It was amazing anyone could hear the bell in the cafeteria. With a couple hundred students all talking at once, the place quickly become loud. Add the fact that their voices bounced off the walls and echoed around the room, it got even worse.
Though, no one ever missed that sound. As soon as I heard it, I stood up, along with Xavier and everyone else. Justin said something I didn't catch, but when I glanced back I saw Xavier flip him off, a grin on both their faces. Apparently, it wasn't directed towards me, anyways. "Hey, you ok?" Xavier asked, falling into step beside me on my right as we started down the hall.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" I replied, looking over at him.
"Well, you didn't talk much, and it seemed like something was bothering you," he commented.
"It's just, I'm not real comfortable in any sort of group with more than one other person," I answer, turning my gaze away from him.
"Oh," he said, pausing for a moment. "Sorry."
Again, I turned my head to look at him, my eyes staring into his. The expression was written all over his face and in his voice. It made it seem like he had just killed my puppy or something. So, I did the only thing I could think of to help show him it was ok: I smiled. "It's ok, not like you knew or anything. Most people don't, actually. It's something I kinda keep more to myself than anything."
"I never would have thought it. The way you just came up and started talking to me earlier I thought you were like that with everything."
"Nope," I replied, shaking my head a bit. "Just when it's one person. It's weird, I know, but I can't help it."
He was quiet again, as I turned my attention to focus on where I was walking. Feeling something on my shoulders, I jerked my head to the left to look at what it was. An arm. A bit confused, I followed it to it's owner, which happened to be Xavier.
He looked over at me, a small smile on his face. I quickly looked away, sure I was blushing with as hot as my face felt. It probably looked like a sun burnt tomato or something. What was it about him that made me react so differently to such simple things?
We walked like that until we reached my classroom door, where he finally let his arm drop back by his side. Then, I realized something and mentally slapped myself for it. "I forgot to stop by my locker and get my government stuff," I complained. "Now I'm gonna be late," I mumbled,
"No you won't. Go ahead and go to class, I'll go get your stuff," he stated.
"But, won't you be late, then? I don't want you to get in trouble because of me or anything."
"Nah, it's fine. Besides, if I hadn't been walking with you, you wouldn't have forgot it," he answered, turning and heading down the hall before I had time to argue.
Letting out a sigh, I walked inside and sat down at my desk beside the window. A few people looked over at me, then turned and said something to their friends. The only reason I could think was because of Xavier. Was it really that big a deal that I was hanging out with him now?
Probably. Any little thing that changed was giant news in this school. If someone who never sneezes sneezed, they'd the talk of the day instantly. Sometimes, I wondered how the world even managed to stay alive if people like this would one day be running it.
Class had just begun when I saw Xavier by the door. I watched as he glanced over at the teacher, waited for him to turn his back, then darted in. "Have fun," he said with a grin before making his way back out.
Somehow, the teacher, Mr. Albridge, didn't even notice Xavier. There were benefits to having really old teachers as times. They couldn't hear very well, which made talking, or having a friend sneak in to give you your stuff, a lot easier to do.
Class went by just as boring as ever. Mr. Albridge got sidetracked by a simple question, again. He went from talking about the expectative branch to talking about the old days back around WWII. Resting my chin in the palm of my hand, I starred out the window, my eyes slowly falling shut.
There were flowers everywhere, and I could hear laughing behind me. Turning around, I saw a little girl picking flowers and making them into a small crown. The girl looked so familiar, but I couldn't remember where I had seen her before. Then, I recognized her.
She was me when I was little.
Instantly, I started looking around for any sign of my parents, but the only people I saw was a blonde haired woman and a brown haired guy, watching and smiling at the girl. "C'mon, Salena, it's time to go," said the woman.
The girl, younger me, turned to look at her. "Aww, but I wanna play in the flowers a bit more, Mommy. I'm making something," she replied.
Mommy? That wasn't my mom. Why would I be saying something like that? My attention turned to the woman again, who sighed and nodded. "Fine, just a few more minutes, but that's it. We don't want to be late to the ceremony."
Younger me's smile grew bigger and she nodded, quickly going back to working on the flower crown. A few minutes later, she was done and ran over to the woman, who knelt down. Placing the crown on her head, she smiled brightly again. "Now you have a halo!" she shouted.
"Yes, I do. Now, let's go," said the woman.
What I saw next surprised me more than anything in my life. All three of them, including younger me, unfurled wings from their back. The woman's was a tan color, the man's a chocolate brown and younger me's was pure white, like freshly fallen snow.
I watched as they all flapped once, lifting off into the air. My eyes were glued to them as they flew off, fading into the distance.
My eyes opened and blinked several times to adjust to the light. Mr. Albridge was back on topic, talking about the President's powers, but I my mind couldn't focus on his words. It kept trying to figure out the dream. Maybe that's all it was, a dream. It had to be. After all, there was no such thing as real angels with wings and everything. And I surely wasn't one.
It had to be a dream.
Didn't it?
