Earhart & Noonan: An "Us Club" Novel (#1)(NaNoWriMo15)

8. Collect

I'm jerked out of a restless twilight.

Stephen? ...Stephen, it was just a dream.

The first thing I do is catch my breath. The second thing I do is look to the side of me. Kenzie. She's there, sleeping under her set of throws. Like last night. Like always when she and I have sleepovers like this.

My head feels heavy. Not from the headache that's...completely gone. From one of my lucid dreams.

Why don't you go down and get a drink of water from the kitchen?

My room. It's so dark. So quiet. Chilly. My blinding phone screen says...it's one-thirty? Kenzie. She must've turned off the light and all.

Water?

I turn off the screen. Fuzzy night-vision kicks in. Water sounds good, so I rise and sneak away. The little noises of the house make me cringe. I feel like someone will hear me. I inch down one step at a time, hugging the railing for dear life, until I hit the bottom.

My toes touch linoleum.

Cold!

I feel for a glass in a cupboard. I wish the water came out quieter.

Stephen? Something wrong?

...Light. I can see a light from the basement. Dad's up?

Oh. Don't bother Dad. He's probably busy.

I finish my water. The door. I give it a knock. Then, I peek my head down the stairs like it's a poor man's edition of The Shining.

You and your cheap references. I'm going back to bed.

"Oh!" Dad's...surprised? "What's up, kiddo?"

I can see new blueprints scattered around Dad's workspace to the left, lit by the yellowish glow from his utility lamp.

"Feeling better?"

I make sure to close the door behind me. "Yeah."

After throwing my headache up. I don't remember what happened after that. It's all blurs up until the dream.

"I think so," I say.

"You think so?"

I...this is stupid. What am I doing, bothering Dad during one of his late-night sessions? I don't want to talk about...

"...Hey. Uh, you...you said you wanted me to go to Arbourton, right? For college next fall?"

"Uh, y-yeah," Dad says, putting paperwork down.

"Even with the cost?"

"That's what grants are for."

...He's joking (and there's another song in my head).

Dad's delayed smirk gives it away. "Hear anything?"

"No." I sigh as I think back to the news. "That one girl I shadowed with got in. The one with the beanie."

"Which...oh. Wow. That's a little quick."

Dad doesn't know Becka by name. She's "the one with the beanie."

"Well, you'll get your letter, kiddo. I know how much you really want to go there. ...Unless Arbourton—"

"No!"

"No?"

"I mean..."

...Frack.

Dad raises a brow. "No? What about going there with Mackenzie?"