32A/N: I am so sorry that it's taken me this long to update! Time just like flew by with Christmas and mid-terms *gags* and stuff. I made this chapter really long to make it up to you all (if you are still there!). So without any further delay (b/c you've had a long enough one already!) here's chapter 10!
Chapter 10:
That night, Jeremy dreamed again. Everything was the same as before: he had walked in on Courtney cheating on him with Matt and went to the bar. When he got there, however, something different happened. He approached the entrance to the bar and was even holding the door handle when he heard someone say: "I wouldn't go in there if I were you." Jeremy whirled around and saw…himself leaning against a car.
"Who are you? And why do you look like me?"
"I am you, Jeremy. I'm the future Jeremy, and I know exactly what will happen if you go in there."
"What could possibly happen?"
"I'll show you," the "future" Jeremy said and threw a small ball onto the ground, creating a cloud of smoke.
The "real" Jeremy coughed until the smoke finally cleared. He looked around him and saw he was inside the bar.
"If we were coming in here, couldn't we have just used the door? Besides, I thought you didn't want me to come in here."
"I need show you something," "future" Jeremy said. He pointed to the bar. "You see that guy passed out at the bar?" The real Jeremy nodded. "That's you."
"I could tell. There's a striking resemblance."
"Let's fast forward, shall we?"
The smokescreen appeared, then cleared again. They were in Jeremy's house. The sound of two people arguing came from the kitchen. "That sounds like Courtney," thought "real" Jeremy.
"It is Courtney," the other said. "Real" Jeremy opened his mouth to speak. "Yeah, I can read your thoughts," he said before "real" Jeremy had a change to say a word.
They walked into the kitchen. Courtney was screaming at yet another Jeremy, who was practically passed out at the table.
"This is a daily occurrence in your house," "dream" Jeremy said as he made another smokescreen appear. They were back at the entrance of the bar. "So what's it going to be Jeremy?" he asked, then disappeared.
Jeremy woke up and found it was morning. "Well at least I didn't wake up in the middle of the night," he thought and got out of bed.
After getting dressed, Jeremy went to breakfast.
"Hey, look who's awake for breakfast," Rob said with a grin. "Pull up a chair, dude."
Jeremy grinned sleepily and sat down with his tray. "All right, pancakes. I'm glad I woke up for once."
"I know, dude. What's been up with you're sleep lately?" Rob asked with a mouth full of pancakes.
"Dude, close your mouth," Jeremy said with laugh. "Seriously though, I dunno what the hell has been up. I kept having this dream and waking up at like 3 in the morning. And once I wake up, it takes hours for me to fall back asleep. Ugh, it sucked," he explained and ate his bacon.
"Sounds like it. So what was the dream about?"
"Um, I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind."
"No problem. I totally understand where you're coming from." Rob ate a bite of his breakfast. "Yeah, group has been kinda boring lately." He lowered his voice. "There's a new guy, I think his name is Drake…no…Blake. That's it, Blake. Anyway, during group, he doesn't talk at all, so don't get all upset that he's allowed to keep quiet while everyone else has to talk. He's been through shit according to the leader. Well, she didn't say that. She said he'd 'experience a traumatic event.'"
"Okay, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the fill-in."
Later that day, during group, Jeremy received a warm welcome from everyone, except for Blake who didn't know who Jeremy was.
"Jeremy," Ashley, the group leader for that day, said, "This is Blake. He was admitted a couple of days ago."
Jeremy looked over to where Ashley was motioning. Blake looked like he was seventeen or eighteen, but his eyes gave the impression that he had to mental age of someone who was thirty. He was very pale and had spiked brown hair with blue streaks. Blake's ears and right eyebrow were pierced, as well as his lip. He looked burdened by something and sad with his head slightly hung and his eyes averted to the ground.
"Hi," Jeremy said.
Blake looked up and nodded his head as a greeting.
Jeremy wondered what had happened to Blake to make him not talk. Even Robert, who almost died the night before he was admitted, talked. And the look in his eyes when Blake had looked up was heart-wrenching. He looked like he was about to cry.
"What do you think, Jeremy?"
Jeremy snapped out of his thoughts. "I'm sorry?"
"We were discussing whether or not 21 is an appropriate legal drinking age," Ashley said.
"I don't think any age can be appropriate for drinking legally."
"What do you mean?" someone asked.
"Well look at it this way: no matter how high the drinking age in set, you'll still have minors who get a hold of alcohol someway or another. Plus, even if you are legally old enough, the age limit doesn't prevent you from getting drunk."
"That's a good point. Does anyone else have something to add?"
"I agree with Jeremy," a voice said. It was Jane, who usually avoided voluntarily speaking in group. (A/N: If you don't remember her, see chapter six.)
Everyone turned their heads and looked at her. She blushed, but continued talking. "F-from experience, I know h-how easy it is f-for minors to get alcohol. R-raising the age won't make it any more d-difficult for the minors t-to obtain it."
Jeremy smiled and Jane and gave her a thumbs up. Jane gave him a thumbs up back and grinned.
Wake up
I'm pounding on the door
I'm not the man I was before
Where the hell are you
When I need you?
Well? What did you think? Was it worth the wait? R/R if there are still any readers out there! ~Carissa~