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me?
    Marina caught up with me as I headed to class. “What was that about?”
    “Your cousin…I think he liked me.”
    “Yeah, dick move at the dance.”
    “Thanks.”
    “No, just saying.”
    Over the next days, whenever my happiness was too obvious, Marina would glare at me and remind me of my promise to come to church. I could only imagine the fit she’d throw if she discovered the source of my bottled-up euphoria.
    During the weeks following the dance, Gabriel would randomly appear during my school days.
    In Computer Apps, I was half listening to the lecture when he materialized Indian-style on top of the teacher’s desk. Like an illusion, he leaned toward me with his back too straight for anybody but a Kirov dancer. I let my hair slide in front of my face to disguise my elation.
    “Genie,” I mouthed, and he shook his head, feigning outrage.
    He pointed at me. “You.”
    My strangled laughter alerted Marina, who slapped me on the arm. “What’s going on?” she hissed.
    From the teacher’s desk, Gabriel shimmered and sent me a playful smile that provoked my most exultant grin. “Nothing. Just this stupid Excel formula I’m fighting with.”
    Marina held my stare longer than I liked. “Bull.”
    “You’ll be a strict mother one day,” I said, and she rolled her eyes. “Hey, the eye roll’s my move.”
    “Whatever, Gaia. I’m on to you.”
    Besides Gabriel’s irrational beauty, his most prominent external trait was the way he shone. His dimming skills seemed to only go so far, but he was doing his best to spare my senses.
    My crush grew tenfold with the angel side of Gabriel tempered down and the out-of-this-world male thing ratcheted up to a devastating, off-the-chart level.
    I was dying for him but tried not to be too transparent. Occasionally, Gabriel’s stare sparkled with promises too wicked for an angel, and the thin veil over my obsession unraveled.
    One day during homeroom, I ran to the bathroom with a nosebleed. The girls’ room was empty, and Gabriel appeared, legs crisscrossed, on the bathroom counter.
    “Hey, you’re in the wrong bathroom, sir,” I said and watched him smile.
    “ You’re here, aren’t you? It seems like the right one to me.” He winked.
    “Angels wink now?” My heart pounded in my chest.
    “We can do all kinds…” The way he tapered off left me out of breath.
    “Gabriel,” I said, already regretting the next words.
    “Gaia?” He supported his chin in a palm and trailed my nervous moves from under his lashes. The paper towel covered half of my face by now. It was blotted with red.
    “Why do I feel the way I do about you?”
    His pupils dilated. “How do you feel about me?” Shaking his head, he closed his eyes. “No, don’t tell me.”
    “I’m crazy about you!” I walked up and leaned against the counter in front of him. His sapphire stare rested on my hands then drifted slowly up my body to my face. He sat perfectly still, waiting.
    “Never mind. I don’t need an explanation. Why the hell wouldn’t I be crazy about you? You’re a freaking angel! Insanely gorgeous, nice, kind,…unbelievably wonderful—gah! You protect me and you’re with me all the time. You’re perfect in every way.”
    “I’m not so perfect anymore.”
    I raised my hands and supported them against the mirror on both sides of his neck. Gabriel sat immobile, eyes glittering. I leaned closer, swallowing the lump in my throat.
    “Not so perfect,” he whispered. His scent enveloped me. Our breaths mingled warm in the tiny space between our lips.
    “I don’t want to be good, Gabriel.”
    With his gaze penetrating mine, he vaporized as the restroom door opened behind me. I held my breath and strained to retain the vision of him while he vanished particle by particle. I squeezed my eyes shut after he was gone and forced myself to relax.
    “Are you okay?” A freshman stared at me from the door. The bloody paper towel lay in a wet heap in the sink, and I was still leaning