Realization

The second chapter of A Day Dream. It involes a twist, as most my my day dreams do.

My eyes snapped open. Was it possible that I had actually fallen asleep? I immediately turned to see that Dakota was no longer where I had last seen him. He had been there, hadn’t he? I turned now to the clock; only ten minutes had passed since I had last looked up there. I laughed quietly to myself, amazing it was all a dream. It had to have been a dream. At this point I was hating my mind more than ever . . . Why did I have the dream that?

 

The bell finally rang, and I rushed from the room, desperate for this day to be over. When I finally reached the band room I was the fifth person in there, and I quickly took a seat. We were told not to set up our instruments; a fire drill was scheduled in a few minutes. Maybe this day wasn’t so bad. Sure, Dakota wasn’t real, but I didn’t have to play my instrument, and I could always dream of him later. I laughed to myself once again, realizing that if anyone else had known what I was thinking . . . Well, they might think I was insane.

 

Not long after everyone had taken their seats the fire alarm sounded, and we made our way outside. I smiled, I could think to myself for these few minutes. I tuned out the sound of my classmates talking, and tried to pick up where I must have left off. Dakota had gone to his seat, and I to mine. Something didn’t seem right, though. When I pictured him in my mind, his eyes didn’t sparkle as they did before, and when he smiled, it didn’t fit.  I shook my head, frustrated, and looked at everyone else. It was time to go back inside. After waiting a moment I sighed and followed them in. We sat through the rest of the class counting different beats, and naming different notes. I had finally learned them all, and knew the fingerings; at the beginning of the year I didn’t think it would have been possible. The fact that I knew them, however, caused me to fade into my dream land once again. His eyes still didn’t sparkle, and I didn’t know why I couldn’t imagine him as I had before.

 

My next class, biology, continued basically the same. I walked into the classroom, took a seat, and tried to imagine him as I had before. And again, it wasn’t him. I hoped that this wasn’t going to be one of the dreams I had, but could never continue, I had loved this dream. When Dr. Alexander finally stopped talking and gave us our work, I happily accepted it. If I couldn’t continue my dream, I wanted him out of my head. I answered each question and finished the page within ten minutes, twenty still remaining in the class. To try and stretch out my work, I erased the page, and tried to forget what I had answered, then began again. I received a few weird looks from others around me, but I didn’t care. I really wanted this day to be over and was going to do what it took to make it go by faster. When the bell rang, I had erased and rewritten my homework three times already. I quickly stuffed my books into my bag, and slung it over my shoulder, leaving the room in a hurry.

 

I walked through the halls, H hall to G hall, G to F, and then into my homeroom. Sara was already in her seat, reading The Cask of the Amontillado. The seat in front of her was empty as always, and I took it as always. I pulled the black binder from my bag, and took out my math homework from yesterday. It was done. Great. I slid the paper back into the side pocket, and placed the binder back into my bag. What was I going to do now? My mind kept focusing on him why couldn’t I just forget it? His smile kept flashing in my mind, but when I tried to focus on it and continue with my dream, it would fade. I hated it. My mind began to drift onto random subjects and everything seemed to blend together, becoming hazy. Without warning I heard a laugh, and my thoughts suddenly became clear. My head quickly turned in the direction of Will, Chris, Jake, and Ethan but my eyes went to a boy sitting in front them all. He was smiling, and it had been his laugh that I heard. It was Dakota . . .