The Apprentice's Apprentice

Part 6

Cora rubbed her eyes and kicked her locker shut. An entire night spent obsessing over the possibility that she was going crazy hadn't really been conducive to sleep. Part of her hoped that it had been some weird dream, but she was pretty sure it hadn't. Her dreams weren't anywhere near that normal. At least when she remembered them they weren't.

She'd even wondered if this wasn't an elaborate joke that Zoe had come up with. Only the fact that her best friend was incapable of keeping a straight face for more than a second had kept her from believing it. Which brought her back to the only explanation that made any kind of sense: That Cora was losing her mind.

"You look like shit," Zoe said by way of morning greeting. She dumped her bag and slid down the locker beside Cora's. "You've got the worst dark circles I've ever seen."

Cora shrugged. Letting Zoe know she thought she was going crazy would only send her friend into a state of equal parts worry, fear, and desire to fix her. "Bad dreams last night."

Zoe snorted. "This is why you need to own more make-up than lip gloss, mascara, and that one eye shadow you have. Some concealer and foundation could you help you cover that up so no one knows."

"I'll live."

"Well did you at least get those questions for French done? I want to see what you got for questions three, five and six. The rest I got, and I'm pretty sure I got the others, but you're better at French than I am."

Cora nodded and smiled slightly. "Only if you let me check my Biology answers with yours."

Zoe grinned. "Deal."

They both rummaged into their bags to grab the sheets of paper and their pencil cases. Zoe was faster; she kept her backpack cleaner than Cora kept her room, and watched as people walked past them. Cora had just gotten her Biology out when she heard Zoe say, "Thanks again, Warren!"

Her head snapped up at the sound of the name. Cora watched as Warren grinned and waved at them, but kept walking past. So she hadn't dreamt him up. Even after a day, his black eyes and easy smile were no more familiar than they had been.

Cora wondered if maybe something would twig her memory and she'd remember him, if she talked to him or something. She was too young to actually have Alzheimer's and she was pretty sure you didn't forget just one thing when you had it. Maybe there was another disease that did the same thing? But it still didn't explain why she'd only forget one person and nothing else. Then again, if she'd forgotten something else she wouldn't know, would she? The whole thing was beginning to give her a headache.

Zoe's voice broke through her circling thoughts. "You alright? You're kind of pale, even for you."

She looked at her friend for a second, before she shrugged. Until Cora got this figured out, she'd have to hide it from Zoe. The last thing she needed was for her obsession to go from finding Cora a man to fixing her craziness. Literal craziness this time and not her love of anime. So she said "I'm just tired is all. Now let me see your Biology answers."