Chapter 3
Dating disaster

I got up feeling the best I have ever felt, especially considering that I woke up ten minutes early. I took a quick shower and dried my hair. Mom did a good impression of a surprised owl when I came down to breakfast; Jake inhaled bagel before gaping at me. Dad looked up from his newspaper and nearly jumped out of his skin. They all stared at me as if I had tarantulas crawling out of my ears.
“What?”
“You-you’re awake ten minutes early!”
“Dad, I think I’m aware that I woke up ten minutes early.”
“You’re never awake even one second early!”
“I GET IT. It isn’t the thing I normally do but I felt like waking up today.”
My family just doesn’t know how to cope with anyone doing anything out of the ordinary. Even if it’s just waking up a few minutes earlier than usual. Instead of eating breakfast with everyone staring at me, I grabbed some toast and jam. I got my bag and left the house a full ten minutes earlier, family still gaping at me. I saw the new guy jump out his window right before me. I saw another Risen stick her head out the window screaming at him until he passed me. She stopped screaming and ducked her head inside. After I saw her pull her head in I remembered the new guy’s name from my dream, his name was Gabriel. He pulled up next to me so quietly I almost punched him out of a reflex. We were silent for a few minutes, then I spoke when I thought I was going to explode if I didn’t say something.
“Thank you for the chocolates and flowers you gave me yesterday. How did you know that they were my favorites?”
“Umm… uh… lucky guess?”
“A really lucky guess.”
“Yeah.”
He seemed to be trying hard to decide something. It wasn’t helping just staring at him so I asked him the first thing that came to mind.
“Have any good dreams lately?”
“Huh?”
Jeez! Why did I come up with such a stupid question? I could have asked him anything but I asked him about dreams. I was about to fly off in embarrassment when he answered me.
“A few.”
“Like what?” I can’t believe that he actually wanted to talk about any stupid subject I brought up.
“They had you in them for one thing.”
“What were they about?” I couldn’t believe my own ears! He had dreams about me.
“I don’t know if you want to hear about them…”
“TELL ME!” I was almost about to yell but I didn’t want to be aggressive towards him. He uncovered his face and told me,
“Well, the first one was the day before I started the night classes.” If he wasn’t joking, there may be a connection to our dreams.
“I was standing on a cloud and I was holding you in my arms. It was quiet for a long time. We were looking deep into each other’s eyes, yours were intense and energetic, your hair was soft like silk and black like jet, you were perfect in that dream, just like in life.” How sweet! He told me he thinks I’m perfect!
“But when you saw, my wings, you screamed and started running away from me. I began to run after you but I felt like time was slowing down. So I started to call your name, Angela.”
“I never told you my name.”
“How do you know?”
“I had that same dream, but from my view and yesterday I had a dream that we were standing on a cloud and I began to call your name so I could talk to you. My mom thought I was having a seizure so she panicked and started yelling my name. You flew away and my mom woke me up.” His eyes lit up and became intense rather than soothing.
“This is just weird, I had that same dream!” for the first time, Gabriel actually seemed interested in me.
“This IS weird. Why do you think we have our dreams at the same time?”
“I really don’t know Angela; I’ll try to find out.”
“Me too.”
“By the way, if I never told you my name, how did you know it?”
“I just sort of, knew.”
“If you know my name, what is it?”
“Gabriel.” He opened his eyes so wide I thought they would almost pop out of his head.
“I guess we should fly separate, some people have a mouth…”
“Like a torn pocket. I know that feeling.”
“Oh, then you’ve met my brother.” He started to turn but then he came back.
“Who?” He sounded like he had done something wrong.
“My brother, Jake. You’ve met him?”
“Uhhh… yeah.” I could tell he was just a little uncomfortable about this. Normally I would give him a hard time, but I liked him too much to do that. So, I just said that he couldn’t keep a secret. I was about to turn when he grabbed my arm.
“Meet me behind the gym.” We flew in separate directions, just in time. I would have not shown up behind the gym, but since I had ten extra minutes that I don’t usually have; I did show up. Gabriel was standing there, as I knew he would be. I landed and walked up to him. He was resting against the wall and his wings were pulled away from the brick and ever so slightly touching the ground. Before this I had never realized how well built he was. His shoulders were broad, his arms and torso were well muscled. Even for an angel he was a little tall. I snapped myself out of my trance and he asked me,
“Will you go out with me?” I could hardly believe my ears! He just asked me to go on a date with him! The words had hardly left his mouth when I said yes.
“But my parents are going to kill me if they find out that a Risen is my date! I mean no offense but- wait…” I heard the scraping of feet on the ground.
“What?” the split second after he said it I leaped around the corner of the building and attacked my brother, I forced him onto his back, kneeling on his chest with his arms under his back and pinning his wings to the asphalt. Gabriel stood there I awe for a second and then he kneeled down next to Jake’s face and growled,
“You were my only friend in the night classes, and then you do this! Now, what did you hear?” Jake was holding back a scream of pain but said nothing. I began to crush his wings harder into the ground when he spilled his guts.
“I heard everything!” I bent over into his face and told him in a low, dark voice,
“I ought to punch you in the face and beat you black and blue, but I’m not going to. If you keep this a secret, I’ll keep it a continued secret that you were the one who lit the principal’s office on fire.” He knows that I’m the only living angel on earth who knows that he’s the one who did it. In addition, I picked up some good blackmail techniques from him. Jake also knows that I’ll break his wings if he goes too far. Squirming with pain and frustration, he finally agreed. I let him up but didn’t let him leave without giving him a warning punch in the arm.
