You Fill My Sails With Your Wasted Breath

School was not as awesome as I had hoped it'd be. Junior year was supposed to be awesome. It was the most important year! Junior prom, dating, learner's permit, even a license!

No. Instead, I got four days of shitty weather, annoying new freshmen, pushy teachers and the same old snobby cheerleaders, football players, and drug users. What a wonderful way to spend the last four days of my life. I didn't find a chance to tell Katie since she was busy making me "beautiful". Please. Putting on eyeliner, eye shadow, lip gloss, a low cut top and tight jeans doesn't make me beautiful. It makes me easy.

Though, Katie did make it look nice. The shirt was indeed too low for me, showing more cleavage than I would have liked. But it was a cool shirt so it was alright….I guess. My jeans weren't too tight, though Katie said I needed to throw out my baggy jeans and get more of the "shapely" ones. Bull. I don't like "shapely" I like "comfortable". The eyeliner and eye shadow were…well nice. They matched my shirt and there wasn't too much. It was enough to draw attention but not enough to make me look like a hussy. The lip gloss was where I think she went too far. It was a pale pink and it glittered. I'm sorry I don't like glitter. It's nice, sure, but not on my lips. Or anywhere on my face.

She gave me a pair of her star earrings and handed me my stuff to head off to school. My mom dropped us off, commenting on my new look.

"Please," I snorted. "Katie tied me down like a hog and forced this stuff on me. I'm never wearing it again." Katie laughed manically from behind me and I hid my sneer. "Yeah, thanks for that, Katie." I muttered, hiding my face.

"You know you love it." She said smirking while we pulled up to school.

"Have a good day," my mom said as she slowed to a stop. Katie and I left after I gave a swift kiss on the cheek to mommy dearest.

"Hey," Katie said as she hit my arm with her elbow. "What's with you today? You're grumpier than normal." I shrugged a little.

"Let's just find Joshua. I have something to tell you guys."

"Alright," Katie said frowning. "Are you ok? I mean, you know...emotionally wise? I didn't mean to ruin your life with this whole make up get up." I shook my head and smiled at her a little.

"You're fine. It's not the make up, I promise." She nodded a little and smiled back.

"If you say so."

"I do," I said, pushing her a bit. "The make up is great. Really."

"Howdy do, lady friends!" Joshua said, waving from his dad's car. The deal was, Joshua could drive the Jeep around but he had to let his parents drive him to school. They wanted to be apart of his life or something. I don't know. Katie and I waved to Joshua's dad and he waved back before driving away. Joshua made his way over and smiled at us. "You look....really nice today Ariella." I nodded and headed towards the school.

"I...Let's just get to homeroom."

"Wait," Joshua said. "There's still ten minutes before the homeroom bell rings." I nodded.

"Well how about we go sit down. You guys have to hear something and it's not going to be good."

"You think that can wait?" A boy said from behind Katie and Joshua. I looked at them and then behind them. A boy with thick red hair and deep blue eyes stared at me. His face was handsome and he stood as tall as Joshua. "I'd like to get used to this body. I'd rather the English boy." I grinned a little and hung my head.

"Nathanael, this body suits you." He sighed and crossed his arms.

"The accent would have gotten me more girls at this high school."

"So you do want the chicas huh?" He smiled a little and shrugged.

"You want to break that news of yours to all of us?" he asked, sensing my obvious discomfort.

"How--"

"I am an angel, Ariella. Just tell us the news so I can stop worrying if you're going to die or something." I groaned and walked over to the stairs to sit down.

"I'd rather the or something." I muttered, taking a deep breath.

"What?" Joshua asked.

"I'm dying." I said softly. "The end of the week is my final show. Zach said that I was on the reaper's list...I...I don't know what to do." I said shaking my head. "It...I'm going to be a fricken corpse before homecoming." Nathanael moved to sit on my left, Katie moving to sit next to me on the left. Joshua bent down to his knees, staring up at me.

"Ariella, you're not dying...." Katie assured.

"I'm pretty sure I am, though Kate. I'm pretty sure I'm going to lose this fight with Will and Zach...I just know it."

