What I Dreamed Last Night, chapter 2

A/N: Wow! Thanks for all the positive feedback and the favorites/follows! I seriously didn't expect that. I will be updating more these days, because my exams are over! Special thanks to my reviewers, please review and share if you love this story!


"Leo! Pay attention!"

Leo looks up from the writing that was on his music folder, to see an angry looking Mr. Johnson staring down at him with disapproval. The other trumpets around him, Connor and Travis Stoll, Joshua Chamberlain, and Marissa Harrison raising eyebrows at him, and slowly setting down the pencil. He takes his trumpet into his hands, making sure the slide was in the right position, and sitting up straight. Mr. Johnson, nodding with approval, raising his baton to give them the time, murmuring the count.

For Leo, band class has never been his favorite. Band required constant attention and careful reading of sheet music. Leo, who has been diagnosed with ADHD, and dyslexia at a young age, finds it to be torture. He enjoyed wood shops, and mechanics class better then this, but he had only taken it per request of his mother, Esperanza Valdez. As much as Leo hated torture, he loved his mother even more.

The Valdez family, consisting only of Leo and his mother, is very close. The Valdez relatives, as Aunt Rosa and others, blame Leo and his mother for the accident in the mechanic's shop where Leo's father died when he was four. A fire had taken Mr. Valdez, and he had only time to scream at his wife and child to run, before the shop, metal and all, burned and extinguished him for good. The relatives blamed Esperanza and Leo because they were the only one who could have stopped it, and instead, per Mr. Valdez's screams, they ran. Now alienated from the family, Esperanza worked two to three shifts a day at the garage near their house to keep food on the table. Leo tries his best to be on good behavior at school, for his mother's sake, but he knows he's not an easy child. He tries his best to blend in, do his work, but unfortunately, it was nearly impossible. Like, right now for example. He had just been sketching an idea for a series of gears that could basically be the first perpetual motion machine, but of course, he had to be interrupted as soon as he was in his stride.

Staring wistfully at the drawing, he places his digits on the smooth surface of the valves, ready to play the notes, as Mr. Johnson gives them the beat. He glances to the front row, where Piper holds the flute close to her lips, and he can't help but notice the auburn haired girl she sits next to. She stood rather straight, her hair braided down her back, and the bright and vivid red colors distracted Leo for a second. When she glances over her shoulder, though, he feels his heartbeat begin to quicken. She's stunning. Her eyes were an amber sort of color, full of honesty and trust, something Leo hasn't seen in a long time. Her long, nimble finger wrapped around the silver flute with ease, as though her fingers were just naturally curled just so that it could play the melodies the flutes must play. He feels his cheeks get warm, as she glances at him, and quickly brings his trumpet up to his lips, taking shorter breaths then normal.

"Oh, and I forgot!" The band class collectively groans as Mr. Johnson sets his baton down. "We need a singer for the song! I want to hear it the way it will be sung at our concert next week...Jennifer is sick today," he observes, noticing the missing bassoon player, "Any volunteers?"
He looks around the students, who are all glancing at their music with uneasy eyes. Everybody knew the melody well enough, but the lyrics of the song, London Derry Air, wasn't as well known. Every other student exchanged looks with their neighbor, each of them daring the other to raise their hand, but nobody would be caught dead singing in the band room with the band. Any sane human being, though. Leo hoped somebody volunteered soon, because his arms were getting sore from holding the trumpet up, when a hand in the front goes up.

Her voice, when they began to play, was hypnotizing. It was fluent, high and sweet, moving with the music so easily. The lyrics, though they were in English, sounded like a foreign language. Her accent wasn't as present as it was before, as she sang the song about the father and his son that's gone to War. It took his breath away, literally. It brought back bittersweet memories of his own father's death. He had to stop playing the whole notes and half notes on the page sometimes, because he just wanted to hear her voice. The notes she sang that were on everybody's sheet music, it was like they weren't even real. Like she's improvised the words, and it was pure and true. Like it came from her soul.

"And I shall hear, though soft you tread upon me
And all my grave shall warmer, sweeter be,
For you will bend, and tell me that you love me,
And I shall sleep in peace, until you come to me."

When the song was over, Leo himself was wiping tears from his eyes, and it seemed Mr. Johnson was too. He was dabbing the tears at his eyes, as he shook the girl's hand, and made her introduce herself in front of the class, and Leo found himself falling even harder for this girl then he thought possible. Learning her name was Calypso, and that she's a Greek transfer student was enough to make Leo crazy about her, but the fact that she played flute, and sang, and was freakin' beautiful made him nearly insane. After the class, he kept thinking of what to say to her. What could he say to the girl he's dreamed about for ages? He thought about it as he placed his trumpet in the case, and walked around the band room in a daze, while waiting for the bell to ring.

