Chapter 3 We're Being Puncked, Pedro

"This makes no sense dad, why are we being punished?" Lizzie whined as she walked into the library, followed by Josie and Hope.

"Because you started a brawl at a charity football game that risked exposing what we were doing here." Dad said as he pulled a book out of one of the shelves. Cassiel was reading a book to help his father in researching the knife, and when he heard his sisters started a brawl with muggles over a flag football game, he almost bursted out laughing.

"Well, you weren't mad last night." Lizzie brought up a weak defense.

"Oh I was mad last night." Dad said as he walked in my direction. "My undying love for my daughters just happened to trump my rage. I volunteered everyone in the game, so stop complaining. Your lucky it's only community service and not actual jail time." They came to a stop right behind me. I saw that the girls registered me and were wondering what I was doing here.

"Can I at least offer a rebuttal in my defense, If it pleases the court?" Lizzie asked, as dad decided to humor her. "First of all, I was provoked. My response, was totally proportional considering the levels of abuse I was forced to endure." Hope laughed to herself in disbelief of Lizzie's dramatic reasoning. "And secondly...if anyone should take the blame, its Josie."

This made Cassiel raise his head from the book and turn around to look at Lizzie.

"What?" Josie asked offended and betrayed.

"I'm sorry. But if you would have just let Kaleb catch the ball..."

"You'd still be in trouble." Dad said.

"But nice job throwing your sister under the bus." Hope said with her usual sarcasm. Lizzie made a face to her in annoyance.

"Thank you, Hope." Josie said quietly, while Lizzie looked betrayed. Cassiel sighed as he closed his book and stood up from his seat, making them all look at him. He walked up in front of Lizzie, and layed his head on the railing she was leaning on.

"What did I tell you before I left Lizz?" Cassiel asked as he looked up at her.

"To not let the muggles bother me?" Lizzie asked as if she was a little girl again.

"Uh-huh, the little muggles are below us when they think they are better because of their social status and outer apperance. They believe their life revolves around school and sports. Dont bring yourself so low to fight with them my beautiful sister." Cassiel gave her a smile as he went back to his table and leaned on it instead of sitting back down on the chair.

"The bus leaves in ten minutes, and I expect the three of you girls to be on it, working harmoniously and without drama. End of debate." Dad said with his fatherly authority.

"I wasn't even at the game. Why am I being punished?" Hope brought up.

"You can thank Cassie for that." They all looked at me again.

"I signed us up for it." Cassiel said with a smile.

"Why?" Hope sounded confused now.

"Because it's a nice thing to do for the community, I wanted some more company, and you still have to make it up to me." Cassiel kept his smile as Hope looked dejected.

"Now go, all of you, before you miss the bus." Dad urged us on.

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Everyone stepped out of the bus as Dorian came out holding bags and trash sticks. "Alright listen up. Beautiful day, you've got options. Litter, weeds, graffiti. Your choice." Dorian said as he handed the stick to Kaleb and went back into the bus.

"Man it's bad enough that we get punished while the humans get a pass, but there ain't no way in hell I'm picking up their garbage." Kaleb said as he handed the stick to Lizzie.

"Uh, I don't do trash either." Lizzie said as she raised her hands.

"I love trash, as of this moment." Hope said as she took the stick.

"Good, it suits you." Lizzie spat out. "Looks like we're scrubbing paint today." Lizzie said as she turned to Josie.

"Dad told us to work together, ok. Harmoniously." Josie said as she had her arms folded in to herself.

"Yeah, and he also said without drama, and I am feeling a rage attack coming on, so I will be remaining drama-free over by that wall of graffiti." Lizzie said as she gestured to the wall. "Are you coming or not?"

"I dont know, Lizzie, is there another bus you want to throw me under?" Josie said still upset. She walked over to Hope's side that was to pick up trash.

"Fine, daddy's girls." Lizzie said as she looked at the two. "Anyone else?" Lizzie looked around. No one seemingly wanted to join her. Cassiel sighed out loud.

"Alright, I'll go with you Lizzie." Lizzie seemed happy as Hope looked over at him a little upset.

"You said you brought me over to this thing so I could keep you company." Hope didn't understand the whole point of her coming if she wasn't keeping him company.

"You already have company." Cassiel said as he kissed Josie's forehead. "Please get along." Cassiel said as he was about to do the same thing to Hope, but stopped himself. He awkwardly patted her head for a half second before going to Lizzie. Hope was disappointed for some reason, not like she understood why.

