Zell slid onto the stool next to me. He slid his hand in his pocket and pulled out neatly folded bills. He slid them under Matthew’s hand.
“Did you have to do that?” I asked Zell.
“What?”
“Buy him off with money,” I answered.
“Like I said, I’ll never be able to spend all the money I have. I enjoy giving it away.”
“Hey, man,” Matthew interrupted, “I can’t take your money.” Matthew slid all the money back across the table.
“Seriously, keep it, pass it forward, do whatever you want with it.”
“Nah man, I wouldn’t feel right taking your money.”
“Really, I want you to have it, please. Just keep it on the down low OK?” Zell whispered looking around.
Matthew’s jaw hung open. Slowly, he looked from Zell to me and back at Zell. After a few, long, awkward seconds, he walked away looking puzzled.
“Matt’s a good guy. He would have moved without the payoff.”
“True, but now he can take his girlfriend out to dinner Saturday night.”
“Give me a break,” I replied turning my back on him.
“We could double-date on Saturday. That way I could pay for all our dinners, and Matthew could keep his money.”
I didn’t answer as I listened to Dr. Patty’s instructions for the lab.
“Class, today you are going to identify the parts of an egg and examine how the egg has adapted to support the embryo,” Dr. Patty began. “Your materials and lab instructions are beside the hand lens on your lab tables. Please begin.”
I picked up the lab sheet and began reading.
“First, crack and open the egg carefully placing it in a Petri dish,” I read. “Be my guest,” I remarked as I slid the egg and Petri dish toward Zell. Zell accommodated cracking open the egg and letting the contents slide into the Petri dish.
“Disgusting.“ I was not an egg fan. “Second, draw a diagram of the egg, identifying and labeling the main structures of the egg.”
“Just read. I’ll do the rest,” Zell ordered, and he began to draw the diagram on our lab sheet.
“Locate the germinal disk. This is usually a white dot in the center of the yolk. Use a ruler to measure the diameter of the germinal disk. Gross,” I grumbled picking up the ruler, holding it daintily between two fingers, and dangling it in front of Zell until he took it from me.
“Locate the Chalazae, the two dense, chord like white structures.”
“I’ve got them,” Zell answered pointing toward the Chalazae for me with the end of his pencil.
“Revolting, I’ll never eat eggs again,” I complained reading on. “Note the consistency of the albumin. What is the major constituent of the albumin?” I dropped the lab sheet. “I’m seriously going to vomit.”
Zell looked at me strangely. “Egg white or albumin contains approximately 40 different proteins. Sixty-four percent is ovalbumin. There is nothing really revolting about it.” Zell answered as he wrote it down. “You’ll be OK, or should I kiss you here in the middle of Biology Lab to settle your stomach?” Zell asked wickedly.
“What part of the egg acts as the placenta in mammals?” I continued ignoring his remark. Zell wrote furiously keeping up with my questions.
“Last question. What will the germinal disk develop into?”
“A baby chick,” Zell answered drawing a baby chick rather than writing down the words.
“Cute,” I moaned feeling rather nauseated. I looked around and noticed we were the first ones to finish. I laid my head down on the lab table with a thud.
Dr. Patty came around to check on us not believing we were already finished. Zell held out our lab sheet for his inspection. It was unbelievable. It looked professionally done.
“I see. Good work.” Dr. Patty congratulated us looking at our work, or Zell’s work, in amazement. I closed my eyes and didn’t lift my head the rest of class. When the bell rang, we made our way through the throng of girls waiting to talk to Zell to English class.
In English, we were still studying Zell’s now-deceased buddy, Shakespeare. I was bored to tears, but Zell got into the class discussion with gusto. I sat back and watched him with interest. He was marvelous. He regaled the class with humorous stories of Shakespeare indicating they were common knowledge in Europe. I knew better. They were most likely personal experiences with Shakespeare. Before I knew it, the bell rang for lunch. Everyone stood and gave Zell a standing ovation. Despite myself, I too, stood and clapped. Zell was an amazing story teller. Of course, if I could believe his wild story, he had about six thousand years to perfect his abilities.
