Burning Sky

Chapter 11

Once it was determined that Mo actually wasn't the dragon, everyone headed to their classes like any other day. When the final bell rang, Sora was relieved. It was Friday, after all, and that meant two days of complete freedom.

Hopefully, Drake wasn't coming up with a long list of things for her to do. That would totally ruin her good mood.

As if reading her thoughts, Drake appeared in front of her desk with a serious expression on his face. "I need you to write down all the names of the people that were there the night of the fire."

Sora shushed him as she dragged on his sleeve pulling him closer to her. "You can't talk about the fire here! I don't want anyone to figure out that I know who was there that night. It is too dangerous!" She was whispering although she felt like yelling at him. Fear washed over her when she looked behind Drake and saw Alicia standing at the door, watching them.

"Is everything okay?" Alicia said and took a tiny step closer to them.

"Yeah, everything's perfect." Sora jumped from her seat, picked up her bag and started walking towards the exit. She still had her fingers clamped firmly on Drake's shirt, so he had no choice but to follow her.

Once they were a safe distance away from the prying eyes of their classmates, Sora halted and turned to face Drake. He was looking down at his arm confused. She followed his gaze and realized with surprise she was still holding onto him. Immediately she released him. "Sorry," she mumbled at her feet, hiding her flushed cheeks.

Even if she couldn't see Drake's face, she sensed his shrug. "I need the list," he said all business again. Sora was relieved that he ignored her behavior, she didn't want any awkwardness between them, not any more than already existed. She wanted to keep focused on the task at hand. She refused to think about the fact that Drake could turn into a dragon at any moment.

"I will need some time to come up with the list," she said, already listing people in her mind. "I don't want to forget anyone. I can have it ready by tomorrow morning. Keep in mind that a list of names isn't going to be a big help to you since you can't pair faces to names. You are still the new guy."

"I like lists," he said like it was a fact that she should already know.

Sora couldn't tell if he was serious or joking by his tone, so she finally dared to sneak a peek at his face. There was a brief moment when she thought she wouldn't be able to tell the difference, but then, somehow, she knew he was serious. "You're such a weirdo," she said and immediately covered her mouth with one hand, her eyes growing wide. She couldn't believe she had just said that, to someone who could transform into a dragon, no less.

Instead of being insulted, Drake smiled widely. It was the first time she had seen such an honest smile on his face, and truthfully, she liked it. "Fortunately, so are you," he said still smiling.

Sora couldn't help laughing. Maybe we're not all business after all, she thought as they turned to head home.

***

After spending some time with her grandparents, Sora was happy to spend the rest of her afternoon blissfully doing nothing. Earlier, she managed to make her first perfect origami crane with her grandfather. When she handed it to her grandfather to add it to his collection, he refused. He told her that in order for his wish to come true, he had to be the one to make all one thousand cranes. He suggested she start her own origami goal. She smiled as she put the purple origami in a drawer with the number one written on its wings.

Once her grandparents left, Sora was glad to be able to be alone with her thoughts. After all, she had a list to make. She grabbed a blank piece of paper and an orange pen and made her way to the kitchen. She loved the huge dark table and always enjoyed doing her homework there. Compiling a list of suspects somehow felt like homework to her. But before she could even write down the first name, there was a knock on the back door.