The Analog Kid: Alex and Fionna Meet For The First Time

Recently, my school held a flash fiction contest, with the winning entries being guaranteed certain cash prizes and publication in the school's literary journal. Naturally, I submitted an entry - a short story created from the Red Rain 'verse, never before seen. Naturally, I didn't win any of the top prizes or honorable mentions. (My friend and I agreed that it was because I did my own style and didn't go for the sort of stereotypical MFA-type crap people usually associate with literary journals.)

Now, however, you may read and enjoy this little short story, "The Analog Kid," for yourselves, and discover the new first meeting between Alex Cassar (renamed from Alex Snow - this is what he's named in the final, publication-ready version too!) and Fionna. No longer are they strangers until they meet at the pool - instead, they've known each other since freshman year, allowing them to go into their date in Chapter 3 with built-in attraction and tension already.

Enjoy, my friends!

My brother and I have been pretty lucky in our freshman year. He and I are no longer going to school in our old hometown, where our mixed blood made us perpetual outcasts. Now, Gabe’s enrolled at Castledown Academy in Hell, and he’s finally gotten the chance to mix, mingle, and befriend other demons like himself. As for me, I’m going to a new school as well - Balthazar Academy in Heaven. And I’ve been afforded the chance to make new friends among my fellow angels. So far, I’ve got one. But he’s a damn good one, probably the first other angel to really understand me the same way Gabe does.

Not everything can be sunshine and roses, though.

Like today. It’s our birthday weekend (although the actual day is next Tuesday), and so Gabe suggested I come across town and meet him at his school. Six months have passed since we started school, and I still haven’t seen Castledown yet, so I thought, why not?

Of course, I didn’t anticipate waking up this morning feeling feverish and flu-like.

But I don’t have the flu. What I have is much less serious, but just as annoying and uncomfortable and unavoidable. I’m molting. I keep telling myself it’s just another hurdle in angelic puberty, and I’m not the only one going through this - most other guys in my class are molting too. Sure, I’ll lose all my feathers, and my wings will be as bald and bat-like as Gabe’s, but by June I’ll grow in bigger ones as my wings finally reach full size.

Still...I’d rather just get it over with, honestly. It’s got me not only feverish, but also jumpy, for some reason. Riding the cable car up to Castledown actually gave me something most angels don’t experience - a bout of acrophobia.

But when I get off the cable car and Gabe’s waiting for me, I feel better. Mostly because he greets me with his usual bear hug and says, “Happy early birthday, you cheeky bastard.”

“Back at you, dude.”

He leads me into the building. I’m a bit surprised, but not that much, to see that the layout of Castledown is very, very similar to that of Balthazar. Makes sense - everything in this town is a mirror image of its counterpart in either Heaven or Hell. The only real difference is the colors - whereas Balthazar’s main color is green, Castledown’s is bright blue. “Not very Hellish, is it?” I laugh, pointing at the flags lining the corridor. “It looks like the Earthen sky.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Hi, Gabe!” We both turn to see a girl, about the same height as both of us, waving jauntily. “Oh, who’s this? Is this that angel twin of yours I’ve heard so much about?”

I eyeball Gabe warily. “What have you told her?”

“Only the worst horror stories about you,” Gabe snickers. “Fionna Lee, Alex Cassar.”

“Nice to meet you, Fionna,” I say, holding out my hand to shake.

She looks from me to Gabe, her brown eyes glittering, and bursts out laughing. “You’re such an angel,” she says. “Didn’t he tell you we hug around here?”

I glare at Gabe and aim a fake punch at his shoulder. “Guess not. And he calls me the cheeky bastard.”

“Can’t imagine why,” Fionna laughs. “And hey, he wasn’t kidding. You two really look different. I mean, he’s white and you’re brown...or do you prefer ‘olive?’”

I brush the longest parts of my hair - brown, not blond like Gabe’s - behind my ear. “He told you that too? Did he also say how I like it when girls know nothing about me?”

“Why, ‘cause you’re so mysterious?”

I shrug. “Maybe.”

“Well, O Mysterious One, why don’t you give me a hug like a civilized guy, huh?”

