Chapter 4
Gasping for breath, I sat up, awake. I looked around and saw the familiar shape of my room. Pulling back my blanket I looked down at myself. I was in my pajamas. How did I get in these? I thought 'how did I get home?'
Getting up from my bed, I padded over to my sink; I splashed cold water on my face and tried to remember how I got home. The last thing I remember is… I reached a hand to my lips. The last thing I remembered was Slater kissing me. It had been my first kiss. I gasped, there was a bandage on my neck and when I raised my hand to touch it, I discovered there was also a bandage on my wrist.
I walked into my room and started pulling the bandages off. Thanks to my fast angel healing, I knew that I wouldn't see any marks but I didn't like the bandages pulling at my skin. I found it lying on my nightstand, plugged in. I had 5 new messages. Opening the first text message I saw that it was from Cal.
'Did you get home okay?' it said, it was sent at 12:45 so I checked my 'Bleach' clock, and it was 1:30. There were similar messages from Eric, Adam, and Slater but Slater had sent me a different message at 1:00 saying 'Hope your cuts heal soon.' An uneasy feeling settled over me and I sat on my bed, pulling my knees to my chest. Two hours later, I fell asleep looking out my window- at Slater's house.
The next day I was shaken awake by Luc.
"Ivy! Come on, wake up, Ivy!" he said, voice almost a whine.
I opened my eyes and blinked the blurriness in my vision away, looking up at Luc's worried face. "Luc?" I said my voice a croak. Luc sighed in relief and hugged me tightly.
"You were so pale, Ivy. And when you wouldn't wake up- I thought you were dead." He said. I looked around and saw the sun pouring into my room.
"What time is it?" I mumbled, still half asleep.
"It's 2:30 in the afternoon." Luc said. I sat up in shock.
"What?" I said. Luc nodded and stood up.
"Some boys were here earlier, asking to talk to you. I told them that you were sleeping and they left." He said, and started stretching. I got the uneasy, nauseous feeling again and frowned. "I have to go to work now, I made your favorite food and it's cooling off downstairs. I love you." He said, leaning over and kissing my forehead. I nodded and smiled as he rushed down the stairs, opening the front door and slamming it behind him.
I stripped out of my pajamas and into a tank-top and short-shorts, brushing my hair and splashing water on my face. Padding barefoot downstairs, I saw Coal lying by the fridge, sleeping. I laughed, and turned my attention to the deep pan of Luc's homemade 3-cheese, mac-and-cheese. It smelt delicious. As I was about to grab a bowl to fill with mac-and-cheese the doorbell rang and Coal opened his eyes, jerking up and running to the door. I sighed and followed Coal, walking to the door. Opening the door, I saw Cal's cheery face.
"Hey, Ivy... How are you feeling?" he asked as I gestured for him to come in.
"I feel like crap, Cal. Want some?" I said, walking into the kitchen and pointing to the mac-n-cheese. Cal followed and sat down on a stool, Coal close on his heels.
"Sure, smells yummy." he said, smiling. I grabbed two bowls from the cabinet and a big serving spoon, scooping some mac-n-cheese into each bowl. Putting a fork in each one, I handed one t Cal and sat on the counter. We both took a forkful of mac-n-cheese at the same time.
"Oh my god...this is amazing." Cal squealed, eating another forkful as I laughed.
"Yeah, Luc's mac-n-cheese is always amazing." I said.
"Your brother made this? Okay, I'm definitely gonna marry your brother for his mac-n-cheese." he said, chuckling. Sitting in silence, we ate mac-n-cheese; the only sound was Coal's nails on the tiles as he paced between Cal and me.
"We were worried about you last night…you like, passed out on us." Cal said when he finished his mac-n-cheese.
"Is that how I got home? Did you guys take me home?" I asked, staring at my now empty bowl. Cal smiled lightly and said,
"Yeah, Slater carried you home and put you in bed." I tried to hide my embarrassment; Cal had just made it clear that Slater was the one that put me in my pajamas. I nodded and got off of the counter; taking Cal's empty bowl, and my own, putting them in the sink. I would wash them later.
"Cal…I don't mean to sound like a bitch, but why are you here again? Luc said that you guys were here earlier…" I said, looking at him.
"Well, earlier we wanted to make sure you were okay. And now, I came because I wanted to ask you something." he said, bowing his head nervously.
"What is it?" I asked, walking over to him.
