Winging It by Annie Dalton Read Free Book Online

Lola!
    “Lollie, you never told me there were two kinds of angels!” I grumbled.
    “There are about a gazillion kinds actually,” said Reuben. “But yeah, basically they divide into human-angels and pure angel-angels.”
    And in that moment I absolutely knew that Orlando was an angel-angel. Plus I had suspicions about Flora and Ferdy.
    “That explains your eyes!” I said without thinking.
    Reuben looked offended. “Are you saying I’ve got weird eyes?”
    “Not weird ,” I said hastily. “They’re kind of…”
    “Pure,” suggested Lola wickedly.
    Reuben scowled. “Isn’t that just another way of saying weird?”
    “My sunrise angels weren’t weird,” I said. “Stars aren’t weird. Nor is a snowflake, or - a tiny new born baby.”
    “Exactly,” said Lola. “They’re pure!” She grinned at Reuben. “Like you, my little Sweetpea!”
    “So how does it work, being an angel-angel?” I asked Reuben with interest. “I mean, did you start out as a tiny cherub and grow up? Or is it that you just look like a typical thirteen year old, but you’re actually totally ancient inside?”
    “Poor Melanie, that old T-word has you all confused,” Reuben teased.
    “Don’t tell me, I know,” I sighed. “Time doesn’t really exist in Heaven, wah wah wah.”
    “Oh, it exists! It just behaves totally differently.” Reuben gave me a sheepish grin. “I’ve never quite got my head around the Earth kind, to be honest. But isn’t it something like - there’s never ever enough of it to do the things you want to do? And once you make a mistake, that’s it. You’re stuck with it for ever?”
    Lola nodded.
    “I suppose,” I agreed.
    “Well, Cosmic Time is different. It isn’t this irresistible force you’re constantly wrestling with. It’s more like this - this never-ending playground, where you can have all the Time you need. You can grow up fast or slow, backtrack a bit, make a few corrections. Whatever!”
    “Actually, Cosmic Time is quite cool,” Lola admitted.
    I clutched my head. “Sorry, this is all way too weird for me.”
    “Now you know how I feel about Earth Skills,” said Reuben gloomily.
    Out of the blue I had a brilliant idea. “Reubs!” I squeaked. “You helped me with martial arts. Why don’t I help you with your Earth Skills? You’ll help too, won’t you, Lollie?”
    I truly thought Reuben was going to burst into tears. “I can’t believe you mean it!” he kept saying. “I’ve been feeling like such a loser!”
    But by the end of Reuben’s first lesson, Lola and I were practically tearing our hair out. It wasn’t that Reuben was dim. Actually I think he was some kind of angel genius. He just could not get the hang of the most elementary Earth concepts. Things like bank accounts or bombing foreign countries to make them toe the line totally mystified him. “But what is war for ?” he kept wailing.
    “It’s not for anything, Sweetpea,” Lola sighed. “It just is .”
    “Let’s leave war out of it for now,” I suggested. “I just got some music from home. Let’s have a little bop instead.”
    Reuben had never heard Earth music before. “They really play this stuff on Earth?” he said amazed.
    “In my time, yeah,” I said. “In Mum’s time—”
    “Don’t get back on to Time,” Reuben shuddered. “I’m still recovering from war.”
    What with one thing and another, the days were whizzing by. Mostly I was really happy. Other days I’d find myself missing things from my old life. Bizarre, silly things, like hitting the late-night garage for emergency M&Ms!
    But no matter how good or bad things were, I could NOT figure out what I was meant to be doing on Private Study afternoons.
    To begin with, I used it to catch up on those girly chores. Hair, nails, that kind of thing. But I noticed that the others came back, kind of glowing .
    The whole thing started to drive me nuts. I felt like the only person in the school who wasn’t in on some big secret. Clearly