First Day

Chapter 24 of Love from Above

My alarm clock wakes me at 7 AM.

 

A few weeks have passed, and Jeremy still seems to be fine with Libby, Janie, and I being angels. He at least hasn't run screaming away from us, so that's a start. I roll to check the sticky note on my clock.

 

First Day of School

 

Oh yeah. I press my ear to the wall to make sure Libby is up. I hear her bustling about in the next room. I get dressed in black skinny jeans and a red and black plaid button up. I quickly line my eyes with black eyeliner and sweep on some mascara. Downstairs, I find Janie already fixing omelets. I help her dish them out then head back upstairs.

 

I knock on Libby’s door and call, “Breakfast is ready.” I step into my room and slip on my Converse before going back downstairs to eat.

 

We pile into my mini cooper with our school bags on our shoulders, and head off to Pacific Valley. The parking lot is already packed with students, we have to circle the lot once before finding a spot and wedging between two cars. Janie, Libby, and I walk quickly into the front office.

 

“How may I help you, dears?” says an older woman with large cat’s eye glasses perched on her sharp nose.

 

“Hi, we’re new here and didn’t receive our schedules,” Janie acts as our official spokesperson.

 

“Of course. And your names?” she asks as she hands us a map of the widely spread campus.

 

“Janie Smith, Libby Kane, and Kelsey James,” Janie gives the woman the names we had formulated.

 

“Ah, so you’re the mysterious new trio. It’s not every day we get transfers. Especially from such a prestigious school,” she says, leafing through stacks of papers.

 

To give a little bit of context, the Guardian Angel school we all trained at is actually stationed on Earth; in a remote location that I’m not allowed to disclose to you. It is located down here so when Angels like us go into a normal human school during this stage of training, our school backgrounds aren’t completely blank.

 

But Kelsey, wouldn’t that expose you whenever humans came sniffing around?

 

Why no, anonymous person. You see, we Angels think things through. To human eyes our school appears very normal (and very fancy). It’s been ranked as the top school in the world by most countries. It’s also ranked the most impossible school to get accepted to, for obvious reasons.

 

“Ah, here we are. You ladies have a wonderful first day,” the woman says, handing us our schedules and flashing lipstick smudged teeth.

 

We exit the office and check our schedule against the classroom map before setting off in the right direction.

 

We walk into our first class just as the bell rings. Jeremy motions us to three seats around him toward the back of Mr. Higgins’ math class.

 

After about a half hour of listening to Mr. Higgins give us our math lecture, and taking notes with a vigor that makes my hand cramp, I can see why humans are always complaining about school. They would be in heaven (pun intended) at the laid-back Guardian Angel school.

 

Jeremy surreptitiously passes me a folded-up piece of paper. I carefully slide it onto my sheet of notes and tip my binder back so it is resting between my lap and the desk. Inconspicuously, I unfold what appears to be Jeremy’s schedule. Next to the list of classes and teachers, is a note in Jeremy’s neat handwriting.

 

Any other classes I can look forward to seeing you in?

 

I check my own schedule and write back.

 

3^rd period with me, the same lunch as all three of us, and 6^th period with all of us.

 

I pass the paper back when Mr. Higgins turns away from the class. A few seconds later, it lands back on my lap.

 

You’re in art too?  

 

He writes; referring to the fact that we share 3^rd period advanced drawing.

 

Are you kidding? I’m a total art nerd! I have art all over my room. Maybe after school I can show you some of it.

 

His eyes skim the note and with a smile he whispers, “It’s a date.”