Purely Fallen - D. Richardson (little bear else holmelund minarik .TXT) 📗

Chapter 1

 Gabriyel

 

 

I stepped through the front doors of the school and sighed. I was as old as the human memory, and yet I had sentenced myself to high school. What was I thinking. Oh yeah, that heaven had gotten boring. I rolled my eyes and started for the councilor’s office.

I was told that I needed to get what they call a class schedule. In all my years of existence I’ve never had to attend school. But I was informed that I was to go to the councilor’s office to attain it and also something called a welcoming committee. I only hoped that this girl was worth it.

The office was fairly easy to find, and an aged red headed woman sat behind the front desk. She saw me when I walked in and smiled politely while asking my name. I answered her question and she directed me to the inner office.

I knocked on the door and a male’s voice bid me to enter. I stepped into a very comfortable looking office. There was a couch against the wall to my left, and two large plush chairs in front of a large mahogany desk. The floor was carpeted in a dark blue, and the walls matched, sporting paintings of various landscapes.

A medium sized man stood as I closed the door and offered me his hand. His light brown hair fell to just above his wire rimmed glasses as he gave me pleasant smile. It was difficult to determine his age. Although that was probably my short coming. I never got used to how long humans lived now.

There was a time when I would be considered a man, and now I look to be what they call an adolescent. A teenager of seventeen or eighteen. The age gained a lot less respect than it used to.

“Ah, you must be Mr. Engel. My name is Mr. Block.”

“Block?” He chuckled at my question.

“Yes, I’m afraid to say that I gained quite a bit of teasing when I was your age.” He sighed. “Still do actually thanks to my desire to council for high school students.” He sat back down behind his desk and gestured for me to take one of the chairs opposite him. As I sat he pressed a button on the intercom on his desk.

“Hey Sandra, can you find Raven for me?”

“No offense sir, but do you think that’s a good idea?” He chuckled again, the reason was lost to me.

“It’ll be fine.”

“All right, it shouldn’t be too hard to get her in here.”

“Thank you.” He directed his attention to a file that was sitting on his desk. He rifled through it for a moment before handing me a packet of papers. “Here is your class schedule, locker number, and a map of the school. Your welcoming committee will help you find your way around today, it’s just in case you get separated.”

“I’m sorry but what is a welcoming committee?”

“Oh I’m sorry, sometimes I forget that most schools don’t call it that. I’m afraid the staff was influenced by the student’s slang. A welcoming committee is just someone that we assign to show new students around on their first day.” I nodded and opened my mouth to ask another question but the door opened. A girl about seventeen walked in. She didn’t bother to knock or address the councilor, just plopped down on the other chair and propped her feet up on his desk.

She had long black hair that she kept in a tight braid that reached her waist. Her complexion was dark and her eyes were a deep brown that took everything in at once. She barely spared me glance, but I had no doubt that she had my features memorized.

Her dark blue jeans were tight at the hips, but flared at her knees to cover the combat boots she was wearing. She wore a tight black long sleeved shirt that covered the skin but left her form to be admired. She would have been beautiful if it weren’t for the obvious black eye she was sporting.

“What’s up Mr. B?”

“Raven, so glad you could make an appearance, are you going to tell me where you got the black eye this time?” They spoke easily with each other, as if they had casual conversations on a regular basis.

“Nope.” She answered popping the p and grinning at him. She had her elbows propped on the arm of the chair and her hands folded across her stomach. He sighed.

“You know that if you’re in some sort of trouble that I can help you.” She rolled her eyes. They seemed to have forgotten that I was in the room.

“How many times are you going to assume that I’m in some sort of trouble?” He raised his brow.

“Until you stop coming to school with bruises.”

“Come on Mr. B, you know my parents would never hurt me. I don’t get into trouble at school why can’t you just let it go. It’s my business.”

“It’s not normal to walk around with heavy bruising.”

“I’m not normal.” He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose under his glasses.

“Come on Raven, please?” It was her turn to sigh.

“I’m taking self defense classes. It’s normal to get a little banged up from sparing.” He stared into her eyes for a long moment as if trying to see if she were lying. I could have told him she wasn’t but it really wouldn’t have done any good. I didn’t know her or him.

“Okay, Laura wanted me to give you these.” He answered putting a cookie tin on the desk closer to her. “For babysitting for us last week.” She perked up like a small child and snatched the tin. She popped the lid off and grinned. She pulled out a chocolate chip cookie and took a bite. She sighed in contentment then looked up at him in suspicion.

“What’s the catch?”

“Hmm?” he answered looking at the door.

