Chapter 4: Nightmare at Verona

Milo Pekraff rode up to the sidewalk in front of the dorm building on his motorcycle, stopped, turned off the engine and took his helmet off. Nancy reflected yet again how very good-looking her boyfriend was, with his loooooooooooong platinum blonde hair and ice blue eyes. He was riding a large, white motorcycle today, but he was so tall that his foot readily reached the ground to stabilize the bike. With his helmet resting on his leg, Milo raised his free hand and waved, grinning so that his eyes were squinched shut. "Hi, Nancy!" he greeted her, before setting the parking brake and stepping off his bike.

"Hey, Milo!" she called back, running to hug and kiss him. "You don't visit often enough, you know," she told him.

"I know," he agreed, still grinning, "but check out my new motorcycle!" He turned and gestured to where it sat parked behind him. "It's called 'The Tailgater'. It's a really cool hotrod my friend found for me at a great deal. It's twenty years old, but it handles really well!"

"That's great," Nancy told him, looking over the bike with appreciation. She knew a bit about motorcycles herself - one couldn't help it, hanging around Milo so much. "You would never guess its age just by looking at it, except for the style."

"Yeah!" Milo said enthusiastically. "Come on, let's go in. I don't want to miss your college party night!"

"He did what?" I said, aghast.

Nurse Polly sighed. "He left," she repeated. "Through the window, I'll bet. I don't think he could have snuck out past me through the front door of my office. I'm usually so careful about that."

I had come to check on Branton during my lunch period, only to find that he had disappeared. "What about his leg?" I asked, still concerned. "He was limping pretty badly."

"It's just a sprain, Ellen," Nurse Polly said. "I'm sure he'll be fine. Do you know him well?"

I shrugged. "I guess you could say that. We sit next to each other in most of my classes. Well, thanks. I'd better run so I don't miss my next class!"

"What did you do with Z?" I demanded, turning finally to look at Max.

"Huh?" he replied, blinking at me.

"My skateboard...?" I prompted.

"Oh, yeah! That. It's in my locker back at school."

I just stared at Max, unable to believe my ears. That - was - my - skateboard!

"A disco ball? Really?" Milo asked, grinning at Nancy from underneath the silver party mask he was now wearing that covered the top half of his face.

"It's kind of retro," she agreed, sipping her coffee as she sat on the tall barstool next to him, "but the freshmen get a kick out of it."

The rest of the students had finally given up and returned to their dorm rooms for the night, but Milo and Nancy had decided to stay behind at the party by themselves to talk. The disco ball lit up the dim party room in cool (if retro) patterns of colored light, and Nancy thought it made Milo look even more dashing.

"So," Milo said, resting his elbow on the countertop. "How are the students treating you, dorm counselor? Are they misbehaving and giving you a rough time?"

"No, of course not," Nancy replied proudly. "The students in on my floor are all very well-behaved! Students only get in trouble when the counselor doesn't know what they are doing. I actually feel kinda sorry for those kids."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Milo disagreed. "My counselor never was able to keep me out of trouble."

Nancy grinned. "Then he must not have known what he was doing."

Smoke...

Fire - screaming, and collapsing pieces of building. Nancy ran through the dorm hallway, horrified by the destruction she saw around herself. Why? she thought. Why would someone bomb Verona State?

"No!" she shouted, shaking from head to toe as she caught sight of a wounded student laying on the floor of his dorm room. Running to kneel by him, she scooped him up. "This is terrible! What's going on here?"

All around, Nancy continued hearing the terrible sounds of explosions and screaming.

"NO!"

"NO!"

Nancy sat bolt upright in bed, shaking and clutching her sheets. "What a nightmare," she said, shuddering. In sharp contrast with the disturbing dream she'd just had, bright sunshine filtered in through her window between the off-white blinds.

"Yikes!" she yelped, leaping out of bed as she caught sight of her clock. "I overslept - it's nine a.m. already! Good thing I don't have classes today."

I know what'll make me feel better, Nancy thought to herself, still feeling shaken. I'll go visit Milo and tell him about this dream. He's always got something smart to say - I'm sure he'll cheer me up!

"Oh, toast crumbs!" Nancy swore, slamming both fists into the steering wheel. "Come on, baby," she pleaded with her car, "don't have a flat tire!" Nancy pushed the car door open and stepped out. Sure enough, it was a flat tire. "Oh, now what am I gonna do?" she groaned, running a hand through her short black hair.

"Do you need some help?" a young and slightly condescending voice asked from behind her. Nancy turned to see an Asian boy in his mid-teens, holding a stack of schoolbooks under his right arm and a red-and-black skateboard under his left.

"Yeah, I've got a flat tire," Nancy explained gratefully, "but I don't know how to change it. Do you?"

"Sure," the boy agreed readily, setting his stuff down on the pavement behind her car. She opened the trunk for him, and he pulled out the jack, setting to work right away.

"You know," he said, as he pumped the car up on the jack, "if you're the kind of woman who can't change her own tire when you get a flat, you should take a man along to do it for you."

Nancy stared at him in disbelief. "Oh, come on!" she snapped. "Gimme a break. I've had a rough day, okay?" Then she did a quick double-take. "Hey! Shouldn't you be in school?"

The teenage boy didn't answer her, but just finished changing her tire. "There you go," he said finally. "See ya." Without another word, he picked up his books, hopped on his skateboard, and skated away.

"You should really be in SCHOOL, you know!" Nancy called after him, but he just ignored her and kept going.