All We Know Is Falling: Fall With Me: Volume One (2 page)

“Wake up, my dear,” I heard right in my fucking ear at Go The Fuck Away O’clock in the morning.

“No!” I buried my head under the pillow to keep Hadley’s voice from my ears. She was in the bed, lying next to me. She was poking at my sides while I groaned.

“Come on, Aurora. You’re only two weeks into school. You shouldn’t be this reluctant to go.”

“Biiiiiiite meeeeee,” I growled.

She did.

“DAMN IT!” I shot out of bed and rubbed the spot on my arm she chose to taste. “Why?!”

She smiled. “I’m not one to deny a request.” She put her hands on my face and gave me a loud kiss on the forehead. “I loved school. I have no clue why you don’t.”

“Cuz I hate people and you were sleeping with your science teacher,” I pointed out.

“Um,” she eyed me with an almost annoyed look. “Miss Pilgrim taught math and we only made out once.”

Whatever.

I shoved her aside and made my way to the bathroom, only tripping once on the way in. Twice on the way out.

I showered and dressed in a black sundress that went down to my thighs. I matched it with rainbow stripped knee socks and my favorite black sneakers. I brushed through my long hair and let it fall on its own.

I looked strange…everything about me today was dark except for my socks—which were practically screaming against my white skin and black dress. Oh, and the sky blue eyes. The windows to my soul. That I was pretty sure I had…Lucifer was never clear on that one.

Mom and Hadley were in the kitchen when I got out. I grabbed a donut and hugged them both goodbye.

“Wish me luck,” I sighed and pulled my backpack shoulder strap up on me.

“Have a nice day, love,” Mom looked sad for me. “Don’t let the humans get you down,” she smiled and said in a harsh voice.

“Never,” I laughed and took off for my day of Hell.

I had my license but I didn’t own a car. I didn’t really need one, but Mom was pushing for me to have one, just in case. But I could just teleport wherever I needed to go. Or I could borrow her or Hadley’s car.

My school was about five miles away from my house, so what I did was teleport to a little place by the school that I knew no one ever went. Even if they did, I just needed to use a little of my mind powers and make myself invisible. My place of choice to pop up at was a little wooded area just outside of the school. Plenty of trees to hide me.

I closed my eyes and focused on Hell. When I smelled the dust blowing through the dry air, and when I smelled the sulfur, I knew I was there.

I opened my eyes to the familiar bus stop. The two massive gates were on either side of the large empty desert. One side was for the souls that earned Hell. The other was for the dead that just belonged here. The castles that my dead siblings live in. And I imagine my father resides in one. And the ones for all of the other creatures I don’t know about. Oh, and the souls working off their purgatory sentences.

The bus stop was mostly empty, save for the homeless man that I would see from time to time. Most of the time. And a pigeon that seemed to find its way down here.

This was where the souls showed up when they died. Then a bus would come and haul them off to wherever they belonged.

“Morning,” I said to the man on the bench.

“Is it?” his eyebrow went up.

“Where I’m from,” I told him. The sky here was forever purple and cast nearly no light. It was always nighttime here.

“Ah, well have a nice day at school, Aurora,” he nodded and pulled out a handful of bird food, tossing some to the ground for the bird.

I’d never told the man my name—or him, me—but he’s known as long as I can remember. He was always nice to me.

“Thank you,” I smiled. “See you later.” I focused on the woods and I was gone.

I walked through the trees and saw the cars speeding into the parking lot, some barely not hitting people. And that…was why I didn’t drive. Pointless and dangerous. Though it would take a lot to kill me.

I already had my school schedule, so I made my way to first hour. Math, to start with. Lucky me.

We were far enough into the new year that the teachers had actually started giving us real work to do. The first week was a breeze. No one tried talking to me and I could sleepwalk through the day. But not now.

The first three classes of the day made me want to drop out of school. It was so boring. I don’t know how people do this. Or how they tack on college. If I had four more years of this I might just go ahead and start living in the forests of Canada. It was a better option. I bet I could live among the bears.

I walked into History and was more than a little happy when I remembered that I had a table all to myself. The room was set up so people sat in twos. But I was the safe one. There was one other empty table in the back corner of the room. Sometimes when I got bored I imagined that two ghosts sat there and yelled snarky things at the teacher, Waldorf and Statler style.

Class started and I let my eyes glaze over as I started daydreaming about what I could be doing with my time. Like reading, watching TV, eating chocolate, purposely giving myself splinters. Any and all of those things would be better than listening to Mr. Dixon ramble on about the Second World War.

I was staring down at my textbook when I heard the door open. I didn’t look up at it. Unless a man with cookies was on the other side, I couldn’t care less.

But the room went silent. I heard footsteps and a piece of paper crinkle like it was exchanging hands.

“Late on your first day, Mr. Wyatt?” Mr. Dixon sighed. “What ever for?”

“Well McDonald’s doesn’t stop serving breakfast until ten-thirty,” I heard in an English accent. “So I figured I had some time.”

I heard a sigh from the teacher and almost-moans from some of the girls. Then I heard. “Go pick out your seat.”

I kept my eyes focused on the page in my book as I prayed to my father that he’d do me a solid and have this guy pick the table in the back. But when I heard the metal chair scrape the floor beside me, I knew I didn’t mean a thing to The Devil. But I shouldn’t be surprised.

I heard the boy sit down and I held back a groan over how shitty my luck is. Could he not see the giant ‘bad news’ sign I might as well be wearing?

The teacher continued with his speech and I focused on not just leaving the room. Even if I wanted to, I’d have to crawl under the table to do it. That, or squish up against the back of the guy next to me.

