Chapter 5:

By SirSearon

I awoke to the sound of my annoying alarm as I punch the snooze button and flip my pillow. I feel the cool fresh side of my pillow as it sooths my face. Drowsiness takes over as one eye closes and the other blurs, slowly drooping down.

"Caspen! Are you up or did you hit snooze?" Mom yells.

I raise my head and yawn as I rub my eyes. All that I want to do is go back to sleep. I roll off my bed and forget to catch myself as I plummet to the carpet. I look up at my room as I'm recovering from dizziness. I notice that my beige carpet needs to be vacuumed and I quickly hop to my feet.

I walk to my brown vertical dresser and pull out some clothes. Another yawn escapes my mouth as I make my way to the restroom and turn on the shower. The steam that forms in the room relaxes me.

That is when I realize something. I didn't dream last night. I awoke from pure darkness. As swiftly as my head hit the pillow last night I was back to being awake. The thought excites me, no more dreams. I smile, but soon it fades. What does that mean about the girl? I was too late to save her, and now it's over? I close my mind out as I jump in the shower.

I sit in my first period wishing that it were already over. Usually I would still be drowsy in this class, yet I am wide-awake. I can't get the girl out of my head anymore. The dreams intrigue me, as does she. Someone so beautiful should not be hurt so much, and I had a chance to stop it. I failed, I could have done something, but I failed.

"Continue working on your assignments class," my boring English teacher says, Mr. Harris. He is in his forties, shaved with short brown hair and large glasses. He heads to the door and leaves.

Cody quickly turns to me from the desk ahead of me. His expression was not happy, bored, or excited though, but he seems concerned.

"What did you dream?" he asks.

"I didn't," I say.

"What do you mean you didn't? You said you dreamt of her every night for weeks," he says.

"I have, but not last night. There was no dream, first time in a while," I say.

"Why does that not sound like a good thing," he says.

"I'm worried for her, I know it sounds weird, but after dreaming of her for so long, I feel I know her," I say.

"I understand, I think," he says.

I hear the metal clicking of the doorknob and Cody turns forward to continue his paper. I look up to Mr. Harris as he checks his watch.

"Alright class, finish these three page essays by tomorrow and turn in first thing in the morning," he says.

Student's sighs encircle me in all directions as everyone puts their papers in their notebooks. That is everyone except me. I close up my notebook but keep my papers out. The bell rings and everyone rushes out. I walk to Mr. Harris and hard him my papers.

"You're done?" he asks.

"Yes I was done before you left class, I don't want to lose them so here," I say.

He accepts the papers and heads back to his desk, already prepared to read them.

I sit in the middle of the chaotic cafeteria next to Cody. He brought money today and was eating a real meal in case Jessica ate with us. I look down at my Styrofoam tray at the pizza. It's pepperoni but it's the cheap squares and not slices. I shrug my shoulders as I take a bite.

I notice as Jessica sits down with us. She is wearing a light blue tight shirt that causes my eyebrows to rise slightly. She has large round sunglasses on and her hair is in a ponytail with a few strands coming out and into her face. She smiles at me and for the first time I notice her blue braces.

"I didn't know you had braces," I say.

Her tan face suddenly gets a bright shade of red as she hides her smile. I watch as she takes a drink of her mountain dew and sets it on the table. She rests her hands under the table as she looks back at me.

"I just got them, they're ugly!" she spits out.

I shake my head as I look at her. They're not ugly at all. Actually on her they're quite cute and compliment her eyes.

"They're not ugly, they're cute," Cody blurts out.

Her red cheeks were almost tan again, but now they turn to an even brighter red. She keeps looking at me until forcefully turning to Cody. She looks at him for a second and smiles.

"Thanks," she says.

Cody shakes his head out of it. He didn't mean to blurt that out and he probably wishes that he didn't. It is already too late for such wishes now. Instead of looking at her he stares at me.

"So they just stopped huh?" he asks.

Bewildered I search my head for what he is talking about. I realize he must be asking about my dreams again. When I had told him about them last night he looked uneasy. I knew he probably wouldn't believe me. I told him I didn't blame him that I myself felt like I was trapped in an episode of Buffy. It was this that intrigued him. He said whether or not he believed me, he found it fun.

Fun. I don't find any of this fun. This is my life. While he's having fun deciding if I'm crazy or not; I'm having doubts of what is real or not. Now I'm worried, actually worried that I didn't have a dream last night. I am beginning to think I am crazy.

"Only once, I may have more, but I'm not sure," I say.

"Ok… what are you boys talking about?" Jessica asks.

"Ummm…" Cody says. His jaw clinches shut and his head slightly moves back. His eyes move to the top left as he thinks.

"Unwanted visitors," I say.

I watch as Jessica looks at me suspiciously and rolls her eyes. She takes another drink of her mountain dew and finishes it. She tosses the bottle into the garbage can feet away and makes it.

"Rightt… I'm going to pretend that I care what you're talking about," she says. "So how do you guys think you'll do on the essay?"

I forgot that Jessica had that class. She wasn't in it at the same time we were, but she had it second period. The only class the three of us had together was our last period of the day, gym. I think Cody has another with her and as I can imagine he probably doesn't get much done in that class.

"Eeck, I dunno, I just hope I pass," Cody says.

She nods to him and turns towards me. Why is she looking at me that way? She is staring to deep into my eyes as she awaits an answer.

"I've finished mine and already turned it in," I say.

"Wow, really?" she asks.

She studies me some more and frankly it's making me frustrated. I don't care to be looked at. I mean, I know I'm good looking, but you don't got to stare that hard. Now I'm really starting to wonder why she's here.

"So why are you here?" I blurt out.

"What?" she asks. Her face looks puzzled.

"Why are you sitting at this table with us?" I ask.

The cheerful mood she was just in washes away. It is replaced with remorse and sorrow. In fact it almost appears that her eyes are teary. I didn't mean to upset her. I only want to know what is going on, and if we are really her friends.

"My parents are getting divorced…. And I um… got in a fight with my friends. They say we're not true Mormons if they're getting a divorce," she says.

I can see the tears in her eyes swell down her face. I feel sorry for her. It must be rough going through that in high school. My parents had split up when I was real young. My parents though were never married, so it was easy for Dad to just leave.

"I'm sorry," I say.

She looks like she's about to get up and leave when Cody scoots closer to her and puts his arm around her in a half hug. At first she is surprised, but soon she caves in and puts her arms around him. I watch as he is caught off guard. Soon he has a half smile on his face as he holds her tight.

I feel like I should go and comfort her, but I don't want to make more of a scene for her. Instead I lose myself in thoughts about the girl from my dream, the dove, and why I wasn't seeing them anymore.