Starfire Angels (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles Book 1) (2 page)

Mrs. McKeen, the principal, entered the
room. A thin smile cracked the rigid lines of her face. A few
whispers circulated while she spoke to Mister Maviar.

From her place near the front of the
classroom, Raea had a clear line to the door and saw the reason for
the principal's visit. Whoa! Her breath froze in her lungs at the
face peaking in. Were they getting a new student? She hoped so.
Man, was he cute, and she didn't usually go for that look—golden
blonde hair to the shoulders. A bit on the preppy side for clothes,
but the red and black crewneck fit him. Fit him
very
well.
His eyes scanned the room with an intense precision that made her
heart flutter.

I'm free.
If only she was one of the
pretty girls. Then again, he'd probably never be interested in her,
like most of the guys in that school.

She couldn't wait to get out of that small
town. None of the guys were worth going with—the good ones were
taken and the rest were too stupid on so many levels. Only Josh had
anything going for him, but he was a friend.

Why would a new guy have any interest in
her? Oh, well. She could dream. Besides, he carried himself with
that rich, snobby air, like some show-off, jock. He'd fit in well
with most of the guys in McClarron.

"A new student?" Josh asked.

When Mrs. McKeen finished, Mr. Maviar
stepped forward. Mrs. McKeen waved the new boy inside. Nope. Not a
boy. Definitely a man. Oh,
man.
She couldn't be the only
girl staring either.

"It has been brought to my attention by Mrs.
McKeen that an exchange student will be attending McClarron High
for a few weeks. I hope you'll make him feel welcome."

Mrs. McKeen stepped forward with the new
guy. He looked older than most of the guys in the senior class, but
so did Elis. Perhaps he had started school a year later in his
country.

"This is Pallin Montran." Mrs. McKeen looked
up to him. He was tall. And the toothpick-thin principal was in
high heels. A moment of confusion passed across her face. "He'll be
here temporarily, after spending most of his life in—"

"Small place," he said, his hands clasped
behind his back and his feet shoulder-width apart. He stood like
some marine from bootcamp, like on those shows her uncle Mike liked
to watch. "It is not important."

Raea looked to Josh, but he shrugged. Where
had she heard that accent before? It rang with familiarity, but she
couldn't place it. Did anyone else know? She glanced around the
room, but everyone looked to one another, shaking their heads and
whispering. Elis was the only one who said nothing, but beneath the
wild, black hair sprayed over his eyes, his expression
darkened
.

"Very well. I leave you with Mister Maviar's
Advanced Biology class. You have your schedule. Let me know if you
need any help."

Pallin smiled. "Thank you, ma'am."

"Ma'am?" Josh murmured.

No kidding. Raea choked on a restrained
giggle, while others snickered. He sounded like he was in the
military, too.

Mrs. McKeen marched across the room, her
heels ringing with each step until she closed the door behind
her.

"There's an empty chair next to Leo
Kowalski." Mister Maviar handed him a textbook and pointed down the
aisle to the table where Leo sat alone. "Please take a seat so we
can begin."

Pallin made his way past the other tables,
the eyes of most of the girls following, Raea included. For a
second after he sat down, his amber eyes caught hers. Was that a
smile? That was a smile. He smiled at her.
Ohmygod!
Raea
turned around, her heart pounding a race. He was cute, no matter
what her impressions of his attitude had been.

It was all she could do to pay attention in
class. He couldn't have smiled at her, but she swore he had. Had
he? He must have. But he couldn't have, not her.

When the bell rang after class, Raea
gathered her books. She kept her eyes down when Pallin passed her,
unable to look up. What would she say? She couldn't. Her tongue
stuck.

She waited for the room to empty, glad for
the break before English to recover her speaking ability.

"Wha'd'ya think?" Josh wove through the
crowded locker-lined halls with her like a fish in water.

"The class or the new guy?"

"Pallin."

She stopped to turn to the commotion they
had left. Behind them, the subject of the conversation managed to
keep his feet going amid a group of students offering to help him
to his next class. He never noticed her. She must have imagined
that spark.

