A Spring Formal to Remember

{Chapter 8} Eight ways to get your mind off things

Jake woke up in a sharp breath. He had another nightmare about the same person. He felt chills run down his spine. Looking around the room he noticed Milly sprawled out and one of her legs on Sean who looked uncomfortable. He saw Hailey on the couch sleeping peacefully, blushing at how cute she looked before getting up.

Jake checked the time, 15 more minutes till everyone gets up. He needed time to regather himself after that frightful night. He locked the door to the bathroom and breathed deeply concentrating.

He remembered seeing her in his dream, she was giggling. And holding everyone on a string like puppets. Saying his name under her breath.

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"Jake? Are you in there? Is everything okay?" He heard Luke's voice along with a knock.

"Yeah, I'm just washing my face. I woke up a bit early." Jake quickly responded a little shaky.

He heard Luke walk away before he actually got ready. When he walked out of the bathroom Hailey smiled at him, her cheeks slightly pink. Jake assumed she had a good sleep.

"Your eye bags look less dark." She said looking at him.

He nodded and let out a sigh as they walked to the kitchen to the others. "Morning Jakey!" Milly said eating some pancakes.

Shannon and Micheal smiled at the two. "Hey kiddos, Jake how do you like your pancakes?" Micheal asked turning to the stove.

"Fluffy, if you don't mind." He gave a small grin while rubbing the back of his neck.

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The group walked to school together chatting about random things the whole way, Jake surprisingly was quiet.

"Hey you're really quiet, you doing good?" Milly nudged him, the two treated each other as siblings and Sean as their guardian.

"Yeah just thinking." Jake gave a weak smile, Milly decided not to push it and looked over at Sean to make small talk.

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First period was frightening for him, he was anxious and didn't focus at all. He kept fidgeting to distract himself but it always wandered back to her...

He had second period with Hailey, they sat down and she quickly noticed his anxiety. She tried comforting him but nothing seemed to work.

During third period, he just sat down and looked at a book. Not really reading it but trying to keep his mind busy.

Fourth period came soon, he had to find an interesting book and write a summary about the first two chapters. It distracted him for a while as Hailey helped him find one.

When lunch rolled around Jake didn't eat, he was too worried to even choke down a bite. Zander tried to convince him to eat but Jake just said he wasn't hungry. "Jake, please eat." Zander mumbled loud enough only for him to hear.

"I promise I'm okay, I'm just too stressed to eat right now. Can you let Hailey know I won't be able to participate during rehearsals?" Jake sighed, Zander hesitated but nodded.

In his fifth period he began working with Luke. He needed to focus to prevent himself from thinking about the night. Luke saw that he was more on task than usual finding it odd.

Sixth period was their athletics period. He decided to just tell the coach that he wasn't feeling well and stay in the nurses office for the rest of the period.

Jake groaned when it was seventh as he had to see his friends knowing they would be asking why he wasn't in his last class. "Jake are you a hundred percent sure you're okay?" Milly asked skeptical.

Jake nodded but told them, "Yes I'm just stressed okay, last night was hard."

His last period was the longest, he just wanted to go home. Zander kept glancing at him even though he assured him several times.

The day ended with him trying ways to get his mind off the thoughts and worries. He still couldn't help but feel someone was watching him walk home.