I sat on my bed, considering skipping school today. I wanted to – it was three days until school was out, and who would notice? I could hang out with Emily and Diane…I sighed. I knew I wouldn’t do it. I had never skipped school – playing sick doesn’t count in my book – so I wouldn’t do it now. ‘Only three more days!’ I thought to myself, glad school was almost out. Junior year had been tough. All I wanted was to go out in the woods, sit under a tree, and read my romance novels. Sigh. I sent a silent prayer that my soul mate would spontaneously show up at my door step with roses and a love song. So romantic. But that was cheesy romance. I liked the kind that was completely spontaneous and original – like my favorite book, when he saved her from a convicted murderer and rapist – but I would never get a love story like that. Mostly because the savoir was a cat-person, or neko. And it was fiction. I sighed as I got dressed for the day, fantasizing of my one true love. I guess you could call me a romantic. My boyfriend, Dave, picked me up. We drove to school without saying a word, passing a curious moving van parked in front of the Manning’s Mansion, which had been vacant for years. Dave saw it too, but didn’t comment. He seemed deep in thought. I didn’t love him and I knew it, and really I didn’t know why we were dating. I guess maybe because he liked me and I liked him. It was routine and normal for us, and we stuck to it. I wanted to love him, but we had very different plans and interests. If we hadn’t been going out for three years this year, I would just dump him. But it was too late to do that – people expected us to be together. We shared our routine kiss and emotionless parting in the parking lot and went our separate ways. I sighed. He was the most compatible boy in the entire city, and I couldn’t love him. There must be something wrong with me. The day was normal – even being so close to the end of the year we had to do tons of work. I guess by now I should be used to it – it’s been like this since fifth grade. Diane and Emily, my two best buds, met up with me at our lockers, conveniently right next to each other. Emily, with her rich, wavy brunette hair and sparkling blue eyes was unusually excited. She was always hyper – she just seemed more so than usual. “Guess what! Guess what guess what guess what!!!!” Diane rushed over, as fast as five-inch heels would allow, her red hair and gray eyes filled with excitement. I wondered what could be so exciting this time of the school year. “Umm…Tyler asked you out?” I said, indulging her. “Ha! I wish! He’s still dating that rich bitch from California. There’s a new guy in town!” I remembered the moving van in front of the Manning’s Mansion and wondered if that was where he was. “Ummhmm and he enrolled in our school! He starts tomorrow! Rumor has it he’s really hot. I can’t wait!!” Emily jumped in. “Who enrolls on the last day of school?” I asked. “Second to last. I don’t know. I guess he does. Anyway, when are you going to break up with Dave?” Diane jumped back in, Emily nodding her agreement and putting her collection of locker stickers on her binder. I wondered when they had decided to break us up. “I don’t know – maybe before I go to college. Why? I thought you guys liked him?” Emily snorted and Diane rolled her eyes. “Not anymore. He seems like a total jerk to me. He barely even talks to you anymore, and he’s got the goggle eyes for Maria. You guys have totally gone out long enough – time to shock everybody by breaking up. Seriously.” It hurt, hearing it said like that and knowing that Dave really did seem to have ‘goggle’ eyes for Maria, the darkly beautiful track star. I sighed. “I’ll think about it.” We walked to class and continued on with the rest of the day, it speeding by like light, me preoccupied with whether or not I should break up with him. I had decided I would by the time Dave and I met up in the parking lot, but didn’t have the guts to do it then. Procrastinator that I am, I decided to wait until tomorrow morning. Mom seemed more agitated than usual too, denying to tell me what was wrong; saying simply the day had been long, insisting that she wanted to cook dinner when I offered. She made my favorite – steak with mashed potatoes and gravy, mixed veggies, and ice cream cake for dessert. It was good, and I ate all I could, makeing me drowsy. I was asleep before I knew it, dreaming of dark haired devils…
In the first dream, I was sitting in my first period classroom, rushing on homework I hadn’t done the night before. That’s when he walked in – a handsome boy about my age, he had a bad-boy feeling about him and I gazed at him absentmindedly, at his faded jeans and black, knee –length biker boots, his loose, well worn leather jacket and his white t-shirt. Then at his square jaw and crooked nose, his hair so black it was almost blue, and eyes a striking ice blue. When his gaze caught mine, the blue eyes seemed angry and frustrated…and then they started to get darker, then brighter…until they stopped shifting, an angry, furious red like I hadn’t seen before. I looked down and stared at my desk, frightened. That dream stopped there, and the next one started, so frightening I tossed and turned.
I was running through the halls of the empty school, being chased by someone, their footsteps echoing behind me, coming closer and closer…a hand grabbed my arm and swung me around – it was the same boy that had been in the classroom, only this time his eyes were red and stayed red, my upper arms where his hands gripped me started to burn. I screamed and cried, and he started shaking me, growing bigger and bigger by the second, his muscles bulging and tearing through his clothes like a red hulk with horns. Soon flames surrounded him and he threw me away from him, burning…
