“Language, Miss… I’m sorry, I don’t even know who you are,” Mr. A now looked cross.
“Lena, I’m a new student.” She reached back and pulled yet another paper out of her pocket. “You’re supposed to sign this.”
“Hmm,” Mr. A studied the paper and very reluctantly signed it.
“Now what about Jenna’s homework?” Lena tapped the paper on his desk.
“Jenna, we’ve discussed this before,” the teacher stood. “You know what to do.”
Jenna nodded and after retrieving her ruined work headed to the back of the class where her desk sat.
“But-“ Lena was clearly confused.
“Miss Evergreen, you may have a seat next to Jenna,” Mr. A said firmly.
“Yes, sir,” Lena muttered sarcastically and followed Jenna to the back of the room.
“I can’t believe you didn’t do anything about Angie!” Lena slapped her hand to her forehead after class.
“What am I supposed to do?” Jenna asked as the headed to their fourth hour together. She wanted Lena to drop the subject; she couldn’t change anything about the way people treated her.
“Say, ‘Hey! You whore, stop dumping liquid on me or I’ll kick your ass!’” Lena said as if it were obvious what Jenna should do.
Jenna laughed; she’d never met anyone quite like Lena. She was rough around the edges, but seemed like genuinely nice person, maybe a little pushy.
“I couldn’t do that,” Jenna answered.
“Why not?”
“I’m not an angry person,” she shrugged.
Lena burst into laughter, “Oh yeah, right! You? Not an angry person!”
“What do you mean?” Jenna stopped walking. “You don’t know me.”
“I know,” Lena looked annoyed at herself like she’d let something slip. “I just meant that everyone has anger in themselves somewhere.”
“Not me,” Jenna continued on, still curious as to what Lena could’ve really meant.
“Okay, then who are you?”
“I’m a quiet person who likes peaceful things,” Jenna smiled at how stupid it sounded.
“Peaceful things?” Lena scoffed. “Like what? Deer?”
“Yes,” Jenna nodded. “I could sit out in nature for hours listening to the birds and watching the animals.”
“You do know nature isn’t all about peace right? There are bears out in nature that hunt the animals and gobble them up, bones and all. Have you ever heard of a tornado or hurricane?”
“I know, I’m not stupid,” Jenna laughed. “But I still like peaceful things.”
“Alright,” Lena shook her head in defeat. “We’ll work on your anger.”
“I don’t want to be angry,” Jenna stopped Lena again. This girl was pushy and acted like they were already best friends but truth be told, Jenna had no idea who this girl was. She was grateful that she hadn’t shunned her like everyone else seemed to do, but she was still overstepping.
“Fine,” Lena sighed. “If you want to be all about peace and what not then go right ahead, but I’m still going to teach you how to stand up for yourself in a ‘peaceful’ way.”
Jenna didn’t answer but went to her seat in her next class thoughtful of what it would be like if she could stand up for herself. She knew she wanted to but was too afraid to do so.
Her new friend had put Will completely out of mind until Jenna entered fifth hour biology. Sweat instantly coated her palms when she noticed Will was already sitting at their table. She took a couple seconds to gather her thoughts and remember her plan. Ignore him. Simple. Jenna laughed at herself inside, there’s no way she could ignore him so easily. His presence screamed, notice me!
Will scooted his chair away from her as she sat down making her eyes narrow in annoyance. All of a sudden anger swept through her, and she wanted to scream out at him to grow up. Shock overpowered the anger and Jenna sat there bewildered by the unfamiliar emotion. She peeked over at Will wondering how he could do so much to her without doing anything at all.
The next hour was a long one. She continued to sneak side glances at her lab partner, but he steadily ignored her, never once looking in her direction.
As the bell rang Will was already standing, but he paused and looked back at Jenna, who was gathering her stuff. He waited impatiently until she finally noticed he was looking at her.
“What?” she demanded.
