Chapter 4; Caught
Her name stuck with me for the whole entire day.
I didn't understand-why was she, her face, her name, branded into my memory? Why was I always concentrating on her?
It's been at least a month now, and I haven't done anything-yet.
Every time I see her I get that feeling-the feeling of light. I watched her, every single day, in class, in the hallways, in her Hybrid; she was always so beautiful. The way the sun shone on her hair, the way she spoke when she answered a question-it was all so entrancing.
A few days after my first encounter with her, I tried asking my family on what they thought was happening.
Stephanie had said, "Aw! You have a crush on someo-," She didn't complete her sentence because by then, I had left.
Rachel had said, "Are you sure you don't actually like, like this gi-," She didn't finish her sentence either.
Robert had said, "Dude, I think you have a crush, man," he chuckled. "You like her!" I had automatically rejected that statement and strode away, cheeks red.
Richard had said, "Well, I'm pretty sure you lik-," I turned around and walked away before he could finish.
Samantha had said, "Do what you think is right," and she had put her hand on my face. "Do what your heart tells you, kiddo," she smiled and then walked away from me.
Michael had said, "You like her," in such a serious voice that for a second, I wondered if this was a new Michael. He grabbed my arm before I could turn my back on him. "Hear me out, David. I felt exactly like you did when I saw Samantha. I know for sure that you like her-don't deny it!" He added as I turned my face away. "You like her, and there's nothing that can stop your love from building. I know this," Michael said, giving a small smile and tapping his head. He released my arm and I pulled away, disturbed.
Was it true? Was I actually developing a kind of "crush" on Alex Nguyen? Was that why I felt so light inside when I saw her? What was wrong with me…?
The next day, I found myself tracking down each of her friends and asking them what her phone number was and where she lived.
Yes, I most likely was developing an obsessive crush-but what was that feeling?! I couldn't figure it out-I felt so happy whenever I saw her, and whenever I was near her, I felt the urge to just turn around and hug her. It took most of my will power to resist doing that.
Yet, everyday I still felt the light, I heard the thoughts in my head, I felt the addiction to be near her all the time…It was like I was the Moon and she was the Earth-I was forced to orbit around her forever.
About three weeks after I first saw Alex, one night I went outside and glanced at my watch-it was ten, so two hours until midnight. I took a couple of deep breaths before starting out on a sprint-I tore off my shirt and let my wings expand and catch the air. The blinding white shone in the night, but it didn't matter.
What exactly was I doing? This was stupid-but I still felt the urge to do this. I had to do this. The idea had planted itself in my mind after I had asked her (clearly scared) friends about where she lived. I couldn't stop the idea from building into a plan, and the plan into a requirement.
The night air was filled with my wing beats, and the moon shone down from the sky. I still couldn't understand why I was becoming so obsessive over Alex Nguyen-was it like that "love at first sight" thing? She was so kind though, from what I could pick up from other people-helpful, but with her own unique personality that enabled her to be popular, but not cheerleader popular.
The next thing I knew, I landed upon a roof of a house.
I had to admit, Alex's house was pretty awesome-white columns standing guard in front of the door, red bricks adorning the outside, and the windows placed in just the right places, the door a pure white. It was pretty cool. The two balconies in the back gave the place a kind of majestic look.
I climbed down from the roof and glanced at a piece of paper-apparently, Alex's balcony was the one on the left. I slipped down from the roof and landed lightly on the balcony. I waited for a few seconds, expecting her to look through the door windows and see me crouching on the balcony.
The cool night wind rustled around me, making the feathers on my wings ruffle and sway. I was so nervous-this whole entire plan could go down the drain in one second if Alex saw me through a window. My hand shook as I pulled out the lock-picking toolset from one of my pockets. I glanced through the door windows and saw that the light was off-apparently, Alex was asleep.
My hand shook violently as I fumbled for the tools. I tried to remember everything Rachel had told me on picking locks, trying to keep myself calm and relaxed. I spent another few valuable seconds jiggling the pick around to open the lock. My hand was shaking so much by now that the pick made loud clanging noises against the lock. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to stop panicking. This was going to turn out okay…
After a few more panicked moments, I finally managed to get the lock open. I sighed with relief as I turned the handle and it smoothly turned under my grip. Thank God my strength was controlled-I didn't want to kill the doorknob (I've done it several times before, unfortunately).
I entered Alex's room, pulling the door shut behind me.
I had just enough time to look around-white furniture, blue bed, and a ceiling fan/light. I glanced at the bed and noticed that Alex wasn't in it-then where was she? I did a quick look across the room, panicking, when I suddenly felt an arm wrap around my neck.
Alex's beautiful voice filled my ear.
"Who the hell are you and what do you want?"