"All of us…me, Eric, Adam, Mike, and Slater…wanted to know if you consider us…friends." Cal said, and I laughed.
"Yes Cal, I consider all of you my friends." My head started to hurt when I said 'all'; "and remember that you guys are my only friends here…and that I don't trust many people easily." I added. Cal smiled and shot out of his seat in a flash, wrapping his arms around me and squeezed me tightly.
"Cal….can't….breathe!" I gasped out, and he let go.
"Sorry." he said; then I heard my phone beep upstairs. Motioning for him to follow me, I went to my room.
"I love your room, sweetie." he said, sitting on my bed.
"Thanks…" I said, unplugging my phone from its charger and looking at it. 1 new message. I sat on the window seat and stretched across it, checking to see who it was from. It said that it was from an unknown number, 'I know what you are…' the message said; my eyes opened wide and my vision blurred as my phone clattered to the floor.
"Ivy! Are you okay? What's wrong?" Cal said, jumping off of my bed and rushing towards me. I nodded.
"I'm fine…just got a little dizzy." I said. Cal looked at me worriedly and bent down to pick my phone up. As he handed me my phone, I saw that a necklace had become UN tucked from his shirt. Before I could get a good look at it, he covered it with his shirt, tucking it away from my vision. Glancing at my phone, I saw that it was 4:00 p.m. and looked at Cal. He seemed focused on my nightstand.
"Oh my god! Is that a 'Bleach' clock? I love that anime! Who are your favorite characters?" he asked, smiling brightly.
"Well, I love Ichigo Kurosaki. Especially when he's in hollow form. Renji Abarai, cuz he's just plain sexy. Umm…oh and my favorite episode is when the 'white' hollow Ichigo battled Muramasa in episode 235… 'White' hollow Ichigo's laugh is really creepy…" I said, rambling.
"Omg, me too! But I like Ulquiorra and Byuakuya Kuchiki also." Cal said, laughing. Then his phone beeped. He took his phone out of his pocket and frowned, his fingers tapping the keys quickly as he stood up.
"I'm sorry, Ivy. I have to go." he said, hugging me goodbye and then walking down the stairs, and out the door.
A few hours later, I found myself trudging downstairs to the kitchen. My stomach had been growling nonstop for an hour, and I decided to heat up some more of Luc's mac-n-cheese. When I reached the kitchen, Coal was nowhere to be found and the back door was open. Seeing as Coal was a smart dog, I assumed that he had pawed the door open to go outside. Grabbing a microwave safe bowl, I scooped some mac-n-cheese into it and walked over to the microwave. Opening the microwave door, I placed the bowl inside and was about to shut it when I saw a reflection in the glass of the microwave's door. I shut the door microwave and turned around slowly, seeing someone standing outside the back door.
"Hello Ivy…" the girl said, smiling. I tried to stop them, but tears of happiness ran down my cheeks.
"Cassie…what are you doing here!" I said, running to embrace her. Cassie looked at me as I threw open the back door, making it wider, and caught me as I threw myself into her arms. "It's been a long-time-no-see, huh?" she said, hugging me back. Cassie is a half breed, which means she is half demon, half angel. She was also my guardian when I was little. Pulling back to look at her, I laughed. She looked exactly the same as when we were younger. Same hazel eyes, same blonde-streaked brown hair.
"Yeah, I haven't seen you since…I was five years old." I said, remembering the painful memory of the day she left Hell, the day she left me.
"Yeah, it's been too long. You're all grown up, and you're as beautiful as ever too." Cassie said. Then she frowned.
"What's wrong, Cass?" I said.
"The reason why I came here… I was re-assigned to be your guardian again." she said. I looked at her confused,
"But shouldn't you be happy? It can be like old times…" I said.
"I am happy, believe me I am… but what concerns me is that I wasn't assigned to you by an archangel I was assigned to you by Lucifer, the Devil." Cass said, biting her lip. My eyes widened in shock.
"What! Why!" I said, stepping back.
"He made it so that cannot tell you…but it's no biggie." she said. The Devil never did something like this, not even for himself. So why did he do it for me?
"So…I'm gonna be able to go to your school…" she said, trying to lighten the mood. I raised my eyebrows, because Cassie was now 26 but still looked like she was still 18.
"How? You're not a teenager." I said as I heard a bark from down the beach.
"I know. I'm going to be a teacher's aide." She said before looking out the glass door. We ran down the steps to see Coal sprinting towards us, a piece of paper clutched delicately in his mouth.