Flying

Bella POV

I ducked my head, but it was too late. A look of incredibility had spread all over Edward's face, and Alice was staring at me. So she hadn't seen it coming? Perhaps angels were too spiritual to be viewed in a vision.

Mr. White directed them to their seats. I thanked my lucky stars that I had Amber sitting next to me. Unfortunately, there was a spare seat behind me, and Edward slipped into that. The girls were drooling over him, but the boys weren't that interested. An angel's beauty always outshines even a vampire's. As Rosalie passed me, she flashed me a look of envy and hate. I smiled one of my stunning heavenly smiles, and she meekly sat down. No one can resist an angel's smile.

I tuned into Edward's thoughts. An angel can communicate telepathically with other angels, and though they can't do it with other beings, we can listen to their thoughts.

Edward's mind was bouncing within his skull. "What is she? She isn't human, that's for sure. She's too beautiful, but she isn't a vampire. Is her skin glowing? It is! And the way she smells…Like my favorite flowers, and mountain lions. But her blood doesn't smell of anything. Oh Bella, what are you? And can you forgive me?"

It was childish, I knew. But I turned my head, looked Edward in the eye, and shook my head.

His face crumpled.

Amber nudged me. "Looks like another guy's got the hots for you, Bells."

I smiled, though inside I was churning. How dare they show up here? Well, I wouldn't be crawling back to Edward. No sir!

I hardly paid attention to the lesson, just writing down the answers that I had already glimpsed from the teacher's brain. As soon as the bell went, I mouthed 'feeling sick' to Amber, and dashed to the toilet. Sinking down the side of a cubicle, I allowed my mind to connect with one of the heavenly angels. It was a female, called Rebecca.

"Can I please leave?" I begged her.

"I'm sorry Bella, but Amber needs you. If you vanish without an explanation, she'll feel abandoned, and could easily go wrong again. You just need to stay two more weeks. Just avoid the Cullens using your powers. It will be easy for you. And remember, every angel in the universe is here for you."

I broke off the mental link. Rebecca was right. I couldn't leave Amber. It would be a total betrayal of trust. I was an angel. Avoiding mere vampires should be easy. Taking a deep breath, I opened the cubicle door.

Alice and Rosalie walked in.

ALICE POV

I playfully punched Edward on the arm. "Yay! A new school! New boys to dazzle (this earned me a growl from Jasper), new subjects to learn, it'll be brilliant!

Edward glared at me. "It's a new school, Alice, but it'll be the same. Teenagers fantasizing about us. Subjects that we've learned hundreds of times. Nothing new."

That's what you said about Forks.

He growled and the speedometer beeped.

When we arrived, the receptionist was instantly dazzled. Edward moaned softly, probably having to watch her thoughts about us in his mind again and again. I smirked at him, and searched the future.

Our first lesson was extremely blurry. Every single time I tried to see beyond us walking through the door, everything went fuzzy. I mentioned this to everyone, but Emmett only laughed. "It's probably just a Quileute, Alice. The school's only about sixty-nine miles away from La Push. We can handle a werewolf." Jazz and Rose agreed, but Edward and I were worried.

For once feeling nervous about a lesson we walked in through the door. And I instantly realized what was playing havoc with my vision.

Bella was sitting in one of the front desks. But she wasn't the Bella we had left. Her beauty now left Rose and me looking like frogs, and she was emitting a golden glowing. Her eyes had changed from brown to violet, and there was a slight bulge on her back. I inhaled, and her scent rushed up my nostrils. Panther blood, lilies, and the enchanting perfume that my favorite Gucci store always sprayed around. I realized that these were all my favorite scents, and since it was impossible for Bella to have been near a panther, rolled in lilies, visited my favorite Gucci shop and turned up for school, she must smell of our favorite things. I wondered what the others were smelling. Then my attention snapped back to Bella.

She had ducked her head, but we had all recognized her. I was puzzled. Her eyes could be the result of contacts, but she was very warm, and it was impossible to fake that. So, what had she become?

Mr. White smiled at us warmly. "Edward, there's a seat behind Miss Swan, Rosalie next to Mr. Hoss, Jasper, in front of Mr. Dante, Emmett next to Miss Clark, and Alice behind Miss Ham.