"Let's go Lizz." Cassiel picked up some buckets and brushes and walked toward the wall.

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"Come one MG, if you were going any slower, you'd be going in reverse." Lizzie complained as she watched MG scrub away at a mirror that read 'SALVATORE IS 4 LOOSERS' in graffiti.

"You know Lizzie, I don't see you scrubbing. Those who are not working don't have a right to complain." Cassiel said as he scrubbed the other side MG was on.

"But Cassie, I can't ruin my outfit with soap water." Lizzie complained as Cassiel shook his head with a laugh.

"I'm going as fast as I can without vamping it out." MG defended himself.

"That's plain pitiful bruh." Kaleb said as he sat on a bucket.

"Well, at least he is trying. I don't see you pitching in." Lizzie said.

"You just said you are not cleaning because you don't want to ruin your outfit. Besides, this whole thing is wack." Kaleb laughed. "What? We get punished for trying to win a game fair and square?"

"Would you say Flash racing a normal human is fair? Same concept Kaleb." Cassie said as some of the paint on his side was going away.

"And LeBron's maybe the best player ever. Should he quite scoring? 'Couse no one in the court can check him? We're faster, we're stronger. We're better."

"Point taken." Cassiel said as he kept scrubbing. "But you are also wrong there."

"How so?" Kaleb asked not believing him.

"Would you say you are better the Einstein? What about Hawking? Da Vinci? Darwin? Newton? Aristotle? Sure, you may be faster and stronger. But can your mind beat theirs? People are born differently, some are better than others in certain areas. It is not wise to think yourself better, it can bring your downfall." Cassiel said, making Kaleb think a little. Soon their attention was brought over to a group who were laughing.

"Hypothetical question. How bad would it suck if whoever did this graffiti came back tonight and put it right back up again?" The man who was holding a milkshake was clearly this group of muggles leader.

"Well, whoever it is, I hope he improves his spelling." Lizzie said, hurting the muggles pride as Kaleb laughed.

"Well Hello Hello. Who are you? I've never seen you around." A blonde girl said seductively as she walked up to Cassiel.

"Hello. You must be Dana." Cassiel said as he shook her hand.

"Oh, you know me. I'm flattered." A blush came to Dana's face as she smiled widely.

"Yes, my sister has told me a lot about you." Cassiel said with a smile. Dana's smile stiffened.

"Sister?" She hoped it wasn't who she thought it was.

"Please don't talk to my brother, he is way to good for you." Lizzie said from behind her.

"I'm sure your not his mother." Dana spat back.

"It's ok Lizzie." Cassiel said still smiling.

"Cassie!" Lizzie said in disbelief. She couldn't believe her brother wanted to talk to this bitch. Cassiel narrowed his eyes as he could see the mischief in the eyes of the one with the milkshake. He was looking at Lizzie, and Cassiel knew what he was going to do before he even did it. Before he could throw the milkshake on Lizzie, Cassiel moved in front of her, blocking her from getting drenched.

The milkshake splashed all over his shirt as the one who threw it laughed even more. He was planning on hitting the blonde bitch, but hitting this pretty boy wasn't bad either.

"You asshole!" Lizzie yelled from behind Cassiel.

"Its Alright Lizzie. It was getting hot anyway." Cassiel said as he took off his shirt, revealing his toned upper body. He was really ripped, and the tattoos on his back only made him look sexier. "I'll just get a new shirt from the store later." Cassiel said as he threw his shirt on the floor next to a bucket.

Dana and the two other Muggle girls in the group all had their breaths cought in their throat. They eyed his body, and tried to burn it in their memory.

"Can you rejects please leave? I am growing tired of your presence. I have some 5 year olds mess to clean up, so go find something better to do other than disappointing your parents." Cassiel said with a smile as he continued to wash the window. The man with the shake clenched his jaw as he and his group started to walk away.

"Oh wait!" Cassiel called as he grabbed a bucket of dirty water. "Do me a favor and throw this out for me?" Cassiel said as he threw the water on the guy. "Please and thank you." Cassiel smiled as the guy was in disbelief. He was really mad this time, but he smelled like crap and his pride was wounded, so he left quickly. Cassiel went back to his group who looked stunned and amused, especially Lizzie who looked ecstatic.

