The Comet Cafe

Chapter~16

Dedicated to bastillery bc she gave me the idea for this chapter! ♥♥

A praying mantis with a suspiciously red head sits on a leaf in front of me.

"Bitch, Alex will be mine." It hisses. I sprout wings and try to fly away, but something holds my feet down. I can't move at all. I'm stuck staring down this gruesome insect. "You know he loves me. He'll always love me."

"No!" I screech, crying for help. Someone has to save me.

"No one can hear you, slut." The mantis stalks towards me, getting larger every step. Soon it's face to face with me, it's beady eyes staring directly into mine. "Now, to make you disappear..." It trails off and it's pincers reach towards me, grabbing me. I scream, even though I know no one will save me.

"Julia!" Scarlet shouts. I jump and sit up in bed.

It was just a dream. Thank God. Praying Mantis Rosy made me want to pee my pants.

"Julia, are you okay?" Scarlet asks, fixing my probably really messed up hair. "You were tossing and turning when I came in."

"I bet." I respond, throwing my covers off of me so I can change clothes. "It was just a bad dream, though. Nothing special."

"Okay." She says, eyeing me up. "Are you seeing Alex today?"

"Um, I don't know, Scarlet. I don't spend every waking moment hanging out with him."

"But you spend every waking moment talking or thinking about him." She grins mischievously.

"What do you want?" I ask. I know she wants something. Scarlet doesn't come into your room teasing you about your crush for nothing.

"Can you take me and Riley to the mall today?" She jumps on me and squeezes the life out of me. Who knew her skinny arms could be so strong?

"I am not doing anything..." I admit.

"Please, please, please!" She begs.

"Fine, fine, I'll take you to the dang mall!" I cave in.

"Thank you!" Scarlet runs out of my room before I can change my mind. I get dressed and head out to the kitchen. I grab a poptart and munch on it as Dad walks in.

"Good morning." He says, grabbing an apple and then his work binder. "I'm off to an early job and will probably be busy all day."

"Okay. I'm taking Scarlet to the mall later, I guess."

"Will you be hanging out with those boys again?" My dad asks. He's met them before but he's still iffy about them. He knows they're in a band and could be classified as 'bad boys' but I completely disagree. It was just last week when we when to a carnival together and all the guys won us huge teddy bears. That doesn't sound like bad boy behavior. I guess my dad trusts me enough to let me still hang out with them, though.

"I'm not sure, Dad." I answer truthfully. He gives me a wary look and takes a bite of his apple.

"I trust you to make the right decisions with these boys, Julia."

"I know, Dad." I wonder why he brings this up know. Plus, he barely knows them! Why is he making the assumption that the band will be a bad influence on me?

"Okay, honey, I better be going now then." He says and shouts a goodbye to Scarlet. I hear the car pull out of the driveway.

"Hey, Julia, let's go now." Scarlet walks in from the hallway. She practically pulls me out of the house.