We walked to lunch with a huge group of people. Zell asked what I would like to eat, and I decided I would like a baked potato and salad. He told me to sit, and he would return shortly with my lunch. Within five minutes, he made his way back to our table holding two trays with baked potatoes, salad, and iced tea.
The tables were full, but everyone made room for Zell. I watched Zell eating while he talked and laughed with Matthew and Christopher. He seemed to be totally enjoying himself. I was glad. Zell always seemed so lonely, so friendless, so forsaken. It warmed my heart to see him laughing and joking with other people.
The lunch room was buzzing with news of the would-be carjacking. The girls were afraid there was a monster on the loose. The boys were hoping that there was. Several people were making plans to go to the zoo this weekend and look for what had killed the carjackers. I wanted to tell them not to bother. I wasn’t going near downtown, and if I didn’t go, there would not be any action. Trouble followed me. Therefore, trouble would be wherever I was, not at the zoo.
Speaking of trouble, here it came. Jon walked through the door of the lunchroom with a smoldering scowl on his face. He saw me and headed straight for our table. Zell was talking with Matthew and Holly, but he must have sensed the atmosphere of the lunch room change. His head snapped up, and he turned to face Jon.
“I need to see you now, outside,” Jon commanded.
“Annie, goes nowhere without me,” Zell butted in.
Jon took a step toward Zell, and he rose from his seat to meet him.
“Since when does Annie need a guard dog?” Jon remarked insultingly.
Zell towered over him silently glaring at him.
“I’ll go see what he wants,” I said calmly stepping between them.
“Fine, let’s go,” Zell replied firmly.
“You’re not invited,” Jon growled.
“Please Zell, I’ll be right outside the door.”
“No,” he said emphatically, “I go where you go.”
The lunchroom became dead silent. Everyone was listening. Heads were bouncing back and forth watching the exchange between Zell, Jon, and me. I didn’t know what to do. Neither of them was going to give an inch. Jon moved forward and shoved Zell attempting to push him back down into his seat. Dr. Patty was sitting at the table with Ms. Howard eating lunch. Both turned around when they heard the commotion. Dr. Patty started to get up when he saw Jon shove Zell.
Zell didn’t budge. It was as if Jon hit a brick wall. When Zell didn’t move, Jon swung at Zell’s face. Zell stood still allowing Jon’s fist to crunch into his chin. Jon screamed and dropped to his knees holding his fist. Zell never even blinked.
“You broke my fingers,” he screamed.
“I did nothing to harm you,” Zell replied as if bored with Jon’s drama. “Come, Annie, it’s time for class.” Zell put his arm around me and stepped over Jon, who was still in the floor holding his hand sobbing like a baby. Snickers broke out at first and then full-blown laughter. Jon, the school football hero, and as I was beginning to discern, bully, was humiliated. With a dark look at the laughing crowd seated at the tables, he jumped to his feet and stomped out of the building. Dr. Patty sat back down and resumed eating his lunch. Evidently, Jon wasn’t too popular with the teachers because neither moved to see if he was hurt. Ms. Howard smirked and returned to her lunch too.
“That scene
looked like something out of
Superman,” I whispered to Zell.
Zell and I walked the rest of the way in silence to Civics.
“I’m sorry, Annie. I didn’t mean to help that idiot make a scene. I just remember what happened last time I let you go off with him at the lake. I was almost too late. Jon can’t keep you safe from what hunts you.”
I knew what Zell said was true, but it sent chills down my spine.
“What am I going to do? What are we going to do?” I said as my voice quivered.
“We go on as if nothing is wrong. If an attack comes or when an attack comes, I will protect you. Now that you have taken a stand on the side of good, I expect your time will come fairly quickly. I think this weekend that I will teach you how to use a sword. I don’t think you would have the strength to kill a Dark One. Unless of course, its back was turned,” Zell laughed, but you may be able to hold one off for a while though, if for some reason, we are ever separated.” Zell seemed to be mentally making plans already. We took our seats near the back of the classroom. Students began filing in and sweeping the room for a look at Zell. Matthew, Christopher, and Austin came forward to congratulate Zell.
