• Chapter 3
    The Dream
    The weekend went by fast, and then the week after that. Before I knew it, it was Friday afternoon in choir again.
    Sitting in a chair, with my feet propped up on another in the back of the classroom, I listened to You Found Me by The Fray while everybody else performed. The room is very big, has many side rooms and places where you just couldn’t be seen. So I decided to not be seen today.
    It’s not like anybody cared anyway.
    Soon enough, I found myself nodding off, which wasn’t a surprise, considering I had been getting beaten longer and harder than usual all week.
    And then I dreamed. I dreamed of Keaton Hathaway.
    It was quite odd, really. I had almost forgotten about him. But now he was the target in my mind.
    In the dream, Keaton was on a beach, wearing a white dress shirt that had a few buttons un-done, black skinny jeans, and black high top Converse.
    And he was singing the song again.
    The sun was setting, and it made the sky on and around the horizon pink and purple. Wind blasted up in his face, and made his clothes swing over to one side, and his hair fly all around. But he didn’t seem to mind.
    And neither did I.
    I took a step forward, and just then realized what I was wearing. It was a creamy white dress that went down to my knees, and the top part was all crumpled up in the middle. The straps were skinny, and un-like other dresses, felt soft on the smoothness of my olive-toned shoulders. And no, I am not black. I just have pretty tan skin.
    I then walked over to Keaton with my bare feet. When I stood right behind him, he seemed to have realized I was there, and turned to look at me. When he did, he gasped in amazement and stared at me with wide eyes.
    “Hi.” I said nervously.
    “Uh, hey.” He ran his fingers through his hair, and I found myself shaking. “Who are you?”
    “Charlotte Abigail Evergreen.” My forehead scrunched when I said my full name. I thought it made me sound stupid and self-centered. But I soon stopped worrying of what he thought of me, because it was nothing but a dream.
    “Oh, cool.” He smiled, and I felt the breath catch in my throat. Clearing it, I smiled back. “I’m Keaton Hathaway.” His brow furrowed in concentration for a moment. “Hey, haven’t I seen you around before?”
    “Uh, yeah. I’m in your choir class.”
    “Oh, yeah. The girl who sang along.” He grinned now. “You really are an amazing singer. You should consider taking lessons.
    My eyes widened at the mention of me singing. “You-you heard me?”
    “Yeah. It was weird though. Nobody else did. Well, I think that redhead beside you did….Scarlet, right?”
    “Yeah, she’s my sister. She’s one year older.”
    “Oh, so you’re a junior. That’s why I haven’t seen you in any of my other classes or in our halls or at our lunch or anything.”
    “What, have you been looking for me?” I joked. He laughed a light and gentle laugh, and I felt like I was melting.
    “Actually, yes, I have. I’ve been wanting to meet you.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I grinned now.
    “Me too.” But then I frowned. “But this is just my dream…..I’m never going to really meet you. And you probably don’t want to actually meet me. And you probably didn’t hear me singing, or if you did, you probably wouldn’t compliment me.”
    “Wait, this isn’t your dream. It’s my dream.”
    “No…” I protested, while shaking my head. “It’s mine.”
    “But-
    Keaton was cut off by the sudden sound of the school bell, and I got sucked back into reality. Falling out of the chairs, I replayed what I had just dreamed. It was my dream…..wasn’t it….?
    I then glanced up to see none other than Keaton Hathaway across the room, in another one of those spots where you couldn’t be seen. He was staring at me with wide eyes, and looked shocked too. Then, he mouthed the word ‘dream’ to me.
    I nodded slowly, and his eyes widened. My heart sped, and I mouthed the word back to him.
    And he nodded his head too.
    Chapter 4
    Set Off
    Did I ever mention that today was the day that the junior and senior choir went off to Disneyland for a month?
    Yeah, I know. AWESOME!!!
    I walked outside to the buses alongside Scarlet, but I couldn’t make out a word she was saying. I was too busy replaying the dream with Keaton over and over again.
    “Char, are you even listening?” Scarlet turned to me after she threw her suitcase into the back of a storage truck.
    “What? Oh, uh, sorry. You were saying…?” I prompted as I threw my bag into the truck myself. We then turned and walked to the buses, with her talking again about some hot guy she’d given a smoothie to while working at Orange Julius yesterday.
    “Oh, brighten up, Char. This is gonna be great!” She glanced around nervously and then added in a hushed whisper. “It’s a great way to get away from them, for a whole freakin’ month!”
    “But, we’re gonna have to spend that time with preps. And we’re gonna have to make up for all the time we missed.” She frowned at me and then ran off to sit with two other friends on the second bus, while I un-willingly boarded the first.
    I gritted my teeth and pushed my way through to the very back and empty seat of the bus, trying to ignore all the whispers that rose as I passed each group of preps.
    Sitting next to the left window, I instantly un-locked the window and pulled it up, then breathed in the fresh air running in as the bus started moving. I was starting to get dizzy from all the perfume the girls had on.
    “Hi.” The voice startled me and made me snap open my eyes, then turn. Keaton was sitting next to me.
    “…….Hi.” I finally managed to say back.
    “You…….you had that dream too?” His voice lowered. I nodded nervously. “Huh…..” His forehead scrunched together in concentration, but then it smoothed out, and he smiled at me. “I’m Keaton Hathaway.”
    Laughing, I said, “And I’m Charlotte Abigail Evergreen. But you can call me Charlotte.” His soft, light, gentle laugh joined mine, and I again felt like I was melting. “So, why are you sitting back here? Did your friends get on the other bus and it got full, or somebody else sat next to Ashlee, or something…”
    He looked confused. “No. My friends are sitting up there, and why the hell would I want to sit next to Ashlee?” I laughed. Part of me felt relieved, and then my whole entire self felt smitten.
    The reason that part of me felt relieved was because Ashlee has claiming to be Keaton’s girlfriend since the beginning of the week, but I decided to not ruin his mood and bring that up. And the reason I suddenly felt smitten was because he could’ve sat with his friends-who I now saw were sitting in the front and joking around and laughing-but instead, he chose to sit with me.
    “Mind if I spend the ride with you?” He asked, flashing a grin. My heart seemed to start to flutter away, but the heavy chains still held it down. But that didn’t mean I still wasn’t happy.
    “Not at all.” I grinned. The trip was starting to look better by the second.