Life at the Academy

Chapter 10

I waited outside of my first class on Monday morning. Only a few students were in the room, since it was early. We had about 10 minutes before the bell rang and class started. Gabriel was in there already, just as he normally was at this time.

Angela turned a corner and appeared at the end of the hall wearing her Academy uniform. She had decided to wear the tan skirt instead of the pants that day. She had straightened her hair and pinned back a portion of it with a sparkly butterfly clip.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

"I don't know. I'm really nervous," she admitted, messing with a strand of her hair. It was a nervous habit that I was personally familiar with.

"Don't worry. It'll be fine. And I'll be right behind you," I assured her.

I walked into the room before her, but froze in the doorway.

Roxanne was kissing Gabriel! KISSING GABRIEL! His eyes were wide open in shock, but he didn't push her away. Her eyes were closed, but she opened one of them and locked onto me with it. A small smile played on her lips as she continued to keep them locked with his.

My first reaction was shock, then anger, which quickly melted away into fear; for Angela. I whipped around, hoping to catch her before she saw anything. But it was too late. She was staring at Roxanne and Gabriel in horror.

Roxanne finally ended her kiss with Gabriel, smirking at him as she pulled away. She blew him a kiss as she sashayed away, towards me and Angela. She gave us the best mean girl grin I've ever seen, locking eyes with Angela the whole way. Angela quickly scooted out of her way, but not quick enough. She brushed past both of us on her way out the door. When she made physical contact, Angela flinched, as if her touch had burned. Once Roxanne was out of the room, my eyes turned back to Gabriel. He only just noticed Angela there, and his eyes widened when he realized she had just seen everything.

Tears were started to well up in Angela's eyes. Gabriel opened his mouth to speak, but Angela darted out of the room, tears pouring down her face.

"Angela! Wait!" Gabriel called. He stood up from his chair to go after her, but then stopped, seeming suddenly unsure of himself.

He looked to me, pleading with his eyes. He was met with the most intense glare I have ever created.

"You better have a good explanation for this," I said between clenched teeth.

"She started talking to me about an assignment in another class. And then out of nowhere, she just kissed me. I was completely caught off guard. I didn't know what to do. I should have pushed her away, but I was just so shocked. I could barely comprehend what was happening. I swear I don't have any feelings for her. I'm sorry," he explained.

I gauged his sincerity through his eyes. I knew Gabriel very well, so I could tell when he was lying. At this moment, however, he was telling the truth.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to," I said, but there was kindness in my voice. I believed him. This was Roxanne we were talking about.

He gave me a relieved smile. "Thank you," he said, kissing my forehead. It was a brotherly gesture, in no way romantic at all. Then he ran out the door, following Angela to wherever she may have gone. I would have gone after her too, but this was something that they needed to work out between themselves, in private.

The room started to fill up as we neared the time for class to start. When Roxanne walked back into the room, I immediately marched up to her. She just smirked at me triumphantly.

"That was despicable," I spit.

"Thanks," she replied sarcastically, pushing past me.

"You're not gonna get away with this," I said, following her.

"Actually, I think I already did," she answered, using a tone that implied I was dumb.

"HEY!" I shouted, raising my voice and grabbing her arm.

She turned to look at me, a scowl on her face.

"You don't want to mess with me," I threatened.

"Or what?" she snorted.

I had nothing to say, but I gave her the darkest glare I could muster. I wasn't going to directly threaten her. That would only get me into trouble. Eventually, after I figured my message had gotten across, I released her arm. She made a big show about straightening her jacket and rubbing her arm, as if I had hurt her. I stalked back to my desk, ignoring all the stares from my classmates. Sure, I just made a scene, but you know what, I didn't care. I was at the end of my rope with this girl, and she had just seriously crossed a line. Jim stared at me as I plopped down into my seat. He had witnessed the whole encounter.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"Nothing," I mumbled, turning my notebook to a clean page and angrily scribbling today's date at the top of the page. He dropped the subject, for now. I knew I had to explain to him everything that Roxanne had done to Angela. Maybe then he would get the message that, despite how she may look, this girl was no angel.

Gabriel didn't come back to class. The rest of my day was tense, and even Advanced Combat didn't help me destress like it normally did. I couldn't wait to get back to my room and just lie down.

When my last class was finally over, I trudged back to my room. But instead of going inside to lie down like I had planned, I headed to room 18 and knocked on the door.

No one answered, but I tried the doorknob, hoping that maybe it was unlocked. It was, so I let myself in. Angela was alone inside, sitting on her bed and staring at her lap.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked, closing the door behind me and sitting on the bed next to her.

She shrugged her shoulders. I couldn't really read her expression; she was keeping her face pretty neutral.

"Did Gabriel come and talk to you?" I asked.

She nodded her head.

"Well, what did he say?" I probed.

"He said that she was the one who kissed him; that he was too shocked to push her away, but that he wished he had; and that he didn't have any feelings for her," she answered.

"Is that all?" I asked.

She shook her head before continuing.

"He said he cared about me a lot, and that he had never met anyone who made him feel the way that I made him feel. And then he…" she trailed off, biting her lip nervously. I could just make out the tiniest of smiles at the corners of her mouth.

"He what?" I prompted.

"He kissed me," she said, her face breaking into a huge smile.

"Oh my gosh! Angela! That's great! I knew he would like you!" I said, hugging and squealing in joy along with her. "So does that mean you're together?"

"I think so," she replied. "We didn't really establish that verbally, but it feels like we are."

"That's great. You two are so cute together," I gushed.

"Thank you, for everything," she said, giving me another hug.

"You're welcome," I replied.

Shortly afterwards, I returned to my room and got started on my homework. But I couldn't concentrate. I was too busy thinking about how cute and happy Angela and Gabriel were going to be. I was so happy for Angela. After everything that she had been through, I'm glad that things were finally starting to go her way. Like Jim, I had also come to view her as a little sister, and so to see her thriving like this warmed my heart.

When I finally finished my work, Nerita and Jennifer were already asleep. I turned off my desk lamp and quietly climbed into bed, switching off the lamp on my night table once I was settled. Morph was sleeping on a little pillow at the end of my bed, just out of reach of my feet. As I lay on my side, I could just barely make out in the dark the outline of my music box on my night-table. I reached over and pushed the button that opened the lid. The tiny figurines of Jim and I popped out, and it started to play Once Upon A December, a lullaby I had once sung at one of the summer shows.

I fell asleep to the notes of the sweet melody and dreamed of two angels dancing around each other in the clouds.