Guardians: The Girl (The Guardians Series, Book 1)(15)

Shoot, there is the slight matter of saving the world. That might slow down my attempt to start a new life. Okay, so I’ll stay to help save the world and then change my name and move to Kansas. Good plan.

I realize that I will some day live down the rejection. But what I won’t live down is kissing another girl’s boyfriend. Ameana is not the warmest girl in the world, but I had no right to do what I did. I have to tell her. There’s no way around it.

I never thought of myself as this person. I’m no angel by any means, but I’d like to think that I’m a nice person. I’ve helped an old lady across the street. I’ve carried groceries up a flight of stairs for a mom who had her hands full with a stroller.

But now I’m Hester Prynne, and I’ve got that nice scarlet letter branded on me. Granted, I’m the one doing the branding, but that makes it hurt all the more.

What I find most appalling and would never say aloud to another living soul is this: I would do it again. The few seconds our lips touched were the best I’ve ever known. That makes me the worst kind of offender, the kind who repeats her offense at the first opportunity.

There is a knock at the door. “Who is it?’ I say, peering into the peephole. Reese stands on the other side looking like his usual J. Crew self. I open the door.

He smiles and says, “So, you’re alive?”

“Kind of.”

“Can I come in?” he asks. I let him by and go over to the sofa. Usually I’m a better host than that, but today I can’t muster up the strength. I curl into a ball on the sofa and leave some space for Reese to join me.

“Did you come for more interrogation? Or did Marcus send you to make sure I don’t attack him again?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Last night. I’m sure it’s all over the house, all over Manhattan, all over the planet. Heck, I’m sure even the council is talking about it, by the council water cooler. ‘Hey, Death, did you see how Emmy made a fool of herself?’ ‘Yeah, Fate and I were just laughing about it over doughnuts.’”

“Death doesn’t eat. Neither does Fate. But Time has been known to nibble.”

Great, angel humor.

“Marcus didn’t say anything?” I ask desperately.

“No, he just told me to check on you because Miku is recharging and Jay and Rio are watching the building.”

“And Ameana, where is she?”

“I’m not sure. She and Marcus may have gone to meet the Sage.”

“The what?”

“A Sage is—”

“Reese, normally I would want to know, but today, can we skip Angel 101, please?”

“Okay. Then tell me why you aren’t picking up your phone? Marcus says he’s tried you like 20 times.”

I look up at him. Standing just a few feet away, he looks so confident and sure of everything. I wish that it was me.

“Emmy, what happened?”

He comes and sits next to me.

I sit up and face him. “I did something really bad?”

“How bad?”

The tears fall from my face. Tears I didn’t even feel building up. Reese pulls me closer. I hold on to him and weep.

“I’ve seen a lot of stuff since I’ve been dead. And the things that seem really bad usually aren’t.”

“I kissed him.”

“Oh.”

“He pushed me away.”

Reese looks off into the distance. “Did he say anything?”

“No, he just looked….” The tears start back up. Reese holds me even closer.

“It’s okay, Emmy. It’s okay,” he says soothingly.

“Don’t tell Ameana.”

“You want me to keep that from her?”

“No, I think I should confess my crimes on my own. That’s what the person I thought I was would do.”

“Ameana isn’t as … hard edge as you might think. She’s just … she’s been through a lot and it makes her focused, serious and absolutely no fun. But that doesn’t mean she’s cold and unforgiving. I mean she was chosen to be a guardian out of a hundred-thousand others.”

“I didn’t know there were that many.”

“Yeah, it’s a real zoo,” he smiles.

“You think he hates me?”

“No, but you are acting like this is a normal situation and it’s not. There’s no way for it to be other than messy and sometimes heartbreaking,” he explains.

“Tell me honestly, am I the most pathetic girl you’ve ever seen?” I can’t stop myself from inquiring.

“Yes,” he says stoically.

I playfully jab at his side.

“Okay, okay. There’s someone else that I know who was actually more love sick and pathetic than you.”

“Who?”

“Me.”

“Yeah, right,” I say incredulously.

