The Fallen Angel

Chapter VI

I started locking the front door when I entered the house. I never did before, but now it had snuck its way into my routine. Perhaps it was because I had nothing to fear before, but now, everything made me jump. I refused to watch horror movies and I slept with my lamp on, which I hadn't done that since I was seven. Every time the telephone rang, my heart began to race. I was scared of my own shadow.

"You can't keep avoiding me Olivia," Nathan jogged up next to me in the hallway. It had been almost a week since he had told me his secret, revealed what he was hiding under his thick jacket he wore all the time. 

"I can and I will," I began walking faster, but he took a hold of my arm.

"I am here for your safety," he muttered in my ear. "You can't push me away."

"I don't want your protection nor do I need it," I groaned. We were beginning to attract attention and I shrugged his hand away.

"Don't be so ignorant, Olivia."

"You know what? The only person I should be afraid of right now is you, so leave me the hell alone," I shouted at him, making everyone around us forget what they were talking about. I looked around and my cheeks reddened in embarrassment.

"What are you looking at?" I barked at one of the girls and stormed off. This time, Nathan didn't follow.

I made my way to my locker and gathered my books. I went to class early and sat alone as Mr. Thompson prepared for his next classe. He eyed me every few minutes with a sly smile ghosting his lips. I doodled in my notebook, letting the pen lazily drag along the paper.

"I didn't know you had such interest for History, arriving," he looked up at the clock. "Fifteen minutes early."

"As you know, it is my favourite subject," I said sarcastically and he chuckles.

"What's on your mind, Miss Taves?" he began writing notes on the board.

"Only teenage hormones and heartbreak. Surely not something that interests you," I lied.

"Try me," he said, his back still facing the desks."

"The usual I guess. A boy told me liked me and I said that I didn't feel the same way and now, he won't leave me alone," I lied casually and he nodded slowly, pretending he understood, or that he cared about what I was saying.

"Well, if you feel like telling me what's really going on, you know where to find me," he raised his eyes to look at me and I shied away. A few people started entering the class and Mr. Thompson didn't say another word.

Nathan eventually entered, followed by a few of his friends and scanned the class, looking for me. Once he located me at the very back, he walked towards the table and I sighed. He took a seat next to me, as if nothing was wrong, as if he wasn't an angel and as if he hadn't told me that my life was on the line and that my only hope and saviour was his stupid self. He smiled, knowing that I was biting my tongue.

The bell rang and Mr. Thompson began his class, but his eyes kept deviating towards me. I eyed Nathan's hand lying on the desk; his index and middle finger both had large silver rings. They each had symbols carved on the top and a writing I couldn't make out.

"It's Latin. It's my ring's crest," he whispered and I looked away.

"I don't care about your stupid rings," I muttered.

"I don't understand why you're so angry with me," he leaned in, his mouth near my ear.

"I am not angry. I just don't want to have anything to do with this. I don't want to have anything to do with you or your secret."