Apollyon

3: Dreamcatcher

Mr. Mancini's Trig class was arguably the worst and best class of my day, besides music appreciation. It was the worst, because he was so boring with his Ben Stein impersonation voice. Unfortunately, he wasn't trying to impersonate anyone. Now, it was the best for several reasons. One, Mel was in this class with me and it made it entirely bearable. Two, Mr. Mancini was retiring at the end of this year, and seemed to have a huge case of senioritis. Parents could argue that his methods this year were a disservice to the students, but as one of his students, I loved it! Of course, we still had to put on an effort to learn something and he still gave out tests. In any case, it was a fun class.

That was until Troy walked in a few minutes after I sat down at my desk. Mel simply smiled knowingly as he chose the seat behind me. I placed my head in my left hand, and closed my eyes as I fought the urge to turn around and scream at him for some unknown reason. My breathing picked up and I was struggling to even it out. Now more than ever before, I was convinced that the unease I was feeling always crushed me when he was around me. There was an energy that was emitting from him and it seemed to reach out to only me.

Unfortunately, I was losing the battle and my visions overwhelmed me. A blinding light transported me back into my dream and I was already holding the bow and arrow. The bear was gone, but Troy was standing next to me telling me to shoot at the python. I wanted to ask why it was chasing me in the first place, but the great snake was slithering upwards so that it loomed over me, ready to strike. As soon as the arrow struck the snake in its head, it landed with a pronounced thud and disappeared.

In its place was a handsome barely clothed man with long golden hair that brushed the top of his shoulders. He was the embodiment of perfection; there was no way I wanted to take my eyes from him. All I could think about was why was Eric from True Blood in my dream?

Nonetheless, no matter how much I wanted to stare at him, he pointed to the spot where Troy was standing earlier. Only it wasn't him anymore. A female wearing a short dress was standing there, holding another bow. I turned back to the guy that was now in arm's reach of me. He raised his hands to my temple and a ray of golden light enveloped us until I could no longer keep my eyes open.

"Wake up!" I opened my eyes again, and I was back in the class with Melanie on my right. She looked like she was about to shake me if I didn't wake up right away. "The bell is about to ring." I looked towards the door and saw the remaining students in our Trig class file in and find their seats. I had to get away from Troy because there was no way I could sit in close proximity of him.

"Mr. Mancini? Is it okay if I go to the nurse? The light is bothering my eyes and I can feel a migraine coming on."

"But it's the end of the day. Sit down and place your head on the desk."

"If it was just a headache Mr. Mancini, I totally could do that. But you don't understand. The nurse has an ice pack with my name on it. My migraines get that bad. Plus don't forget, we can't even carry Tylenol anymore, not that it would work anyway. I'd give it two minutes before I start crying out in pain." I did my best impression of puppy dog eyes before he finally relented.

"Sorry," I mouthed to Mel before grabbing my books. "Tell Q I'll be in his car." I didn't even glimpse Troy on my way out. My new resolve was to avoid him at all costs.

I wasn't lying to Mr. Mancini about the migraine that I felt forming. I pretty much got them enough the nurse, Ms. Gradobe just waved to me when I grabbed an ice pack out of the freezer. She wrote me a note to return back to class, but there was no way I was going back there. Ms. Gradobe's office was close enough that I was able to just get to the parking lot undetected and search for Quentin's car. Of course it sucked that today of all days he broke up with Valerie and parked on the golf course because he was afraid she'd do something to his car. Usually kids who lost their parking privileges or just never registered for a parking permit parked on the course.