Castleside Academy

Chapter Nine: Lexi

A Simple Dream

By Luther Willard

 

Everyone has a dream

Mine is plain and simple

I may be teased

I may be mocked

But this dream I plan to live

 

The way I’m viewed is special to me

A view only one can give

I’m seen with love

I’m seen with care

My dream had only just begun

 

This one does not judge

I watch them with interested eyes

I hear them talk

I hear them laugh

It’s something no one can hide

 

Now, my dream is different

It’s all too simple

I dream to be wanted

I dream to be loved

My dream has already come true

I was really confused when I first read this. Why would Luther give me this poem? He’s trying to tell me something. Every inch of me wants this poem to be about me. To be for me, but I’m too modest to think that.

Wednesday. I can’t think too straight right now. I’m tired and I feel too overwhelmed by something I can’t place. Maybe it’s the fact that in Drama Class we’re getting closer and closer to the ending even though we just started. Right now for instance.

“I want to marry you, Sophia,” says Eliot as his character Prince Chance.

I look away at the floor when he takes my arm quite aggressively. “I told you no,” I say plainly.

“You will marry me,” he says, tightening his grip on my arm.

I struggle to free myself but it’s hopeless. Crescent and Nellie (the king and queen) run onto the stage and separate us. “Enough!” Crescent hisses. “Chance, you cannot use pain to make this girl marry you.”

“Will she?” Eliot demands.

I shake my head in anger. “Just let me go! I could never love you!”

Now Maya and Jared, my parents in this thing, hurry on from the other side, stage left. “Sophia, just marry him! You’ll never go hungry or poor,” Maya says, resting her hand on my shoulder. I shrug it away.

“If you’re telling me to marry this man, then you don’t know what love truly is!” I walk dramatically off stage behind the narrow curtains. It’s a little too corny for my taste, the play, but as long as I get credit…

While the others do their parts, Luther stands next to me and watches. “Lady Austin said that after Christmas Break is over, we’re going to start working on the last scene.”

My heart drops to my stomach. “That’s great,” I say unenthusiastically.

“You’re scared,” he says sadly, taking my hand in his.