She Speaks to Angels (3 page)

“
Hey, isn’t that your older brother over there?” Jennifer pointed. Slapping her hand back down to her jeans, I responded harshly.

“
Yeah, no shit Sherlock.”

“
How are we going to avoid all these cops?” Molly shook her head and uttered a sigh as her mind whirled in search of a solution. With a roll of her eyes, she turned to us.

“
We’ll hop the fence at the far left. The office hangs more to the right anyway.” Molly sure had a way with breaking and entering! Sneaking over the wire fence, Molly insisted on going last. If the police saw someone coming in she didn’t want the some one to be her.

“
Are you going or what?” Jennifer pushed my bum from underneath with a squat in good cheerleader form as my galoshes poked through the holes in the chain linked fence. Staring at the school’s chained doors ahead, I remembered a back entrance, one I had seen a janitor use months ago.

“
Going, going.” With one more big push I leapt over the fence and landed squarely on the other side. Although I had long legs, my incessant clumsiness demanded her assistance. “Ok, your turn.” I watched Molly strain with bent legs to hold Jennifer.

“
Wait! How are you going to get over the fence?” Jennifer craned her neck back and squinted eyes at Molly. “You should go first. I don’t need as much help. I’m taller and have cheerleading tryout experience.”

“
Whatever.” Molly rolled her eyes and dropped her hands, dusting them against one another as Jennifer’s boots hit ground.

“
Ok, get up.” Jennifer put her hands together and formed a tight net for Molly’s feet. One foot at a time, Molly crawled up the fence and jumped over to join me. Jennifer reminded us both of Spiderman on acid trying to cross the fence. Her performance made us laugh.

“
This way.” I waved for my clandestine team of two to move forward. They surprisingly followed without question. Skirting around the corner of the building, I could see in the distance and for just a second the chalk outline of Tommy’s body near the English classroom before the police surrounded him again. I breathed heavily and then we headed to the back door.

“
What are we doing here?” Molly complained. For a budding artist she complained and worried a lot.

“
This was a stupid idea.” Jennifer shook her head. “Why did I agree to this again?”

“
I know the janitor. He will be cleaning all week.” I knocked with a loud thud several times and chewed my gum.

“
You know the janitor?” Molly’s brows stretched into one fine line. “What does that mean? Are you two like on a name-to-name basis or something?” Her lips puckered as she tried to hold in a laugh. “Do you two share private time together?” Her giggle escaped, and Jennifer joined in on the joke which came at my expense.

Jerking my head around I retorted, “No, we don’t hang out. I helped him out several months back. He owes me one.”

“
Helped him out with what?” Jennifer’s head shot between Molly and me.

“
I saw him studying an English grammar book once at lunch time. I volunteered to help him learn the rules.” I said nonchalantly.

Molly jumped when she realized who it was. I felt the jolt on my back. “You’re talking about that Mexican guy, aren’t you?”

“
Alberto.” I said firm. “His name is Alberto.”

After I knocked several more times with a closed fist, an older man with graying, balding hair and wrinkling skin swung opened the door. In the dark blue uniform, he pushed his yellow bucket-with-mop to the left. A red tool box set to his right, and his expression showed his recognition.

Holding the door with one hand, I spoke. “Thank you, Alberto.”

“
What you doing here? School closed.” He sounded unnerved.

“
Yes, yes it is. But I need a favor. You know, favor? Like when I helped you with the English grammar.”

“
Yes, yes...grammar,” he nodded with a relinquishing smile. “What you need?”

“
We need to come inside.”

“
Why?” His heavy accent made his questioning all the more palatable.

“
We...” I fumbled and Molly jumped in.

“
We forgot our reading assignments, and we have a big test Monday. We can’t fail or we might not graduate.”

“
Ah.” Alberto rubbed his forehead with his hand. “Fail.” Shaking his head, he waved us in. “Cannot fail.”

“
Thank you, Alberto,” I said sincerely before stepping past him into the hallway.

“
Yes, thank you.” Molly smiled while Jennifer ducked in quietly.

Loosening the buttons on our coats, we headed to Tommy’s locker. He was a junior like me, so we shared sections, but since his last name began with a B and mine an M, our lockers were on different rows.

“
This way.” Molly’s steps revealed more fervor the closer she came to the B lockers.

“
I’ve seen him here many times,” Jennifer confirmed in front of the second locker from the end.

“
How do we get in?” I worried for the first time, unsure if my investigational plans had unraveled already.

“
Leave it to me.” Molly winked and began her magic. I knew I didn’t bring her along for nothing. Spinning the lock, we watched the notch pass number after number while Molly leaned her head closer to the numbered wheel. Listening, she stopped the spin.

“
You can hear the clicks?” Jennifer gasped and drew close to her.

“
No,” Molly pulled a screwdriver from her back pocket. “I’m going to bust it.” As she squeezed the screwdriver underneath the locker door open, Jennifer and I turned to each other for a quiet laugh.

“
Where the heck did you get that?” Jennifer questioned as her fingers reached to touch the tool.

“
When Alberto was busy with you.” She looked at me and winked again.

“
You know, for a girl who worries so much, you sure are full of surprises.” I added.

“
You have no idea.”

Leaning into Molly, Jennifer watched as if she had never seen the act of vandalism and destruction before tonight. Best of friends, the three of us really could not have been more different. But maybe our differences are what have kept us friends all these years.

CLANG-BANG-GLONK. The locker door swung open, and Molly slid the stolen tool back into her jean pocket with a satisfied grin.

“
Let’s hurry up before Alberto catches onto us,” Molly warned and stood at the end of the aisle like a guard dog. Unlike Jennifer, Molly’s smarts didn’t revolve around books. Street smarts had kept her strong all these years. Who could blame her? With gypsies for parents, she was lucky to have stayed in one place for the past four-and-a-half years. Technically, I knew Jennifer a year before meeting Molly, because Molly came to middle school at the start of seventh grade. But we always said we all knew each other since middle school; no one but us needed to know the technicalities.

