Me and Melanie? We’re good. If you come back to school you can formally meet her, otherwise she’ll be here for Christmas dinner.
Do you love her?
Love? No, it’s too soon for all that. She’s a great girl, down to earth and innocent. Nothing like the girls I’ve dated in the past.
Even though she doesn’t smell like cranberries.
Cranberries?
Crap, you weren’t meant to hear that. You know your telepathy thing sort of sucks sometimes. You hear all my thoughts!
Only when you open your mind to me. Now don’t change the subject, cranberries?
Ugh, yeah. I don’t know if it’s your perfume or what, but you smell like cranberries.
How do you even know what they smell like? And no it’s not perfume, it’s my soap.
Did you forget my mom is a clean freak? It’s the scent of the downstairs bathroom. They make soap that smells like that?
Yeah, Dial soap. Hm.
Hm what? What are you thinking? It’s not fair this is a one way street here.
I don’t know if to be weirded out by you or take it as a compliment. Still debating.
It was when we kissed. It felt like all my senses heightened and I smelled and tasted everything about you. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up.
It’s fine; I sort of had the same feelings. But unlike you, I don’t kiss and tell.
Ha! Okay, I guess I deserved that.
Goodnight, Max.
Night, Angela.
29
For the first time this week, I slept through the night. If it was thanks to Angela, I didn’t know, but not one nightmare woke me up last night. I even felt like eating breakfast. The curtains on my window were pulled back and the sun streamed in. The warmth blanketed my skin and I didn’t want to get out of bed.
Heading downstairs I saw my mom in full swing serving breakfast for everyone. It was as if we’d formed a little family. It was no longer just my parents and I. It was us and Jones and Angela. Although Jones had been a part of this family for a while, it just seemed different now. Even with all the craziness that surrounded us, I could see the house more vibrant when it was this full. I knew my mom felt it too.
She always wanted a big family and I never understood why I was an only child. Now that I knew, I felt bad. At least she had this. An extended family.
“Morning,” I said as I walked in and sat at the counter. Picking at the crumbs of bacon that were off to the side to cool off, my mom smacked my hand away.
“Maximillion, keep your hands to yourself!” She waved her spatula in the air. I stifled a grin. She looked a mess in her pajamas and apron, but she still was still beautiful.
“What are you doing today, Max?” Jones asked as he looked up from his stack of pancakes.
“I don’t know. I’m thinking about taking Melanie out on our first date.” I gazed over at Angela as she made a choking sound. Jones quickly stood up and patted her on the back.
“Are you okay?” We stared at her quizzically as she nodded her head.
“Yeah sorry, the orange juice went down the wrong pipe.” She gave us a small smile. Everyone nodded and went back to what they were doing. I continued to stare at her, because I knew she would never choke on some juice. Not Angela. But I’d let her play it off.
“Where are you taking her?” Jones continued talking with a mouthful of food. Typical.
“I was thinking maybe a picnic on the beach. Chicks dig that, right?” I said, picking at the bacon again.
“Yeah definitely. Why not at the park? Go to the oak tree under the shade where we train.” I knew Jones was just trying to be helpful since we were trying to get back on track with the whole friendship thing, but I was trying to stay away from anything that reminded me of Angela. I wanted to keep her and anything about her separated from Melanie. I didn’t ever want to intertwine the two.
“Uh, yeah I thought about it but with it being on Main Street, it’ll be too noisy. I found this little cave on the beach that’s nice and secluded.” My mom handed me my plate of eggs, bacon and hash browns and she took a moment to pat my cheek. She was the ultimate romantic and I knew she was proud of me.
“Alright Max! When you get home tonight we’ll already know what went down,” Jones wiggled his eyebrows at the assumption. Not that I would mind, but not in front of my mother and definitely not in front of Angela.
The room filled with an awkward silence and I scarfed down my breakfast. Before walking out the door, Jones offered me a ride to school with him and Angela but I declined knowing I had to pick up Melanie.
