Angel Star Read Online Free Page B

houses. I could always count on Claire to boost my confidence.
    “By the way.” The devilish smirk lingered on her face. “Do you think your mom will let me borrow that lipstick?”
    The sunlight streaming through the moonroof was warm and comfortable and so I allowed last night’s dream of Garreth to sneak into my thoughts once more before school. It was the first pleasant dream I could clearly remember in a long time and I closed my eyes, savoring the moment. His eyes, the deepest ocean blue, peered out from beneath his hair. He smiled radiantly as my heart pulled toward him and then he faded, as if my dream was revealing to me what it truly was. Just a dream.
    Then the mist cleared slightly, revealing him once more as he held his hand out, beckoning me to join him. I stepped forward, momentarily blinded by the beautiful colors swirling around me. As I reached out to place my hand in his, the air quickened…electrically charged…static. I stared in wonder as the lines on his upturned palm swirled into a single, continuous thread and transformed into a beautiful eight-pointed star before my eyes, formed from beginning to end in one graceful, sweeping motion. Endless. Gateless. Eternal. Garreth spoke my name softly and the moment I stepped into the mist I knew I was in heaven. Though reluctant to let the dream fade, I forced it to the back of my mind and tried to focus on the day ahead of me.
    Claire was singing along to the next track. “Sorry about yesterday. Did you get home okay?”
    “That’s a topic you and I have to discuss. I made it home okay, but public transportation is truly humiliating. I’m employing you as my chauffeur.”
    “Worse than putting up with Brynn and her posse?”
    “Hmmm. A close second.”
    About a block before school, I pulled down the built-in mirror underneath the sun visor above my head. I noted the transparent purple circles surfacing beneath my eyes from lack of sleep and made a mental note to experiment with concealer.
    I decided to change the subject and tell Claire about the other night, about the dreams and the wings. Claire was my best friend, the obvious choice to hear all my concerns, but as much as I loved her, she was such a jokester and I didn’t know how she would react. I dove in before I could change my mind.
    “Um, the night before last I heard some really strange noises.”
    “What kind of noises?”
    “Well, sort of like an animal or a bird flying around my room. I’ve been having these weird dreams about wings and…Well, I felt a draft.”
    My tone was serious but I instantly regretted sharing my unnerving evening. How could I expect the ever-joking Claire to sympathize with this one?
    “You read too many vampire books.”
    She was right. My fictional track record left me wide open for that one. I felt like the boy who cried wolf.
    “Or…” she continued. “Maybe Batman was coming to save you!”
    Claire was cracking herself up, flapping her arms above her head while we were stopped at the traffic light. I shook my head and stared out the window. The looming shadow of Carver High School suddenly couldn’t be close enough. And then it happened. My stomach lurched into a series of somersaults when I recognized Garreth’s Jeep as we pulled into the school’s parking lot.
    By the time Claire parked, my insides had tied themselves into a gigantic knot. An incredible rush of excitement, eagerness, and panic swept through me all at once, like the first day of high school all over again. I could scarcely will my feet to swing out of Claire’s car.
    I scanned the campus for any sign of Garreth, my eyes raking over the fellow students I was forced to be herded with day in and day out, but he was nowhere in sight.
    Trembling, I walked to homeroom alone.
    The morning dragged on endlessly, though it was only just past second period. Anticipation bled into a twisted combination with all-too-familiar disappointment as I fumbled with my locker, and I decided to