Where Dreams Lay

[twenty five]

[twenty five] "there's only one thing left here to say. Loves never too late."
-Avril Lavigne

When I walked down the hallway this morning, Lindsay gave me a look that's hard to forget. Her eyes told me that the confidence I now have in my body caused her to fume up.

I couldn't help but smile.

I also can't help but wonder why I suddenly feel so different. It feels like just yesterday I was scared to walk down this very hallway, because I knew she would come and pick on me. I was frightened of the words she would throw at me, and somehow cause me to hurt even more than I already did.

I hated those days.

Now, I enter science with my head held higher than usual. Taking care of my siblings and holding myself together when dad died, made me stronger. So when I take my seat next to Aiden, I can almost see the look she's giving me behind my back.

"Hi," I say to Aiden softly.

He turns his head slightly to face me and replies, "Hey,"

I frown when he didn't return the smile. I know he's confused and probably mad, but I don't push him any further to find out why.

"So I heard Mrs. Tuck is away today." I tell him, hoping to get some sort of conversation out of him.

To my surprise, he just shrugs and says, "Yeah." By that time, the bell rings and our substitute walks in with his bags. I sigh and open my books.

This is going to be a long eighty minutes.

* * *

So I may have forgotten to make a lunch today.

I'm scrounging my bag to see if I'm wrong—please say I am—but it turns out that yes, I don't have a lunch.

With a groan, I hunch my bag over my left shoulder and head to the cafeteria to buy one. It hasn't been a good day so far. First, Aiden ignores me and seems pissed for a stupid reason, and now I have to eat crap food from a crap school.

I mean, wouldn't everybody want greasy, fake food for lunch?

Apparently many people do, because when I enter the cafeteria, the line for food is unending. Since my phone plan has been cut off, I stand awkwardly behind some really tall guy, not doing anything but staring at his back. My nose scrunches up when the stench of cologne passes my way. I take a step back, gagging from the overdose of cheap cologne.

Since I'm bored, my eyes start to wander around the big area. Sections separate the grades, and I see my grade over in the left corner. Immediately, my eyes widen and confusion fills my head when I see Liam with Lindsay at the same table. He is sitting directly next to her and smiling along with turning around every minute or so. I stare for a bit longer, noticing that he's turning to see his friends, who sit at a table behind theirs.

"Uh, are you gonna move up? The lines moving."

I snap back into reality and murmur an apology to the girl who's at my heels. She's popping her gum rather loudly, which annoys me to the point you wouldn't even believe. I take a few steps forward and try to ignore the thought of Liam with Lindsay.

Yeah, that doesn't last too long.

They are obviously sitting with each other because they're allies. They are working together. One thing that I do know about Lindsay, is that she hasn't taken an interest in many other guys besides Aiden. Her being around Liam so often is out of the ordinary.