Hm. Angela was going back to school. That was new.
After an uncomfortable morning, the day went off without a hitch—that was until Chemistry.
Melanie and I walked in, hand in hand and we took a seat at our lab table. While getting our books out, I told her about my plans for tonight.
“So where are we going?” She asked. I knew she had been waiting for this to make it official.
“I’m not telling you. It’s a surprise. Don’t mess it up.” I gently tapped her nose letting her know to butt out. She tried to frown but she was so excited she couldn’t help but smile.
“Fine!” She eventually huffed out as Mr. Simmons walked in—but he was not alone.
“Settle down!” He waved his hands motioning us to sit.
“Ms. Rinkles had an emergency so her Chemistry class will be joining us today. Please make room for a total of four students per lab table.” He ushered Ms. Rinkles class in, each holding a chair to sit on.
Poor Mr. Simmons. He has had a crush on Ms. Rinkles for years and she took advantage of it all the time. And because it wouldn’t be the first time this had happened, I looked out the window into the school parking lot. I watched as she jumped into the arms of some guy leaning against a red convertible. Yeah, looked like a serious emergency.
At the sight of Jones and Angela walking in, the mantra began. Please don’t sit here, please don’t sit here.
I completely forgot they were in Ms. Rinkles’ Chemistry class. Just my luck.
Angela’s eyes narrowed straight toward me and she pushed her way through the crowd to get to our table with a smirk on her face—Jones tagging along right behind her.
“Well hello Max, fancy to see you here. How about you introduce us to your friend?” She said as she situated her chair at our table. The smile that was spread a mile wide on her face was so creepy and foreign that it freaked me out and I thought Jones was sort of wigged out too.
“Um...yeah. Melanie this is Jones and Angela. Angela and Jones, this is Melanie.” They all exchange pleasantries but I could see the resistance in Mel’s demeanor. She must had heard the rumors about the three of us already. We were pretty scandalous until recently but she had never questioned me about it. She’d seen Jones before but they hadn’t formally met and this was the first day Angela was back in school.
Jones and Angela had their backs to the front of the class so when Mr. Simmons started talking; they turned around to face him.
Melanie quickly leaned in toward me. “I never really asked because it was none of my business, and if it was important I know you would have mentioned something. But I have heard about the drama between the three of you and this is just too weird.” She looked up at me with those big brown eyes of desperation and I knew she was uncomfortable.
I whispered back, “I’m sorry. It really isn’t important but I’ll explain later.”
Angela twirled around in her seat. “Shhh guys! I’m trying to listen.” Far from a whisper she caught the attention of the students around us and even Mr. Simmons who gave us a questioning look but didn’t break from his lecture.
Quirking an eyebrow, I shot laser beams at the back of her head. What was going on? Realizing we had to be quiet, Mel grabbed her notebook and flipped to a blank sheet and started writing, passing it on to me.
I can’t wait until tonight, what’s her deal?
Knowing I could
n’t hold out any longer I wrote, Sorry about that. IDK what her deal is. She’s never acted this way. Its 2 much to write, talk later? Sorry!
Hoping that would ease her up a bit, she scrunched her eyebrows together and twisted her mouth to the side. She was so cute when she did that.
She scribbled an “ok” just as Mr. Simmons called on me to read from the textbook.
“I’m sorry, I spaced, where did we leave off?” I asked as he let out a sigh.
“Please, Mr. Taylor try to keep up.”
Before I could reply with a ‘yes sir’, Angela cut me off, “If he wasn’t passing notes with his lab partner, he would have been paying attention.”
The whole class started with the ‘ohhhs’ and ‘ahhhs’ while my face went crimson and Mel’s as white as a ghost. Mr. Simmons tried to get everyone to quiet down.