"Seems like we'll need some more water." Cassiel looked at the empty bucket.

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Cassiel walked to refill the water, where he saw Hope and Josie talk as they picked up trash. They seemed to be in a bit of a heated discussion, since Hope stabbed her foot with the stick. Josie helped her pull it out as they both laughed after. Cassiel smiled at the sight. This was the real reason he brought Hope out. He wanted her to bond with SOME of her fellow classmates, especially his sisters. Seeing as it was working, Cassiel decided to walk back to the school. He wasn't obligated to be here and there was more than enough people to get the job done. Besides, The primary kids were planting flowers in the garden today so he could help them with that. Plus it would be a great opportunity to put a shirt on.

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"Ew, look at that." Josie told Hope as she pointed at what she was looking at. Hope turned around and saw MG making out with Dana.

"Huh. Didn't see that coming." Hope said.

"It's simple math, MG has the hormones of a teenager and the impulse control of a preschooler." Josie said making Hope laugh. "He also always goes for the wrong kinds of girls."

"Given my last crush, I can't judge." Hope said as she started walking.

"Well my last crush was actually Satan incarnate." Josie said as she walked with Hope. "That is I guess, unless you count..."

"Who?" Hope asked curiously.

"Never mind. It really doesn't matter anymore." Josie said. "Lizzie has dibs."

"Dibs? On Rafael? She always calls dibs. When is it going to be your turn?" Hope asked.

"It just is what it is." Josie said with her arms folded in on herself.

"Right well that doesn't really make it right." Hope said.

"Hey Josie, have you seen where our dear brother went?" Lizzie asked as she walked up to the two.

"No, why?" Josie asked.

"Well, after he got milkshake splashed all over his shirt by a group of Neanderthals, he had went to get water but hasn't come back yet."

"What? Is he ok?" Hope asked.

"He's fine. He took off his shirt so he is walking around all sexy. He threw dirty water on the one who dirtied his shirt, hence the reason he was getting water." Lizzie explained.

"He doesn't have a shirt on?" Hope asked. Now that she remembers it, he didn't have a shirt on yesterday either. He had a really toned body. Hope quickly shook her head from such thoughts about her best friend. "Well he probably went back to the school, you know to get a shirt."

"How is that fair?! We are out here working our butts off while he gets to go back?" Lizzie complained.

"I'm sure he'll come back. He likes doing things like this." Josie defended her brother.

"Yeah well, it's bad enough that bitch Dana was hitting on our brother, but now he is walking back to school without a shirt on. Do you know how many girls are going to try to get in his pants?" Hope and Josie were all ears now.

"Dana hit on Cassie?" Josie asked looking back at the tree.

"What did he say?" Hope asked immediately. Lizzie gave her a weired look, but didn't think or care much about it.

"He said no obviously. They were being mean to me, so he wasn't going to be very nice to them." Hope let out a small sigh, but gave herself a weired look for doing it.

"So, mind telling us what secrets daddy has been keeping from us?" Lizzie looked at Hope.

"What?" Hope asked.

"It is so not fair that you and Cassiel know stuff that we dont. I mean, we are his daughters too. Why are we always left in the dark?" Lizzie asked upset. Josie couldn't help but agree.

Hope sighed to herself. "Landon and Rafael took off together. Landon told me he didn't know why he stole the knife. But then he lied about having it, so I dont know what to believe. Then he wrote me this letter that was...I dont know, sweet." Hope said. She felt weired sharing her thoughts, but she didn't really regret it.

"So Rafael left?" Lizzie looked sad, but not too sad. She was starting to get over this one sided crush because of what Cassie told her.

"There is a way we could check on them, kind of like a supernatural Skype. Do you girls want to do it?" Hope suggested. The two looked at each other, then nodded as they joined hands.

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Cassiel walked to the gardens with a brand new shirt on. He had told his dad what happened, and he told him to help the kids. Cassiel was more than happy to help out with the kids. They were planting flowers and trees in the school garden. Cassiel saw the boys laughing and playing with the dirt, while the girls played with the flowers.

Cassiel went to the girls and helped them plant the flowers. He picked some of them and put them in the girls hair, making them so happy they started pretending to be princesses. Cassiel then helped the boys plant the trees, where Pedro helped him. Pedro was a pretty lovable kid, only Cassiel has seen him by himself a few times. He might be in need of a few friends.