"Hey," Joshua snapped, making me jump and look at him. "You're acting like a baby. That's not the Ariella I know. You're seriously going to let this prissy angel tell you when you're going to die?" I stared down at him and closed my eyes.

"I can't...I can't deal with it, Josh...I just can't..."

"Ariella," Nathanael muttered. "Joshua's right. You need to get over this. If you die, you're going to have to go all out. You can't go through your whole life being bold just to have your end be the time you run with your tail between your legs."

"You're so crude, Nathanael." I muttered with a small laugh. Nathanael smirked and nodded a little more.

"Well, it's this new body. The mind set is on angry teenager."

"I'd rather it be on angel so I can figure out where I can kick some rear!"

"What did they say?"

"Zach said something about where the sky meets the earth and where the sea touches the sky or something."

"The beach? That's the only place I can think about that has the sky, sea and Earth." Katie suggested. I nodded a little and bit my lip.

"And the second part was…when the sun is nigh."

"Midday?" Joshua suggested. I shrugged a little and rubbed my face.

"Who knows? I'll think it over and deal with it."

"Not on your own," Katie snapped. "We're going to help out too." I nodded a little and smiled.

"Right, I'll figure it out and tell you so we can deal with it." Nathanael stood, making Katie and Joshua do the same.

"Let's get inside and start this shit." Katie said, offering me a warm smile. I nodded and walked in behind everyone. They didn't get it…They did but it was….it was more serious than anything they could grasp. I was dying….

Nathanael and I were inseparable. He didn't want to leave me. I saw Katie a few times during my schedule and Josh and I had the same lunch and study. Not that it mattered. I moved through the day like a zombie, staring at my teachers with dull expectations. I wouldn't answer questions, even in English and I loved English. Nathanael would remain quiet as well, true to his angelic nature; silent and guarding. He got a few girls' attention and he would offer them small grins and even playful winks. At lunch, I had no appetite. I didn't want to do anything.

We sat in the large cafeteria, Joshua munching on French fries and a burger while Nathanael did the same, talking to friends and peers. I sat nodding every so often to calm their thoughts of me being dead.

"Ariella," Zach apparently had my lunch too. I glanced at him but no one else seemed to notice. "Take a walk?" I nodded and stood and when I did, both Nathanael and Joshua did too.

"Chill," I muttered, leaving my bag and stuff behind. "I'll be back." They stared at me while I stood in front of Zach, staring up at him. He didn't seem happy at all at my misery and I started to think he wasn't so bad after all. He and I walked out of the cafeteria to the main lobby where a lot of the kids ate their lunch to get away from the stuffy room. He indicated a seat to me, as if we were fancy or something, and took the seat next to me. He leaned back--casual and annoying--while I slumped; dead and cold.

"You seem to be taking death a bit harshly." He said finally. I pulled my knees to my chest and sighed. "I was never able to master that," he said, pointing to my legs while trying it himself. I smirked as I watched him try. "All my years and I've never been able to do that."

"It's a chick thing." I said smiling a little, making him smile in return.

"I thought you were going to show everyone that Ariella doesn't go down without a fight." He said, throwing his voice to make it sound like mine. "What happened?"

"I guess…" I stared at the ground and sat pretzel-style. "It's a little too much right now." I glanced at him and grinned. "Please leave a message and Ariella will kick your butt as soon as she can." Zach started to chuckle and I sighed heavily. "It's all still sinking in I guess."

"Well, how about I do this; you have until Friday. Everyday after school, you and I will go out and accomplish all the things you've always wanted to do."

"You can't do that." I accused.

"I can too!"

"I'd like to see you try." I mocked, making him sit up straight and stare at me.

"After school, you and I will do anything you want. What's the thing you want to do the most?"

"Visit England. Just to stand at the River Thames and watch the sunset." He nodded and held out his hand.

"England after school then." I smiled, despite myself, and shook his hand.

"England…" I muttered.

