Little Sweet Dreamer - Wattys Edition

Chapter 7

"Hey!" Ana chirped as I sat next to her and Blake in homeroom on Monday. I nodded curtly. Immediately she sobered up and shot Blake a wary look. I fixated my attention on my phone before they could ask any questions. An ever-present tension danced around our table.

"Haze... something bothering you?" Blake asked. Yes, actually, but I can't tell you that because I wasn't supposed to know. But instead, I shook my head, desperately wanting to focus on the words from the story I was reading. But, my eyes skimmed the same sentence repeatedly as their eyes stayed on me.

"You're acting weird," Ana said pointedly. "Something's up. What is it?"

I wouldn't tell them; they didn't want to let me know they had feelings for each other. So why share the reason I was upset?

Our table sat in silence until the bell rang. I waved and then zipped out of the classroom.

Amongst the crowd, Grey strolled down the hall, his group of friends surrounding him. They were in conversations amongst themselves, but his eyes drilled holes into mine. Heat flooded into my cheeks and my eyes watered from it. Finally, I looked away and navigated the sea of miserable high school students.

Andy stood in the doorway of math, and I was instantly relieved to see him. I threw myself into his arms; he clumsily caught me.

"You okay?" he asked, surprise laced into his voice. I nodded, too tense to do anything but that. "Were you running from someone?"

I removed myself from him, shaking my head. I spun around to watch Grey's form disappear into his class down the hall. I reluctantly pulled out my phone and typed, yes but for no reason. But that wasn't true. I was worried because he remembered that he had a dream about me. And then we were in another dream together. I was in dangerous new territory.

As I became aware that I was still in Andy's arms, Mr. Johnson said, "Ahem, enough with the lovey display; I want to start class." We both blushed with shame and hurried to our seats. How long had the class died down? That was so embarrassing.

I could hardly focus. Grey, Ana, Blake, and my embarrassment robbed me of my focus. Class stretched out at an agonizingly slow pace but was still over too quickly. I slowly packed my things and headed toward the door. Andy caught up with me, silently escorting me to my next class. I nodded appreciatively, which he returned with a smile before I entered English. Unfortunately, he had Spanish, so he disappeared down the hall with a mass of other students.

Mindy already sat in our corner, her bag as a placeholder for me. She looked up from her phone as I got close with an expectant smile.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite person," she teased as she moved her bag. I rolled my eyes and slid into the seat next to her.

I searched through my bag for my Macbeth book when a familiar blond head bounded into the room. Her hazel eyes no longer had tears ready to overflow, and her pin-straight hair fell past her shoulders, bursting over her backpack.

Sasha. She was gorgeous, but not because she was blond—that disclaimer needs to be put out there. I swear you could dye her hair green or shave her head for all I care, and she'd still be stunning.

I scoffed. Why wouldn't Grey have been dating somebody like her? She possessed the looks, and her figure wasn't horrendous either. It just proves how shallow he is. She probably didn't even have a fantastic personality.

Whoa there, that sounded mighty jealous. I shook the thought away. I didn't focus much on English as well. After class, I attempted to escape the room with Mindy. I wanted to get as far away from Sasha and out of the halls before I could potentially see Grey again. Unfortunately, my wish was short-lived as I bumped into him right outside the door.

"Well, what a pleasant surprise," he said, smugness and sarcasm hugging onto his words.

"Hi," I signed nervously.

"Remember, you still owe me a dance. I'll be on the lookout for you." He then pushed past me into the classroom. I saw Sasha looking at him as he approached with an innocent and surprised look.

I wasn't surprised. It was that dream. When Grey saw her cry, he felt slightly moved even though he was angry.

"Are they still dating?" Mindy whispered. I shrugged, but I was sure we would find out soon enough.

***

Mindy and I sat at our usual table for lunch. Andy, Arnold, Blake, and Ana still hadn't shown up, but neither of us had the patience to wait for them as we tore into our food. Finally, Blake and Ana approached us, sitting with me on my side of the table.

"Hazel, are you mad at us?" Blake asked as he was the closest to me. Ana and his concern filled me with guilt. I knew in my heart that this wasn't the way to solve this. I was still mad, but for now, I would let their charade go on until I found the right time to call them out for it.

"No, just girl things have me feeling a little off today," I signed. Blake lit up at my response, which caused Ana to whisper across him, "PMS?"

I nodded.

"Why didn't you just say that?" she asked, engulfing me in a hug. "I thought we did something wrong."

They had, though. And I was angry, although it was primarily irrational anger. I'm sure there was a good reason why Blake and Ana wouldn't tell me about their feelings. And even though I felt guilty lying to them, at least Mindy wouldn't catch any heat from them for slipping up.

Sasha and Grey walked into the cafeteria together. His face was flush with anger, and Sasha looked smug, even though I could tell she was trying to show otherwise—her face twitched between being the victim to being excited for whatever was about to go down. The two of them side by side was enough to get the whole cafeteria in a trance as they approached their usual table. Grey slammed his hand down where his buddies were, Evan included. His eyes went wide as Grey harshly spewed out words that weren't loud enough to hear. People who were closest to them stared at Evan, horrified.