GUARDIAN | DORBYN ✓

25

corbyn, although he hadn't trained for it, realized that today was the very day that he was going to be tested (again) to see if he was qualified enough for the job of being a guardian angel.

to say he was nervous was an understatement.

he'd spent so much time with daniel either beside him or wrapped around his mind that he forgot about the test until saskia told him to go to bed early for good rest.

so, logically, he spent the entire night up with caffeinated drinks and uncountable numbers of water bottles to follow, working his muscles until he collapsed when doing a plank.

at four in the morning, he shed the layer of sweaty clothes from his body and took the coldest shower he'd ever taken, sitting on the floor with his eyes closed as he could feel the pulse of each muscle.

i'm not giving up on daniel.

his wings were heavyweight, lungs failing to take in entire breaths and he couldn't focus on his legs or he'd notice just how gelatinous they felt. the final course was running, and he was so close to the finishing line that his mind would only repeat daniel's name to keep motivation.

he wasn't sure how long he'd been, nor the pace of his running. corbyn only knew that he was working his body far too much, coughing with no control as his footsteps had somehow quickened.

blood rushed in the angel's ears, eyes barely focusing. he was definitely under qualified, but he would undergo anything if it meant that he could protect daniel, keep him alive.

when a loud, ringing whistle shattered his ears he collapsed into the dirt below, finally feeling every ache and swell in his body while his wings could barely span out to stretch. one moment his body was warm and another it was cold, everything was overwhelming.

he felt sick to his stomach, but the cheers of his classmates caused him to swallow with a weak smile. "you did it! yes, corbyn!"

the voice was recognized to be ashley, knowing she and jordan tagged along as moral support. the younger brother wrapped his arms around corbyn's chest, pulling him up from the dirt track.

"let's get you up off this before you get trampled by someone."

when propped against one of the bleacher seats, corbyn's head lolled back and he could hear a bottle being opened. his hand raised feebly, and ashley took hold of his jaw to force feed him.

"you should've trained, dummy. you're acting like you're gonna die any moment." ashley huffed, closing corbyns mouth for him to swallow as the eldest squinted up to her.

"i'm fine, ash, really. i still need to go tell daniel."

ashley gave a weary look to that sentence, sitting on the bleacher corbyn was propped against as she pushed the hair from his eyes. "you sure, corbs?" she knew about how daniel was moody, and the jenna girl seemed to make him pretty upset.

"yeah, one hundred percent."

even if he hates me, i'm not going to give up on him.

they sat for a little while, corbyn's head ended up leaning against ashley's knee, her hands carding through his hair as jordan sat beside him in case he needed help with water or anything.

"hey, corbyn!"

one of the other classmates, christina, bound up to him with a wide smile. "you got second highest score!"

christina informed that only a few guardians ended up being scheduled for a private meeting, as they hadn't passed the test. it wasn't much of a deal for the people who passed, but the coach tracked their times for each one. corbyn was close, but according to her shawn got the highest.