Part One
Last night I dreamt...
"You're late," the teacher informed me as I walked through the classroom door.
My eyes darted to Will, somehow already seated at his 7th year desk. I don't know how he got there so fast. He purposefully avoided my gaze, knowing full well it was his fault. Instead, he appeared totally fascinated by his whispered conversation with Lily.
He had stopped me about a block from class, calling my name to come over to his hastily constructed stand. A cardboard sign sat on top of it that said, "A kiss for two stones." I rolled my eyes. He was getting so desperate now that he wasn't even assigning any value to his kisses. The worst part was, I knew exactly who this had been set up for. Me, of course. Everyone knew that he had a huge crush on me. I couldn't return his feelings though. He was a jerk to everyone, including me.
With a sigh, I came up to his stand. I didn't want to encourage him, but he was calling my name. Ignoring him felt too rude, even toward him. "Hello, Will. What are you doing?"
Leaning back in his wooden chair, he looked up at me with an expression I assume was supposed to be attractive. "Just making it easy for you to kiss the love of your life," he said in silky tones.
"Thanks, but I'm really not interested," I told him, unimpressed.
For a moment he seemed disappointed. Only for a moment. "But you do admit I'm the love of your life!" he proclaimed with a triumphant laugh.
I held my hands up in mock surrender. "Yep, you caught me. I'm absolutely, madly in love with you. Now, will you please leave me alone?" Not waiting for an answer, I turned and began walking away.
I stopped and looked back as I heard a voice say, "Hey, Will!"
It was Lily, greeting him with her regular enthusiasm as she dropped an armful of rocks in front of him. I watched as she leaned in close and whispered loudly, "I hate you." Then she kissed him hard. They had an odd relationship, if you could call it that.
Clenching my fists, I turned away and kept walking toward class. I wasn't sure why I was jealous, or if that was even what I was feeling.
Part Two
After making the required apology to my teacher, I sat at the desk marked with a large 8. This was my eighth year attending the Institute of Open Minds. It took nine years to graduate from this school, but that didn't seem too long to me. I was the only eighth year in this class.
My desk was covered with these dumb plastic rings, each one proudly displaying the image of some cartoon character. I looked up to see if someone was pulling a prank on me, but every other desk was also filled with random things. Some were filled with clothing, others with portable games, others with jewelry. Mine was the dumbest by far though.
Apparently, since it was almost Christmas break, today we were supposed to have brought some of our unwanted items to trade with the class. I had forgotten, but it didn't matter. I wouldn't have been able to get anything anyway. Someone had to be at the desk at all times while others were wandering around to trade for things, and since I was the only one of my year, I had to stay where I was.
After all the trades were finished, I got up and went over to Sarah to see what she got. In front of her was a blue shirt, folded neatly. I grabbed for it.
"That's mine," she snapped.
I gave her a strange look. "I just want to see it."
"It's mine," she grumbled, but she let me take it.
I unfolded it and held it up. It was lovely, blue with little bits of gold and diamond attached to it in places. "It's very nice," I told her with a smile. She smiled shyly back before snatching it out of my hands.
Part Three
The desks were quickly swept out of the way and our chairs were gathered in a semi-circle facing our teacher. She smiled at us. "Okay, everyone. I want us to go around the circle and say what you're going to get at least one person for Christmas."
They were excited to obey. You could feel the anticipation for winter break building up inside each of them, ready to explode. Some spoke of gifts for their family, others said things they would buy for people in the class. One person said he would get the teacher a frog board, which made her smile.
Then it was Lily's turn. She gave me a big, bright smile. "I'm going to get Will a kiss from Arriah for Christmas!"
That made the whole class laugh as I stared at her. Once the laughter had died down, the next person said, "I'm going to get Will a kiss from Arriah too!"
This time, instead of laughter, everyone in the class began to say they were going to get Will the same. I looked around at everyone in shock, my eyes wide.
...And then I woke up.
