Fly Me Away

Chapter 17

I groaned when the sunlight hit my face.

“My sleep pattern is all crazy because of you,” I mumbled, pulling the covers over my head.

“That could be true,” Jackson threw the curtains back as far as they would go, “but this is me trying to fix it.”

I grunted and clambered to my feet sleepily, then checked my bedside clock.

6:30 AM.

I cried out in frustration and flopped back onto my bed, “I don’t need more than an hour to get ready!”

Jackson laughed and walked over to my dresser. My head perked up and I watched him pick out a pale yellow shirt and examine it.

“Excuse me? What do you think you’re doing?” I growled. I suddenly wasn’t tired anymore, the anger was overriding it.

“You do need that long to get ready Maggie. You’re always late to school. I think you’ll find that if you get up earlier –”

“– What are you, an expert on my life?”

I leapt back to my feet and stomped over to where he was standing. Jackson continued rummaging through my clothes, picking things out, looking at them, then placing them neatly back in. I snatched the lacy grey shirt he was holding and shoved it back in the draw. He held his hands up in defeat and stood back, a playful smirk on his face.

“I’m just observing it from another angle my dear.”

I continued muttering profanities under my breath at him, which I’m sure he didn’t miss. I was only mad because he was right.

I sighed, “You still don’t have the right to wake me up...”

He just laughed to himself and watched me fumble through my draw. I pulled out a pair a blue jeans and tucked them under my arm, throwing him a wary glance as I did it. I wasn’t particularly fussy about what I wore to school, but today I felt a little bit more self conscious. I refused to admit that it was because Jackson was going to be there.

I unfolded a light salmon coloured shirt and held it up against the blue jeans.

“I like that,” Jackson commented, nodding thoughtfully.

I scoffed, but decided to wear it... with no help from him what so ever. I was already going to wear that one. Yeah.

“You’re being annoying today,” I mumbled, quickly swiping some undergarments before making my way out towards the shower.

For once, I found very little joy in the early morning hot water; I was more eager to get out and get going. I tip toed out of the shower as cautiously as ever and quickly threw my clothes on. Upon examining myself in the mirror, I realised that it was a nice shirt, and that it was one I had been neglecting to wear for a very long time.

“Ah, you look lovely,” Jackson beamed, as I walked back into my room. I ignored him and went straight to my dresser.

I blow-dried my hair and let it settle into a weird half straight half curly state before I was reasonably satisfied. Jackson simply stood beside the balcony door and did nothing. I was starting to get suspicious.

My stomach grumbled and without a second thought I headed towards the door, rearing for some breakfast.

“Maggie.”

Jackson stopped me mid-step, just as I was about to leave my room.

“Whaaaat?” I moaned, in a childish fashion. I wanted some food.

He placed his hands in his pockets and stepped forward, “There was another reason I woke you up early, but I was hoping you would be in a better mood when I asked....”

“Well you didn’t think that one through did you?”

“No, apparently not,” he rolled his eyes, “Anyway, Maggie, the thing is....I was hoping you would let me be your friend?”

The words didn’t even process in my head before I responded, “Okay. Tah dah! Friends,” and continued on my merry way.

“Stop Maggie, that’s not what I mean.”

I sighed and spun back around, “Oh really? Please enlighten me Jackson, I’m just dying to know what you really meant.”

He scrunched up his nose, “You really aren’t a morning person are you?”

“No, I am a morning person, just not an early morning person.”

He held his hand up to his chin and stared down at the ground, pondering what I’d just said. My stomach growled angrily and I began tapping my foot.

“Hey angel boy, I’m hungry here, are you gunna tell me what you meant or what?”

His eyebrows hit the ceiling at my abruptness and he burst out into laughter. I resisted the urge to scream by spinning on my heels and stomping aggressively down the stairs; I could still hear Jackson’s laughter as I entered the kitchen.

Mom gasped and rubbed her eyes in disbelief.

“Maggie you’re...you’re... do you know what time it is?”

I shook my head and slumped over to the toaster.

“It’s only 7...”

I shrugged and proceeded to make my toast. Sliced banana was on the agenda today, with a sprinkling of –

“Sugar and cinnamon,” Jackson said, hovering over me as I reached for the sugar bowl. I rolled my eyes.