“Emmy, when I was on Earth I lived for two things: Fishing and Katie-Anne Warner.” Reese sighs. “She was the most beautiful girl in the entire state of Illinois. I believed in my heart that I was put on this Earth to be with her. So everything I did was centered on making that happen.

“The list of guys after her was never-ending. She didn’t need to ask for anything because every guy was already waiting to serve; on our hands and knees, ready to serve her. My family tried to talk some sense into me, but I wouldn’t hear of it. Katie-Anne was my soul mate, my one and only love. And I was going to win her heart if I had to fight Lucy herself.

“Then about three weeks into the year, a new kid came to our school. His name was Tyler Hogg. And there wasn’t a day that went by when someone wasn’t making fun of him for something. He was a super-smart kid with no coordination whatsoever.

“One of Katie-Anne’s friends mentioned that Tyler never made a pass at Katie-Anne. She snorted, saying that she would never date him. But as time went on, she started thinking more and more about Tyler. Why hadn’t he asked her out? Everyone else did. Even the nerds who knew they didn’t have a chance. Was he too shy? Did he know he didn’t stand a chance and think ‘why bother?’

“The more she watched Tyler, the more obsessed she became by how indifferent he was to her beauty. He wasn’t acting like a boy who was too afraid to approach her. He was acting like a boy who didn’t know she existed. Tyler’s dismissal of her actually kept the pretty princess up at night.

“Enraged, she finally asked him point blank, ‘Why haven’t you asked me out?’ He knew she wasn’t going to let him off the hook without giving her a real reason. So, reluctantly and apologetically, he said, ‘You seem very … empty.’

“No one had ever said that to Katie-Anne. I mean, no one I knew spoke like that. Not only was she insulted, she was rejected, and by a nerd, no less.

“So, she got the football team to beat up Tyler every day on his way home from school. They would sit in front of the school just waiting for him.

“One day she spotted Tyler with a meek but sweet girl named Candice. She was a year ahead of us. Katie-Anne was furious to have been passed over for someone she considered far beneath her status.

“The next day was our field trip to the Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Most of the juniors and seniors ditched that day to go to the lake. Normally I wouldn’t ditch, but Katie-Anne was going to be at the lake. I wanted to approach her again. I had asked her out 56 times in the past, but the 57th time’s the charm, right?

“I even had a poem to recite to her. It was about how I knew she was going to date other guys but how I would still love her. I spent the afternoon memorizing it.

“We all headed to the lake. Most of the football team walked ahead with Katie-Anne. The others of us who were lower in her harem stayed in the back. All of a sudden Katie-Anne and the others stopped walking. I made my way up to her to see what was going on.

“Katie-Anne had stopped to watch Tyler walking across the street. Katie-Anne watched him for several minutes. She was singularly focused on him. It’s like she had a ray beam pointed at his head.

“She looked out into the group of mostly guys and made an announcement: ‘I will give a kiss to anyone who can get Tyler and bring him to the lake.’

“The crowd cheered. The guys went crazy. Katie-Anne was popular, but she wasn’t known for being promiscuous. It was rare that she even held hands with a guy, let alone gave away a kiss.

“I caught a glimpse of her face as the guys charged ahead towards Tyler. It was a look that I had never seen on anyone’s face. It was evil at its most beautiful and most wicked form. She didn’t want to embarrass him. She wanted to destroy him.

“I stood still as the others ran past me. Only Katie-Anne and I remained. She looked at me and said, ‘Reese, don’t you want a kiss?’ I looked at her and said, ‘Not from you.’

“Everybody ran down to the lake. Tyler had been restrained and was being carried by some of the members of the football team. He shouted to be released. They laughed and dropped him in front of her.

“She looked down at the helpless boy, and it made complete sense to her. She looked out among the crowd. Everyone shouted for them to take off his clothes and throw him in the lake, but that wasn’t what Katie-Anne had in mind. She made another announcement: ‘I’ll go to the dance with whoever gets baby Tyler to cry the loudest.’ Everyone but me laughed because they thought she was kidding. But it turns out she was dead serious.