I grin at her and oblige her request. I’m so horrible with talking to girls back in Heaven, but Fionna, maybe because she’s a demon, is a lot easier to talk to. Even if she’s strikingly pretty.

Nothing can go wrong...except for her hug making me lose about half a dozen feathers out the back of my shirt. When she sees this, she lets go of me and really falls over laughing.

“Oh God, I’m sorry!” I blush bright red and bend down to gather up the dark brown primaries scattered around my sneakers.

“Don’t be,” she says when she’s recovered enough breath to talk. “Not the first time a boy’s lost his nerve around me.” She backs away, waving goodbye to me and Gabe. “Happy fifteenth...Feathers!” she laughs before turning on her heel and leaving.

Only when she’s out of sight does Gabe give up restraining his own laughter. I, however, bury my head in my hands and whisper, “Dude...kill me now.”

“No way,” Gabe says. “You haven’t seen my room yet! Come on!” He lays one arm over my shoulders and steers me away. I’m afraid if I look back, I’ll see more of my feathers forming a trail behind us with every step.

Cold Fire: Rachel And Alex's First Date

***SPOILER ALERT***

In another burst of creativity, I've finally thought of the best possible first date for Rachel and Alex, which is now an extension of Red Rain's new Chapter 24, "Beautiful Child," which I posted earlier this month. The chief inspiration, believe it or not, comes not from Teen Wolf, despite this new scene featuring yet another well-placed reference to that show. Instead, it comes from this funny Twitter feed, aptly called Brooding YA Hero. More specifically, it comes from this here tweet of his:

Sometimes I wanna be the one who wraps my arms around the waist of the girl driving he motorcycle. But, sigh, that will never happen.

— Brooding YA Hero (@broodingYAhero) October 16, 2015

Aww, poor guy. Well, Alex is gonna have the chance to do what you can't, and he'll be able to speak from experience when he tells you exactly what you're missing. But first, a little mood music - in this case, an underrated gem from the year of my birth: Rush, "Cold Fire."





One last thing: Alex is aware that Rachel has a motorcycle by the time this scene takes place, so that's why, when she breaks out the helmets, it's no surprise to him. In three...two...one...enjoy a scene that, were I to re-enact it for reals, my parents would have a heart attack. :)


The first day back at Balthazar in January, when I see Rachel in a denim jacket I’ve never seen before (it might be a Christmas gift), I kiss her on the cheek, and she jumps into my arms to hug me back. She even leaves a yellow Post-It inside my hood, with her email and number written on it. “Should’ve given that to you before break,” she says.

“Love you too,” I say, holding her hand as we sit in the lounge’s biggest armchair.

But she’s not in a mood to sit. Almost immediately, she stands up again and opens the bigger of her two wheeled suitcases, extracting her two motorcycle helmets. “Wanna take Jace for a ride?” she asks, tossing one helmet into my lap.

“You named your bike after Jace Wayland?”

“Yep. You wanna come with or not? I haven’t gone out with him since before break - I have to leave him in a shed up here, ‘cause the movers don’t like to come up here in the winter.”

I look at my reflection in the helmet’s tinted Plexiglas visor. “You’re driving, right?”

“Mm-hmm.” Rachel takes my hand and lifts me out of the seat - holy shit, she’s strong. Either that, or I’m just in no mood to resist her. And her charms. “But hey, think of this as a learning opportunity for when you have your own motorbike too.”

I grin at her and tuck the helmet under my arm. “Scott McCall’s an amazing role model. Lead the way, Rach.”

“Yay!” Rachel chirps, tugging on my arm as she leads me downstairs and out of the building to a storage shed on the edge of the grounds. There are no less than five motorbikes inside, but there’s no mistaking Jace - he’s the leanest and meanest of the bunch. Low-slung. And when Rachel turns his engine on, the roar gives me chills.

“Helmet on and hold on,” Rachel says, wheeling him out onto the gravel path leading towards the service road.

