Dance of the Angels

Chapter 1

Taking a deep breath, Naomi began awkwardly shuffling to a lunch table with a free seat, avoiding the chaotic and obnoxiously loud students running around as well as she could. The table had people from some of her classes that she recognised. A ginger only a little taller than her from her Maths class and a blonde girl she believed to be called Katie from English. As the angel neared the table, she realised she would have to be the one to ask if anyone was sitting in the empty seat. It would surely lead to eve more anxiety and awkwardness if someone was sitting there.

“Um, hi,” she started with a smile on her face. “I’m new, I started today. Could I maybe sit with you, please? I don’t really know anyone yet.” The ginger one who sat opposite the empty chair smiled as he kicked the chair out from under the table.
“Sure. I’m Ryan,” he introduced. “This is Alex.” He pointed to the boy on his left who glared at him.
“I’m Ianto,” said the brown-haired boy next to Alex. “That’s Katie and that’s Gareth.” Naomi nodded as she heard the names. She put her bag on the back of her chair. It nearly tipped but she caught it and quickly sat down.
“I’m Naomi.”

Groaning, she realised she had forgotten to take her food out of her bag. She turned and unzipped her back, pulling out the plastic tub with contained her food before closing it. As she turned back around, Gareth’s hand grazed against her own.

In anger, the teenage boy hit a blonde girl, slapping her and leaving red marks on her skin. She begged him to stop, apologising and spewing out promises of never doing something again. Even more furious than before, Gareth grabbed her by her shirt with so much force, she toppled backwards and fell down a flight of stairs.

Naomi’s body was temporarily paralysed as she let the images fade out of her mind. She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping they’d leave sooner as she took several deep breaths.
“What? I didn’t mean to,” Gareth grumbled as he gave Naomi an odd look.
“Maybe she doesn’t like physical contact?” suggested Katie. Naomi opened her eyes and recognised her as the girl from the visions. Gareth hurt her, hit her, pushed her down stairs.
“N-no, I don’t,” she stuttered, deciding to go along with Katie’s reasoning. Brushing her hair out of her face, she noticed Gareth’s glare with was obviously aimed and her. Naomi then wished her brother was with her.

Michael. She needed Michael with her.

She was never going to be able to follow her orders. Redeeming someone seemed impossible. No, redeeming Gareth would be improbable. His abusive actions which he deemed protective would never be changed by her, that would need a professional.

Realising dwelling on her instructions wouldn’t make her feel any better, Naomi pushed the visions as far back in her mind as she could and continued eating her food. Accidentally, she let out a sigh of relief when Gareth left to buy more food from one of the school’s counters.

“You don’t like him much, do you?” asked Ianto, noticing her relief.
“Huh?” she asked. He repeated what he said and she shook her head in response. “It’s just what Katie said, I don’t like touching people.” She let a nervous laugh escape her lips before avoiding Ianto’s questioning gaze by turning back to her food.

Being the only one who had finished his food, Alex began tapping on the table until Ianto told him to ‘quit it, idiot’. Alex cleared his throat and Naomi glanced at him.
“What school did you come from?” he asked as a conversation starter. Naomi finished her mouthful of food before replying.
“I was homeschooled. By my guardian, Michael.” Naomi then realised why he had started the conversation with her. “If it’s about the touching thing, I promise it’s just because I don’t like touching people. It’s… a habit, I guess?”

“Did you know,” started Ianto, interrupting whatever Alex wanted to say. Alex mumbled something to himself but Ianto ignored him and continued: “that some abuse victims flinch away like that?” The other people of the table stared at Ianto, wondering why he knew the information in the first place. Looking quite uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation, Katie excused herself to see if she could find her boyfriend, Gareth.