Peculiar Dreams

Chapter 2

"Good thing the university is only 8 blocks away!" He said to himself as he hopped on his bike and started pedaling furiously. He had already been late 3 times this semester. But all he could think about all the way there was that dream, and that girl... "Dang, what was her name..."

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He sprinted down the hall, almost slipping on the recently mopped floor.  But he was in luck, as he reached the classroom door, Jaden realized he made it without a minute to spare.  He stopped just short of the door, ran his fingers through his thick brown hair, and strutted in as cool as possible (although he was still out of breath). 

"Wow, you made it on time, what's the occasion?" joked Emily. 

"Ha ha very funny..." Jaden replied.  "It certainly wasn't to see your freckle face."

Emily giggles, "You know you love it!" As she twirled her finger through her curly red hair.

"Oh come on you two." interrupted Joey "Do you guys ever stop flirting?" he added with a disgusted look on his face.

"Oh my god, gimme a break!  I've known Jaden since I was 6, he is like a big brother to me!" Emily exclaims. "Besides, you know you're the only one for me!" she says while making a kissing face towards Joey.

Joey blushes. "Aww you're too cute... later baby, later." he says while winking at Emily.

"Blehhh, get a room you two..." says Jaden.

Everyone gets quiet as the teacher walks into the room. "OK, everyone, settle down! I hope you all had a good weekend.  Remember we have finals next week, so lets all open our books to..."

His voice trails off as Jaden cannot get the dream out of his head.  "Oh boy this is bad." He thought to himself. "How am I supposed to study after a dream like that."  He couldn't stop thinking about how it felt when she touched him.  So familiar, so right, so... amazing.  He replayed the dream over and over in his head.  He was so deep in thought, he barely noticed the bell ring. 

"Wake up, sleepyhead!" Emily chuckled as she slapped his shoulder.  "Wow, it looks like you got a lot of work done.

"Oh no" Jaden sighed as he realized he basically missed the entire lecture. "I am gonna fail on the finals so bad."

He stood up and walked out of the classroom, thinking to himself, "this is gonna be a long day."

All day he kept thinking he saw her out of the corner of his eye.  He would see that beautiful rose colored hair, or feel her bright blue-green eyes gazing at him, but as soon as he would turn to look, she was gone.  Was he losing his mind? He wondered.

The rest of the day drug on and on.  Jaden was never so happy to hear the bell ring signaling classes were finally over for the day.  He hurried to the door and as he opened it, saw Joey waiting for him by the steps. 

"So, bro. What are you gonna do tonight?" asked Joey.  "Emily and I are gonna go hang out at the lake with some of the other guys.  You wanna come with?"

Jaden thinks for a second, then replies, "I don't know, man, I've been feeling so strange today.  I had the craziest dream last night.  It seemed so real, I mean, I almost feel like I'm still dreaming now, or that the dream felt even more real than actual real life."

Joey look at him in total confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?  You are making no sense!"

"I know, dude." Jaden replied. "I feel as confused as you look right now.  There was this girl in my dream, and I felt like I knew her better than I've ever known anyone in my entire life.  Like we had met before. No, not only met, but had been together for a long, long time.  Or something...  But the strangest part was I couldn't even remember her name. Only that is started with a C"

"Wow man, was she hot?" Joey smirked.

Jaden tilted his head to the side. "Really?? That's all you can come up with?  I guess I didn't expect you to understand..."

"Ouch bro!  I'm just playing, you know that." Joey says apologetically.  "Hey you can tell me more about it later, lets get going.  Emily is waiting on the other side of the campus.  You know how she gets when I keep her waiting..." 

"Ugghh, you guys really just need to get married already." Jaden says with a big goofy grin on his face.

"NOOOOO!  NEVER!" Joey exclaims. "But, yeah I guess you're right, I mean, we do make a cute couple don't we."  He laughs.

Joey rolls his eyes.  "Uh huh, sure..."

They jumped on their bikes and quickly pedal down the winding sidewalk leading through the campus.  It really was a nice day out, for being this late in the fall.  Leaves of all colors were falling from the trees, covering the greenish-brown grass and sidewalks.  As they reach the end of the sidewalk they see Emily sitting on the steps leading up to the auditorium.

"About time!" Emily yelled. "What were you guys doing, making out or something?"

"Oh, you would like to see that, wouldn't you?" joked Joey. As Jaden has a disgusted look on his face.

"Jeez, let's just get going already." says Jaden.

Emily looks shocked, "What's the big hurry, Jaden?  You got a hot date?"

"Yeah, with his dream girl..." Joey smirks.

"Oh, shut up, big mouth." Jaden replies.

Emily looked confused. "Ok, whatever you weirdos are talking about.  I just wanna get to the lake. We haven't gone out there forever!"

As they made their way across town, they talked and laughed.  Waving at all the familiar faces. Enjoying the beautiful weather.  Ainsley was a small town, they had grown up here their whole lives.  It was the kind of town where pretty much everyone knew each other, whether they liked it or not.  They reached the main intersection, where the highway ran through town.  As they stood there waiting for the traffic light, Jaden suddenly froze, staring intently across the road.  It was her.  She was looking right at him.  He could feel his heart beating wildly in his chest, he felt chills run up and down his spine.  He felt like they were the only two people left on Earth.

"This can't be real, am I still dreaming?" He thought to himself.  "Can this really be happening?"

"Jaden, are you okay?" asked Emily with a look of concern on her face.  "The light is green, come on."

But Jaden didn't hear a word Emily said.  He was in a trance.  He didn't know what to do, he knew he HAD to talk to this girl, find out who she is and what this dream was all about.  But before he was able to take a step, she began to cross the street towards them.  He was mesmerized.  He couldn't take his eyes off of her, she was beyond pretty.  She looked like an angel. 

In the background Jaden heard a loud roar, it woke him from his trance.  Out of the corner of his eye he could see it, a semi-truck barreling down the road with no intention off stopping or even slowing down. 

"OH MY GOD, NO!" Jaden screamed.  He dashed out onto the road.

"JADEN!"  yelled Joey and Emily.  Joey tried to grab his arm, but he was already gone.  Emily turned and closed her eyes.  All she could hear was the screeching tires and people screaming.

"CHLOE!"  shouted Jaden as he could see the truck approaching fast, he could hear the brakes squealing as the driver tried to stop, but it was too late.  Jaden reached her just in time, diving at her to shove her out of the way.  Then he heard a horrible thud, and felt the most searing pain in his side that he had ever felt.  He could hear Emily and Joey screaming.  He tried to look around but everything was blurry, and began to fade away.

"Chloe..."  he managed to whisper before everything went black.