Wake Me Up

Chapter 5

"That's what you dream of," he says stating more than asking it. Before I can answer the bell goes off signaling class change. I grab my books and sprint out the door before he even blinks. I thank my lucky starts that the bell has saved me twice today. I walk, head hung low, down the crowed hallways to my next class.

They rest of the day goes by painfully slow. I manage to avoid Archer all day. I sit across the room in lunch with some girls on the team. I sit as far away as I can get from him in the classes we have together. I even turned off my phone. I was tired of seeing the screen light up with new texts and calls from him. I know he's concerned but I'm the last thing he needs to worry about. He has enough going on in his own house; I don't need to trouble him with my stupid nightmares.

At the end of school Matt, Archer and I meet up at the car and head home. Archer doesn't bring it up in the car, which I'm grateful for. I couldn't handle both of them on my back. He looks like he's deep in thought, and a little annoyed the whole ride.

I hop out of the car before it even stops and head right past my dad in the living room and up the steps into my bedroom. I throw my books on the desk and fall onto my bed. I hear talking downstairs, which hopefully is not about my strange behavior. I need to figure out a way to deal with all of this.

I hear a knock on the door and close my eyes, pretending to be asleep. My door creaks open and the light from the hallway shines bright on my face. I breath slow, even breathes to be convincing. Who ever it was bought the act and then closed the door behind them. I sigh in relief as I hear feet descending on the steps.

I'm exaughsted, all I want is to sleep undisturbed. I try to block the images that project on the inside of my eyelids and catch up on some sleep.

Next thing I know my dad is telling me to wake up. He tells me I've been asleep for a couple hours and that the boys game starts soon. It felt like I was asleep for a couple of second, I could've slept until the new year. My nap was very enjoyable and needed.

I follow my dad outside and in the car and he pulls out and starts driving to school. "How was the first day?" he asks me.

"Fine," I simply answer.

"You feeling alright?" if I hear that one more time, someones getting shot.

"Yeah, just tired." Same question, same answer.

"You've been pretty tired lately," no shit Sherlock. "You've been sneaking out to party?" he jokes, trying to cheer me up.

I laugh dryly, "Yeah dad, I'm a rebel," I joke back. I rarely go out to parties or stay out late. I only leave the house for school and soccer. Even if I do go somewhere Matt or Archer are always there to take care of me. They treat me like I'm 8, when I'm only a couple minutes younger than Matt. And they never let me forget it.

We get to the school and walk through the gates to the field as the boys team is huddled on the sideline. We take a seat next to Kate, Archer's mom and my dad and her start a conversation. I look onto the field and find Matt jogging to his starting position at half-line. Then my eyes scan the field and then met Archer's blue ones. I give him two thumbs up and he returns with a weak smile. He looks tense, his hands are in fists at his sides and his shoulders are pushed back. Not his normally loose goofy self. The ref places the ball in the middle and blows his whistle.

Our team is noticeably better from the start, the boys dominate the field. Matts running circles around the other teams defenders, getting in behind them and testing the goalie with his powerful shots-like normal. But Archer, in the center midfield position, is having a string of bad passes and is letting the other team go right past him. Last time I remember him playing this bad was when his dad beat Kate so bad he landed her in the hospital. Archer was a complete mess during that game and he almost lost it for the whole team.