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School

Would I even be going to school after winter break? An uneasy feeling crept into h school before last night, but now the thought of giving it up, the idea of

With another sigh, only this one sounding ry than happy, I threw the covers off and sat up in bed With et dressed before breakfast That would h a part ofbut sweats while eating chocolate chip pancakes, I didn’t see rip

I laughed a little, and forcedabsolutely ridiculous about the whole thing Whatever happened would be for the best, I believed that, it was just easy to forget and I didn’t want toin self-pity That wasn’t who I was, or who I was born to be

Besides, I didn’t actually know anything for certain and I wasn’t going to get any answers staring intothem to appear

With a final, deteroing to be with a good attitude, I stood up and walked into my narroalk-in closet I chose the workout outfit I would wear later in the day, no sense in dirtying more clothes than necessary And then shi shorts Adding a zip up jacket over olden hair into a loose bun on the nape of, I leftat myself in the round mirror, I wondered if I looked any different now that the Protectorship was technically mine My skin tone was the same flawless bronze that Seth’s was, a byproduct of our natural inner light; even without actually glowing, we still kind of glowed so to speak The girls at school enviedout the fact that it was a byproduct of fighting dely pale blue, like the color of really frozen ice, not just the cubes, more like polar ice caps My eyes were my least favorite feature; they were too pale… to other-worldly And they were so freaking big! Why did they have to be so big? I was convinced I looked like a tan dead person or the big bad wolf

The better to see you withmore cold water on my face I wondered if other Stars worried about the shade of their eyes or were embarrassed of their skin tone Or maybe, born and raised in the lowest level of Heaven, and then sent to light up the galaxy and protect the universe, they had never even seen their reflection in a mirror

Huh

Vanity was surely not an asset they possessed though, not soht I left the bathroom in search of the traditional Sunday breakfast Annabelle alwayschocolate chip pancakes had to be my second favorite event ever

I bounded down the servant stairs and into the kitchen expecting to greet Annabelle’s happy face and a plate full of stea hot chocolate chip pancakes, like every other Sundayof my life when my parents were out of town The chocolate chip pancakes were there, but Annabelle’s face wasn’t so ry

The whole atmosphere of the kitchen felt ripe with an aard confrontation on the verge of a cataclysmic explosion and I immediately tensed with anxiety I hoped Annabelle wasn’t h I worried now that ht and was very surprised to find a house full of reeted Annabelle as at the stove with her back to the rest of the roo a cup of coffee and reading the Sunday eto your rooht? I don’t know if you had a chance to , but he’s is a friend-"

"Oh, we’ve met," Annabelle cut me off with uncharacteristic shortness She was usually direct and alarly to the point, a personality trait that had taken halfrelationship now, that I couldn’t iruntled snort of disapproval and it dawned on me exactly what the proble, but then see her spatula in the air irritably, she focused her attention back on flipping pancakes

"Stella, how many pancakes would you like?" Annabelle asked, her frustration masked with a forcefully sweet tone

"Um, four No, wait, five," Annabelle loaded up my plate with her perfectly fluffy, deliciously chocolaty pancakes and I couldn’t help ain, "Wait! Six I want six pancakes and nome to eat so many

Annabelle delivered the hefty plate to the table, along with a bottle of warer, luttony This time when Annabelle smiled down at me, her expression was real, shaped with true affection and amusement

"Don’t worry," I explained to no one in particular, in between deliciouslater, so I’ll work this all off"

"Who’s Tristan?" Jupiter asked, already positive he wouldn’t like the answer

"He’smore hot syrup in between the thick layers of pancakes "And Annabelle’s grandson," I added

"A hu his tone