“Remember, we have an agreement.” Gabriel stood up and looked at the ground for a while, I felt bad that my brother was his only friend since he came here. I came up next to him and lifted his head up.
“You okay?” he looked at me and said
“I guess so.”
“Gabriel, my brother does this to everyone. Including my parents.” I wrapped my arms around his waist, I felt warm against his skin, and I felt safe with him. He wrapped his arms around me and he kissed me. I felt electricity running through my entire body. He enclosed us in his wings until it abruptly ended, when the trolling bell rudely interrupted us. We separated. Before he left, I told him one last thing before we walked to class.
“After school at seven, in the city park.” He smiled and nodded. I smiled and then we started the night. I waited, in a trance through school. I gripped my desk so hard in my last class; I might’ve left imprints of my fingers in the metal bars that held it up. The bell finally rang and I ran so fast to my locker that I must have mowed down at least ten people. I almost tore my locker door off in anticipation to get home. I almost broke my window getting in and I locked myself in the bathroom to put on makeup and fix my hair. I ended up with loose curls. I went back into my room to find my best outfit. It took me fifteen minutes to find it; the outfit ended up with a pair of black Capri’s, black heeled sandals, and a red top. I had my previous outfit off and the new one lying on the bed when Jake barged in, ready to yell at me for hogging the bathroom. I screamed and grabbed a blanket. He stood there in the doorway, gaping like I was mutilated or something so, I kicked him in the ribs and into the wall out in the hallway and slammed my door shut. I quickly got my new outfit on and made it to the park without messing my outfit up. I found him under the weeping willow in the center of the park; he was relatively dressed up for being a guy. I landed on the path nearby and walked up to him.
“So where are we going?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why?”
“It’ll ruin the surprise.”
“I hate surprises, especially when I know there’s going to be a surprise.”
“You’re going to have to wait anyway.” I did a fake pout and he handed me a moonflower, I put it behind my ear and we took to the air. Gabriel leading the way, he landed suddenly. No sooner had I landed than he had a blindfold on me. He took me by the hand and led me up what seemed like an enormous hill. Then, he untied the blindfold. He had taken me to the highest point in the city. The moon was setting and the sun was rising, the stars gleamed brightly in between them. I couldn’t believe that he had done this.
“Gabriel, I really don’t know what to say.” He smiled and gestured for us to sit on the ledge and drink the scenery. I sat right next to him and leaned my head on his shoulder, wishing that this night would never end. He leaned his head to mine and an incredible sensation blasted through me. I could hear his thoughts, I could see his memories, and I could feel what he felt as he felt it. We both cringed at the alien probe that burrowed into our brains. It was terrifying but strangely comforting knowing that it wasn’t just me. We tore away from each other and though I was not close enough to touch him, I could hear what he was going to say. Although spots were dazzling my eyes, I got off the ground and managed to crawl over to Gabriel. He was staring blankly out into space not thinking anything. Then he shouted in his head as loud as he could,
‘What happened?’
‘I don’t know. I’ve never heard of anything like this happening to anyone else.’
‘I haven’t either. How did it happen to us?’
‘This is WEIRD.’
‘Try saying something out loud.’
“Why?” he jumped so high off his back, I thought he would fall off the cliff side. He sat up and faced me. I looked into his eyes and felt a deep terror bounce back and forth between us. He suddenly put his head up.
“What is it?” he held a silent finger to his lips and pointed at a spot from over his shoulder as he lowered his left wing a fraction of an inch at a time. I heard a tiny snap and a small flash of blond hair. Although the space was too small to fly, I leaped over Gabriel and held the angel behind the tree in a crushing, full nelson wrestling hold. She wrenched around and tried to take off; I wrapped my legs around the nearest tree and locked my wing claws on a couple of thick branches. The bark on the tree bit into my skin, the pulsing of pain ran through my calf and I felt the blood oozing from my skin but I didn’t let go.
“Next time you play spy, practice a little more!” I was able to shout at her as she screamed. Gabriel walked up and gripped her ankles, causing her to cease kicking. He stared her in the face and said in a low and intimidating voice,
“Abby! What are you doing here? You told everyone you were staying at Chelsea’s house tonight! You weren’t lying, were you?”
“I DON’T LIE!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, it rang in my ears and caused me to cringe. “I AM staying at Chelsea's house tonight! I never said I wasn’t going to go on a walk alone though!” Gabriel was angrier then than I had ever seen anyone get. He shouted right in her face,
“That’s just like you! Setting up loopholes so you can spy on me! Go get a life and a boyfriend while you’re at it! You’re not the boss and you don’t steer me around like some wimpy little boy! So stay out of my life and get one of your own!” I could hardly believe someone could get that angry. I tightened my grip even though I was bleeding more than was healthy. I growled in her ear,
“If you ever try this again I’ll have you know that I have a very nasty grip, and we wouldn’t want your pretty little wings getting in that grip now would we?” I released my hold and then I collapsed on the ground. I was bleeding heavily from a four-inch tear in the skin on my leg. Before I fainted away, I saw Gabriel kneeling beside me and his sister takes off from the cliff in cowardice.