EPISODE 28: The Dream
January 11th 2010, A Trip to The Future
I never wanted anything more than the first term to end. My relationship with Angelina went up and down continuously and I just wanted a fresh new start in a fresh new term. It was like magic when we started dating but it became debris. I knew that it wasn’t worth thinking about it if I wasn’t going to do anything about it. ‘But there’s nothing to do…’ I told myself on the Monday morning that we were returning to school. It seemed so too. But a small gesture can go a long way.
I arrived at school feeling tired and drowsy. I was having insomnia recently and it was keeping me up and draining my energy. I dragged my legs to the entrance and continued walking till I reached the Form 1 door. As I opened the door, a burst of light appeared and I was forced to squint and make my way slowly to my desk. We had a new ‘seating plan’ and that meant that I couldn’t sit with Angelina anymore. I noticed that I had to sit with… Jennifer. I knew that I would be annoyed by her and her constant talking. I rested my head on my arms and try to get as much sleep as I could. But just a little bit into my sleep, I felt a poke near my upper waist and I was forced to throw my body upwards. And then I heard Jennifer’s laughter. Her cackle immediately pissed me off. I wanted nothing to do with her but she wanted a lot to do with me.
‘Pia. Did you see that?’ she asked Pia. Pia was sitting directly behind her and Corey was to her left. At least I had someone to talk to.
Pia nodded her head slowly as she finished her apple. Her laughter continued and continued until I practically passed out and fell into deep sleep.
I was at the Eiffel tower and I was looking out to the whole of Paris. I just stared and I was amazed at how small Paris looked.
‘Excuse me.’ Said a voice to my left. It was a sweet little voice that sounded too sweet to be real. I snapped my head to look at who the voice belonged to and I instantly found her. It was a girl, a bit taller than me. With long black hair and brown skin and I could tell straight away that she was mixed-race. I didn’t know what I had with mixed-race people, we just got along. She looked straight at me with her dark entrancing eyes. She was beautiful. She was very curvaceous and everything about her was entrancing.
‘Do you speak English?’ she asked. It took me a while to answer because I was just admiring her.
‘Yeah. Yeah I do.’ I replied.
‘Oh. Good. Would you mind if we talked a bit? I haven’t been able to talk to anyone here. It seems no one here knows English.’
‘Are you kidding me?’ I asked her. ‘There’s a whole school here that speak English.’ I replied.
‘Really? Oh. I never noticed. So what’s your name?’ she asked.
‘Levi. How about you?’
‘Er…’ I felt a poke on my side and the dream blurred and I was thrown upwards.
I woke up to hear Jennifer’s laugh. I could tell immediately that she had poked my side.
‘You’re so ticklish Levi.’ She said.
I was sort of pissed off. That dream was vivid and bright. I wished that I could return to my dream but it was impossible. I remembered her face; The texture of her skin, her deep entrancing dark brown eyes.
‘Hey. Angie’s here.’ Jennifer announced and I looked up to see her staring at the new seating plan. She then sighed and sat at the upper left part of the class and settled down. I could not believe I forgot about Angelina completely. The vision of that girl had filled my mind completely. But I was back to Earth and I had to get things running with Angelina smooth again.
The first two lessons passed quickly and the first break period had started. I slowed down when I approached the door and waited for Angelina to catch up. When we were par on level and I put my arm over her shoulders and smilled.
‘So how was your holiday?’ I asked her. She smilled back before replying.
‘It was good. How ‘bout yours?’ she asked.
‘It was alright. What did you do in your holiday?’
‘Nothing really. I just went out with my family. You?’
‘Nothing. Same as you.’
‘Oh… Ok. So how are you?’ she asked as we passed the canteen and continued towards the benches.
‘I’m good. How ‘bout you?’
‘I’m good.’
Then a silence broke in. We sat there and waited for Mustafa, Corey, Muksin and Sameer to come in pure silence. My head kept thinking about the girl I saw in my dreams. She seemed so realistic. Her round face which was filled with really light brown skin and her pink lips. She had clear eyes that had those dark entrancing eyes. She also wore a white and black striped shirt and a black skirt and her legs were covered by black tights. If curvaceous was a person, then she would be her. My mind kept on thinking and thinking about her. ‘She’s not real’ I told myself. But I couldn’t just pretend that I didn’t feel in sync with her. I couldn’t pretend that I my heart didn’t sink every time I thought about her. It seemed crazy that I was thinking so much about someone that wasn’t real.
‘How ‘bout you Lee?’ asked Mustafa. I wasn’t paying any attention to the conversation. I didn’t have a clue about what they were talking about.
‘What?’ I replied.
‘Are you going on the France trip?’ he said.
‘Oh… Yeah I am. Are you?’
‘Nah… I can’t.’
‘How about you Corey?’ I asked.
‘Yeah… I am. Weren’t you paying any attention to what we were talking about?’
‘Nah… not really… My mind was somewhere else.’ I replied.
‘What were you thinking about?’ asked Angelina. I hesitated to answer probably because I was thinking for a lie.
‘Just about… Err… My old school in England.’
I turned to face her and our eyes caught each other instantly. Her deep light brown eyes caught me by surprise and I was immediately entranced.
‘What about it?’ she asked.
‘Just how it was. How organized it was. How good the cafeteria was compared to this place.’
They all chuckled. I felt my heart beat faster as I lied to all of them. It was breezy that day. The sun was in my eyes causing me to squint. Soon, break was over and I had to return into our classroom. I kept on thinking about the girl. I was so close to hearing her name. But then Jennifer interrupted. I wondered if such a person was real. Someone that perfect. It seemed like reality. I had to let it go though. I had a girlfriend; someone who was real, someone who loved me. But sometimes dreams can be more real than you think.