The next day was uneventful. I was trying my best to avoid Ezra and not tell my friends about what happened because they would see me as weak, and that can't happen. I'm supposed to be the strongest and smartest, so I can't let anyone down. I moved through my classes without really paying attention, and at lunch, I decided to fly outside, taking in the fresh sulphur air. I fly north, hoping for a little warmth for once. Hell is quite the opposite of Earth; everything north is hot, and south is colder, but mostly the closer you are to the ground, the hotter it is because of all the creatures lurking. I stared out into the dim sunlight and saw the horribly wide and consuming cracks in the land. I can't imagine how the school is still standing. I take a few deep breaths, trying to clear my head. I can feel something bad coming, and I don't know how to stop it when I don't know that much about the creature, and I still have my little side quest. Out of nowhere, I heard wings, and I knew that none of my friends had wings, at least not yet. I look down and see Ezra flying up to me. I sigh, but don't move away.
I look straight ahead when Ezra talks, "How are you today?"
I scowl, "Are you gonna make me tell you?"
"No, I don't know how I did that yesterday, and I am sorry. I never want to make you do anything you don't want to do."
"I'm fine."
"No, you're not."
"What, can you read minds now?"
"I can feel it, remember?"
I rolled my eyes and started flying away. He grabbed my arm and stopped me from going away. I looked at him straight in the face with menace in my eyes.
"What are you searching for? Because whatever it is, I don't have it!" I yelled in frustration and ripped my arm out of his grasp.
He sighed, "I'm not trying to get anything out of you, I just wanna know you. And I realize now that you have severe trust issues."
I rolled my eyes, "You think?"
I turn in the air so I'm facing away from him. I know I'm being petty, but I can't help it. I heard his wings flapping, and out of curiosity, I looked over to see him doing backflips in the air. I giggled despite myself and tried to hide it with my hand and a cough.
Unfortunately for me, he saw and smiled. "Ha! I got you to laugh!"
I shake my head and give up my effort to keep my emotions inside when he can feel them anyway. I fly closer to him and show off my moves. After about half an hour, we are both rolling over in the sky laughing our Butt's off.
When we finally sobered up, he asked again, "Are you ok?" I sighed, "I..."
He flew closer to me and put his hand on my shoulder. I flinched and moved away a little, but took a deep breath and started again.
"I think there's something horrible coming our way, the ground isn't supposed to look like that, and I don't know how to be around you."
We flew closer to the ground, and he said, "Well, whatever is coming, I will help the best I can, and with time, I hope it will get easier to be around me."
Once we landed on the ground, I looked over at him. "The problem is that it's too easy to be around you. Were you serious when you said it hurt to put your wings in your shoulders?"
He nodded, "Yeah, I don't like to talk about it though."
I furrowed my brows, but I didn't push it. I put my wings away and walked through the door, and Ezra had to walk sideways to get inside without hurting himself. We walked through the halls quietly, and I couldn't help but remember what Hera told me. 'You need to stay away from the Angels.' But Ezra is so compelling, and I just can't seem to get away from him.
He kept sneaking glances at me, thinking I wouldn't notice.
"Where are we going?" I ask. He shrugged,
"Wherever you want to, I guess, it doesn't matter to me," he shrugged.
I sighed, "I'm gonna go to my room, so I'll see you tomorrow. I need to sleep." I don't wait for him to answer before I take off to mine and Juniper's dorm room. Once I'm there, I flop on my bed and check my phone for new messages and other things. I glance around my room, wondering where Juniper went. I texted her really quickly and noticed an unknown number.
Unknown: Hey, did I do something wrong that you just didn't want to hang out, or are you busy?
Me: Uh, who is this??
Unknown: Oh, sorry, it's Ezra.
Me: Oh well, you didn't do anything wrong. I just need a break from life right now. Too many exposed feelings :)
It's nice to see Ezra's name on my phone, and I smile the whole time we talk.
Ezra: ok, just making sure, talk to you later?
Me: Yeah, if I remember. Goodnight
Ezra: Goodnight!
I lay in bed looking up at the ceiling, trying to convince myself that I'm not developing some kind of feelings for Ezra, but who am I kidding? I'm falling hard for his unusual niceness towards demons. A few minutes later, Juniper walks in with my tiger.
I sat up in my bed, "Why is Cinder with you?"
Juniper rolled her eyes, "cuz you didn't come back for her, duh, and why did you have that weird look on your face?"
I frown, "What look?"
"You were smiling! And you looked a weird kind of happy, you're a demon, you shouldn't look happy." I sighed and lay back down on my bed, not wanting to finish this conversation. Cinder jumped up on my bed and lay right on top of me for payback, I assume. Out of nowhere, my phone buzzed, and I thought it was the group chat, so I opened my messages. To my utter surprise, it was Ezra.
Ezra: Hey, do you think you could train me how to fight like a demon?
I roll my eyes playfully and answer.
Me: Sure, how about we start tomorrow afternoon, and we will meet in the library.
Ezra: Sounds good, see you then.
I smile unintentionally at my phone for a few more seconds. Then I hear Juniper's gasp. I look over at her, confused.
"You have a crush on someone! The Scarlet Storm has a crush on somebody!" She starts jumping and squealing like a dork.
"Cut it out, Juniper, God, I don't like anybody, somebody just said something funny." I roll my eyes and try to convince her of that.
She rolled her eyes, unconvinced, "Nobody smiles like that when they think something is funny, just admit it, you like somebody, now tell me who it is." She gave me a stern look, and it's so intense I have to look away because I can't possibly tell her without her getting disappointed.
"Fine, I like somebody, but I can't tell you who, it's so small and unimportant, the feeling will probably be gone by tomorrow."
She gets all upset and yells, "What am I that bad of a friend that you think I'll judge or tell a bunch of people? Well, you are sadly mistaken, and I am deeply offended."
"That is not why I didn't want to tell you. I didn't want to tell you because I feel like you would be disappointed," I sighed. She took a deep breath and sat on her bed across from mine.
"I just wanna know, I won't judge, and I'll try not to be disappointed if it's that bad, but I can't imagine it'd be so bad that you don't want to tell me."
I took a deep breath and sat up on my pillows and blankets. "It's Ezra."
Her features changed so fast between a bunch of emotions that I can't even tell if I actually saw it or not. It takes her a few seconds to process what I said, and then the surprise settles on her face.
"He just got here a few days ago. How can you tell? And you know it's forbidden for angels and demons to fall in love."
I look at her, horror-stricken, "I'm not in love, it's just a crush, and I know because he makes my heart beat faster, and my palms get sweaty. He makes me wish for a happy boring life, and I don't know why."
She smiles just a little bit, "That's different and definitely not what I expected from you, but I'm not mad or disappointed, I want you to be happy even if that means breaking the rules and falling for an angel."
I sighed in relief and smiled the tiniest bit. "Thanks, Juniper, you really are the bestest friend anyone could ask for. But I'm still not in love, and I don't think I will be. We are completely different."
She just shook her head, "You're welcome, and maybe you aren't right now, but I think this feeling will grow. Sometimes opposites attract, you just gotta believe."
I throw my pillow at her and laugh, "Whatever you say, Juni."