Raguel - the angel who watches over other angels
The minute I locked Alibri’s door that night, I saw Chaise standing in front of his pickup. He usually drove his Porsche to school, but I didn’t really have to ask what happened to that car. He must have sent it to the garage. I could only imagine the sharp dent my attacker left on it with his army knife.
We didn’t speak on the way home, like I didn’t know what to say to him. When he stopped in front of my house, I thanked him and he smiled at me. He didn’t leave until he was sure I was safely inside.
The next day, he sat with me and Denise in the cafeteria. Denise looked at him as if he grew an extra head.
“Seriously, leave so we can talk about you,” Denise said blatantly.
I glared at her.
Chaise turned to me with a smug smile. “So… you talk about me?” he asked.
“No!” I replied a little too defensively. That was true. Denise talked about him. I was an unwilling participant in the conversation.
“Like, really? Why are you here?” Denise asked him.
He shrugged. “Alice is my friend too, Miss…” he trailed off. “What’s your name again?”
Denise glared at him.
“Anyway…” Chaise continued. “I want to sit and have lunch with my friend. Even if it included other less nice people within her circle.”
Denise was about to retort back with something but I stopped her. “Guys! Do you want me to leave? You can do this all day by yourselves. I think you got it covered. You don’t need me here.”
They stopped talking at once. We ate in silence for the first five minutes. Then Chaise asked, “How’s your Lit paper going?”
“Practically writing itself,” I replied.
Denise groaned. “I haven’t even started mine.”
Our teacher asked us to write a review of the bestsellers tackling the controversies in religion. I already picked out The Da Vinci Code. I have read that book about a thousand times. Chaise and Denise both said they were lost. They hadn’t even chosen a book to review yet.
“Why don’t I go to the bookshop with you today?” he asked me. “I can read there while you work and do your homework.”
That did sound like a good idea. I had a feeling he would insist on picking me up again anyway.
So why don’t I do him a favor and help him write his paper?
“Can I come too? I still don’t know what to write about,” Denise said.
I smiled at her excitedly. “That would be a great idea!”
“It was a great idea until five seconds ago,” Chaise muttered.
“I heard that,” Denise said glaring at him. She turned to me. “I’m okay to go, right?”
I nodded.
“No,” Chaise said.
“Says who?” Denise asked.
“Says the nephew of the owner of the bookshop,” Chaise replied evenly.
“She’s okay to go,” I said. I turned to Chaise. “Says the night manager of the bookshop.”
“Fine,” Chaise said in defeat.
Denise smiled triumphantly. Then she gathered her tray. “I have to go to my next class early. I haven’t done my homework yet.”
“Last minute?” I asked her in disbelief.
“Yeah,” she replied. “I couldn’t concentrate in the house. My menace of a cousin brought some trouble home again. But nothing interesting. I’ll catch you later.”
I turned back to Chaise. “Mr. Anderson… you promised you will be my friend. And that means you should befriend whoever I am friends with.”
“Seriously? Her?” he asked.
I raised a brow at him. He sighed. “Fine. I thought I could get some alone time with you, so you could get to know me.”
I bit my lower lip. “Chaise…” I started. “Why are you doing this? I mean… look around you. Plenty of girls are glaring at me right now because you’re sitting here having lunch with me. You can have your pick. Why are you insisting on my company?”
He shrugged. “Is it not obvious?” he asked.
“I’m… naïve. Stupid even,” I replied dryly.
He smiled at me sheepishly. “I… like you.”
I stared at him like he lost his mind. “Have you… seen me? My scars? And how horrible they looked?”
“I’m naïve. Blind even,” he said with a grin. “You look beautiful.”
The familiarity of his words struck me like a thief in the night. My hand involuntarily went to my pendant and I clutched it tightly in my hand.
I see you… and you… look unbelievably beautiful to me.
I looked down on my tray, tried my best not to let the tears well up my eyes.
Chaise reached forward and tilted my chin up. I pulled away from his touch.
“Did I say something wrong?” he asked.
I shook my head and took a deep breath. “Thank you,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “But seriously, Chaise… don’t get your hopes up. I am not looking for a boyfriend. But I mean it… I would like you to be my friend.”
He stared at me, trying to read my thoughts and then he nodded. “Okay. No pressure. I will be your friend. But don’t question me every time I call you or want to hang out with you. Or if I want to pick you up at nights from work, so I can make sure you’re home safely. Friends do that, you know.”
I smiled at him. As long as he was okay with being friends, that would be fine. Because the thought of going out with him on a real date actually made me feel like something was wrong… like I was cheating.
That evening at the bookshop, I worked on my novel while Chaise and Denise raided the shelves for a book they could read. For the first time in many months, I felt relaxed, and happy. For the first time since Hunter left, I didn’t feel alone. I could smile for real. Even the constant bickering of Denise and Chaise made me laugh genuinely.
I may be an orphan, I may be poor and scarred and my quasi-boyfriend may never come back, but I guess for now… I could live one day at a time… with Meredith, who patiently loved me all these years… with Denise, who gave up a glamorous high school life to be my friend… and now with Chaise, who may have wanted more from me, but was willing to accept my friendship instead.
Instead of working on my essay, I took my diary from my bag.
Dear Hunter,
I would give anything just so you would be with me… here… tonight. In the company of my friends. You will like them. Well… maybe not Chaise so much.