Me and Mom sat down together and ate breakfast for once. I had to admit, it was kind of nice. I hadn’t had breakfast with her since I went on a school camp last year and needed to get there on time.

Mom was always up early, I wasn’t sure why; she was the one who always went on about me being a morning person, but not an early morning person. She always said, If I ever woke up more than ten minutes before I wanted too, I would be in a foul mood until lunch time.

But that wasn’t true...

“Maggie, could you go somewhere where you can speak to me? It’s important,” Jackson interrupted my Moms spiel about how her cabbages were growing this season. She didn’t notice the interruption though, only me.

I glanced at him. He looked serious.

I sighed and ate my last corner of toast before leaving the table and placing my plate on the kitchen bench.

Mom stood up and did the same, ruffling my hair as she did. “We should have breakfast together more often honey.”

I resisted the temptation of spitting out a snide remark about listening to stories about her fresh produce by slipping back up to my room.

When I got there, Minotaur was rolling around savagely on my carpet, pretending he was fierce or something. Jackson was also there, watching him with an amused look on his face. It seemed like the dog was trying to impress him. I wasn’t surprised, Minotaur loved Jackson.

“Minotaur, what are you doing?” I moaned. He sat up right and barked at me.

“Get out of here.”

He began skipping around in circles, oblivious to my instruction, until Jackson picked him up and put him out the door. He howled and whined when he got put outside.

“Wish he liked me that much,” I muttered, moving over to make my bed. Life would be just the tiny bit easier is Minotaur listened to what I said all the time.

Jackson glided across the room and made my bed before I even got there. For some reason, this made me really mad. I wanted to make my bed. He sat down on it and waited for me.

After a moment of frowning at him, I followed suit and caught a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror on the way. I double took, then held a finger up to touch the corner of my mouth.

I did look grumpy.

I took a deep breath in and rubbed my eyes. I just realised then that Mom was absolutely right, and I didn’t want to be a grumpy pants.

“Okay, I’m normal now,” I exhaled, “What did you want to talk about?”

He smiled at me and I was forced to take a sharp breath in. How stunning; that smile got to me sometimes...

“I would like it if you’d let me be your friend, but.... I mean, in life; in your life. A friend that goes places with you and can talk with people.”

I still felt like I was forcing myself to be happy, but I tried to be as polite as possible. So many rude remarks were popping into my head and I had to shake them off. A friend that went places and talked with people... Like a real friend?

“....A not invisible angel friend?” I asked.

“Exactly.”

I hesitated, not really sure if he was being serious, “...one that people will actually see me with?”

“Preferably....” He furrowed his eyebrows as he watched my reaction “is something the matter Maggie?”

I was so confused, and I must have looked it. He already tried this before and it ended very badly – I didn’t want that to happen again. Though I could understand how it would be different this time, I just didn’t get it....

Why?

“Because, I would feel much better if I could be there all the time.”

I shook my head, “But you can. You’ll still be around me.”

“Do you remember those men at that restaurant I took you too...” he made a disturbed noise at the memory, “on the one hand, if I wasn’t there, you wouldn’t have been there either. You would never have been in that situation –”

“Is that why you told me you never wanted to see me again?” I interrupted.

Then a saw the expression that I was dying to see that night a couple of weeks ago but never did: Guilt.

“Yes,” he replied solemnly.

“You said it was better if you left me. I even told Pip you said that.... If we started hanging out again, she’s going to want to know why,” I stated, my grumpiness starting to seep back in.

“Just tell her I made a mistake.”

“That hurt you know,” I whispered, frowning and twisting away from him.

He sighed, “... I panicked that night, as was expected. I did something I wasn’t supposed to do...I broke a cardinal rule – several times. I was just trying to redeem myself...”

I was upset, but this sparked my interest. Angel’s had rules.

“What was the rule?” I asked, still refusing to look at him. I could feel him turn away from me too so that both of us were staring out in opposite directions.

“The dreaded unwritten rulebook for angels...” he laughed darkly, “That book will be the death of me, I swear.”

“What?” I gasped, spinning back around, to find him hunched over with his head in his hands again.

“Guardian angels should not meet the human they are guarding unless absolutely necessary. That was the rule I broke.”

I sat there silently, thinking back and trying to figure everything out.

He continued, “I hadn’t been guarding you for long, but you intrigued me. The way you did things was just....fascinating. I was tired of watching over you and not being able to talk to you.”

