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Dream Paralysis
Volume 1 Chapter 3 - III

Volume 1 Chapter 3 - III

-Zoey’s POV-

1PM on Fridays. During sophomore year, Law’s free periods were around that time. I waited patiently in front of the Political Science club’s front door. Of course, even at the time, I, as well as a few of the girls at school, had heard vague rumors of his womanizing antics.

However, I accepted his call without hesitation. Once we became seniors, I thought, Lawrence would easily have one of the larger voices at school. Future captain of the basketball team, charismatic, attractive...

If I wanted to maintain my good standings with the other students, it was almost impossible to ignore the calls of someone that popular. And so, I decided to wait. Perhaps meeting him alone in a situation like that was risky, having heard of the way he treated other girls. But I trusted myself to pull through. I don’t fail in situations like these.

I adjusted my glasses while examining my nails. There were a number of ways that this meeting could have gone, and I did my best to account for every possible angle. However, I am only human. Chances are that I would end up having to improvise. But even in a situation where improvising became a necessity, I still felt confident in myself.

“Hey.” Lawrence approached from behind.

“Hello.” I followed the sound of his voice and turned to face him with a wave of my wrist.

“I’m not keeping you from your girlfriends, am I?” I asked.

“Girlfriends? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh yeah?”

I was most likely more aware of Lawrence’s track record at that time than anyone else was. During our first year of high school, he made a name for himself by dating Krista, a fellow first year at the time, who is currently the captain of the cheer squad.

The two of them dated for most of the year until it came out that he had been cheating on her with an upperclassman. The whole thing exploded because she was apparently using him to get back at Krista over some cheerleader drama.

Ever since that relationship ended, Lawrence went on a streak. At that point during our second year, he had relations with approximately 12 girls that I was aware of. It’s a small number compared to the mountain he’s climbed since then, but he was still going through far too many girls for someone his age.

“Let’s head inside, shall we?”

He unlocked the door using a key and entered the room, and I followed behind him. Once inside, while I was still taking in my new surroundings, he quickly shuffled behind me and locked the door. The act was like a hunter scurrying to lock its prey on the inside of a cage. It was in stark contrast to the cool demeanor he had been putting on display just moments ago.

“That isn’t creepy at all.”

“Really? You’re going to talk about creepy?” He turned to lean against the door and eyed me intently.

“I’m not blind, Zoey. So if there’s something you want to say, why don’t you come out and say it?”

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, really? You haven’t been watching me real close for the past few weeks? Yeah, that’s right. I know you’ve wanted to meet me in private too.” He spread his arms out, as if presenting himself as a gift to me. “So here I am.”

“So here you are.” My eyes scanned the area.

It felt like I was in a storeroom with the abundance of dust floating through the air. There were desks stacked upon desks all arranged near the corners of the room. This place probably hadn’t been used in a while. I couldn’t help but wonder how Lawrence managed to get the keys, but it wasn’t the time to ask about that.

“You don’t have to feel bad about it, Zoey. After all, I’ve been thinking about you a lot too, you know.” He pushed himself off the door and walked toward me. His daunting, basketball player figure approached me without a shred of insecurity, or even self-awareness. “You’re cute. And I’m not just saying that, really, I’m not. I think you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”

He moved his hand towards me carefully, then took my spy glasses off my face. “I knew it.”

He smiled gently while folding the arms of the glasses, his eyes still intently locked on mine.

“Your eyes are like precious gemstones. I want to have them all to myself.”

I had expected something of the sort, but his aggression might have been beyond my calculations. It took everything in my power to resist making fun of him, and every other girl who fell for this corny attitude of his. I suppose that if you’ve never been hit on before then something like this might work, though.

“I appreciate it Law, I really do.” I put on a fake smile, and he seemed to grin in response. “But,” I said, as I snatched my glasses from his grasp. “As much as your words mean to me, as I mentioned before, I’ve heard rumors about you.”

“Rumors? I don’t know what you think you heard, but they’re probably not true.” I looked away in order to put the glasses back on.

“Well, you cheated on Krista in freshman year, right?”

