Dominion (Guardian Angels) - By Melody Manful Page 0,22
Sunday evening to celebrate.
“I’ll see you guys after school,” I told my bodyguards, Ben and Felix, as they dropped me off at the front door to school, Monday morning. In order to attend classes without them, I wore a wristwatch that countered as a tracking device.
When they left, I counted the seconds until my friends arrived, and luckily for me, it didn’t take long.
“What’s up, people?” Jake asked as he entered the classroom, his skateboard tucked beneath his arm. I looked up at the sound of Jake’s voice. Danny and Tristan followed close behind.
Tristan was the new guy as of last month, and Jake and Danny had befriended him, so he’d become a part of our group.
The first time Tristan walked into our classroom, all the girls had stared at him, dazed. He looked like a guy who’d walked straight out of a fairy tale, the kind of tale where the prince was described as the first blossom of spring, the first hope of dawn, a new beginning. I was pretty sure the only place Tristan could have fallen from was heaven, a place that could only hint at his indescribable, unimaginable good looks. Handsome truly wasn’t a sufficient description. It didn’t even come close.
“Good morning,” Tristan said to the classroom as he walked in. The guys walked over to me. “Good morning, Abby,” Tristan said, sitting beside me. Danny and Jake took their seats in front of us.
“Morning,” I mouthed.
Jake put his skateboard on the floor and tossed his school bag beside him. When I looked back over at Tristan, our eyes met. He smiled at me, showcasing yet another indescribable feature, his perfectly brilliant teeth.
No one should be that handsome.
Tristan unnerved me, but he radiated a feeling of peace, of being free whenever I was near him. It was as if he took all my worries away whenever I was close to him.
Danny said, “Tristan, where were you this weekend? You missed the best party ever.”
“I was busy,” Tristan answered. He turned to me and asked, “How was your mother’s launch party?”
Jake answered before I could. “She wouldn’t know because she was too busy trying to hide out most of the night from the press.”
“Yeah, what was up with that?” Danny asked.
Since I wasn’t in the mood to explain myself for the millionth time about how much I didn’t like the press, I faked a smile and shrugged. I reached for my bag and winced, feeling pains all over my body.
“Can I see that?” Tristan asked, looking at my wristwatch.
I stretched my hand out toward him. The moment his hand touched my wrist, the pain in my body disappeared. My entire body stopped aching. I yanked away from him and bent down to the same position as I had done when I reached for my bag, and to my surprise, I felt no pain.
What the hell just happened? I looked at Tristan, but all he did was smile. I pulled my sleeves up to take a closer look at my arms. I squinted to see if the red spots I had from climbing the ropes were still there, but there was nothing.
“I had…” I paused as I realized I couldn’t remember what I wanted to say. Did I have something on my arm? I didn’t even know why I was staring at it. I hastily pulled down my sleeve, not really sure why I had shoved it up in the first place.
“Are you all right?” Tristan asked.
“I need to pee,” I blurted. I quickly put my hand over my mouth just as my friends and Tristan broke into laughter. “I meant…yes,” I whispered in embarrassment.
I stood and rushed to the door, avoiding eye contact with everyone as I hurried through the classroom.
Hurry up, Abby, I told myself. I hoped that by the time I got back, Tristan would have moved to another country. Yeah, that was not going to happen, but seriously, could the situation have been any worse?
I really should have looked before bursting out of the door because the very moment I rushed into the hallway, I slammed into someone. I didn’t apologize at first. I kept my head bowed to hide my shame and tried to breathe. As I glanced up, my eyes caught the victim’s black motorcycle boots. I continued moving my gaze upward toward the person’s face. The second my eyes met his, I froze.
“Gideon,” I whispered as the flickering memory of my nightmare came rushing back all at once.