The light bulb flickered in my head. “So that day when I was walking my dog....”

He laughed. It was so out of place, but he laughed. An insane laugh like he had been doing something wrong and thought it was funny. “I’m desperate for attention. It seems you got dealt an unlucky hand Miss McQueen.”

“I’m not unlucky,” I defended, moving over and sitting beside him.

He scoffed. “There’s an army of warped demons chasing you and all you have is an exceedingly dysfunctional angel.”

“Okay, maybe the demon thing is a bit unlucky, but I like my dysfunctional angel!”

He lifted his head and raised an eyebrow, “You like me? After all this grief I’ve caused you, you like me?”

“Yes. You got a problem with that?” I smirked.

“Hmm...”

Jackson shifted off the bed and moved over to his usual spot in front of the balcony. He grasped his hands behind his back.

I went and stood beside him so I could stare out the window too. Just as I suspected, the swallows were out in force, swooping and chasing each other happily.

I rubbed the back of my neck, “And....you win. I still don’t understand why, but I’ll let you be my friend.”

I glanced up at him – he was smiling. “Thank you.”

-----

I spent very little time doing school work that day. The majority of my class time was spent contemplating. Jackson stood casually out of the way at the back of my classes, probably because of my paranoia. He looked like he didn’t want to be in there at all.

I wasn’t entirely sure why Jackson wanted to be seen with me. Maybe it was some precautionary thing, or maybe he really did just want attention. I put it down to him being over protective, but I was determined to get the answer out of him sooner or later.

As for introducing him to everyone as ‘just a friend’....that wasn’t going to go down well. I knew Pip was going to be the first person to find out, no matter how much I detested the idea. He would do something crazy like show up at her house or something and Pip would immediately get the wrong idea. I was an effective liar, but only in small quantities. This was going to be my toughest mission yet.

Speaking of Pip, she was very pleased that I was back a school. I lied and told her my phone was broken and that’s why I never texted her, just for some practice. Technically my phone was broken, but it was the timing that made it a lie. I also neglected to tell her about my run in with Kelly; all in due course.

I was going to her place after school just for fun, something that we organised a while ago. I was sure Bronco would be glad to see me, if he was there.

I sighed at the thought.

“I have to pick up my little sisters, so I’ll meet you at mine ya? Mom and Dad will let you in,” Pip said, as we walked out of school and through the car park.

I nodded and we both walked off in different directions.

I was early to school that day, so for the first time ever, I got a good parking spot right beside the entrance to the school. Pip on the other hand, had to park extremely far away, due to her having to take all her siblings to school every morning.

As I rounded the corner of the lot and weaved through crowds of dishevelled teens, I spotted Jackson leaning against my car. He was wearing new clothes again. Very nice new clothes...

Thinking nothing of it, I ignored him and carried on as if it was absolutely normal, but as I passed a group of young tidy looking girls, one of them said something that unnerved me.

“Isn’t it that senior, Maggie McQueen’s car?”

Now on its own, this could have meant anything. She might just have been pointing out that I had a crap car, like many had done before. I took a breath in to try and calm myself. He wouldn’t have the nerve to just show himself at my school...

“Wow she’s so lucky,” I eaves dropped on another girl talking, “that’s, honest to God, the hottest guy I’ve ever seen.”

Then my heart rose into my ears. He could have at least given me some warning!

I slung my bag over my shoulder and sprinted right up to him, pushing people out of my way as I did.

“Jackson what the hell do you think you’re doing!” I said in the angriest, quiet voice I could muster. I didn’t want people to think anything suss was happening.

“I’m just here to see you.”

“ Are you insane?!” I squealed.

“I’m perfectly sane.”

He smiled nonchalantly and his eyes darted around the car park. I turned my head to see what he was looking at and realised that, just like the last time he came to my school, everyone was staring.

“.... Those people are all staring at you,” he said quietly. His eyebrows furrowed and he stared back at them warily.

“They’re all looking at you, you idiot!” I prodded my finger at his shoulder repeatedly, “You’re the good looking one!”

He raised his eyebrows and smirked at me. My face turned pink.

“I mean....ugh, you know what I mean. Just get in the car.”
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Here you go! This ones quite long....ENJOY!!

I like Jackson. I wouldn't mind one of my own =)

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