The Secret Legacy of Pan - English Translation

Chapter Four

NOT A DREAM

My alarm clock went off and I needed a second to even contextualize the sound. I had dreamt some pretty bizarre stuff. Of hunting dogs, men with antlers on their heads, a chase through a dark forest. And the face of a young blond boy with light blue eyes kept appearing before me. I squinted at the digital display of my alarm clock on my bedside table in a daze and tried to get those big, blue eyes out of my head. A glance at the time suppressed them immediately. I was late again!

A kind of Déjà-vu came over me as I hopped out of my bed, got dressed in a hurry and was about to storm out the door. A last reminder of yesterday made me quickly brush through my hair and put gum in my mouth before I stormed off.

Like yesterday, I was late. The corridors were deserted. I charged up the stairs and reached the English room out of breath. Mr Sinclair stopped in the middle of his explanation and assessed me with a frown.

"I apologize, Sir, I overslept", I explained, still short of breath.

"Sit down, Miss Morgan, we will talk about this after class."

Of course, a simple "It happens" was not an option in my case. It had already happened one time too many. I passed the sneeringly smirking faces of the Star Club on my way to my desk. However, I paused for a moment. My desk was not empty like it usually was. I had temporarily forgotten about Lee. He looked at me with a sympathetic, condescending look. What I would have given to turn around and run out of the classroom in that moment. Great. Exactly what I needed in a situation like this: a pompous pretty boy who felt sorry for me.

I looked him in the eyes, took a quick breath and sat down on my chair as calmly as possible. In my peripheral I could see his nostrils tremble, Did I smell like whiskey again? If yes, I would skip second period this time to shower and get changed at home.

Beside me, Lee made a weird chuckling noise. The corners of his mouth were twitching. Was he laughing? Mr Sinclair began reading a passage from The Picture of Dorian Gray. I heard the chuckling noise twice before class ended.

"Oh god, City, again?" Jayden looked at me and shook his head.

"I'm sorry", I said apologetically. "I'll go home and change."

"No, I don't smell anything", he explained impatiently. "The circles beneath your eyes are as big as a black hole. How are you going to pass A-Levels if your mum has you work in the pub every night?"

Good question. I did not have an answer. "I'll manage", I murmured, avoiding the subject. "I don't smell like alcohol?"

Jayden shook his head. "But go and borrow some concealer or something. You look like an actual vampire." I looked at him bewilderedly. How did he know what concealer was? Fortunately, Ruby walked up to us in that moment.

"Ruby, can I borrow some make-up?", I asked before Jayden could embarrass me and ask in my place. Ruby's dreamy expression turned critical. She assessed me for a moment before dragging me into the girl's bathroom determinedly. When I looked into the mirror a couple of minutes later, I looked pretty relaxed, even though I was about to pass out. The silence in the bathroom and the patiently sitting down and waiting with closed eyes, until Ruby had finished her work, had given my exhaustion enough time to catch up.

I stumbled to my next class and let myself fall tiredly on my chair. The light was turned off, an overhead projector was turned on and in the same moment, a note appeared before me: Get Mrs Cobb to laugh.

That had to be a joke, I thought. It had to be joke, because who had ever, in the history of this college, even seen Mrs Cobb smile? I looked at the stern face of Mrs Cobb. She was purely concentrated on explaining the plastic sheet to her class. Then everything turned blurry.