Relief

The third chapter in A Day Dream.

I blinked once, twice, and three times. Each time my eyes opened he was still there. Unbelievable. I closed my eyes and sat there, counting each second that passed by. After thirty-four I opened my eyes slowly and turned my head, afraid of what I wouldn’t see. My fears were in vain, and as I opened my eyes completely I saw him looking back at me, the smile still stretched across his face. My stomach dropped, and I almost felt like screaming.

 

After about a minute of being frozen, my eyes locked on his, I turned my head back to my desk. Ring. Please  ring. I tried to convince the school bell in my head, then I could talk to him. Sara was still reading, and I tried to keep myself from slamming the book shut. If she had to pack up and took too long to do so he might leave before I had a chance to talk to him. And to add to my anticipation, I had to worry about Will, a guy I had wanted to punch since seventh grade. Dakota just had to be sitting with him. I wasn’t even going to think about the others, I was stressed out enough. Jake I could handle, he was horrible sometimes, but we had always acted like that for as long as I could remember. And then there was Chris and Ethan, neither of them really made that much of an impact on me, but they were friends with the idiot.

 

I stood up to grab my bag from the ground, and as I did so the bell rang. “Thank you.” I whispered so quietly I almost couldn’t hear it. About to turn and walk away, I heard the sound of a page being flipped. Sasha was still reading. I looked at her questioningly, “Sara?” I tried to hide the impatience in my voice, but I was sure my tone showed it. She looked up at me, turning another page as she did so, “Oh, I am staying here.” It made no sense to me, but I didn’t ask questions, instead I turned and began to walk down the row of desks. I felt my foot catch on one of the chair legs, and I spread both my arms to catch myself. Great. At the very least, I didn’t hit the ground. I had grabbed onto the desks on both sides of me, stopping the fall almost immediately after it had began. I steadied myself before beginning again.

 

He must be gone by now. I thought to myself, but when I looked over at his seat, I saw him still there. His new friends were still standing at the door, all with an impatient look on their face. Dakota didn’t pick up the pace, he simply sat at his desk, slowly placing one book or notebook into his backpack at a time. I was amazed by how many he had with him. My eyes stayed focused on him as I walked closer to the door, and my head became filled with thoughts about what to do. I can’t wait for him. They just had to wait. Why can’t he hurry? Why can’t they leave? I battled between my two choices: Wait for Dakota and risk having the others pry to find out why I was doing so, or to simply walk out the door and give up my chance to ask what happened. Both had their pros and cons, and neither one had enough to outweigh the other.

 

My heart began to race faster, and my breathing slowing as I grew closer to the door, Dakota, and the others. I wasn’t going to wait, I couldn’t. As I passed my Dakota’s desk, something very odd happened. I couldn’t have been more pleased, but I couldn’t believe it. I was sure it would have taken him at least five minutes to finish packing up, but as I passed he shoved everything into his bag. He quickly pulled the bag back up onto his back, and turned to me. “Hey.” He smiled. I felt like screaming, once again. “Hi.” Was all I managed to say, and even with the one word I could hear my voice beginning to squeak. He turned now so that he was facing Will, Ethan, Jake, and Chris and was standing beside me. As I looked at the small group my breathing came even slower, and my head seemed to become filled with smoke, my thoughts smothered.