Secret Past

It was the last day of my senior year and I was running down the halls, trying to get to my locker before my best friend. As I get close, I see her already standing there, tapping her foot to the music blasting in her ears. She was popular, unlike me. But not in the “I'm better than all of you, Barbie” type. She has platinum blonde hair (all natural), tall, yet perfectly filled out with her white turtleneck and purple ripped jeans. Me, on the other hand, I am a redhead with long hair that falls in unmanageable waves. Don't get me wrong, I had a nice body but I always hid it under baggy sweaters and loose pants. I hated drawing attention. She sees me approaching and waves at me, taking off her headphones. “Hey, you're late, “ she said and she raised an eyebrow. “I know, August.” I wheezed out, trying to catch my breath. I walked over and opened my locker, grabbed my backpack, then slammed the locker shut. I smiled at her as I started walking towards our classroom. “Okay, so, I heard that Jared is with Cassie now.” August she said, looking at me and c*****g one of her perfect eyebrows. I rolled my eyes. “ A, you know I don't care who he dates or about the school drama.” She laughs and stops in front of our History class. “Honey, we both know you are a real hot-head. Which I will never understand, considering your parents are the most level-headed people I know.” I laughed and nodded. “Yeah, yeah. Don't get started.” Her eyes scan me from head to toe and I know she’s going to criticize me once again. And, to my prediction, she wrinkles her nose in distaste. “Angel, why must you wear those horrid-looking clothes all the time? You look like a hobo. I know you got a body under there. Why not show it off? You’d get so much more attention from the boys, you know.” I laughed and shook my head. “Maybe I don't want their attention. I just want to get through school and go to college for my stories and art. You know that.” “ I know I just-” The bell cuts her off mid sentence. We looked at each other and giggled, as I pulled open the door and we walked into the crowded room. “Nice of you to finally join us girls.” Mr. Peaty states as we walk in. I blush, not used to the attention of so many staring eyes at once. I rush over to a seat in the back and plop down, dropping my pencil bag on the floor and spilling it. I hear a few snickers as I lean over to pick them up. Someone passes me, kicking my pencils around and stepping on my finger as she passes. “Move bitch.” She whispers just for me to hear. I can feel my face and my ears heat up and I start to feel weird. I’d classify it as anger, but it feels more intense than that. I feel the air slightly blow my hair around, and I feel my whole body heat up, as if I have a fever. I looked up at the girl and noticed she was looking at me, a smirk on her face. Which makes me even angrier. I lock eyes with her and stare at her for a moment before her smile fades and a look of fear replaces it. “. . . ANGEL!” I blinked, breaking out of my trance-like state. Looking up, I saw August looking at me with a concerned look on her face. “Are you okay?” she asks, looking at my hand. I looked down and noticed that the finger the girl had stepped on was already turning purple. August raises her hand. “Mr. Peaty, can I take Angel to the nurse's office?” Before he responds, she grabs my uninjured hand and pulls me out of the classroom. As soon as the door closes behind us, she speaks up. “Dude. what the hell just happened?” she looks at me, expecting an answer. I looked at her, confused. “What do you mean?” She raised an eyebrow. “The fact that you looked like you were about to murder Jade is enough..” She pauses and laughs. “I think you scared the s**t out of her.” I looked down at my hand to avoid her gaze. “ I honestly don't know what happened. It's like I spaced out. I was so angry.” “Well, you know Jade. Queen b***h thinks she has the right to do whatever she pleases. You shouldn't let her get to you, Angel.” “I know I shouldn't but....Gosh, she makes me so mad!” I could feel my body heating up once again as I remembered Jade. “Uh...Angel? You're smoking.” My head snaps up. And I looked at her with a confused expression. “August, now's not the time to be making jokes.” She looks at me with a worried expression. “Like hell I am. Look!” She points to a mirror that is across the hall and I see plumes of light gray smoke coming off my body. I watch as my eyes widen and I feel the anger die down and the feeling of fear replaces it. I look at August. “What's happening?!” I yelled. As I stared at myself in the mirror the smoke around me slowly dissipated. I slowly looked over at August with fear in my eyes. She looks back at me with concern. "Angel, are you okay? I've never seen you that angry before. Has this ever happened to you in the past that I didn't know about?" I looked down to avoid her questioning gaze. "No. At least if it has, I haven't ever noticed it happening." I could feel tears start to well up in my eyes as I stared at the floor. She hugs me and puts her arm around my shoulders as she starts steering me towards the front door. "Come on sweetie, let's get you home. We can talk to your parents when we get there." I stopped in my tracks and looked at her with wide eyes. "No. I'm