Wish on a Star

Chapter 9

Zerachiel~

Zerachiel tried not to look at the girl standing next to him. She reminded him of the overly popular girls who thought they were better than everyone else.

Right now, she was giving Mr. Jackson a dark look. He didn't like it. It ruined her beautiful features.

She was definitely beautiful, he had no doubt about that. But he had no attraction to her. She was like an art piece, beautiful, but unapproachable.

"So?"
He asked. It seemed like she wasn't planning to say anything, and since they had to run the laps together, it would be better if it wasn't in uncomfortable silence.

She seemed to flinch as she heard his voice.

She turned around and offered an awkward smile. She looked nervous, though he didn't know why. Did he do something?

He shrugged and tried to look nonchalant. He tried on his part. It wasn't his fault she didn't want to talk to him.

He turned away from her and looked at the field. He was already tired thinking about it the laps he had to run.

With a sigh, he started jogging at a slow pace along the tracks.

After a few minutes, he was already breathing hard. For a person who never engaged in outdoor activities, this was more exercise than he did in a week.

He was conscious of the fact that the girl was jogging beside him. He didn't want to look, but he couldn't help but spare a glance at her.

She looked like she was going through the same trouble as him. Her forehead already showed signs of sweat and her mouth was slightly open as she panted. She was also making an effort to maintain as much distance as possible between them while running together. It was kind of sad that people he hadn't even met hated him.

They were halfway around the track now, and he already felt too tired to continue. He looked down at his skinny legs with distaste, wishing he was more athletic.

Damon always seemed to be great at sports. He was even the captain of the football team. On the other hand, he was grossly untalented at mostly everything.

Being around Damon gave him many mixed feelings, inferiority being one of the most potent ones. But that was on the good days, when Damon's aura didn't seem to affect his as much as usual.

He didn't realize how lost he had become in his thoughts until he felt a hand on his back.

He halted and flinched visibly, a brief moment of panic taking control of his mind. Those horror movies Damon made him watch with him sometimes were really not helping.

The girl retracted her hand, looking scared of my sudden reaction.

"Um, I'm sorry... I was thinking about.. something... What's up?"
He said awkwardly.

The girl seemed to relax a bit.
"I was just asking your name. I'm Rose, by the way."

She brought out her hand hesitantly. He took it and shook her hand with a light grip. Her hand was really soft, it felt like touching cotton.

"Hi, I'm Zerachiel."
He responded.

She smiled, and he felt himself relaxing in the awkward conversation. Zerachiel was never good at talking to people, so even a slight smile that hinted they didn't hate him was all he needed.

Zerachiel's happy moment didn't last though. As they resumed running, he felt a raindrop on his nose.

He frowned and turned to Rose.
"It's raining."

Rose looked up at the sky on instinct and nodded.
"Seems like it. Shall we head inside?"

Zerachiel shrugged.
"Yeah sure."

They both changed their route and headed towards the main school building. By the time they reached it, it was raining quite heavily and they were soaked.

Zerachiel reached the doors first and opened them. As his mom had always taught him, he let Rose enter first, and then closed the door behind him after he entered himself.

The main hallway was unnaturally silent, considering that it was the middle of a period and the classrooms were quite far away from there.

He turned towards Rose and immediately blushed. The rain had soaked her white t shirt and made it quite... Translucent.

He cleared his throat awkwardly and looked down at his feet.

Rose seemed to notice his awkwardness and came a little closer to him.
"It was nice meeting you."
She said, but Zerachiel still couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes.

He thought he was just going to keep staring at his shoes until she went away. Rose seemed to realize that he wasn't going to give a response.

Zerachiel felt something soft and wet on his cheek and he froze instantly.

Rose turned and walked away, probably heading over to the locker room to change.

Meanwhile, Zerachiel was just standing there in pure shock.

Did she just... Kiss my cheek?