In Your Dreams (In Your Dreams #1)

Chapter 2

Oh, my God, I think. Way to go, Zip-he's dead. You killed the new kid.

But how? Did I literally bore him to death?

"Um...Mrs. Harvey?"

Mrs. Harvey's standing over a pair of my classmates in the center of the room, and, after hearing my voice, she turns around, instantly springing to my side upon seeing Kieran slumped forward on my desk.

"Okay. Okay," she starts, sounding every bit as rattled as I feel. A slow tidal wave of confusion spreads throughout the classroom, and students start to gather around for a better view of what's going on. Before I'm completely surrounded, Kayla barrels her way to Kieran's side.

"We need to get him to the nurse," Mrs. Harvey announces, shooting Kayla a look that seems to ask Right? We need to get him to the nurse, right?

Kayla bobs her head and glances at our classmates standing around him. "Yeah. Um...we'll need some people to kind of, like, carry him."

Doug Callahan and Cody Hull, both defensive linemen for the football team and the two biggest guys in the room by far, step forward to offer their services. Cody squats next to Kieran and tells Doug "Yo, man-get his other arm," as he reaches out to Kieran's right side. Kayla and I both open our mouths at the same time, but Cody has the pleasure of experiencing the surprise I had a few minutes ago before either of us can warn him.

"Oh, my God." Cody bounces back up to his full height as if touching Kieran gave him an electrical shock. "Dude's totally stiff."

"Yeah. I think you're going to have to lift him out of the chair like he is. So maybe one of you can reach under his arms and the other one can lift at his knees," Kayla suggests in a whispery voice with all the emotion of someone instructing furniture movers on the best way to carry a coffee table. Cody grabs Kieran by his armpits, while Doug bends and grasps him near his ankles and the two of them lift his body as if he's frozen in place, which I guess he basically is. Kayla sprints to the front of the room, and Cody and Doug dodge desks to haul their cargo out into the hallway with Kayla following. Those of us who remain in the classroom stand in silence, exchanging wide-eyed Okay-what the hell? glances.

"Well," Mrs. Harvey breathes. "Let's get this room back together, okay? We'll share what some of you have written while we still have time left."

Sure. Okay. Because whatever happened with Kieran totally didn't happen and this is just another boring day in Advanced Junior English.

My classmates and I robotically arrange the desks back into their neat rows and Mrs. Harvey starts calling on pairs to share, but thankfully doesn't call on me. Of course, I'm no longer part of a pair, or maybe she's ignoring me, the Human Reminder that one of her students just got himself carted off to the nurse for reasons unknown. Either way, I'm more than happy to be left alone to concentrate on wondering what the hell went wrong with the New Guy.

Did I do something? Is he sick? I examine the fingertips of my right hand, rubbing my thumb across the skin near my fingernails. Did he infect me with some virus? Am I going to pass out without warning, too?

"Next two chapters for tomorrow," Mrs. Harvey sings after the bell sounds, pulling me back out of my head. I drag myself to the hall, the noisy chaos between class periods making everything seem normal again. But as I raise my hand to my locker handle, I discover I'm shaking, which isn't normal at all.

After steadying myself and grabbing some books, I stumble downstairs to the cafeteria for study hall, the recalled image of Cody and Doug lifting Kieran as if they were moving a statue clouding my vision. When I blink back to reality, I catch the few people who have already arrived to study hall eyeing me with a strange mix of fear and pity, leaving me feeling like a girl in a horror film who has no idea some guy with an axe is coming up behind her. Part of me can't believe people know already, but most of me realizes that based on the size of our school, news of my lead role in the Kieran Lanier Tragedy could already be Titusville's Big Freaking Deal for today.