Fallen Angel

Chapter Three

"Everyone stand before me!" I shouted the words out, hair whipping around in the wind.

"Are you ready to fight?! Fight, for your lives?!" I looked in each set of eyes that was laying at my feet.

"To fight beside me!?" All three of my questions were met with screaming horas.

"Then follow me!" I turned and skidded down the hill were our rivals stood, the sound of thudding feet echoing from behind me. I stopped when we were a good ten feet away from them, lifting my hand and pointing my finger in the air I screamed, "Attack!"

Fifteen little bodies raced past me and ran to the flock of geese that squawked and waddled in a raging circle. I giggled as the kids tried to catch them, screaming and waving their hands in the air. They even attempted to make scary faces but they just came out making me laugh harder at their adorableness. When all of them had scattered and flew away the kids jumped and cheered, pumping their fists into the air with triumph.

"Ms. B! Ms.B! We won, we won!"

I shook off of the invading giggles that I inherited from my mom and replaced it with a big goofy smile. I glanced down at the children that circled my legs with love, smiling so wide I probably looked crazy, "Yes you did, and this victory calls for ice cream!" This time I couldn't keep the irrupting giggles at bay when they shouted in glee.

"Alright everyone," I clapped my hands to get their attention," Lets head back to the van and go get us some sticky ice cream!" The little munchkins all scrambled back up the hill and through the park, gathering around the van with bubbling excitement. I couldn't blame them, ice cream was good.

I pushed through the small crowd full of small people and unlocked the doors and helped buckle in all fifteen of them. When I finally had them all safely secured and had taken attendance I looked over to my right at the passenger side of the van. I sighed, my goodness Jade. Jade was supposed to be the one watching over me like a hawk and making sure I was taking care of the kids and blah blah blah. I was only in high school after all. And here she was, sleeping.

I rolled my eyes. "Ms. B! Can we sing a song?" One of the children asked with an overly loud voice, when I turned around I saw that it was Sydney. She was only four an had curly blond hair that came to her shoulders, a smile as wide as the Pacific ocean and eyes as blue as the sky. How could you say no to a face like that? Just as I was about to say yes a groan came from beside me.

"Keep it down you little pesky kids!" Jade grumbled.

I grimaced. "Maybe later Sydney, okay?" She bobbed her head covered in curls up in down, sending them bouncing. "Everyone speak in whispers, okay? Ms. Fields is sleeping." All the children stared at her wide eyed and nodded vigorously, aw. I giggled at their expressions of understanding, oh how I wish they stayed this way. When I looked back at Jade my face instantly softened as I caught sight of the bags under her eyes. Curiosity climbed up my throat at what made her so tired but, I clammed it down, knowing it wasn't my place to ask or pry.

Putting the key into the ignition I started the car, pulling out of the parking lot and heading to the nearest ice cream place. I knew I'd end up having to wipe all fifteen hands and mouths, probably have to clean plenty of shirts as well. Lucky for us there was one a good ten minutes away uptown, not too packed since most were working or too busy.

I reached over to the passenger side, over Jade, and took out a pad of paper and asked the kids what flavor they wanted. Scribbling down the names and type for each kid, I was about to run inside when I stopped and turned to Jade. "What flavor do you want," A few heartbeats pasted before she mumbled a groggy but insistent, "Rocky road." When I strode inside I was greeted with none other then Marco, his last name being some mumble jumbo nonsense. Hes owned the ice cream shop for as long as I could remember, coming here since I was a small little one myself.

"Hey angel, is it just you or do you have some friends?" The amount of wrinkles on his face would take hours to count but the smile he had made them close to unnoticeable. It was a type of smile that had you finding yourself unconsciously smiling right back. And the nickname was something I've tried to wiggle out of but he refused to call me anything else, the face he has refrains you from staying mad at him.

"Friends Marco, seventeen this time around." His smile grew twice as big,"You keep me in business angel, don't know what'd I'd do without you." I giggled at his compliment, "There's always someone who's craving ice cream Marco."

I told him each of the orders and made sure to get them in a cup with lids instead of the cones, Marco giving me some special treatment. Stacking them into a large brown paper bag I paid and thanked Marco before heading back to the car. As soon as I shut the door and the kids caught sight of the bag in my hand they hollered for their sticky snack. I told them to stay in their seats and that everyone would get theirs as soon as we got to the daycare.

Once we parked and Jade was finally up and motivated to helping unbuckle the kiddies they raced to the door. I shook my head and smiled, turning to shut and lock the vans doors.When I twisted back around to trail behind the scurrying bunch I found them to be huddled in a circles, even Jade standing to see whatever it was that held their attention.

As I grew closer I could hear the children joyful shouts and claims, "It's as long as my arm!" and, "It's so soft and pretty!" Then there was Jades grumpy declaration, tone full of knowings, "Too big to belong to any bird still alive or existing."

I softly pushed through the lovable munchkins and leaned in to see what the eye catcher was. Both Pete, a five year old who had shaggy brown hair with honey pooled eyes and a girl named Amy who had two pigtails of rich black hair were holding something in their tiny small hands.

It was a white feather.