Christine Rides Again

Chapter 2; Fever Dream

From the moment he'd opened his eyes, his stomach had been doing somersaults. Seeing Arnie die every time he closed his eyes didn't help either. With a heavy sigh, Dennis rolled over and lifted his head to look at the digital clock on the nightstand.

7:45am.

“Shit.” He mumbled into the pillow.

He had less than forty minutes to get dressed and get to school, and almost considered staying home. Graduation was in a few short months, however, and finals were right around the corner. Thanks to Christine he had already fallen behind, if he missed anymore he may as well get ready to spend another year in high school. Dennis dragged himself up and out of bed, trudging sleepily towards the bathroom. Though when he reached it, the door was locked tight.

“Damn it, Elaine!” He cursed, and heard the giggles of his younger sister on the other side of the door.

He didn't have time to wait for the shower to be free, if he stuck around much longer he would be late. Folding his arms across his chest, he crept back into his bedroom and threw on the nearest clean clothes he could find; A plain white t-shirt, a grey hoodie and a pair of blue denim jeans, then picked up a can of deodorant only to find it empty.

“Oh come on, not even eight yet, can it get any worse?” He asked the empty room, and tossed the spray can to the floor.

There was no time to mess around, and so he gave up trying to find ways to make himself appear better than he felt, grabbed his car keys and headed down the stairs and out the front door. He could hear his parents calling after him, protesting against leaving without eating breakfast, but ignored them and continued to his blue Duster.

Leigh's eyes scanned the timetable taped to the inside of her locker door and her heart dropped. She had managed perfectly fine to avoid Dennis over the weekend, they hadn't spoken since the funeral on the Friday, and of course, school would ruin that. It was just her luck that the first class of the day would be one of the three she shared with Dennis; Chemistry. It would usually fly by, but she somehow knew this time around it would drag by.

There were only a few students already seated when she entered the classroom, and as she settled into her seat, she fixed her eyes upon the door. Several students poured through, then moments later, Dennis shouldered the door open and stalked his way over to his seat in front of her. She quickly averted her eyes to the very front of the room where the professor was scribbling something upon the chalkboard.

“Leigh…”

Of course he would attempt to talk to her. With a sigh, she turned her head and forced a smile. Though it dropped from her face the moment she registered his appearance. His face was reddened and gleaming with what she could only assume was sweat, and his eyes were no better.

“What do you want?”

“I forgot my bag, do you have a pen?”

“Sure.” She nodded and fished inside her pencil case for a spare pen, then offered him two.

“Thanks.” He concluded, taking the black ball point.

“Dennis…”

“Yeah?” He whispered, knowing the professor was about to begin the class.

“Are you… feeling okay?”

“In what way?”

“Both.”

“Yes, Leigh. I'm fine.” He dismissed. “Why'd you ask?”

“You look… not fine.”

“Don't worry about it.”