“You only ever deliver these when you want me to do something. And I usually don’t have a choice.” He looked back at her with a cheerful smile.

“Well now that you mention it, this young man needs someone to show him around for the day.” She stopped mid chew and stared at him.

 

 

 

Raven

 

 

 

You have got to be kidding me! He’s sentencing me to welcoming committee? What did I ever do to him? Now I’m going to have some newbie following me around all day. So not fair.

At least that’s what I was thinking while I was staring at him like a moron. He kept that annoying smile on his face. It was like he enjoyed torturing me. He of all people knew that I liked to keep to myself. Actually that’s probably why he was making me do it. He was one of those adults who tried to force kids out of their protective bubbles. I like right where mine was.

“What did I do to deserve this?” He gave me one of his ’Your being childish looks.’

“It won’t kill you to be hospitable. Plus, you could use a few more friends.”

“My friends are just fine.”

“Yes, they are very nice people, that doesn’t mean you can’t branch out a little.”

“Branching out can get you killed. How do you know he isn’t a serial killer or something?” The guy in question coughed. “No offense, I’m just making a point.” I directed at him absently.

“There’s no need to be dramatic. Besides this will be the least of your worries when you walk out that door.” My eyes widened in dread. “I’ve also been going over your school record. It seems you haven’t participated in any extracurricular activities since you’ve been here. And you’ve lived in this town all your life.”

“So that’s not a crime.”

“No, but it does look good on college applications.”

“So does a part time job and I’ve already got that. My 4.0 helps a lot too. What more do you want from me?”

“I want you to try out and join at least two extracurricular activities by this time next week.” My jaw dropped. He handed me a piece of paper that had a list of said activities on it.

“Why?” He shrugged.

“It’ll be good for you.”

“Between work, school work, and these I’ll never have any time for anything else.” He kept his gaze steady, but I saw right through it. It was his intention to take all of my spare time. That way I can’t spend it in self defense. I glared at him for a solid minute. Finally, he dropped his gaze.

“It’s this or I make you participate in any extra work the school needs. I hear the gym could use some extra help waxing the floors and putting up the bleachers.” If I hadn’t been holding my cookies I would have thrown something.

“Fine!” I answered standing, the new guy followed suit. He had been watching our exchange like it was a prized tennis match. “Your lucky your wife makes the best cookies in the world. And that your son is adorable.” I said before storming out, the new guy on my heels.

Sandra was sitting at her desk, pretending to work. She looked up at me when I came out and eyed me up and down. She sat up straight as I grew level with her desk. She was a really nice woman, but nosy as hell.

“How’d it go?” I rolled my eyes.

“He’s punishing me.”

“I am not!” he yelled from his office. The door was still open. I wasn’t sure if he would see it, but I stuck my tongue out at his general direction, and left with Sandra giggling behind me.

I got halfway to the cafeteria before I remembered that I was supposed to be showing someone around. I stopped after berating myself silently for being so rude. Just because I had my own dilemma didn’t mean I should take it out on an innocent person. I turned to him, he had just been following me silently, when I looked at him he hastily shifted his eyes, like he had been staring at me.

“What’s your name?” I asked. I suppose to others it might have seemed abrupt. I seem abrupt to a lot of people. I just tend to follow along with my thoughts, so it’s kind of all one stream to me. But his eyes widened for a second before he composed himself.

“Gabriyel, Gabriyel Engle.” I raised an eyebrow. I found his name interesting. Engle meant angel, and Gabriel was a well known archangel’s name. Either his parents had high hopes or no imagination.

I studied him for a moment. His hair was as black as night, it rivaled my own. Although where my complexion was on the darker side, his was pale. Almost completely white. He was tall standing at six three easily, but he had some muscle I had to give him that. I wasn’t exactly short, but I barely topped his shoulders. His bright green eyes were almost piercing as I met them. He gave me the impression that he could just look right down to my core, and see everything about me. I had to admit, he was gorgeous. Which only made me sigh in defeat.

“This is gonna suck.” I muttered before turning to finish our trek. He matched my pace to walk at my side.

“I’m sorry, but what is going to suck?” He spoke properly like he was at least fifty years older than he was.

“Oh, sorry. I meant no offense, it’s just that we have to go to the cafeteria, students aren’t allowed to wander the halls until the first bell.”

“And how will that suck exactly?” I stopped and turned to him again.

“Well, hmm, how do I say this, you’re not exactly hard to look at.”

“I do not understand.” I sighed again and decided to hell with it, I would just have to be blunt.

“You’re hot, which means that every