Dark Dreams

BETWEEN DREAM AND REALITY

"Move!"

My eyes struggled to focus on the world around me.

"You're really dumb, aren't you!" said Katrina, dressed as a stunning, sexy devil. "Don't get in the way of my costume. I wanted to show you how you really wear a devil's costume, although I have to admit that the idea that the girls and I had was really brilliant. Never again think you can fool the pyramid guys, we always know everything, even if you hide in closets like a cockroach".

I would have liked to put her cocky self in her place, but the image of her wearing only Dick's t-shirt materialized before me like an evil vision.

"Are you lost, Riding Hood?" Cooper came up behind me and put his hands on my hips. "Are you wearing panties under your pretty dress?"

"Leave me alone!" I yelled, pushing him away. I was increasingly disgusted by that boy.

"What's going on?" asked Jay, approaching. "Sarah, are you okay? I couldn't find you after the lights went out." Cooper moved closer to Katrina as soon as he saw Jay.

"Jay, what's got into your head? You're dating this loser now?" asked Katrina, putting her fingers in front of her mouth and pretending to puke.

She, Jay and Dick always used to hang out together at break time. I was sure she had a crush on Dick, but who knows, maybe she liked Jay too. With a girl like her, you always had to be on the lookout.

"Watch your mouth, Kat," said Jay, standing next to me. "I won't stand for more jokes like that about Sarah."

Katrina stamped her feet on the ground like a little girl. "Come on Cooper, let's leave Jay alone, maybe he ate something bad and tomorrow he'll come to his senses."

"All right?" asked Jay once we were alone.

Kiki had advised me to be always honest, but Jay would think I was crazy if I told him that Urban Skull had pointed a gun at me right there, a few feet from where we stood.

"Yes, I'm fine," I lied, "I just need to sit down for a second. You go on dancing, I'll join you in a minute."

"Sure?" He asked worriedly.

I nodded and he turned away.

I headed to the relaxation zone where the couches were almost all empty. I threw myself on a chair piled with purses and backpacks. As I placed them on the ground, I saw that the Dolce & Gabbana backpack decorated with branches and birds – Jay's – was open. A box caught my eye. I looked around to be sure that nobody was looking at me and picked it up: "Valium, oral drops" I read.

With a bad feeling, I put down the box and picked up my cell phone to look up what it was online.

Like in a bad dream, the words that I read echoed repeatedly in my mind: "Anxiety Treatment", "Do not mix with alcohol", and Marina on Yahoo answers: "A high dose combined with alcohol can lead you to do anything, even fall victim to a sexual predator".

"Sarah, what are you doing here sulking?" asked Kiki, running toward me.

"I was thinking," I said, hiding my cell phone behind me.

"Now's not the time to think, it's time to shake our hips," she said, pretending to sing with an invisible microphone. "Dick's disappeared, thank God I found you! Otherwise, I'd have forced Robbie to dress up and come and keep me company."

"I... don't..." I touched my forehead with one hand. "I don't... feel... well... "

Was Jay the one who drugged me?

He couldn't have been. There had to be another explanation. Yet it all made sense.

When I stepped out of that room it was like he was waiting for me, and then he'd also offered to take me home.