“Oh, that.” I could hear him sigh behind me, as if he had rehearsed this hundreds of times before and was just going through the motions. “It was a dumb mistake. I didn’t love her anymore, but I didn’t have the courage to break up with her. I shouldn’t have done it.”

His words hung in the air for a moment. Actually, that isn’t quite accurate. I chose to let them hang. I allowed him to seep in his own over-reasoned excuse rather than continuing the conversation.

“I really mean that,” he said. “I messed up. I’m honestly not proud of it, but I’ve learned from my mistakes. I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately, and I really want to make it work with you.”

Once he uttered those words, he circled around to my face and made eye contact. “Zoey…”

“You’ve been with other girls since then though, right?”

“Really? Like who?”

It’s not even funny how sly he was being. He made no attempt to deny it. His only goal was to fish out how much I knew. I could tell that he was used to lying about his habits. I had counted 12 girls, which is a damning enough number, but I didn’t feel comfortable laying all my cards on the table at that moment.

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“So you admit to it?”

“I’m not admitting to anything. I just want to know what you think you know.”

“You know Lawrence, there’s no point in hiding it. Even if it’s not public knowledge now, your activities are going to get out to the rest of the school eventually.”

“Well, for that to happen, I’d have to know what activities you’re talking about.”

Lawrence’s refusal to play into my hand was irrationally tenacious. The fact that I had gotten that far should have been evidence enough that I had a general idea of his salacious habits. And yet, he continued to maintain plausible deniability. “The only one on my mind is you, Zoey. You and those gemstones of yours that follow me wherever I go.”

His eyes stared into my soul with almost laser-sharp intensity. His feelings were palpable. It was enough to make my skin crawl. This man’s desire to devour all girls in his path was quite frankly unnerving. If I hadn’t been there with a specific mission in mind, it would’ve been difficult to avoid throwing up on the spot.

I smiled. “You’re quite the wordsmith, aren’t you?”

“I can be whatever you want me to be.”

“That so?” I walked away from him and leaned back on one of the desks near the walls. His eyes followed me the entire time, like a lion stalking a gazelle. “You know, what if I told you that I came here because I had all of those little soldiers lined up and ready to shoot?”

“Soldiers?” he asked.

“Really? Still? Aren’t you a sore loser?” I sighed. “Okay, how about this then? I’m going to start listing the names of all those girls. You’re free to play dumb if you want, I’m not going to hold it against you. But if you insist on it even after I’m done, then I’m not responsible for what happens next.”

He appeared flabbergasted for a moment, but he quickly restrained himself and held firm. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

A wicked smile spread across my face almost reflexively. “Oh, is that so?” I began slowly walking along the edge of the abandoned clubroom. Dragging my hand along the desks, I shut my eyes and began reciting everything I had memorized.

“Let’s see… Kim Nguyen, first year, art club. Fiona Harris, first year, chess club. Chelsea Walker, second year, creative writing club. Chris Robinson, second year, fashion club. Margaret Parker, second year, drama club. Noel Phillips, third year, anime club. Hana Reyez, third year, history club. Lil-”

“Jesus Christ, fine, I get it already.”

He lifted his head up to the ceiling in anguish. “Oh, really? I was just getting started though.”

“You’re a piece of work, you know that? Were you stalking me or something? Is that why you were watching me all that time?”

“Who knows?”

He was rattled. Judging by his reaction, the possibility that he had been bragging to his friends aside, this was the first time any of the girls at school had been aware of what he was doing.

Well, it wasn’t easy for me to get my hands on that information. He was surprisingly careful about it.

He scouted girls based on categories like year, clubs, and friend groups. Meticulously, he narrowed down any opportunities for his targets to associate with one another. He went from first year to second year to third year to fourth year, then rotated the circle. This wasn’t just instinct for him, he had an extremely well-thought-out rhythm that guided his every move.

“So what do you think’s gonna happen now that you’ve brought this up? Blackmail? Do you want money or something?”

“Money?” I giggled. “No, no Lawrence. I don’t care about your parents’ allowance.”

