The Girl With The Wishes [EDITING.]

[09]

C H A P T E R  N I N E

V I O L E T  S M I T H 

—

A PUFF OF AIR  escaped my lips as I woke from a deep slumber, beads of sweat dripping down my forehead as I panted frantically, my chest heaved up and down and I tried to regain my breath.

Fisting the blanket till my knuckles turned white, I squeezed my eyes shut and repeated words of reassurance to myself. "It's just a dream." Throwing my head back till it gently hit off the surface of the velvety headboard, I sucked in a breath of air. 

It's just a dream." 

As each day passed, I felt my body, energy and spirit weaken. The brightness of my smile dimming as my days were becoming shorter and shorter. I never used to have to force a smile across my lips, I didn't have to, it was always just there. Now, it was becoming a task. As that became clear to me, I couldn't help but scoff and wonder what kind of person thought of smiling as a task. 

I was having nightmares too. I told myself, when I would wake up in the middle night, that they were just dreams, but they weren't. They were nightmares. I dreamt of darkness. Not a spec of light in sight. I was floating in an empty space, my cries couldn't be heard as I begged and pleaded for someone to hear me. Then I would wake up and feel safe again. I didn't want to sleep anymore, I was scared of the dark dreams I could encounter every time I would close mt eyes.

Rubbing a hand over my face, I let out a sigh and rose from my laying position, making my way towards the vanity.My fingertips brushed against the patterned material of my book that lay before. 

Smiling to myself, my eyes looked over the Polaroid photographs, taking in each detail as my features brightened at the sight. Wishes were being completed faster than I would have been able to do by myself and it was all thanks to Jason.

A faint blush crept up my cheeks as I looked at a picture of Jason and I. Pulling me from my thoughts, my phone began to ring. My gaze shifted to the buzzing device and without looking at the Caller ID, I picked up the phone and opened my lips to speak.

"Violet." Came a familiar voice. I tried to rememberer whose and then a ding went off in my head and I narrowed my eyes in thought. "Derek?" I smiled and a faint chuckle escaped his lips. 

"It's been a week since the party and I haven't received a call. Is that you telling me that you're not interested?" 

"No, of course not. I'm so sorry for not calling you, I've just been busy this week." 

"Don't worry about it. Look, I was wondering if you'd maybe want to go out with me, nothing too fancy. I want to get to know you" He asked and I licked my lips, my mind telling me to go for it, but my heart. My heart hated the very idea.

What about Jason? A voice called out to me. The whisper causing me to frantically dive into a pool of doubts and thoughts.

"I'd liked that." I replied as my smile slightly faltered but nonetheless, it was still there.

"Great. I'll pick you up tonight at 7."

—

Tapping my foot impatiently, I waited for Derek to knock on the door.

He wasn't late. I was just feeling nervous and anxious. I just wanted to get tonight over and done with. My lips thinned into a straight line at the thought. Suddenly, I felt weird that I was even going out with Derek tonight, considering how little I was now finding myself wanting to go.

The knocking of the front door had my eyes shifting to the wooden surface, brushing over what I made out to be Derek's blurry figure behind the stained glass windows, right by the door. 

"Hi." I smiled softly and his eyes lit up, the dimples in his cheeks on full display as he looked me over.

"Hi. You ready?" He asked as he pointed towards his car. Nodding, I followed him, my fingers grasping onto the material of my dress. My nerves had seemed to dispense and I was glad.

—

"No way!" I gasped and Derek frantically nodded, a flood of laughter trailing behind as he raised his dark brows.

"I swear, I'm not lying." 

"Scouts honour." He added and it made me laugh even more. 

"I can't believe you would do that to your poor cousin." With a teasing look, I held a finger up at him as if I were a teacher scolding a student for misbehaving in class.

"One thing you should know about me is I can't deal with loosing." Derek played around with a packet of salt, his eyes darting up to meet my own, then returning back to the white packet.

"Remind me to let you win in any future competitions we may have." 

"Oh, so there's a future." He winked and I rolled my eyes at his flirtatious words.  

"Moving on...tell me something about you. I see you around a lot and probably like others, I guess I'm curious about you." 

"Curious about me, huh?" My eyes softened and my grin widened. "Well there's really not much to say...I love dogs. My favourite colour is blue-like aqua blue-I love sunny days the most, especially when I get to spend them on the beach. I adore junk food, especially Oreos and I like to make people smile." Holding my arms up, I shrugged. "That's me, Violet smith, there's not much else to say about me." I smiled and Derek shook his head.

Raising a brow, Derek leaned forward, stealing a fry from my plate as he did so and grinned. "You're wrong. There's so much more to you than just those things, Violet Smith. You may not notice it, but everyone around you does. You're a gorgeous girl with a gorgeous smile. You're a girl who sees the best in people, a girl who goes through life with a positive attitude. You're one of a kind, Violet Smith." 

"Thank you." I smiled and for the firs time in a long time, I didn't have to force it.

—