Living the Dream Read Online Free

bigging myself up; he’d just accept what I said because…
    “Reubs,” I said, throwing caution to the wind.
    A chime of bells came from his mobile.
    He groaned. “Chase said he’d call if we get the green light to head back out on our snow leopard project.” He left the table to take his call. When he came back, he couldn’t stop grinning.
    “I’m guessing it’s good news! That’s fantastic, Reubs,” I added, injecting oodles of enthusiasm into my voice. “Congratulations.” (Well, no one likes a clingy angel girl, do they?)
    “Thanks!” he said shyly. “We’ve got a briefing at the Agency in an hour. We’re leaving as soon as they find us a time slot.” He pulled his chair up next to mine. “You were going to tell me something?”
    A pair of hands came down over my eyes. “I’ll give you a clue,” said a voice. “I’m handsome and I’m dangerous!”
    “That’s two clues,” I pointed out wearily. “Actually, until the ‘handsome’ bit I was going to say Brice.” If there had been a painless ejector button, I’d have fired him through the ceiling into the celestial Light Fields.
    Lola’s boyfriend and reformed cosmic dropout dropped his hands, laughing. “Nice going,” he said to Reubs, grabbing a chair. “Chase says you got the snow leopard gig.” Brice dresses totally in black, which makes the bleached blond spikes in his hair even more of a contrast. Across his T-shirt was a message in teeny letters:
    IF YOU CAN READ THIS YOU’RE STANDING ON MY AURA!
    “We could use another team member,” Reuben told him.
    Brice shook his head. “Michael says I’m grounded till I hand in my overdue paper on Skin Walkers.”
    “What are Skin Walkers?” I asked, totally not caring.
    Brice gave a pretend shudder. “You don’t want to know.” (Which was actually true.)
    “You could bring your laptop and write your Skin Walker paper between watches,” Reuben suggested.
    “Nah! I was glad to help get things off the ground, but I’m not a Child of Nature like you and Chase.”
    He and Reubs started reminiscing about their trip. They’ve grown to be such big buddies, it’s hard to believe that in his bad-boy days Brice once left Reuben for dead. Lola and I only just reached Reubs in time.
    Evolution, our headmaster calls it. The mysterious force that drives life forms to take that impossible leap to the next level: caterpillars morphing into butterflies; shiny little pips turning into apple trees; a damaged angel boy turning into the most loyal buddy you could ever wish for.
    When I think back to that afternoon in Guru, I wonder why I didn’t just volunteer to make up the numbers. OK, I’m not a Child of Nature either, but I do genuinely care about endangered species.
    Was I scared of seeming uncool? Was I worried I’d look as if I was chasing after Reuben? Maybe a bit of both. But let me tell you something. This Universe is balanced on a TOTAL knife edge. We make these sudden random decisions, never ever dreaming what we’re setting in motion. When I chose to stay behind, I was actually choosing a totally new direction for my future as an angel. I just didn’t know it.
    Brice and Reuben were cracking jokes now about some dodgy inn Brice had taken them to in the Himalayas where everything reeked of yak. I got up to leave. Our brief private moment was over, plus I had a hot library date with the witch hunters of Salem.
    “Stay safe, angel boy,” I said shyly to Reuben. “Have fun with the Skin Walkers, if fun is the right word,” I told Brice.
    I went back to the library and found the witches book straight off. No desert breezes, no chanting. It looked as if the angel had given up. I made notes for a couple of hours then I just had to go back to my room and listen to the songs Reubs had written for me. It sounds super-vain, but no one had ever written a song for me before. I practically ran across the campus!
    For some reason my door didn’t want to open. When I finally forced my way