The Empath and His Lover

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

November 12, 2018, Angel's Point Of View

I start my day as most teenage boys that are in the middle of the last quarter of their Junior year in high school, trying to go back to sleep. Unfortunately, I am not a regular teenage boy. I am Angel Stephens and I am an empath meaning that I can feel people's emotions when I touch them. I found out that I am an empath towards the beginning of this school year when I first figured out that my current boyfriend, George Morales, liked me when we bumped into each other going into one of our least favorite classes.

***

September 9th, 2018

When I walked into my fifth-period class, which is my least favorite, I was slightly annoyed that today was a Bday instead of it being an A day. Which has one of my favorite class periods in it because I get to eat at a normal time instead of having to wait until 1:30. Unfortunately, today is a Bday meaning that I don't get to eat until 1:30 meaning that I am starving by the time we get to eat. When I was walking through the threshold I didn't see that George was standing there and I accidentally knock him over, partially because he has a bad balance. I was able to catch him before he hit the floor. When I caught him by the arm I got a strange feeling in my gut. It felt like... Love? That is a new feeling that I felt towards George. When he apologized for being in my way I looked into his blue eyes and saw a deep longing within them. Then it hit me as if an eighteen-wheeler might hit a small bug. I felt his emotions towards me...

After class, I catch him before he goes off with some of his friends for lunch to ask him if he was ok. He said that he was and basically sat there and stared at me. I asked him if there was anything he wanted to tell me. As soon as I finished saying that words were spilling from his mouth telling me about how he felt towards me and how he was bisexual and had a crush on me since about the middle of the seventh grade. I stopped him before he got any further and asked him if he would like to give dating me a try. I swear he almost passed out. He said yes, of course. Since we were in our lunch period I followed him over to where he and his friends sit.

***

November 12, 2018

Because I am afraid of what he would say or respond with, I still haven't told George that I am an empath. I am the only one that knows that I am an empath and that is how I know there was something else that George wanted do tell me about. I start my daily routine. I finally got up, took a shower, washed my face, got dressed, went into my parent's office to retrieve my phone and smartwatch, back to my room to gather my things up for school, and finally out to the dining room to wait for my dad to cook breakfast before I left to go to school. Dad fixed my sister and me two eggs, four pieces of bacon, and two biscuits each. I poke Ariana, my older and only sister, as I go by to get a cup of coffee. As I am making my coffee with two teaspoons of sugar and about three tablespoons of half and a half I hear "Angel! Really? Why did you poke me?" From Ariana. "I poked you because I wanted to you baby..." I trailed off as Dad turned around red-faced.

"Would you two shut up y'all haven't stopped fighting since your mom died and I am tired of listening to you two bicker constantly." He snapped. I looked over and Ari was crying silently. Our mom passed in her sleep when I was about nine years old, Ari was 10. Our mom died of lung cancer which was in remission but it flared back up and metastasized into her brain eventually killing her. Since Mom died Dad hasn't been the same. Actually, I don't think any of us are the same as we were before she died. I have started getting more stressed and having anxiety attacks almost once a week because I used to tell Mom pretty much everything, but since she died I haven't had the courage to talk to Dad like that. Especially since I think he is homophobic and If I told him about George he would disown me.

When I see the school bus pull up, "bus" I yell so I could let Ari know that it was here. Although we both have our driver's licenses we still take the bus because we don't want to pollute the air any worse than it already is and the bus is basically just one big carpool funded by the state. When I get on the bus I hear some of the people up in the front talking about how they had a bank robbery planned out so precisely that they could pull it off because they had the timing perfect. When I finally reached my seat and sat down I plugged in my earbuds and started listening to music off my phone so I didn't have to listen to all the stupid conversations that the people on the bus usually have and ride the rest of the way to the schools in peace. We, as usual, go bye and drop off the middle schoolers first then go back and the bus driver drops us off before driving back to the bus barn to get his vehicle back.

When I get into the school I cut through the courtyard and headed straight for the library to see if my George. George and his friends usually meet in the back of the library against the wall. I see that George is not there yet although his best friend Emma Ignacio was there. I head over to her and sit beside her and start talking to her. A few minutes later I see that George has walked in so I got up and went over to him. When our paths met I pulled him in for a kiss sparking an eww from Emma which I had not realized had followed me over to intersect George. I responded by breaking the kiss and turning toward her and said: "You have seen us kiss thousands of times before so don't even try to pull the innocent card with me."

About 8:30 the first bell of the day rings signaling that the day has started so I walk back to where my stuff is and pick it up and get ready to climb the first two flights of stars of the day. George and I walk up the stairs and into class together towards Mrs.Fulton's class. We start going over how simple machines help us, and since George and I remember this lecture from sixth and seventh grades we start passing a piece of paper back and forth between us writing on it so that Mrs. Fulton doesn't have to talk over us. The conversation goes something like this...

Hey, are you busy after school today?

No, I'm not. Why?

Do you want to go on a date tonight?

Shure, when and where?

How about the snow cone shop in downtown at eight?

I will see. That depends on if we get assigned a lot of homework tonight.

Ok, deal.

Ok.

After I get the note back the last time the dismissal bell rang and George and I walked to the theater together since we have most of the same classes together. Our theatre teacher is Mrs. Cole a 23-year-old energetic woman that occasionally gives us a run for our money for how weird she can be. In this class, we are making plaster masks that are really creepy when we all have them on and we stare at someone with them on. We used plaster that was on gauze and saran wrap to make the masks. We first measured the saran wrap and cut it set it on their face then pick it back up, cut a hole big enough for the nose to poke through so that they can breathe, then measure and dip the plaster into a tub of water and lay it on their face and spread out the plaster to make it flat. After we all finished that we went on to sit out the eyes and the edges then reinforce them so that they won't break. When all was said and done and everybody had their masks on it was really creepy.

Since today was an A day we don't have a class together during the fourth period I walk George to his classroom. Since I chose to take my last required history class next year I head back towards the library and recheck out a book that I've already read but want to read again. I choose to read the book Good-Bye Days, in which a teenage boy texts his friend that is driving with his other two friends in the car causing them to slam into the back end of an eighteenth wheeler killing all three friends instantly and start to read it. I am four chapters in when I hear the dismissal bell ring so I go and meet George outside of his class and walk together to our next class which is PE. In the pe gym down the 600 wing with a bathroom right around the corner.