Monday, March 12.
A bright sun in a cloudless sky illuminates a small mountain with a waterfall. Birds are chirping all around, a warm wind is ruffling the leaves of the trees. Different animals run through the grass.
I am sitting on a nearby hill in the shade of a tree, mindlessly enjoying the view and the atmosphere. I know very well that everything around me is a dream. This place has been appearing in my dreams for a few years now, and nowhere in the real world do I feel as good and peaceful as I do here.
For the same reason, I feel a little sad. Eventually the dream will end and I'll have to get up and go to school and deal with all kinds of crap. If it were up to me, I would spend whole weeks here without stupid obligations and contact with unnecessary people.
Every time I sit here, I do it like it's the last time, because there's no guarantee that I'll dream about it again. I'm really afraid of that, so I try to enjoy myself as much as possible before the inevitable awakening...
##
The nasty alarm clock music wakes me up. After a few minutes of lying there with my eyes closed, I realize that the melody is not going to stop on its own. Sitting up in bed, I press "off" and violently throw my phone against the wall.
"God, you're so fucking annoying!" I cry out. Again forgot to delete it before sleep. I've been meaning to do it for two weeks now, but as if cursed, it always slips my mind.
Of course, a turned-off alarm won't save me from going to school, since my friends will wake me up anyway. But I'd rather wake up to their voices from the street than to that ringing.
I glance out the window—cloudy weather persists for the third day in a row. This doesn't help my mood.
Reluctantly getting up, I pick up my phone, finally delete the alarm, and check the time.
Only overslept by twenty minutes, sadly... I'll go wash up and have breakfast, Rob and Sharon will be here soon, I thought, threw the phone back on the floor, and shuffled out of the room.
I would like to give them spare house keys so they can come in and wake me up themselves. But when I tried this six months ago and told my sister, she flew into a rage, yelled at me, and ordered me to take the keys back. She finally declared that if I tried it again, she would throw me out of the house. The reason for this aggression remained unclear to me.
Though lately she's been trying to evict me anyway. Probably wouldn't have made much difference, I smirked while brushing my teeth.
After the bathroom, I head down from the second floor to the first, where the kitchen is. Passing by my sister's room, I see her door wide open and the room empty. Since there are no sounds from downstairs, it's obvious that Jane has already left for school.
I've never understood why she always rushes when there's no need to. Though this is one of the most insignificant things that raises questions for me. Very often I simply can't find her anywhere in the house, even though I know for sure she's here and hasn't gone anywhere.
I enter the kitchen and open the fridge—nothing but five slices of bread and a half-empty package of shredded cheese. Accepting that a proper breakfast will only happen in the school cafeteria, I take out three slices of bread. I generously sprinkle them with cheese, put them in the microwave for half a minute, and quickly eat them right away. My appetite isn't satisfied at all. Probably need to quit fast food...
I don't manage to take the plate to the sink before hearing a soft knock at the door.
"Coming!" I shout, leave the plate on the table, and run back to my room.
Five minutes later, I'm standing in the hallway, dressed and carrying my backpack. I haven't changed my style in a long time: a gray zip-up hoodie and dark jeans go well with black hair and blue eyes. Overall, though, I'm not particularly concerned about my appearance.
Hello, another fascinating day!
I walk out onto the porch where Rob and Sharon are waiting as usual, whispering about something between themselves. Except for Jane, these are the only two people I really trust, and it's mutual.
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Seeing me, Sharon breaks away from the conversation and runs to give me a welcome hug. She's a cute and modest 17-year-old girl, a year younger than me. She has long chestnut hair and brown eyes. As usual, she's wearing her long dark skirt and pink t-shirt.
We became friends back in elementary school when we often stayed in after-school care in the same classroom due to poor grades. Ironically, now she's an excellent student, and I'm... about at the same level. To me, she's like a second sister.
"Good morning!" she says cheerfully. "I hope you copied the math homework that I solved for you?"
"Morning," I reply calmly, trying not to show confusion at her question. "Sis, don't worry, everything's great."
"John, please take at least some responsibility for your studies. If they hold you back a year, it will be a complete nightmare. First and foremost—for you," Sharon pulled away and looked at me seriously.
