“Angel!” Alex whispered harshly. I blinked a few times and shot him a look indicating I was fine before refocusing on Mrs. Myers lecture. I tried to stay focused on the ins and outs of chemistry coming from Mrs. Myers but my grades for the year were already securely an A and the motivation wasn’t there.

My thoughts drifted back to my previous predicament. Prom was coming soon and I needed a dress that didn’t invite any ‘angel’ jokes. For once I wanted to exist in a room without “wow long blonde hair, blue eyes, what an Angel”. The joke was so old and I really didn’t want to spend all night pretending to laugh. I considered wearing my hair in a bun, dark makeup, colored contacts? But really the dress needed to not be so innocent or flowy that it would invite jokes, without being so revealing that my dad would forbid me from wearing it.

I continued to ponder my options while swirling my hair with one finger wondering if it would be worse or better curled. Alex jabbed a pencil eraser into my side and raised his eyebrow at me before mouthing after class at me. Given that it was the last class of the day there really wasn’t much I could do to escape his questions, so I waited for my interrogation while pretending to pay attention to Mrs. Myers care way too much about chemistry.

The bell finally rang after seemingly an eternity and Mrs. Myers dismissed everyone with a reminder of our final exam at the end of the week. I packed up and found Alex just outside the door waiting for me. “Angel?” he shot at me questioningly, “I know you already studied enough but could you pretend to pay attention?”

“Sorry,” I mumbled back. “I was just trying to figure out my dress”.

“Oh gross you don’t really care about that do you?” he laughed as he held the door to the parking lot for me. I smacked his arm lightly while scanning the parking lot for his car. You’d think a blue mustang would be easy to pick out, but in a high school parking lot it was surprisingly common. “We’re over by the side lot today, remember? Someone made us late this morning,” he teased and gestured way over to the side lot. “Seriously though, what is up with this dress stuff? You’ve never cared about looks that much. You’re wearing sweatpants right now,” he fake whispered as if it were an embarrassing secret and grabbed the pocket of my too-loose sweats, waving it around to prove his point.

I swatted his hand away and texted my brother to meet us at the side lot. “Sorry, sorry, Jake will be out in like 10 minutes, he’s done with practice for the year so he does need a ride home from now” I reached for the passenger side door handle only to have Alex slide in the way with a smirk and lean against the door.

“Come on, talk to me, what's up with you? you’ve been so spacy and it’s unlike you,” he frowned slightly, trying to be serious for my sake.

“Fine,” I sighed loudly, “I already have to go to prom alone, which is lame, and I don’t want to be caught up with Angel jokes all night so i’m trying to figure out a not-lame outfit. I only have two weeks and you know my dad will shoot down any dress that isn’t long and flowy and-”

“Angel-like?” He cut me off with a pitying tone.

“ Yes, happy?” I asked, feeling my cheeks turn red with embarrassment. He was right, it was unlike me to care this much but I couldn’t let it go.

“No, not really,” he made a show of getting down on one knee slowly with a slight grimace of pain. His legs were still sore from the gym and I stifled a laugh at the display. “Angel, will you go to prom with me? As friends obviously, don’t be weird,” he grinned.

“Fine but only if you get up before people see you,” I laughed and tugged at his arm to stop the pose before my brother arrived.

“See now you aren’t going alone and I can laugh at the awful jokes for you,” he smiled again and finally allowed me to get in the car. “You know your brother hates the back of the mustang. Are you really making him sit in the back again?” Alex asked, changing the subject and gesturing at the cramped spot I often left for him.

“My friend, my front seat,” I shrugged and settled in as I saw Jake approaching. He threw his arms in the air at the sight of me getting in the front and yelled something from a distance as he jogged to reach the car faster.

“Come on!” Jake whined as he slid behind Alex’s folded seat and plopped down behind me. “It smells like gym clothes back here,” he fake gagged.

“Well now I agree, you deserve the back,” Alex said feigning insult. “Besides it isn’t that bad, I’m taking your sister to prom in it,” he gloated.

“Ew,” Jake laughed, continuing his gagging sounds.

