Meant to Be (The Saving Angels 1)

“Hi! Mrs. Miller,” she called as I stepped out of the car adjusting my skirt.

“She’s a sweet girl, you should ask her if she wants to come over for dinner tonight,” she said as she waved at Sam.

“Okay. I’m sure she would like that; her parents are working on a big court case, and they’ve been stuck at the office late every night. I know Sam gets lonely by herself at night.” Lying blatantly for the first time, I knew for a fact that Shawn spent all of his free time with Sam and I’m sure she was far from lonely.

“Why don’t you see if she wants to stay over? Don’t you have plans to get together tomorrow, anyways?” she asked.

“Yeah, we’re going to the Boardwalk. Sam’s a ride nut, and she wants to try the roller coaster.”

Shawn and Mark were going with us too, but that obviously fell under the need to know category. Now that the newness of finding each other was beginning to fade, we were all anxious to figure out what tied us together. At first, I had felt apprehensive about going to such a public place, afraid we would run into students from school, but Mark and Sam both laughed at my concern.

“They wouldn’t be caught dead at the Boardwalk. If it doesn’t have the word country club or Gucci in it, they’re not interested,” Sam had said. “Most of them have houses on the beach and spend their weekends partying and drinking.”

“I’ll ask her. Thanks mom,” I said, closing the door behind me.

Sam and I headed up the wide staircase leading into the school. After the incident on Tuesday, we were now in the habit of waiting for the bell to ring on the bench outside of the school library. We had dubbed it ‘our spot,’ and ate lunch there every day.

As we climbed the many stairs, I noticed Mark coming toward us. Even though I had talked to him just a few hours ago, I couldn’t stop the excitement that raced through me at the sight of him. I drank in the sight of him and felt goose bumps pop up on my arms.

He nodded briefly to us as we passed as if we were just merely students. I wasn’t hurt. We had kept our distance at school and the gossip about us had eased up. By Thursday, most students were busy gossiping about some poor sophomore who was gaining weight. Rumor had it, she was pregnant. I felt sorry for this unknown girl, but was relieved that the spotlight was off of us.

Though we pretended to be indifferent, we were both hyperaware of each other every second of the day. Every time I caught a glimpse of him throughout the day, my palms would sweat and my head would spin. Each time our eyes met it was like the first time. With each passing day we became more sensitive to each other’s presence.

We continued to meet at the park every day after school and I felt like he knew me better than I did myself. There were no secrets between us. Each moment we were together was spent catching up on all the years we were unable to talk in the dreams. Sam and Shawn were always with us and made good chaperones. Not that they had anything to chaperone. Mark had yet to kiss me, and by Friday I was beginning to think he never would. Sure, he would touch my face or hold my hand, and each of these caresses always gave me the same warm feeling of familiarity that made my heart race, but I would give anything to feel his warm full lips on mine. I wanted to ask Sam for her opinion, but was too embarrassed to admit that maybe Mark didn’t want to kiss me.

Though we had all discussed it exhaustively, we were still no closer to figuring out the bond between the four of us. Sam and I had been surfing the web endlessly, searching for some link that would tie the four of us together. We found a few short articles related to my rescue when I was a toddler, but we were unable to gain any new information from the archives. Without the internet or amber alerts, the authorities had no luck locating my parents, and after a few months they had given up. Shawn and Sam had both wound up with the state, but Shawn, like me, had being adopted. Out of the four of us, Sam by far had it the worst. Not that you would have been able to tell, she was definitely the most upbeat one in our group. I think she was just glad to finally have people she cared about that felt the same way about her.

“So, my mom wants to know if you want to stay over tonight?” I asked Sam as we waited for the first bell to ring.

“Definitely, it will be my first sleepover.”

“Mine too!” I quipped.

We both burst out laughing. We were nothing but a bunch of misfits. My mom was right; we acted like we were long lost sisters, which was one idea the four of us had discussed.

“No way,” I had protested loudly. “I would know if I was related to you.” I said looking at Mark.

“Not us,” Mark stated. “I mean you and Sam. Maybe you’re sisters or something like that.”

“I thought about it,” Sam said. “But our coloring and build are way off.”

“Sam’s right. I don’t think we’re related,” I added. “The connection has to be something else.”

“Is Mark meeting us at the park today?” Sam asked, breaking into my thoughts.

“No, not today,” I answered with disappointment clouding my voice. “He has a staff meeting this afternoon. He said he would try to come over afterwards for awhile. My mom’s going to an art show so it will be safe.”

“Your mom’s really taken to the art thing.”

“Well, she hasn’t started any projects yet, but she’s definitely into learning about it,” I replied with a laugh in my voice.

The bell rang.

Still laughing, we gathered up our books and walked down the busy hallway toward homeroom. We were both on a giggly high from the anticipation of our first sleepover. It felt good to be like a normal girl for once.

The morning classes passed quickly. We spent the time passing notes back and forth to each other. Getting good grades in school came naturally for both of us and neither of us had to pay much attention in class. We only bothered tuning into the lessons when we knew the teacher was watching us.

After lunch, we both headed off to history class. Though Sam was a good distraction, I was still keenly aware of every minute that passed until I would be with Mark again. My heart acted as an internal clock and every beat seemed to count the minutes for me.