Chapter 2: Waking Slumber

"Toby….Toby!"

"Hmh?" He moaned.

"Toby! Wake up!" The voice hissed again.

"No thanks, I'm good…" He mumbled, turning his head to block out the sound.

With a sudden sharp pain pulsing through his leg, Toby yanked his head up. Whipping his head around to snap at his waker, he quickly shut his mouth when he found himself sitting next to Tara in their math class.

"Come on, time to go." Tara said, swing her backpack over her shoulder.

Nodding mutely, Toby followed, praying that no one noticed him sleeping in the back.

But, as they made their way to the door, Josh hissed at him, "Did you have a nice nap? You sure snored loud enough."

Feeling heat rush to his face, Toby hurried out, his face reddening even more as he heard three girls giggle as he past.

"Whoa! Slow down!" Tara said as she caught up to him.

"Damn, I can't believe I did that." He moaned, hiding his face in his hand.

"Look, it wasn't that noticeable!" Tara told him in an attempt to comfort him.

"How many people noticed?" Toby asked bitterly.

"Well… the whole class." She answered honestly, but added on after Toby groaned, "But you didn't snore!"

"Well, thanks, that helps a lot." He grumbled pulling open the school's front doors and walking out into the sunny yet bitter cold day.

"But I mean, really, it could have been worse." Tara finished as she shook her head from the sudden chilly gust of wind that blew through them.

"Did Jess notice?" Toby asked nonchalantly.

But of course, Tara saw right through him; "Yeah, but it didn't really ruin anything. You don't have a lot of a chance to hook up with her anyway. So doing a little thing like this won't shake it."

"Tara, you know, you're a little too honest. Just to tone it down, would you." He growled.

She just shrugged and answered, "Well, it makes the whole thing seem better, doesn't it?"

Damn, why is she always right? Toby thought grudgingly as he did feel less embarrassed

"Oh, and you didn't miss anything important in math by the way." She added.

Toby smiled at that, thinking: Of course she brings that up.
"Did you dream about anything?" Tara asked, trying to fish up a topic.

"Actually, yeah." Toby answered, surprise that he had forgotten so soon about his strange dream. He started to fill her in, "It was really weird. I was in this huge field with blood everywhere. Except that it wasn't all the normal color of blood. There was black blood as well as some sliver. And, along with that, there was a bunch of wolves fighting some other creatures I couldn't really see but they were small. Well, not all of them, but most. And they had large pointed ears and were a blackish greenish brown color. It was like almost watching a fantasy movie. It was just really weird."

"That is strange…" Tara said, her voice trailing off from her attempting to decipher the dream.

That was one of the many things that Toby didn't get about Tara. She was almost always in her schoolwork, always getting A's, and almost always studying. Tara was the most logical person he knew, but yet, she had this strange obsession with dreams. She had this thing that she believes dreams have deeper meanings then just what they show. It doesn't match her personality at all, but yet she has it. And, not going to lie, Toby liked that side of her way more then her school side.

"So?" He asked her.

She jumped up in surprise, as though she forgot he was there, and replied, "I don't know. It is really strange… were there two other guys there? Like, where they larger or more powerful then the rest? Or did they stand out more?"

"Well… now that you mention it, yeah there was." Toby answered in surprise, "How did you know?"

"I guessed." She admitted with a laugh. "I'm guessing that your dreams means that two powerful forces are fighting over you, or at least, they will in the near by future."

"That seems pretty unluckily." Toby laughed, wondering who would want to be fighting over him. Sure, he wasn't that bad looking, but he wasn't model material. And he didn't have any strong showing talents and he didn't have money nor was he popular in school. In fact, he was one of the people farthest from it.

"Eh, that's what I got from it." She answered with a shrug, "It was a pretty interesting dream though. You should write a story from it."

"Yeah... Good idea…" He replied, a smile formed on his lips as he thought of a plot that it would create. But then, his excitement melted away and he accidently drew an audio sigh.

"What?" Tara asked

"Nothing, just thinking."

"About?"

"It's… nothing. It's fine; just drop it. You'll yell at me."

"Well, now I have to know." Tara said giving him a playful push on the shoulders.

Looking at her face looking up at him, her eyebrows up in curiosity and her eyes wide with worry, Toby gave in and, with a shake sigh, told her. "I don't know. Lately, I've been feeling out of place."

"What do you mean, out of place."

"Like, I don't belong, you know, here."

"I still don't know what you mean. Like how you don't fit in with the popular boys? Well, I'm glad you don't cause then you would be an ass-"

"No, not that." Toby cut her off, biting his lip trying to figure out the right words to describe his feeling. "Like, I'm not like other people. Like, I don't fit with other people. "

"You fit fine with me." Tara interjected, pouting and sounding almost child-like.

Toby laughed, "Yeah, but you're different. In a good way. But, I don't know… it's hard to explain…"

Quickly opening her mouth to argue, both Tara and Toby was surprise that the next voice they heard wasn't her's.

"Hey, Faggots. Watcha doing here?"

Turning around, Toby's heart sunk down to the bottom of his check when he saw Blake's face looking at him with a grin equal to a predator finding his prey.

"We're walking, we live in this neighborhood too you know." Tara snapped, her eyes flashing the way they always do when she's picking a fight.

"I know he lives here," Blake snapped back tilting his head towards Toby, "But you don't."

"Come on, just leave it." Toby hissed into Tara's ear as she opened her mouth.

But of course, she didn't listen, " So what? Are you too big of a dick to let someone just pass by."

"Watch your mouth, Spellcaster." Blake threaten, approaching them in an intimidating way; being 6.1 and a football player while Toby was 5.8, Tara 5.6, and both of them could barely get a pickle jar open.

"Or what?" Tara taunted back, apparently not sensing the danger Toby was at that moment.

"Or I'll beat up your little boyfriend here." Blake answered with a twisted smile, grabbing Toby by the neck.

While gasping for breath, Toby could hear Tara shout, "Hey! Let him go!"

What happened next, Toby wasn't exactly sure. Blake suddenly cried out in pain and lessened his hold on Toby. In a spilt second decision, Toby kicked him shins and he let go of his throat entirely. Then, feeling Tara grabbing his arm, they speed off to Toby's house as fast as they could.

Reaching there with no trouble, they slam the door behind them and Toby quickly locked it just in case.

Turning to Tara, Toby snapped at her through his shallow breathing, "Know when to quit next time!"

"Sorry, I didn't think he'd choke you." She panted back.

"Ha, and you said I belonged here." Toby growled with venom.

"Oh no, what's this? Don't tell me that the two cutest best friends in the whole are having a fight for the first time ever?"

Looking at each, shock evident in both of their faces, they turned to look at the couch that stood ahead of them and saw Sarah looking up from the back of it, a large grin on her face.