11

The next morning I woke up in a horribly fast motion. I had that dream again and it was more intense than usual.

I rubbed my eyes and found it strange how that dream took a long time of absence.

"And it changed again," I whispered to myself as I thought back to the scene at the island.

I remember that person again, the same one that walked up to me on the island, but this time, I had a chance to touch it on the cheek as it stood before me. I couldn't see their face but I did remember seeing it inaudibly speak my name as it began to reach up for my own face, but then that was when I woke up.

I hit my mattress. "What the hell is up with this dream?!" I complained.

My mom knocked on my door. "Aracely! Get up or you'll be late!"

I glanced at the time. I was twenty minutes behind.

I jumped off my bed and furiously headed into the bathroom. On the way there, I bumped into somebody, hard. "Ow!" I fell to the floor, face forward.

At first I assumed it was my brother but when I heard a low apologetic voice, I was stunned.

I turned around at the moment Ronnie let out his hand to me.

"It's not like you to be up this late," he commented as I took his hand and he helped me up.

"Thanks. Yeah, I had some crazy dream that kept me deep in slumber so, you know. " I simply answered along with a half-hearted chuckle.

He frowned and his only reply, "Oh." Then walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

"Hey, wait!" I threw my body against the door and knocked repeatedly. "I'm really running late so let me go in first… please! Come on! I really care about my tardiness!" Instead of a verbal answer, I heard the shower head turn on. "Come on, Ronnie! Don't be like that! He--y!"

I inhaled and exhaled, inhaled and exhaled, etc, etc. I barged into the classroom with seconds to spare before the late bell rang. I had just made it on time.

Before sitting down, I glared over at Ronnie. He had his head down like usual. Like if nothing was out of the ordinary. I muttered and waved a fist at him.

"What are you doing?" Vita chuckled.

I exhaled with relief and tried to sustain my breathing. When I calmed I answered, "Angrily cussing at Ronnie."

She smiled and laughed. "Why?"

"Because that son-of-a-bitch almost had me late to class." I quickly explained the morning story before Mrs. Johnson began class.

Vita laughed some more.

About ten minutes into the lecture about paragraphs, I could have sworn Tina, the girl who sits two rows away from me, would occasionally keep staring at me.

Cautiously, I turned my head to the right to peek at her and when I had done that, of course she quickly turned her head away.

What the hell?

Then, all of a sudden, Clair, another girl who sits a few seats behind me on the row to my left, glanced over at me. She started too.

This time, with no hesitation, I turned to her. She did the same reaction as Tina.

I scowled and turned back to the teacher before I got noticed by her.

While trying to ignore them and pay attention to Mrs. Johnson, I noticed Tina turned again, but this time she wasn't staring at me but at someone behind me. She was staring at Ronnie, I was sure.

It could have been a coincidence but I was pretty sure Clair had done the same thing. Both girls had locked eyes on him.

I really wanted to know if Ronnie was paying attention or not, but judging by the way those girls kept on staring, I assumed he still had his head down, or was just extremely gullible. But then again, this is Ronnie, he most likely could be playing his great acting role in ignoring them… or maybe not. Maybe he actually did turn to them but they just didn't care… Ugh, I wanted to turn around so badly.

I shifted my eyes to my paper and kept taking notes. Whatever. I'll just try to ignore it for now. Those girls are probably on drugs, anyways.

Forty minutes later when the bell rang, I turned around.

Ronnie was busy placing his papers away in his backpack.

What the hell, so does this mean he was awake and working? I wondered. Did he notice those girls?

Tina and Clair were already heading out the door with no second glances.

"Hey, are you alright?" Vita whispered.

I looked at her. "Huh? What?"

She pursed her lips. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head. "Nothing… It's just that… Eh, forget it."

She didn't question my answer and grabbed her bag. "Well, let's head to our next class."

I placed my stuff away and was about to stand up but quickly had to sit back down because Ronnie began to walk past me in our small row isle, then out towards the door, lost in the crowd.

I stared after him.

"Let's go," Vita spoke, snapping me out from my gaze.

I nodded and grabbed my bag.

The rest of the day felt awkward. It could of all been me, all in my head, but I'm seriously not that paranoid. I felt as though the majority of the student body (most female) were literally staring at me, along with some common whispers.

If I thought first period was creepy, this was creepy to the worst.

They stared during class, during passing period, during lunch, and right after school I desperately forced myself to try to ignore it and once that after school bell chimed throughout the campus, I quickly stumbled into the cafeteria.

For the first time in the last few days, I arrived before Ronnie. That's how desperate I was to get out of their stares.

