The next few classes were hell, but were slightly bearable because he had Rebecca as a source of friendship. They coincidentally had all the same classes together. Her jokes kept him snapping or falling asleep accidentally in class but it happened from time to time. The last bell finally rang, signalling the start of the approaching weekend. In his seat in English as everyone else excitedly ran out he leaned back and stretched his arms over his head. After a few minutes of sitting in silence doing nothing he put his things in his bag and left the room. When James got outside to where the bus stop was he sat down and waited.
James was an orphan, he had been told that his parents had left him on the sidewalk close to the orphanage somewhere and someone had taken him and brought him to the Crystal homestead for orphans in need. His parents hadn't even given him a name. The orphanage had to do that and they got his last name from the stamp of a paw in green ink on the basket in which he was in. At first when the orphanage told him the story he'd been more angry at his parents but now he had accepted it as history and had moved on. Feeling a push on his left shoulder, which snapped him out of his reverie. He saw the person pushing him was Rebecca.
"James!" She snapped insistently. She waved her hand in front of his face. "What are you still doing here? The bus home left five minutes ago." She said irritated, yet looking slightly amused. "What would you do if I wasn't around to push you around?" She said snickering.
"I have no idea" he admitted, a light smile touching his face. "Sorry" he said "I guess I got sucked in my head" he said cheerfully.
'Am I losing time, weird?' He thought, worried.
With that she smiled lightly down at him, her green eyes glinting with bright yellow mixed in making it look like they were glowing in the dying light of the day. With the height difference, she being 6'4" and James being 5'3" he had to crane his neck up which hurt a little bit sometimes. They smiled a bit more and then she snapped out of it and said. "Well hurry up, you're in luck because I got a cab and I can get you home. If you want?" She asked a question in her eyes, concerned. He saw this which made him wonder if she could read his mind.
"Sure" James replied. Rebecca's smile returned a little brighter but the concern for him remained plastered in her eyes. "Why not, it would take me half a day at least by foot." He joked nudging her lightly.
Waving for him to come with her, she said "follow me, it's not much farther from here. It's just around the corner." She took his hand and began to lead him there. Soon after she grabbed him he suddenly felt very tired. He stumbled on the sidewalk as they began to cross the street.
"Whoa" his other hand rubbing the sleep in his eyes, fighting furiously to keep consciousness. "Didn't expect to get so tired so fast" he said. Rebecca smiled sympathetically.
"Don't worry, I'll lead you there" she said reassuringly "I'll make sure that you don't encounter any gruesome end." Wincing at her own half joke.
"You ok?" He asked looking up. "You look like you're expecting someone to die or something."
All traces of concern left and a mask of humour went up. It was almost like she never looked sad. "Yeah" she said "just in thought. Homework" she explained. He didn't really buy it but he didn't want to start any fights tonight. As they got to the cab she opened the door for him and helped him climb in so he didn't hit his head on the car door and then got in herself besides him.
She leaned forward to speak to the driver and said "take us to the Crystal homestead first please." The driver nodded to her and turned the ignition. The drive took a bit of time as it was halfway across town, during that James must've nodded off a few times only to wake up to the bump of the road. When they got there, Rebecca told the driver to wait for her. She helped him get out, smiling gratefully he took her hand and with his dwindling sleepy strength he pushed to his feet and got out. When he first stood up in the sidewalk he stumbled and Rebecca caught him.
"Okay you're not going to make it by yourself to your room clearly". She said smirking. Grabbing him by the waist she hoisted him over shoulder like he weighed nothing. James was too tired to realize he was being carried. She opened the door to the building and passed the reception and went up the stairs to the second floor and walked to the end of the hall where a door was marked in bold with J. Greenpaw. She pushed open the door and gently dumped him on the bed. He sleepily adjusted his position so he was laying on his back he said "goodnight, thank you for the ride." He could've sworn that in his sleepy gaze the outline of Rebeccas body looked to be glowing gold. But he dismissed it almost immediately. He fell asleep quickly. She smiled at him for a moment admiring him sleeping then turned serious and marched down to the car and opened and shut the door once inside.
In a serious tone she said "we need to talk, Crelon".
The driver turned around to face her and as soon as he did the car became unbearably hot. Filling with the heat of a regular sun. The interior turned a golden colour that any human would've found to be blinding. The driver also transformed into the shape of 20-something athletic male in a pinstriped suit. "What's to talk about, angel?" He asked. "Other than the fact that your boy has the grade point average of a disabled goose" he chuckled lightly at his own joke.
She grimaces at the change in temperature, looking directly at him in the eyes. "You know I can't stand it when you go solar, and he can't help it. He's had to concentrate thousands of times harder than most people to even give a crap about anything." She replied "don't joke, you of all people know the Dark Gods and their mistresses are closing on his location, and if they get him we're all dead." She felt like she wanted to strangle the man in front of her but she couldn't because he was her handler and connection to contact the other gods.
"Relax sport" he said, a confident grin on his face "The Source is on the job. Just keep protecting your mark from harm and from Him, and we'll all be good and ride into the sunset, okay?" He told her reassuringly but with an ounce of seriousness which happened rarely. "Just remember to have fun while you're down here." He joked, pointing a half mocking at her. "You angels are so uptight." He opened the door for her as he was talking and she got out. Waving while turning to face the steering wheel, the last thing he said before leaving was "buh, bye Angel!" He said hooting with laughter as the cars outside also turned golden and started flying into the sky, leaving a yellow spot then nothing. He'd probably driven past a few apartments as a stupid prank. The sun god liked to play jokes on mortals by waking them up early and confuse the crap out of them. Sighing in exasperation, she turned toward the orphanage and softly said "goodnight James" then her eyes glowing gold unfolded rainbow wings flew into the night.