“
What are we searching for?” Jennifer rummaged through the locker like she was on her last bottle of pain-killers. A notepad dropping to the floor, and I knelt to pick it up.

“
I don’t know just yet. Something, anything to let us inside his mind.”

Flipping through the notepad, I saw sketches of wings and the sun, bright light and dark shadows, followed by some blank pages. Toward the end of the notepad more detailed sketches revealed faces. Not so much detail that I could make out anything specific, but enough that I felt like I had seen the images before. But where?

“
What did you find?” I nudged Jennifer in the shoulder.

“
Not much yet.” We both eyed a shiny square device stuffed in between a thick book and a set of folders. As both of our hands hit the device at the same time, Jennifer released her grip. “Go ahead.”

Yanking the Kindle out of his locker, I touched the screen to turn it on and watched a set of marked books flash before my eyes. Dictionary of Angels. Angelology. The History of Angels. The Dark and the Light: A Contemporary Expose of Angels.

“
What do you think this means?” I tucked the Kindle under Jennifer’s chin. “Why would he be so obsessed with...angels?”

“
I don’t know...” Molly turned toward us. “But Alberto is heading this way and so we’d better rap this illegal activity up.” She had a way with words. It wasn’t so much the words as it was the way she used them, as if everything that came from her mouth carried the same weight. — I’m so hungry. My dog just died. I want to see that movie. Worrywart or not, her street skills and perspective sure came in handy.

“
Grab the folder,” I urged Jennifer before as I shut the locker. I had the Kindle and notepad in my back pockets, and Jennifer carried the folder of papers. We met behind Molly and marched up the hallway like a strict platoon of soldiers.

“
Got it, Alberto! Thank you, sir!” Molly bobbed up and down as she walked, offering the janitor her gratitude. We each gave a courteous smile in passing.

“
Now we even.” Alberto nodded to me and I sighed. Damn, I could have really used another favor. But we got more than I thought we would, and this information would definitely keep the three of us busy a day or two.

Sleepover

I
turned the volume up on my stereo. My favorite song played, and I didn’t want to have to listen to Mom and Samuel arguing again. Italian families could be rough that way. We each had our own strong-willed opinions. I’m sure the disagreement went something like this:

Mom: “I don’t want you working so hard. It’s dangerous.”

Samuel: “It's my job, Mom.”

Mom: “Don’t you remember what happened to your father?”

Samuel: “How could I not remember?”

Mom: “Well, you sure don’t act like it. His heart went...just like that!” Smack of hands. “Do you want to leave me too?”

Then tears. Always tears.

Samuel: “I’m sorry, Mom.”

Hugs.

Samuel: “But I can’t just quit the force.”

This is how the emotionally-heated conversations usually occurred. But this time I didn’t need any more details. Not yet anyway. I would pick Samuel’s brain later. Right now, I wanted to go over everything we had found with Molly and Jennifer.

“
Hey Jen, hand me that book
The Dark and the Light.
” I sat crossed-legged on my twin-sized bed while Jennifer plodded over to me with book in hand. Papers from Tommy’s folder covered the carpet from my bed to the dresser. The notepad sat on top of the book
Angelology
as Tommy’s Kindle rested next to my NOOK on the nightstand. We wanted to cover all bases.

“
The book is boring.” With a flick of her shoulder, Jennifer added, “I don’t think we’ll find anything in there. Why would a football player care about this stuff anyway?”

“
I don’t know, but this page looks interesting.” My eyes widened and called for Molly’s and Jennifer’s undivided attention. Molly peeked over my left shoulder as she slid on top of the sheets with me. Jennifer watched as she leaned on the right arm of the bed.

“
What?” Jennifer asked.

“
Here.” I pointed to the luminescent image of an angel basking under the reflective moonlight by a lake.

“
So?” Jennifer shrugged.

“
So, look closer.” I emphasized the shape, tracing it with my pinky. “Don’t you remember?” Stretching for the notepad on top of
Angelology
at the foot of my bed, I opened the notepad to a corresponding page.

“
The same picture from Tommy’s notepad.” Molly cleared up the confusion on Jennifer’s face.

“
So? He probably liked that picture or something. He was obsessed with that particular angel form, big deal.”

Deep jaded black wings decorated the angel-boy. A youthful glow assured that he was no older than eighteen. Coal black hair fell over his ethereal oval face in sharp edges, framing stone-black pupils. He appeared so serene, so regal. And something about him was so...familiar.

“
Maybe he was gay....and into the angel look?” Molly raised her brows while Jennifer winced and defended him.

“
No, he wasn’t. He flirted with girls all the time.”

“
Flirted, but did he date any?” Molly’s cheeks tightened so that they each had a hollow carved into their centers.

“
No way.” Jennifer squinted and rubbed her nose. She almost sniffled again.

“
Guys, would you stop!” I waved my hands in front of each of their faces before this escalated into something unrecoverable. “He wasn’t gay!”

“
How do you know?” Molly implored. “I mean we never really know anyone, do we?”

“
I know because...because I caught him making out under the bleachers with Noe Young.”

“
Noe! The quarterback’s girlfriend?” Jennifer could not have been louder.

“
Yes, that Noe.”

“
Did he see you?” Molly drew close to me, so close I could feel her breath on my neck.

Staring at the sky blue bed sheets I answered, “Yeah.”

“
What did you do?” Jennifer threw her red locks behind her ears as her leg squeezed in next to me.

“
I hightailed my ass out of there...but not before Tommy stopped me at the gym door and insisted I tell no one. So I never did.”