Wingless {Clifford A.U}

Chapter Eight

It was a while before Astrid finally calmed down, and now she was sitting in the living room with Maddie who was braiding her hair. It was getting late now, the sky was darkening and they all had school in the morning to Astrid's dismay. After this weekend, she was not ready .

She hated it at school, but it wasn't as bad as home was, if she could even call it that at all. Bullying, useless classes, annoying people everywhere, every anti-social teenager's worst fear.

"You're hair is so pretty." Maddie said, taking the braid out and brushed it out. "It's really soft. Is it naturally this dark?" She asked and Astrid nodded.

"Thanks." she said with a small smile. Everyone, except Naomi, were in the living room. No telling where Naomi was but Astrid was grateful that she wasn't there. Michael watched from the opposite side of the room, watching the three of them interact with each other. Astrid looked happy when she was around her siblings, foster and blood related. He liked seeing her happy.

She glanced at him quickly, but looked away when Luke started talking to her. "Are you going to Lauren's tomorrow after school?" He asked and she shrugged.

"Maybe, it depends." She said. Luke gave her a skeptical look.

"Last time you said that Naomi threw a hissy fit and hit you because you were out later than you were supposed to be." He said and Astrid rolled her eyes.

"Well, it started pouring and I wasn't going to walk in the rain." She said.

"You could've called me. I would've picked you up." He said and she sighed.

"Whatever I'll go to Lauren's tomorrow for sure and you can pick me up when it's time for me to be home." she said and he shook his head in defeat and sighed.

"Always have to be the stubborn one don't you?" he muttered and she punched him in the arm.

"Yes I do. " she said and he rolled his eyes. He looked at his phone, checking the time.

"It's late, and I don't feel like dragging the two of you out of bed in the morning for school. Go to bed." Luke said. Maddie groaned and got up and walked upstairs with Luke following behind her.

Astrid went up to her room, but once she entered she went over to the window and opened it. Michael watched from behind her with a curious expression.

"What are you doing?" he asked and she turned and looked at him.

"Don't worry I'm not going to jump, follow me." she said climbing out of the window and pulling herself onto the roof, which was quite easy. She looked down to see if he was following. "You coming or not?" she asked.

"Yeah just a second." He said pulling himself up to the roof beside her. She tucked her knees to her chest and looked up at the sky.

"I love the view. It's gorgeous." she said with a sigh. He looked at her.

"Yeah, it is." he said. She looked down at her feet and sighed.

"I don't want to go to school tomorrow." she said.

"Yeah I know the feeling. I hated high school." he said and she looked at him.

"What grade (because I don't understand how the school system works there, oops) were you in, I mean before you...died- I mean if you don't mind me asking." she said and he looked down at his hands.

" 11. I started a year late and I was held back in 8." he said.

"Wait, so you're 19? And you went to my high school while I was in 10? That's so weird, I never saw you around." she said and he nodded.

"I tried to lay low, I didn't really like socializing with the other idiots around me." he said with a shrug.

They sat in silence for several minutes just thinking until Michael turned to her.

"Can i ask you something?" he asked and she nodded. "Have you ever tried to contact your birth parents?" he asked and she bit her lip.

"Yes, my mother." she said quietly.

"Did you ever tell her about the abuse you get here? Maybe she could help, or get you and Luke out of here." he said and she shook her head.

"Not possible." she said quickly.

"Why not?" he asked and she closed her eyes.

"Because she-she's dead. She died a few years ago from cancer. That's why she chose to give me and Luke up in the first place. She didn't want to end up dying while we were young. She didn't want us to go through that kind of loss at a young age. Luke doesn't know that I ever contacted her. He doesn't know anything about her besides the fact she gave us up." she said, keeping her gaze on down.

"Oh, I'm sorry, i didn't know." he apologized. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve when she realized there were a couple of tears rolling down her face.

"It's fine. Damn I cry too much." she said with a slight laugh to her tone.

"It's okay to cry." he said.

"Not as much as I do." she said.

"I've only seen you cry a few times." he said and she shrugged.

"Yeah, in one weekend." she said and he sighed.

"It's okay to be sad." he said.

"That's the thing though, I'm not just sad. It's all kinds of emotions all at once: sadness, anger, anxiety, fear, it's to the point where I just feel numb sometimes, and that's the worst feeling ever. I hate it." she said, hugging her knees tighter to her chest.

"It'll get better."

"How do you know?"

"Because I've been through it. It got better, at least until I was murdered. You know, angels feel pain, they feel everything mortals do, they bruise, they bleed, they can be scarred. I found that out the hard way, point is if I could get through it, even after I died, you can too." he said.

"You really think so?" she asked and he nodded.

"You're one of the strongest people I've ever met, I know you can. Now, it's late, you have to get up in the morning. Come on." he said climbing off the roof with Astrid following behind, dreading the next day.

A/N: So here's chapter 8 hope you enjoy , please vote and comment. Thanks

-Xx E.J