Dreamscape: Saving Alex

Chapter Two

He asked Melissa.

Those three words rang in my ears. How could he do that? Ask me out one minute and someone else the next, without even talking to me? It felt like some sort of cruel joke, and I was the punchline.

I looked at Natalie, her face scrunched as she waited. I didn't know what she was waiting for. A reaction, maybe? I wanted to run and hide, cry, shout, hit something, but I couldn't. I was frozen from the inside out. Every inch of my mind stuck on those words.

His words. My mom's words. Too many words that weren't mine deciding my life.

"Are you okay?" Natalie asked.

"No...yeah...I guess," I mumbled.

"I thought you needed to know," she said sadly. "But hey, it's not all bad." She squeezed my hand and put on her best cheerleading smile.

"Not all bad? In what world?" I rolled my eyes and frowned.

"Look, you know I think Brian's a player. He's always been one. You can do so much better than him anyway. Speaking of...think of all those new guys in Portland."

"Yeah," I scoffed. "That's exactly what I want to do."

"I'm just saying. You're going there. You might as well have something to look forward to. So what do you think?" She plopped down on the bed beside me, her ponytail swishing over her shoulders. "Lumberjack or grunge?" she asked, bringing up an old joke we'd made when my parents first told me we were moving.

"Are you serious?"

"Come on, come on, come on," she urged. "Make a choice."

Her words struck me. I looked up with wide eyes. "Make a choice," I whispered, and then louder, "you're right. That's exactly what I'm going to do." I shuffled back into a sitting position, arms tucked around my legs, and bit my lower lip. "Definitely the lumberjack. I've always loved the forest." A small smile grew at the edge of my mouth. How could she do that? Turn the worst news into a joke. I guess that's one of the reasons she's my best friend.

"Awesome. Lumberjack it is, then. Let's get these boxes packed so you can go hook up with Paul."

"Paul?"

"Uh, yeah, don't tell me you haven't heard of Paul Bunyan. He's big, strong, and probably just what you need."

"Stop it!" I laughed, throwing my pillow at her. "Just watch out or I'll send his ox down to get you."

"I'm scared." She trembled. "Now, give me a box."

Just like that, my room started getting packed. Piece by piece, shirt by shirt, trophy by trophy, everything found its way into one of the boxes. Before long, my safe haven slipped away, transforming into a blank slate. The tears stung, painfully clinging to the edges of my eyes. My treasures blurred into an obscure mess as Natalie threw more and more at me.

"Oh my god!" Natalie raised her eyebrows and lifted my tiger Beanie Baby by its tail. "You still have this, really? This has got to go."

"Stop it," I said, grabbing it from Natalie's hand. "You don't know what this meant to me." I cradled Mr. Tiger against my chest. The crusted fuzz scratched my collarbone.

"Seriously?" she asked, scrunching up her face. "You need to let some of this go. You can't take it all with you."

"I don't want to leave any of it behind," I muttered, barely hearing my own words.

"Oh boy," she sighed and walked past me to the walk-in closet that overflowed with my trinkets. Boxes and bags of old dolls, papers, and crafts hung over the shelves. "Are you serious? What is all this stuff?"