Chapter One - Dreams of Natasha

Joel found himself lying on a bed of grass, staring up at the sun. What the hell? He could've sworn he was on his couch at home a few minutes ago. He sat up, wiping his eyes groggily. Where was he? A meadow, apparently, Joel thought to himself stupidly. It was filled with hundreds of little flowers of every shape and colour, and he could just make out the bubbling of a stream nearby. Joel looked around. He was starting to panic.

"Hello?" his voice echoed off the trees surrounding him. "Hello, is anyone here?"

"Joel!" came a voice from the edge of the meadow. It was like music… like the voice of an angel… Joel whipped his head around, and saw the girl of his dreams standing at the edge of the forest, smiling her breathtaking smile, lights dancing in her chocolate orbs.

"Natasha?" He exclaimed. He stood up, tripping and sliding all over the place. Hold on - why was the grass so slippery all of a sudden?

She let out a tinkly laugh, making him forget his recent confusion.

"Oh Joel, how could I have chosen that jock over you!" She You the coolest guy in the school! You're so smart and kind and, oh, of course I will be your girlfriend!"

He eyes widened in absolute shock. How could this be happening? And why were they in a meadow?

Natasha Golden had never paid any attention to him. Ever. And here she was, staring at him like he was some form of miracle. He had never been so confused in his life.

But, it wasn't like he wasn't complaining.

"Natasha! I've waited for this moment ever since I laid eyes on you!" he blabbered stupidly, still staring at her goddess-like beauty. He was completely and utterly gobsmacked.

"Oh, Joel! Come here! Come here and hold me close to you!" she screamed and she started running towards him in slow-motion. Her hair flowed behind her like a-

Wait, what?

He looked down at his own feet, to discover that he was running in slow motion too. He was just about to ask Natasha why he couldn't control his own legs, when he looked up and his dream-girl was now-where to be found.

"Natasha?" he called out. But there was no answer. Suddenly, Joel was falling, falling into a dark, dismal abyss…

"Joel, Joel! Are you all right?"

Someone was slapping his face.

"W-What?"

Joel opened his eyes. A small hand was waving in front of his face, and he could just hear the blurred buzzing of the television. The meadow, falling, Natasha … it was all just a dream. He seemed to have slid off the sofa and onto the floor. Carla was kneeling next to him, and he could see his mate looking down at him, with a very fake look of concern on his features.

"You scared me there, man!" Danny blabbered as he pulled Joel to his feet. "I thought we lost you there for a minute!"

"Dude, I -Get off, Carla!" (she had been dabbing his forehead with a wet cloth for half a minute now) "I fell off the couch, not off a building." Joel replied, still nursing his disappointment that Natasha Golden still had no idea who he was.

"I'm not talking about that! I'm talking out your sleep-talking! Natasha, Natasha! Oh I love you, Natasha!" cried Dan, doing an exaggerated dramatization of a sleeping Joel. He then began re-enacting the apparent fit Joel had, laughing manically while rolling around on the carpet like a retard.

Carla lost it - she ended up on the floor too, both of the fools in hysterics. Joel scowled - stupid, annoying best friends…

"Aha, aha, yep. I see how it is!" he ranted pathetically. "Don't worry that I'm in love with a girl that doesn't even know I exist! Just go ahead and make fun of me! It's cool, it's cool!" He got up and walked angrily over to the stairs.

Joel had a real temper on him, and though he had tried to curb this issue, he could turn into an absolute Hulk if pushed enough. But his mates' favourite pastime was trying to tease him into this state of rage, which they thought was hilarious because Joel was a such a scrawny person and looked like, in Danny's terms, 'A beardless midget having an exorcism.' Joel was still trying to figure out how this made any sense.

"Aww, come on Joey! It was a joke, a joke I swear!" Carla pleaded, trying to smother her giggles. Joel shut his eyes. Breathe in, breathe out… he told himself. Just ignore them and they'll go away… Joel always did this when his friends annoyed him. Too bad this 'calming process' gave him a bit of a glazed look, which made his friends start voicing the opinion that he is mentally retarded.

But it might've worked this time, if Joel hadn't heard Danny mutter 'It must be his time of the month again."

Joel whipped around, a funny ringing in his ears. "What are you even doing here? Get out of my house, both of you!" he screeched.

"And the Hulk comes out!" screeched Danny moronically, still on the floor. Before Joel could run over and strangle his mate, Carla stepped in. "Look, we're sorry, okay? And don't listen to Danny - he's just being his usual bitchy self." she said loudly.

Danny glared daggers at her. "Besides," she said matter-of-factly, "you asked us to come over. You said you wanted to work the English essay together?"

Joel groaned. The Shakespeare essay! How could he have forgotten? "Dammit! When's the draft due?"

"Like Monday." Her words made Joel's heart drop in his chest.

Joel stumbled over to the couch and collapsed. "That's it," he declared miserably. "I'm over. I have failed English."

"No you haven't, you melodramatic moron." his cousin told him. "Besides, only smart people bother with drafts. The actual thing's not due for weeks! I mean, you've started right?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then we're fine! I can help you-"

She started going on and on about evidence and themes and charts and stuff. Danny looked a bit overwhelmed.

"-and we can do it all tonight!"

Joel groaned. He did not feel like doing an essay about Romeo and Juliet tonight.

"You're ruining my Saturday." he whined.

"Yuhav" mumbled Danny, who was now stuffing his face at the refrigerator.

"Look," he said, having swallowed the last morsel of tuna pie, or whatever he was eating, "Lets just go out to the park now and do the essay tomorrow. You can help me, too, Carla," waltzing over and putting an arm around her shoulders. "I've hardly looked at the sheet." he said airily, conveniently missing Carla's disapproving stare. "If I have to endure one more Shakespearian blabbering, or another Natasha episode, I'm going to puke. So get your stuff and let's all go down to the park!" he sounded like a begging child.

But it wasn't like they were gonna refuse; Danny had already dragged them outside and pulled them down the street anyway. So, laughing and joking, the three friends set off down the street towards Shakespeare's Park, blissfully unaware of the adventure that would meet them there.