“Mr. Taylor I’ll see you after class, as for the rest of you, finish reading the chapter on your own and then do the lab assignment as a group once you’re done.” He let out another sigh and plopped himself down at his desk to read his newspaper.
Jones and Angela turned around to work on the assignment but there was too much tension between us that no one but Angela cracked open the textbook. Even Jones dark skin looked like it paled a bit.
I slammed her textbook shut in front of her and leaned in close to her face, feeling the fire in me spark.
“What the hell was that?” She looked up at me with those menacing green eyes, but didn’t say a word.
I could feel the anger flare up and Jones was at the ready with his hand on my shoulder pushing me down effortlessly to my seat.
“What is your problem Angela?” I said as she eyed me curiously.
“Like I’ve stated many times before to you, Max, I don’t have a problem. You and your friend weren’t paying attention and you got caught, that’s it. Next time be more careful,” she said matter-of-factly. I was taken aback; was she for real?
“She’s my girlfriend, not my friend.” My voice came out low but stern, getting my point across. Her smile faltered at the word but she recovered.
“Next time you and your ‘girlfriend’ can talk after class.” She did air quotes and I think that was what set me off.
I shot up from my seat and my chair scraped loudly across the tile floor, grabbing the attention of the tables nearby.
“Angela, you are working my last nerve right now. I don’t know if Jones isn’t giving it to you enough or you’re just a plain bitch but shut the hell up where it doesn’t concern you.”
Her eyes widened and I think this was the first time I’d ever seen her shocked. She swallowed, composed herself, and looked back down at her textbook.
“We have to do questions one through four before the end of class; let’s just all do a question each,” she said, pulling out a loose sheet of paper.
I sat back down and we got to work, now that she had come to her senses. I’d never seen her like this. Normally she didn’t even socialize with anyone, what was going on?
By the end of the day, what happened in chemistry had spread around school like wildfire and we were back to being the top gossip at Lincoln High. According to everyone, Jones and I share the same girlfriend because we’re just so close like that. And he found out about Melanie and got jealous. Yeah right. I swore, people at this school came up with such ridiculous stories.
Jones had caught up to me after school to apologize, for what, I didn’t know. Angela should have done it. But he also mentioned something about probably training me instead of her, which I couldn’t agree more. Honestly I was not stupid. This reeked of jealousy on her part but why? I pretty much spelled it out that I wanted to be with her and she shut me down. And it’s not as if I just did it once. So I’m finally letting go and she was pissed. Did she want me to stick around like a rebound just in case it didn’t work out with Jones? If so, that was not happening.
I texted Jones telling him we’d train after my date with Mel and he agreed. I walked out to the school parking lot and caught Melanie leaning against my truck. Just seeing her brought a smile to my face. She was so innocent and she was all mine. I felt a bit selfish but I wanted to shield her away from the world, to keep her safe and pure. I wrapped my arm around her waist and picked her up. Twirling her around as she giggled in my ear.
“Max! Put me down!” After smothering her cheek with kisses, I set her back down and grabbed her bag and books. Opening the door for her, she climbed in and I put her stuff in the back. We stopped at my house to get the picnic basket that my mom insisted on preparing. She argued that I had no sense when it came to picnic food, that I would be tempted by the urge to fill it up with Slim Jims and Cheetos. I also took the blankets that we got from Mexico at our last family vacation and I loaded the truck. It didn’t take long to get to the beach and it wasn’t a surprise anymore once she saw the basket.
When we arrived at the cave I had found a couple days ago during training, I set everything up and we sat down on the blankets.
“Wow, this is beautiful. Thank you so much.” She looked at me with those big doe eyes that were glossed over and I was glad I could give her a dream first date.
Leaning over I kissed her forehead and smiled. I didn’t want to say ‘you’re welcome’ because I wasn’t doing her a favor. I wanted to do this; for the both of us.