Jake was only a sophomore, and we’d always been close so I just smiled at his teasing. I knew he didn’t mean it, and he’d grown to be good friends with Alex too. Besides the rides to school they saw each other at the gym often, plus when Alex was over at our house studying with me for finals. Only two more weeks and we’d both be graduated. Then in a few months Jake would turn 16 and get his license and his own car. An old junker my dad had been saving for us. It was offered to me when I turned 16, and again last year when I turned 17. I suspected that when I turned 18 next month they would help me buy a better car so I’d turned down the car thus far. I didn’t mind the rides with Alex, and he swore he didn’t mind either.

Jake and I were both carbon copies of our mom. The blonde, pin-straight hair, the light blue eyes and pale complexion. The only difference was the two inches of height he had on me. I was only 5’ 8” and I suspected that he would get a lot taller soon. Alex on the other hand was 5’ 11”, short dark brown hair and eyes to match. He was much tanner than we were too. When we were all out it was clear who was siblings.

Unfortunately this meant that everyone assumed Alex and I were dating. I’d only ever had one boyfriend before and it didn’t end great. So I was a bit touchy at the prospect of it. We’d known Alex since we were children, since we grew up in the same neighborhood, and I detested the thought of ruining our friendship like that. Alex knew my thoughts on the matter and shot down the idea any time someone teased us about it. He was kind, and I wanted him to stay my friend.

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The rest of the ride home I mostly tuned the boys and their gym talk out. I made a mental note of what stores to check at the mall, and what would help me look less angelic, (which felt self-absorbed to even think about) without making my dad angry. Once we got to my house Jake ran off to his room and Alex and I studied for a bit before heading to the mall.

“Do I really have to help dress shop? I don’t know what I'm looking for,” he groaned.

“Hey you made this your problem when you asked me to go with you, you have to get a matching suit anyways,” I teased as he rolled his eyes.

We checked a few stores and decided on a mid-thigh length blue dress that wasn’t too tight. It made me feel more daring, but I figured it wouldn’t be too much for my dad to handle. Alex picked up a matching blue tie to add to the black suit he already owned and we were good to go.

“Feel better?” he mumbled while choking down some food court fries.

“Actually yes, it helped a lot. Thank you,” I smiled sincerely. I nursed my milkshake, a luxury I felt I could afford now that track season was over, and zoned out looking at the tvs in the corner of the food court.

Before long we started to hear a commotion. It was too loud to be anything as mild as shoplifters. We fixed our attention on the stretch of stores it was coming from. A split second later the commotion became screaming, desperate, fear-soaked screaming. Alex jumped from his seat and grabbed my arm, ripping me from the scene I was watching unfold. A man came out of a store engulfed in flames. His screams bounced off the walls of the mall. Somehow he was still running, and he could be seen well as if there was a barrier between him and the flames. It was unreal and terrifying.

My body had failed to move from what I was watching, so Alex threw me over his shoulder and hauled us and our bags back out to the parking lot. Cops and firefighters were gathering near the front shouting information and orders as the hoard of escaping shoppers rushed past them.

Alex roughly threw me into the passenger seat. He seemed to be running purely on adrenaline. “Stay here,” he ordered and threw the bags in the back before closing the door and running to the small group of cops at the entrance who stayed behind to direct people.

Alex wanted to join the force after we graduated, and already had a good relationship with some of the police. He had established relationships early so he could join the academy soon after we graduated. So when he ran up it looked like they already knew him. I assumed they did. He spoke with them for a few minutes. They gestured wildly with their hands but I couldn’t make out anything they were saying from inside of the car. I was a good distance away.

He came back to the car after a few minutes and put his hand on my knee. Either my knee or his hand was shaking but I wasn’t sure which. “Are you okay?” he asked softly, “I’m sorry if I hurt you, you weren’t moving or talking at all. I haven’t seen you like that since-”

“I’m okay. You didn’t hurt me,” I cut off the sentence I didn’t want to hear. I know he didn’t want to say it. I tried to reassure him and we both took a second to breath before he drove us back to my house. We were silent, no radio and no jokes. It wasn’t a first for us but it had only happened once before.

When we got back to my house my mom burst out the door and ran to my side of the car. “Are you both okay?” she asked in a panicked voice while hugging me. “It’s on the news now, what happened over there?”