He smiled to himself, “It’s supposed to rain, so I was thinking maybe you should ride the bus today.”
Taken back by the weird suggestion, Jenna nodded and Will left without another word, passing Lena, who waited for Jenna. She watched as Lena’s eyes widened as her face paled. Jenna glanced behind her to see who Lena was staring and found Will giving them both a measured look before turning his attention back to his bag.
“Who was that?” Lena asked as Jenna met up with her.
“That’s Will,” Jenna quipped, her heart flipping as his name passed her lips. “Why? You think he’s hot?”
“No!” Lena spat looking disgusted. “What makes you say that?”
“I don’t know. Everyone else here seems to think he’s a model,” Jenna mumbled trying not to sound like she thought he was more than a model.
“You like him, don’t you?” Lena asked in disbelief.
“No, he’s rude,” Jenna shook her head in defiance. She wanted her little crush to remain a secret to everyone. “Besides, there’s something about him that just seems wrong,” Jenna lied.
Lena was nodding her head in agreement, “You’re right there. I felt it, too, as he walked by me.”
“Do you know him?” Jenna asked remembering Lena’s odd facial expression as Will passed her.
“No,” Lena shook her head. “Let’s go to our last hour, and then we’re done with school!”
“Yeah,” Jenna nodded, but was still thinking about Lena’s reaction to Will. And why had Will asked her to ride the bus home today? Did he not want another incident like Friday? Jenna shivered at the memory. She’d looked in the newspapers the next couple of days but didn’t see anything about a dead man in an alley, and there wasn’t anything out there about stray dogs that only some people could see. She shook her head. She’d go crazy if she tried figure out what happened that day.
Whatever was said during the last class of the day was lost on Jenna because she was too busy whispering with Lena about what there was to do here for fun around their small town of Beaufort. Though she was new, Lena seemed to know more about where to go than Jenna and had even been invited to a party that weekend.
The last bell rang and Jenna was the first one out the door. In her haste to escape, she smashed into Will who automatically reached out and caught hold of her shoulders to steady her.
Instead of feeling chilled at Will’s touch, Jenna felt a zap course through her, causing her to gasp. Will felt it too; it made him want to keep hold of Jenna, but he kept his expression smoothed into an emotionless mask and released her almost as quickly as he’d caught her.
“Sorry, Will,” Jenna sounded breathless. “Did you need something?”
“I need to talk to her,” Will said pointing to Lena, who narrowed her eyes.
“Oh, sorry,” Jenna ducked into the crowd leaving before Lena or Will could say anything else. Will watched her go and fought the impulse to run after her, to ask her if he could walk her home. He shook himself internally. What was going on? Why was he feeling this way about a girl he’d hated for centuries?
“What do you want?” Lena brought him back.
“Follow me,” he snapped as he turned and walked away. Lena’d brought the hate back, and he welcomed it. Hate was familiar, not caring. He rounded on Lena as they stood alone, “What took you so long?”
“Me?” She shot back. “How long have you been here?”
“What took you so long?” he repeated himself. “I’ve been here almost a week and haven’t seen a soul of your team.”
“We lost track of our agent,” Len
a looked down embarrassed.
“You what?!” Will kept his voice down but that didn’t conceal his astonishment.
“Our agent took her and left without reporting it,” Lena explained. “We’ve been looking for them ever since and finally have caught up with them.”
“How long ago did he leave?”
Lena looked everywhere but Will.
“How long?”
“Two years.”
“Two what?!” Will was mutinous.
“Look, this agent was our best.; we didn’t think he’d run with her,” she shot at him.
“You need my help more than I thought,” he mumbled to himself, thinking of a new plan.
“What do you mean?”
“There’s been an attack,” he looked around making sure they were still alone. “Friday. She decided to walk home. Big mistake. She ran into a Dealer.”
“No!” Lena breathed out in shock.
“He wasn’t the only thing who attacked her. There was also a Grim.”
“A Grim?!” Lena almost shouted.