“Thank you for your congratulations, but I didn’t want a fight. I just wanted him to leave Annie alone. She has made her choice, and her choice isn’t Jon.”
Although Zell decried the violence, everyone was still impressed. Jon had been the toughest guy in school up to that point and often a bully until Zell showed up. Civics was boring and uneventful with Ms. Howard lecturing for the full fifty-five minutes. Even Zell was unusually quiet during class. I sat lost in my thoughts trying to pay attention to the lecture, but it was a hopeless battle.
Art class was next. It was an easy elective that I chose to take my senior year. Miss Picknell, my teacher, was talented, fun, and a bulldog for information. Zell had no more than entered the classroom when she pounced.
“My name is Miss Carole Picknell, and I presume that you are the new student?”
Did I imagine it or did Miss Picknell emphasize the Miss in her introduction to Zell?
“Yes, Zell Starr,” Zell replied extending his hand to shake hers.
“In fact, you’re a very handsome gentleman.”
I cocked an eyebrow at Zell. I wasn’t sure, but I think he blushed.
“Perhaps you could pose for me one day?” Miss Picknell asked.
Was Miss Picknell flirting with Zell? I thought so.
“Excuse us,” I huffed putting my arm through Zell’s and pulling him along to a vacant table.
“Am I the only female on earth that doesn’t turn to mush over you?” I asked Zell exasperated.
“You’re the one person, the only one, that I wish did get mushy over me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I answered quietly as Matthew and Christopher joined us at the art table.
I had been laboring over a painting of a vase of flowers for days. I took out the materials for Zell and myself. Then, I went to get a fresh canvas for Zell. After that, I ignored him as I painted. Zell, Matthew, and Christopher talked quietly all through class. Miss Picknell hovered over them the entire class period. I could have used some help, but I decided I would rather she kept Zell occupied. When she called closing clean-up time, I turned looking at what Zell had done, and it was amazing. He had painted the same vase of flowers as I, but his painting was terrific. He got the colors, shadows, and details just right. He also did it all within the class period.
I threw my brush down, and began putting away my art supplies. Miss Picknell had Zell cornered gushing over his painting. I took the opportunity to get out of class before anyone noticed I was gone. I had a fairly long walk through the halls to the gym and basketball practice. I decided to duck outside and take a shortcut across a back lot, where the recycling dumpsters were kept, to the gym. It was a much shorter trip as the crow flies. However, crows weren’t flying today. The sky was overcast and dark. It looked as though the sky would burst at any moment. By the time I reached the dumpsters, I had the feeling of being watched. It began to feel creepy, and I stepped up the pace. I had almost reached the last dumpster when a dark figure stepped out of the shadows from between two dumpsters.
The figure was not human even though it seemed to have two legs and two arms. Big, triangular-shaped red eyes focused on me, and the creature stepped out blocking my path. Its wrinkled, grayish face looked similar to that of a gargoyle, and it crouched on its haunches staring at me. It had wings too, but not the beautiful, large wings that Zell had. The creature had pointy, blackened, spiny looking wings similar to the wings of a bat. It looked like an old, wrinkled, winged man. I froze in my tracks unsure of what to do. Slowly, I began to back up. Keeping my eyes locked with the creature’s eyes, I moved one foot backward at a time. The creature didn’t move but watched me intently. It opened its wide mouth and hissed at me exposing multiple levels of razor-sharp teeth.
Trembling, I tried to hasten my retreat and stepped on the strap of my book bag. I fell backward hitting my elbows and tearing the flesh from them. I barely noticed the pain though because as I fell the creature leaped for me from his crouching position. It landed a few feet in front of me and hissed again. This time, I had a close-up of those pearly whites. His teeth, rows of them, stuck out in all directions dripping with strands of salvia. A pointed, black tongue darted in and out of his mouth. This creature was so ugly that he would make a train take a dirt road. Shaking, I tried to continue backing up from my seated position further ripping the skin from my elbows in my retreat. In horror, I watched as the creature leaped once again and was flying at me through the air.
