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AVERY
She was there again, just like she was always in my dreams.
Her long, blonde hair, her elegant blue eyes, and her pale skin, were all so clear when I was dreaming it felt so real. But who was she, and why was she always haunting my dreams?
That night, when I crawled into bed, exhausted, she was there again, her blonde ringlets swooshing in the breeze, her eyes serious. I backed away from her, unsure of what to do. She looked so holy, so angelic, that I suddenly was unsure what I was supposed to do in front of this magnificent being. I wanted to ask her who she was, and why she was always in my dreams, but I was too scared.
It had always been the same, her just standing there, eyes locked on me. But that night, for the first time in all the dreams I’ve been having, she spoke, her voice soft and melodious: “Avery, I have finally managed to contact you. I cannot stay for long, however, but all your answers are within a friend. Remember, you are the ruler, and remember to ask Danica everything you want to know…”
And then I woke up, shooting from my bed faster than a rocket leaves the earth’s atmosphere. My breathing was ragged, like my lungs weren’t getting enough air. I didn’t know what I was afraid of, what made me shoot out of the bed, breathing ragged, sweating buckets. But her voice had seemed so delicate, so perfect, the whole thing was unreal. I hardly knew I dreamt it.
And who was Danica? After going through a bunch of friend’s names and last names, even the ones from preschool and elementary, I was pretty sure I had NO friend with the name Danica, not even in the last names I remembered. The name totally mystified me.
The next day, dark circles were totally visible under my eyes. Even tough I had slept like a baby something was still bothering me, nagging at me to stay awake, like a ringing inside my head I was unable to turn off. I sat stiffly at the breakfast table, tired, not having the right mood to go to school. My mom noticed, like she always did, that I was not my usual self.
“Honey, are you alright?” she asked me, though she knew perfectly well I wasn’t. Years ago, when the dreams first started, I already told my mom about it, and all she told me was: “Don’t worry your little head off, dear. It’s only a dream.”
But I knew it wasn’t. Something inside me told me what I was experiencing every night was not your average dream. But how could I explain that to her? I kept quiet.
I stared down at my bacon and eggs, feeling unusually not hungry. My mom glanced down at my un-eaten plate of eggs and bacon and sighed. “Is it not cooked right, or is it too burnt?”
I shook my head, smiling groggily at my mother. “No, no, breakfast is fine, it’s just-” I took a second of rubbing my empty stomach before continuing. “-I’m not very hungry today. I think I’ll just have a toast before school.”
My mother nodded but didn’t approve. I snatched a piece of toast from the plate in front of me and pulled my bag onto my shoulders. After waving mom a goodbye, I headed off to school.
Another boring day of Avery Melissa.
**********
“It just doesn’t make sense,” Jackie, my best mate said as we headed to school together. “I mean, how does one have the same dream over and over again? I have a feeling that you’re very close to going nuts.”
I elbowed her in the ribs. “Thanks a lot for that, Jackie. Now I feel SO MUCH better,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. Jackie smiled, knowing I was being sarcastic but going along with it anyway. “Glad to help, Av!”
I kicked her in the shins, but I couldn’t stop a smile from stretching across my face. She can be SO ridiculous at times. She laughed as we walked through a pair of rusty old gates and entered school bounds, students of all ages filling the place.
Once we reached our classroom we sat in our usual seats and waited for class to begin. I was sitting at the second last row, the chair beside me the only empty seat in the classroom. It was not like I was especially unpopular or anything, it was Mr. Groves bad taste in arranging people’s seats.
However, just before class was about to begin, a girl slipped into our class. At first, the whole class thought she was a girl who found the wrong classroom. It wasn’t until Mr. Groves introduced her to us that we knew she was a transfer student.
“Class,” Mr. Groves said, his voice shaky and tired before the day even began. Teaching in our class long enough can do that to you. Everyone seemed to have other things to do and was totally ignoring the shy girl and the teacher standing in front of the classroom.
Mr. Groves clapped his hands hard together to get people’s attention, then continued: “Class, this is Danica Forsythia. She is a new student in this class, and I hope you all will treat her nicely. Now, Danica, choose any seat you want in this classroom.”
Being the only empty seat in the class, Danica slipped into the seat next to me. I stared at her in amazement. Danica, wasn’t that the name the girl in my dreams told me about? I thought, staring intensely at her until I knew it was rude to stare and had to look away.
Mr. Groves was in front of the classroom, saying something about mathematical equations, but I wasn’t listening to him. In fact, I was more interested in the shy girl sitting next to me.
She was actually quite pretty, with long red hair tied into a braid and glistening green eyes. I inched closer to her, but she seemed to notice me and hit me with a voice so intense and angry I froze: “What are you doing? Leave me alone!!”
Her green eyes bored into mine, and I swallowed hard. I didn’t know a girl that looked this shy could have such a hard voice, but I wasn’t ready to give up. “Hey, so your name is Danica Forsythia? That’s a nice name.”
“Are you lesbian?” she hit me back, and I was taken aback. I shook my head violently, and continued: “No, I am not. I was just wondering whether….well…” it seemed harder to say it, now that I knew what she was like. What if she said no? “….you could be my friend?”
Her response wasn’t anything I had expected. Her face reddened, and gulped down a lump in her throat. For a moment, we just stared at each other, until tears started rolling down Danica’s face and splattering her open textbook. I was shocked. What did I do? Did I say something wrong? I could see Jackie looking at me, a face which said: What did you do to make her cry?
I gestured back at her: I didn’t do anything wrong!!! and stared back at Danica, her hands covering her mouth, unable to do anything as tears continued to fall down her face. I didn’t know what to do, so I just said: “Um, are you alright? Did I say something wrong?”
She wiped away her tears and smiled at me, her eyes sparkling in the dim light. “Oh, it’s nothing, really it is. It’s just that, I’m…so happy. I was never asked by anyone to become his or her friend,” and I was taken aback again. This girl had no friends? Was that why she was so protective against herself?
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