I follow her orders to the letter, my arms wrapped tightly around her waist as she steers Jace around hairpin turns going up the mountain. A few times, I actually cry out in fear as she comes dangerously close to sending us careening over the edge of a cliff, but Rachel’s too good with her bike for that. By the time we come to a stop at the top of a hill overlooking the town below, I’m buzzing with adrenaline and grinning maniacally, and I can’t let go of her even though we’re safely stopped.

Hell, I don’t want to let go of her. I totally see the appeal of these babies now - handle them right, and you can have an experience a hundred times more exhilarating than any flight.

We take off our helmets, and I kiss her again, adding to the electric-charge feeling coursing through me. “Best. First. Date. Ever,” I whisper, our foreheads and noses touching.

“I try,” Rachel says, sounding so modest. So like she’s not in the driver’s seat, even though she is. In every which way but loose.

Beautiful Child: A Newly Edited Sample Of Red Rain

***SPOILER ALERT***

Inspired by Ashlyn from Wattpad and a little something she said during tonight's #tcbwatt webcast, this post will be largely devoted to sharing the majority of a short new chapter from Red Rain which remains unreleased, as it does not go into the edit currently available on Wattpad or Write On. This is a new Chapter 24 (the previous Chapter 24, "Oh Love," will now be numbered 25, but its title will remain intact), entitled "Beautiful Child" after a lovely song by NCIS star Pauley Perrette. I chose that song because, thematically, it's very appropriate, as it includes one of my characters coming out of the closet - in more ways than one, too. And there's another character who never lived long enough to have a physical presence in my story, and had she heard this song, it would have made a difference. I'd like to think it's a sweet little story I've got going on here, with its message of love and hope for all involved, and I would hope the Pinecone Army agrees with me.

A few little notes - first off, this is set late in Red Rain, after Fionna's death (hence the huge SPOILER ALERT on top of this post). Also, Rachel and Dani have changed hair colors, so Rachel's now redheaded and Dani's blonde. Finally, yes, I've done away with the whole "are they a couple or not?" thing that Alex and Rachel have going on in the currently online version of Blue Monday. Now, Rachex is to be an Official Couple throughout Blue Monday and beyond, and this scene includes the moment when they make their first romantic connection.

With that, here's the music, and away we go:

As time goes by, I find myself feeling a little bit less dispirited from day to day. There are exceptions, though. Lots of exceptions. From November to December, I infrequently lapse into periods of depression brought on by memories of Fionna. I don’t even have that many of them, but those that I do have, especially the happy ones, force me to think of what could have been.

Like the possibility that, on holidays, I could have taken Fionna home with me to meet my mom. Or vice versa. Thanksgiving and Christmas, I dread them now, because I know these thoughts will be occupying my head the whole time.

If I’m in my room when my “fits of the sullens,” as Mrs. Weasley might put it, strike, Luca’s usually there to bring me back to normal. He often succeeds - like when he shows me hilarious GIFs of the various Doctors giving great quote, or Baymax from Big Hero 6 (which I never got to see at the movies, in the end) being an inflatable white puppy chasing a soccer ball.

Sometimes, though, he’s not in our room. Or I’m not. There’s a time right after we get back from Thanksgiving break where I spend hours folded into a window seat in the lounge, staring into space with wet eyes. Luca tries to get me to come back to the dorm with him, but I refuse, not wanting to move. Rachel also comes up to me and holds my hand just long enough to say, “If you ever wanna talk to me, my door’s always open.”

I file and save that in the back of my brain for a while. Then, the next time I end up in that window seat, on the last full day of school before winter break, I tear my gaze away from the snowy skies and walk into the girls’ dorm hall. Checking the name tags, I soon find the room Rachel shares with Dani.

“Hey, Alex,” she says when she opens the door after I knock on it. “Feeling all right? Of course not; that’s a stupid question. Come in, come in.”

Entering her room, I’m directed to sit next to her on her bed. She has a few posters on her side of the wall, unlike Dani’s, which is bare and undecorated. The most prominent one is of 5 Seconds of Summer, Hell’s biggest boy band.

Above that poster is a small flag with three stripes. Pink on top, blue on the bottom, and a narrow purple band in the middle.

