Dominion (Guardian Angels) - By Melody Manful Page 0,43

letters of the clock as they flashed the numbers of each passing minute.

The next day, I stayed in bed until Sunday evening when my mother forced me to get out of bed to get some air.

When Monday came, I lied and told my mother that I hadn’t been feeling well, so she allowed me to stay home. I was no longer crippled by my fear, but I was still unsettled and sad.

When I woke up Tuesday morning, I felt better than I had in days. I decided if Gideon was going to kill me, he’d have done it by now. I still told my mother I wasn’t yet well enough for school, and this time, she decided to stay home with me.

It didn’t take her long to figure out that I was upset rather than sick, because I turned down every medicine she tried to give me. She asked what was wrong, but since I didn’t want to drag her into my crazy world, I said it was nothing and that I had just needed some time alone. Her way of trying to cheer me up was for us to eat a lot of ice cream and to model the new dresses in her clothing line. At first I didn’t want to do anything, but once she convinced me to try on a few dresses, I found I actually enjoyed it because it kept my mind busy.

My friends stopped by to visit after school. They assumed I was sick because I had already missed two days of classes. Tristan looked sad and distracted throughout the whole visit, but I wasn’t sure what was wrong with him.

“I think something is going around school because Gideon is out sick, too,” Jake said.

“He hasn’t been to school?” I asked in surprise.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Tristan said.

“Well, I’m fine now. I’ll be in school tomorrow,” I said.

My friends stayed a little longer with me. Sarah and Tristan walked me through what I had missed at school. After they all left, I was left with tons of homework assignments and a mind filled with questions about why Gideon wasn’t going to school.

When I went to school on Wednesday, I immediately regretted my decision because I spent the day jumping at every little sound I heard. Luckily for me, Gideon didn’t show up for classes. While I was relieved he wasn’t there, I wasn’t completely relaxed. When school ended for the day, my friends and I went shopping for Sarah’s dress for the dance. The boys quickly got tired of shopping because she was being so picky about the dresses and couldn’t decide which one Caleb would like.

“At this rate, only Mrs. Cells could tell you how good you look and you’d believe it,” Danny said, exasperated.

Sarah instantly gave him a hug. “You’re a genius,” she told him. “Let’s go visit the fashion goddess.”

We all piled into one car and drove to my mother’s boutique. My mother was more than happy to help Sarah, and when she asked me why I wasn’t going, I lied and told her it was because I wasn’t up for it.

Tristan offered to take me if I wanted to go, but I told him I was too far behind on my schoolwork and needed to catch up. I pretended I was fine that Gideon wasn’t around, but it was a lie. I missed him making fun of everything, and making me feel special. I missed how he made me laugh and how he always knew what to say. Remembering the good times didn’t stop me from thinking about the nightmare version of Gideon, though. I remembered how much he scared me, and I decided maybe it was better that he wasn’t around. Whatever he was, he wasn’t good for me.

After the rather long shopping trip with my friends, they said goodbye and left. My mother and I drove home together. As soon as I got to my bedroom, Logan called me to come outside for training, since I had texted and cancelled our last training session after Gideon left.

“Don’t look so down. You’re making up for missing practice on Friday,” Logan said the moment I stepped unto the field.

Logan stood beside a table covered with guns, arrows, and bows.

“Why did you call and cancel anyway?” He asked.

“Like I told you before, I had a headache.” I walked past him. It was more of a heartache, but how was I supposed to tell him I went to ask a boy out only