“Shut up,” Will snapped.
“Did he bite her?”
Will nodded, “But she healed herself before I could see it.”
“You’ve been following her this last week and keeping her safe?”
Will stood taller, daring Lena to say anything more about it.
“Why?”
“I have my reasons.”
“But, you’re the very person we’ve been trying to keep her away from!” Lena shook her head.
“Like I said, I have my reasons,” Will wanted to leave to make sure Jenna had gotten home safely. He was beginning to feel anxious. “Besides, you need my help.”
“What makes you think we need your help?” Lena quipped.
“She’d be dead if I hadn’t been here,” Will reminded Lena as he walked off.
“We don’t want any more of your help, dark one!” Lena called after Will but he disappeared laughing.
Jenna was in her backyard reading and savoring the afternoon sun when her dad burst out the back door stopping at the edge of the deck that over looked the yard.
“Jenna!” he shouted. “Get your things! We’re leaving!”
“What?” Confused, Jenna rolled over on her stomach as her dad raced down the steps toward her.
“I said get up! We’re leaving!”
“Leaving where, Dad?” She slowly got to her feet, her dad’s radiating panic making her chest tighten; he grabbed her wrist and wordlessly hustled her inside, “Dad?”
The doorbell rang causing the both of them to freeze.
“Are you expecting anyone?” her dad whispered.
“No,” Jenna shook her head in alarm.
“Stay here, I’m going to get rid of them and then we’ll be on our way.”
“What’s going on, Dad?” Jenna whimpered.
He ignored her as he went to open the door. She heard muffled talking then someone walking down the hallway toward the kitchen talking louder.
“Sorry to drop in on you like this, but I had a question about some homework and figured it’d be easier to get it done in person,” Lena finished as she entered the kitchen.
Jenna sighed in relief, “How did you know where I live?”
“Jenna, a word,” her dad was sweating.
“Dad, are you okay?” Jenna rushed to him.
“I’m fine,” he took a deep breath. “Make this quick, we’re still leaving.”
“My aunt,” Lena answered after Jenna’s dad had ran upstairs muttering to himself. “She lives down the street, and I asked if she knew who you were.”
“Oh,” Jenna nodded. “You said you needed something with homework?”
“Yeah, let’s go outside, Miss Peaceful One,” Lena mocked playfully pushing Jenna as they made their way down the deck stairs.
“Okay, so what do you need?” Jenna asked once they were settled on her blanket in the back of the yard.
“I lied, I don’t need any help.”
Jenna laughed, “Okay?”
“I just wanted to hang out and I didn’t know if your dad would let you, so I just barged in talking nonsense about homework,” Lena explained. “If you mention the word homework to parents, they seem to go deaf and say okay to whatever you want.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever tried that,” Jenna smiled at her new friend. “So, what did Will want?”
“What?” this seemed to take Lena off guard.
“Will?” Jenna reminded her. “He waited after school to talk to you.”
“Oh, that,” she grunted.
“Yes, that,” Jenna urged. “What did he want?”
“Nothing really, just wanted to know what my schedule was like,” Lena shrugged.
“You suck at lying!”
“Fine, he really wanted to stop and tell me how weird he is,” Lena teased. “He told me that he was sent here from his old school because he was too weird for them.”
“Again, you’re lying.”
“Alright!” Lena sat up. “He was asking about you.”
“Me?”
“Don’t read too much into it,” she warned. “He told me he’s been following you. I’d stay away from him if I were you, Jenna.”
“He’s been following me?” Jenna knew she should feel disgusted but somehow she didn’t mind. It was a little strange, but since it was Will, it made her feel like he was protecting her.
“Jenna,” Lena snapped. “He’s crazy. Stay away from him.”
“What if he’s my guardian angel?” Jenna teased.
“What?” Lena’s face paled. “Don’t say that; he’s dangerous, not an angel.”
