Lamia's Dream

Chapter 21

Wednesday morning, I sat in class with my eyes closed.  I hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before.  No, it wasn’t from dream stuff with Valerie- which would have been cool.  Instead, it was a case of insomnia.  I watched late night TV until I finally fell asleep sometime after midnight.

I had texted Valerie a few times.  After she didn’t respond to my third text, I sent a fourth that read “if you’re going to ignore me, then you can forget about me asking you to prom.”  Oddly enough, she called me a minute later.  I told her I’d give her my money for a ticket when I saw her at lunch today.  We had talked briefly about other stuff before she told me she needed to get some sleep.  She wanted to be well-rested for another day of prom work. 

Too bad I didn’t fall asleep right after our phone call.  Nor could I make it up in class.  Instead, Mr. Akers’s voice droned on and on, keeping me conscious. 

Therefore, as usual, I daydreamed about Valerie.  I imagined her in the red prom dress she had mentioned the other day.  I pictured us twirling around the dance floor and laughing the night away. Maybe we would even win Cutest Couple as a write-in.

“You look mad,” a voice said.

My eyes refocused on the face in front of me.

“I’m not.  I was daydreaming about… something.”

Oddly enough, people had been saying for years that whenever I daydreamed, I looked like I was mad.

Charlie grinned.  “About Valerie?”

“She is my girlfriend,” I reminded him.

“And your Prom date.  Congratulations.”

 

I just asked her last night.  How does he find out this stuff?

“Was there ever any doubt?” I asked, uncharacteristically cocky.

“Possibly.”

I narrowed my eyes. 

Charlie leaned forward and lowered his voice.  “Rumor has it,” I leaned forward to hear him better, “Tyler had asked her a few times to go with him.”

“You’re lying,” I said instinctively. 

His eyes grew wide, as if he was offended.  “I swear.”

I shook my head.  No way that had happened.  No way that jerk was still trying to get with Valerie.

“But she’s mine.  We’ve been together for weeks now,” I said.

“Like that matters to a guy like Tyler.”

No, it probably wouldn’t.  There were plenty of girls for which “boyfriend” was a useless moniker.  Valerie wasn’t one of them.  No boyfriend had ever accused her of cheating before.  Was I pathetic enough that she would possibly cheat on me and Tyler wants to take advantage of that?  Should I do something about this, like fight Tyler?