I sat down. The girls were all throwing poisonous looks at us, but they were nothing compared to what Rosalie threw at Bella. I guess she just wasn't used to not being the most gorgeous person in the room. But then Bella smiled at her, a lovely smile filled with joy and hope, and Rosalie collapsed into her chair, shocked into submission.

I kept sneaking peeks at Bella. At one point she turned and shook her head at Edward. His face filled with pain. Maybe she could talk with people from her mind? Her hand was flying across the page, though she didn't seem to be paying any attention to the teacher's droning. As soon as the bell went, she stood up and raced outside.

We looked for her, but she seemed to have vanished, her heavenly scent lost in the stench of sweaty teenagers. I would have continued looking, but Rose tugged on my arm. "Come on, I need to reapply my make-up." I rolled my eyes. Her make-up was immaculate, but I knew that seeing the new Bella had made her feel insecure, so I followed her into the toilets.

One of the cubicle doors swung open, and Bella strolled out. She froze when she saw us.

I was hugging her in an instant. "Bella, I've missed you soooooo much! What are you? How've you been?" That seemed a polite way of asking 'What are you?'

She tried to resist, but my pixie arms were too strong, and she embraced me. She was pleasantly warm, and I felt…safe in her arms. Like no one could hurt me, because Bella was watching over me. Like a mother. Then she broke away, and the little-girl feeling I had vanished.

Bella smiled hesitantly at me. "Hi, Alice, Rosalie." Rosalie sniffed, and Bella tried to walk out. "Not so fast, Bella! Edward needs to talk to you."

"What? No!"

Taking no notice, we marched her to an empty room. I had a feeling that she could have used whatever powers she had to escape, but couldn't dare to use them because of the crowds. If someone saw her, she was doomed. So we kept to the thickest part of the tangle of human bodies until we reached our destination, a deserted Art room. Edward, Jasper, and Emmett were waiting there.

Edward crossed the distance between us, his pale face full of longing and puzzlement. "What are you Bella? Who did this to you?"

She glared at him. "No one. I made the choice that transformed me into this."

"But what did it transform you into?"

Bella tossed back her mane of thick dark hair. "Why should I tell you? It was thanks to you that I made the choice."

Edward tried to touch her hand, but she dodged, and tried to run out of the room. Emmett and Jasper blocked her. "We won't let you go until you tell us what you are."

"FINE!" Bella screamed. I'd never seen anything so beautiful or terrifying. It was like the sun freezing over.

Her clothes melted into a dazzling white silk robe. The faint glowing on her skin intensified into she was illuminating the entire room. White feathery wings rose from her back.

I gasped. No…she couldn't be an…

"Angel" Edward whispered. He was staring at her in amazement. "You're an angel, Bella."

She rolled her eyes, and changed back. "So, the clever vampire finally figures it out."

Rosalie spoke for the first time. "How did you become an angel?"

Bella glowered at her. Well, Rosalie deserved it after the dirty looks she'd aimed at Bella.

"To cut a long story short, I went cliff-diving, but I hit a rock. When I woke up, I was in an office with an angel. He told me that if I wanted too, I could go into Heaven, but they needed more angels on Earth. So I was transformed into an angel, and I've spent the last two years helping people with problems. I'm moving on in a fortnight."

Edward looked like he was going to faint. I was shocked too. I approached her hesitantly. "Your wings…can I?"

She nodded, and turned back into her angelic self. I stroked the wings. They were soft but muscular, and rippled under my gentle hands. Amazing. Rosalie was green with envy. Bella changed back.

She darted out of the room before I could stop her. We let her go. She had given us a lot to think about. I tried to see her future, but she was too blurry. My lips pouted. I hated being blind to what was coming.

We didn't have any other classes with her, but we saw her quite a lot in the halls. She was always surrounded by a gaggle of admiring boys, their thoughts making Edward grind his teeth in fury. Also always with her was a red-head, who seemed to really look up to Bella. I remembered what Bella had said about her helping troubled people. Perhaps this girl had been one of her assignments.

The day ended. We all crossed over to Edward's Volvo. I smelt Bella, so I ran over to the place hidden by trees where her scent led.

She had her wings out, and her face was filled with joy. Then she spread her wings, and launched into the sky.