The Dreamer

Chapter two

Aurelia open her eyes slowly, staring blankly at the ceiling. She'd had another dreamless night, but she preferred that to the reoccurring nightmares she had been having lately. It would switch from seeing Aiden, except he couldn't see or hear her, and being in Aiden's body, moments before the accident happened, feeling a range of emotions from fear to anger.

She blinked and slowly sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She let out a sigh and stood up, beginning to get ready for school. Her morning routine didn't consist of much right now. Normally she would get up, check her phone, turn on some music, pick out some cute clothes, do her hair, and then maybe put some make up on, eat some breakfast and brush her teeth, but now she gets up, throws on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt or hoodie, puts her hair in a pony tail or just leaves it down, brushes her teeth, and leaves for school.

She did the same thing today, throwing on the same jeans as yesterday and a simple grey hoodie with the word 'unknown' across the chest. After she quickly combed through her hair and brushed her teeth, she went downstairs slowly and quietly. She put on a pair of tennis shoes and slipped them on halfway before grabbing her backpack that was still by the coat closet from the night before. Aurelia was trying to leave the house with out running into one of her parents, not wanting to go through the fight of why she shouldn't skip breakfast.

"Lia, is that you in the entry way?" she heard her dad ask from somewhere on the stairs. She winced and ignored his voice, hoping he would just let her go. She waited a little and when he didn't say anything else she let out a sigh of relief and opened the door. She got her bike from where it was leaning against the shed and hopped on it, starting the ten minute bike ride it took to get to Dyer High School.

The school was on the other side of main street, so she always left a bit early to avoid the crazy traffic. Normally the traffic was the worse on Fridays since some people leave town for a weekend trip, but since today was Thursday, she wasn't quite as concerned about it.

When she got to the school, she walked around to the back where there was a small bike rack. It wasn't very big, because most kids drove to school or got dropped of by there parents. She noticed one of the very few kids who biked to school had just arrived in the parking lot. She didn't know his name, but she knew he got here only a couple months ago. She also knew that he was one of those people that seemed to get along with everyone he met.

She looked away from him and walked into the main building. She passed by her locker, not bothering to put anything in it. Further down the hall, she saw a group of her old friends. She slightly winced, and was tempted to walk the other way, not wanting any sort of confrontation. Deciding against that, she kept walking, pretending like she didn't see them. It wasn't like Aurelia didn't care about them, she just felt like she couldn't talk to them, that they wouldn't understand.

"Aurelia!" One of them called out. She recognized the voice to be Amy's, a girl she had met on the first day in seventh grade. Aurelia stopped walking and took a moment to put on a fake smile, turning towards them.

"Hey guys! How are you?"

"We're great. How are you holding up?"

Aurelia's smile dropped a little bit. Just once, she wished someone would talk to her about something not related to the accident. She wanted to have a normal conversation for once. Trying to keep up the act, she smiled again and replied with an 'alright.' After she had said that she nodded down the hall and said, "Well, I need to get to class, I need to ask the teacher some questions about the homework."

She excused herself and let out another sigh, dropping the smile. She didn't really have to talk to the teacher, it was just another lame excuse to get out of a situation she didn't want to be in. She felt bad for lying to them because she knew they cared, but they reminded her too much of old memories that she would prefer to forget.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was now lunch time and Aurelia was exhausted. Everyday, pretending to be fine, took a huge toll on her. She sat down alone outside underneath one of the few trees the school had on campus and pulled out her headphones. Pressing shuffle on her playlist, she leaned back and closed her eyes, trying to get lost in her own world.

I've been praying for somebody to save me, no one's heroic
And my life don't even matter,
I know it, I know it, I know I'm hurting deep down but can't show it.

Just before the song got to the chorus, the light shining on her eyes was blocked by a shadow. Opening her eyes, she looked to see who was standing there. It was the kid she'd seen riding his bike today. The one who everyone seemed to love, and yet she still didn't know his name.

"Can I help you?" Aurelia asked, a small ounce of annoyance in her voice. All she had wanted was to use lunch as a short escape from people.

"I was wondering if I could sit by you." Aurelia gave him a weird look. She knew he could sit by whoever he wanted to, so why was he sitting here, probably the one spot he wasn't welcomed?

"Why?" She asked, voicing her thoughts.

"You just looked like you could use some company," he responded.

"Oh, well, I don't. Thank you though." She put her headphones on again and closed her eyes, expecting him to leave. That's why she was confused when she felt him sit down next to her. She took off her headphones again. "What are you doing?"

"Sitting. What does it look like?"

She let out an exasperated breath. "I thought I told you I didn't need any company."

"You did," he said, "but I still want to sit here, and last time I checked, this tree doesn't have your name on it." He gave her a cheeky smile.

She shook her head and the corners of her lips lifted the tiniest bit. "What's your name?"

"Miles Hunter. What about you?"

She raised an eyebrow in surprise. Almost everyone in town knew her. Mostly from then newspapers, but she figured he'd already know her name. He'd arrived in town, shortly after Aiden's accident, so he would have seen the news articles. Either way though, she answered. "Aurelia Turner."

"Nice to meet you, Aurelia Turner," he said in a formal voice.

She let out the tiniest of laughs. "Nice to meet you, Miles Hunter." And she meant it. It was nice to have someone talk to her, not asking how she was doing for a change. It was nice to have someone who didn't just give her everything she asked for. It was nice to be pushed. She smiled.

It was nice to have a friend.