The first three hours of school went bye relatively fast, and by lunch time I was ready to be back on my busa. The exhilarating feeling of the wind whipping past was quite the addictive feeling. I’d never been more excited that our school, no matter how lame it was, had open campus lunch.
“Hey, Ash, where do you want to go to lunch, huh? I was thinking that cute little German place by my house. What do you think?” Lyn asked as she skipped up next to me, linking her arm through mine. I smiled over at her, and nodded. “Can I ride with you?” She asked, excitement glinting in her eyes. I laughed.
“Lynnie, I only have one helmet…” I trailed off, giving her a knowing look. She just rolled her eyes like it was no big deal. Layton was one hell of a dare devil, I’d give her that. “There is no way in hell that I’m letting you on my baby without a helmet.” I told her sternly. She laughed.
“Then let me wear it, stupid! I’ll loan you my sun glasses so you don’t mess up your eyes, ‘cause we both know that I’ll be on that busa one way or another.” Lyn stated, even stomping her foot near the end. Of course I knew she was right, so I just sighed and handed her my helmet, much to her delight. She squealed and gave me a hug, nearly crushing me in the process. “Damn Lyn, let go!” I laughed, pushing her off me and opening the door to the parking lot.
Kids, mostly seniors like me and Lyn, were milling around the parking lot, making lunch plans or just chit-chatting with one another. There, around my baby, were a group of guys making comments on the paint job and dragon down the right side. I groaned, not wanting to deal with anyone’s crap today. Instead of causing a scene, I plastered a smile on my face and walked up to the guy closest to me, tapping him on his shoulder. He looked back at me and the smile on his face dropped, his eyes widening comically as he took a step away from me.
“Would you all please step away from my baby; I’d really like to go to lunch now.” I said sweetly, laughing when almost all of them jumped when they realized who was talking. They quickly scrambled away to their respective cars while I slid Layton’s sunglasses on and climbed onto my busa. Layton was quick to follow my lead, wrapping her arms around me while laughing her butt off.
“Oh my gosh Ash! Did you see the look on Drew Crowley’s face when he realized this was your busa? It was priceless!” Layton crowed, fist pumping the air and laughing. Her voice was slightly muffled by my helmet, but I still understood her. “You know what? Let’s just go to my house. What do you say to ditching the rest of school and going swimming?” She yelled to me. I mulled it over for a bit, then nodded and started my baby. He purred to life, attracting the attention of the guys I had scared off when I revved my engine. Flashing them a devilish smile, I tore out of the schools parking lot and headed down to Layton’s house.
Ten minutes later I was pulling into the driveway of her Victorian style house. Layton had a beautiful home, with a backyard that was 3 acres. Neither of us actually know what her parents do, but they were rarely home, which meant Layton and I came here on the days we ditched school. It wasn’t a regular occurrence; we mostly did it on special occasions, like birthdays or in this case, celebrating my new ride. Layton hopped off and tore my helmet off her head, a delighted smile on her face.
“That. Was. AMAZING!!!!!!” She screamed out loud, jumping around like a rabbit on crack. I laughed as she grabbed my hand and tugged me inside and up to her room, shoving a black bikini in my hands. “Here you can borrow on of my swimsuits.” Lay said, and then pushed me into the bathroom so I could change. When I walked back out I heard Layton gasp. I looked over and she was just staring at my right side.
“What?” I asked her, confused.
“When did you get a tattoo?! Why didn’t you tell me!?” She squeaked. Confused, I just looked at her like she was an alien.
“Lynnie, I didn’t get a tattoo.” I chuckled nervously.
“Oh yeah? Then how do you explain THAT?” She said, pointing to my side. I looked down and there, where the dragon in my dream had licked me, was a tattoo. Of a dragon. I freaked out, not knowing what else to do, I ran back into the bathroom, threw my clothes back on, and rushed to collect my stuff. “Hey! Where are you going?” Layton asked as I practically ran out the door, helmet in my hand.
“Listen Lay, I don’t know, ok? I’m just going to go for a little drive, clear my mind and whatnot. Because I have no idea where the hell that tattoo came from.” I told her calmly, while on the inside I was having a mental breakdown. I knew I hadn’t gotten a tattoo lately, because surely that’s something you would remember doing right? Plus, it’s not like those things can just magically pop onto your skin over night without you realizing. Ugh this was so frustrating! Ignoring Layton’s calls, I hopped onto my bike and just started driving, not knowing where I was going or where I would end up.
~~~~ 3 hours later ~~~~
I pulled over onto a dirt road and drove for ten more minutes before I stopped, taking in my surroundings. I was about an hour out of town, in the middle of the Red wood forest. Sighing, I got off my bike and just started walking, knowing it wouldn’t be too hard for me to find my bike, even if it did get dark. Ever since I was a little girl I had an uncanny sense of direction, which is why my mother never worried about me being lost and knew that if I wasn’t at home, there was most likely a good reason behind it. I continued walking in no particular direction, letting my thoughts drift to the dragon at my side. The one question I kept coming back to was why was it there? I had seriously started considering that maybe it was because of the dream I had had last night. Great, I thought bitterly, now I’m starting to sound like a crazy person. Dragons aren’t real; we would’ve noticed them by now.
That was the only way I could reason with myself, but then another thought popped into my head. The dragon in my dreams always changed into a man. Maybe… maybe they are real, and humans just haven’t realized this yet. I looked up, excited by this new thought, and stopped dead in my tracks. Here I was, standing in a field. The very same field that I had dreamed of every single since my seventeenth birthday, and right there, standing tall with his back to me, stood the black dragon.