Dreaming of Alten

Chapter 4. Real Life

I don't expect Lily to pick me up for school the next morning, so I'm surprised to hear her usual honked signal in my driveway.

Yesterday after Jacob basically declared his love for Gemma in front of the whole school, Lily had a complete meltdown in the bathroom, so I told our homeroom teacher that Lily wasn't feeling well and then drove her home.

Lily looks surprisingly okay for someone who's just had her heart broken. Except for her eyes, which are bloodshot and swollen, she looks the same as she normally does.

In fact, she looks better than I do, considering that I have bags under my eyes and blotchy skin from staying awake all night. I couldn't go back to sleep after I woke from the lightning- and thunder-filled dream, so I'd lain on my bed staring at the ceiling until dawn, and then I'd gotten up and showered for an hour trying to wash away the memory of Alten's worried face.

I push down my worries and open the passenger door of Lily's car. "Hey," I say, sliding into the car and giving her a hug. "I didn't think you'd be going to school today."

"It's better than staying home all alone with nothing to do but think," she says. Her voice breaks on the last word. "Besides, I already missed two classes yesterday."

She starts tearing up as we pull out of my driveway. I pretend to be looking for something in my bag so I can pretend I don't see her wiping her eyes.

"You did warn me about him," she says, sniffling.

"Uh, Lils, usually it's the other person who says 'I told you so'."

She laughs, a harsh, bitter sound. "Does it really matter who says it? It doesn't change anything either way. Do you know he actually told me he loved me last week?" A mascaraed tear runs down her cheek and her car almost runs into the back of the SUV in front of us.

"Lils!"

The brakes squeal and we stop just in front of the SUV's rear bumper. Lily sits staring at the SUV with a blank expression of shock on her face. Her fingers are gripping the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles are white.

The light turns green and the SUV drives off, but Lily stays where she is. The people behind us are honking in protest, but Lily doesn't seem to notice until I shake her shoulder. "Lily!"

She jerks back to reality and drives on. I almost tell her to pull over and change places with me, but we're almost there so I decide, against my better judgment, to leave her alone.

We swing into the parking lot and thankfully no one steals Lily's parking space today. The kind of mood she's in, I think she would pulverize anyone who got in her way.

She spends some time reapplying her makeup before we get out of the car. I think she does a pretty good job of it. Her eyes are still red and puffy, but not noticeable unless I look really closely.

Lily holds herself together until we get inside the school and she opens her locker. There's a picture of her and Jacob taped to the inside of her locker door, and although it's on the very edge of the door and Jacob's face is almost completely hidden, just the sight of her own face smiling up at her is enough to set Lily off.

She's crying as she rips the photo off of her locker, tearing it in half and then in half again.

People are staring at her, wondering what's going on. I move over and try to take Lily's arm, to calm her down, but Lily pulls away from me and starts trashing her own locker, grabbing notebooks and pencils and hurling them onto the ground.

"Lily." I'm still trying to take her arm. "Lily, stop it! Give me your keys, I'll take you home."

"I don't WANT to go home!" screams Lily, throwing her history book at the door of the locker next to hers, leaving a sizable dent in the metal door. Lily might be a petite little thing at five-two, but when she's mad she has more power than a tornado.