Following my gaze, Rachel covers her mouth as she starts laughing and blushing. “You recognize that, huh?” she asks.

“The bi flag,” I say.

She looks down, still with a flaming red face to match her hair. “This, uh, this isn’t how I imagined coming out. I usually take that down if anyone else comes in.”

“That’s okay,” I say, laying my arm over her shoulder. “You’re telling the right guy.”

“No duh.” She looks up at me for a moment. “The only people who know are you, Dani, and my family. By which I mean my parents and brother.”

“You have a brother?”

“Mm-hmm.” She pulls out her phone and shows me a picture of herself arm-in-arm with a tall, broad-shouldered Ian Somerhalder look-alike. “This is Carl,” she says. “He’s a junior at USC. And no matter how many girlfriends he ever has in his life, he always says he’ll never love them more than he loves me.”

“Sounds sweet.”

“You should know. You’re the only other guy I’ve met with a heart to rival his. And that’s not the only thing you’ve got in common with him.” The next picture she shows me depicts Carl from behind, shirtless and showing off his wings on the beach.

Featherless wings. Like Gabe’s.

“That’s right,” Rachel says as my jaw drops. “You aren’t the only hybrid in Heaven. Our dad’s a demon, and our mom’s an angel.”

“Your dad’s probably hella more chill than mine.”

“Oh yeah.” She puts her phone away. “He was so proud of me when I came out to him and Mom.” She wipes a tear from her eye. “It was a really sad time for me at that point. Kind of like what you’re going through right now, actually.”

“How so?”

Rachel takes my hand - hers, I feel it shaking. “You know why Dani got me as a roommate, of all the girls at Balthazar?” Her lip trembles. “‘Cause I was the only girl in our class without one. And the girl I used to room with - she was Mia Kang.”

“No!” I cry. “Not her!”

“You remember how she killed herself last summer?” she asks. “Most people don’t realize it was ‘cause her parents found out she was a lesbian.”

“Oh my God.” I don’t know what else to say.

“Yeah,” Rachel says. “We were...we were in love. And she was my first love too.” Wiping her eyes, she adds, “First girl love, anyway. Mia was there for me after Steve and I broke up - and then she wasn’t. I still miss her, even now, and it’s been six months.”

Now I understand what she meant when she said her door was open. Her story has really tugged my heartstrings. Not with sadness, but longing. Hope. The desire to offer her a level of love and solace she hasn’t known for months, and have those feelings reciprocated.

It’s a stupid idea, but I think I owe it to the both of us to go for it. I lace my fingers with Rachel’s and feel her squeeze my hand in return. Then I turn my body so I can face her more properly as I kiss her salty, tear-stained lips.

I expect her to pull back in surprise, maybe even disgust. But she responds by pulling my head even closer to hers, deepening the kiss.

Compared to the one spicy kiss I had with Dani, and Fionna’s awkward-but-sweet ones, Rachel blows them completely out of the water. I’ve never felt this way before, hammered with this kind of wild, intense mix of emotions. My heart aches for her similarly broken one. At the same time, it merrily skips a few beats, overjoyed at the opportunity to kickstart its reconstruction.

Her hair’s tangled around my finger when our lip-lock is broken. We gaze into each other’s eyes for a few moments, then she says, “Thanks. I...I needed that.”

“So did I.”

This would be the perfect time to ask if she’d like to meet up again sometime. Like, on a date. But I think we’re both so overwhelmed by our kiss that we completely forget to voice that question. Stupid me, I even leave her room without getting her email or her number or anything.

So I spend all of winter break dying to see Rachel again, hoping against hope that this kiss wasn’t just a one-time thing. She’s right - I do have a big heart. Too big by half. I’m going with a Pink quote for this one: “Why do we fall in love so easily, even when it’s not right?”

Turns out, though, it’s the opposite of not right. The first day back at Balthazar in January, when I see Rachel, I kiss her on the cheek, and she jumps into my arms to hug me back. She even leaves a yellow Post-It inside my hood, with her email and number written on it. “Should’ve given that to you before break,” she says.

“Love you too,” I say, holding her hand as we sit in the lounge’s biggest armchair.