Broken Feathers

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Chapter Two: Up (Olly Murs feat. Demi Lovato) 

                              

"Hate it here already," I muttered, leaning against the lockers. Kalem rolled his eyes, the pillock, and looked at me with that patronising expression I had seen on far too many teachers. 

"It's not that bad!" I guess he was in a fair place to comment; wherever I went, Kalem went. His education was as jumbled and messed up as my own, and he had the added bonus of not having my family. Then again, my mother had a place for Kal at every family meal, every family occasion. Hell, sometimes I wondered if she'd just like him instead of me. 

"It's fucking sh-" 

As an angel, I wasn't supposed to swear, but the fear of being caught by the angelic police had nothing to do with the words suddenly stopping. Ahead of us, coming out of the door, was a girl. Small, with long blonde hair that fell over her face, she powered through the crowd with a presence that screamed grace.  

I stared after her, looking past my best friend in order to catch her eye. Her eyes, by the way, were wide and blue, brimming with life.  

"What can be so bad about it that you've already written it off?" Kalem asked, evidently oblivious to the fact my attentions were now fully focused on the Goddess slamming her things into the locker ahead of us. Damn, she was feisty and gorgeous.  

"Who's she?" I demanded, my gaze never leaving the girl. 

Kalem looked over his shoulder before whistling through his teeth, taking her in. 

"Don't ever go there." 

I blinked at the expression on the girl's face; a screwed up, pissed off look that I had seen so many times before. Hell, I had painted that expression. My muse wore it frequently in dreams... 

"Nah, man, I know her face from somewhere..." My voice trailed off, trying to place the Muse-like girl who was now shoving her books aggressively into her bag. Fuck, she was starting to come towards us, her hips swaying and her hair flicking over her shoulder in an invisible breeze. Her pale skin seemed to glow, and I wouldn't have been surprised if there was some Fae in her. 

"You just happen to know Star Jenkins?" 

Star. It suited her more than any other name could have done. She was bright and sparky and I'd never even spoken to the girl. 

"Who is she?"  

"Star? She's Faol Righ's daughter." Just as Star passed us, I let out a long, low wolf whistle, gazing appreciatively at the daughter of the headmaster, half hoping she hadn't realised it was me, but at the same time, wanting to be on her radar more than anything I had ever wanted. 

Star flipped me the birdy, her hand sticking out in the crowd of people as she left the building, the light catching the ring on her finger.  

"Shite..." I murmured. I didn't do crushes. There had never been a woman in my life longer than a night. And even then, I felt uncomfortable if they stayed into the morning. My mother and my paintings were enough to centre my world, and to add a female into the mix would just send me off kilter. Besides, angels weren't meant to fuck. We weren't meant to sex up the humans and procreate. You just had to ask Kalem about relationships and his eyes would cloud over and his voice would lower and he'd become a thunderous motherfucker that you couldn't speak to for the best part of a day. 

Relationships and angels were strictly foreign concepts. 

"You're not going to get far with her, man," Kalem said, snorting lightly.