"I promised you I would behave properly. Don't you believe me?" I smile, thinking about when and where to copy those several sheets. Unfortunately, math is first period.
"Yeah, our PE teacher will confirm his words," says Rob sarcastically as he approaches and extends his fist.
"Oh, get lost," I reply in the same manner and bump his fist.
Rob is my age, a tall skinny guy with short dark hair and blue eyes behind glasses. Right now he's wearing a plaid green shirt and pants.
Our friendship started in the same elementary school: during one lesson, I mistakenly took his notebook, thinking it was mine. The misunderstanding was resolved without conflict, and in the process, I noticed that he was pleasant to talk to and we could discuss interesting topics. I latched onto this, and gradually we reached our current status as close friends.
On his own, he's quite popular, but deep down he's very closed off and rarely acts truly sincere with anyone. I'm one of the few people he can open up to.
Actually, I have relative popularity at school too. Not quite in the way I'd like... However, I'm the only one who dared to hit that jerk PE teacher in the eye with a ball.
Among us three, my house is closest to school. Since the start of high school, it just worked out that in the morning Sharon first picks up Rob, then me, so it wouldn't be boring.
This has become a habit and sometimes annoys me, since I skip class much less often now to avoid disappointing them, mainly Sharon.
I lock the house door and toss the key in my backpack. Only now do I notice the lush bouquet of orange lilies in Rob's hand.
"Nice flowers, are they for me?" I smirk.
Rob noticeably blushed but managed to maintain composure.
"Thanks. They cost as much as they look."
"Right!" Sharon exclaimed. "John, Rob finally gathered the courage to make the first move with that girl. We spent all evening yesterday choosing which flowers to give her, based on advice from my friend who knows her well. I'm so happy about this!"
It's visible that Sharon's words embarrass Rob, but he's powerless.
"Still won't reveal the mystery of who this super-mysterious person is?" I ask.
"I will, but only when there's visible results. Right now you'll laugh at me," he answers nervously.
"Okay, don't stress. In any case, good luck," I wink. Though it's a bit unpleasant, I only laugh at him about little things.
Rob nodded gratefully and right then Sharon called out to us:
"Guys, let's get moving already, it's almost 8. We can continue talking on the way."
We exchanged glances and walked from the porch to the car. Rob sat next to Sharon in front, and she continued giving him advice on how to behave when talking to this unknown girl.
I lay down comfortably in the back and started thinking about my own stuff, occasionally agreeing to their clarifying questions.
Partly I envy Rob for having sincere feelings for someone and having enough determination to pursue this person's affection. I haven't had anything like that yet. Probably a cool feeling.
Sharon also talks about having a crush on some steroid-pumped jock who's also showing her signs of attention. Recently they arranged a date. I wish her all the best, but I absolutely hate jocks, haven't met a single reasonable one yet.
Maybe I should find someone too...? I started thinking, but immediately stopped since we had parked. I always forget it's only a five-minute drive.
Other students were actively arriving, creating crowds. Here we had to split up: Rob went to wait for the unknown girl at some place where she hangs out in the mornings, while Sharon went to prepare for the test with her friends.
Oh, just hope I don't run into Jane, flashed through my mind as I sluggishly shuffled to math class.
Class wasn't due to start for another fifteen minutes, so the classroom was relatively empty. After superficially greeting a few classmates, I approach my familiar seat in the back row, drop my backpack on the leftmost desk, and collapse into it.
I urgently need to do the homework... but also really want to continue sleeping. I would lie down already, but I need to wait for the teacher and confess about not doing it so he'll leave me alone.
From the front desks come sparse but lively conversations. As usual, guys discuss who's dating whom, who's cheating on whom, who's using what, who hangs out where, and other stuff like that. How don't they get tired of talking about this literally every day?
No, I like to gossip myself, but exclusively about very interesting occasions and with a reliable person.
What am I gonna do about this damn math...?
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a group of people suddenly enter the classroom and walk in my direction. After a few seconds, someone is leaning on my desk. I looked up in surprise.
"Morning, dude! I see you're staying true to form and skipping parties you promised to come to. Could've at least picked up the phone so I wouldn't worry," said a tall blue-eyed blonde guy hovering over me cheerfully, extending his hand.