The Boy with the Devil Horns

At first I thought school would be normal.

As you can guess, I was wrong.

Well, elementary school was normal enough.

I had normal friends, and normal teachers, and the bullies were all normal. But middle school was different.

When I first got there, a girl with frizzy blonde hair and black wings greeted me.

Wings.

She had pointed to my back and asked, "Where are they?"

"You mean... Wings?"

"Yeah. Only the Guardians are enrolled here, and they all have wings."

I shrugged. "I guess I'm different."

The girl frowned. "Different can be deadly. Anyway, most humans like you are surprised that we have wings."

I shrugged again, but wondered why I was not surprised. Then a burning desire to know what 'Different but deadly' meant popped through me.

"What do you mean, different and deadly?"

The girl narrowed her eyes. "I wasn't being serious. But the teachers aren't going to like this. Follow me."

I obeyed her for reasons still unknown. She lead me down the hall into a room labeled 'Principle Angelica'.

"Ms. Angelica, this human is unrolled in our school," the girl pouted when we got in there.

Ms. Angelica's mouth pursed into a frown. "Sam, she isn't human. How was her reaction when she saw your wings?" Ms. Angelica spread out her own wings, which were feathery and white.

The girl Sam flapped her batty black wings. "She was not surprised, this human."

Ms. Angelica smiled. "Precisely. She was not surprised. And, I must repeat, she IS NOT HUMAN." Sam lightly punched my arm. "She sure LOOKS like human."

"She's not. Taylor is a Late, just like Nelson."

Sam shuddered. "Nelson will never Sprout. All he has is devil horns. No other Guardians have had devil horns before. Some say he is a Devil."

Ms. Angelica rolled her eyes. "Well, they are wrong, and surely you have the sense to see that, Miss Samantha. You certainly are a bright child. Now, go off to class. Taylor, your first class is Flying." She smiled sweetly at me. "And you will learn about Guardians throughout the day. I know it must be confusing for you, but I am quite certain you will make friends."

"Why-" I started.

"No time for questions!" Ms. Angelica said briskly. "Go with Sam. She'll help you."

Well, Sam was not much of a help. She made it obvious after our encounter with Ms. Angelica that she thought I was human and she hated me. I told her, "That's convenient, 'causeI hate you too!" Sam scowled and retorted, "One without wings is one without dreams." I said, "One without a brain is one in great pain. Sounds like you, huh? All credit to me, yes, yes."

Sam scowled even more. I was starting to think that she was one of those people that hated everyone. We had a couple of those at my old school.

When I sat down in my desk for Flying, everyone stared. I blushed and saw the boy with horns look away, sympathy and understanding written in his face.

But I was not sad, I was just utterly confused.

Maybe I was a dream, I figured, a very odd dream.

Sadly, that was not the case.

Our teacher for Flying, a happy young man with brown leathery wings, shook my hand with a broad smile across his face.

"Welcome, welcome!" He exclaimed. "I suspect your parents have told you all about this school, no? They were great friends of mine, your parents were."

"Um. Not really," I stammered. "They just sent me here and--and said, 'Have a good day.' I did not know they knew about... About, uh, this."

The teacher's gaze held mine as he spoke again. I could sense his disappointment, and he coughed into his sleeve. "Well! That is all fine. I am sure they INTENDED to tell you, they were just afraid you would not believe them." He coughed again. "Where are your wings?"

"I think I might be a Late," I muttered. "Ms. Angelica said something about it."

"Oh," said the teacher, as if you had no idea what to do with me. His cheerfulness then came back. "Well, then, you can watch and learn!" He beamed. "I'm sure that Nelson can get you caught up on things. He is the boy with the horns, see? Yes, I am sure you two will instantly become friends. Come along class, let's go practice flying!"

Me and Nelson tagged behind in utter silence. I was the first one who spoke. "Uh, so. How do you like this school?"

Nelson shrugged, and scratched at his left horn.

"I'm a Late," I explained.

Nelson glanced at me. "I know." He paused. "I'm not really a Guardian. I'm a Devil."

"Oh."

"Do you know what that makes me?"

"No."

"Evil. Everyone thinks I'm evil."

"I do not think you are evil."

"Sure."

"Really."

"Why? You barely know me."

"Is there a school for Devils?"

"Yeah."

"Why are you not going there?"

"Because I'n not evil--uh..."

"Proof that you are not evil."

"Okay."

"Can't you just grow wings using a powder or something?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"It's not how it works."

"That's stupid."

"I know."

We sat quietly for a while, watching the Angels, or whatever they were, fly.

"I'm really confused," I said.

Nelson sighed. "I am not the one to explain it to you."

"Why not?"

Nelson's eyes grew wide with annoyance. "Because I am a Devil! Stop asking dumb questions!"

I did not respond, and after a while he calmed down. "I'm sorry," he said. "I just... It's in my nature to be mad all the time."

"So it starts up every now and again?"

"Yeah, I guess."

More silence. The girl with the frizzy hair did a flip in the air, and the smirked at me.

"Who is she?" I asked.

"Sam."

"I knew THAT. But, like, how do people think of her?"

"She's nice."

"Not to me."

"Oh?"

"She teased me."

"Everybody gets teased sometime."

"I know."

"I get teased because everyone thinks I'm a Devil-"

"But Ms. Angelica says different."

"Ms. Angelica is lying!"

I shrunk back. "Sorry."

The boy with the devil horns sighed. "Don't say that ever again to me. You do not deserve to be sorry, when it is my fault."

"Okay," I mumbled, and watched Sam do a backflip.