Airel: The Awakening (Airel Saga Book One)

Chapter IV

I MADE IT TO school without any more bizarre episodes, but I still wondered what was going on. It was irritating. True to form, the rain was just a light drizzle and it made the wipers chatter across my windshield. Bdraaaap, flaaaap. So I walked the dangerous line between embarrassment and annoyance and the need to see where I was going. I was clicking them on and off all the way to school. Lame…

I cringed when I pulled into the parking lot. Kim had told me that Michael Alexander drove a huge white Chevy truck and there it sat, gleaming in the rain. My stomach did a flip, and I sucked it in and found a parking space. Isn’t that great. Here I am ... I haven’t even met the guy and I’ve already had an entire relationship with him in my imagination. Just go to class and get this over with. He’s just a dumb boy like all the others. This stupid obsession will run its course and in another week or two, he’ll be just another guy. Get a grip, Airel. 

I walked to my first class with no sign of the mysterious new boy. I was glad about that because I didn’t want to face him and risk the chance of a repeat of yesterday’s disaster. I felt off my game, if I had one at all. My body was fighting this illness—no doubt brought on by my idiotic and uncontrollable feelings—and even the thought of him made me panicky, or worse, made me want to cry. 

I knew I would have to see him in the halls. And we would have more classes together, too—at least if the world were as sucky as I thought it could be. I ran ideas through my mind about how to avoid him.

Kim found me in between classes and gave me a quick hug. “Are you going to live?” She had that familiar smile on her face.

“Yeah, I think I might make it today. You may want to stay away from me, though. I could be contagious.” I coughed in my hand and felt my forehead as if I had a fever. 

“Ha. Only if you can catch the love bug.” Her eyes sparkled and she wore yet another dumb grin on her face.

We reached my locker and I ran the combination. “Funny. I would say he’s way out of my league, if I didn’t respect myself too much to go there.” I opened my locker door. “Besides, what does it matter, anyway? Even if I do think he’s hot, why should he care? He doesn’t even know I exist.” I knew it was a bald-faced lie, and I knew Kim knew it too.

But Kim was silent—which should have been my first clue. She was looking past me with her brows arched just a little, as if expecting something.

Like a mindless automaton, I turned around to see what she was looking at. There, standing two feet from me, was Michael Alexander. My heart jumped and—I swear—it stopped for a second. Now he was right in front of me, with the suggestion of a smile on his face. He had the most gorgeous crystal-blue eyes I had ever seen in my life and he was looking at me with that same soul-sucking look of his.

Kim stepped into the middle, cutting in between us. “Hi, I’m Kim. You new in town? How do you like it here?” Some other jock guy I hadn’t noticed was standing next to Michael. I groaned under the pressure, diving behind my locker door and hiding my face, wondering what I had done to deserve this. Me and my big fat mouth, that’s what. 

Michael looked around her toward me and smiled. “Hey, I’m Michael Alexander.” It was obvious that he was being polite by answering her, while not actually talking to her at all. He was seeing me again. I looked out at him from behind my locker door, flushed, and then dove behind it again. I was not used to feeling flustered. I could talk to just about anyone and hold my own, but he was making my mind go blank.

“Michael …” Kim said, as if his name was completely novel. “Good to meet you. This is my friend Airel.” As she hiked a thumb at me, I could see the wicked smirk on her face. I was going to kill her. Murder, kill—and then for the kicker—unfriend her on Facebook.

“Hi…” I trailed off into nothing. Just “hi.” I probably sounded like I had some disease—which I wasn’t ruling out just yet. I thought of giving him my name, but Kim had already spilled those beans, and besides, I couldn’t for the life of me remember what my name was. I blushed even more, which made Kim giggle. From the smirk on his face, I could tell Michael was enjoying my discomfort. Boys are just evil.

“You’re Airel?” he asked. “I heard you got sick yesterday.” The smirk took on just the slightest hint of compassion, which nearly killed me. “You okay today?”

“Everyone’s been asking me that,” I growled, directing my wrath at Kim. Great—the new guy knew I was a sicko … that meant the whole school knew. Perfect.

“Yeah,” Kim said, “she’s doing better today. She’s glad to meet you.”

Say something intelligent, Airel. Get that mouth moving and stop gawking at him. “Uh…” Nice start, stupid. “Yeah, I’m much better today. Must have been a … a twenty-four hour … sort of … thing. And yes, I am Airel, like she mentioned—this is Kim.” I redirected the conversation to her, hoping Michael would just go away and not notice that all the introductions had already been made.

No, wait—I wanted him to stay. Hashtag facepalm.

“Kim, nice to meet you,” he said. “Again.” The smirk came once more, directed at me, God help me. “I guess I’ll see you around, yeah?” He smiled for me, then looked at Kim, lifting his hand in a half wave, and turned toward the cafeteria. His jock friend followed, and I could hear them laughing. I saw Michael hit the other guy in the arm. 

I heard a few giggles from other girls peppering the stifling air, and saw a few football players rolling their eyes.

“Hi?” Kim asked. “Way to go, Airel.” She was a little beside herself. “Good thing I was here. You might have just stood there gawking at him.” She tossed her books into her locker and stood now, grinning from ear to ear, looking like a stupid cartoon character.

What is it with her lately? “Whatever, Kim. I wasn’t ready for that.” I shoved my books into my locker and glared at her. “And thanks for ambushing me. You could have at least warned me he was standing right there the whole time.” This was turning out to be a bad week. All I wanted to do was go home, curl up under the covers, and sleep the rain away.

~~~~~

Want to read AIREL: THE AWAKENING faster?

It’s available for Amazon Kindle (and Kindle apps), Barnes & Noble Nook, Kobo, and Apple/iTunes. AIREL: THE AWAKENING is only $0.99 for Kindle right now: http://amzn.com/B004Y72XFA

Or just keeping coming back here for more! :)

~~~~~