"We'll see. He's definitely easy on the
eyes."

"You would say that. He's a poser."

"Whatever." Josh was so jealous. She didn't
have time to stroke his ego, though. "I have to go. I'll see you in
English."

Miracles and
Memories

The rest of the day filled with rumors and
talk about the new foreign student.

When the last bell rang, Raea was happy just
to make it through without any more trouble. Thank old man time the
day had to end. Although she wouldn't have minded watching Pallin
more, seeing the other girls hanging on him made her sick. So what
if he was a senior and foreign
and
the best looking guy now
in McClarron?

Why was she worrying about it? She shouldn't
even care.

"So, like, what happened this morning?" Josh
asked a block from school. The sounds of that prison faded as they
walked the few quiet blocks, passing houses with small sections of
fenced and tree-lined yards until they reached the street where
they parted ways. "You looked ready to faint when Elis caught
you."

Did he really have to bring that up? The
most embarrassing moment of her day and she hadn't been left to
forget it. It's not like she would anyway—every memory stayed with
her perfectly. Why did Elis have to bump into her? Why did she have
to fall into another vision of her mother? Really. She literally
fell.
But Elis caught her, of all the people. That moment
she looked up flashed through her mind—those eyes. Who had purple
eyes? She must have imagined it.

Raea glanced behind and shivered inside her
blue and gray jacket—she should've worn a heavier coat, or maybe
spring should hurry up and chase away winter. Elis walked alone
about twenty feet back, like every day, saying nothing and
practically hiding from any attention. What did he think?

He didn't say anything about what happened.
In fact, he had gone about his day as if nothing happened.

"Don't remind me." If only Pallin had caught
her. Now, that would have been something.

"Why? Really. I won't say anything. You
almost fainted, Raea. I'm a little concerned is all. It's not like
you."

Why couldn't Josh drop the subject?

Because he cared. He always concerned
himself with other people's problems. She supposed she could answer
his question, provided he swore to say nothing to anyone. These
visions were so unusual, but with his Dark Angel obsession, he'd
probably love to hear about her strange dreams of good and bad
angels, especially when her mother appeared as one of them. Or
maybe his obsession triggered those dreams.

"I don't want to think about it." What
bothered her most was that she didn't mind Elis catching her at the
time. Sure, it felt odd since she had always avoided him, like most
of her classmates, but he hadn't actually done anything wrong.

"Why?"

"It's just...Oh, nevermind. You wouldn't
understand." She didn't really understand what made her feel weird.
Elis had never done anything to anyone. In fact, he started their
junior year at MHS with rumors that he fled his homeland. Someone
said he came to their small town as a refugee after the death of
his family in a war no one knew much about, probably because he
never said what country he was from. Her mother had also been a
refugee and alone when she arrived in Minneapolis and met
Scott
.

But her mother was
her mother.
Elis
was quiet and somber. A loner. He never talked to anyone. He simply
existed, but at the same time not, like a shadow. Yet the widow,
Mrs. Johnson, had taken him in. Okay, so maybe he couldn't be too
bad if Mrs. Johnson always smiled at church with him at her side.
Still, his quietness bothered Raea. What went on in his head?

"Try me."

When would Josh give up? Never.

"Oh, all right. How can I expect you to
understand when you're not a girl?" She sighed heavily. "It's
simple. Some guys are outgoing and easy to talk to—like you. Others
are, let's just say, odd, like they're thinking something they
shouldn't." That didn't seem right about Elis. He wasn't creepy in
that way. What was it about him?

Josh glanced back and shrugged. "Just
because someone doesn't talk much doesn't mean they have a dirty
mind. Besides, Raea, all guys have dirty minds."

She so did
not
need to hear that from
him. Josh was a good person. How could he have a dirty mind?
Thinking of him thinking of girls in that way just seemed…weird. He
was her friend, not a boyfriend, but a close friend she
trusted.

"I didn't hear that," she said.

