George
I groan as I carry the papers that Jared handed me. He hands me another batch of graded activities.
"Dammit," I grunt and put the pile of paper on the drawing table beside Shane.
"Are you his Secretary now?" she asks while looking at the pile of papers.
I ignore her and start distributing the papers.
"Arianne," I say and look if she is present.
Honestly, I still don't know my classmate's name.
"Arianne!" Shane yells and waves at the girl in the aisle in the second row.
"You know all of them?" I ask.
"I guess? Need help?" she offers and stands up.
"Please," I say. "Thank you," I add when she gets more than half of the paper.
I look at the next paper on the pile.
Bianca.
"Here," I say and hand Bianca her paper.
"How did you get these?" Bianca asks me while her eyebrows knit together.
"Mr. Greyson is my neighbor," I reply and hand the next paper to the next person. "Jacob?" I ask.
Jacob nods. "Ah, shit. He's crazy." He says while looking at the comments and corrections on his paper.
"He is your neighbor?" Bianca asks and holds my wrist.
I nod.
She stands up and gets half of the pile. "Lemme help you."
She follows me while reading the student's name on the paper.
"Good morning," our professor greets. "Today we are going to tap into our inner selves even more. Our activity is The forgotten friend. You are going to write an imaginary friend and describe to me what you're friend looks like. The settings in your imagination. when do you usually meet your imaginary friend."
Shane raised her hand. "How many imaginary friends should we put?"
"Oh you have many?" our Professor's eyebrows raise.
Shane nods.
"You can put as many as you want."
I don't have an imaginary friend. But I have a Dream Friend. I call her Miss Firefly.
I start writing Miss Firefly's description.
Miss Firefly is a lady, a glowing lady. Her whole figure is composed of fireflies swarming. It sounds disgusting but trust me she looks awesome, like a glowing lightstick in a form of a lady. I have not seen her face because she is too glowy. The only thing I can clearly see is her flower crown.
"I love your flower crown," I say as I touch the strands of her glowing hair.
"Really? I made it by myself," she says and pats my head. "I made it for your but looks like it's too big for you yet."
"Oh," I say. "Thank you. You can give it to me when I grow up." I kick the ground to help the swing sway even more.
"Well, I hope you could still visit me when you're all grown up."
I always dreamt of Fireflies when I was a kid. I always thought that the Firefly lady was my imaginary friend when I was younger but I only meet her in my dream.
I didn't expect to meet her when I'm older. But I dreamt I met her again on the night when Jared acted as my babysitter after a horrible nightmare.
Darkness.
I stood at the center of the dark space. My ears heard nothing but my breath escaping from my trembling lips. The ranging beats of my heart echoed in my ears. Stretching my arms out, I tried taking a few steps, but I still saw nothing. I felt a vibration on the ground as if an earthquake occurred.
"Hello?" I asked with my trembling voice but only heard the echoes of my voice.
"Is anyone there–"
A scene of an army of people approaching flashes. I remain frozen from where I stood. The bright sky suddenly turns into a night sky. The full moon shone on the army approaching. I fell on my knees as they became nearer and nearer. The tall grass brushes my skin as I sit there, waiting for their attack. Their sharp fangs glimmer from the corner of their mouth. On the other side are a pack of wolves approaching me as well.
"Stop!" I immediately covered my face with the palm of my hands.
The vibration stopped. It became silent once again. I moved my hands away from my face as I looked around.
"Georgina," I heard a soft female voice say.
With that, I turn around. The scene became my room. I was standing in front of my bed, facing a figure of a lady formed by fireflies near the door.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"You already forgot me?" the feminine voice laughed a bit. "I just want to check if my friend is doing well. It turns out she's not," she motioned her left hand at the bed, where I saw myself sleeping.
"You have a new friend?" she asked.
I shifted my gaze from the bed to Jared, who is sitting beside my sleeping body.
"I think so?" I hesitantly answered.
"Is he kind?" she asked.
"I'm not sure. We just met weeks ago."
"You should choose your friends wisely," she warned.
"I only have a few friends, Miss Firefly. And one of them is in my imagination," I chuckle.
Silence.
