Dreamjumper

Chapter Fifteen

"Are you ready for your big debut, darling?" Lance drawled, taking my arm as he helped me out of the car.

"If by big debut you mean show up to class halfway through the semester with severe roots and ripped jeans, you bet," I grumbled, shoving my free hand in the pocket of my blazer.

I had spent my weekend going out with my friends, and hadn't thought to look for my uniform until Monday morning. I found my ratty old blazer, but my pants were nowhere to be found. I could only hope that they would take pity on the poor almost-paralyzed girl who hadn't shown up to school in weeks.

"You'll do fine, Kitchen Ninja," he said, offering me a comforting smile before squinting across the parking lot.

I definitely didn't feel fine. I wasn't too concerned about getting weird looks or sympathetic questions, but I was worried about Alistair's sudden attendance. Wouldn't people think it was strange that a new boy showed up at school the same day that I returned? Though I wasn't one to let rumors get to me, they were definitely not wanted.

"I'd be more worried about that chem exam. Yikes," Kim said, fluffing her hair as she caught up to us.

"That's not until the end of the year," Lance replied with a glare. "Don't be such a downer."

As Kim giggled in response, I scanned the front of the school for any sign of Alistair. All there appeared to be were a couple hundred kids in annoyingly monotonous shades of blue; though maybe I would have to look harder, considering he had likely dyed his hair another color to fit in.

As the two started off for the main building without me, I decided that I would worry about finding him later. I slung my backpack over my shoulder and picked up my pace so that I could fall in step beside them.

"You have no idea how happy we are that you're back, Anne," Kim said gratefully, offering me one of her sugar sweet smiles.

"Yeah, it's been rough without you. Even before the accident," Lance added, his expression suddenly turning dark. "You know, after you were hospitalized, Amanda never bothered talking to us again. I guess she felt really guilty and realized that she was out of line."

I mentally face-palmed myself; I had completely forgotten about the whole Amanda situation. Lance still thought that she had been the one to exclude me from their friend group. I had no idea how to fix this, as the only option was to say that I had lied to him – which also wasn't the truth.

"Um, about that," I laughed nervously. "Amanda didn't really ... do anything?"

Lance shot me a suspicious look. "What do you mean? You told me what happened."

Here we go.

"I know I did, but keep in mind that I was high off my hospital drugs ... I may have over-exaggerated a few things ..." I trailed off, expecting him to stop me in my tracks and start yelling at me.

But surprisingly, he held his composure and continued on toward the building. "We'll talk about this later. This is your first day back, and I'm not going to ruin things for you. But you'd better believe that I'm curious to hear what you have to say," he enunciated slowly, his jaw clenched.

Thank God for Lances, I thought to myself. I was glad to have a best friend like him – someone who didn't ruin the moment, let me explain things in a calmer setting.

"Anyways, onto happier things," Kim chirped as we weaved around several groups of students. "I heard through the grapevine that there's going to be a school-wide trip for the upperclassmen at the end of this year. I think we're going to Disney World or something. Wouldn't that be fun?"