Milayna's Angel (9 page)

“Mi-lay-na…” they said in their little girly
voices. “Come outside.”

My cell phone vibrated against the bedside
table. I knew it’d be Chay with the hobgoblins making their
appearance in my backyard.

He can’t come over while Xavier is here.

I snatched the phone from the table and
opened his text.

Chay:
How long have they been
there?

Me:
Just spotted them.

Chay:
Oh, you’re answering me now?

I could almost hear his sarcasm. I didn’t
answer him.

Chay:
I’m coming over.

Me:
No, they aren’t doing anything. I’m
not going outside anyway.

Chay:
Hmm.

Me: “What?” I said aloud as I typed on the
little keypad.

Chay:
You don’t want me to come
over?

Me:
That’s not it. I’ll call.

I dialed his number, and he answered on the
first ring. Well, answered implied he said something. It would be
better to say he picked up on the first ring, because he didn’t say
anything.

“Hey,” I said. I waited patiently for him to
decide to respond. “You know, you’re acting like a child by not
speaking.” Of course, it didn’t escape my attention that I’d been
acting like one by not answering his texts. I chose not to examine
that too closely.

“And you haven’t been?”

“I didn’t say that.” I sighed. “I just didn’t
want to discuss things through text messages.”

“You could have called.”

“The phone works both ways, Chay.”

He snorted a laugh and muttered something
under his breath before telling me, “If I’d known that’s what you
wanted, I would have called. Something you could’ve very easily
told me through a text message.” He yelled the last few words.

I flinched. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” he said. “I’m not done
being mad.”

“I am. I’ve been miserable the last
twenty-four hours. I don’t want to be mad anymore. But you go
ahead. I’ll wait until you’re finished. Just give me a call—”

“Wait.”

I smiled. “What?”

“I’m done being mad. I’m sorry, too,” he
murmured.

“I missed not waking up to your voice this
morning. Even though you wake me up entirely too early on the
weekends.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I think you’ve told me
that a few hundred times. But you don’t need it.”

“Need what?” His ability to change subjects
so quickly was exhausting sometimes.

“Sleep. You don’t need any beauty sleep.
You’re beautiful enough already.”

“Now see, if you’d just said something like
that yesterday, we wouldn’t have had to argue.”

“Yeah, yeah. Nag.”

“I think they’re gone.” I listened to the
quiet blanketing the outside.

“Nope. I see their little red bodies.”

“What are they doing?”

“Just standing in the middle of the yard,
looking in your kitchen window. Wait… who’s at your house?” he
asked slowly.

“Chay—”

He hung up on me.

Damn it!

I dialed him back and was booted straight to
voice mail. He was denying my calls—and he said I was childish?

“Wait for the beep.” His digitized voice rang
through the line.

“Chay, it isn’t what it looks like. Geez,
that sounds so trite, but it’s true. I didn’t know he was coming
over. I don’t even know why he’s here. I haven’t gone downstairs.”
I sighed. “Call me back. Please.”

I waited ten minutes for the phone to ring. I
wanted to scream when it didn’t. If I hadn’t been hiding from
Xavier and my father, I may have.

“Milayna,” my dad called.

Oh, no. If Chay is still looking, he’s gonna
see me downstairs in the same room with Xavier. That ought to make
his day.

“What?”

“Can you come downstairs, please?”

“Um.” I licked my lips and stared at the
phone in my hand. “Coming.” I blew a strand of hair out of my eyes
and walked slowly down the stairs. “Yeah, Dad?”

“I have someone I’d like you to meet.
Milayna, this is—”

“Xavier. Yeah, we know each other,” I said.
“What are you doing here?”

“Milayna! That’s no way to speak to a guest,”
my mother scolded.

“Sorry. What are you doing here, Xavier?” I
asked in a little nicer tone. Not much, but some.

“We need to talk.” My dad pulled out a
kitchen chair. It scraped against the wood floor, and I cringed. He
motioned for me to sit.

I dropped into the chair and folded my arms
across my chest. Whatever they had to say, I didn’t want to
hear.

I want to go back upstairs and call Chay.
Better yet, I want to run into the backyard, jump the fence, and
keep running until I get to his house so I can look him in the eye
and tell him I didn’t know Xavier was coming over.