“I was only kidding,” Jenna was alarmed by her friend’s persistent belief that Will was somehow a threat.
“Promise me you’ll stay away from him.”
“You know, it’s strange, you don’t even know him and yet you’ve got some strong hatred toward him,” Jenna pointed out.
“I’m good at reading people,” Lena shrugged lying back down and closing her eyes. “I can tell when people are good or bad.”
“Okay, now you’re the one who’s being weird,” Jenna accused watching her friend closely.
“I’ll let you in on a little secret,” Lena opened her eyes and looking around before she continued. “Everyone is full of good and bad, but sometimes there are people who are just bad. And your dear William is one of those people. No matter how innocent or nice he might act, he’s not a safe person. He reeks evil.”
“You’re exaggerating,” Jenna rolled her eyes. No one who was pure evil would save someone’s life.
“Suit yourself, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Lena got up.
“You’re leaving already?”
“Yeah, my aunt said I only had fifteen minutes,” she stretched. “See you tomorrow in school.”
“See-ya,” Jenna waved as Lena hoped over the fence and headed down the sidewalk.
“What did your newest friend want?” William asked, suddenly standing behind Jenna.
She jumped having not heard him approach, “Will? What are you doing in my backyard?”
“He chuckled but didn’t answer. “Mind if I sit?”
“Go ahead,” she nodded indicating the spot next to her.
Will made sure to sit as far from Jenna on the blanket as he could, though the blanket’s small, size meant he could still feel warmth flowing off her. He’d never been one to like heat, but with Jenna, it was pleasant. He thought he wouldn’t mind sitting with her while she read.
“What are you doing here?” Jenna asked interrupting his thoughts.
“That’s a good question,” Will muttered to himself.
“What?” Jenna asked.
“Nothing,” Will leaned back and glared at the sun. He hated daytime; it drained him of energy quicker, plus it always reminded him of Jenna who, before now, he’d always despised, just like she him. “So what did your firecracker friend want?”
“To war
n me away from you,” Jenna smiled and elbowed Will.
Surprisingly he didn’t move away but instead laughed ruefully, “And what did you tell her?”
“I told her she had an over active imagination.”
“And what if she doesn’t?” Will thought of how easy it would be to reach over and snap her frail neck. Being in human form weakened her, and he could easily defeat her.
“Are you admitting you’ve been following me?” Jenna asked surprised.
“I never said I wasn’t,” Will shrugged.
“Oh,” Jenna nodded smiling to herself. She found it pleased her.
“What else did Lena warn you about?”
“She said you were dangerous.”
“And what do you think?” Will glanced at her.
She looked at him thinking about the question. He stared back at her. She took in his black eyes, noting how they had an edge to them. She could tell Will had a lot of secrets and she guessed a lot of them were dark, but the way he looked at her told her she could trust him.
“I think you can be dangerous,” she said slowly.
“And?”
“I think you’re probably more dangerous than not,” she snuck a nervous glance at him.
“I can feel a 'but' about to come,” he watched as she began fidgeting with the edge of the blanket.
“But,” Jenna made herself continue. “I don’t think you’d hurt me.”
“How can you be so sure?” Will challenged.
Jenna shrugged, “I’m not. It’s just something I can feel.”
“I wouldn’t be so quick to trust those feelings,” he stood to leave.
“What do you mean,” Jenna jumped up not wanting him to go.
Will turned around, “Exactly what I said,” he studied her one last time before he left knowing this would be the last the conversation he’d have with her before the queen’s men took her away. Somehow he wished he could be the one who brought her in, just so he could spend a little more time in her presence. Shaking his head he started to leave.
“I trust you, Will,” Jenna called out after him.
He ignored her and continued walking, “You wouldn’t if you knew what was good for you,” he whispered to himself as he pushed Jenna out of his mind, so he could kill another demon that surrounded Jenna’s house.
“Jenna!” Her dad called to her and she turned and rushed inside.
The Sun Angel Page 3