"No! I don't want to go anymore! I won't!" I scream.
"Shhh Eva, sweetheart, calm down. Please be quiet. My parents are home," Connor says, rubbing my arm. I forgot that his mom- it's weird thinking of her like that but after what happened with Connor I have to kind of have to lighten up- came home today.
"Sorry," I mutter. "I'm just gonna go stay with Belle for a bit."
"What?" Connor asks in disbelief. "No, please don't do that."
"I don't want to disrupt anything with your house," I say. Connor pulls me underneath a tree in his front yard. He holds me by the shoulders.
"What happened today?" he asks. "You know that I don't mind whatever you do. Well, most things you do that is but there's something wrong."
"I don't want to talk about it," I mumble, not meeting his eyes. Even thinking about it puts me on the verge of tears.
"You have to tell me," he says gently. Can a voice be gentle? I believe so. "Not right at this moment but at some point tonight."
"I really-" I can't finish my sentence over the lump in my throat.
"Shh," Connor murmurs, pulling me against his chest. I rub my face into his shoulder. His hand plays with my ponytail. "You're okay."
"I don't know," I mumble. I lift my head up and rest my chin on his shoulder. "Of course, I'm okay. Just," I sigh, "just a little upset."
"Let's go inside and talk," he says, lightly grabbing my arm and pulling me toward the house. Up the steps and on through the front door. "Eva's here! We're going to study in the entertainment room!"
"That's so studying!" his dad shouts in reply. Someone says something. Then his dad shouts, "Your mom wants to meet her properly."
"You okay enough to meet my mom?" Connor says quietly enough so his parents don't hear. I nod my head. Nothing can beat Jessica's little rodent posse. Too harsh? I don't care.
Connor drops his backpack on the first step of the stairs. He takes mine off my shoulder and places it beside his. Then he takes my hand and leads me into the kitchen. His mom and dad are sitting at the kitchen table. His mom looks tired but otherwise alright. His dad has a newspaper laid out in front of him while tapping a pencil repeatedly against the table. Honestly, that is going to be really annoying fast.
"Hi mom. This is Eva," Connor says, nodding his head at me. I smile a little nervously and give a slight wave.
"I'm sorry about barging in here the other day," I say. Mrs. Blake waves her hand at me, smiling.
"That's okay sweetie. I've...I've realized my mistake that day. I've already apologized to Connor," Mrs. Blake says. I like this change in her. It's true a smile really can make a person more beautiful. The scowl made her look evil and cruel. Now, she just looks like a beautiful woman.
"I'm glad you're alright," I say, smiling back at her. When I look over at Connor, he's staring at me with a shocked expression but shakes his head quickly and smiles. Weird much?
"Well, like I said, studying. Lots of studying but before we do that, I'm grabbing Oreos," Connor says. He lets go of my hand and rushes to the cupboard. He grabs the pack of Oreos.
"Handful, isn't he?" Mr. Blake says.
"You have no idea," I say in my mind. Out loud, I say "Sure is."
"Hey, don't talk about me like I'm not here." Connor pouts, holding the Oreo package to his chest. Mr. Blake laughs. He finally stopped tapping the table with his pencil. I thought I was going to break that thing in half.
"Stating it like it is," I say. Connor walks back over to me. He bumps his elbow against mine as he turns to face his parents.
"So, much studying. Must go," Connor says.
"We'll let you two go then," Mrs. Blake says, her voice soft and warm. This is such a change of character. I'm honestly wondering what happened to her.
"Before you go, I know you are not really studying. Don't lie," Mr. Blake says. Connor rolls his eyes. I can tell Mr. Blake has assumed the classic dad of a teen boy. 'My son has brought home a girl. They must be something more than friends. Hey, no making out.' "So just a few rules. Ruler apart. No kissing. PG-13 movies."
"Dad! We're friends. You know that," Connor says.
"Yeah Mr. Blake. Nothing will happen," I say. Mr. Blake has a look on his face that reads: yeah, I'll believe that when pigs fly. Connor slings an arm over my shoulder and leads me out of the kitchen.
"Just friends!" Mr. Blake shouts after us.
"Totally!" Connor shouts. To me, that sounded a little sarcastic but my ears could be fooling me.
Connor takes me down a hall on the first floor that I've never noticed before. It looks like the average hallway with no pictures adorning the walls. It's actually kind of dark which triggers the glow from my aurora. Now the hallway is casted in a pink glow. Connor pulls me into a room with an open door. The room has a shelf that stands from floor to ceiling, filled with DVD's and CD's. On one wall, there's a huge flat screen TV and a whole stereo system. The other wall has a sectional pressed against the wall.
