Chatoyant College Book 5: Parents' Weekend

Chapter 24: Long Day

Dawn went into her room—which was unlocked, so Naomi must be there—and sat down on her bed with a sigh. Naomi looked over at her from her desk. "Long day?"

Dawn nodded tiredly. Now that the excitement was over (or she hoped it was, at least), she found she had very little energy. "Even longer than usual. My parents wanted me up at the crack of dawn to go out to breakfast with them."

"Well, they named you Dawn, I guess they wanted to see you then," Naomi said with a grin.

Dawn just rolled her eyes and changed the subject. "What about you? Have a good time with your dad?"

Naomi groaned and leaned back in her chair, pressing her hands against her eyes. "I would have had a much better time if he hadn't brought my stepmom."

"Oh no," Dawn said sympathetically. She remembered Naomi saying she'd been looking forward to seeing her dad, but hoping he didn't bring her stepmom.

Naomi let her hands fall again. "It wasn't as bad as it could have been, I guess. She wasn't constantly complaining. I took them on a tour of the art building and she didn't complain the entire time."

Dawn giggled tiredly, then put her hands on the bed to either side of her to push herself up. She did want to get some homework done. To her surprise, though, she didn't go anywhere. She really was worn out from the day. She'd get more done if she got a good night's sleep tonight, she decided, and then waited to do her homework until her family had left.

Now that she'd decided to get ready for bed instead of working, her body cooperated and allowed her to stand up and walk to her closet. "Maybe we'll get to meet each others' parents tomorrow," she said to Naomi.

"Are you sure you want to meet the witch?" Naomi asked.

"Oh, that's not nice," Dawn protested, but she was cut off by a yawn and decided she didn't have the energy to argue. Besides, Naomi probably meant it as a joke.

She tossed her dirty clothes into her laundry basket (except for her jeans, which had only been worn once since the last time they were washed) and pulled on her oldest, softest pair of pajama pants and nightshirt. The shirt, which she'd actually been given as a gift when she was a child, had a picture of Tinker Bell on it. She couldn't help smiling as she pulled it on. She'd like to believe that there were faeries like that somewhere.

"Mind if I turn off the light?" she asked Naomi.

Her roommate shook her head. "Nah, I'll probably go to bed soon too."

Dawn flipped the light switch, so the room was only illuminated by Naomi's computer and the faint moonlight coming in the window, then closed her blinds so the moonlight was gone as well. With a sigh, she climbed into bed. It wasn't quite cool enough for blankets, so she just drew the sheet over herself and closed her eyes.

She'd thought she would fall asleep very quickly, but her mind was still moving. It had been a busy day. Corrie's father had distracted her... and there was something else...

She was just drifting off to sleep when she remembered what it was she had forgotten. Leila was a faerie. Might be a faerie. Either way, she had to talk to Corrie about it before she betrayed any hint to Edie or did anything else.

It wasn't easy to convince herself to wake up instead of relaxing into her comfy pillow, but she shook the sleep off and sat up. She had to make sure she didn't forget it again. For a moment, as she searched her desk for a piece of scrap paper, she froze with fear that her powers of Sight had failed her. Had some faerie magic—Leila's magic—kept her from remembering?

No. She grabbed a paper and scribbled down a note to herself. She didn't need to worry. Her memory lapse had been—well, not exactly mundane, but at least not caused by any direct magic. She'd just been distracted. It was probably better not to bring this up with Corrie, anyway, while she was still worrying about that man who claimed he was her father. Wait until she'd gotten more closure on that problem and could turn her mind to other concerns.

Dawn slipped the paper under her laptop, where she wouldn't lose it, and replaced her pen in her drawer. As she settled back into bed, she could see the paper by the faint, pale light of Naomi's laptop. They made her anxious. She rolled over, pressed her eyes shut, and willed herself to sleep.