Foreign Objects

03 • Orbitar

Still feeling unsettled, I leave the chat with Jeremiah, remembering that I should block him but, I don't. Instead, I turn off my phone altogether and try to sleep.

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Peyton's yelling at me. I can't hear what she's saying. I've never seen her this angry: veins popping, eyes wide, nose flared. I feel uncomfortable and it's as if I'm frozen in my spot. The yelling goes on for long, and it's until I open my eyes that I realise it's a dream.

I groan and sit up, and it takes a minute for me to realise that I am on the living room couch. Huh, how did I get here when I slept in my room?

I scratch at my edges through my scarf and stand up, walking back to my room. Is it back? Fuck I hope it's not. You know what, I'm just not going to ponder too much on it.

I sit down on my bed and start thinking about the dream I just had, that's still so clear in my head. It felt so damn real though. Why would I dream of Peyton being that way? Maybe this has something to do with how she behaved with me yesterday after I told her about the alien thing? But still, the dream felt so...personal but at the same time, strange.

I look over to my digital clock. It's 6:32. Things are back to normal again I guess, well at least with my waking schedule. Time to get ready for school and act like that night never happened.

Peyton doesn't wait for me by her locker. She meets me halfway in the halls, a thick notebook clutched in her hands, hair all smooth and wavy, minimal make up on her face, just how she likes to do it.

She has on an apologetic look. She must know I'm still mad about how she handled things yesterday, especially after I told her this morning that she doesn't have to come pick me up. Seeing her this up close to me, I start getting glimpses of my dream. Her yelling and being so angry and I realise how that image doesn't really match the girl standing in front of me now.

"You're mad at me, aren't you?" She starts pouting.

"Me?" I shake my head, looking away from her. "No, I'm straight, trust me."

"Dee I'm sorry," she says softly. "Yesterday I was just really stressed out and it's just, you didn't really give me a heads up before laying all that on me-"

"I didn't give Mike or Jenny any heads up either," I say, "But they handled the situation better than my alleged best friend did."

I don't look to see her reaction to that. It's quiet on her end for a few seconds.

"Yeah, I could've handled the situation better than I did, I'm sorry."

I sigh. "Okay fine, I get stuff like this is really hard to believe and all but, you're supposed to know that I'm not one to play about things like this."

"I know and I believe you."

I eye her. "Really?"

She gives a nod. "Really."

But, it doesn't seem like it. I've watched Peyton lie to people a lot of times and I've noticed how every time, her lips are always in a flat line and her fingers twitch when she does and that's what's happening right now. She's not even putting much effort into convincing me and this just solidifies how hard she goes into standing firm for what she believes in, even when her best friend's involved and that leaves me feeling some type of way.

"I'll make it up to you," she says, smiling. "I never got you those donuts yesterday. How about we go to Gina's this Sunday? We can get smoothies as well!"

Slowly, I give a nod. "Sounds good. Make sure to invite Mike and Jenny too." Because, I don't think I'm ready to spend any more time alone with her. I'd need Mike and Jenny there to get my mind off the fact that my best friend has most probably written me off as crazy.