"Wow, that was amazing. Are you a natural singer?" No, god that sounded stupid...he wasn't some Romeo, he was Leo Valdez.

"You're a good singer. And I'm a good mechanic. Maybe we can make a music box!" No, that was a horrible pick up line...

What do you say to girls, anyway? Why can't they just work with a simple mechanism and purpose, like a machine? Leo thought about this a lot. They had to have so many gears, that if you don't tend to them properly, they rust and explode! He shook his head as the bell rang, and looking up from his shoe he had been tying, he sees her walking his way, as though she was about to talk to him. Augh! He stumbles to his feet, opens his mouth to say something, and comes up blank, when she turns her head and smiles. His brain blinks out completely. Smiling wistfully, she continues on her way, to talk to Piper, and Leo only stares off in shock, before groaning softly. He blew it.


Sitting next to Piper in wood shops, he sands the leg of his table half-heartedly. His mind was still on that girl, Calypso, from his band class. Sure, he's had his mind on a lot of girls, like that Thalia Grace girl, or that girl from France who came to visit with Piper, Khione, or something. In the end, they both snubbed him pretty damn hard, and his pride had been hurt. He usually never showed how much his pride had been hurt, but it was. Broken like a branch that's broken from its tree. In the end, though, this one was a doozy. The crush of all crushes, maybe. That one person that he couldn't get off his mind. He even began to sand against the grain, because he was thinking about her! AGAINST THE GRAIN! God, he needed help. He slowly puts down the piece of sandpaper, and turns to Piper, who is carefully etching out the pieces for the puzzle set she's making.

"I can't get my mind off her."

"What?" She looks up from her project, to see Leo, looking absolutely miserable. It's been awhile since she's seen him like this. Sure, he's been down, or just having a bad day, but this was something else completely. Like it was tormenting him.

"You know that girl, Calypso?" Leo hesitates for a moment, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. That's what the psych said to do when he needed to tell somebody something secretive. "I...I think I like her."

Piper stares in astonishment at Leo, who's fallen for one of her best friends. Of course, Leo would fall for Calypso. How could she expect otherwise? He always fell for people he never stood a chance with. Khione, Thalia, that one girl from Sri Lanka, he always fell for them! But this time...it was something different. She couldn't place it, but the way his eyes were dim, the wistful look on his face, he's never had these symptoms before...had he truly fallen for her? Or was this just another rejection. She smiles sadly at Leo, patting him on the back softly.

"Of course you do, Leo."

"But what do I say to her?" He asks, widening his eyes as he gestures around madly, sweeping his arms as he asks, "I mean, do I compliment her? Tell her good morning? Ask her if it hurt when she fell from heaven? Cause I tried that one on Thalia, and she slapped me. Piper, I have no clue what to say to her at all!"

"Just..." Piper didn't have an idea of what he should say either. Every word Leo said was either humorous, or just downright offensive. Calypso was soft, sweet, a bit fiery at times, but most of the time, reserved and quiet. They were indeed, opposites. Leo was like a fire, waiting to blaze. Calypso was like a river, always flowing and always calm. Together, they would be water to the flame...but in the end, the water would extinguish the flame, right? She shakes her head, and thinks back to what her mother would've said. Her mother was a famous fashion designer in Paris, and she only saw her over Skype calls every other week. They've never been close in contact, but they've had their fair share of boy talks and everything. If anything...her mother would say-

"Be yourself. Don't be someone you aren't, Leo. She'll have to take you or leave you."

Leo, nodding at the words Piper says, stares down at his grimy overalls and wrinkled collared shirt. Would she take him for this? A half orphan, who's got oil stains all over him, terrible grades, ADHD and dyslexia? Maybe Piper was right, but maybe Piper was wrong. Murmuring a thank you to Piper, he continues to sand the leg of his table, still pondering about the advice. Would she take him for who he was? Of course she couldn't...maybe, though, there was always hope. That's what Esparanza would say.

"There is always hope, mijo. I thought I would never have a husband or a son...but here I am. Hope, mijo, is always something to hang onto."

Leo loved his mother, more then anything, and he wanted to believe her, but this time, he doesn't think she could be true. How could anybody want him? He could dream about Calypso wanting him, but he could never dream as hard as he would want to, for it to become true.