We opened the picnic basket to a feast. My mom went all out. She packed a couple of sandwiches, cheese and crackers, grapes, chocolate covered strawberries. Geez, my mother needed to stop watching chick flicks. It was damaging her brain and common sense if she didn’t notice what she was encouraging here. This was dangerous territory.
Like always, we talked on and on about anything and nothing at all as we snuggled and ate. It was so easy when we were together.
“So, what happened today?” I knew I wasn’t that lucky.
“I’m going to be honest here, Mel. Just know that it means nothing. I don’t want you upset.” She hesitated for a moment, then nodded for me to continue.
“Angela is a girl I had a crush on since middle school. I found out earlier in the school year that she had been secretly dating my best friend Jones and he knew I liked her. I told her how I felt, she shot me down and that’s it. I don’t know what she was trying to pull in class today but I promise she won’t do it again.” Looking her straight in the eyes in hopes that she could see the sincerity behind them, but I must have not been convincing enough because she wavered.
“It seems like she actually likes you. A lot. I speak girl and that was some serious jealousy that she had. Are you sure there isn’t anything else between you two?”
All I could think about was the time Angela and I kissed or the times when we’d trained, and joked around. Just any memory of her that screamed something else. But I couldn’t let Mel know any of it. She couldn’t know what we were and I was probably using that as an excuse but it would have to do for now.
“No, there’s nothing between us. Never has and never will.” We stared at each other for a moment, which felt like an eternity until she nodded and looked away into the ocean as the sun set behind it.
30
“Don’t let your guard down for a second, Max. You got control of your powers, but you have to work on your senses.” Since I returned from my date with Melanie, we’d been in the backyard training. With Jones it was a lot tougher because of his super strength. The guy could fling me across the country. I was surprised he hadn’t by now. Thinking back to the beginning, a couple months ago when this all started, I felt weak. Now, I’ve never felt stronger than I do now. This new-found energy was an exhilarating rush.
“Let’s take a break, I need to hydrate.” I jogged into the kitchen and grabbed two water bottles. I tossed one to Jones when I got outside and we sat on the ground.
“You’re doing good Max, but you have to remember this is just training. When we’re out there, it’s different. You’re more at risk to lose control. Sometimes that power we get is intoxicating.
We just can’t let it consume us. That’s what differentiates us from the fallen.” He was right. I had felt that high before and it was hard. When I burnt Angela, I had lost control. I wasn’t looking at who my real enemy was and I would have attacked anyone in my way, but I know I can keep it at bay now. I had to.
“I know but what do you mean by senses?”
“What I mean is that you’re only relying on your sight to help you in a fight. You need to learn to use your hearing, smell, and touch as well. There will be times when you can’t see an opponent and you’ll have to be prepared to hear them.”
All I could do was nod my head. Just thinking about it freaked me out. He was right. Nothing, not even training could prepare me for whatever was coming our way. Azrael wasn’t exaggerating; one of us was going to lose and I was not willing to risk that.
“Max?” He cleared his throat and I might have drifted off for a moment. “Uh, I didn’t want to bring this up or anything but are you and Angela fighting?” If there was one person I thought I could dodge this subject from, it was Jones. How could I even begin to answer that? Are we fighting? I didn’t think so. Was she jealous? Maybe. Could I tell him that? Nope.
“Not that I’m aware of, why?” I could see the question in his face. He was probably thinking the same thing I was and just didn’t want to admit it to me.
“I don’t know man, something’s off with her. And if I’m being honest, it all started when she got burnt. She’s been acting funny and I can’t put my finger on it. Today she really blew her lid.” He was worried.
I hadn’t noticed a change in her until today but then again I didn’t see her behind closed doors like he did so maybe something was wrong.
“Hey, Xavier,” Jones said as my dad walked out and took a seat on one of the picnic chairs. He loosened his tie and breathed out a heavy sigh. I really hoped it was a normal problem and not a ‘me’ problem. I think I’ve had enough crazy for the day.
Sins of the Fallen Page 16
