In 27 Days (Watty Award Winner 2012)

Chapter 4.

     “Hey. Hey, come on, you need to wake up. HEY!”

  I let out a small squeak of shock and bolted upright, looking around frantically to try and find what the source of trouble was. As I looked around, as it happened, I noticed that a few things were completely out of the ordinary.   

  For one, I was wearing a pair of jeans, a pretty blue blouse, and a dark jacket I distinctly remember wearing a few weeks ago.

Two, I happened to be slumped awkwardly over at a table in the corner of some small, family owned Chinese restaurant that seemed to be completely empty of customers, save for myself.

 And lastly, there was a tall, imposing figure leaning over towards me across the table with a rather weirded out, concerned look in his intensely colored eyes, his lips twisted down in an unpleasant frown.

 That last thing was probably the most surprisingly, freakish one of all. Because you know why?

Archer Morales was the one who was standing in front me. And he was most certainly not dead. On the contrary, he looked very much alive. Well, rather annoyed, but still alive all the same.

 “Uhm…I’m sorry,” I started babbling out of embarrassment. “I didn’t even know I fell asleep, and – “

 “Fine, whatever,” Archer Morales cut me off in a deep, rich voice I hadn’t expected to hear. “Look, you can’t stay here. You need to go.”   

  I was slightly taken aback by the sharp, annoyed tone he used. Sure, I’d heard him speak about one time before, but that had been years ago. It shouldn’t have felt as if I’d just gotten slapped in the face or something with the way he was talking to me.

 I couldn’t help the fact that I was staring up at him with an awed expression on my face, sort of like I was seeing Jesus Christ in the flesh or something.

  “What are you doing here?” I blurted out before I could stop myself.

“Me?” Archer repeated in a sarcastic voice. “I happen to work here, and we’re closing. So you really need to leave.”

 The last place I expected Archer Morales to ever work at was a tiny Chinese restaurant, but I suppose there were firsts for everything, right?

 This sure as hell was.

“Closing?” I repeated in a high pitched voice once the word finally sunk in. “What time is it?”

“Quarter past eleven,” Archer deadpanned in a bored voice.

 “Oh, shit,” I yelped, scrambling my way to my feet. “My parents are going to be so pissed! How the hell did I let this – “

 “Jesus Christ, Hadley, would you shut up?”

 I immediately stopped my frantic pacing and hurried mutterings to stare at Archer in amazement, trying to keep my mouth from falling open in surprise.

 “You know who I am?” I couldn’t help but ask him in shock.

  “Hadley Jamison, junior at JFK High, daughter of that famous hotshot lawyer and his businesswoman wife,” Archer drawled as he grabbed dirty dishes off a nearby table, dropping them into a Tupperware bin. “We had English together freshman year.”

Okay, that was a little unusual.

 “You remember that?” I said aloud in a duped voice.

“How could I forget?” he said, like it should’ve been plainly obvious. “You blushed like a freaking lobster anytime I looked at you.”