The Land of Dreams

Chapter Two

  The weekend seemed everlasting, as though I was living in a kingdom of confusion, and I was the queen. When Monday finally rolled around, I was torn between being glad for a distraction from my own thoughts, and dreading waking up so early.

When I eventually dragged myself out of bed to take a shower and prepare myself for the day, I knew for a fact that there was no way in hell that I could be excited to live through another day of 8th grade.

Climbing onto the yellow trash can on wheels, I felt as though all eyes were on me. I knew that wasn't true, but my guts churned without reason nonetheless. I avoided the anxious feeling though and made my way to an empty seat in the middle of the bus.

Almost immediately after the bus started moving again, my stomach settled. If there was one thing I semi-enjoyed about being forced to go to school, it was the bus ride there. It was a full 15 minutes of near silence with the majority of kids too asleep to even have a conversation. The bus ride was my time to prepare myself for whatever hell would await me at the prison, William Phalen Middle school. Funny name, I know.

I couldn't help but groan out loud when the bus came to a halting stop at my school. I waited for everyone to pile off the aging vehicle, before walking down the aisle alone, taking my time and dragging my feet the whole way.

"Have a nice day." I said with a smile to the bus driver.

The woman in front of the wheel smiled at me, almost surprised that someone had wished her a good day, though I always did. "And you as well."

I gripped the bag hanging from each shoulder and with absolutely no speed whatsoever, I dragged my feet into the building, and up the stairs to one of my most hated classes. Homeroom.

As soon as I walked in, I immediately wished I'd played sick. But then again, I wish that every day. Juliane and her friends were always the first faces to greet me in the mornings and I hated it. As soon as I'd walk in, they'd gawk at me as though I were some sort of walking freakshow every day, and today was no exception.

I wanted more than anything to just turn around and leave school, but as if my feet had a mind of their own, I trudged past the evil posse. I was more relieved than I should have been when I was seated at my desk, in my own little corner.

Reaching into my blue book bag, I pulled out a book titled "The Meaning Behind Dreams". This just so happened to be my favorite book of all time. However, since my mother started trying to get me to stop thinking about Sylestia all together, I had to start hiding it.

Swiftly flipping to the page marked with an old gas station receipt as a bookmark, I began reading over what it means when you have a dream about running away. To dream of running, indicates that you have a longing to escape your everyday life. The page went on in detail about different possible meanings based on your life situations.

Wanting to make a few notes in my book, I reached into my bag to fetch a pencil and my class notebook. When I sat back up though, I was met with the torso of Juliane. I lifted my head to meet her snarky expression with one of blasé confusion.

"Morning, Aggs!" Juliane said in a sing-song voice. A bright smile graced the lips of the unfortunately gorgeous black hair. I mean, her facial structure perfectly complemented the wavy locks, and her lips were naturally plump; she was perfect. It's just that she didn't deserve her good looks.

"Morning." I said flatly.

Juliane placed a hand on my desk and used it to support her body weight. "Why so glum?" Her face puckered into an obviously fake frown.

"Well for starters, I'm sharing the same room as you so there's that..." The people sitting around me, including a few of Juliane's friends, could be heard holding in a laugh.