Dream a Little Dream of Me

Chapter 6

Blurred images and distorted voices surrounded Cupid and Dream. Zoya's memories flew past them with each swipe of Cupid's hand. He was searching for the last memory he'd seen before Dream rudely yanked him out of Zoya's mind. His face was scrunched in concentration as he bit his lip, concentrating on the images at hand.

When he finally found the spot, Cupid's lips turned into a bright smile. He turned to Dream who only rolled his eyes in response. Dream and Cupid walked side by side in Zoya's memories.

"We're in school." Dream said, dryly.

"Excellent observation." Cupid remarked, not completely paying attention to Dream. He peered over the students walking around them. When he finally spotted who he was looking for, Cupid pulled on Dream's hand. "See! There they are!" He pointed. "They're together again."

And just as Cupid said, Zoya and Chris - now juniors in high school - were huddled together near the lockers. Zoya's face was scrunched in confusion as the two of them peered down at a book. Even from the distance, Cupid could tell that the two humans looked much different from their younger days.

Chris had grown much taller, easily standing several inches taller than Zoya. He had a lean athletic build. Going by the jersey he was sporting, Cupid assumed that he played for the high school's soccer team. His face had gotten much more angular. It also helped that his haircut made him look much better than the lanky child he was when he was in middle school.

Even with all that changed with Chris, what didn't was how he looked at Zoya. The gentle gaze returned whenever he looked at her. It didn't seem to matter to him how much the book he was holding was frustrating him. One look at Zoya and all that frustration seemed to melt.

Zoya looked different from her younger days as well. Her black luscious soft curls fanned around her round face. She still had a little of her baby fat around her cheeks making her face look like a circle whenever she pursed her lips. Something that she did whenever she was frustrated.

Chris seemed to like it though. Because everytime Zoya pursed her lips, Chris poked her cheeks. Zoya swatted his hand, of course. But that didn't stop a smile from spreading on her face afterwards.

Finally, after a frustrating few minutes, Zoya slammed the book in Chris's hands. "It doesn't matter now!" Zoya lifted her hands in the air, exasperatedly. "I'm not going to learn it in the next few seconds. I'm just going to fail this test and my dad is going to be disappointed and then my mother is going to be disappointed and then I won't be able to go to college."

"You're being dramatic." Chris shook his head.

"Am I?"

"Yes! I know you're going to ace-" Zoya's deadpanned expression made him stop. "Ok, maybe high B's it?" Zoya's expression hadn't changed. "You can't do worse than a C."

"Yeah, but the C will bring my GPA down!" Zoya mock-cried.

Holding the book under his arms, Chris held Zoya by her shoulders. Shaking her a little, he said. "Z, this is a quiz. Not the final. Just a quiz. Your GPA isn't going to hurt just because you get a C on a quiz." He made sure to emphasize the word 'quiz' everytime he said it, trying to make her understand.

Chris bent down to her height, trying to look into her eyes. But Zoya was too busy sulking at the textbook to notice.

She finally seemed to understand though. Finally relenting, Zoya nodded her head slowly.

"Are we going to meet this evening?" She asked. Her large brown eyes looked up at him hopefully.

"I have practice." Chris pursed his lips, sadly.