Let Her Sleep (Dream Walker Chronicles #1)

Chapter 6

The hallway felt more crowded than usual, which was saying something since the school had been built before lockers had been a necessity, not to mention the enormous bags everyone lugged around.  Kids were shoving their way through, trying to get to their next class before the tardy bell rang.  A particularly large jock pushed past Cordy, shoving her into the lockers.

“Hey, watch where you’re going, you moron!”  Noelle yelled after him.

“Don’t worry about it.”  Cordy squeezed through a small gap and managed to make it to her own locker.  She twirled the lock, popping it open.  The inside was neatly organized by class period, her jacket hanging from the hook at the back.  In stark contrast, Noelle’s almost flew open from the amount of stuff crammed inside.  Papers were jammed into every nook and cranny, several days worth of old gym clothes were piled in the bottom.  Noelle had to dig for her English book.  She was chattering on about the foreign exchange student again, recounting her plan to ask him to help her study.

The office door crashed open.  Chris Malley, chess club president, walked out, gesturing wildly, a slightly manic expression on his acne scarred face.  Cordy chuckled.  She’d seen that look before.  Looks like we’ve got a new student.  She wondered if she would have any classes with whoever it was, or if they would even be in her grade.  It seemed unlikely that a student would transfer into a new school partway through their senior year.

Cordy slammed her locker shut, seeing the crowd had thinned noticeably, meaning they were well on their way to being late.  Noelle was still chattering about how cute Blaise was in his gym clothes.  Cordy smiled at her friend’s enthusiasm.  Classic Noelle, she’s like a small animal with a shiny new toy.

Chris finally moved out of the way allowing the new kid to step into the hallway.  As the office door swung shut.  Cordy froze, her foot halfway lifted to take the next step, in complete disbelief.  Noelle kept walking several feet before she noticed Cordy was no longer next to her.  She doubled back.

“Earth to Cordy.  Come in Cordy,” she said, waving a hand in front of her friend’s face.  Cordy’s eyes were glued to the boy who was slowly making his way down the corridor, nodding politely, as his guide pointed out the cafeteria entrance and the nearest bathrooms.  Noelle followed her gaze, her own hazel eyes bulging when she realized exactly what Cordy was staring at.

“Nice!  We can always use a little more eye candy around here.”  Noelle tilted her head to the side in thought.  “You know, he looks kind of familiar.  I wonder where I’ve seen him before.”  She linked her arm through Cordy’s and began moving again, forcing Cordy to keep up. 

Shock coursed through her mind making it impossible to pay attention to her chemistry lecture.  She reached into her bag and pulled out the charcoal drawing she’d just put the finishing touches on that morning.  The same face Noelle had admired in the hall stared up at her.  Of course Noelle had thought he looked familiar.  Cordy had been working on the portrait since that first dream.  Tweaking it until it looked so real it could have been a black and white photo.  At least I thought it did.  Nothing could possibly compare to the real thing…in real life.

How is this possible?  Cordy’s brain was like a broken record, repeating the question over and over.  He’s just a figment of my imagination.  My highly overactive, novel-addicted imagination.  I must have imagined the new kid looked like him.  That had to be it.  Maybe the hallucinations from her withdrawals had finally started.

“Cordelia?”  The sound of her full name in Ms. Sims voice was enough to snap Cordy out of her reverie. 

“I’m sorry.  Can you repeat the question?” Cordy said, rifling through her text book to find the right chapter.