Since You Came

Ch. 12

"Maddie! Wake up!"

A shaking sensation pulls me from my sleep. I open my eyes to Ryan standing above me, his hands on my shoulders.

"Dude, we have to leave in 20 minutes," he says. "Better hurry."

Crap, I think. I sigh and climb out of bed. I didn't have time to iron any nice clothes, to straighten or curl my hair, or to put on any makeup. Time to look like a hobo, then.

I rummage through my drawers and closer to find something decent, but all I found was gray sweatpants and a plain white shirt.

I pull the clothes on and hurry to the bathroom. I run a brush through my hair and wrap my hair into a messy bun, slipping on a 2-inch black headband over my hairline.

A thought crosses my mind as I leave the bathroom, Dan's gonna seriously think I'm a hobo. I'm so ugly.

"Here's your breakfast," Aunt Beth says when I walk into the kitchen. "You better hurry," she places a bowl of cereal in front of me.

I inhale the food and run up the stairs to brush my teeth. 3 minutes later, I have my backpack on my back, socks on, and am struggling to slip on my black Vans.

"Alright guys, let's go," Ryan tells Jo, Aubrey, and me.

The four of us grab our things and head out the door.

We arrive at school soon enough, and I head to class.

Dan walks in. Normally Dan is perfect. Today, I don't know what's up with him.

He's dressed just as sloppily as I am, which was nice, but his face showed differently. His eyes had deep purple circles under them and his hair was loosely brushed, much like Monday. The only difference was the bright shade of red that was in his eyes.

He comes to sit beside me and gives me a small smile.

I shake my head a little. "What happened to you?"

"It's, I dunno, I..." he says, he lets out a sharp, quick laugh. "I'm tired."

"Huh. No kidding," I say.

"Hehe," he says. A creepy smile appears on his lips. "Yeah."

Yes, he is creeping me out. For some odd reason, my heart still yearns for him. "Seriously though, are you okay?" I ask.

He finds my eyes, and tears form behind his. "I don't know," he says.

"Whoa, Dan, it's gonna be okay," I say, putting a hand on his arm.

As soon as my skin touches his, he freezes. He looks at my hand, then at my face. I slowly remove my hand.

He shakes his head hard. "Touch me again," he says earnestly.

I do, slowly grabbing his hand.

He let's out a deep breathe and closes his eyes. "Your hand is really warm and comforting."

Heat rushes to my face and I laugh a little. "Are you okay?" I ask again.

He shrugs. "I woke up feeling really weird this morning. I haven't thought straight all day until you touched my arm."

"Good thing we sit next to each other," I say, a small smile touching my lips.

He smiles and releases my hand when Mrs. Dasta starts talking.

• • •

He asks me to hold his hand walking through the hall, which I think was a totally bad idea, with my cousins in the school with me.

Tears form behind his eyes again.

"Um, okay... Hey! How about we link arms? Like you're walking me into a really fancy restaurant! Okay?" I say with an encouraging smile.

That instantly perks him up. "Okay," he says, holding out his arm. I slip my arm around his, and he leads me to our next class.

I'm really glad our teachers don't make us have assigned seating, because I don't think Dan will make it through the class without my foot touches his the whole time.

He complains when I say I have to leave for third period because we don't have that class together. I have to promise him I'll see him at lunch before he reluctantly allows me to leave.

The period passes quickly, and soon I'm walking towards the cafeteria my lunchbag in hand.

I'm about to walk into the cafeteria when I pass a separate hallway and somehow hear his voice.

Obviously, I turn down the hallway and follow the voice.

I end up quietly standing outside an empty classroom, and find him in an empty classroom with my cousin, Ryan.

"Wait, what are you trying to tell me, Dan?" Ryan asks.

I hear Dan sigh. "Last night. Talking to her. And then all through the night I had nightmares, and then-"

"What were they about?"

"Well, they, um," Dan hesitates. "All of them were about these terrible things happening to me if I wasn't with her. If we weren't together. And then I woke up late this morning, freaking out because I thought they were all real. But when she touched me, I realized the terrible things weren't happening, because she was here. But I know what I have to do, now. I can't not do it."

"And what do you want me to do?" Ryan asks.

"I just want you to know I'm gonna do it. And even if you weren't okay with it, I'm not gonna let you stop me."

"Alright, so I won't. Do what you want to."

"It's not that I want to. I need to," Dan says.

I slowly start walking away from the door, heat rushing to my face.

He dreamt about me?

_____

Sorry the chapter's so short. But I'll make up for it, I promise.

Dan's a cutie. I love him.

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New chapters coming soon x