Jessica Reed

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

JESSICA’S POV 

Lance took my hand and led me to an endless field of flowers, I giggled as he pulled me close to him and started to dance with me. He stopped dancing but still held me close whispering, “Forever and always, Jess”. Suddenly, before I could react, the earth shook and everything changed. I looked up and it was no longer Lance staring back at me, it was Xander. Flowers didn’t surround us either; instead we stood on cement in the middle of a crowded city. He lifted me onto a motorcycle and we drove away from the lights and commotion, stopping in the middle of a junkyard. Next to the bike was a picnic blanket set up with food and candles. Xander winked at me and pulled me close saying, “It’s all for you, beautiful,” I leaned closer to him, our lips inches apart when, again, the world shook, hard this time, and the wonderful moment disappeared.

I jolted up off my desk and blinked rapidly, trying to adjust my eyes to the harsh lighting. Madame Rousseau and my entire French 4AP class stared at me.

…Awkward…

Madame spoke first, “Pourquoi dors-tu dans ma classe?” Why are you sleeping in my class?

“…In Jesus’ name, Amen,” I quickly spoke to my lap with my hands pressed together, “Je suis désolé Madame, que disiez-vous?” I’m sorry Ma’am, what were you saying?

Sighing, she said, “Miss Reed could you possibly pay attention? Merci,” she turned back to the board; that was a close one.

Across the room, Lance laughed quietly to himself. I smiled and shrugged, what can I say? I have a natural gift for excuses and getting out of trouble. But it’s not like I normally fall asleep in class, and I especially never dream about Lance! What is going on?

And Xander! That was really weird, I hardly even know him…! AH! This is so confusing.

I put my elbows on my desk and rubbed my temples with my fingertips. I seriously need some Advil.

Madame Rousseau finished her long, boring lecture to tell us we would be starting a project, and we would be able to choose our partners!

As soon as she finished her sentence the entire class started moving and nodding. After a few feeble attempts to calm us down she gave up and went to sit at her desk and type on her computer.

I motioned to Lance and he got up, but soon a crowd of students I hardly recognized, interrupted my view of him. I heard snippets like “Jess, partners?” or “Remember me? Yeah, lets be partners!” and my personal favorite, “I’d bake you brownies if you’d be my partner”. Lucky for me, when Lance broke through the wall they had created, everyone stopped talking to me and dispersed.

“Am I the lucky winner?” Lance asked, “I’d like to thank my parents, teachers, coaches, the academy as a whole...”

“Stop!” I laughed at his ridiculous acceptance speech, “There really was no competition; you’re the only partner for me.”

“Wow, I feel so special,” he rolled his eyes, “I get to do all the work on our project, again.”

He sat on my desk while we waited for everyone to find partners. Soon Madame Rousseau returned to her podium and announced the guidelines of our new project. Lance and I were supposed to complete a delicious French food dish sometime before the end of the semester. If we brought in a dish we'd recieve extra credit points.

When Rousseau sat down again Lance and I started brainstorming. Kinda.

            “Let’s just ask James to cook something awesome for us,” I said, “Extra credit easy-peasy-lemon squeezy.”