"At least I'm honest, but not every guy you
know thinks about it all the time or sees women as just an object
for their own gratification."

"Okay. I don't need to hear anymore." Why
were they talking about this?

He chuckled. "Whatever. You don't even know
him. None of us know him."

"Yeah, because he. Never. Talks." That
didn't bother her. It was just...something.

"All right. Fine. Believe what you want.
What about almost fainting? What happened?"

"When he bumped me, I had this flash of my
mom and Scott." She lowered her voice to keep Elis from hearing
her. Hopefully he took the hint, if he had overheard anything
before then, and stayed away from her. "But in my sleep, I've been
having the same dream over and over for a few weeks now. Not every
night, but often enough. It's always the exact same. You're gonna
love it—it's about angels."

That smirk on Josh's face made his thoughts
clear. He looked far too self-satisfied.

"Don't go telling me about your 'Dark Angel'
either. This is about mom. She's an angel in my dream and flying
with a man who gets killed by the bad angels. She makes some sort
of hole in the sky and disappears. Then I always wake up." That
should satisfy him.

"Always the same?"

"Yeah. Exactly. Every detail." What happened
to the gloating about angels?

"Angels, huh?"

"Yeah."

"I have no idea what it means—"

Raea almost smacked him for that.
Thanks,
Josh. Lotta help you are.

"But if you're having fainting spells and
visions about your mom
and
dreaming about her as an angel,
I'd guess you're looking at your grief and maybe anger. I don't
know. Try lucid dreaming."

Cool. He didn't actually go into a spiel
about angels, for once.

"Take control of the dream."

What good would that do? She was an observer
in it, not a participant.

"It's cool that you see your mom as an
angel. I'd guess I was rubbing off on you." He grinned.

If he only knew how close she was to kicking
his butt back into smugville. Lucky for him, his corner came up.
"Dream on," she said.

"That's what I should be saying to you."

All right. He won that round. Raea smiled
and punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Smart ass. I'll see you
tomorrow."

He glanced back and leaned close to her,
keeping his voice down. "Don't let it bother you. You don't even
know
him. Maybe you should try actually, like,
talking
to him."

"Go." She didn't want to hear it any more.
The day was done. The embarrassment was past.

"Tomorrow," he said and strode away.

She didn't want to think about tomorrow, and
hearing all the stuff about Pallin
,
although it took Chad's
attention off her.

She could almost feel Elis breathing down
her neck and hurried the last block home. Josh was wrong. So,
so
wrong.

But she didn't have to be around Elis or
talk to him at home. Only at school.

Home never looked more inviting, the blue
house standing alone at the end of the last block on the edge of
McClarron. And her cousin Dave was gone to basketball practice, a
major relief. No Dave to annoy her, for a while anyway.

One good thing came that day. Or was it two?
It had ended, and the sun shone bright. Yeah. She'd call that two
good things. A bright ending on a gloomy start.

Better yet, Raea found a third positive
moment. It might have been freezing, but the ice crystals sparkled
in the air around her like magic dust.

She liked that.

Now, to get inside before Elis caught up to
her. She wanted to run, but not when she might hit a patch of ice.
One wrong step was all it would take to break an ankle. She had
never been to a doctor or in the hospital and didn't want to
start.

Raea took a misstep and gasped...

Scott moved close, a smile on his narrow
face. He pulled off his glasses and laid his head on something.
"There it is. Wow. That's quite a kick."

"Yes, it was." Padina's accent was heavy
still. She stroked Scott's short, reddish brown hair.

"She'll be beautiful." Scott lifted his
head.

"How do you know?"

"Because I know her mother is."

Padina blushed. "You are too good man for
me."

"Not good enough." He kissed her.

"I am lucky woman. You accept us, but this
is not your child. We cannot have...together any more. Only this."
She rubbed the bulge of her belly.

He shrugged. "She'll be our child."

"Why 'she'?"

"I don't know. Maybe I always wanted a
little girl to spoil. I can hope."