You see… Chaise was the guy who saved me the other night. He had been following me home… making sure I was safe each night after I go to work. Then when my luck ran out, he was there to rescue me… like a guardian angel God sent to make sure I won’t have new nightmares to escape from.
He told me he liked me. But hey! Look up! I already told him we could only be friends. I still can’t date anybody.
I sort of told this perfect guy I would wait for him. And I’m still waiting. I still believe that one day… I would see him again… touch him… kiss him… hear him say the words he should have said to me before he left… so I could say them back to him.
Come back to me, Hunter. It’s still you. It will always be you.
I finished my letter just as Denise went up to the counter. I immediately closed it and hid it from her view. But too late, she already saw it.
“Writing in your diary again?” she asked.
I just shrugged. “Just documenting my life.”
“Take care of that. Somebody might get hold of it and take it to a Hollywood producer. Your life… is epic.” She smiled at me. And I know she didn’t mean that in a bad way.
“So have you chosen your book?”
She nodded. “Chaise is battling me for it, though.”
“Toss a coin.” I grinned at her.
“Doesn’t matter,” she said. “He can choose the same. I’m sure I would write a better review than him anyway.”
I closed up at ten. We all headed to Chaise’s pickup.
“Where’s your Porsche?” Denise asked as she slipped into the backseat.
“Ahh… garage,” Chaise replied. His voice told me he didn’t want to talk about it. And I knew why. I didn’t want to talk about that night too.
I smiled at him, my eyes telling him how thankful I was for the sacrifice he made.
“I’m starving,” Chaise said. “Can we all grab a bite before we go?”
“Best thing you ever said all night,” Denise agreed.
We went to Burger Inn. As the waitress served our orders, I thought about the times I spent in this place being made fun of by the kids at school. I could say that it was only a couple of weeks since the day Don Winston poured ketchup all over me, but my life was undeniably better now. I not only had a better job, I also gained a new friend.
We dropped Denise off her house. It was the first time I saw where she lived.
Damn! She was rich!
Her house was at least three floors high with a huge garden in front.
“Goodnight, guys,” she said chirpily. Then she turned to Chaise. “If you ever lay a finger on her, I swear I will call a hit on you and your body will be found lifeless in the dumpster.”
“I might do that just to call your bluff, you know,” Chaise said in a challenging tone.
“If I’m bluffing, that is,” she said. Then she turned to me. “Call me as soon as you’re home.”
Chaise and I drove in silence for a couple of minutes. Then he asked, “You okay?”
“Yes,” I replied. “Thank you for doing driver duties.”
“Don’t mention it,” he replied.
“I never asked you where you came from before you came here.”
Chaise told me that he was born and raised in Germany. His father took a job in town, thus they all had to relocate.
“I didn’t know if I was going to fit in,” he said. “I told my mother I’ll give it a year. If I don’t like it, I’ll go back to Germany. How about you? Any college plans?”
I nodded. “I was hoping to get a scholarship in a university.”
“Why do you have to work after school, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I don’t have parents who would work for me,” I replied curtly.
“Who do you stay with?”
“My aunt,” I replied. “But I can’t really make her work for everything. She has her own life too. Like me… she was also forced into this… setup.”
He fell silent for a moment. “I’m sorry. I heard about what happened to you.”
I took a deep breath. “I’m sure the kids in school didn’t waste time before filling you in with the gory details of my life.”
“I’m glad they did, though.”
I stared at him and raised a brow.
“Well… when I first saw you, I thought you were pretty. And you have this mystery that envelops you. Kids may make fun of you or insult you every minute they get, but I saw how you never let that bother you. You looked tough and I admired your spirit. I heard about what happened to you and I thought I’ve never known anyone stronger than you are.” He paused for a while and then he added, “One day, I went to Strung with my uncle to pick up a gift for my sister. I saw you there. You were playing the guitar like a rock star and you sang too. I thought… damn! What a girl!”
“That was why you were calling me ‘Rock Princess’?” I asked. “You heard me play before?”
He nodded. “I liked you from that day. And I like you even more whenever I see you stand up for yourself and never let the kids at school get to you.”
“People at school can be so mean sometimes. They make me their target because they know I could not retaliate. Or I would not have the means to fight back.”
“The guys were just jerks,” he said. “The girls were just plain jealous.”
“Jealous?” I echoed.
He stared at me for a moment. “I’m not the only one charmed by you, you know.”
That struck me as a joke, I actually laughed.
Chaise shook his head. “Your scars are not that bad, Alice. When boys talk about you in the locker rooms, they don’t mention your scars at all. And this is inside information. Believe me.”
“Even if I believe you… I don’t care, Chaise,” I said. “I just want to be out of this place. Go to a university in a city where no one has read the headlines about me.”
“You have less than a year left, and it will all turn positive for you.” He smiled at me reassuringly.
“I hope you’re right.”
Chaise dropped me off in front of my house. I got down from the car and waved goodbye to him.
“Thanks for the lift,” I said.
“I’ll be doing the same tomorrow.”
I shook my head. “Nope. Tomorrow, I get off at six. It’s a weekend remember?”
“Then I’ll pick you up at five-fifty-nine,” he said, flashing me a charming smile.
“Okay, whatever gives you the kick.” I laughed. “Goodnight.”