His Dream Life | Park Solomon

Chapter 5

I crawl myself to bed right after I sent Hailey and Sophie home. Their dad left yesterday, so they'll be safe at home with their mom. I have school tomorrow, so I need to get some rest. I didn't get much the last few days, because I spent most of the night listening to Hailey's struggles. It hurts me when I imagine what she went through, especially what Sophie went through. But, one conversation sticks out to me more than the others.

"So, Solomon seems better than I thought," Hailey said at the end of the conversation about her family  life. "I never really thought of him as someone who cares. You've seen him before, right? With Sophie?" She continued.

I sighed a knowing sigh and pictured him with Sophie. It warmed my heart. "Never judge a book by its cover." I say.

"That's right. I thought he's like other celebrities, you know. An ambitious, snobby celebrity." She huffed a sigh.

"How do you know they're ambitious and snobby? You've never met them." I glanced at her.

"You're right." She turned to me and smiled. "He's really warm," she smiled to herself as she looked up at the ceiling. "And...beautiful." She fluttered her eyelids.

I gulped. Is she dazzled by him?

My eyes drifts to sleep as I stop reliving the conversation. Under my warm blanket, I dream about him. His beautiful face, kind heart, and caring soul right infront of me. But, beside him, there is this girl. She looks...broken. Their hands touch and the tip of the girl's hand where it touches his palm, lights up. The light spreads from the tips of her fingers to her whole body. She's no longer broken. They slowly turn to each other, lean closer together, and.....I gasp. It's just a dream, I remind myself.

As I get ready for school, I can't stop thinking about the dream. It must've mean something. I know that the boy is Solomon, but who could the girl be? I check the time and notice that I'm going to be late if I don't hurry, so set my thoughts aside and head to school.

Just when I reach the gate, Hailey stands waiting for me. Suddenly, the dream makes sense. The girl is Hailey. And Hailey is healed by.....Solomon. My body freezes, but the bell rings and Hailey grabs my hand and we both run to class.

I stare at the window through every lesson until lunch. I glance to Hailey from time to time and to Solomon too. Hailey is the broken girl and Solomon is her healer. Can it possibly be? Her broken image of love and family be cured by the presence of this boy? I would give anything so that Hailey can feel like she's in a loving, caring, family-like environment, but the one that can give her that is Solomon? I have been in her life since kindergaten and this boy she barely talks to can heal her better than me? And I have talked to Solomon more than her, so why can't he be the one for...me? What? My thoughts twists in directions I have never expected. I shake my head to clear my mind.

"Let's have lunch outside." Hailey says as she stand up from her chair and rummage through her bag.

I look around and notice that half the class is gone -probably having lunch elsewhere- and the rest are sitting down either on the floor in circles or with their desks pushed together. My mind flashes back to one of Solomon's dream of doing normal things.

"How about here," I push the chairs to make room and arrange a few desks to make some sort of dining table, "and let's invite Solomon." I turn my head to where he sits. He's reading a textbook on his desk.

Hailey smiles and nods as she take her lunch box out of her bag. I walk towards Solomon, a little nervous for some reason, and clear my throat to get his attention.

"Hey, uhm, Lomon? Wanna have lunch with me and Hailey? I brought spaghetti if you want to try. I don't bring it that often. So, do you...want to have lunch...with us?" I blabber and I don't know why.

He smiles his cute smile and chuckles. "Yeah, sure. My mom packed some stuff too, you know, if you want to try." He rummage through his bag and we both sit together at our little makeshift dining table.

Solomon opens his lunch box and inside there are mini sliders. It's so pretty how her mom decorates it with edible embelishments. Hailey opens her lunch box and closes it again with dissapointment. I already know what's wrong. After fights like last time, her mom wouldn't be able to cook something decent.

Just when I'm about to push my lunch box toward her so we could share, Solomom hands her a mini slider. "My mom has a lot of pride in these, try one." He places it on a napkin. Hailey smiles and accepts it politely. "You should try one too, maybe we can prove her wrong." He hands me one too.

I take a bite and it was the most delicious thing I have have ever tasted in my life. "More like prove her right." I say and Hailey laughs in agreement. "My mom also has a lot of pride in this," I push my spaghetti towards Solomon, offering it. He tastes it and smiles.

"Our moms should have their own restaurant." He says and laughs. I smile at him and I can see that Hailey did too. "You'll come by afterschool, right?" He asks and I nod.

Suddenly a basetball fly towards us, but Solomon cathes it right before it hits us. He spins it around with his hands as he glares at the person who threw it. Hugh Mckinley threw it. He walks to our table to, what I suppose apologise, and grabs the ball from Solomon's hands.

"Sorry." He says as he turns around and mutters, "never thought Mr. Model here can catch a ball like that."

Solomom clenches his hand and it looks like he was about to stand up, but changes his mind. He heaves a sigh and look back down to the table as Hugh walks away.

"Didn't break any windows?" One of Hugh's friends asks as he run inside the class.

"Thanks to Mr. Model over there. I wonder what he can do with those manicured hands." Hugh says with a smug smile.

"You better watch that mouth, Mckinley." Solomon abrubtly stands up with his hands clenched together. His voice is tied with some sort of restraint, so it comes out rough.

Hugh's eyes flashes to him and there's a hint of fear in them, but he covers it up with a challenging look on his face. I feel like this will end up in a fight, so I grab one of Solomon's hand.

"Not worth it, Lomon." I struggle through my words. Without noticing, I seem to hold in quite a rage. I glance to Hailey and she seems to be angry as well.

"Walk away, Mckinley!" Hailey shouts and he scrambles away with his friends.

"Does this...happen often?" I ask as Solomon sits back down.

"More often than it should." He says as he closes his lunch box.

I scan my eye through the table and feel sure that this isn't what Solomon's ideal picture of having lunch with our tables pushed together. "Hey, let's try this again next time." I say and realise how tired I sound.

"Sure. I'll wait for you at the gate later." He walks back to his seat and read his textbook again.

Hailey and I share a look. We both feel the same way about what happened. Though, I'm not quite sure if I'm fully intruiged by that idea.

I don't want this to be in the way of our friendship. But, if I back down from here, will I miss something beautiful ahead of me?