In A Dream

Chapter One

This story starts with me falling asleep in calculus. Or at least, being in that weird state where you keep partially drifting off and then hurriedly gaining consciousness and trying to look like you're paying attention. I had stayed up until one in in the morning studying for next period's English test, and it showed.

The bell could not have come soon enough. I let out a sigh of relief as I haphazardly shoved my stuff into my bag and left the classroom as quickly as humanly possible. Or, at least, I attempted to.

"Julian," I heard a voice beside me, and I looked over to see my desk mate-- and therefore my lab partner-- Atticus. "You can have my notes if you want." Atticus was a pretty quiet guy most of the time, but I appreciated the fact that he never mentioned my tendency to fall asleep during class. Not that it was my fault, as the class is severely boring and most people would be bound to fall asleep if they had to listen to Mr Gray drone on and on and on about something they didn't even understand (seriously, what is ln? What is e? I miss the days when x and y were the only letters to worry about). But still, I couldn't stand it when people took a jab at my poor sleep schedule. Atticus was cool that way, I think. I also appreciated that he was basically the only thing keeping me from failing this class currently. Without his notes, I would be completely screwed. He's a lifesaver.

"Thanks, man," I said, and then let out an involuntary sigh as I realised that I was about to be late for my English test. I should go, Miss will kill me if I'm late for my test," I turned to leave, but I stopped when Atticus spoke again.

"Wait, is that what's got you all stressed out today," He said because I usually didn't drift off in class without a reason. Usually. "I swear she gives out tests every other day."

"Yeah, she does. It sucks." I replied, already feeling the dread hit me. I so did not want to take another one of her tests, especially because they were usually super hard and everyone failed most of the time.

"You ought to just ditch," He said, shrugging at me. And for some reason, suddenly that was the only thing I could think about.

"I should," I said as I left to go complete my English test because I was afraid that if I thought about it too hard I would run away and never look back.

The rest of the day was brutal. I was exhausted, for one, but after English, my confidence also just went completely down the drain. That test left me wondering if I even knew English at all. Surely I should be an expert in it by this point, seeing as I haven't got anything else.

It seemed like a thousand years had gone by before the last bell of the day finally rang, but once it did I couldn't get away from school fast enough. I shoved all my loose papers into my bag haphazardly, despite knowing that I was going to regret it when I needed to find those papers later. I rushed from the classroom and out the front door of the school, passing Atticus on my way out. Suddenly it was like I was moving in slow motion as I glanced back at him and out eyes met-- just for a split second before I turned around and continued home as fast as I possibly could. His words were still echoing in my head. I ought to just ditch.

It wasn't until a few days later that I reached my breaking point. I felt completely suffocated by school, to the point where I couldn't even maintain any semblance of a social life.
Something inside of me just snapped. I'm not sure why, or what compelled me to stop Atticus at his locker, but I couldn't help it.

"Let's go," I said, and he turned to me with a confused look on his face.

"Go where?" He asked, not sure where I was going with this.

"Anywhere," I said, taking his bag from his hands and dragging him out the side door to the school.