Two

"Ami, where have you been wandering to? I've been looking everywhere for you." Jana Jewel, my tardy best friend, said as she dragged me back to our classroom. I gave a dramatic sigh which she ignored and handed her my notebook. It was so typical of Jana to never copy notes during the lecture and panic copy it a few minutes before the test. 

"I've been here and there. Waiting for you to show up by killing some time."

"Well, you sure killed a lot of time." She replied tersely as she copied in quickly and messily. My best friend's ability to multi-task is one of the things I greatly admire. Jana could talk to you while talking to someone on the phone and even while reading a book as well. 

She was like a writing machine and could sit there for a long amount of time without feeling disturbed. I took the seat next to hers and let my thoughts roam to wherever it may be content with.

And I got stuck with that dream. That surreal dream where I felt bordering on the edges of fantasy into crossing reality. Why was it I would dream of that every single night? The first night I saw it was two years ago. It was horrible. I didn't even know what to do.

If it weren't for my only older brother, I think I would've fallen into a pit of despair and insanity.

I pushed the dream away from my thoughts. It happened every night and managed to weasel its way inside my head so thinking about it right now would actually be flattering it. Instead, my mind stopped at the incident earlier. That guy. Rude guy to be precise. It vexed me a lot when I found him hard to push away from my mind, unlike the dream.

My hands clenched into a fist. How I wished that I punched him even though I had no idea how to plant one. I massaged my temples as I thought about it. The pain in my head was thankfully lessening. All I needed was just fresh air, my seat, and Jana's busybody beside me.

Ten minutes passed and my best friend was back to her usual, relaxed self (an indication she was done fussing about the notes she missed).

"So who's been bugging my super kind Ami?" She prompted, coaxing me to tell her what happened just a while ago. Still massaging my temples, I slowly related to her every detail of that annoying moment. Another ability of my best friend that I greatly admire is her way of listening. She never interrupted. She just looked at you and nodded at your every word. Her remarks would be after the speaker is talking.

"Whoever that guy was, you really seemed to be taken with him." Our chemistry teacher began his discussion so she had to whisper this to me. What's worse is that I couldn't even yell at her without having to face the consequences. But I could listen to my best friend's hushed chatter since the discussion was just a repetition of  yesterday's topic.

"You're nuts." My tone was same with hers only the quality came from gritting my teeth whereas her was smooth like honey. She rolled her eyes at me, flipped her pale blond hair backwards, and shrugged. Typical ignorant reaction of hers.

"Class, as I've stated yesterday, we'll be doing a paired activity for today. I hope you all brought the materials I've assigned yesterday." Our teacher's monotone voice was a bit indulgent to listen to. There were a few groans from the class, but other than that, everyone seemed to have his requirements.

Scratch that. Mostly everyone.

"Hey, Kingsly!" I glanced from my shoulder and looked back to my table. Jana, well, she was stuck staring in an uneasy manner. She seemed a bit feisty and fidgety.

"Ami! Do you even know who's calling your name?"

"Correction, calling my last name. And yes, of course I know. It's just Michael." Jana looked like she was on the verge of strangling me.

"'Just Michael'. He's not just Michael!" My, wasn't she frustrated. A lot. I knew where our conversation was leading to and where it will be ending. I recited along her lines. "He's like the star quarterback and hottest basketball player. And he's calling you." It took her three seconds to perceive what I had just done. She did her ignorant reaction. I didn't show her the frown that made its way to my face.

The way she said it, I was suppose to feel privileged that he even knew my name, even if it's just the last.

Somehow, taking it all in made my head hurt again. I sighed and put the balls of icky clay the top of our table. Jana brought the wooden board we needed as well as the sticks. I immediately spun when  someone tapped on my shoulder.

It was just Michael.

"Hey, I was calling you." He irritably began.

"Really? What do you want me to do about it?" I couldn't help but be a little bit snappy since his attitude wasn't helping and so was my headache.

"Forget that. Anyway, do you have extra sticks you could spare?" Was he talking to me or my table?

Before I could sum up our materials as well as a reply, Jana had a fistful of sticks in her hand. It was extended in his direction. She gave a bright and polite smile (obviously trying to make up for my behavior) and crowned it with her most flawless and silky smooth tone.

"What a coincidence, there appears to be like 10-13 sticks we won't be needing. You can have it. I'm sure my partner would say the same." I will? In your wildest dreams. I sounded pissed and rude, but for some reason, I felt like I was in the right and they were in the wrong. Somewhat, I felt like a tyrant or dictator.

And in a way, that was wrong.

Never in my life would I act like this or even think like this.

Maybe the dreams was finally having its effect on me.