My dad steepled his fingers and rested his
chin on his thumbs. “Xavier is part of the family,” he said.

“What, like a stepbrother? A cousin? I don’t
understand what you’re trying to tell me.”

“Not that family.” My dad raised a bushy
eyebrow at me. He really should’ve thought about getting those
things waxed.

“A demi-angel.” I nodded. It made sense now.
Demis were drawn to one another. That was why Xavier sat with the
group every day at lunch.

“Well, you’re half right,” Xavier said with a
smile. “I’m an angel.”

I laughed. When my parents and Xavier stared
at me, it made me laugh harder. “Yeah, okay,” I said between fits
of laughter.

“It’s true. Xavier is an angel who’s decided
to live life out on earth,” my dad said patiently.

“So you two are like, what, homies from back
in the day?” I looked between the two and started laughing
again.

“Something like that,” Xavier said, his lips
twitching with the hint of a smile.

I laughed so hard my stomach started to hurt.
Pulling my knees up to my chest, I looped my arms around them. I
laid my cheek on my knees and looked out the window, taking large
gulps of air to control my laughter.

As soon as I turned and looked at Xavier and
my dad, I started to laugh again. I laughed so hard I snorted. I
slapped my hand over my mouth.

“Why didn’t you tell me before now? You’ve
been hanging around enough. You’ve had plenty of
opportunities.”

“I asked Xavier not to introduce himself to
you until we were able to sit down and discuss things.” My dad gave
Xavier a pointed look.

“The school is the reason we were thrust
together. I didn’t ask the principal to have Milayna show me
around. Besides, once we’d met, I didn’t see the need to stay
away.” Xavier looked at me.

“Didn’t see the need to tell the truth
either,” I grumbled, earning a stern look from my not-so-angelic
father. “I still don’t know what this has to do with me. So you’re
an angel, big deal. So is my dad, Chay’s dad, Jen’s mother,
Muriel’s dad, and Drew’s mother. Oh, and I almost forgot. My
grandma is an angel, too. So it’s not like this is something new to
me. Angels are everywhere in my world. What’s so special about one
more?”

“Because I came to earth for you.”

***

“Chay, please call me back,” I said into the
phone. It was the fifth message I’d left him. So far, I’d gotten
nothing, not even a measly text message. Even though I must have
sent a hundred texts telling him things weren’t what they looked
like. That my dad had invited Xavier over because he knew his
‘
family
,’ which was sort of true.

After Xavier told me he came to earth for me,
I bolted. I ran up the stairs, into my bedroom, and locked the
door. I didn’t know what he meant by the comment, but all the
stories I’d heard about angels coming to earth was because they
were in love. My dad fell in love with my mom. Grams fell in love
with my grandpa. If that was the only reason they came to earth,
then that meant… Xavier was in love with me. But surely he knew
about Chay. I was in love with Chay. Xavier wasted a trip. Too bad
it was nonrefundable.

By my sixth message to Chay, I was getting
desperate. So I blurted it out. “Chay! Call me back. Xavier came
over because he’s an angel and knows my father. Ask your dad, they
probably know each other, too. You’re acting like an ass, by the
way. I really needed you tonight.” I clicked off the line and threw
my phone on my bed, flopping down after it. My feet dangled off the
end, and my arms were above my head. I lay on my bed and waited,
staring at the posters pasted to my ceiling. In the middle of them
was a poster-sized photo of Chay and me we had taken one day at the
Waterway downtown. We were both laughing and happy. For some
reason, that poster spurred my anger.

When my phone finally rang a few minutes
later, I grabbed it, looked at the caller ID, and jammed the answer
button. “It’s about damn time,” I said through clenched teeth. “You
didn’t even give me time to explain before you hung up on me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re an idiot. You’re not sorry.
You’re only calling now because I told you about Xavier. You didn’t
listen when I told you I had no idea he was coming over or that I
didn’t want to see him and was hiding in my room. You didn’t
believe any of that. You jumped to conclusions and didn’t give me
the chance to explain. Now that you know he’s here because he’s an
angel, you call—”

“He’s an angel?”