“Excuse me.” I heard too close to my ear. “Don’t suppose I could borrow a pencil?”

I laughed through my nose. Who the Hell doesn’t bring a pencil on their first day?

I looked over at his side of the table. He hadn’t brought a thing with him. Not a backpack, a book. Nothing. So I dug in my backpack and pulled out a mechanical pencil. I’m cold, but I’m not a bitch. I gave him the pencil and he said thank you.

A few seconds went by before he said, “Maybe a notebook as well?”

You…have GOT to be kidding me.

I dug around in my backpack and pullout out a random notebook. It was from last year but I pulled out all of my old notes.

“Thank you,” he said again when I handed it to him. “Oh, and I really don’t like mechanical pencils. Do you have a normal one? I just can’t stand these things.”

Don’t kill him. Don’t kill him. Don’t kill him. Mom would be pissed. Don’t kill him. 

I got what he wanted and slammed it down in front of him. When he said thank you, I finally looked at him. And…holy Hell. I forgot my name for a second or two.

He was tall. I could tell, even sitting down. He was in black pants and a dark grey sweater that didn’t hide what must have been the world’s most perfect chest. He had to work out. You’re not just born like that. Unless you were an antichrist. We tended to be on the ridiculous side of good-looking. Not that I thought I was stunning or anything, but it was impossible not to notice the beauty of my siblings.

His hair was somewhere between brown and blonde, like it couldn’t pick so it just went, fuck it we’ll do both. It was just long enough to look messy, like he couldn’t care to run a brush through it. But it looked like it might welcome my fingers combing through them.

His face…oh my god, his face. Like an angel but with a touch of The Devil. Trouble on two legs, this boy was. And I oughta know. The color of his eyes was a stormy grey. Warning of trouble brewing in the sky. His skin was pale—not as much as mine—and it looked soft. Like his mouth. Slightly open and smiling. At me. Because he was waiting for me to say something and I was just staring like a moron.

“You’re welcome,” I managed to get out before looking straight ahead.

Oh god. His face was burned into my memory. The most gorgeous face I’d ever seen and attached to the most annoying person I’d ever met. But it didn’t matter. I didn’t make friends with humans. Too fragile and too mortal for me to stand the idea of loving one and loosing one.

The sole reason I didn’t have friends. Well…that, and my terrible personality.

“Great, so can I have your backpack? I didn’t pick one up.”

I glared at him. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I couldn’t help but snap at him. That, or I slam his head into the table and end the chatter.

His smile spread and I had to fight to hold on to my anger. “Just wanted to see how much you’d give me before stabbing my leg with a pencil.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Not mechanical, right?”

“Well in a stabbing, it’s always dealers choice, darling.”

Deep breath. Don’t kill him…don’t kill him…don’t touch him.

I went back to my book and leaned forward so I could get away from him. I leaned on my hand while my elbow was propped up.

He whispered into my ear, “But, I don’t have a textbook. So it would be incredibly helpful if you were willing to share with me.”

Don’t kill him.

I pushed the book a little closer to him. He scooted his chair right next to me. The noise was so loud that the whole class went quiet again and stared at us. The teacher cleared his throat and went on.

The boy leaned close as he looked at the book. I just wanted this class to be over. He turned the page and rested his arm to the side of the book. His sweater went up slightly and I caught sight of a scar. It was thick and it looked like the cut ran deep on his wrist. It looked old. Long since healed. And it matched one that was on the side of his neck.

If someone offered me a hundred billion dollars and the power to make chocolate out of thin air, I couldn’t tell you a thing about what happened in class that day. When the bell rang I almost jumped.

I closed my book and shoved it into my Legend of Zelda backpack that my dad bought me when I was eleven. I stood up and put it on.

“Hale,” the boy said, gesturing to his chest. “Since you didn’t ask.” He stood too and I wondered if I could just charge him and get away.

“Okay,” I nodded as the other students started leaving.

“No,” he shook his head. “This is where you tell me your name. Then I say ‘Thank you for your help. It’s nice to meet you’. And you say ‘You too’. Then I say ‘Well of course it is. I’ve been told I’m very good company’. And you say ‘Really? I sure would like to find out for myself’.”

No, this is where I leave. Because I don’t let myself spend time with humans. “Sorry. But I’m going to be late,” I brushed past him and went to the lunchroom.

I got my food and picked out the empty table in the corner that no one dared go near. Humans were social creatures. I wasn’t. I picked at my hamburger that I was sure was horse meat. I don’t know why I didn’t just pop over to a fast food place and get something. It would be so much better. Plus, all that greasy food didn’t damage my body.

But no. I just ate what I had. I did however enjoy the chocolate milk. So I sipped it and tried to do the math in my head to figure out just how many minutes were left in school. For the year. The answer was too many.

I looked up when I heard Hale’s name being squeaked like he was Santa Clause. The excitement was ridiculous. I saw a table full of girls calling for him to sit with them. Of course. Not only was he new, but he had an English accent. That was more than what was needed to get those specific girls to drop their pants.

Hale and I made eye contact and for a split second, I thought he would come and sit with me. But he didn’t. One of the girls tugged at his sweater and he sat down with the vultures. But that was alright. It was the way of the world and I was used to it.

Throughout lunch I just focused on my food and tried not to look up. My hearing was advanced and unfortunately I could hear all of the fluttery giggles from that group of girls. They were asking him to say their names with his ‘sexy accent’ and he was doing it.

Aaand I was done eating. I stood up and started walking to the tray table. I caught Hale watching me walk for a second but he quickly looked back to his girls.

So I made my way to art class. Only two more classes and I could go home. I was the first one in the room and I went to stand by a canvas in the back of the room.