No Aliens Allowed

- Sixteen -

I woke up in a cold sweat, the nightmare I'd just woken from in my mind, but fading quickly. I tried to hold on to it, to try and figure out why I was scared, but it was like trying to hold water in your hands - everything slipped away way too fast and there was nothing you could do about it.

But as I sat up, wiping the sweat from my forehead, I realized that there was nothing missing from my mind. There was nothing repressed - the doctors said I hadn't suffered from a concussion or anything like that.

I had been released from the hospital shortly after Catelin's visit. She was the last one, though I could've sworn that the transfer kid from New York had been there. But when I asked Preston, Catelin, even my family - they all said that they hadn't seen him.

So I assumed I was hallucinating or whatever, or maybe dreaming. Why I'd be dreaming about I guy I knew nothing about, I didn't know. If you do, please tell me.

Anyways, I was back in school that following Tuesday, pale and haggard and still really sore. I gripped all the railings tightly. Didn't want to fall down the stairs again. We'd just gotten out of school, and most of the kids were gone.

Catelin walked slowly down with me, being a nice friend, while Penn had thundered down in front of us, nearly sending me headfirst to my second almost-probably-death experience.

"PENN!" Catelin yelled at him from the top of the stairs. "DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE!" She turned to me. "Good?"

"Yep," I said tightly. "Hold on...let me just not have a heart attack."

"You're fine, Surfer Girl!" Penn shouted, a cocky smirk plastered on his face, his arms crossed over his chest.

It was a pretty nice chest.

Shut up, I sang to myself. Sure, I didn't mind looking at Penn. But there was no way that we could...or that I would...I mean, come on, he's a friend...

Fine. I fucking liked Penn.

Yes. In that way. Shut up.

But I wondered for how long I liked him for. I mean, this one time, Alana had really liked this one guy back in Hawaii and he didn't surf for your information but he did play the ukulele really well and even had concerts for charity and he was a really nice guy and really good-looking but I don't even remember his name so I didn't really like him that much but hey Alana did, a lot. And she didn't even know how because she had just broken up with another guy like three weeks ago and my father told her something about situation and people.

My shoulder started to ache, the one with the weird stitches that would most definitely scar. I realized I was pressing on it idly.

I took my hand away, and continued down the stairs, surveying Penn. He wasn't obnoxiously attractive like some guys, but, like my dad said...situations and people.

So I guess the situation was right. And it's not like I really truly knew any other guys who I liked.

I made it to the bottom of the stairs.

"Good," Penn said. "The princess has arrived. Should we wait some more for you?"

"Shut up," I said, hitting his arm lightly.

"You shut up," Penn replied, shoving me back a little.

"You did not just shove me," I gasped, knocking my whole weight into him, sending him stumbling into the lockers.

"Oh, you little..." Penn muttered something very mean in Korean. Korean, right?

But since that asshole wasn't the only bilingual person, I broke my personal record of number of swear words in a sentence with a mind-blowing eleven.