"Look," he said, his hand still in mine. "I'm not going to say you'll be alright because I don't know. I don't know what happens to you after I give your soul to Heaven. I'm not going to tell you to be strong because you already are. I'm just going to say; You're a good human and I regret having to take you from this place." I stared at him for a second before jumping from my spot and walking towards the cafeteria again. I didn't want to hear that…It only made me sadder. By the time I got to my table, Zach was on my heels, his futile attempts to calm me down sliding over me like water over a duck. I looked at him--cut him with a glare--and sat down. He sighed and nodded silently, obviously getting that I wasn't going to talk to him anytime soon.

"You ok?" Nathanael and Joshua asked. They had forgotten their other conversations and stared intently at me.

"Yeah," I said, my voice oddly hoarse. "I'm fine." I swallowed, trying to get rid of the dumb parts of my voice that weren't working right and cleaned up my stuff before the bell rang. As I walked down the hall with a girl from my math class, Joshua pushed me a little.

"Hey, what are you doing after school?" I glanced up at him and swallowed the weird feeling in my stomach.

"I'm going with Zach." The girl next to me stared at Joshua and I smiled at her a little. "Uh, I'll have to see you later, Maggie. This is important." She nodded and offered a smile.

"Good luck?"

"I'll need more than that." I muttered, glancing at Joshua. She grinned and stared at Joshua before leaving quickly. I looked at Joshua again and rose an eyebrow.

"What are you going to do with Zach?" he asked.

"I'm going to find the place where we're going to fight." I said, thinking up a quick lie.

"Why not bail and come with me?"

"Where are you going?"

"Where do you want to go? I don’t want you to be with that guy."

"Jealous?" I asked with a grin. He pushed me against the lockers and grinned. My cheeks were bright red as I looked at both ends of the hallway. Everyone stared at us like we were going to have a big movie moment.

"You're mine," he whispered, the grin on his face seeming like something unnatural. "And I don't like to share things that are mine." He moved back and walked away like he had just said, 'Gotta get to class! See you later!'. The girls in the hallway started to squeal from jealousy and the guys started to chuckle. I hung my head and bit my lip. What the hell?

"Joshua?" I called, making him turn back. I jerked my head back to make him come back to me. He did, the grin on his face making me sick.

"Yes?" I set my jaw and reached back to punch him in the face. He stumbled back and every person in the hall groaned with sympathy.

"I am not yours and I am not a fan of this teasing thing. You've been a jerk and you better stop it and be a friend again or I'll kick your butt so hard you wont be able to sit down until you're forty." I snarled out at him. He stared at me, his hand on his jaw and I turned around to bump into Nathanael.

"Ah, so there is such thing as trouble in Paradise." He said, glaring at Joshua. I turned around to glare at Joshua. I closed my eyes and walked away from the two of them, my stomach churning. Awesome to have my best friend pull an effed up thing like that. The hallway parted as I walked by and I almost started to sprint down the hall. Then again, when I ran into someone, I was going to die from embarrassment instead of dying from a broken heart.

"You sure do have a good right hook," said William. "Hopefully I wont have to be on the sour end of that." I stepped back and shook my head.

"I am not going to be a part of this stupid harem-thing. I'm done with you guys. You and Zach are going to go down and I will not give up. All the men in my life can fricken die." I snarled as I shoved passed him, making him stumble back. Good. I hate males. I stormed to my class, being the last one and the latest one.

"Ms.--"

"Yeah I'm late. Sorry." I muttered as I walked passed the teacher and sat at the empty desk in the front.

"Do you have a pass?" asked the teacher.

"Nope." I said simply, staring at her. She nodded a little before beckoning me with me to her desk. I stared at her and when she asked me what was wrong, I shook my head. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"I'd like to see you after class."

"Fine with me." I said shrugging and heading to my seat. Gotta love history teachers. They don't push too much and they definitely don't give a good detention. I sat down in my seat and quickly got back into the swing of school. It didn't dawn on me until almost the middle of class that Nathanael wasn't with me in this class. Where was he? All of class went by and he didn't show up. He was gone. And it's not like I could just call him. I didn't know how to do that with an angel who had no cell phone. But you know who was waiting outside of my class when it was over? Zach…And William….together.