Down Memory Lane ✓

4- Back in High School?

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Back in High School?

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THE VOICES that floated around sounded distant and disoriented as I became conscious of something soft. A bed? I opened my eyes to darkness.

"Whatever, I'm turning on the light," I heard a familiar voice say and soon enough, the person turned on the light, causing two other people to groan. I shut my eyes back in response, still laying limp on my side.

"Why do always you have to be stuck up, Betty? We just want to sleep," I heard another familiar voice say.

Betty! As in Betty Paul, the obnoxious and math-obsessed nerd who made sure everyone knew how much she loved the subject. She was my high school roommate. Though we never really—Wait, High School?

I shot up to a sitting position with wide eyes darting around up to realize I was in my room. My high school room. My two best friends were in foul moods already, as Mariana was covering herself with her blanket and Naomi had a scowl on her face. The same one she had every morning when someone woke her up. That someone always being Betty.

The four of us had been roommates since freshman year, yet we never got along with Betty. But we had graduated, and we were now all over the place.

Naomi had gone back to Chicago to join her father's casino business. Mariana had moved back to Spain with her father after her parents got divorced. And I should be in grandma's cabin in West Virginia wishing for one month to be over before shooting off to California.

"What's up with you?" Betty asked with a wary look cast at me.

This is not real. I must be dreaming. But it looks so r—

"Whatever," Betty murmured when I didn't answer and left. Soon Mariana and Naomi left for the bathroom.

"This isn't real. I'm just gonna go back to sleep and wake up at my grandma's place," I muttered, and then my eyes widened.

Grandma! She would be so worried. Last I remember, I left the house angry, then I was crying in the forest and then...

What happened after that?

I must have fallen asleep in the forest. Yeah. If I go back to sleep, I'll surely wake up there. This is just a dream, a weird one, but still a dream. I'll forget it as soon as I wake up.

Soon after I started drifting back to sleep, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned away from the person because I had to go back to sleep.

"Clara, you need to get up. We have Horrid Mr. Harrison this morning," I heard Naomi say.

"Yeah, and he's always grumpy on a Monday morning," Mariana added.

"I guess he also hates Mondays," Naomi chipped in.

How can this be real?

"He doesn't hate Mondays, he just doesn't like students who are late," Betty said as she reentered the room, prompting a groan from Mariana.

"Do you always have to be a teacher's pet?" Mariana said.

"You guys are just ungrateful and unserious about—"

"Betty, I don't want to hear your silly talks this morning, so just shut it," Naomi said and added, "Please," before Betty could retort.

"Clara, for real, get up!" Mariana said and threw me a pillow. It hit me and I felt it. How can this be real?