Jennifer Murgia: Angel Star

“Thanks.”

I took my bag, feeling a trifle inferior now that I was standing. He easily stood six feet tall. I would have pegged him for a senior, not a junior, like me; and, feeling like a child next to him, I silently cursed my petite frame.

“Did you just move here?” I asked.

Surely I would have seen him around town if he had just transferred from another local school. Hopewell has three: Carver High, Hopewell Vo-Tech, and Saint Andrew’s. Hopewell isn’t very big. Just a quiet little town with quaint Victorian and Colonial houses, located in western New Jersey. It was peaceful most of the time, and when the school kids got bored, they would either head down to New Hope or up toward Princeton to escape.

“I came over from Saint Andrew’s.”

Garreth eased into the conversation, his golden voice gently melting into the air around us as if it were cotton candy, and I found myself stealing glances at him as we made our trek to the third level stairwell.

“Hmmm.” I nodded, attentive to every word he uttered while wondering how I had never noticed him before, not even when Carver’s football team played against St. Andrew’s in the playoffs.

Everyone was at that game.

We talked casually during the time it took to reach mythology, catching the curious stares of onlookers as we passed by. Amazingly, Garreth appeared oblivious to everything around us. I briefed him on the mundane benefits of going to Carver High and was absolutely clueless as to why he wanted to come here in the first place. It may have been my imagination but he seemed to hang on every word I said, and I had the oddest sensation of floating on air.

“Well, here we are.” I spoke quietly, trying not to appear overly disappointed that the walk to class hadn’t taken longer. “Mr. Barry’s pretty cool, you’ll like him. As long as you’re good at distinguishing Greek from Roman, and don’t snore during Jason and the Argonauts, you’ll be fine.”

“Thanks, Teagan.” He smiled as if he meant it, then turned to hand a note to Mr. Barry.

I smiled back meekly and unwillingly turned to find my seat in the second row. I couldn’t help but notice the other girls gawk and whisper as Garreth took his seat at the back of the room. I felt the skin on my arms tingle protectively, as if the last few minutes had allowed me to lay some sort of claim on him. A few of the girls, the snobby elite that were part of Brynn’s group, shot cool glances in my direction, but for once I ignored them. My thoughts lingered on the conversation I had just shared, and when I turned to look at Garreth once more, I was filled with delight to find his eyes staring intently and deeply into my own.

The rest of my day passed by in a blurry, dreamlike state. Wherever I was required to be on campus, sure enough, Garreth was somewhere nearby. I sought him out easily enough, as though a radar-detection system had been installed in me, and though his presence was most likely coincidental, more often than not I spent the remainder of the day feeling pleasantly flustered. I, like any other seventeen-year-old girl, had already mastered the art of wishful thinking, but I could have sworn he was staring at me, and whenever I was brave enough to meet that stare, he smiled a delicious smile and I felt giddy and stupid. Even Claire noticed at lunch.

“Did the nurse give you some expired Ibuprofen or something illegal?” She inspected me suspiciously.

“Yeah,” was all I could muster.

Claire emptied the contents of her orange lunch bag.

As usual, it was filled with junk. “There’s a buzz going around school.” She spoke in a hushed tone, as though it were a giant secret about to get away.

“Hmm?” I was daydreaming, scanning the cafeteria in hopes of spying sandy curls at one of the tables, but Garreth was nowhere to be found. Which I found disappointing. Then I reminded myself, what if I did see him and he was sitting with a beautiful, bubbly cheerleader?

“Well, aren’t you even interested?”

I sighed and stopped looking.

“Two words. Garreth Adams.”

“We’ve already met.” I squeezed the words out from under my breath.

Claire’s head shot up.

“We have mythology together.”

“Uh-huh?” Claire stared at me, prompting me to continue with a wave of her hands.

“What?”

I stared back. I knew what was coming. I was withholding valuable information and she knew it, but I liked playing her game. It was fun making her wait it out. She was practically bouncing out of her seat. It didn’t surprise me that the entire school was probably spreading the word about my side job as tour guide today. God only knows what Claire heard.

“From what I hear, he couldn’t take his eyes off you. You are so lucky!” Claire was practically bubbling over.

“See, I said you needed a boyfriend. Who knew I would become an intellectual and a clairvoyant all in the same day?”

I shoved the last bite of my peanut butter sandwich into my mouth and stared across the table at the monster I had created.

Claire was looking quite pleased with herself and it was almost cruel of me to open my mouth and spoil all her fun with this, but I just had to. I used the best diplomatic tone I could drum up.

“Okay, he’s nice, but don’t read into this like you always do. And don’t get any ideas about crystal balls and wearing funky, beaded scarves on your head or anything. He was just appreciative that I helped him out. No big deal. Besides, he’s the spitting image of a god, or at least a model, and I’m just…well…I’m me.” I finished the last of my Cheetos and chugged the rest of my bottled water. There, enough said.

“Mm-hmm.” Claire eyed me over the Devil Dog she was devouring. She reached across and grabbed my hand, opening my palm before her. “Like I thought. It says, ‘I have a crush on Garreth Adams.’ It says so in your sweaty little palm.”

“Does not!” I stood up to drop my bag into the garbage can, turning my back on her.

“Does too! Perspiration doesn’t lie!” she yelled after me.

Thank God lunch period was over. Like a magnet in constant motion, I found myself shifting closer, inching my way toward Garreth, no matter where he was. He could be down the hall and my feet would automatically begin to pull me in that direction, whether I needed to be at that end of the school or not. Regardless, I needed to be near him. I had to be near him, which sounded romantic, I suppose. Or crazy. Because, in reality, it was just plain insane of me to feel this way.

Before today I had never set eyes on Garreth Adams and I already knew…already believed…he was going to be an important part of my life.

At least I hoped.

Not only did Garreth happen to be in mythology, but three of my other classes as well.

In chemistry I tried to pretend he wasn’t in the same room. Yeah, right. Like that was easy. It was clear to everyone that Garreth Adams’ brain retained information no one else seemed capable of understanding. The poor guy quickly became Mr.

Quinn’s prize student, reluctantly answering for everyone the entire period. I copied my notes diligently into my notebook, forcing him out of my head with each scratch of my pencil, but I couldn’t take it anymore.

Twisting ever so slightly in my seat, I pretended to look at the bulletin board at the back of the class, and sure enough, those blue eyes were waiting for me. I turned back around, ignoring his smile but feeling my bones go soft as his presence took effect and weakened my insides to a liquid state. At the same moment, Mr.

Quinn breezed past my lab table, passing out lab glasses, and the pair he was handing me smacked me in the face.

“Oops.”