"Maybe dreams do come true after all. Even dreams we chase at midnight hours, Shorts."
At least Ray had dreams to chase because I ran away from mine. My dreams aren't the kinda dreams I could just wake up at midnight and chase 'em.
I have nightm...
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"LATER, ALLIGATOR," Hakeem said, winking and shooting a finger gun my way. We just came from math class. It was the kinda class every student prayed for.
Free period.
I had my headphones on, listening to music. My eyes were just skipping over everyone as they interacted with each other.
Everyone either gathered around Hakeem, who was obviously a people's person, while others either gossiped, stayed on their gadgets, or tried to finish up some school work.
Behind every one of those faces was a story. Some good, some bad. Some beautiful and some sad.
At least some of them got past the bad ones while I still had a hard time forgetting mine.
The kinda half-cracked smile I gave Hakeem every time he poked my cheek was fake. The thing is, he got the picture that I wasn't in the mood but bothered me anyway.
"Uh okay, sure?" I answered, shoving my hands in my pocket. He rolled his eyes so far back that I was afraid for a second until his pupil showed.
"Por Que? You're really a mood killer, Ray." He strolled off to a brunette who was eyeing him like a fat kid who loved cake.
A drowsy Malik fell in step with me on my way to my History class. He was literally half walking and half sleeping. He even bumped into Riko, the chunky Australian from math class.
"Watch where you're going, dude," Riko grumbled in annoyance.
Malik glanced at Riko's face with heavy eyelids. "Uh yeah. Yeah."
He waved Riko off and continued walking. Riko ignored Malik's rudeness and continued on his business. If I didn't hold Malik back several times he was going to bumping into things, so I held his arm until we were in class.
The dark-skinned teacher looked at me before starting on with his class. I groaned, getting up, having an idea what he was going to say to me.
"I'm Mr. Butler, the English teacher but Mr. B is just fine. Tell us a bit about yourself."
I glanced around. Oh, so I didn't have History? Oops.
"I'm Ray."
The curious eyes slithered over me like snakes. Everyone waited for me, but I just stood there.
I really hated starting over.
"And I'm not gonna be here for long, so there's nothin' to know. I'm just a movin' girl with a passion for music," I continued.
Probably satisfied with my answer, Mr. Butler clasped his hands together, placing his hands behind him. "Nice to have you here and I hope you enjoy your stay at Palm Beach High."
I sat back down with a nod as Mr. Butler was about to start with the lesson but then he stopped, turning in my direction again.
"Just an update here Ray. For this semester our focus is on Shakespeare, one of the greatest writers that ever existed. There's always a quote read out loud from any of Shakespeare's books then we discuss from there. The reason I'm doing this is that Shakespeare is a part of the syllabus, and as teenagers, you go through a lot of things and have to learn how to handle those situations. Got it?"