I was put in charge of cleaning the trays and it didn't take Ronnie long enough to join minutes after he arrived.

When he leaned over close to me to grab a rag, I lightly elbowed him.

He slightly flinched and stood back up straight. "What?"

"It's your fault I was almost late to class today," I informed him since he missed me arriving this morning while he kept his head down.

"Oh." He chuckled once. "Sorry."

"Bitch," I muttered under my breath amusingly. I was getting over it -- at least I was on time -- , but what I wasn't getting over were those annoying stares.

I turned to Ronnie, wondering if he too had that experience since Tina and Clair were staring at him as well so maybe, just maybe, if by coincidence he got all those creepy stares too.

Oh, but come on, this is Ronnie! Everybody stares at him, nonetheless. Like the rumors go, he has all the girls going gaga over him and the guys hate him. He's probably already gotten used to it so he hasn't noticed.

I turned back to the tray.

So, if it's not a big deal that they stare at him, why would they be staring at me? I've never had a problem with anyone so what's going on?

I gasped, causing Ronnie to turn to me with a surprised look.

Could they know something secretive about me? I chuckled. No, that can't be. What am I hiding?

Then a though I haven't had struck me. I gasped again and dropped the tray on the table.

What if they know that Ronnie and I are living together? Would that make the girls jealous and arouse all the guys' interest? Well, it wasn't something I announced to the whole school so it's not likely they knew already. So does that mean that they found out or something and this is the reason why they kept staring? All those horrible glances?

"Pfft, give me a break." I laughed. Oh, the things I come up with. That can't be it. I've never made a single girl jealous of me so how could I make the majority of the female student body jealous in just a day? And why would the guys even care?

I amuse myself. I kept chuckling and began to clean the trays again, but I quickly stopped.

But… what if that's the case? I wondered again, staring off into space.

"Okay, what the hell is going on with you?" Ronnie finally spoke up.

"Huh… What?" I turned to him, feeling a little disoriented.

"You're like having complete mood swing right in front of me and I've go to admit, it's a little… weird," he timidly admitted.

"Oh, sorry." I composed myself. "I was just thinking."

"Well, can you think quietly? I don't need you dropping things in here." He went back to work.

I was too caught up in my thoughts that I hadn't realized I was showing my emotions.

I put away the clean tray in my hands and faced Ronnie. Should I just ask him about this dilemma? Yeah, I should.

"Ronnie," I began. "uh, this might be a random question but, have you noticed anything strange going on in this school?"

He frowned. "Nope."

Of course he hasn't.

"Well, nothing weird like during passing period or anything?"

He shook his head. "No, I haven't."

Grr, it's so frustrating talking to this boy. He never gives you the answer you want.

"Why?" he asked.

Ah, he got curious. This was a good response, now maybe I can get more out of him.

"Well, it's because today felt so weird." I let out a chill. "I felt like most of the students here were… well, were like staring at me…. I don't know why."

He frowned. "Hmm…" And shrugged. "Yeah, I wouldn't know."

He was useless. Why ask if you're not even going to be interested, I thought back to him.

"You wouldn't know? So you haven't had people stare at you?" I asked back.

He shrugged again. "I don't pay attention to my surroundings, so I don't know."

"Oh." I decided to let it go. He was of no help. Maybe I should call Vita later today and ask her. She could probably help me out.

Oh, but I can't call her today. I abruptly remembered about something that's supposed to happen today. I was invited to go see Ronnie's band practice at the venue today.

I slumped my head down. I can't believe I almost forgot about that.

Hey, does Ronnie even know I'm going? Has Max spoken to him?

I really wanted to ask him but what if he doesn't know? I mischievously chuckled to myself. If he doesn't know it would be interesting to surprise him.

I decided not to ask him. Whether he knew or not, I wanted to keep myself ignorant.

In between the two of us, we quickly finished all the hundreds of trays and the lunch lady finally let us go.

I started at my hands on the way out. They were pruned up and sore. "Ow, that is the last time I'm cleaning two-hundred trays," I told myself.

"This is what you get for getting involved in my fight," Ronnie said from behind.

"Hey! I told you I was proud of helping you out," I reminded him.

"Whatever." He still didn't seem too convinced about that day.

Ronnie then began to walk the opposite way of our house.

I knew where he was going but I decided to ask, "Hey, where are you going?"

"I've got something to do." He waved and walked away.

He didn't tell me exactly what he was doing so a hunch told me he didn't know that I was invited.

I smiled greatly and jogged home to change into some new clothes.