Air

Formerly Popular

"Way back then, you were gonna make it big, but is divorced now with a couple kids. That brings ya back to these parts."
-Melissa Etheridge, "Take My Number"

I look out my window. There he is, the boy in flannel. He runs through my backyard, as if something is chasing him. All I can see are his feet quickly moving, brushing up against the brownish-greenish grass.

CA BOW! There goes the thunder. It screams at the top of its lungs, as if it has just witnessed a murder.

The boy runs farther and farther away from my house. His silhouette gets smaller by the second. Soon, he looks to be the size of a Barbie Doll. Then, it happens, but it all fades to black.

I hear my alarm clock ring. I sit up as straight as I can as quickly as humanly possible. I pant and pant. My hands are shaking, and I'm very sweaty. I had that dream again.

It's a recurring nightmare I have. I am sitting in my room. Outside, some random boy is being chased, and then something really bad happens to him, but I never get to see what occurs. My dream just ends, and I wake up.

It feels like I'm watching a scary movie in my sleep, and I never get to see the end of it. I witness the second to last scene, but never the end. It is very strange and it really bothers me.

I have a feeling this dream is prophetic. When my astral body is in the dream, I just feel like everything that happens is so close to real life. Everything in the dream that I touch, see, hear, or feel seems to be a physical reality. Also, when I wake up, the first thought in my mind is, "This dream means something."

Sarafina is still sound asleep in the bed next to mine. I swear, she sleeps like a baby! Ever since she moved in with my family and I, she has been sleeping 8-10 hours a night. Sometimes even more than that. She usually goes to bed at 9:00 pm, which is way earlier than my self-imposed 11:30 pm bed time, and then she will sometimes wake up at 11:00 am. Mom says I have to wake her up for school, so she doesn't get a bunch of tardies on her report card.

I get out of my bed, and tap Sarafina on the shoulder. She is still curled up in a fetal position, eyes closed, mouth open, hair messy. She stays as she was.

Since that didn't work, I decide to try something different, and possibly more effective. I grab my aventurine wand. I think a spell to awaken someone from a deep sleep would work wonders. I cast a circle around Sarafina and I. I take a deep breath in, and meditate, making sure to channel the right energy for my aura to cleanse.

Once I feel as if I am filled with good energy, I cast my incantation.

"Please, awaken from your sleep,

which has gotten way too deep.

You have a very bright life,

your wit is sharp as a knife.

You will accomplish so much,

but must awaken to do such. "

I ground myself. I imagine roots, thick, green roots, growing out of my feet, and pinning me to the ground. It's a very realistic visualization. My legs actually gain more and more feeling as I do this.

Now, I release all the energy from the circle. I look to see if Sarafina has awoken. When I see her rub her eye, I know the spell work.

"Uggghhhh," She says, throwing her green pillow over her head. "It's the first day of school, isn't it?"

"Yup," I say. "We had better get ready. Now get out of bed, you lazy head!"

If there is anything I hate more than walking to a school 15 miles away from my house, it is taking a bus to a school 15 miles away from my house. The school bus is full of bratty teenagers who I hate. In the back, there are the jocks. Those are the sporty guys who only care about getting some. In front of them sit the cheerleaders. Those girls are so perky it annoys me. It looks as if they have smiles superglued to their faces. They also talk an octave higher than their normal voices, which makes me want to rip my own hair out. The front is where the burnouts sit. Nobody really knows what they're all about. None of them really fit in, though, and they all look like druggies. And in the middle sit the wannabes. The freshmen who try so hard to be trendy it hurts my eyes just to look at their attempts.

Today, I don't feel like sitting with any group. I know I have to choose one. I head into the 2nd to last row of the bus with the cheerleaders. These girls are popular. Maybe if I sit with them, I can be cool too.

I take a seat next to Adriana and her friend Ella, the prettiest girls on the squad. And when I say pretty, I don't mean, make up done decently and hair up in a bun. I mean designer clothes, curly blonde hair, tan skin and bouncy breasts.

I motion for Sarafina to sit in the seat with me, the one next to Adriana and Ella. She comes right over, and sits down.

The minute the bus door shuts is the minute all the drama starts. Adriana looks at me and Sarafina. Her eyebrows perk up higher than the Empire State Building. Her lips are parted, and her jaw is low.

"Oh. My. God. Ella, look!" She says pointing at us.

Ella peeks at us from her spot next to Adriana. "OMG," she says, "Adriana, are those the Robbins?"

"Hi," says Sarafina. "Yup, I can confirm that. We are the Robbin sisters. In the flesh."

Adriana smacks a hand over her mouth. She slunks back in her seat dramatically, mimicking a fainting motion. My sister and I certainly are getting attention from the popular girls. But when Adriana's aura becomes grey, I am sure it's not the kind of attention we want. Maybe she thinks we're weird.

"Literally, I can't even. Are you guys the devil worshipping sisters?" Says Adriana.

"No, I don't know what you're talking about," I reply.

"Well Carol told me that you guys were evil devil worshipping Witches," says Adriana. "Are you going to put a curse on me? I need to know if you're going to hurt me with your Satan powers."

"We're Witches, but we do not worship the devil. We don't even believe in the devil, so whoever told you differently has some issues," Says Sarafina.

"OMG," says Adriana, "Are you the black sister? Anna, I heard you had a black sister. Is she like actually your sister, though?"

"Um, yeah, we are actually sisters and I am actually black," says Sarafina.

"Wait, but did Anna's mom give birth to you?" Asks Ella.

"Would you guys can it?" I yell. "We don't live with our birth mothers. We are both adopted. Just stop being so rude and racist!"

A football player stands up from his seat in the back. "Wait a second," he calls. "Anna, if you guys are Witches, what kind of magick do you do?"

"Well, I do divination, but Sarafina usually-" right there I get cut off.

Another random football player with big biceps and spiky blonde hair stands up and yells out, "I know! Anna does white magick, and Sarafina does black magick! Get it? Cause Anna's white and Sarafina's black!"

Soon afterwards, the whole bus erupts into laughter. Sarafina and I are humiliated. These popular kids are so rude, ignorant, and shallow! It really hurts to see how uneducated they are. I guess Sarafina and I won't be populars anymore. Maybe just former populars.