Chapter 1 – Saved by an Angel

It was another cold day in the small town where young William was stuck inside doing his chores. He always wanted to go play outside with the other children of the neighborhood but his headgear always got in the way. Since his father was a dentist, he wouldn't allow his son to go a life without perfectly straight teeth so William was cursed with this metal contraption around his head until the end of his teen years.

He was an only child with only one parent. His mother died when he was very young so he never really had the chance to get to know her. His father, on the other hand, was always at work with his patients so William only saw him in the morning before going to school and in the evening right before going to bed.

A solitary childhood wasn't always the best. He never had the chance to experience normal childhood experiences like going to the park, playing hide-and-go seek and finger painting. His father always told him that those activities were for the simple-minded and that no son of his would do foolish child activities.

William didn't even know what candy tasted like. Every child on the street would have candy and they would enjoy it. He would go out for Halloween every year but never actually ate any of the candy he got. His father would take his pumpkin shaped plastic holder and dump all the candy onto his desk. William would sit in the old Victorian chair that was placed right in front of his desk and he would watch his father as he looked through the candy.

Hopefully this year would be very different or so William was hoping. This year he would be entering the local private high school where all the rich snobby teenagers went. This did not please him too much but at least he was getting an education so he could eventually get away from this small town. He dreamed of traveling the world and making a difference.

William continued his chores of cleaning the parlor, bathroom and vacuuming the whole house. Even if the building looked small from the outside it really wasn't. There was the house and the rooms for his father's practice. Even with all the space he always felt alone. He had always guessed that he would have had a larger family if he mother was still alive. He could have had a little brother or sister.

That really didn't matter right now, the only thing that did was to finish his chores so he could get ready for his first day of school which was tomorrow. He put away the vacuum in the closet and headed upstairs to where his room was. When his family moved in, he had the choice to which room would be his and he chose the attic room because it was away from everyone. Plus he could look over the town from up there.

"William, where are you going?" he father called up the stairs.

"I am going to get ready for school tomorrow. It is my first day after all."

After saying that he turned away and closed the door behind him. His room was no different from any other except the fact that he had no posters of his favorite band or clothes on the floor or other things that a normal teenage room would have. Instead, it only had one bed, a dresser, a desk and a lamp to go on the desk. The colors of the walls were a forest green with a striped border.

He sighed and started going through his stuff looking for things to bring on his first day. His uniform was ready since the school provided them for their students. He placed his bag on his desk and started to get ready for bed. William was very anxious and nervous for the next day. It would be his first day in high school and he wanted it to be a day to remember.

The only thing he could feel and hear were the eyes of students looking at him and laughing at him. He knew darn well that they were directing all of this at him. It was because of the stupid contraption on his head and it didn't help that he was new to the school. He walked to every class with his eyes locked to the ground, ignoring the laughs and glares of his fellow peers as he did so.

William entered his last class of the day, English. He didn't understand why he had to take this class since he already knew how to speak and write it. The other students entered as he was opening his textbook and getting ready for the class to begin. His seat was in the far corner since it went in alphabetical order and he was thankful for that since no one would look back at him.

The teacher entered the classroom and all the students went quiet. She started with opening her attendance book and checking off who was there and who wasn't. Once again, William was the last to be called and he heard a couple of snickers as the teacher said his name.

"Now children please open your books to page eleven, we will be studying Shakespeare for the next month or so," she announced.

Some of the student moaned and groaned as they opened their books to the appropriate page. William's book was already opened to that page so he just started to look at the other students in his class. He had never been around this many people his own age in months. It was very uncomfortable in his case. Luckily the day would be over in only a half an hour.

The ring of the school bell brought William out of his daydream and back into reality. Half the students had already left the class and the other just stayed behind to talk to the teacher or other fellow students. William just took his books and headed right to his locker.

It didn't go as good as he excepted. He wanted to go to his locker and leave the school grounds without being noticed but that wasn't going to happen. On his way to his locker, some of the football players come up to him and started to knock over his books and push him into the walls.

"Look at the new metal factory here," said one of them.

"He is more metal than boy," one of them laughed.

"HEY! Leave him alone" said the voice of a girl.

The group of boys stopped what they were doing and turned around to face the girl. It seemed that the football players were scared of this girl as William quickly heard their retreating footsteps. William started to pick up his books when he realized that he was missing one. Black shoes appeared in front of him and he stood up. It was the girl who stopped those boys and she was holding his missing book.

She was the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. Her shinning emerald eyes looked at him, her wavy auburn hair went past her shoulders and her tanned skin glowed in the light. She gave a half a smile and handed him back his book. He tried to say thank you but it only came out in mumbles and she just continued to walk down the hallway.

William didn't understand why such a beautiful girl like her would ever save a guy like him. Every time he thought about the subject it only brought up more questions. He wondered about how she could have stopped those boys even though she was a girl. So many questions left unanswered and that was driving him crazy.

The days rolled by very quickly since his first day of school and William was getting used to it. He was passing all his classes with As and he wasn't having any trouble. That girl only talked to him once or twice since the day she saved him but most of the time he would see her with friends or those boys. He wanted to go up and thank her properly but he never had the courage to do it.

Until one day when the sky was grey and cloudy, he had just arrived at home when someone knocked at the door. He heard his father voice telling him to let them in since it was one of his patients. William opened the door and there she was standing right in front of him.

"Hello William," she said in a low voice.

He was just about to answer her when she smiled and he closed his mouth. William couldn't believe what he saw. Right behind those pink lips of hers were two rows of metal. This beautiful girl had braces as well.

"Hello Emily, how's your day going?" his father turned the corner.

"Very good and yourself?"

"Excellent thank you. Now open your mouth, so I can check those beautiful teeth of yours."

The man moved out of the way so the girl could pass by and enter the dentist room. His father turned his head slightly and told William to go do his homework. As usual, he did what he was told and walked up the many stairs to his quarters.

William sat at his desk trying to concentrate on his algebra homework but his mind always wondered to her. He finally knew her name and it was a very pretty one for a girl like her. He looked down at his homework and hardly half the questions were done. Rubbing his eyes he pushed her out of his thoughts and continued his math homework.