Currently he was taking a break with the rest of the kids. Pedro was sitting in front of him while he sat on a rock.

"So Pedro, how are you liking the school? I'm sure it must he really different from your last one." Cassiel asked.

"Its fun. Everyone here is really nice to me..." Pedro said.

"But?" Cassiel knew there was more.

"But it's hard making friends." Pedro looked sad. Cassiel smiled and rubbed his curly hair.

"I'm sure they just dont know how cool you are. If you put yourself out there and got to know everyone a little better, you'd make friends in no time. Look, you already made one friend today." Cassiel said as he pointed to himself.

"You want to be my friend?" Pedro asked as he looked happy.

"Of course, you are so much cooler than some of the kids my age." Cassiel smiled. Pedro smiled too, but it went away when he saw something weired happen behind Cassiel.

"Cassie, that statue moved." Pedro pointed at a stone gargoyle.

"Did it now?" Cassiel inspected the gargoyle that was behind a bush. "Well if it moves again, tell me ok?" Cassiel said as he looked back at Pedro.

"It moved again." Cassiel turned around, and it indeed moved again. It was closer now and in front of the bush. Cassiel got up and stood in front of it, trying to see if it was tampered with. However, it looked like a normal statue.

"I think we are being punked Pedro. Probably some kids thinking it would be a funny prank." Cassiel said as he sat back down.

"But it's still moving." Pedro said sounding scared now. Cassiel quickly turned around, but it was gone. Cassiel looked at Pedro and behind him stood the statue, only now it looked alive.

"Pedro get back!" Cassiel pulled Pedro behind him as he sent a punch straight at the gargoyles chest, sending it flying backwards. "Everyone inside!" Cassiel yelled as all the kids ran inside.

Cassie shut the door, but the gargoyle was quick to kick it down. "Pedro, find my dad, get him here quickly." Pedro nodded as he started running. The other kids followed him and went to find help and somewhere to hide. Cassiel took off his shirt as he let his wings come out. "Alright Jeepers Creepers wanna be, come over here and get your ass beating." Cassiel put his hands up and got ready to fight. The gargoyle roared as it charged at Cassiel quickly. Cassiel dodged out of the way and used his wing to cut one of the Gargoyles wings off. The gargoyle screeched in pain as it started to claw at Cassiel. Cassiel quickly created a shield with his wings, as sparks flew from the impact. When the Gargoyle left an opening, Cassiel used it to slice one of its arms off. Cassie was to quick for it, but it still kept charging at him.

"Cassie!" Cassiel heard his dad call out as he ran in with the knife. The gargoyle quickly turned to him, and with lightning speed it snatched the knife without hitting my dad, which was weired since it was trying to kill him.

"Well thanks for arming it dad!" Cassiel said as the gargoyle swung at him with the knife. Although it was easier with it only having one arm, it still wasnt that easy to bring it down without exposing himself.

"I thought it would help!" Dad said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Well it seems just like our dragon friend, this thing wants the knife!" Cassiel pointed out. Dad I can distract it for a while, but I'm not sure if I can do more damage to it without exposing myself!" Cassiel called out as the gargoyle struck at his wings with the knife.

"It didn't seem like it wanted to hurt me earlier. I have a theory, a plan if its correct." Dad called out.

"Dont do something stupid!" Cassiel warned.

"Then you'll have to forgive me if this works." Dad mumbled as he jumped in front of the gargoyle right before it struck again. The knife was inches from his throat. The gargoyle tried to go around him but dad just kept getting in his way. "I knew it, he wont harm me."

Using this opportunity his father got him, he quickly pulled his dad out of the way and sliced the gargoyles head clean off, making its body thump to the floor. Cassiel didn't take any chances and sliced up its body just on case it wasn't dead.

"I told you not to do anything crazy." Cassiel said as he looked at his dad.

"It worked didn't it?" His dad said with a sigh of relief.

"I guess you can say that..." Cassiel looked at the pieces the gargoyle was left in. He sighed as he picked up the knife from the floor. "If we got one thing out of all of this, it is that they all want this knife." Cassiel displayed the knife to his dad.

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"Dad, your lucky Josie and Lizzy were not here to see you do such a stupid move like throw yourself into danger." Cassiel said to his dad as they were in his office.

"We'll count ourselves lucky they weren't here then." Dad said as he put a book back into his shelf.

