The Heaven Project [Completed]

Chill Out *Eva*

"What's the story again?" Connor asks for the third time. I roll my eyes.

We're walking back to his house after school. He decided it wasn't a very good idea to sneak me around. He was scared he was going to get caught having me secretly in his room. Yeah, that'd be a problem and I really don't feel like persuading anyone. School is so much harder here than in Heaven. Although gym is a lot easier. I mean, c'mon, I've been through worse and here girls are whining about running for three minutes? Girl, try being slammed into a mat repeatedly then tell me what you prefer.

"I'm your study partner for English. My name is Eva and I live downtown. May I stay for dinner?" I say in a bored voice. "Study partner still sounds lame."

"Well, yeah, but my parents are expecting me to get my grade away from the minus so they won't be doubting it," Connor says. "Oh wait, my parents don't come home until dinner. I forgot."

"Why not?" I ask. He shrugs.

"No idea. There's only one day when my mom is home when I get home. That just so happened to be yesterday," he says. He's trying to play it off cool but my sad compass, that's what I'm calling the thing in my head, says otherwise.

"Promise me something?" I ask.

"Depends," he says. I seen that one coming.

"Promise to never lie to me and I'll never lie to you," I say. Connor looks at me like I'm crazy.

"How do I know you aren't lying?" he asks.

"Angels can't lie and we stick by our promises. Otherwise...yeah never mind. Just know I can't lie to you," I say.

The sun is bright and warm. A breeze blows a few leaves across the sidewalk, scattering them into the road. My hair blows into my face and I impatiently tuck it behind my ear. We walk in silence for what seems like forever but I know it's only been a matter of a few minutes. By now, we've reached Connor's house. He bounds up the steps and heads for the door. I wander around in the yard, looking at the big oak tree that stands to the right of the sidewalk.

"Eva," Connor says. I turn around. He has the door opened, hand still on the handle. "I promise." I smile and nod. "Let's get a snack. I bet you didn't enjoy the school lunches."

I race up the steps and walk inside behind him. "Have I ever mentioned I'm what you call a vegetarian? I don't eat meat so the school lunches have no appeals to me. I only ate a salad," I say.

"That would've been nice to know," Connor says but he's smiling. Like actually smiling. Yeah, I've seen him laugh but that wasn't a happy laugh. More like 'you're telling me' kind of laugh.

"Hey, you didn't ask. You don't ask, Eva most likely won't mention it," I say. Connor throws his backpack by the stairs. What a messy person. I lay my bag carefully against the wall. I walk into the kitchen to see Connor raiding the cupboards.

"Where does all the food go?" he mumbles to no one in particular. I look around the kitchen. It feels wrong in here like someone, or thing, was in here that shouldn't have been.

"What do you mean?" I ask. There was a wide glass door that looked out into the backyard. I could see a garden, although I can't imagine Connor's mom gardening, and an inground pool.

"Everyday I come home and a bunch of food is missing that was there the day before. My mom blames it on me but it's not," he says.

"Of course it's not you. Anything else weird that you've noticed?" I ask, wandering over to the fine china cabinet. No touch Eva, you're prone to break those.

"Well, yesterday I found my laptop open when I usually shut it," he says, pulling a package of something out of the cupboard. The package says Oreos. What are those?