Where Angels Fear to Tread

Chapter One- Only Two Rules

School was boring. If there had to be a poll among students aged five to eighteen years old, the general consensus would say that high school is useless. It is filled with under paid teachers that do not give a rip about what they are teaching, ignore the students that are actually struggling, and focus on the ones who are great in sports.

And people wonder why America’s status is so low when it comes to general education.

My high school was no different. The grand total of my high school counted 334, and that included junior high. Gossip flowed freely, and if something happened, it was in every class before the end of the day (if not the hour.) New students were seen as “fresh meat”, girls to be corrupted by guys who could not get laid, and girls looking for someone else to complain to.

It was sad, really. People wonder why I hate public school.

The new girl this week was no exception. As soon as Southwest High caught wind of a new student, chatter began to fill the hallways. The males wondered if she was hot (as did the girls. Who wanted competition?) and the girls began forming plans on how to get her into ‘their’ group. I hated cliché’s. Always had.

Unfortunately for me, my sister was a big part of them.

“I hope she’s nice.” Alaina was babbling to me, not noticing the fact that I was all but ignoring her. “It would be good to get a girl into this school who hasn’t been with every guy on the block. You know that Stephanie Wilder will be at her throat if she’s pretty and --”

“Alaina, shut up. Seriously.”

She pinned me with a look. “God, Ross, who made you king of the universe?”

I rolled my eyes. “Forgive me for being sick of listening to drivel all day.” I sighed, giving up explaining how I felt.

Alaina, thankfully, caught on. She grinned and leaned toward me across the table. “What’s the dibs today. Who’s dying for who?”

I laughed quietly. “Stephanie is still in love with Ashton, but he’s got the hots for everyone except for her. Seems to think she’s a bit too. . Easy.”

“Isn’t that what guys want?”

“Alaina!”

She laughed, tossing her blond hair over her shoulder. “Kidding, Ross, I’m kidding. I’m a little stupid -- not all of us can read emotions like you can, you know.”

Oh, how well I knew. The bell rang, informing the students it was time for first hour. Thank God. Maybe once class started, and the new girl was introduced, the chatter would die down.

People filed into class, mumbling amongst themselves. Mr. Banner, the English teacher followed after them, leading a young girl with him. Ah. That must be her. He waited until the final bell rang before raising his hand. All eyes focused on the girl beside him.

She was tiny. Not a tiny that entailed too tall, too skinny girls, terrified by their weight, but a tiny that seemed to make her shrink into a crowd without notice. I honestly could not imagine the girl was much taller than five foot. Standing next to the six foot tall Mr. Banner, she seemed almost a child.

The girl nervously tucked a stray piece of hair behind her hear, her eyes scanning the room nervously. Even without scanning her thoughts, it was easy to see she was nervous. Who would not be? Every eye in the room was focused on her. She smiled shyly, looking uncertainly around the room -- looking for a friendly face, I imagined.

“Are you going to stand there all day, or will you tell us who you are?” Jeremy Reeve, ever the thoughtful one. Go figure he would be the first to speak up. Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, or Senior, if a new girl entered the school, Jeremy was the first one to make a move.

If it was not for the fact I could hear his thoughts and had proof, I would have never believed Jeremy had ever scored a girlfriend.

The girl looked startled, her eyes wide. Swallowing, she smiled once again. “My name is Enid Grey. . .” She looked up at Mr. Banner, who nodded toward the rest of the class. “Um. . . I used to live about three hours from here. It is a bit different from here. .” She trailed off again, shrugging. “I am here. That is all I can really say.”

I could already see Jeremy trying to find a way to ask this girl out. I suddenly felt very bad for Enid.

Mr. Banner nodded and pointed her toward a desk, the one closest to my own, and End walked toward it. She smiled shyly at me as she took her seat, then focused forward.

“Enid, hmm?”

She turned to face me, her face etched with curiosity. “Yes?”

“Odd name.”

Enid raised an eyebrow. It was one of those things I had always wished I could do. My mother and sisters could both put me in place with that one eyebrow of theirs. It had to be a woman thing.

“Do you have a problem with my name?”

I shook my head, amused. “Not at all. It is unique. Different and refreshing.”

“You like to talk, don’t you?” Enid looked amused, and her shyness seemed to ease away. I knew people like this -- girls who were shy until you brought them out of their shell. Once uncovered, they proceeded to chatter about something mundane that made you want to shoot yourself. Enid was fresh meat, and hopefully not meat that would end up being the useless, brainless, air-headed girls that Southwest High was filled with.

From the looks of things, she wasn’t. I focused back to our conversation. “How can you tell?” Realizing I had not introduced myself, I stuck out my hand. “I’m Ross. Ross Carver.”

Enid laughed, quietly, and shook my hand. “Is that your way of trying to become James Bond?”

