Throughout the day, my mind kept wandering back and forth between the girl and baseball tryouts. The girl, however, was winning out. I was losing track of everything that would be important for the rest of the term, and it was all because of her. Some imaginary girl from my dreams, whose fate I would never learn. That was the problem, there was no closure. I was left to wonder.
I made it through bio alright – my teacher was a joke. He was old, and just didn’t care because he was about to retire. Maybe he was good once, when he was about 100 years younger. My second class of the day, gym, didn’t go quite as well. We started off in full swing with soccer. I played goalie and let’s just say my face got a little more action than I had planned. Not only had I basically face planted when I had jumped to stop the ball, attempt to anyways, but I was hit in the face multiple times. I had never been good at soccer, but this didn’t help me feel any more confident for baseball tryouts.
I met up with Naomi for lunch. I picked up some food from the lunch line. I was too consumed to even care about what I’d be eating. We sat at the table we’d sat at since grade nine. Naomi talked excitedly about the events of her morning. I pretended I was listening, something my gender is apparently good at, as I replayed the dream again and again in my head – just as I’d been doing for the entire morning.
“So, Leo is in my English class and you won’t believe what happened! He sat next to me and started to ask about my birthday. He knew it was last weekend because I ran into him at the grocery store when he was working. I told him...”
There was just something so familiar about the dream. It was like I’d been there before. There were no specific details that popped out at me, it was just the shape of the tree line, the sounds of a nearby stream, and even the smell of fresh mud and air – like it had just rained.
“Then Katie turned around and gave me the dirtiest look. I don’t know what I did to her but maybe if she wasn’t such a buzzkill all the time. Have you seen her at parties? She just sits there and...”
That was when I realized it. I had been there! When my father was still alive, he had taken me there to hunt almost every Saturday. I’ll bet if I looked hard enough I could still find our old tree stand and my name carved into the tree by the stream. I had to go there. It wasn’t far from here, just out of town.
“But Leo didn’t care what Katie said. He was like ‘Listen Katie, I’ve got plans this weekend. With Naomi. We’re going to Las Vegas and we’re going to get eloped. We don’t care what our parents say!’ Then we ran out of class together! We’re actually going tonight, but don’t tell my parents! Actually, the only reason I agreed to marry him is because the baby needs a real father in her life.”
But I couldn’t drive. How could I get there? I certainly couldn’t walk the entire way. If I had to though, it wouldn’t take too long. I could tough it out. Maybe a half hour walk at most. I’d have to bring some water with me. And maybe a granola bar or two, just in case something happened and I got lost. Maybe I should try to go home first and pack a backpack with supplies and put on some of my old, orange hunting gear.
“Xavier! Are you even listening to me? You seriously didn’t notice any flaws in my story? I just told you that I’m pregnant with Leo’s baby and we’re eloping in Las Vegas, and you didn’t even flinch!”
“Naomi!” I snapped back to reality. “I’m sorry. I had this dream last night, and I can’t get it out of my head. I have to go, actually. I’ll call you later?”
I turned and began to almost sprint away.
“Wait!” I said as I turned back to her stunned face. “Can I borrow your car? I swear I’ll be back to pick you up after your swim practice.”
