Now I Lay

DAMIEN

When his father sent him here, he thought it would be difficult to enroll at the local high school. After all, he has been sent to Texas alone.

His father ensured that he was set up in the nicest unoccupied house in Santa Lucia by calling in some favors from the locals. After Damien finished unpacking his bags into the furnished rooms, he hopped in his brand new cherry red Jeep Wrangler sport and drove straight to Blue Star High.

Damien parked and began walking to the school entrance. He couldn’t help but notice every person turning their heads and whispering. The mystery he retained whenever he visited somewhere new was so appealing to him. It was far different at home where everyone knew who he was and who his father was.

He reached the front doors just as the first bell of the school day sounded loudly overhead. He grabbed the door on the left and was about to walk in when a tall slender brunette abruptly blocked his was. “Thank you, gorgeous. You’re quite the gentleman!,” the girl chimed as she let herself in before he had a chance to say a word.

As he walked in, he could hear snickering from a few girls behind him whom he could only assume were following the brunette. “Don’t worry, Gabe. You know Carina is just being ‘Carina’,” one of them said while consoling a teen only slightly smaller in stature than Damien. “Gabe”, as the girls called him, looked wounded as he turned to check out the guy Carina just had to put herself in front of.

Damien had stopped just short of the office door and shot a crooked smile at Gabe before shaking his head and finally letting himself in.

One may say it was fated that the football coach happened to be disclosing his season plans with Principal De La Cruz just as Damien was filling out the paperwork for enrollment. As luck would have it, their quarterback had ended up leaving abruptly to follow his father’s promotion. The team was in need of a strong player.

“My team was KILLER back home, sir.,” Damien proclaimed hearing a small amount of the conversation, “I would be honored to play for the Ravens.” Coach Cordero sized Damien up with an obvious interest. After confirming interest from Principal De La Cruz, he told Damien, “Come by for our practice tomorrow, son. We’ll see how killer you really are.”

One might also say that it was fated that Damien would be exiting the office just as Felice was quickly trying to escape, but Damien knew better. This was all within his father’s plan.

He kneeled so he could place a hand under Felice’s cascading hair. For a moment he let her see the real him. Before long, the school secretary and nurse took over care for Felice and Damien made the escape to the parking lot. He let a wide grin escape his face. His report back to his father about his first day would be well-received, indeed.