“Well, yeah. Didn’t you listen to my
message?”

“No.”

“How could you not listen to my message? Did
you listen to any of them?”

“No.”

“Why?” I asked quietly. It stung that he
didn’t believe me, that he distrusted me so much that he wouldn’t
even listen to a flippin’ voice mail message.

“I don’t know. I was mad.”

“But it wasn’t me.” I could feel the sting of
tears behind my eyes and a lump constricted my throat.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

I didn’t answer.

“You’re mad at me.”

“Nope.” I sniffed, fighting off stupid
tears.

“Are you crying? “ Chay asked, horrified.
What was it about tears that got guys all stupid acting? So a
little water leaked from someone’s eyes. Big deal. Unless you were
the cause… and Chay knew he was.

“Nope. I gotta go, Chay. I’ll see you
tomorrow.”

“I’ll pick you up.” He always drove me to
school. His car was in better shape than mine. Everyone’s car was
in better shape than mine.

“That’s okay. I’ll drive.”

***

“Why aren’t you riding with Chay?” Muriel
pinned me with a look as soon as I got in her car Monday
morning.

I twisted my hair into a knot at the base of
my neck. “We aren’t on the best terms right now.”

“Don’t want to talk about it?”

I smiled. Muriel knew me too well. “No, I
don’t want to talk about it.”

“‘Kay. I’m here if you change your mind.”

When we got to school, Muriel and I made a
quick stop at our locker where Drew met us. They walked me to
chemistry, because of that whole
‘not being alone’
crap. I
was beginning to think the hobgoblins were high on sulfur fumes.
Nothing had happened. No one had tried to kill me lately. Maybe it
was all just empty threats. But no one was taking that chance. Not
yet anyway.

When I walked into chemistry, I froze. Chay
sat at our table, book open to the day’s lab assignment. Xavier sat
on the corner of the table… on the side next to my chair.

“Hi,” I said to whichever one of them would
answer me.

“Hey.” Xavier smiled and reached to pull out
my chair. Chay’s hand snaked out and grabbed his wrist. He gave
Xavier a dirty glare. Letting go of Xavier, Chay stood and pulled
out my chair for me. I sat down, trying not to meet either of their
eyes. Pulling my book from my bag, I skimmed through the pages
until I found the day’s assignment. I pretended to be engrossed in
what I was reading.

Xavier tapped my book with his finger. “I’ll
see you at lunch.” He slid off the table and walked to his
seat.

Chay looked at me, and I reached for his
hand. He moved it away.

What the crap did I do? This is gonna be so
flippin’ fun!

I spent my lunch hour in the library and
spent the rest of the day trying to avoid both of them.

***

“Why is he here?” I asked my dad when he got
home from work that afternoon. “Is he… is it like you and mom?” My
heart beat double time waiting for his answer. I was sure I’d gag
if he said yes.

“No! He’s your guardian. Something is going
on in the underworld. None of the angels know what it is. So Xavier
left to come here to protect you and the other demi-angels in the
group.”

“So his move from there to earth is
completely altruistic? No other motive? Because it feels like he’s
flirting with me, Dad, and it’s getting in the way of Chay and me.”
I followed my dad around the kitchen while he made dinner. He
shoved the cutting board and a tomato at me, and I started dicing
while we talked. I wasn’t sure putting a sharp knife in my hand was
the best move on his part, but whatever.

“It may feel that way, but you have to
remember he isn’t from here. How to act and what to do and say to a
human, even a half angel, is all new to him. What you see as
flirting, he probably sees as being friendly.” My dad picked up the
cutting board and swiped the tomato into a salad bowl.

I wasn’t so sure I believed what he was
saying. If they were the guardians of humans, then they had to see
how humans acted. And if that was the case, he knew what he was
doing. But I kept my opinion to myself for a change.

Later that night, I was watching television
next to my dad on the couch when my vision started to fade in and
out.

Me. Standing in the kitchen. My back is
facing the person in the room with me. I see myself through their
eyes.

I clutched my head to squeeze out the pain as
the images scrolled through my mind. I heard my dad call my name.
His voice sounded slow and deep, like someone had put time in slow
motion. I couldn’t understand what he was saying.