Dream Girl

Saved By the Shy Girl

"What are you doing here?" asked Leo, my third grade enemy.

"I wanted to slide," I say, sitting on the ledge and squinting my eyes from the sun.

"This is my spot. Leave," he said, pushing me off.

A few kids laughed at me as I brushed the wood chips off of my jeans. I noticed that I scraped my knee from the fall, so I looked at him with anger in my eyes.

"What was that for?" I ask/yelled.

"I told you that this was my spot. Nobody slides here," he said towering over me.

"Hey!" yelled a short girl behind him.

"What do you want?" Leo turns around and asks.

"You don't own this place. He can do what he wants," she says, putting her tiny hands on her hips.

The wind was blowing her brown hair from her face, and I noticed that Leo was angry at her as well.

"Well, I don't care. Stay out of this," he says, getting closer to her.

I remember that my mom once told me to never hit a girl. Leo looked like he was going to, so I did what I had to do. I pulled Leo away from her.

"What are you doing? Don't touch me!" he yanked his arm from my grip and made his hand into a fist.

I closed my eyes, ready to be hit by the bully, but I felt nothing. I opened my eyes to see that Leo was in the ground, holding his crotch. I looked at the girl to see that she was towering over him with her hands in fists.

"Want another?" she asked, lifting her her foot up.

"No," he grumbled.

"Then leave. Him. Alone!" she yelled.

She looked up at me and smiled.

"Thanks," I say.

"You're welcome," she says before she leaves.

*****

My head hurt. My arms ached. My legs felt like they were crushed. My mind went back to the dream I had. I remember it, but I haven't thought about it in a long time. Then something snapped me awake. That girl. I know her. I remember her familiar brown eyes from the day at the gas station. Layla.

I opened my eyes. My mom was asleep on a recliner, and I was in a bed. There was an IV in my arm, and I was wearing a hospital gown. Then I remembered. I had an accident. Oh, no. This can't be good. I was drunk driving. Plus, I had an accident.

I didn't want to wake my mom up, so I pushed the button that was next to my bed to call the nurse. After a few minutes, a nurse walked in.

"Hello, Mr Kennan," the nurse whispers. "It's good to see that your awake. Do you remember anything?"

"Yes, I remember everything."

"You are aware that you've been drunk driving. Am I correct?" she says.

I groaned. "Yes."

"Well, your mom has been talking to the police. She paid for you to not to go to jail, but you have lost the privilege to have your license. You may take another test in six months."

"Great. Well, when can I get out of here?" I ask, shaking my head in frustration.

"We'll run some tests. For now, just get some rest," the nurse says before shutting the door.

The noise from the door woke my mom up. "Jason?"

"Yes?"

She jumped up from the couch and pulled me into a hug. She smoothed down my hair with her hand and started crying. "I thought I lost you."

"I'm here. I'm okay."

Then I felt a slap in the head. "What were you thinking? You're not old enough to drink! Plus, you skipped school!"

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"If it does, you're out of the house. You're eighteen. You're almost in college. If you keep this act up, it'd be hard for you to get in one."

"I'm sorry, Mom."

I felt depressed. Not from the fact that I lost my license, or the fact that I made my mom upset, but the fact that I acted like a douche to Layla. She stood up for me, and I treated her like crap. Once I get back on my feet, the first thing I'm going to do is make it up to her. If I can.

*****

A few days, a few tests, and a few pills, and I was out of the hospital. I still felt depressed. I felt like I was a bully like Leo. Since I was in the hospital, I had a lot of time. I thought about it, and I was. I was a bully. I was a bully to a girl that stood up to my bully.

Today was Monday. I didn't have to go to school, but I wanted—needed to talk to Layla.

As I walked over to Layla's locker, Dylan walked over to me. He has visited me a lot in the hospital, but I haven't told him that I was going to school today.

"I didn't know you were going to show up today-"

"Not right now, Dylan," I cut him off and continued walking towards Layla.

She was putting stuff into her locker, but a book fell. Perfect. I can approach her that way. Her hand shot out to grab it, but made contact with my hand. I grabbed it for her and handed it to her.

"Thanks," she said with a smile, but it faltered when she who picked it up. "What happened to you?"

"Oh. Car accident."

"When?"

"Two weeks ago," I answer.

"How?" she asks gently touching the wound on my forehead.

"Drunk driving," I answer.

She took her hand off of my forehead and stood up.

"Look. I'm not here to fight with you. I just want to apologize."

"It's about time," she says, crossing her arms.

"Look. I remembered that you stood up for me when we were younger."

"You still remember that?" she asks as she closed her locker

"Yeah. I just kind of," I paused to scratch the back of my neck," forgot about it."

I don't know why I feel so jittery. I only do this when I'm nervous.

"Oh," was all she could say.

"So. I guess I'm sorry," say before I walked away.

That was the worst apology ever, Jason. I slapped my self on the head, but winced because I forgot about the accident. I looked back to see that Layla was trying to open her locker, but she glanced at me. When we made eye contact, she opened her locker and put her full attention to what she was doing. Talk about awkward.