Halo Of Fire: An Angel In Trouble

Be My Friend?

At the end of class, I met Jordan who walked me to the counselor's office. "Make sure you look at ALL the options before you let her convince you to sign up for anything. During my first year she got me to sign up for an extracurricular activity I HATED because she omitted to say that I would have to clean up after the animals." They rolled their eyes. "It was disgusting."

I smiled and thanked them. "I appreciate you for giving me the heads up." I looked towards the door. "Do you have to go to your activity now?"

Jay nodded, "Yes, I have a Student Government to run." They winked at me and walked off. As a wannabe lawyer, that made sense that they'd be in government. Now, what the hell did I want to do for the rest of my life?

I sat with the counselor for a total of two hours and thirteen minutes and all I could decide on was to try Habitat for Humanity. The woman was exasperated with me by the time we gave up and made me promise I'd try a sport since my mom was a "star" lacrosse player. I couldn't see myself doing that either, but it was better than having to go to Chess Club. Not that there was anything wrong with that, for whoever liked it, I just didn't understand the rules and didn't find any joy in it.

So off I went, after stealing two hours of precious time from the counselor, back home, because at that point there was nothing more to do, the extracurricular activity time had ended. My first day was over.

Or so I thought.

"Angel!" I heard a familiar voice call as I pushed the front door of the building open to leave. I turned around and found Cecily running to catch up with me.

"Oh hey."

"I'm glad you're still here! What did you sign up for?"

I updated her on my visit with the counselor and she beamed her pearly whites at me as we walked out of the building, "Oh I absolutely loved Habitats last year. I did it in the spring though, it's more appropriate given the weather. Plus that way you can schedule a Saturday event once or twice a month, stay the whole day, and make up all the missed hours if you don't do them during the week." She took a couple of steps ahead of me and turned around to look at me like some star in the movies, "It's rather hard to make it to wherever they're doing the build and reach the time limit for the day if you only have 2 hours for transit and activity."

"The fact that we have two hours for extra activities at all is beyond me."

"Your old school didn't do it this way?"

"I went to public school up until today."

"No way! Sometime you'll have to tell me all about it. That must've been such an experience!" She seemed so interested and her aura backed up her expression telling me that she was curious with bright hues of purple.

I looked away, "Oh quite the experience." I said sourly. The image of the bonfire of that evening not long ago appeared fervent in my mind. The bodies surrounding it, like a feverish dream, and the argument that ensued, followed by the lightning that struck-

"Hey, you ok?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm sorry, I spaced out. What were you saying?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to come over to my place to study. My parents are practically never home so we'd have the whole place to ourselves."

I chewed on my lip, "Are you sure you want me to hang out with you?"

She furrowed her brows, "Why would you say that?"

I shrugged, there was something about her that made me want to protect her from me. There was something wrong with me and I seemed to poison all the people that came to care about me. "I don't know..."

"Come on, it'll be fun. We can have snacks and boss Gerald around."

"Gerald?"

"My butler." She smirked. "Plus, you've been the main attraction since we heard we were getting a late applicant and I want to know everything about you."

"Why?"

"Because you're new, most of us have known each other since infancy, a lot of the international students too," she said leaning in and lowering her voice, "have been students here forever. They say they send us here for our futures and all that, but we're all really here to get us out of their way." She made air quotes at the end of the sentence. "But anyway, the excitement is gone and I'd love to get to know you." She smiled.

I shifted my weight between my feet, swaying slightly. There was something about her and her aura that I liked, it gave off warm vibes even though auras were heatless and intangible, "I guess a study session can't hurt. It sounds like fun."

She gave me a sweet smile, "Awesome!"

At that point, we heard the sound of slamming doors just behind us and we turned to see who had left the building now. It was Jay with Ophelia. They came down the steps chatting feverishly.

"Hey," I said with a small voice. For some reason, I felt intimidated by Ophelia. She seemed intense and I didn't know how to approach her.

They turned and looked at us, "Oh hey. How did the thing with the counselor go?" Jay asked turning to look at us.

"She signed up for Habitat for Humanity and is going to try out for a sport," Cecily said before I could get a word in. I nodded my head to confirm.

Jay nodded, "Well that works I guess. Just make sure you don't forget to log your hours. That'll be a pain to fix if you don't keep up with them."

"Okay."

"We're going to my place for snacks and study. Do you want to come?" Cecily said while a black sedan pulled up to the curb.

Ophelia and Jay looked at each other, then looked at me, and then shrugged, "Sure."

"Did you invite Tyler?" I asked her as she opened the door to the front passenger seat.

"Oh god no." But her aura was bright with pinks and reds and I knew she had thought about it.