Chapter one
"Sing for me please," she asked softly.
"'Cause I am in the stars, and everywhere you are. And every single little moment, every single bit of sunshine, just know that I am right by your side," I sing while taking my small first aid kit from my bag. I dabbed a cotton ball into some disinfectant before dabbing at the bleeding cuts on Carla's knee. I threw the dirty cotton ball away into the disposal bin in the stall. I begin to apply gauze over the wound as she squirms on the closed toilet seat. "Stop moving," I say softly and she huffs before obeying. "Know that you are right by my— there you go," I say after wrapping her knee in a white bandage and tucking away the lose strands. She bursts out of the toilet stall but seems to halt as someone calls her name. I peek out from the toilet stall and notice the music teacher but I duck low so she can not see me. "Carla, you can sing very well. Don't you want to join the choir?" Ms. Harper asks. Carla spun around to look accusingly at me before turning back to the teacher. "Actually I'm not..." she drawled out as she looked over at me with my big doe eyes begging her not to sell me out. "You see... I was..." she tried to say but I started shaking my head and pouting. She finally turned back to the teacher with a huff, "you see, I'd like to join," she said softly and I exhaled the breath that I'd been holding. The teacher smiled happily, "meet me at lunch in my classroom to talk," she added before skipping out the rest room. I stepped out of the stall and thanked Carla briefly as we exited.
"You owe me big time," she said as we walked down the hallway. It wasn't that Carla couldn't sing, she had a beautiful voice, she just preferred to sing alone and not in front of people. I try to drape my arm around her shoulder but I can barely get my arm to go over her whole shoulders. I give up as I go back to not walking on my tiptoes to reach her. "I know, I'll buy you food after school," I say and she beams a smile down at me. We come to a stop at my locker and I take out my required textbooks. "I'll hold you to that. What do you have next?" She asks while the bell rings and students begin to exit classroom to get to the next lesson. "Astronomy, you?" I ask as I shut my locker. "French," she says with a huff. As the hallways began to clear out I look past her shoulder at her awaiting boyfriend. "It's not that bad," I say as I watch her take her needed books out. "I should've just taken Spanish with you," she said sticking her head into her locker, making her voice sound funny. "I mean listen to this. Estas bien? Qué soy madre," she said as she pulled her head out with a triumphant smile on her face. I burst out laughing as I translated her words. "You just asked me to do your mom," I said between laughs and her cheeks tinted crimson. "Ok maybe Spanish isn't for all of us but you know french so I have–" the bell cut her off. "Anyway I have to go, Mr Carson doesn't tolerate lateness. Plus your boyfriend's waiting for you," I say before waving goodbye and running down the now empty halls.
I slowly pushed the classroom door open, knowing what is to follow. I close the door behind me and look up at Mr. Carson with an apologetic smile. "Late again Ms. Devons," Mr Carson said softly and I stood at the door. "I got caught up, sir. It won't happen again," I say softly looking down at my pink sneakers. "It always has a way of happening again. Just take a seat, I can't really kick out my star student. You're the only one who passes and convinces the school that I actually am doing my job," Mr. Carson said and I released a relieved sigh. I made my way to my sit where I had no partner. "Ok, now we may beg–" he didn't finish his sentence because Heather interrupted him. "Who's the guy in the back of the class?" She asked, obviously she'd be looking at boys rather than her books. "Oh yes, that's my son. Atlas introduce yourself," he instructed and a chair scrapped back as his son stood up. The room filled with electric charges and this forced my head to turn and look at the boy mentioned. "I'm Atlas, his youngest son," he said as he waved but his eyes remained locked with mine as the dark blue twinkled with stars in them. "How did you give birth to him?" Heather asked as Atlas ruffled his curly hair. "He's my master piece," Mr Carson said. Atlas chuckled and it sounded like thunder from a coming storm and I tore my eyes away from him. "Sure dad, right after Ariel and Nathaniel," Atlas said before sitting down. "Anyway, turn to page 64 and do the activity about navigating on the sea by looking at the stars," Mr. Carson instructed and I got down to do it immediately. Although I'd tried to forget what I saw in Atlas' eyes, I couldn't ignore the amount of static in the class or maybe it was all aimed at me.
After twenty five minutes of being silent and concentrating I stood to leave the class. "May I..." I trailed off as I pointed to the door. Mr. Carson asked if I had finished my work and I nodded before he let me leave. I walked down the hallway breathing in deeply, going nowhere special and trying to understand what he was.
"What are you?" A voice rumbled like thunder on a stormy night and I knew who it was. "I should be asking you that," I said as I turned to look at him. "I've never seen someone like you before," he says as he moves closer to me and I step back. "What are you even doing here?" He asked as he lifted a dark bushy eyebrow. "I like it here," I said, it wasn't a complete lie, a part of me actually liked living on earth. "Celestial beings can't lie, tell the truth. You and I both know our kind doesn't like the human race," he said with a tilt to his head as if he were studying me. "Correction; your kind not ours, we are far from being alike," I say as I gorge on his expression which sores with my words. "What is someone of your kind doing here?" I asked as he made another step towards me and I took one back. "My kind? You are no human because your eyes glow swirly molten gold, so what are you?" He asked. "A fallen shouldn't have wings, why do you have yours?" I asked. He gave me a questioning glare and I pointed at his shadow, he looked and nodded in acknowledgment. "I'm more interested in who and what you are," he said softly as he took a step but when I tried stepping back I bumped into a locker. "Leave my town," I said and he raised his hand. I flinched away thinking he'd hit me but his hand curled around my hair which glowed gold when he touched it. He gasped and moved back. "Fallens bring demons and I can't afford that right now," I added before starting to walk away. "Who are you?" He asked.
"I am who you ran away from during training."