T E N

I was flying. High up, so high that all I would have seen was white, if not for the clear, bright blue sky. Next to me was someone, a little boy. He looked a little like a younger Max, but his hair was longer, to the bottom of his ear, and looked like pure, beautifully polished gold, and his eyes were the exact color as an emerald. He had wings. Not angel wings, with feathers and everything, but moth's wings. They were pretty plain, but I thought they were beautiful.

I had wings too, I could feel them. Four thin dragonfly wings. When they caught in the sun, I knew that they would change colors, be all the hues of the rainbow. They came out of the place between my shoulder blades, like the way a little girl's sparkling fabric butterfly wings met in her back.

There was a little breeze, just enough so that the sun's warmth was welcoming. I felt like I was absorbing it all up, like the way a plant does. I giggled, rolling around in the air.

Then it changed. The happy feeling was gone. It was sad, and reeked of death. It was raining. Some one cried out in the distance. And the little boy had grown up. I started to cry, my tears only adding to the ones that the gray clouds produced. It was dark. I felt a feeling of foreboding, and then it was gone. The way everything looked, all of it.

We were back in the sunny sky. The boy was young again. So was I. He took my hand as we started to descend from the air, and soon we we in a sunny forest clearing. I looked at the sky again, and saw was blinded by the sun. Then I saw all the people in the tree houses. The little ones, my age, were trying to fly. Some had bright butterfly wings, other had ladybug's. I smiled, and went to play with them, even though the little boy wanted me to come with him to the big oak tree nearby. But I didn't want to go home yet, I was--

My 'alarm clock' was ringing. I rolled over and opened my cell phone, then closed it again, shutting off the alarm. Why the heck did school start this early? Forcing my self out of bed, I got ready, then ran downstairs.

I grabbed a piece of toast, then ran out to the bus. It was raining, but I didn't really care. I let the water soak my hair and just grabbed the heater seat on the bus. I stared out the window, at the rainy world. And for a minute I thought I saw a little winged person come out of a hole in a tree and wave at me. I blinked, and it was gone. I was just tired, I guess.

"Oh I'm a gummy bear, yes I'm a gummy bear..." It was lunch, and Blaze had decided to haunt me with an off-key The Gummy Bear Song. "Three times you can bite me!"

"Hey Blaze?" I asked politely. "Could you please shut up!"
He looked like he was thinking for awhile. "Nope."

"Ok." I whacked him on the head.

"OW!"

I smiled, and started staring off in space. I was thinking about my dream and what happened this morning, even though I knew that winged-people weren't real. No such thing as faeries...

But what if? What if they were real?

I dismissed the thought. No such thing, I decided.

"Yo, Kim!" yelled Jazz.

"Yeah?"

"Boyfriend wants you."

"'Kay." I turned to Spike. "Yeah?"

"Movies tonight?" he asked.

"Sure."

But I don't think I was as excited as I should have been.

In the dark movie theater, I sat silently, not watching the film. My mind was elsewhere.

I was thinking about that feeling I had when Spike asked me to the movies. When my boyfriend asked me out on a date. I should have been excited, shouldn't I? I should have been... I wasn't though. I hadn't really cared... I was distracted by the dream I had. Why did that dream matter so much? What was it about? I racked my brain. Who was in it?

Max.

No, not Max. A younger Max. Not even Max. Just someone who looked like Max. I wasn't dreaming about Max. That might mean I liked him. I didn't. Right?

Yeah. I didn't. Can't. I have a boyfriend. A wonderful boyfriend, who is right next to me. I don't like Max. I know that. We're just friends...

I felt Spike put his arm around me. My first instinct was to move away, but I only moved to rest my head on him. It was right, familiar. I breathed deeply, letting my mind drift off again, to more faithful thoughts...

"Dinner?" asked Spike when the movie was done.

"Awesome," I said, smiling. Yeah, this was the guy I liked. Not Max. Spike. "Where we going?"

"Where ever you want."