It Starts with a Dream

2/ A Dude Faints In Front of Me

-the next day-

I got up and ready for school, packing the homework from last night into my backpack. After I had everything packed into my bag I tried to fit the 'List' book into it. I stared at it sadly. I didn't want to put it into my bag but I didn't really want to carry it either. I decided to put it in there because I probably would end up dropping it. When I put it into my bag it wouldn't quite fit, so I had to take some stuff out. When I put it on my back it felt like I had about a million pounds weighing down on me. I sighed and made my way down the hallway into the living room. As usual, Mom wasn't home. I took the keys from the counter, locking my apartment after leaving, and headed down the stairs. I walked to the bus stop and saw my best friend, Ayden waiting there like usual.

"Hey, Ayden," I said walking over to him.

"Hey, dude," Ayden said. He looked over at my book bag and noticed how big it was. "Um, did you get extra homework or something?"

"No, I'll show you when we get on the bus."

"Okay, sounds mysterious," he said, now anxious for the bus to arrive.

When the bus finally arrived Ayden and I got into the seat closest to us because it felt like I was going to break my back if I didn't get my backpack off of me. The backpack made a 'THUD' when I put it down on the seat.

"Dude, what could you possibly be carrying that is THAT heavy?" Ayden asked while throwing his backpack on the floor in front of him. I unzipped my bag and took out the book. Ayden looked confused.

"'List'? What is it, some kind of grocery list?"

"No, it's not a grocery list, stupid. It's just super weird. I can't really explain it," I told him while opening the book. The strange symbols were all over the pages. Ayden grabbed the book and looked it over.

"Is this some sort of code-language that we made up that I was unaware of?"

"It's not code. Or it might be, I don't know. But this is where it gets even weirder," I forced his hands to close the book and then open it again. Just like last night, it changed from the symbols to English. "Isn't that weird?"

"What are you talking about?" Ayden asked confused.

I looked at the book again to make sure that it was English, which it was. "It changed from the symbols to English. You don't find that kinda strange?"

"No it's not Chip," he replied, "it's just symbols."

I rubbed my eyes and stared at the book. Again, still English, no symbols anywhere. "It's English, why can't you see it? Wait, is this one of your joke-prank-things? If so, it's not funny."

"I swear," Ayden passed the book back to me, "i'm not joking. Seriously tho, you might want to consider getting your eyes checked."

We arrived at school and Ayden and I rushed out of the bus to get ahead of everyone. When we got inside, we went to our lockers and just chilled there for a little while. I leaned against my locker while Ayden sat down.

"He can't read the book? Like Ayden said, I must just be seeing things. I mean, who am I kidding, symbols in a book turning into different words. I must've sounded crazy." I thought.
Ayden leaned his head against the locker, looking up at the ceiling. "So, school's ending soon...." he said as an attempt to start a conversation.

I sighed, "Yeah, I can't believe we're graduating. I don't want to go to high school."
"Hm," he said. There was an awkward silence that followed.

All the other kids came in in different little groups and rushed to their lockers.

I looked at some of the girls as they came walking by. Some gave a quick 'hi' or little wave to Ayden and me. I've been wanting a girlfriend for a little while, but all the girls I talk to aren't really interested in that kind of thing. They all think eighth grade is too young to start a relationship. I mean, they're probably right, but still. I often find myself talking to this one girl named Emily who has a cute face and always smells like flowers. Of course, she's dating one of the more popular guys, so i've gotten on my fair share of bad sides recently. I'm not even the one who usually starts the conversations.

I look down at Ayden and he's on his phone. He seems more and more distant the closer we get to graduation, like he's hiding something from me. I need to remember to ask him about that.

The bell rang and we started to gather up our books. As I was grabbing mine, my head got slammed against my locker. I heard laughter close to me and some gasps farther behind but mostly laughs. I felt a hand pull my head back with my hair.

"You're in my way," said a rough voice into my ear.

I looked over at Ayden who had looked away from me and backed up into the crowd, trying to avoid attention. I could see he was scared. He usually tries to avoid attention when things get like this. I didn't blame him.

"Hey, didn't you hear me? I said you are in my way, dumbass," I felt the grip on my hair tighten.

I didn't have to look at who was doing this to me, I already knew. Remember Emily? Well this jackass, Josh James, is her boyfriend. This is what happens when people get jealous sometimes. Or when their brainless, either one would make sense in this situation.

"What do you want this time, James?" I asked. I tried to talk with an indistinguishable tone, so he couldn't figure out what mood I was in. I mostly did it to keep my voice from wavering.

"I want you to leave my girlfriend alone, ya hear? But just to make sure that this gets through your head, I think i'm gonna need to teach you a lesson. Go grab his pipsqueak friend," he told his, as Ayden and I called it, "Josh James Fanclub".

I was so sick and tired of this same routine, day after day. It sucked even more that they couldn't just leave Ayden alone when he didn't do anything. I felt like just swinging my leg back and hitting him, but I didn't want to be apart of this in the first place. Everyone would say that I participated, rather than I was the victim. Josh had a lot of control over everyone. They were all scared of him, even though he was shorter than most of the people at school. Even though i'm the tallest in school, he still picks a fight with me. I think it's because he knows that I don't fight back.

"Hey, let go of me!" I heard Ayden yell. As Josh turned back to see Ayden, he loosened his grip on my hair and I got away from his hand.

"Damn," he muttered under his breath. "Why don't you just make things easy today, alright?"

I don't know what happened but suddenly I glared at Josh with absolute loathing. I felt my hands go kinda numb and then he....

"Yo, Josh, what the hell? You okay, man?" The Josh James Fanclub came rushing over to him. He was lying on the floor, passed out. I used this as a chance to get away and take Ayden with me.