Their Wings

Chapter 2: Eyes

I walked into homeroom, feeling their eyes burning into my back. 'Their' being everyone who was currently seated in the classroom. It had been two days since what I had dubbed in my head "The Feather Incident". For five minutes after seeing it and the angel that night, I had stood stock still trying to convince myself that it was all still a dream and that I would wake up soon enough. After unsuccessfully trying to will myself back into the house, I had called it into my hand. That had done it, I was now completely convinced my dreams were haunting me in the real world now. After staring at it for some time, I had tied to feather to the dream catcher above my bed. It allowed me to keep an eye on it in case it decided to turn me clinically insane and fly out the window. It never did, and now on Monday, I was back at school trying to force my attention away from the golden plume.

I sat down at my desk in the front, wary of the pairs of eyes following my every move. I inwardly sighed, it was always like this. A type of routine that had sprung up on the second day of school after "The Maddy Incident". First, I would enter the classroom, and everyone would immediately fall silent. After i had taken my seat they would start talking again, but in whispers now, as if I was eavesdropping on all their conversations. They had mellowed a bit after 10th grade, though they never seemed fully comfortable around me.

I was still contemplating my lonely existence when Claire Walker walked in, followed as always by a pack of loyal followers. Claire was supposed to be an exchange student from Mexico, and everyone believed her, although no one ever asked how she had acquired her thick Jersey accent. She had arrived at school a few weeks ago and had fallen seamlessly into the cool crowd. I hadn't been in any of her classes yet, as she always missed homeroom doing her nails and hair in the bathroom.

 Everyone was still staring warily at my back, while I had dug out my math notebook and earphones. I put the volume up as high as I dared and closed my eyes. She seemed to notice that the room's attention wasn't on her appearance and so she pointed a single manicured fingernail at my back and said, "Who's that up there in front?"

 "Thats Ella James," said one of the more eager minions. "She's a little different." If you know what I mean. I smiled warily. That is another of my 'gifts'. I can hear people's thoughts. Not all the time, only when they applied to me personally which makes me a kind of selective telepathic. And that was the moment my entire world turned upside down.

 There is no other way to explain what happened next other than that all the oxygen molecules in the room spontaneously turned into lead and made it impossible for me to breathe. My back was to the door but I could sense the new arrival's aura. It was warm and inviting and suddenly I had the insane urge to jump up and run into his arms. I knew it was a he because Claire's eyes that had been trained on the back of my head had turned and lost all interest in me. The urge grew stronger but I reeled myself in and forced myself to take a deep breath. Slowly as my body would allow me, I turned until I faced the door at the back of the room. His back was to the room and he was talking to a teacher in the doorway. I made out from his profile that he was taller than me, with a broad back and muscular shoulders. He turned around and the breath was knocked out of me.

 Gold eyes surveyed the entire classroom until they landed on me. His bright eyes widened when he saw me. Our eyes met and he automatically stiffened. Then he blinked and the momentary spell was broken. He turned his head trying to avoid my face. I inhaled and turned back around, trying to erase the perfect features from my immediate memory. But all I could think about was that a wingless angel had just walked into my homeroom, and his eyes would never leave me again.