"Dad, Lizzie is heartbroken that your keeping things from her. I get why we have secrets, but its these secrets that are also going to tear this family apart. Trust us Dad. Trust to your kids, and trust the kids in this school. You need to let them know what has been happening." Cassiel layed down some wisdom.

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"If you would have asked me a week ago...I would have told you I knew the difference between myth and fact. I would have said that the supernatural is limited to the species under this roof." Dad said as he looked around at every teenage student gathered in the hall.

"I would have said that folklore and fairytales were just stories. But I can no longer say that any of that's true. Because just a few days ago we were confronted by the existence...of a dragon." The teens began to whisper amongst each other.

"Then today, the campus was terrorized by a gargoyle, that Cassie thankfully stopped before it could hurt any of the kids." Cassiel could feel Hope's curious gaze from across the room that held many questions. The blonde angel sighed as he knew he would be getting many questions later.

"We were able to win...this time. They are drawn here by a knife that went missing earlier this week. And for whatever reason, these creatures consider us to be the enemy. In their minds, we're the villains because we wont give them what they want. We don't even know why they want it. But we are going to find out. I can't say for sure what their true intentions are. I cant say there wont be any more attacks. That's why I'm telling you this. To warn you. To ask you to look out for each other. To do what's best for one another. Because we are more than just a school, we're family. And we will stand together, we will fight together, and we will win or lose this battle together, no matter what comes next."

Cassiel looked around the room and saw the kids agree as the nodded their heads. Hopefully whatever came next didn't put his family in danger.

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"You know, you could have totally called me over. I could have helped you beat the gargoyle!" Hope said as she pinched my arm.

"You would have arrived too late. The kids were in danger, so I had to be selfish and beat it on my own." Cassiel said as he stuck his tongue out at her. "Besides, it looked like a knock off version of Jeepers Creepers." Hope snorted as she laughed at the joke. But something cought her attention that killed her laughter. Cassiel followed her gaze and saw Landon Kirby standing in the middle of the hall. He was back, and judging from Hope's look, she was conflicted. Cassiel could see it in her eyes that she still had feelings for him, which stung his heart, but he also saw that her anger clouded the feeling.

All this trouble started because of this curly haired hipster. Hope grabbed Cassiel's hand and dragged him away from there while Landon watched.

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"I guess you needed a breather?" Cassiel asked as they were in their favorite spot in the whole school. They both sat at the dock overlooking the lake.

"Why is he back?" Hope fumed.

"Probably because being on the run with a werewolf is not the safest idea? On the bright side now we can try figuring out what he is and why he stole the knife." Cassiel said as he looked at the wripples in the water.

"True..." Hope had remembered something from earlier that day that left a weired feeling in her. "Hey Cassie, how come you've never had a girlfriend? I've known you my whole life, but you've never told me." Hope saw that Cassiel was suprised and a little embarrassed by the sudden personal question. "I heard that Dana was trying to hit on you, that's what brought this up." Hope felt the need to explain herself.

"Oh, that." Cassiel said with a chuckle that vibrated through Hope. "She isn't my type."

"And what is your type?" Hope felt like slapping herself for asking such a question. She hoped he didn't think she was interested, because she was...not?

"The strong type I guess? The type that won't need me there to protect them, but also wouldn't mind being protected when the need arrived." Cassiel tried to put his ideal girl into words, but all he could think about was Hope. "The type of girl that is kind at the core of her being. The kind that even if she has lost those closest to her and felt like she couldn't love and trust anymore, she would still be kind, even to her enemies. Because that's just the type of person she is." Cassiel had a smile the while time.

Hope had a lump on her throat as her heart sped at what felt like one hundred miles per hour. Her eyes couldn't leave Cassie's smiling face.

"That's the type of girl I would fall in love with." Cassiel said with a smile as he finally looked at Hope. Neither of them said anything as they stared into each others eyes, untill Cassiel eventually broke the moment with a shiver. "Its a little cold out." He took off his jacket and placed it on Hope's shoulders. "Don't stay out here to long, okay?" Hope could barely reply with a nod as he went back to the school, probably to get ready for bed. Hope sat there as she pulled Cassie's jacket closer to her, still being able to smell him. He smelled like fresh flowers, which would make a man feel weired about if he was told that. Hope sat there, with the moonlight shining off the lake. Now more than ever, her heart was confused.