already a freak enough. I don't want to look like more of one." She slapped my shoulder. "b***h shut up! You're not a freak. And if we want any answers, we need to talk to them. They might be able to give us an idea of what's happening." I sighed. "Alright, fine. Do you just wanna come spend the night since it's the weekend? It'll give me a little more time to process what happened too while you grab stuff from your place." She looked at me and smiled. "Yeah we can do that." We pushed open the front doors and started walking in the direction of her house. Thankfully she lived only a couple blocks away. As we neared her house, I paused. "I'll wait here while you go and grab your stuff." She smiled and nodded. "Alright then. I'll be right back." She takes off, jogging up her driveway. I turned around to go to the bench that was placed by her place, and suddenly hit something hard, making me fall back and land on my butt. I hissed, cringing as I moved to stand up. "Oh my Gosh, I am so sorry. I wasn't paying attention!" I heard a male voice say. I looked up and was stunned. The first thing I noticed was his beautiful eyes. Both like two crystallized pools of water, shining as the sun hit them. His short black hair fell in soft curls on his forehead. “Miss?” I shook my head to clear my thoughts and noticed he was holding out his hand to help me up, as i was still sitting on the ground. “Yeah, no. Sorry, I spaced out for a moment, but yes, I am fine. Thank you.” As I put my hand in his and started pulling myself up, a zap of electricity shot up my arm, startling me and causing me to let go. Which, of course, caused me to fall back on the ground. I groaned in pain once again and looked up at him in embarrassment. I looked at my hand in confusion. The shock didn’t hurt, but it definitely startled me. “Sorry. I was shocked.” I said as I grabbed his hand once again and pulled myself up. “That's alright. I’m just glad you’re alright.” He smiled and I nearly swooned. “What’s your name?” he asks. “Angel, how about you?” “Beautiful name for a beautiful girl. My name is Xander. Nice to meet you.” I blushed and looked down, playing with the ends of my hair. Just then, I could hear heavy footsteps coming towards us. I glanced over my shoulder and saw August jogging up to us with a confused look on her face. She stopped next to me, panting slightly. “Who’s this?” She asks, looking at Xander. “This is Xander. I just knocked into him when I went to sit down on the bench over there.” She laughs. “Angel, you’re so damn clumsy!” “Honestly, it was my fault.” Xander said as he looked at me apologetically. “Oh no, that’s okay. I should have been paying more attention to my surroundings.” I said and laughed a little. I look over at August. “Are you all ready to go?” She nodded and lifted her bag up. “Yeah I’m good. Mom and Dad are going on a trip this weekend, so I would be by myself anyway. Thanks for the save.” She said, winking at me and laughing. I looked at Xander and smiled. “Well, we had better get going. Again, sorry for running into you.” He smiled back. “That’s okay. Like I said, it was my fault anyway. I had walked up to ask for your number and you turned right when I did. “ I blushed hard and he chuckled. “So do you mind if I get your number?” he asked. Before I could answer, August spoke up. “Nope. Not at all. Here you go.” She said and handed her phone over so he could copy my number. I glared at her through my hair. She looked at me and rolled her eyes. “Oh shush. We both know you would have been too shy to say yes, so I did it for you. You’re welcome.” She said and winked at me. I stuck my tongue out at her. Yes, I know it is childish, but I don’t care. I heard Xander chuckle and I looked back at him. “Well you girls have a great day.” He smiled and looked at me. “I will text you later, Angel.” He smiled again and I swear died right there from embarrassment. He turned and started walking away. Waving at us as he turned a corner. August elbowed me in the ribs. “Giiirrrrrl! He was GORGEOUS! I’m so jealous!” She squealed. I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Oh, don’t even start. He was probably just being nice.” “You’re delusional if you think that was him just being nice.” She said, her hands on her hips. “Anyways. Let’s go. My mom and dad will be home from work soon.” I said, trying to change the topic, as I started off towards my house. As we rounded the corner to my street, I see my parents’ car pull into the driveway. “Well that’s awesome timing.” I heard August mutter, and I nodded in response. We started walking up the driveway as my parents got out of the car. “Hey Mom. Hey Dad.” They both looked at me and smiled. My mom was beautiful. She had long dark hair and bright green eyes. Her stature was tiny, like mine. Though I was curvier. My father was the opposite. He was tall. With blonde hair and green eyes. “Hey kiddo. Hey August. What are you doing home so early?” My dad asked. “Are you okay honey?” my mom said, worry filling her face. I looked down and scratched the back of my neck nervously. “Uhhh... honestly? I’m not really sure. But could we go inside first?” I asked, looking up at them. “Of course honey.” said my mom as she shut the passenger door and headed up the walkway with us following close behind her.