Dreams

Chapter 13 - Acting Wrong

Luke

"Moment of truth," I mutter, rubbing my hands together as I reach the doors that lead to the field. 

Mondays. 

I hate Mondays; I know I'm not the only one that does. 

"Let's see if your to-be girlfriend is here," Liam mutters.

 "Oh shut up," Kyle and I say at the same time. We turn to look at each other. 

"Well." I say. 

"What was I expecting," He says back. 

"ANYWAY BACK TO THE MOMENT!!!" I say frantically as I swing the doors open without even a moment of hesitation.

I take a deep breath in and set a single foot outside. 

Before I can even say another word, a ginger-haired girl runs in front of me as quickly as possible. 

"LUKE!!" Amber cries, a scared expression spread on her face and clearly shown in her turquoise eyes.

"Yeah?" I ask nonchalantly, keeping a calm face on. "HIDE ME!!!" She screeches. "What now?" I mutter. 

"It's. . . it's. . . UGH!!!" Amber looks away from me, covering her face with her hands. 

"J-just please get him away from me!!!" She cries in a panicked tone, waving her hands around maniacally.

"Get who away from you?" I ask as I turn as I look to my right. "Oh." I mutter in realization.

 A boy with deep brown hair is walking our way with gray and green eyes that are staring down Amber like she's the only girl in the world.

 "Save me," Amber sobs.

I smirk at her. "Nah, I think you should take this one." 

The boy finally reaches us. 

"Amber!! Don't walk away like that again!" He whines. 

"Don't forget you're going to be my wife in a few years." 

"SHUT IT, CREEP!!!" Amber shouts, frantically trying to get his hand off of her shoulder. 

"IN YOUR WILDEST DREAMS!!"

"Hey, Jamal." I say, waving calmly at the boy. "Aw, don't act that way, honey!" Jamal crows at Amber, completely ignoring my greeting. 

He winks, leaving only his green eye open. 

"Can't you see I have more important people to worry about?" Amber cries, still looking at Jamal but hugging me tightly. 

I lift my arms up, refusing to hug her back with a confused and nervous face. 

"Yeah, right. I'm the main event," Jamal says, opening his gray eye up again.

"Amber, I'm just going to leave you with the man of your dreams and I'm going to head out," I say as I delicately try to brush off the freckled girl. 

"He's not the man of my dreams!!!" Amber cries frantically as I walk away with Liam and Kyle trailing.

 "Let's ignore that minor distraction," I tell them as we head for the field.

As I search around, I eventually set my eyes on caramel curls. 

That's her, no mistake there. 

I'm so glad Katie's okay that I let out a breath I never realized I was holding. 

I begin running towards her. "HEY! WAIT UP!!!" Kyle cries as I hear the unmistakable sound of two pairs of frantic feet running behind me.

I tip-toe behind the targeted girl and lightly tap her on the shoulder.

 She stops chatting with her 3 other friends and turns around to see who tapped her. 

"Oh, Luke!!" She cries, her face lighting up. 

"I was so worried you wouldn't be here!!"

"Same goes for you," I say calmly, crossing my arms. 

"I'm just glad that you weren't taken by a tentacle any sort," I say with a smirk as I remember the dream. 

"T-tentacle?" She stammers quietly, her cheeks turning a light pink.

 "Don't worry about it," I say as I close my eyes and wave my right hand dismissively.

I open my eyes again and stare at her for a moment. 

The light is shining into her amber eyes, and the sun is hitting her curls in all the right spots. 

"You look pretty today," I say innocently as I calmly tilt my head, still staring at her. 

Her face goes bright red.

"S-shut up!!" She stammers, looking away as her friends snicker quietly. 

I blink in confusion. "What did I say wrong?" I ask, my head still tilted. 

"Aw, it's nothin." One of her friends says, smiling at me.

"She just gets shy when boys compliment her. She's just not used to it, that's all."

 "Why is she not used to it?" I ask innocently.

 I notice Katie's cheeks go even more red, which I didn't think was even possible. 

"Um. . ." Her friend struggles for a response.

"In the past, not many boys even said 'hi' to her. Much less compliment her, so you're basically the first to her."

 "Then those guys are weird." I say calmly.

 I notice her friend give Katie a small wink. 

Weird.

"So, what have you been up to?" I ask Katie, giving her a small smile. 

She turns to look at me again.

"Um, s-stu-stuff. I m-mean, nothing t-that is considered. . . um. . . w-weird or anything l-like that. . ." She keeps stumbling over her words, unable to keep eye contact with me. 

This goes on until she eventually stops trying to talk.

 I notice her friends facepalm themselves. 

"Trouble talking?" I ask her, smiling warmly at her.

She looks back at me and her cheeks go bright red as she looks away again. 

"Jeez, what's up with her?" Liam mutters behind me. 

Before I can even say anything, I hear a high-pitched scream to the right of me.

"GO AWAY, FREAK!!!" I hear a girl screech. 

Amber. 

"We're not done yet, though." A boy's voice says.

 "Luke, PLEASE get this. . . this THING away from me!!!" Amber shrieks, waving around a pointy stick in Jamal's direction. 

"Oh, come on Amber." I roll my eyes.

"Nuh-uh." She protests, shaking her head 'no' quickly. 

"This creep-o? No way."

 "Well, um, I'm just going to leave you with Amber, if that's alright," I hear Katie's voice tell me in a rushed tone. 

"So, um, B-BYE LUKE!!" 

I hear Katie and the other girls running away. 

"Ugh." I scoff. "Rude of them to leave me in my time of need."

 I look at Amber. 

Looks like I'm taking matters into my own hands.