When she got to school, Gwen was nearly hyperventilating.
“OMG. Look!” she commanded as she showed Maddy the Johnny Vuitton blog on her Berry. It read in all caps:
“JACKS FLIES OVER CITY WITH MYSTERY GIRL!!!”
A fuzzy picture taken from a rooftop security camera accompanied the article. It showed an Angel, in flight, holding on to a girl in a hoodie. Maddy’s breath caught in her throat.
Gwen was ecstatic. “I know you don’t, like, really know or care about this stuff, but this is so huge!”
“Really?” Maddy asked, attempting to disguise her shock as mild curiosity. “What’s the big deal?” She squeezed a book into her locker and tried to look as unconcerned as possible.
“Two people, one pair of wings,” Gwen said scandalously.
“Meaning . . . ?”
“Meaning she might not even be an Angel.” Gwen rolled the words around on her tongue as if tasting it.
“Oh, um, interesting . . .” Maddy stammered.
“I know, right? I mean, a human and an Angel? Dating? Sure, there might be rumors every now and then, but never anything actual. This is, like, maybe the biggest moment of my entire life! That means I have a shot!”
“But they don’t know who the girl is?” Maddy asked, fishing as discreetly as possible. Gwen frowned.
“No. And of course, his publicist is denying everything, but can you believe this week? First Jackson Godspeed comes into your uncle’s diner, now he’s flying around with some girl . . .” Maddy could almost see Gwen’s train of thought connecting the dots and moved quickly to derail it.
“I don’t believe it,” Maddy said as casually as possible. “I’ve seen the pictures of him and Vivian Holycross. Like anyone else would even stand a chance.”
“Oh, I know,” Gwen squealed, suddenly distracted by the thought of her idol, “she is so gorgeous.” Maddy let out a breath and managed a smile. Gwen hadn’t caught on. And if Gwen hadn’t caught on, no one else had either.
They neared the commons area and saw the group of guys from earlier in the week: Kyle, Tyler, Simon, and Ethan, along with some other students. The boys were sitting around a table, while others stood around them. Tyler was moving his hands around as he talked, apparently in a heated conversation.
“You’re just, like, jealous,” a blond girl in black leggings and Uggs said to him as Gwen and Maddy approached.
“Jealous?” His eyes bulged with incredulity. “We don’t even know where these things really came from, who they are, what they want from us. Yet the Angels take everybody’s money, and all anybody wants to talk about, read about, is this”—he pointed to his iPhone, which had a shadowy picture of Jackson flying with the “mystery girl”—“while we have real news, real problems that need to be dealt with. They’re just here to help themselves!” Panic shot through Maddy as she saw the picture. Tyler’s voice raised high with anger as he continued speaking.
“Ugh,” Gwen said under her breath to Maddy. “Tyler’s just trying to be cool by being all anti-Angel.”
“Hey, Tyler, relax,” Kyle said, putting his hand on Tyler’s shoulder. Tyler shrugged it off, his face turning red in anger.
“They can’t save everyone, you know that, everybody knows that,” the girl in leggings said. “But they can save some people, and you wouldn’t want them to do that? Just let everyone die? They’re doing their best. And you never know, it could be you who gets saved.”
“How? The lottery?” he scoffed. “Anyway, I’d rather they let me die.” Tyler said this last bit dramatically, and a couple students laughed and clapped slowly. His eyes shot out angrily toward them.
Ethan stood up from the table. “Come on, let’s go. This is getting too heated.”
“No, I’ll go. Freak,” the girl said to Tyler, flipping her hair and walking away with her friends. The crowd of spectators dispersed.
“Dude, that was awesome,” Simon said, eyes lighting up from behind his glasses as he pushed his long hair away from his face. “Way to stick it to them, bro!”
Kyle saw Maddy and Gwen. “Hi, Gwen. Hi, Maddy,” he said, smiling. Kyle was giving Maddy that look again. But he couldn’t be, Gwen was right there!
“Hi,” Maddy said, looking away from him quickly. She caught Ethan’s eye, and she immediately flashed back to their conversation at the diner and how now she was out flying with Angels. Gwen was about to say something to him, but Maddy jerked her arm, pulling her down the hall. “Gotta go,” Maddy blurted.
“Ow!” Gwen said as Maddy pulled her along.
“Sorry, I, uh, just don’t want to be late.”
“That was so weird. It’s like, hello, you live in Angel City?” Gwen said, looking back at Tyler and the commons. “This is where the Angels are, Tyler. Get used to it. He’s just trying to show off.”