“So what then?” He was gritting his teeth. Loathe as he was to admit it, I had him right where I wanted him. That’s what I believed.

“First, I want you to stay away from any current and future female members of the photography club, myself included. Second, I’m going to need your phone number. I want to be kept in the loop on the popular kids. Who likes who, who dislikes who, who has plans for whatever. Give me everything I ask for.”

“What? I’m not going to do any of that. Seriously?”

“This isn’t just about me leaking this, Lawrence. It’s about your own protection. Do you really think you can keep going like this without getting found out?”

“It’s been going well so far.”

“No, it’s not. The reason you stopped flirting with first years is because Kim and Fiona both blabbed to everyone about going out with a certain upperclassman on the basketball team. The rumors have already begun. You’re going to get outed sooner or later.”

He clicked his tongue. “So what? Doesn’t that hurt you then? You’re talking about blackmail or whatever, but if this gets out then I don’t have to listen to your bullshit, do I?”

“No, but I can easily smooth it out when it does.”

“Oh you can, huh?”

“You might already be aware of this, but the photography club functions as a hub for every club’s existence at this school. We do our best to take high quality photographs and not only market events and activities, but also create memories for the entire student body. That’s right, everyone who is anyone at this school has been through the doors of the photography club. This means that, as the leader of the club, I have everyone’s ear.”

He couldn’t deny it. Of course not. The whole reason he was so hesitant to approach me to begin with was probably because of my popularity. Ever since the Krista incident, he had been avoiding girls with large voices in the school body. It’s easy for a popular girl to let the whole school know what happened after getting their heart broken. But that said, even if they’re not popular, if you mess with enough girls, then the truth is going to come out eventually.

“I’ll smooth it out for you. You’ll be known as a playboy, but it won’t affect your daily life. You’ll still be able to devour as many girls as you want. Do what I say, and I will make it happen.”

“Oh, you will? Just like that? And all I have to do is tell you all of my friends’ secrets? Well thank you very much for that.”

He pouted, but I was certain that he recognized it as an opportunity too good to pass up. He knew the boys would take it well, but his reputation among the girls would be completely destroyed. He would be hard pressed to satisfy his addiction in that situation. “What, is the pot not sweet enough for the Law?”

“Of course not.”

His eyes refocused on me with new vigor as he wet his lips. It might have been because he was cornered, but whatever semblance of charisma he had left was completely dissipated. He appeared far more desperate than normal.

“It’s not happening.”

“Really? Unfortunate for you. I’ll figure out how to deal with it on my own then.”

“Hmmm. Okay, how about this?” I lifted myself off the ground and took a seat on one of the desks, lifting my right knee up to my head and letting my left leg dangle off the surface.

“Why don’t I use my connections to pick out girls that would make easy targets for you?”

“Huh?” He paused to think about it for a moment. “Well, you know... at that point you’re kind of an accomplice, right?”

“That’s just how valuable your information is to me.”

He looked down to contemplate it for a moment. “Zoey, I’m sorry, but this is weird. If you really wanted to get that information, couldn’t you just get closer to them yourself? Everyone likes you, you know. They like you even more than they like me or Krista. And here you are, blackmailing me to get dirt on other popular kids.”

“Are you curious about why I’m doing this?”

“Are you going to answer me?”

I paused for a moment. It’s probably for the same reason that he was running through all those girls. There was no grand plan. There was no goal of dominating the school or anything. I simply get off on seeing the sides of people that they keep hidden from the public. It’s an insatiable desire that I can’t ever seem to get rid of.

If there’s any reason I haven’t gone out with anyone before, it’s because that pleasure excites me more than any one person ever will. I will admit that there was a part of me that felt like opening up to him. After all, he was going to be my new partner in crime. But after observing him for months on end, I understood Lawrence’s character. As corny as he is, if I give him an in, he probably won’t ever get out of my head. All my preparations since then existed in order to avoid giving him that in.

I tilted my head and smiled.

“No chance in hell.”

“I figured… I’ll have to think about it then.”

“Oh,” I said. “And the third thing.”

“The third thing…?”

“I get one favor from you at some point in the future. And you have to listen, no matter what.”