Oxygen

Chapter 5 - A field of flowers

The grass tickled the skin between my toes, and I lay facing the deep blue, clear sky. I looked next to me, and saw the love of my life taking a deep breath, taking in the smell of my Apple scented shampoo.

He turned to me, realising I was looking at him. Then he leaned towards me, putting his hand over me to balance himself, and kissed me to my heart's content.

My lungs filled with air, softly embracing the closeness we shared. He stopped for a second, looking into my eyes, and I pictured them turning pink, showing how I cared for him. Then he lay back down on the grass, rolling me on top of him as he did so. I rested my forehead on his, and closed my eyes.

As soon as I realised what was happening, I opened my eyes and took a deep breath. What is happening? These dreams are nothing like I've ever had before. I hardly ever have dreams, and when I do, they are more like nightmares. This is definitely not normal.

I decide right then and there that I'm going to start writing a diary. Every time I have these dreams, I'm going to write down what I remember. It's almost like every time I breath the air we call oxygen, I create a fantasy world that fills my brain, and I picture a life I wish I had.

I start by writing my first entry in the back of my old school notebook.

Dear diary,
Yes, I am writing a diary. I've never written one before, so here goes. I've been having these dreams about this guy I kinda like, his name's Jordan Kingsley. The first one was about the two of us lying on the beach, and the second was in a grassy field. Both had in common that we were in love, and he doesn't even know I like him yet.
I will keep you updated.

Fern

I close the book and hide it under my pillow. Just as I do, I hear my window screech open and two very muscular legs swing in. I panic for a minute, but then I see the blond locks of Jordan Kingsley and my frozen heart continues beating.

He comes in, landing on his feet and closes the window. Then he turns to me "Hey, Fern" He says ever so casually. "What is with you and climbing through my window?" I ask, and he laughs before answering.

"Your running late, no one's home again. Come on, get dressed". Oh shoot. I check my phone and the time says 7:45. This is my cue to get up, and rush Jordan out of the room. I send him to the kitchen, while I scramble to find some decent clothes.

After ten minutes of rushing, I get Jordan and I out the door in record time. He drives at lightning speed and we only end up a couple of minutes late.

I open the door to my science class as quietly as I can, and Mr Cedar nods in approval as I head to my seat. Nik turns to me and whispers "Why are u late? Did Jordan keep you up last night?" He winks when he says it, and I reply sternly. "No, I just woke up late, Jordan drove me here".

He nods in acceptance, and we turn to listen to the lesson. Physics this, physics that, blah blah blah. I try my best to listen To Mr Cedar, but it all flies through one ear, and out the other.

At lunch Ev and I sit at the corner of the field on a picnic bench, and Nik, Kyle and Jordan come to sit with us, carrying paper backs filled with McDonalds.

"Are you gonna share?" I ask, smiling. "Yea, you can have some of mine" Jordan smiles back. There's a twinkle in his eyes again, and it melts my heart.

He sits next to me and unpacks his food. I immediately take a handful of chips and thank him for sharing. Jordan smiles and takes some chips himself. "It's almost like you two are together" Ev jokes. "Well, we are sitting next to each other" I joke back.

The group laugh, and we spend the rest of lunch joking around and having pun wars.

"Do you mind if I drop Carol off again today? Mum's got a lot to do today" Jordan asks. "Of course" I reply. "I'll see you then". And with that we go our separate ways to get to our classes.

The afternoon is pretty relaxed, and when I get home, I get changed and wait for Jordan. I put on my blue jeans, a black top and neon pink socks. It's a secret obsession of mine to wear brightly coloured socks.

I hear a knock at the door, and run down the stairs to answer. I almost trip on the last step, and grab the door handle to keep my balance. I swing the door open and almost burst with excitement.

"Hey!" I say, to both Jordan and Carol. "Hi Fern!" Carol chirps. They come in the door, and Jordan gives her a hug goodbye. "I need to get going, I'll pick her up at five".

"Okay" I say, disappointed. I watch him turn the corner and head to his car. I wish I could spend more time with him, I wonder what he's up to.

"So, Carol, how about we watch SpongeBob today?" She smiles and bursts with excitement.

I head to the cabinet and take out the SpongeBob DVD set. Once I put it into the machine, Carol becomes fixed to the screen. I head to the kitchen, and find some choco-aids to give her.

When she sees the packet, she politely takes one and nibbles round the edges. I smile, thinking she must know the kiwi tradition.

I decide to check Snapchat while Carol is busy. I see a story posted by Jordan, so I check it out. The first picture is of two coffee cups, 'at starbucks' the caption says. Then I see another picture. It's of Jordan and Olivia, sitting worryingly close on the sofa bench.

Great. I know exactly what this means. Of course, why else would he drop her off and not stay? Trying to read him is driving me crazy. Maybe I should just stop trying to read into this. The third post comes up, a great angle of Olivia kissing him on the forehead. Help me now.

Before I see anything else, I close Snapchat and get back to SpongeBob. I laugh as Mr Krabs runs after Patrick, trying to get his money back, and Carol laughs with me.

It must seem so simple to her, everything is black and white as a kid. She has a great family, a loving brother, and a gorgeous mother. It's sad to know that when she grows up not everything will be black and white anymore. Some things she's going to find in life will be very different shades.

I sigh at the thought. But there's so much more than that in this world, there's more than black, white and different shades of colour. There are thoughts, decisions and actions that change the course of everyone's lives.
And we just have to run the course, and hope to reach the end.

I fall asleep that night thinking about colours, blue, green, magenta, and all the colours in-between. I fall asleep instantly, as the colour pink flashes before my eyes.