“Well, I am dashing you know. . .” Oh, if this girl only knew. Then again, if she did know, she would probably think me out of my mind. Exactly how were you supposed to say something like that? ‘Hello, my name is Ross Carver, and I am basically a modern day Cupid. How are you?’

I changed the subject. “You said your family just moved here? Where from?”

“Northwest Oklahoma. A very small town. I could probably bet that you haven’t even heard of it.”

“Try me.”

“Selman, Oklahoma.”

She was right. Where the heck was that? “Okay, you got me. Is it near any place that I know of?”

She nodded, and that stray piece of hair fell forward again. “It is about fifteen minutes away from Buffalo, and around forty-five minutes from Woodward. Do you know where those are?”

“My family used to go through Buffalo on our way to Colorado. Small town. This is not much of a change for you, is it?”

“Not at all,” Enid replied shaking her head and looking around. “Same type of characters too, although I think you see that anywhere you go. The popular crowd, the nerds, the freaks. . All the labeling. It is useless in the long run. Every one knows that the nerds will end up ruling the world, the popular crowd will be the ones working at Burger King and trying to work through that third divorce.”

She was cynical. That was a change. I was starting to like this girl.

Enid looked at me curiously. “What do they label you as?”

I smiled. “Quiet.”

“The quiet ones are always deadly.”

From the corner of my eye, I could see Alaina with her eyebrow raised, bouncing one foot up and down in boredom. ‘Stop it.’ She only grinned and turned toward the front of the room, leaving all others unaware of our conversation.

One thing I discovered about Enid was the fact that she was painfully shy around others. For some unknown reason, she seemed to ‘click’ around me, laughing, talking and other such matters. It was not surprising. People were naturally attracted to eros, no mater how they might look. We made people feel comfortable, and willing to share things with us that they might not with others. It was not something that could be explained, just something that was.

Enid, however, was not a people person. When others mentioned her name or talked to her, a blush filled her cheeks, and her eyes were suddenly attached to the floor. Tons of emotions were floating around the school, ranging from astounded, to a crush, to simply being jealous. Most of the jealousy floated from the girls, especially Amanda Gutter, who had always been the prettiest and most popular girl in the school.

Amanda had no reason to worry. As sweet and shy as Enid was, it was only her newness that made her popular. After a few weeks of the entire school interrogating her (and Jeremy asking her out at least a dozen times), Enid would fade into the crowd, and once again, Amanda would emerge.

High school was a very twisted setting.

“Hobbies. Tell me your hobbies.”

Enid’s head popped up from looking at her desk. “Hobbies?” She thought for a brief moment. “Well . . . I like to write. I want to be a novelist someday, but I highly doubt I would make a good one. I am not that talented.”

“Could I see some of your work?”

She blushed. “Not until I have perfected it. I am very paranoid about that. I also like to sing. No, I love to sing. If I could have anything else except for writing a novel, I would want to start in an opera.”

Opera. Wow. That was something you never heard from many teenage girls. “Opera, hmm? About?”

Enid shrugged. “Anything. I love The Phantom of the Opera , of course. But my love for opera goes beyond that.” She leaned into her seat. “My mother loved opera. She would sing in productions around town. You name the opera, she probably had a part in it. Ever since I was a little girl, I always wished that I could have the ability to sing like my mother. I have been told that if I had training, I could be that good but . . I doubt it.”

She had some major self-esteem issues. I could tell this from talking to her five minutes. I frowned. “Who told you that you were not good enough?”

“No one. I just know that I am not.”

I snorted. “Don’t be so emo.”

Enid looked shocked. “I am not trying to be emo. Just telling you the truth.”

“I hate to tell you this, but if you are saying one thing, and the entire world is telling you something different, the world is probably right.”

“You can be a jerk, can’t you?” Her frown became deeper, more etched. It did not look right.

“Sometimes.” I had to agree. I had a very pessimistic outlook on life. You almost had to, to be an eros. You spent your entire life helping others toward a goal, a goal that you, yourself, would never reach. Or were not supposed to reach. That was the kicker. No matter how much you might want what others had, you could not have it.

Sometimes I loved my kind, other times I hated it. It was a mean circle.

Enid was quiet, and I was almost afraid I had offended. She was suddenly very interested in the paper, paying too much attention to it rather than to our conversation. I shrugged, returning to my homework, but secretly watching her from the corner of my eye. Her hair had fallen in front of her face, obscuring my vision from her. For some odd reason, I wanted to know this girl’s every thought. Her life, her thoughts.

And more specifically, if she was single.

This could potentially be a huge problem. There were two rules for being and eros and only two. One: Never let anyone find out what you are. Secrecy to your powers and wings must be kept secret at all times from anyone not in your immediate family.

Two: Never fall in love.