“We’re okay,” Alex interjected for me, “Just a little shaken right?” I nodded my head in agreement and my mom breathed a sigh of relief. Alex continued, “we already ate before things got crazy so let us just calm down a bit while we wait on details okay? I have a buddy that was on the scene and he said he’d let me know what actually happened once they found out.”

With that everyone seemed to calm down a bit. My brother and dad were watching the live news of the event unfold and my mom was cautiously preparing dinner for everyone else. Her eyes darted to the broadcast every few seconds.

Alex led me up to my room, his hand still firmly grasped on my shoulder as if we were still in the mall. “We can show him the dress later, ok? Let’s talk about this first. I’m sure he’ll like it,” he smiled encouragingly and closed the bedroom door behind us. I nodded and smiled weakly, still trying to make sense of what I saw.

“Come on don’t shut down Angel, let’s talk about it okay? You’re scaring me” he pleaded.

“Sorry,” I took a deep breath, “I’m okay I just- What I saw doesn’t make sense.” He raised an eyebrow, urging me to continue. “Didn’t you see it?” I asked almost in a whisper.

“No,” he said flatly, “I saw fire, and heard screaming, then I saw you shut down, I didn’t know what was happening so I focused on getting us out before it got too chaotic, so what happened?”

“Thank you,” I tried to give a weak smile and sat down on one of the two bean bag chairs I kept.

He plopped down on the one across from me and nodded, “You don’t need to thank me, but the cops were being weird. Can you tell me what you saw first hand before I tell you what they said?”

I frowned and paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to describe accurately why it was so odd. “Okay don’t laugh,” he frowned and assured me that he wasn’t in a laughing mood. But still it seemed so silly to say. “It’s like he wasn’t on fire, but he was,” I paused to scan his face before continuing, “Ok, like there was a barrier or a gap between him and the fire. I could see him clearly. It was more like there was fire around him, does that make sense?”

He furrowed his brow and nodded. “It’s weird but I believe you. Can I tell you something weirder? It stays between us until the investigation is public, ok?” he asked quietly, glancing back to ensure he closed the door. I nodded intently and he continued, barely a whisper at this point, “The officer I know said that once the firefighters made contact and put out the fire he was totally unburned, and eye witnesses said he caught fire for no reason. It started at one hand and as he started to panic it quickly engulfed his whole body. But he’s totally fine. The mall was mostly clear at this point and they had him surrounded so no one saw his condition.”

He paused to read my expression, but I couldn’t think of anything good to say. I was confused and I could tell he was too. I didn’t know what to make of it, and even seeing it I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. “What does that even mean?” I asked quietly.

“I don’t know, and the police don’t either as far as I can tell,” he replied with a sigh. His phone buzzed and he checked it in a hurry. He scanned the message and frowned again. “Ok so, he said he most likely won’t be able to update me personally on the matter. As of now this is considered classified, and the man is being transferred to be held in isolation until they know more. Sorry, I won’t be much help on this, it’s out of my hands.” He quoted the end of the message.

“That quickly, but he didn’t do anything wrong?” I protested.

“Right, but it’s weird you have to admit. You don’t just catch on fire and come out of it unscathed, and you can’t really tell the public something that odd without any explanation. So it’s safer to keep him isolated until they understand what happened, and if it’ll happen again,” he shrugged, trying to lighten the mood. “There’s nothing we can do about it right now, why don’t you go show your dad the dress? It’ll take your mind off it and make them feel better,” he smiled softly and pushed the bag towards me.

I agreed and pulled the dress out of the bag, I shook out the wrinkles and brought it downstairs to ask for my dads approval, which I was thankfully given. The live broadcast of the mall event was off now, with the nightly news recap just chalking it up to a small fire and one person being injured, and transferred to a hospital. I hated knowing it was a lie. I hated the small talk, “crazy stuff, I hope he’s okay,” I added insincerely.

The rest of the night passed without incident and some sense of normalcy returned. Alex went home after he was sure I was ok, and the family chatted about school ending, prom, and occasionally the mall. They tried not to dwell on it but it was all I could think about. I showered before bed and watched the water roll off my arm. I couldn’t help but think of the barrier between the fire and the man, what did it mean? I drifted off to sleep thinking about it.