"How long this time?" I ask, tickling her neck with my nose. "Long enough." She strokes my hair lovingly, and I pout. It's never long enough. "I want to stay." She chuckles. "I know you do, but you can't." She says simply. "Why not?" I ask, pulling back to meet her eyes. "Because you have to wake up."
My eyes shoot open, and for a moment, I think I've died. Then my eyes adjust to the darkness of my room. I rub the palms of my hands into them and groan. You think by now I'd be used to them. To her.
But I'm not. It almost hurts. To feel her warmth, her weight float away from me so fast. Sometimes I wake up with my arms wrapped around myself, like she had just been there. I don't know who she is, but she must be important, I've decided. They say you only dream faces you've seen before, but I'd remember that face.
I lay back down and wring my hands over my stomach as I go through all I can remember of her. She's beautiful, almost indescribable, but I'll try. She has long, thick hair the color of ravens. I sigh happily as I remember running my fingers through it once. Her eyes are this intense green, I can only compare to moss after a hard rain.
Her kiss...its heaven. I let out a frustrated breath. It's just as intangible. I close my eyes for a few moments, willing my mind to stay blank so I can fall asleep...
No such luck.
...
"Tori, you haven't touched your breakfast. Is something wrong?" My mother asks. "Yeah, you look terrible." Trina adds, pointing a fork in my direction. I sigh and continue prodding my eggs. "I'm fine. I just had another...nightmare."
"Oh, poor thing." My mother coos. "Are you sure you don't want to talk to someone about them?" I squint hard at my plate. "Maybe... Maybe I should." She claps. "Oh! Wonderful! So what are they?" She asks excitedly. I roll my eyes. "Not with you, mom." She looks disappointed, but continues. "So who then? A therapist? A stranger?"
"No, mom." I say tiredly. "Then who?" I try to think. "What about Lane?" Trina suggests. My face scrunches up. "Our guidance counselor?" She nods and continues eating. "I guess that could work." Hes not exactly a stranger, and he's not someone I care enough to be embarrassed in front of...
...
"Uh huh, and how long have you been having these dreams?" "Since I was... 14 I guess." "Ah ha." He says. "Puberty." I cringe. "Tell me, do you have a boyfriend?" I shake my head. "Girlfriend? Partner?" I keep shaking my head. "Have you ever?" I've been on a few dates, but it always felt wrong, like I was supposed to be somewhere else. "No."
He scribbles something down. "Maybe..." He starts carefully. "Maybe you're lonely. Try going out on a few dates. Who knows. Maybe next time we speak you'll be dreaming of someone else." The words make my stomach flip.
But my brain knows hes right. It's time to stop dreaming...
"In all my years as an educator I have never, never met a student so intolerable!" We both face the yelling behind his door. It flies open and in walks Mrs. Hayes holding a girl by the back of her shirt. Her face is obscured by a large, bloody rag. Is she okay?
Lane voices my worries. "Yes yes, she's fine. She's already been to the nurses, nothings broken." She tosses the girl in the room. "Her attitude is what needs fixing." "What happened?" He asks. "She got in a fight! With Ryder Daniels, my prize pupil!" She shouts, then narrows her eyes at the girl. "How is he supposed to perform with his face looking like that?" The girl just shrugs her shoulders and I hear a muffled chuckle.
The woman gasps and storms off. "Please sit down." Lane says to her, motioning to the spot next to me. She takes it. "This is Tori, another student here." She faces me an extends the hand not nursing her face. "Jade." She says gruffly. I shake her hand, and her eyes peek over the cloth. My breath catches. I'd known those eyes anywhere, I look into them every night. She seems just as lost, and she lets me brush her hair away from her forehead, revealing more of her to me.
"Jade..." Lane thinks aloud. "Jade West?" I yank my hand back and she blinks rapidly before facing him. "Um, yeah. That's me." It's her. Her voice, her eyes, her hair. "You just transferred here, correct?" Her eyes stray to me for a moment and she nods. Lane lets out a heavy sigh. "Well welcome to Hollywood Arts."