"Can someone please tell me the electron configuration….."

I kept hearing these noises in the back of my mind, but I had no idea what they meant or where they were coming from. I was floating away and there was a weird turning in my stomach. All I could see was a boy, a boy that looked hauntingly familiar, but I couldn't remember. Then suddenly I felt a hand on my arm, but I didn't know whose it was.

"Mara! Wake up Mar." There was a voice again and this time the hand was shaking me furiously. I was in darkness for a split second more, until there was a sudden blinding light. I blinked a few times, trying to adjust myself to wherever I was.

I saw a girl in front of me, about my age. She was staring at me in astonishment.

"Mara, are you okay?" She looked concerned for some reason.

I looked around slowly, trying to remember where I was and what had happened.

"What the hell happened to you? One second you're sitting there, perfectly awake and fine, and then the next, you fall out of your desk in a dead faint." Yes, I did know this girl. Lucy Lammack, best friend since forever.

I tried shaking my head, seeing clearly where I was. Lucy wasn't the only person there. I was in a classroom full of students, all staring at me.

"No. It-it can't be. He was here. I swear," I looked Lucy straight into the eyes. She looked back, purely concerned.

"Mara? What is going on?"

I shook my head, not believing it, "He was here. He was. Right in the front of the class room. Standing right there. Not saying anything. Just there."

Every one was silent. Even the teacher spoke nothing, waiting for me to stop. But I knew what I was talking about. I hadn't imagined him.

"Mr. Brockton, I think Mara needs to go home," Lucy turned to the teacher, as she began to raise me off of the floor.

"No, I'm serious," I tried defending myself, and I resisted as she pulled, but she was too strong. She pulled me up onto my feet, but I was weak and tired and everything was a daze.

"Mar, look at me," Lucy held me by the shoulders and her blue eyes bored into mine, "You were hallucinating. I don't know who you were talking about, but it was just your imagination."

I hated hearing that word, imagination, when it was used as blame.

I gave up and let my shoulders fall, lowering my head.

The class remained silent until Mr. Brockton spoke, "Yes, Lucy, please bring her to the office."

I wanted to say something, but as I was about to, I changed my mind, knowing it would do no good.

I went with it and let Lucy lead me to the office. She grabbed my hand as we walked. She seemed nervous or anxious, every five seconds pulling a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

I was silent, not wanting to say anything that I knew wouldn't be believed anyway.

Lucy dragged me closely behind until we got to our destination, the office. Just as we reached the principal's office, she halted me to a complete stop and yet again, looked me dead in the eye.

"Mara, I think it's unusual what just happened, and I know it was just a hallucination, but I think I know just exactly who you saw in your mind and why you fainted." She looked so sincere and utterly serious, that I was knocked out of my breath.

She continued to stare at me as she tucked yet another strand of her loose, chocolate brown hair behind her ear.

I began to feel even stranger than I already did. I didn't feel like I was actually here, in this school. It was too real to be a dream, but too strange to be real. I wanted to wrap my mind around everything that I had just experienced in the last few minutes. Who was that odd, familiar looking boy I had seen in my mind? Why did I feel like even though I knew Lucy was my best friend, that we didn't really know each other?

But it became too much to bear and I wiped all questions from my mind.

Lucy gave me another concerned look as I stared into empty, open space, "As a matter of fact, I am certain I know who was haunting you."

She started to pace back and forth.

The world seemed to quiet, I felt like Lucy and I were the only ones in it.

There was not a person in sight around us, and I couldn't hear a single noise coming from any direction.

"What? Who?" I asked eagerly, desperately wanting to know her answer.

She opened her mouth to speak, but at that exact moment, the office door opened, and someone peeked through.

"Hi Principal Rabanaugh," Lucy spoke quickly.

"Did you two need to see me?" He spoke, almost impatiently.

Lucy looked at me quickly, as if to see how I was doing, "Yes, sir, we did."

The Principal motioned us inside. But I didn't particularly want to. I just wanted to hear Lucy's answer.

Lucy sat me down at the nearest chair and stood behind me as Principal Rabanaugh sat down behind his desk.

He folded his hands and awaited that someone begin to speak.

I sat impatiently as Lucy started explaining how I had fainted. She acted so concerned, that I knew she knew something that maybe even I didn't.

Finally, Principal Rabanaugh called my parents, and I got to leave the office, and the school.

I needed to clear things.

As soon as Lucy shut the door behind herself, I asked her, "Who was it? In my hallucination."

She took a quick breath. She looked afraid to say it, as if she thought if she did, things could never be the same again.

"It was Christopher Chambers."