Chapter 1

Ali tasted like airplane peanuts and mint chapstick rubbed away on the back of her hand. She had called it her secret to mystifyingly soft lips, and she swore no one had to know but me. Maybe everyone she kissed knew, or maybe she'd just put some on, just for me, in this dream. I barely reacted enough to kiss her back. I didn't mind, though; it felt more like that was for Alison than for me.

I relaxed, sinking back into the jean jacket on her lap and her sun-kissed legs. I definitely could've fallen asleep like that. Or woken up? I had to be dreaming, an after effect from the car's carbon monoxide. But even if I was dreaming, if I woke up, then Ali would go away again, and I'd be right back to jolting awake at four in the morning and curling up by the window until my heart slowed down. Back to looking over my shoulder to tell her a joke and doing a double take at every blonde girl in the distance.

Before I even opened my eyes, I was shaking my head. Begging her, "Ali, you can't go."

She glanced down at me, and I knew she'd say that she had to leave, just like she did every dream. But she said, "You can come with me."

I shook my head at that too. It felt heavier, or my neck did. I sat up so I could support myself, and she kept a hand on my upper back to guide me. I never ran with Alison, not in any of my dreams. She always got away from me, or I did something stupid like ask about what the other girls would say. What would happen if for once I just went?

She said, "Don't worry about the other girls. They'll be fine without you." A bit of bitterness crept in. "They were fine without me."

"But they—" I stopped myself. The rest of my sentence was they actually like me. The follow up question would've been do you, Alison? Did you ever like me?

"We're running out of time," she said. There we go. Back on script. "It only takes one word, Em, and we can go. Far away from A and her sick games. Don't you want that?" Ali leaned forward. "Don't you want to be with me?"

"But my parents," I said. Though, I'd see them when I woke up, wouldn't I?

Ali brushed her thumb along my lips. "We'll send them a sign, okay?"

Okay. I stared at her instead of answering. Stared as she did back, pleading with me like I did with her, begging as openly as she could. She had to be lonely, wherever she was. Maybe together, maybe then, we could both be happy.

"Okay."

Ali's smile was blinding. Then Ali scooted back, so she could get off the grass, and she grabbed the jacket from her lap and pulled her arms through the sleeves. She stood up, then held her hand out to help me up. I barely glanced back at that barn before taking her hand and following as Ali tugged me into a run.

I wasn't quite sure where we were going. All I knew was I hoped we'd get to Paris before I woke up again.