"Is this really happening?" I asked as I watched Jared worriedly touch my hand while I shook violently.
"Yes."
"It's a bit impossible for that guy to show a worried face," I chuckled. "Wait, why am I shaking like that?"
"Now is not the right time. I'll go now," the lady said.
"What? No! I have so many questions–"
"Don't leave me!"
My eyes opened and saw a blurry face of a man with pair of blue eyes.
Jared.
"I won't," Jared's voice echoed in my head before I return to sleep.
I gasp.
The pen falls from my grip.
"What happened? Are you okay?" Shane asks.
Why did I see that dream?
Is it perhaps real?
Pack of wolves.
Group of vampires.
My breathing becomes heavy as I ball my hand into a fist.
Am I involved in this war between two creatures just by the moment I got curious about Jared?
"Shit, shit, shit," I curse under my breath as I pick up the pen.
"Why? What is it?" Clarkson finally speaks. He was quietly watching a while ago.
"I just remembered something horrible," I say and clear my throat.
I read the last sentence I wrote on my paper.
'Surprisingly, the last time I met Miss Firefly is when I have a severe high fever. I watched my convulsing self.'
I continue writing. 'It made me wonder if I really watched myself in real-time. If that's the case, Is Miss Firefly?'
Few more minutes, our professor asks for our papers.
"The reason why I don't want you to put your names on it is that I would want you guys to study your classmate's paper and write your reaction paper about it. What do you think is the root cause of them creating their imaginary friend? How do you feel after reading the paper?"
I suddenly feel embarrassed. I should've invented a story instead.
It's fine George.
No one will know it's your paper.
Unless it's Shane.
I look at her. She seems excited about this activity.
"I wonder what their imaginary friends look like," she looks at me and smiles. "What's yours, George?"
"I'm not gonna tell you," I say and shake my head.
"I hope get yours then. I know your handwriting," Shane laughs.
"Mr... Greyson wouldn't be around for a while. He said that you have to finish that and leave it on his desk," Stacey says.
She hands the copies when her phone rings. She quickly finished distributing the copies and answered the call.
"Dmitri, you're not funny okay," she immediately walks out of the room while taking the call.
"Who's that?" Shane frowns. "She didn't even tell us who she is."
"Maybe his girlfriend," one of our classmates replies.
"No! He already had a girlfriend?"
"Oooh, that's why he didn't answer the question."
"But I thought you're the girlfriend?" Shane teases me and nudges my elbow.
I just roll my eyes in response.
"Hear that, baby?"
"Your heart is beating fast."
"And now it's beating faster."
He has a girlfriend and he kissed me!?
Oh God, Georgina.
Are you trying to ruin someone else's relationship?
Sigh.
It was he who kissed me.
It's not my fault.
My mind was swirling in my head that night and I don't know how to react to all the information I'd heard from him.
He has a girlfriend.
He has a girlfriend.
He has a girlfriend.
He has a girlfriend—
"Damn!" I startle when Shane exclaims. "Every week, our activity gets insanely difficult!" Her chocolate gaze glares at the photo references of female poses. "Did you two fight? Or something? Is this his punishment for you?"
I stare at the poses.
I don't even know where he is.
Where is he?
Did he find the lost wolf?
"Will he kill the werewolf?" I mutter.
"Werewolf? Again?" Shane exclaims. "I'm having a hard time with this figure drawing, but you are thinking of that story? Come on, George. Werewolves aren't real."
"The-the story has good a plot, though! As if it's real," I explain.
It is real.
* * *
Clarkson
I put the phone recording me on a drawing table. Our creator's drawing table. I'm even filming this with Ten-Ten's phone.
"Um..." I clear my throat and sit on our creator's chair.
"Hi!" I wave my hand at the camera. "Apologies. Our creator, MalyTenTen had a lot of things to do outside Wattpad life that's why this chapter is updated kind of off the schedule. Thank you for your understanding! I hope you're liking-no, loving the story." I grab the phone to turn the video off.
I try ending the video but I pressed the switch camera and filmed our exhausted creator on the other side of her room whose sleeping with her mouth open.
"Oops."
"Bye," I say before I end the video.
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