"Welcome to the entertainment room," Connor says. He tosses the Oreo pack onto the couch and plops down. He grabs my hand and pulls me down with him. "Gosh darn it. I didn't shut the door."
I flick my fingers and the door shuts. Yeah, yeah, emergency use only. A girl has to break the rules sometimes.
"I thought that was for emergencies," Connor says.
"I didn't want to move or for you to move," I say, wrapping my arms tightly around his waist. Connor has his arm around my back.
"Do you wanna tell me what happened today?" Connor asks quietly.
"You're going to make me say something even though I don't want to," I say.
"Not gonna lie, yeah," Connor says. "But I wanna help you."
He's making it really hard to not tell him. I look up at him and he starts pouting with his big blue eyes. That adorable boy will be the death of me.
"Well to start things off, Jessica has a major crush on you. That'll be a helpful point," I say, not looking at Connor. "She got really jealous when her informants told her they seen us together. I'm not really sure what she did about it but her little group has been bugging me ever since. Today, she got really mad when she actually seen us. Her friends kept teasing me in Algebra. Calling me a freak, ugly, an outcast, a bunch of other horrible things I'm not mentioning. I really don't know how you didn't hear any of this."
"I spent most of the day avoiding people," Connor says. I didn't realize I was crying until Connor wiped away tears that were on my cheeks. "What happened after that?"
"At lunch, I was walking with Belle to the table. I didn't get any food today. Jessica tripped me and I fell. While I was on the ground, she kicked me in the back. Oh if I was allowed to, that tramp would be on the ground in two seconds flat. She started telling me all this stuff about how the world didn't need another worthless little girl who couldn't even fight. By this point, I think I started crying which only encouraged her." I pause to take a deep breath. "She said that you wouldn't want to hang around me once you realized how crazy I was. That she was so much better than me. I rubbed in her face that you absolutely hated her. I peeved her off with that statement so when I tried to stand up, she shoved me back down again."
"Eva..." Connor says, his voice filled with anger, sadness and something else. Something I don't know about.
"I don't belong here," I say, feeling like everything will come crashing down. "I don't even know what I'm doing here."
"Ev, don't listen to Jessica. Look at me, sweetheart," he says softly. I look up at him, barely seeing him. Everything looks blurry. "Of course you don't feel like you belong here. You're from Heaven where everything is better. You're too good to be in a place like this but I do know you're doing something right. You know how I know?" I shake my head. "Because in the kitchen, I watched half of your feathers being outlined in sparkling gold. That's why I looked shocked."
What? I spread out my right wing to get a look for myself. Connor's right. The top half of my wing's feathers are defined with gold. I've only heard stories about this. About angels accomplishing their tasks, all their feathers, every single one, outlined in gold. Those Watchers are so rare to the point where I've never seen one. Just bedtime stories inspiring me to be the best Watcher ever.
"See Ev. You're doing great even if we don't know what's happening," Connor says.
"Connor, you know what this means?" I ask, hastily wiping the remaining tears off my face. Connor shakes his head. "That I'll be accomplishing my task soon, then I'll be leaving."
Even the mere thought causes a pang in my chest. I don't care about this world but I do care about Connor. I don't want to leave him any time soon or ever for that matter. Connor must not like that thought either because his face pales. Despite this, he still smiles.
"Fifteen and already accomplishing life goals," he says. "Do you wanna watch a movie?"
"Why not?" I say. Connor carefully stands up, leaving me with no warmth. I curl up on the end of the couch. He grabs the remote from the TV stand and opens one of the cupboards. He pulls out a black blanket and walks back to the couch.
"You can come back and sit with me," Connor says. I crawl back over to him and lay my head in his lap. He drapes the blanket over me. "It's not your Harry Potter blanket but I'm lazy."
I'm not going to lie, this blanket smells like him. The freshest ocean breeze. I'm in love with this smell.
"I don't mind," I say.
"Oreo?" Connor asks.
"I only like middle," I say, turning my head so I could see him.
"Then I'll eat the cookies and you can have the cream," Connor says as he takes the top off and hands the rest to me. I peel off the cream in one piece, put it in my mouth and hand the other cookie to him.
That's how we spent the rest of the afternoon. Watching movies and eating Oreos. I'd eat the cream and he would eat the cookies. Such a relaxing way to end a moody Monday.