hum of
incoming text messages. Mom watched me out of the corner of her eye and smiled.

“Is Leah going
to last until you can get to school?”

I had to snicker
at her.

“What is she
so wound up about?” she asked.

Rolling my
eyes, I let my phone drop into my lap.

“I have no idea,”
I said, shaking my head. “But after all this, it better be something really
good.”

We pulled up
to the back door leading to the cafeteria, and I could already see Leah hopping
from one foot to the other. When she saw our car, she waved frantically.

My mom chuckled.
“You two try to stay out trouble today, okay?”

Rolling my
eyes and slinging my backpack over one shoulder, I strolled toward Leah. As it turned
out, she couldn’t even wait for me to get inside, and ended up meeting me
halfway to the doors.

“Oh my God!
Oh my God!
What took
you so long to get here? Did you hear the news?”

She threw
her long, blonde hair over one shoulder, blue eyes flashing with excitement. She
was talking so fast, she grew breathless.

I held both
palms up in front of me.
“Easy, turbo, slow down for a
minute.
You are making me dizzy.”

She grimaced
and rolled her eyes.

“Okay, now. What
is this earth-shattering news which made you text me nonstop this morning? My
mom probably thinks you are having some sort of episode.”

Leah raised
one eyebrow and grumbled, “Would you be serious?”

Surprised at
the outburst, I patted her on the shoulder apologetically.

“I’m sorry.
I was just messing with you. So what is the big news?”

Slightly
mollified, she took a deep breath before continuing.

“Guuuurrl…”she
fanned her face with one hand.

I noticed
several brightly colored butterflies flying around her head. Where in the world
had those come from?

“Have you heard
about the two bits of hotness that just transferred? I got a text from Morgan before
I even got here this morning.”

“Huh?” I was
slightly dazed and blinked rapidly. I
was so distracted
by her halo of butterflies that I hadn’t even paid attention to what she was
saying.

Leah’s head
shook and acted
like
she was going to have the episode
I accused her of earlier.

“Caiti?
Are you even listening to me?”

“I’m sorry. I’m
just
really
tired, and I need more sleep. Okay, so we
have two new hotties. What’s their story? I mean, who are they, and where did
they transfer from?” I asked before waving my hand dismissively. “Not that it
really matters, since Tami and her band of Alley Cats will latch onto them soon
enough.”

Leah’s eyes
sparkled again as she patted my arm excitedly.

“That’s just
it! No one knows anything about them, since they seem to kind of keep to
themselves
. They walked right past that whole group and didn’t
even look twice. It was great! Tami and her entire crew appeared so confused. Wait
until you see them.
Daaaaaayum.
On top of looking
good, they have the most incredible accents. They sound Russian or something. It’s
totally exotic…,” she paused.
”…and hot.”

I bit my
bottom lip. “Well, what do they look like? How will I know when I see them?”

She shook
her head. “Oh, don’t worry, you’ll know. Whew, girl, will you know!”

I didn’t
even have time to think about what that meant before she grabbed me by the arm.

“Hurry up—we
don’t want to be late!”

I stumbled into
geometry in a fog, still thinking about what she’d said. Why did they move here,
of all places?

I plopped
down into my seat and grimaced at the board. I was sure the Alley Cats would gather
and start circling the newcomers in record time.

I tapped my
pencil on the edge of my desk, impatiently waiting for Mr. Von to start class. Sometimes,
I wondered how he managed to get himself dressed in the morning. Suddenly, my
pencil slipped out of my hand, rolled off the edge of my desk and clattered to
the floor.

Crap.

I bent down
to pick it up and found myself staring into the face of the most stunningly
gorgeous guy I had ever seen. He had rugged good looks, instead of being the
pretty-boy, male model type. Vin Diesel might have some competition for my
attention with this guy.

Holy crap!
This must be one of the
newcomers Leah described this morning.
Whew—she wasn’t exaggerating. No
wonder she was all wound up.

I had no
idea how long my internal monologue went on, but I realized he was still
holding my pencil out to me.

“Thanks.” I
mumbled, blushing to the tips of my ears.

Oh, man! Why
hadn’t I straightened my hair this morning and worn something cute?

Tami twisted
around in her chair, watching me through narrowed eyes. I had never been able
to stand her, so I just stared back and raised an eyebrow in challenge. She glanced
from me to where he was sitting directly behind her, and it wasn’t until that
point I realized he was still studying me.

Tami turned
all the way around in her chair and placed her hand lightly on his arm, showing
him a row of perfectly straight teeth.

“Oh, you’ll
have to excuse Caitlin,” she said in a sickeningly sweet, baby voice and
giggled. “She is just so uncoordinated.”

Oh, no she didn’t!
Who
was she calling uncoordinated? Unfortunately, my emotions tend to show all over
my face. When I’m pissed, everyone knows it, and I was all
kinds
of pissed at her.

She refused
to break eye contact, daring me to do something. Normally, I would just blow
her off. I really didn’t care what she thought, and frankly, she was a waste of
energy. However, this time, something inside me snapped.

Perhaps it
was the whole lack of sleep thing again.

I granted my
total attention to the newcomer, flashing him my brightest smile. He appeared startled
and presented me with a grin in return that took my breath away.

“Oh, ignore Tami.
She’s just mad because someone dropped a house on her sister.”

He stared down
at the floor and, to his credit, didn’t actually laugh, but I saw his shoulders
shake.

Tami glared
at me.

“Caitlin,
you are such a freak.” Leaning closer to me and lowering her voice, she
continued. “You can just forget about him. He won’t want some little
nobody
like you. He
will
be mine. I’ll tell Ryan you were looking at him, and that will be the end of
that, won’t it?”

This was
exactly the kind of thing that always set Ryan off. Ex-boyfriends were the
absolute worst. She fixed a fake smile on her face and carried on watching the
newcomer like he was a juicy steak and she was starving.

Tami always
used the exact same tactics, and he would probably fall for it just like all
the others before him–and believe me, there were
plenty
before him. I pivoted in my seat just in time to see him
scowl and remove Tami’s hand from his arm.

I laughed aloud,
couldn’t help myself. He bent his head, giving me a conspiratorial wink. Mr.
Von decided to start class at that exact moment, so I never got to see her
reaction, but I could only assume it wasn’t good, since this was the second
time he had blown her
off
.

Throughout
class, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Someone was watching me,
but the only person sitting behind me was the new guy. Was it
him
? I really needed to find out his name, so I could stop
referring to him as “the new guy”.

Why would he
be watching me? I was painfully ordinary. Someone like him could have anyone he
wanted.

I couldn’t
figure him out. Then I suffered a moment of sheer panic, remembering how I had left
the house in such a rush that morning.

I seriously
hoped I didn’t have some sort of Alfalfa-thing going on with the back of my
hair.

I rubbed my
necklace between my fingers, as I always do when I’m upset. It’s a dark-gray stone
cut into a unique pattern, like a flame, held on a long, black cord. My mom
gave it to me when I turned sixteen, and made me promise to wear it every day. I
never take it off, except when I’m at tumbling practice. The stone has been
worn smooth by the constant rubbing, and holding it always relaxed me.

The bell
rang, signaling the end of class. I must have completely lost track of time,
but what else was new?