space adventures and invisible girls.

chapter three.

I think I passed out after what happened in my room. I woke up lethargically, slowly, angrily, on my computer chair. My neck killed; there was a crick in it from sleeping weirdly. There was an ugly taste in my mouth, a taste of old pizza which was like a film coating my mouth.

When I turned back to look at my desk, there was nothing more than a poetry hub on my computer screen, and a half-eaten slice of pizza by the keyboard.

Nothing weird had happened for the next few days, except that I was even more irritable and quiet than usual. I went back to school, survived each class, didn't even skip one. I even did pretty well on my history paper.

It was hard to keep what happened out of my head though. It felt uncanny and wrong. Even if wasn't real, the fact that my mind conjured it all up was pretty scary.

I didn't feel insane, or different at all. But then again, who really knows what that feels like?

"Victor." A shrill, irritated voice scolded.

"Huh?" I snapped back to attention, realising I was staring into the corner of the English room. There was a small shelf stacked perfectly with copies of our class texts, and a couple other things I didn't recognise. Other than books, the classroom was pretty much empty. Except Zooey, whom was watching me with her wide brown eyes. "Oh. Sorry. What's up?" I asked, sitting up quickly, relaxing a little, but not much.

She gave me a weird look. She was pretty, Zooey. Curly brown hair that fell close to her waist. A little annoying though. Overly academic, I always thought.

"I was just wondering if you had my math textbook back yet," she said, sounding concerned. I couldn't tell if it was concern for me, or for her math book.

"Oh, right," I stammered stupidly, rummaging through my backpack even though I knew I didn't have it. It was at home, somewhere, probably. "Uh, you know what Zooey? I'm so sorry, it's at my house. I forgot." I sounded so fake. "I'll give it to you tomorrow?"

Zooey pursed her lips, not showing a lot of expression in her eyes. They were blank and brown, almost like frozen mud. "Sure, no problem, Victor. And did you get my email yet?"

I had, but I didn't open it yet. I couldn't even remember what it would've been for. "Uhh..." I thought lamely for an excuse. "My computer wasn't working?"

It was kind of the truth.

She sighed, her cool breath tickled my face.  She looked pretty tall, standing over me, which didn't help how helpless I presently felt.

"Are you still good to work on the group project then? Akash suggested the library tonight. That's basically what the email said," she said curtly, but gently. She was like a teacher; I sort of felt bad for letting her down.

"Yeah, of course. I'll be there," I assured, forcing a tight smile. "Sounds awesome."

Satisfied with my answer, she nodded her head and began to walk away. "Class is going to start soon," she called back before slipping out of sight.

I didn't get up right away. I sat in my English seat, staring at the wooden surface of the desk until the bell rang. I reluctantly gathered my stuff and went off on my way.

The rest of the day went by in whirl; my schedule seemed to be a geometric blur. My eyes still sort of hurt; I kept trying to rub them, or blink really hard. Colourful phosphenes pressed against my eyes like a really dark rainbow.

When it was finally over, school, I went to my locker to dump off some things and whatnot. Boone was already there, leaning against the lockers, ignorantly making it difficult for a younger looking guy to put his things away. We made eye contact. For a second, his face was completely blank and accompanied by large white eyes that made the rest of his face seem a lot darker than it was. He pushed himself off the lockers and waited for me to stroll up.