From behind me, I heard a swoosh, swoosh, swooshing sound. I looked up and saw a sword flipping end over end toward the creature. The sword hit him with an impact so ferocious that the creature was knocked backwards at least thirty feet through the air. The monster hit the home plate fence on the baseball field and stuck there impaled about six feet off the ground hissing and shrieking. Instantly, Zell was in front of it with his other sword and flaming sword drawn. He plunged the blazing sword deep into the bowels of the creature pulling out the sword that had impaled and nailed the creature to the fence as he did so. The creature burst into flames shrieking hideously. Zell cut off its head as it fell and hurried to my side.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said quietly helping me up.
The monster continued to shriek for several minutes as it burned even though its head was severed from its body and haunted our escape. Within seconds, we were away from the scene. We walked through the doors that went into the gym.
“If we’re lucky, no one saw what just happened,” Zell whispered as we walked.
Coach Neely was just inside the gym bouncing a basketball and looking at us strangely.
“What’s all that noise coming from outside?” he asked.
Zell and I looked at one another shrugging our shoulders as if we had no idea.
“What’s the matter, Annie?” Coach Neely noticed my bleeding elbows and actually sounded concerned.
“I fell out in the parking lot,” I replied trying to keep the blood coursing down my arms from getting on my tee-shirt.
“Doesn’t look like you’ll be playing any basketball today. Go on home and clean that up,” Coach Neely said coldly turning his back on us still bouncing the ball. So much for that brief thought that he was concerned. That was a dismissal if I’d ever heard one. As we left the gym, we saw a crowd starting to form around the burning corpse of the creature.
“What is that thing?” I heard Christopher ask Matthew.
Zell and I wasted no time getting as far away from the burning creature as fast as we could.
“Is your coach always so warm and caring?”
“That’s pretty much how he always behaves.” I groaned as I answered him. The numbness was beginning to wear off, and my elbows were throbbing. When we reached his car, Zell threw our bags in the back seat.
“Let me
see how bad you are hurt.” Zell inspected my torn flesh. “I’ll blow on your wounds and make them feel better.”
People always say that, but it does little to assay the pain. However, when Zell blew on my elbows, it was like using one of those numbing sprays. They instantly felt better.
“I need to get you home and clean those wounds for you,” Zell advised.
I climbed into his car, and Zell took me home. I apologized all the way home for getting blood all over his seats.
“They’re leather. I can wipe it off. No worries.”
At home, I went to the closet in the bathroom to get the first-aid kit. Zell cleaned my cuts and scrapes with peroxide then alcohol. He didn’t say a word to me the whole time he worked. I watched him as he cleaned the wounds. Was he upset with me for leaving class without him? He must be. He was so unusually quiet, but he was gentle as he worked on my arms and elbows. Everywhere he touched me, my skin felt twenty degrees warmer. I wasn’t sure how long I could hold out before I fell madly in love with him. I wanted to touch his face, kiss him, and lay my head on his chest just to listen to his heartbeat. Was I losing my sanity? I had never felt this way about Jon or any other boy, and it was embarrassing and infuriating at the same time.
“Are you mad at me?” I asked him.
“No,” he replied not saying another word.
He stayed with me until my father arrived, but he never spoke another word to me unless I asked him a direct question. Dad was at the hospital visiting with a member of the church congregation. Zell rose from the sofa where we had been watching television when my father entered the room.
“Reverend Hayes, Annie fell in the parking lot before basketball practice. Coach Neely told her to skip practice, and I brought her home.”
“Is she OK?” I heard Dad ask him.
“She’s just a little scratched up, but I cleaned her wounds. She’ll be fine. I have to get home. I have some things to take care of, but I may be free to stop by later to check on her if that’s permissible,” he replied.
Permissible? No teenager in the world talks like that except Zell.
“Of course,” Dad agreed.
Dark Angel (Anak Trilogy) Page 15