House of Angels (ON HOLD until end of August)

School (edited)

Home was six blocks away. By the time I had reached the front of my house, sweat was dripping down my face and making my shirt stick to my back. I knew my asthma could be bad, but I couldn't think about it right now. What I had just seen was only something you read in a teen fiction novel.

I sprinted up my porch and paused mid-bang. If mom knew that I left without her permission, I would get the talk. There was no  way she wouldn't find out. She's off work by now. and has probable already check in on me. She's probably freaking out.

I thrust my key into the lock and gently pushed my door open. I just wanted to get inside as soon as possible. I didn’t know if Dean was crazy enough to follow me home, but I didn't want to take another chance with my life.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” mom said once she spotted me trying to go upstairs. “Where have you been Piper?” her dark brown hair cascaded around her shoulders. She was wearing pajamas and a loose-fitted top. She looked tired but it never outweighed her beauty. My mom, Sharon Gregory, well it’s Sharon Reese now, was known in town as the beauty queen. Too bad I didn’t get her beauty queen traits. Mom said I had potential but never knew what to do with it. Yeah right.

“Um nowhere,” I was on the verge of tears. It was so sudden that it to me by surprise. I hardly ever cried and I thought that once I left that house I would be fine.

“You’re crying. What's going on? Where have you been? Has someone hurt you?” she bombarded me with questions. I could see the worry in her sea blue eyes."Did someone touch you?"

“No um, I was at Nina’s house," I choked, "and I just wanted to come home,” I lied. I didn’t want to think about what happened. "I got a little homesick."

“Wait Nina, that girl that put all that gum in your hair when you were thirteen? It took weeks for your hair to grow back. Why would you go to her house? Why didn’t you tell me?” mom put her hand on her hips like she always did when she demanded an answer.

“Shar, leave her alone. She was at some friend's house. I’m sure she meant to call. The only thing that matters is that she’s alive and well,” Jeff kissed her forehead. 

I was glad that Jeff was standing up for me. What else are stepfathers’ good for if not to stick up for the stepchildren? It should be a law.

“Okay, but this is not over. After school, we are going to have this discussion again,” mom said.

Even though she said that, I knew we would never talk about it again. My mom almost always forgot the fights we have, which I took full advantage of.

“Actually, I feel a little sick. Can I stay home?” I asked as I rubbed my stomach. I didn’t want to go outside again, it was too soon. He could be out there.

“If you can spend the night at someone’s house on a school night and without calling, then you can go to school if you’re a little sick,” she said then went into the kitchen while Jeff trailed behind given my a sad look.

“Man!” I shouted as I stomped all the way to my room.

I had forty-five minutes to get dress and to catch my bus. The shower started acting up again so they water was lukewarm borderline cold. I washed my hair over and over again hoping to wash away the memory of going to the Clifford House. I didn’t want to think about what would have happened. That Dean guy could have killed me. I felt my neck, feeling for pain.

I stayed in the shower for almost twenty minutes, just standing there. I rubbed my bruised arm, which was red from when Dean squeezed it. I turn off the faucets and I got outthe shower. I went back into my room to put on some clothes. I wore a plain white-t, black jeans, socks and boots. I brushed and combed my hair until it was a manageable tangled mess.

The bus came only five minutes after I left the house, cutting it close. Since our town was kind of small, the number of children on my bus was pretty small. On, a good day I’d see about seven people on there. On a bad one, around sixteen would be on there, including me. It would only be that many if other buses broke down.

Albert Lea, Minnesota, where our motto is “Land between the Lakes”. Yup, land between the lakes. As the bus pulled into the parking lot of Albert Lea High school, I started shaking. I knew Nina was seconds away from running me down with questions. Oh man, I spotted her.

“Piper!” she said loud enough for everyone in the hall to hear. “Did you get the pictures?”

“Uh yeah,” I said. “But I didn’t get to the fifth floor. I got to the first four and the basement.”

“Wow, your insane,” Lisa, one of the “Tweets”, said. "I so couldn't do it."

“Well since you’re so fearless, you should come with us to Northbridge Mall,” Nina said. “You can tell us everything then. Right now I have to go English, but we’ll meet you there at three, at Herbergers. Bring some money, we’ll teach you how to really shop."

Well, they really didn’t even give me a chance to answer. Guess I’m going to the mall today. I counted the money in my wallet. Only twenty-six bucks. I knew if Nina was going shopping, I shouldn't have anything less than a hundred dollars on me. Well, I guess t-shirts, and knock offs would have to do.

I turned to go to my first period class and that’s when I saw them. It was Dean and the other girl he called, Leah. They were in a group of about ten. They were all gorgeous. Dean was staring a hole right into me. When I saw him make his way to me, I panicked. I sprinted down the halls, free of guards, and slipped into Mr. Winchester’s Physics class and took a seat.

“This can’t be,” I ran my hand through my still-tangled brown hair repeatedly.

“What can’t be?” Shannon, one of my friend/associate, asked. “Are you okay, Piper?”

“Yeah, I thought I saw something. It freaked me out a bit, but I’m fine,” I lied. I'm not much of a liar but I knew how to avoid people...sometimes. Especially ones with a lot of questions.

“Okay,” Shannon shrugged then went back to playing Sudoku.

 *

“Class!” Mr. Winchester called out as he came into the classroom and dropped his briefcase into his chair. “I would like to introduce some new students.” I almost fell out of my desk. The class gasped as a whole. It was them. It was only six of them, but it was them. They were here, in my classroom. Why? Were they going to kill me? Thoughts rattled in my head. “These are our new students from North Dakota.”

Wait. North Dakota?